March 2008 StoresOnline Merchant Newsletter

Greetings from Robert Schow, VP of Customer Relations

Important Note: The Keyword Analysis Tool has been changed. To use the new version, log into one of your StoresOnline Pro websites and click on the Pages tab. Edit your Home page and click the Analyze button. Select Keyword Analysis from the Tool drop down menu. Enter the keyword or keyword phrase that you want to analyze in the field provided and click the Run button. Additional features and functionality will be added to this tool in the near future.

Website Real Estate
This month we will discuss some very important tips about the Real-estate on your website and how you can better use different areas to help convert visitors into customers.

One of the Prime Real-estate areas of your website is your Header. The content included in your header is importannt because it is usually the first thing that a visitor sees and it will appear at the top of every page on your website. You want your visitors to be able to see at a glance who you are and what you offer. Other important things to include are credit card logos for the payments you accept, a phone number if you accept phone orders and any other short tag lines to make your customers feel comfortable ordering from you. An example from http://www.wheatgrasskits.com/

• Over 10 years in business


• #1 Wheatgrass Destination Online


• Over 45,000 Happy customers

Your home page is your window display for your website to draw customers into your store. This is often the first page your customers will see. Make sure that you are giving your customers a reason to purchase from your site. The opening paragraph on your home page should be roughly 25 to 30 words and should leave no question as to what your site offers. Use the 15 second rule to explain what you are selling and what the benefits are for purchasing from you. Below is the opening paragraph from the home page of http://www.wheatgrasskits.com/.

Grow your own wheatgrass, barleygrass, sunflower greens, sprouts or herbs for pennies a day! WheatgrassKits.com offers you nature's most perfect living foods.

If you offer something like free shipping for orders over a certain amount, make that clear and visible in the openeing paragraph, the header, or both. If you are highlighting a specific product or category page from the text on your home page, be sure to create text links from the paragraph to the appropriate page.

When a customer comes to your website, they know that your goal is to sell them your products. Don't be afraid to do exactly that.

Some of the other key pages on your website are the About Us, Privacy Policy, Contact Us, and Frequently Asked Questions pages. When you receive a call or email from a customer with questions that might be common to other customer, add their question with the corresponding answer to your FAQs page.

For additional information on this topic, take some time to re-visit the Dialing In Your Website Tutorial found in the Initial Website & Product Research section of Merchant Services.

New StoresOnline Pro Features

New Warehouses/Drop Shippers:


11 new dropshippers have been added to the warehouses section under the Products tab. This will offer you a larger variety of drop shipping. Many of these new drop shippers have no activation fees or monthly fees.

Receipt Page Content in PRO: There are now 2 areas of your order form receipt that you can add content to. One is content that is displayed on your confirmation page and the printable PDF version of your receipt that your customer gets when they complete an order. The other is an advanced section used to add code such as Google adWords conversion tracking. To add and edit this content, go to the Pages tab, then click on the Forms tab, edit your order form and then click on the Receipt tab.

New Design: The new design Bistro has been finished and is available for use.

Wish List: A new feature in StoresOnline Pro is the Wish List. The Wish List allows your customer to compile an order that you may not be ready to place that day but it will save it for when they come back to complete it.

New Tutorial - Basic Computer Skills: This tutorial is intended for StoresOnline merchants that are in need of some instruction in basic computer skills. It is divided into two parts; basic desktop computer skills and basic internet computer skills. To watch this video tutorial, go to the Other/Misc section in Merchant Services and click on the Computer Basics link.

Introducing the Avail 24/7 Communication System from StoresOnline. Make Your Small Business Look, Sound, and Feel Like a Big Business! Get your own Toll Free Number now by calling customer support at 801-434-8582. Manage your account online and view your voicemail, email and faxes in one location.

iMergent Inc., parent company of Storesonline, launched our mortgage and financial services division November 17, 2007 under a Federal Bank Charter. This new division will continue the tradition of outstanding customer service and innovation that you have come to depend on from Storesonline. The timing is great as fixed rates are near historic lows—15 Year fixed rate is available today of 4.875%!! iMergent Financial Services is currently able to provide residential and commercial real estate lending, credit enhancement services, and equipment leasing. Make sure to check out future additions of the newsletter for more details on each of these exciting new services.

Product Spotlight: There is a mortgage revolution going on with the Mortgage Accelerator. With the recent lowering of interest rates from the Fed, the rates on this mortgage product are incredible. You can lock in on a rate today as low as 3.87%. The best part about this program is the Mortgage Acceleration component which literally could enable you to pay off your home in 1/3 to ½ the time with virtually no change to your daily spending habits. Please contact us for a FREE, NO OBLIGATION consultation to how this program works. We also are sponsoring a webinar on Wednesday, March 19th at 4 PM PST, 5 PM MST, 6 PM CST, or 7 PM EST. Call in info is:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/464599721

Conference Call: (605) 990-0010, access code 464-599-721

Meeting ID: 464-599-721

Stores Online now offers additional value added shipping services through
Atto Solutions using DHL Express.


Now you can get your products shipped fast, reliably and cost effectively through DHL. All you have to do is select the DHL shipment option and in a few clicks you can have your shipment on the way. If you choose the NAS (Next Afternoon Service) through an exclusive arrangement with Stores Online you can get your package via this air service for just a few pennies more than you would spend on the ground shipment option.

For more than 35 years, DHL has built the world's premier global delivery network by trailblazing express shipping in one country after another. Over 220 countries and territories later, DHL is the global market leader of the international express and logistics industry. DHL specializes in providing customers with innovative and customized transportation solutions from a single source.

Featured Testimonial

"I had about 20 years of retailing...and I’ve seen a lot of people that have no retail experience at all, and they were doing it. If they can do it, you know, I should have a little edge."

Paul and Sharron Savoie

http://www.petfenceworld.com/
http://www.protechcarcovers.com/
Click Here to read their story >>

Our customer service and programming departments are committed to providing the best possible service to our merchants by listening and responding to their needs. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for our customer service department, you may visit us at www.myquickresponse.com for 24/7 Customer Support Live Chat. You may also call 801-434-8582.

As always, we are grateful to have you on board as a merchant with StoresOnline! See you next month!

Robert Schow
VP of Customer Relations
StoresOnline, Inc.

February 2008 StoresOnline Merchant Newsletter

Greetings from Robert Schow, VP of Customer Relations

Now that we are in the second month of 2008, I hope you have started putting your goals to the test and are reaping the rewards of doing so. Last month we went over adding credibility to your site by using Testimonials. This month we will touch on some suggestions for Marketing Offline.

Marketing Offline
Customer acquisition, the process of gaining new customers, can be an ongoing saga for business owners. In a business, customer acquisition is more important than buying office furniture, designing business cards, purchasing computer systems and son on.

To make a profit and stay in business, business owner need a reliable way to get more customers in the door that are willing to spend money. One of the best ways to acquire more customers is through a direct response marketing system with the capability of carefully tracking and accounting for the source of the traffic. This simply means that whatever method a business owner chooses to seek out new customers, there should be a built-in way of tracking the response in order to know where the customer came from.

You must tell your potential customers where they can find you and give them a compelling reason for doing business with you. All marketing practices can be boiled down to this one thought. It sounds so simple when you think about it, but this is one of the major stumbling blocks to a successful business. The owner thinks potential customers will spend time and energy searching out a company to do business with. This is simply not the case.

Most potential customers will only shop at places they already know about. If they do not know how to find you, they will not come to you to buy anything. You must find a way to tell potential customers where your business can be found.

You can accomplish this by following a few of these basic steps:

1. Distribute a press release detailing the latest breakthrough in your business field, available only at your place of business. Include a special telephone number for customers to call for more information.

2. Place an ad in your local yellow pages publication. It doesn't have to be huge, elaborate, or expensive. Something modest and consistent will do. Readers become comfortable with ads they have seen before. After your ad runs a few times, you will be surprised how many people begin to feel they can trust giving your ad a try. Additionally, it can be quite an added attraction to couple your local ad with such things as special discount offers in the ad.

3. Send everyone in your zip code a postcard announcing a sale at your place of business. Have them bring in the postcard to receive the discounted price.

4. Become the local expert in your business field by being interviewed on the radio. Include a special phone number for customers to call during the broadcast to get more information.

5. Give a speech at the Chamber of Commerce. Hand out problem solving brochures with your address, phone number and a special code number for customers to use to get a discount.

Many business owners regard marketing only as a necessary evil. They would rather concentrate on their core business activities. But when they use these simple methods to harness the powerful secret to getting more customers, they can eliminate the pain of marketing. Their businesses will then be truly successful in bringing in more customers, more money, and more profits.

New Software Features
Product Reviews: StoresOnline Pro sites now has a Product Review feature that allows visitors to rate and review their products. This feature can be enabled by navigating to the Site menu, then going to the Options tab and clicking the checkbox next to "Show Product Reviews". Below a product will appear a list of reviews as well as a review form that can be filled out and submitted. You can approve, reject and delete submitted reviews.

Introducing the Avail 24/7 Communication System from StoresOnline. Make Your Small Business Look, Sound, and Feel Like a Big Business! Get your own toll free number now by calling customer support at 801-434-8582. Manage your account online and view your voicemail, email and faxes in one location.

iMergent Inc., parent company of Storesonline, launched our mortgage and financial services division November 17, 2007 under a Federal Bank Charter. This new division will continue the tradition of outstanding customer service and innovation that you have come to depend on from Storesonline. The timing is great as fixed rates are near historic lows—15 Year fixed rate is available today of 4.875%!! iMergent Financial Services is currently able to provide residential and commercial real estate lending, credit enhancement services, and equipment leasing. Make sure to check out future additions of the newsletter for more details on each of these exciting new services.

Product Spotlight: What is a 700 FICO worth to you? Whether you are applying for a job, renting an apartment, buying or leasing a vehicle, or applying for a credit card, YOU ARE PART OF THE CREDIT MACHINE. Especially amidst the nations CREDIT CRUNCH, credit scores are as important as ever. 79% of all credit reports contain an error of some kind with 25% of these errors being serious enough to result in the denial of credit. We offer:

• A quality educational program aimed at helping you raise your FICO scores


• A Member Service Center with qualified staff to assist you with your credit needs


• Free credit report and interactive credit score monitoring


• Free auditing and verification of items you believe to be incorrect, erroneous, or otherwise unverifiable


• A monthly newsletter to educate you on the “credit machine”

Our financial specialists are standing by to help you with any of your financial needs.

Call: 866.918.8866 OR Email: contact@imergentfinancialservices.com

Featured Testimonial

"It was the tools, the marketing tools, that make the difference. And StoresOnline exhibited all of the marketing tools that I needed."

Karla with a K

www.proclubgear.com

Click Here to read Karla's story >>

Best of luck in all your endeavors this new year and we'll see you next month.

Robert Schow
VP of Customer Relations
StoresOnline, Inc

January 2008 StoresOnline Merchant Newsletter

Greetings from Robert Schow, VP of Customer Relations

We finally made it through the Holidays and are slowly getting back to our routines. We now can start the New Year by setting some goals for our businesses. One of these would be refreshing and updating your website. We start off this New Year with the value of customer testimonials.

Testimonials
Customer testimonials are a great compliment to your company, and a very effective marketing tool. Suitable for everything from direct mail to press releases to website flash animation, remember these tips for getting the most from your testimonials.

Keep It Real
Always use actual testimonials from your customers. According to author Robert W. Bly, "Even the most skilled copywriter can rarely make up a testimonial that can match the sincerity and credibility of genuine words of praise from a real customer or client." Cite your source with name, company and city but don't list confidential or specific contact information.

The Magic Word
Always ask your client's permission to use their testimonial and try to get a general release so you can use it repeatedly in a variety of venues. Thank your client for their cooperation and let them know how much their comments help your business.

Short Is Not Always Sweet
Avoid paraphrased sound bites that look more like clever editing jobs. Instead, use full quotes about specific services, solutions or products your company provided.

Archive
You may want to start a testimonial database and/or file so that your comments are close at hand, especially if some of your customers have agreed to act as references. A database will also help track testimonial usage. If a testimonial or reference leads to new business, you'll want to show your appreciation to the client who helped land the lead.

New Software Features
Product Reviews
You can now have visitors rate and review products they have purchased from your site. This feature can be enabled by navigating to the Site menu, then to the Options tab and clicking the checkbox next to the "Show Product Reviews". Below a product will appear a list of reviews as well as a review form that can be filled out and submitted. You can approve, reject and delete submitted reviews. For more detailed information on this feature please see the help tab.

iMergent Inc., parent company of Storesonline, launched our mortgage and financial services division November 17, 2007 under a Federal Bank Charter. This new division will continue the tradition of outstanding customer service and innovation that you have come to depend on from Storesonline. The timing is great as fixed rates are near historic lows—15 Year fixed rate is available today of 4.875%!! iMergent Financial Services is currently able to provide residential and commercial real estate lending, credit enhancement services, and equipment leasing. Make sure to check out future additions of the newsletter for more details on each of these exciting new services.

Product Spotlight: What is a 700 FICO worth to you? Whether you are applying for a job, renting an apartment, buying or leasing a vehicle, or applying for a credit card, YOU ARE PART OF THE CREDIT MACHINE. Especially amidst the nations CREDIT CRUNCH, credit scores are as important as ever. 79% of all credit reports contain an error of some kind with 25% of these errors being serious enough to result in the denial of credit. We offer:

• A quality educational program aimed at helping you raise your FICO scores


• A Member Service Center with qualified staff to assist you with your credit needs


• Free credit report and interactive credit score monitoring


• Free auditing and verification of items you believe to be incorrect, erroneous, or otherwise unverifiable


• A monthly newsletter to educate you on the “credit machine”

Our financial specialists are standing by to help you with any of your financial needs.

Call: 866.918.8866 OR Email: contact@imergentfinancialservices.com

Featured Testimonial

"With StoresOnline, you have an original outlay, but after that, basically, you have everything at your fingertips...the information is there. You just follow it step-by-step."

Lee and Sue Harper
www.thetexastamalewarehouse.com
Click Here to read their story >>

Best of luck in all your endeavors this new year and we'll see you next month.

Robert Schow
VP of Customer Relations
StoresOnline, Inc

December 2007 StoresOnline Merchant Newsletter

Greetings from Robert Schow, VP of Customer Relations

We would like to first Thank You for another great year. We have been able to progress as a company and importantly make great improvements and upgrades to our software.

The end of the Year has come and I am sure we are all busy with filling orders and shipping them out. This is also the time that we spend with a lot of families and friends.

2007 Accomplishments

• SSPA Star Award – We were awarded the SSPA Star Award for Services Excellence in Consumer Support. Read more here.


• We were able to add several functions and updates to our software. Please see Technology Blogs.


• We have expanded our Merchant Services with more articles and marketing tutorials. Please refer to Merchant Services.

Important Dates

Christmas Holidays 2007: There will be no phone support available. We will be closed December 24th and 25th ALL DAY!

New Years: There will be no phone support available. We will be closed ONLY on the 1st. We will remain open December 31, 2007 and January 2, 2007.

Programming Extravaganza
One More Week for the $99.00 Website Programming Offer!
Click here for details.

iMergent Inc., parent company of Storesonline, is pleased to announce a new array of financial products being offered to our merchants through iMergent Financial Services. This new division will continue the tradition of outstanding customer service and innovation that you have come to depend on from Storesonline. iMergent Financial Services is currently able to provide residential and commercial real estate lending, credit enhancement services, and equipment leasing. Make sure to check out future additions of the newsletter for more details on each of these exciting new services.

Product Spotlight: Why should you get your commercial equipment lease with iMergent Financial Services? We can issue approvals in as little as 24 hours, over 90% of our applications are approved, we offer a variety of flexible financing programs with competitive rates, we finance almost ALL types of equipment, and we can handle A to C credit. So free up cash flow and make your business accounting more simple. Our financing specialists will help you to acquire the best equipment financing option that offers you the most benefits. There is no cost or obligation to apply, so call or email us today.

Call: 866.918.8866 OR Email: contact@imergentfinancialservices.com

Updated Software Features

Categories: Now if there is no Category Start Page selected it will no longer graft the category tree into the site map.

Dividing Lines: Before you were able to add or remove the dividing lines from a product list displayed in the center or bottom. The dividing lines were not displayed on the left or right even if this option was checked. This option will now work for the left and right sides as well as center and bottom. This is enabled by default, so most product lists in the right and left column in your licenses will display dividing lines; however, you can edit that component and click off the dividing lines option to disable them.

Surveys: You can now add surveys to your web site. This new feature can be found by navigating to the Pages menu and then clicking on the Surveys tab.

Sorting: Your customers can now view your product categories and lists in the order they would like. You will find this option once you add a category or product list element to your page.

12 Days of Christmas Safety
‘Tis the Season to be Careful

On the first day of Christmas… Keyword Navigation
Using keyword navigation by setting links throughout the text or ad copy you create for emotional response (as noted above) is very effective in driving potential customers further into your site and onto product pages where they can place orders. Consider making keywords and phrases used throughout your ad copy and other text into clickable links that link to a page or product in your site that each keyword or phrase refers to.

On the second day of Christmas… Check your Meta
To set up a meta title for a page, start with your pages tab, select the page you want to edit, open the page for editing, look for the "Edit" tab on the right hand side and click it. Then look for the "Meta Title" box and type in your title info.

For Meta description and keywords, select the "Meta" tab on the right hand side, click it, and add a Meta element for description and another for keywords

On the third day of Christmas… Unique Selling Points/Proposition
A USP (Unique Selling Point) is a subtle line or phrase that draws focus to a beneficial aspect of your product or service. A USP is advertised in such a way that it implies you are somehow different from your competitors without actually specifically saying you are different. For example, a recent advertising campaign for Sprint PCS used a USP that focused on the aspect of their network being “all digital”. It seemed to imply that they were the only company that offered mobile phone service on an all-digital network; yet there were other mobile phone service providers that were also set up on all digital networks.

On the fourth day of Christmas… Contact Info/Having an 800 number
It's often a good idea to designate a small space somewhere near the top of your page and at the bottom that lists a phone number customers can call to make inquiries and/or an e-mail visitors may use to contact you. An 800 number is suggested but any customer service number and other contact info listed near the top of the page can increase the credibility of your site and trust with potential customers.

On the fifth day of Christmas… Page list/Link in Footer
Adding a simple page list for all of your top level pages horizontally in the footer of your site provides visitors and customers more convenience to navigate to another page after reading through the bottom of the current page without having to scroll back up to the main navigation menu for your site near the top of the page.

On the sixth day of Christmas… Promotional Info
A largely overlooked technique for making your site more marketable is putting informational content on your site to accompany the product or service you provide. Informational content can be an article that relates to the industry or market your product or service fits with. Informational content increases the profile of your site for relevancy-based search engines. While articles and tutorials posted on your site may be longer than your standard ad copy, if properly optimized with a proper meta title, description, and keywords, informational pages can have a dramatic effect upon search engine rankings.

For more info on ideas and guidelines for setting up informational content to aid you in promoting the site, please refer to pages 42-46 of the “Dialing In Your Website” manual, which can be downloaded from Merchant Services.

On the seventh day of Christmas – Secure Site
It is good to have some sort of logo or icon that re-enforces the notion that your site is secure. Many merchants just use a nice looking icon or create their own icon or image that symbolizes the security of their site. Ultimately, the test of security for any site page used to capture info is to look for a little yellow lock icon in the bottom of the browser window and also look for an 's' following 'http' on the page's URL in the address bar of your browser. You may also want to use a line of text that emphasizes the security of your site, for example "100% Secure Shopping!” and make it stand out.

On the eighth day of Christmas… Blog (This is also very important during the busiest shopping season)
Consider creating a blog (you can set one up at www.blogger.com). If you can commit some time every so often to write in a personal blog, it can help increase relevancy and give search engines more links to index to your site. Keep the information you write relevant to your site and provide a link to it from your site as well as links back to your site from within your blog. Remember, a blog is different from a discussion board in that a blog is like an online journal or diary that only you would add info to.

*Note – If your site is built with StoresOnline Pro, then you may add a forum to your site to serve as a blog. A forum can be set up to be like a discussion board where anyone can contribute content to it, or it can be set up to serve as a blog (where you are the only one that contributes content to it).

On the ninth day of Christmas… Positive Benefits
Near the top of your page, you may consider listing positive benefits, such as a bulleted list of reasons why your products, business, and website will satisfy your customers. .

On the tenth day of Christmas… Testimonials
If you have any friends or know of anyone who's had a positive experience with your product or your site; request them to write up a brief testimonial for you to post on your site. This will also increase the credibility of your product, and thus your site.

On the eleventh day of Christmas… Viral Marketing
An example of this would be to have an “Email a friend” element on all pages that you would be happy to have customers refer their friends to. The more information you have on your site that would be of interest to those you are marketing to, the more likely they will want to refer other friends and acquaintances they may have that would share their interest.

On the twelve day of Christmas… Newsletters (Extremely important during ANY holiday season)
This could be critical in retaining customers. Most major sites on the internet today offer newsletters and the opportunity for new site visitors and/or customers to sign up for it. By adding a place to register for a newsletter and encouraging visitors and customers to subscribe to it, you will be able to secure customer names and e-mails, and then advertise certain specials and items through each newsletter, as well as providing useful and valuable tips, and information relating to the hobby or activity your products support.

Our customer service and programming departments are committed to providing the best possible service to our merchants by listening and responding to their needs. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for our customer service department, you may visit us at www.myquickresponse.com for 24/7 Customer Support Live Chat.
You may also call 801-434-8582.

As always, we are grateful to have you on board as a merchant with StoresOnline!

November 2007 StoresOnline Merchant Newsletter

Greetings from Robert Schow, VP of Customer Relations

Last month we went over different ways you can use various promotional strategies to help accommodate your customers during this Holiday Season. This month we will be touching on a few different ways you can use major search engines to help you accomplish your marketing goals.

Thought for the Month
This month will be the beginning of the busiest shopping time of the Year! This is a great time to gear up on your marketing skills and start driving in the traffic.

We will be discussing the 3 major search engines.

• Google - Free Submit: http://www.google.com/addurl/


• Yahoo Search - Free Submit: http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request/


• MSN Live - Free Submit: http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx

Google
Google offers a variety of marketing techniques and tools to suit your budget. One tool that we highly recommend is Google AdWords. There are 3 things you can accomplish with this

1. Your target will be reached. You can advertise to people who search on Google. This way your AdWords campaign can target new audiences.


2. You will have greater control. You would be able to edit your ad and adjust it to your budget until you get the results that you want. You can also restrict it to specific languages and geographic locations.


3. You get measurable value. You do not have a binding contract that will hold you to a minimum spending requirement and/or time commitment. And with the cost-per-click option, you're only charged if people click on your ads. This means every dollar of your budget goes toward bringing new prospects to your website.

Yahoo
Yahoo also offers a variety of marketing products.

1. Yahoo! Local - Local Listings are a great way to promote your business to customers looking for information in Yahoo! Local. Unlike Local Sponsored Search, which uses a pay-per-click payment model, Local Listings have 3 listing options; Basic (Free), Enhanced (Fee) and Featured (Fee). Visit http://listings.local.yahoo.com for more information.


2. Yahoo! Search Submit - This enables you to submit up to 5 URLs per domain for inclusion in non-sponsored search results on Yahoo! and other portals such as AltaVista and AllTheWeb. Visit https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit for more information.


3. Yahoo! Search Marketing Product Submit - This will allow you to promote your products prominently in Yahoo! Shopping and appear in highly relevant areas across Yahoo!, giving you access to millions of motivated buyers. Pay for your performance Inclusion in Yahoo! Product Search and buyer's guide pages is based on a cost-per-click price that varies by product category. You pay only for leads directly to your site. Quickly and easily update product information and monitor performance. Visit http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/shopsb/index.php for more information.

MSN Live
We have negotiated directly with Microsoft on your behalf to get you a $50 advertising credit with Microsoft's adCenter. When you establish an advertising account with them with a low $5.00 activation fee, you will receive a $50 advertising credit which goes towards clicks.

Go to startadcenter.com/storesonline and use promo code STORES07 during the setup process to receive your $50 credit. It's an awesome opportunity to spend just a little bit of money and gain valuable traffic. As you do, you will be better able to make the adjustments to your site and your marketing to maximize its effectiveness.

New Software Features

Custom Price Labels and Add to Cart text: This will allow you to customize the text used for your Add to Cart buttons and price labels. To access the custom labels ares, go to the Products tab and click on Price sets. Double click on your standard Price Set and the click the Labels tab.

Inventory Search/Pagination: Your inventory screen will have the ability to search by name or SKU. This will help with time out problems and will also benefit merchants that have thousands of products in inventory.

New Design: Check out the new design called Big Sky by going to the Site tab located in the Store Builder.

Allow Multiple Variation Ordering: This feature allows customers to buy quantities of multiple variations at once. For example, if you sell a product that comes in Small, Medium and Large, using this feature will add a quantity box next to each size. Now your customer can enter a separate quantity for each size and then click Add to Cart one time saving several back and forth clicks. To enable this feature on a specific product, you will need to be sure that the variation is being displayed as a list and then check the options box that says "Allow Multiple Variation Ordering"

DOBA Pro Memberships: The StoresOnlinePro platform now supports Doba Pro memberships. If you are a Doba Pro member, you will now be able to view products from all of the suppliers that you have access to.

Featured Merchant

"I finally got to the point where I wanted a change in my life. We wanted a business that would kind of express our passions...I love to photograph butterflies up close, you know, full frame. Now I can go do that just for fun without the stress of having to earn a living with my pictures."

Click Here to read Sue’s story
Sue Anderson
http://www.butterflybuzz.com/
http://www.motherearthclothing.com/

Our customer service and programming departments are committed to providing the best possible service to our merchants by listening and responding to their needs. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for our customer service department, you may visit us at http://www.myquickresponse.com/ for 24/7 Customer Support Live Chat. You may also call 801-434-8582.

As always, we are grateful to have you on board as a merchant with StoresOnline!

Robert Schow
VP of Customer Relations
StoresOnline, Inc.

Avoid Corporate “Bah, Humbug”

Will Your Company’s Christmas Be Full of Joy Or

Are You About to Experience Corporate “Bah, Humbug”?

Quick Facts
According to eMarketer, United States e-commerce holiday sales rose
24.6 percent for the 2006 holiday season compared to 2005.

For many retailers, the holiday season can represent anywhere between
25-40% of their annual sales.

"The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and he spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice." So Charles Dickens describes Ebenezer Scrooge in the holiday classic, A Christmas Carol. The story begins on Christmas Eve, with Scrooge at work. Later that evening, Scrooge is visited by three Ghosts of Christmas: Past, Present, and Yet to Come.

Our companies all have a past, we live in its present and we’re preparing for our futures. In case you haven’t noticed, the holiday shopping season is in full swing. Various consumer groups estimate that $30-$41 billion will be spent online in the next six weeks. That figure should both excite you and put the full fear of God in you. How prepared is your company’s website for the holiday season and how prepared are you to fulfill orders?

eCommerce has grown bigger and faster than any other form of commerce in the history of the world. There’s never been a time when you can sit in your basement office in Winnemucca, Nevada and purchase cupcakes at Josephine's Bakery in Rome, Italy (http://www.josephinesbakery.com).

Imagine it. $30 billion is out there about to be spent on whatever and you have an opportunity to collect on it. How? There are many reports and studies showing that nearly 70% of companies don’t have the ability to sell their products or services online. With 74% of Americans saying that they’re going to buy Christmas gifts online over the next few weeks it is ludicrous to draw traffic to your site only to lose them to your competitors who allow for eCommerce transactions.
In order to process orders your site must have three key elements:

· Shopping Cart
· Payment Gateway
· Merchant Account

For you to succeed online during the holiday season you’ll need more than just shopping cart technology. First, your site must look professional. Your site should reflect the kind of business you operate and should engender trust and confidence for consumers to buy your products without any reservations. We’ve all seen sites that make us question the security and integrity of their owners. Some sites look like the cliché used car dealership. Your site will lose more customers quicker by having a poorly designed site than anything else.

You need to make your site easy to navigate. If it takes more than one click to find your items for sale and begin the purchasing process you’re going to lose sales. At the least your site should have three items for sale on its homepage. Make sure you highlight those items you most want customers to purchase. Have high-quality photographs of the item with detailed product descriptions. Make sure the price is easily found. You should list products that a potential customer might enjoy to go along with their other purchases.

Help people find your website through a cost-effective online marketing plan. eMarketing is constantly evolving to match the evolution of search engines, Web 2.0 and consumer trends. You must adapt and evolve to stay ahead. Make certain that you work to strategically link your site, use resources wisely for your sponsored links. Optimize your site for search engines. If no one finds your site no one will buy your products.

A recent survey of online shoppers found a 60% increase in the likelihood of purchase if the site offered free shipping. If this is true you ought to consider absorbing that cost somehow. Even if the increased likelihood were 20%, don’t you think it would be worth it?

On November 26, 2007, over $700 million was spent on retail sales. Over 80% of Americans claimed that they’d spend time at home or at work purchasing gifts this week.

October 2007 StoresOnline Merchant Newsletter

Special Announcement:
In an effort to better serve our customers, we have asked J.D. Power and Associates to evaluate the support we provide to you. As part of their evaluation, they will be randomly sending out email messages from October 24th through 26th and asking for your help in completing an online survey. We would greatly appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey, as we value your input and want to offer the best support possible.

We are pleased to announce even more exciting new features for the month of October. Read below for a listing of the new features, tutorials, and other updated information from StoresOnline.

Thought for the Month:
We are starting to approach the holidays, so look for promotional advantages during this profitable season. You may want to pay close attention to major websites and their strategies, or use the Merchant Services tutorials to devise your own promotions for the holidays. Consider the following strategies:

• Free Shipping: Many consumers search for free shipping during the holidays


• Holiday packages: Create a kit made up of several items you sell on your site and sell it as a single product


• Holiday Coupons: Create discounts and special offers

New Software Features

Calendar Feature: You are now able to add a calendar to any page as an element. This will allow you to display your promotional events and customize your calendar. Please refer to the Calendars article in the Pages section of your Knowledge Base.

Contact Information Element: The Contact Information element lets you display your contact information on your site in an online contact card. This element recreates your information as an image, which may prevent malicious automated software from recording your personal information. It is similar to a business card, and can display the company name, phone, fax, email, and address.

Quantity Discount Pricing: If a product is on sale and a quantity discount pricing table has been defined, the product will now show the original price and sale price in a table along with their respective quantities.

Customizable “Add to Cart” Messages: You are now able to customize the “Add to Cart” button if you have a need for it to say something other than Add to Cart. For example, Buy Now, or Book Reservation etc.

Custom Site Elements: Custom Site Elements allow you to further customize your site's navigation. The site elements are the small links that appear at the very top of your site, usually above the header. Until now, there have been pre-set links to choose from such as View Cart, Login, Order Tracking etc. Now you can add links and text of your choice to this section of your site.

Simply navigate to the Site menu and the Elements submenu, select Custom from the drop down menu, and click the Add button. In the URL column, click the Ellipsis button to select any page from your site. Enter the text that you want to appear for this link in the Name column. If you want to add text to this section that doesn't link to another page, you can leave the URL field blank. One example of this would be to display your phone number or some other important messages.

Merchant Services Updates

log into Merchant Services to access these updated tutorials. Click Here

Creating Your Website v. 1.0 > Site Navigation (Navigability)
This article explains the importance of Site Navigation, or the system of links that allows your visitors to find all the important information on your site.

Going Live and the Testing Process > Getting 100 Visitors to Your Site on a Daily Basis
This article details the process of increasing the number of daily visitors to your site after publishing your site for the first time.

New Services Offered
StoresOnline is constantly negotiating with other online business companies to provide you with special offers to help you better your business. Please remember that your feedback, whether about StoresOnline software or our integrations with third-party software or services, is very valuable to us and we appreciate it very much.

Operation Dropship:

We have recently added Operation Dropship to our list of dropshippers. They provide IN STOCK drop ship products to your customers. They normally charge $39.95 monthly for this service. But during this limited beta test period, you pay a one-time fee of $3.00 for six months worth of service.

Visit http://www.operationdropship.com/storesms for additional information.

Microsoft adCenter:

We have negotiated directly with Microsoft on your behalf to get you a $50 advertising credit with Microsoft's adCenter. When you establish an advertising account with them for a low $5.00 activation fee, you will receive a $50 advertising credit, which goes towards clicks.

Visit http://startadcenter.com/storesonline for additional information.

Logoworks:

Logoworks and StoresOnline have teamed up to provide your business with a logo design solution that offers tremendous value.

Visit http://www.storesonline.logoworks.com/?source=STRSS1WL2&lpn=StoresOnline+Landing for additional information.

Makau Corporation:

Makau Corporation is the leader in online education, providing online education content for such companies as the Dell Learning Center, IBM, Net G Press and others. Makau has created an online educational environment exclusively for StoresOnline merchants. All courses are available to you at deep discounts, allowing you to continue your education on many technological topics, including Microsoft Office, Business Communication, Quickbooks & even network administration.

Visit http://storesonline.learningitnow.com/storesonline.asp for additional information.

Atto Solutions:

StoresOnline has teamed up with Atto Solutions to provide you small parcel cost saving services which include; Discounts with DHL and "Atto Alert" an innovative service that will contact your customers when the carrier has missed their delivery commitment, working with them and the carrier until the package is successfully delivered. Now that is Customer Service at its Best!

Visit http://www.attoautoship.com for additional information.

eLayaway:

eLayaway makes it easy for StoresOnline merchants to market their new payment option. You can download free banner ads, promotional ads and other creative digital assets from eLayaway's Merchant Account page. Simply sign-in to your Merchant eLayaway account (set up during the opt-in program) and download what you need. There's even a section devoted to sharing marketing ideas that work. Properly marketing eLayaway on your site can help increase sales conversion rates and reduce shopping cart abandonment. Thanks to eLayaway's growing network of consumer members, you may also see considerable increases in traffic to your sites.

Visit http://app2.elayaway.com/partner_splash/StoresOnline for additional information.

Veriship:

Through VeriShip, all StoresOnline merchants can have their UPS and FedEx shipments audited for free. VeriShip will work with you to discover over charges and mistakes in invoicing from these shipping companies and will get you credits on your shipping invoice. They only bill 50% of the credits actually attained. In other words, if they don’t save you money on your shipping, you pay them nothing.

Visit https://www.veriship.com/RegisterOnline.aspx?RefId=1 for additional information.

Our customer service and programming departments are committed to providing the best possible service to our merchants by listening and responding to their needs. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for our customer service department, you may visit us at www.myquickresponse.com for 24/7 Customer Support Live Chat. You may also call 801-434-8582.

As always, we are grateful to have you on board as a merchant with StoresOnline!