Ya know, as little as 2 years ago, Google and Yahoo really did not play well together especially when it came to analytics. Sure your Yahoo store has some backend features and stats but its nothing compared to what Google Analytics can offer. The problem however is understanding exactly how to set it up properly on your site. Since I am asked quite often to help do this for customers, I figured I would write a self help way of doing it yourself. Of course, if you still want help, I am always for hire ;-p

The first thing you must do of course is signup for a Google Analtics account. I am not going to go through that process. Once you have your account setup just set it to the side for a second while we get some code in your Yahoo Store.

STEP 1

The first snippet of code you need is for all your store pages. Copy and paste from below and replace the XX-XXXXXX-X with YOUR Google Analytics ID. It will look something like UA-453212-5

<script type="text/javascript">

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");

document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));

</script>

<script type="text/javascript">

try {

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("XX-XXXXXX-X");

pageTracker._setDomainName("none");

pageTracker._setAllowLinker(true);

pageTracker._setAllowAnchor(true);

pageTracker._trackPageview();

} catch(err) {}</script>

The above code is what you will copy and paste into every page of your store (except the cart pages). The easiest way to tackle this is to goto your store editor and then VARIABLES. In that area you can use the copyright box, footer, head or any other place that will allow javascript. If you have custom templates you will probably see an area that has other head tags or other scripts that you can add this into.

STEP 2

After that is done, its time to add some code to your actual shopping cart pages. Under order settings from your Yahoo dashboard, goto CHECKOUT MANAGER. Then goto PAGE CONFIGURATION. Personally we use the main cart page, combined shipping and billing and order confirmation. You may be using the main cart page, shipping, billing, review and confirmation pages. Either way, there is a small change to the code you must add to each of those pages. So lets start with the Shopping Cart page first. On each of these pages, you will have an HTML HEAD SECTION at the bottom in the advanced settings area. This is where you will copy and paste your code into. Each snippet of code for your cart pages are identical with 1 small change on each.

<script type="text/javascript">

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");

document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));

</script>

<script type="text/javascript">

try {

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("XX-XXXXXX-X");

pageTracker._setDomainName("none");

pageTracker._setAllowLinker(true);

pageTracker._setAllowAnchor(true);

pageTracker._trackPageview("/checkout-cart.html");

} catch(err) {}</script>

See that yellow part? Thats the part you have to change on each page of your checkout pages. So just the same code on each page but change the part in yellow so it matches how your checkout flows.

/checkout-cart.html (pretty much what every Yahoo store has as the first initial cart page)
/checkout-ship-bill.html (this is the one you will use if you have shipping AND billing on 1 single page)
/checkout-shipping.html (for single page shipping)
/checkout-billing.html (for single page billing)
/checkout-onepage.html (use this if you have a single page checkout where everything is on the same page, shipping, billing and credit card info)
/checkout-review.html (use this on the review page)
/checkout-status.html (use the on the page that shows order status)

The final piece of code is almost like the above with a couple extras. This piece is the code you paste into the confirmation page. This is the money page so be sure to get this one right.

<script type="text/javascript">

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");

document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));

</script>

<script type="text/javascript">

try {

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("XX-XXXX-X");

pageTracker._setDomainName("none");

pageTracker._setAllowLinker(true);

pageTracker._setAllowAnchor(true);

pageTracker._trackPageview("/checkout-confirm.html");

pageTracker._addTrans(orderNum, "", orderTotal, orderTax, orderShipping, "", "", "");

for(i=0;i<codes.length;i++){

pageTracker._addItem(orderNum, codes[i], items[i], "", price[i], qtys[i]);

}

pageTracker._trackTrans();

} catch(err) {}</script>

Again, dont forget to change the XX-XXXXXX-XX with YOUR Google Analytics ID.

STEP 3

This step could present problems for some but honestly its not that tough. We need to alter a couple things in your Yahoo Store templates to make sure everything tracks properly. Basically we are adding a small amount of javascript to all your links and forms that point to your shopping cart. So, goto your Yahoo Store Editor. Click CONENTS from the advanced buttons. Now click Templates. You will have built-in templates and custom templates if you had a Yahoo Store designer handle your setup. Find the template that says Top-bottom-nav-links and click it. Look for the line

CSS-WITH-LINK class WHEN AND

and click on CSS-WITH-LINK

Next click the EDIT button.
In the field next to the Add button, enter onclick
Click the Update button.
Click the New button.
In the text box next to the word simple, paste this "pageTracker._link('http://order.store.yahoo.net/cgi-bin/wg-order?catalog=yhst-XXXXXXXXXXXXX',true);" and be sure to include the " on each side.
NOTE: MAKE SURE TO REPLACE THE STORE ID yhst-XXXXXXXXXXXXX WITH YOUR ACTUAL STORE ID.
Click the nil link next to the word onclick.
Click the Replace button.

That handles the text links. Now we need to make 1 more small change so that the "Add to Cart" buttons or "Send" from your forms work.

Back to the template again, look for one that reads Orderform and click it. Now find the line that has

FORM destination dest

and click on FORM

Next click the EDIT button.
In the field next to the Add button, enter onclick.
Click the Update button.
Click the New button.
In the text box next to the word simple paste "pageTracker._linkByPost(this,true);"
Click the Create button.
Click the nil link next to the word onclick.
Click the Replace button.

Pat yourself on the back… you are now a Yahoo Store Programmer!

Once all this is done, save all changes, publish your checkout and publish your store again so all the changes go live.

Thats it for the Yahoo Store part of installing Google Analytics. Now lets get to a few things to setup in your Google Analytics account. 

WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU NEED ADDTIONAL HELP

STEP 4

Login to your Google Analytics account. Once there, click on edit for your site.

The next thing you see should be something like below. In the website profile area, click edit again.

Finally we arrive at this… fill this in with your stores information but the most important part is teh default page. Make sure you fill this in with index.html (assuming you are using the actual store from Yahoo and not tags)

Save your changes and you will be back on the Profile settings again. Below the section we were just working on is a GOALS section. Under Goals (set 1) click Add goal. You will see this as the next screen. Fill this in like I have mine setup.

Remember, if you have a different shopping cart setup than I use, you will need to adjust those funnel pages accordingly. So go back up to see what those pages where. You just want to make sure you have exactly how the customers checkout on your store. If you have a shipping page and a billing page, you would ultimately have 1 additional  step than I do. Save goal. Thats it! You will now be able to see exactly how many people ordered and purchased in your Google Analytics reports. Not to mention having the ecommerce overview is really nice. Play around with additional settings to get it just right and you are now able to have great data to mange your stores better.

I apologize for not posting more often but I kinda took a hiatus for a bit to see what all these other gurus are saying and selling. I have come to the conclusing that people are so uneducated about certain things that want and need to believe all these gurus are right and what they are selling is the magic pill to their success when in fact… it cannot be further from the truth.

Now remember, when I am talking, I am merely talking about ecommerce sites. I don't claim to know much (or anything substantial really) about affiliate sites or affiliate marketing, etc. I am speaking just from an ecommerce store owner which is where I make my living.

The fact is, 95% of the stuff you hear and read is just plain bogus information or its common sense and you end up paying for something you really already know. For instance, everyone talks about ways to get more traffic and why is that? Because sales is a numbers game. The more customers you get to your site, the more sales you will make. That is just how it works. So these gurus sell you programs, information, automated systems, courses, memberships, etc to show you how to get more traffic.

Hello! The only way to get more traffic is to get BETTER CONTENT! That is everything people. Forgot Facebook, forget Twitter, forget links, forget blogs, forget everything. Go through your site and every single page should have alot of great, original content that is typed as if you would be talking to someone. Much like I am doing with you right here.

K.I.S.S.

You have seen this or heard this before right? Keep it simple stupid. Thats it. Don't complicate your business. Fix the content and yes, its always best to write it all yourself! Stop being lazy and stop saying "I can't write" cause that is total bullshit. If you can talk, you can write and noone knows your business better than you. If you want your business to do better, you better damn well learn how to write content or its time to give up and move on to something else.

Its not rocket science…its simply common sense.

The one thing I was always jealous of were owners of really old Yahoo Stores or Legacy Stores as some call them. That was their order numbers were nice and neat. For example, if you were smart enough or lucky enough to get on a Yahoo platform long ago, your order numbers were typically your domain name and then the order number. So if would look something like this;

ytutorials-1096

Until recently, all the new Yahoo stores would get a really long order number that looks like this;

You know what I am talking about if you have ever had a customer call in to check on something and you ask them, instinctively, whats your order number? Then they reply with, hmmm must be this long number here, YST-318 bla bla bla and you stop them and go "Just give me the last 4-5 digits (everything after the last hypen)". Am I right?

Well I was probing around my store today and noticed something new that can be done to your store to get rid of all that!

In your store manager, goto the Order Settings and click on Shipment & Order Status (see image below)

Once here, you will see a spot for Order Number Prefix (see image below)

This particular example if from one of my stores that sells Medieval Swords and its called ReplicaDungeon.com so I used RD as my order prefix. Now when I get orders, they come in as RD-9543

Tell me that aint just cool?!

Have fun and hope to see you again soon.

If you own and operate a Yahoo Store, then you are probably already aware of the Final-text variable. Typically, I use this variable for adding all my little store icons down at the bottom of my pages. One of my stores sells neon open signs and I include my newsletter signup form, google ads, my trust seals, credit cards we accept, etc. (see image below)

For the Final-text variable, I use raw html code and paste it into the field in my store and by doing this, all of my store pages will feature the same thing at the bottom of the pages. This way I can simply update this one field and it will update on every page of my site. This saves me time and energy and puts information I want to showcase to my customers on every page.

OVERRIDE YAHOO STORE VARIABLES!

Now here is the cool part. Did you know you can override that variable on ANY page in your site? Thats right! While in your store editor, you can browse to any page in your site and click the edit button, then click override variable, then choose final-text. (see images below)

Now after you do this, you will have a custom area at the bottom of the page you are editing where you can completely change the Final-text area for that one page only. By doing this, for example on the site we sell neon signs, I have a different Final-text for my home page than I do for all my other pages. This way I control exactly what I want and where I want it.

This method for overriding variables can be done with tons of other stuff to. As you can see by the picture above, you can override availability of certain items or change the thumbnail picture sizes. Play around with this feature. Its a great little option for Yahoo Store owners.

If you were not aware, you can do a bulk upload of all your images for your Yahoo Store catalog. Of course, the only catch is that the image name must also be the same name as the ID in your store catalog. It can be a little daunting to if you are trying to have SEO friendly page names. Most of the time, your supplier will give you a file (if you are lucky) with their item number and the pictures are usually named the same as the item number. So you may have CB-123 as an item number with an image named CB-123.jpg which is perfect for easy uploading to your store. Once you have your catalog populated, you simply click on CONTROLS in advanced editor mode in your store editor. Once there you will see something like this…

All the images just need to be zipped up (I use Winzip) into zip files and uploaded using the Multiple Image Upload. If all your image names are exactly like your ID's in your Yahoo Store catalog, then your image will show up just right. Now, the fun part… did you know you can also do a bulk upload of the second images or Inset images in your store?

In order for this to work, you need to create a new column in your database (.csv file) called inset. In that column, you will list the name of the image but do not put the extension of the image. So basically no .gif or .jpg. After you do this, upload your .csv file using the database upload. Then put all those Inset images into a zip file and upload them using the Multple Image Upload like mentioned above.

Thats it! Now you can buik upload your main image AND your Inset images in your Yahoo Store! Quick and easy. 

PS - Rob Snell just emailed me to say "You can also upload custom-image fields the same way!

Ya know, this may sound a bit belittling but honestly…do your shoppers actually read? I ask this question because after having had ecommerce Yahoo stores for a few years now, its apparent to me that shoppers just don't read. For example, one of my sites that sells neon open signs, has a free shipping offer. All orders over $150 dollars get free shipping if they simply enter the coupon code "ship4free" at checkout. Its that simple…or so I thought. Whats so ironic is that I have it plastered all over the shopping cart pages. How can people actually miss this? See below…

Now don't get me wrong, this is actually kinda done on purpose. My site specifically states that the free shipping offer must be done online and by the person doing the ordering and that we cannot go back and substract the shipping later (which I do if they call me). The cool part is that since most people don't read, we actually get 2 out of 5 orders where people just did not enter then coupon code. Because of this, we make over a thousand dollars per month on this 1 site alone in just shipping charges. Since the price of shipping is already included in the sale price of the neon sign itself, its just extra money in our pocket for people that, well, just don't read or maybe they just don't care.

So the question remains…do shoppers actually read whats on your site? Based on our neon sign website, the answer is yea, about 70% of them do. The other 30% are either to lazy, spending someone elses money and don't care or still very shaky when it comes to online shopping. Either way or whatever reason it is, you can take advantage of these types of situations and not feel bad about it all.

Ya know, Yahoo has really done an outstanding job on their checkout process but you need to take it to another level. The checkout by itself is as plain and drab as it gets. For example, check out this store (http://buynselleverything.com/) and click on the View My Cart link at the top of the page. That is pretty much the stock version of the actual Yahoo shopping cart. Now ask yourself, why would you spend money on designing your logo, creating your site template, programming your store and then not spend as much time, energy and money into the one part of your Yahoo store that actually makes you money? Mind boggling aint it? And its not just them, this is all over the place. For example; 

http://www.furniture-zoo.com/
http://www.smallhandsrags.com/
http://www.theoriginalcushie.com/
http://www.globalgoddessbeauty.com/
http://www.ultimatefitnessgear.com/

And the list goes on and on and on. Its quite amazing actually. Imagine walking into a Belk to go shopping. You smell all the colognes and perfumes, stroll by the leather shoes and then into the men's department. You pick out an amazing blazer and ask to try it on. You head to the dressing rooms and slip the jacket on and stand in front of the mirror. You cannot believe how awesome this jacket makes you look so you decide to go ahead and make the purchase. You walk up to one of the associates and they direct you downstairs. You head downstairs where you see rust on the stair railings, pipes dripping water overhead and the lights are dull. You reach the checkout counter and are greeted by a guy that has not had a clean shave in 4 days, smells of tobacco, is missing 2 teeth and processes your credit card on an old slide machine.

Now I don't know about you but if something like that happens to me, I am leaving my stuff down in the basement and getting the hell outta there.

This is what you are putting your customers through when you don't make sure your checkout process is as good (if not better) than your main site. And the funny thing is, its only 350 dollars to customize your cart and if you cannot do it yourself, call me! I can do it for you.

Stop watching your customers abandon the shopping cart of your Yahoo Store. The features are there already, you just have to put them all to proper use.

If you want to see how a Yahoo Store checkout should look, here are a few of our stores.

http://www.replicadungeon.com/
http://www.brightneonsigns.com/
http://www.alchemydungeon.com/
http://www.ledsignworks.com/

Were you aware that your shoppers CAN use more than 1 single coupon code at checkout? Most people are simply not aware of this little feature but you can do it. For example, one of my Yahoo stores sell neon open signs and we offer free shipping for all orders over 150 dollars. We also have a newsletter that gives registrants a 5% off coupon code. So normally a shopper would plug in 1 of the coupon codes and it would calculate into their cart but what about the other one?

The answer is simple… your customers just need to add BOTH coupon codes at once separated by a comma. So if you have a coupon that is SHIP4FREE and one coupon code that is 5OFF, your customers would just need to plug in SHIP4FREE, 5OFF at the same time!

Simple little things can make a huge difference. Remember to post a note in your checkout areas so your customers understand how to use more than 1 coupon code at the same time…if you want to offer this type of thing.

It also works this way for multiple gift certificates. Hope this helps!

Well folks, turns out this is completely wrong. My sources lied to me because I just tried it and it definitely does not work so I am retracting my statements from above. Also, according to Yahoo, the above tactic is supposed to work for multiple gift certificates but that again, is false. What does work for multiple gift certificates is you enter the first certificate and hit apply and then you enter the second gift certificate (and so on) and hit apply and they total up correctly. Go figure, I thought I had a new trick for Yahoo store owners and it turns out to be bogus. O well, hopefully you still learned something from all this mess.

Ya know, its been said time and time again that we are in an economic crisis and the fact is…we are. But what can you do to make a difference? Experts continue to advise people to shop online to save time and money. No wear and tear on your car, less frequent gas fillups and no lines is why there has been an increase in online sales over these last 6 months or so.

We all know that traffic is the single most important thing for a successful online business so its your duty to take advantage of all the options your Yahoo Store can provide you with. Coupons are a great way to offer FREE SHIPPING to your customers. You can add a coupon code and tell people that if they purchase X amount you will ship it for free. Just enter the coupon code at checkout.

Its important in these times with more online shoppers that you get an edge over your competition. If you don't do it, I promise you someone else will. Also be extremely public about your shipping offers. Add an image to your site that specifies that you offer dicounts and free shipping. Don't assume your customers will see it or search for it. You only have 1 shot at keeping your customers and getting them to buy from you so don't leave them wondering.

So, like many of you have already noticed, Yahoo increased their hosting fees. Starting Oct 1, 2008, those stores that are on the Standard and Legacy accounts will see a 33% increase in their monthly fee. From 99.99 per month to 129.95 per month. And here's a little shocker for ya… check out their info page http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/plans.php and you will not see a price change here. So guess what that means? All potentially new Yahoo store owners will get caught in a trap. Can you imagine doing your research, choosing Yahoo Merchant Solutions as their ecommerce solution of choice and within 30 days already get hit with a price increase?! Sounds quite shady really…

What aggravates me the most is that there is no changes to warrant a 33% increase. Yahoo already takes 1%, or more, of the total sales each month for doing nothing. Now they add an extra 30 bucks a month…thats like a instant 12 million dollar profit (PER MONTH!) for doing nothing more than they are doing right now.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Yahoo Stores. Its easy to use, its really search engine friendly and it includes 95% of the features needed to operate an successful online business. I just hate the fact that companies do this type of thing knowing how handicapped most business owners are. I know that I am not packing up and leaving to start over somewhere else and other Yahoo store owners won't do it either.

Please don't take this message the wrong way. Sometimes we get used to being able to operate our business as cheaply and efficiently as possible and when someone throws a monkey wrench in the program, we get our panties in a bunch. All in all, a Yahoo store is still one of the cheapest ways to operate an ecommerce business online and as long as Yahoo continues to prove their system produces, we will keep on paying the price.

But it doesn't mean we cannot gripe about it from time to time;-p