Yes - we've been very very quiet on the blog - but it's all for good - we have been hard at work on V5 of SiteDirector and will be pushing out a release at the first of the year.
So many good things have been going on - SD5 has been keeping us very busy and with good reason - it's a so much bigger application than we've ever produced.
We'll be posting a multi-part series covering the enhancements of SiteDirector 5 and what to look forward to over the next month - so stay tuned.
We will be updating our blog to keep it more fresh and start posting our information on Google Plus - we are just now building this page so if you would - go over and follow the Quill Design Google Plus page Click Here to view the page.
We will probably be posting our new updated information on our Google plus page - so keep abreast of things there.
More information to come!
We receive many requests on the release date of SiteDirector 5 and if you go back to some of our older posts, this software has been in the making for quite some time. Honestly - we've had some big projects come up that have dramatically slowed the development of v5 last year. This has been unfortunate, but necessary. But - the good news is - we are putting together a great piece of software, and working through each piece to make it a strong, well rounded future looking application.
For those who want to know timeframes - you've heard me say, it should have been out yesterday - but that isn't the case. As we are winding down on the overall coding and digging into the expansion of the code, we are looking to release sometime first quarter of 2011 - there will be some releases before then to select customers who are working closely with us. So in the near future, we'll probably post some of these websites that are being built on the new version of SiteDirector v5. The biggest holdup of the new version is going to be the installation, documentation and actually working through the manual processes such as settings, attribute editors, promotion editors etc. The core of the application is done, and right now we are able to have it function completely, but to add some of those functions are more of a manual process. So these editors will make it easier to manage from the backend.
We're very excited about v5 - and look forward to getting more details out about it. We do apologize that we've been quiet about it more so than we originally were, but decided it would be better to just keep coding than to keep promising.
A glimpse at some of the new features:
- 1) Skinable - we've re-worked completely how the templates and layouts works and put them into a skin framework
- 2) Multiple Stores = One Console - run multiple stores and have all stores managed and orders flow into the same administration area (this is not the same as running multiple customers from one installation for developers).
- 3) Product Attributes - setup attributes for example computers; memory, processor, brand, ect ... this is helpful on the front end to help filter the products down for the customers.
- 4) Plug-ins - SiteDirector 5 is now more of a core product with many of it's features built in as plug-in's. There is a mechanism to allow developers to create plug-ins as well - this will allow for features (like product reviews) to be re-built by a developer and then update the application
- 5) Completely revamped console interface utilizing lots of JS and Ajax.
- 6) Extensive database redesign to add more flexibility and expandability. 7) Many other juicy tidbits that will be listed out hopefully by year end. If you have any questions or have a unique need feel free to contact us to discuss.
Well, many of you have heard somewhere, seen on sites, talked to someone about "Facebook" ... it's crazy, some people live and die by it, while others like to be part of it and just monitor and few loathe it ... so with only a few who don't mess with it.. there are plenty of folks who do on a day to day basis ... many of those who do, do it many times per day (my wife included).
Anyway - when it comes to ecommerce, why not put a simple facebook page together for your business. Then hit up all of your friends and ask them to become a fan of your facebook page.
Here are details on how to setup a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=904
A great tool for your site is the "LIKE" button. You can create a "LIKE" button simply and then copy it to your site so as people are browsing your website/store they can click the "LIKE" button and your website is now connected to their facebook page as a like .. then others see it and they like it and so on, it is very very viral.
To Create a Like button: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like
If you want to have "individual like" pages for each one of your products in your site, that takes a bit more work and if you would like, contact us and we'll write up some code and place it in a few places to put a "LIKE" button all over your site. Each Like button would be unique to that page.
It's all free and just takes time ... building up friends and fans on your business page is a great way to get people to know who you are and feel like you're an authority. Use it .. you'll be glad you did! (Plus it's pretty fun seeing your old classmates and what they look like now .. IKES!)
We have decided not to post on SD5 for a long while as with any software development, it is always running behind and we didn't want to keep posting information as to how close we are and just disappoint folks. As you know, things come up, changes are made, code is re-worked and so on.
With that being said, we are still developing SiteDirector v5 and I would like to say, it looks great - things are moving good and quickly now.
We still have a fair amount of work to get through for a release so if your wanting to get your store online, go with v4 and upgrade once v5 comes out.
Hopefully within the next 30 days, we can post up some screen shots of v5(beta) so you can see what we've been doing. Then after that, keep the blogs updated with information as we move along.
Until then, enjoy and keep on selling!
When it comes to search engine optimization, page titles are very important, they are the first piece of information to tell the reader (or search engine) what the page is about.
Your page titles should try and avoid as many "generic" words as possible, but keywords and keyword phrases. These keywords and keyword phrases should be what you consider is the most popular used to find the kind of product you are selling.
For instance consider this product title:
Sony 32 TV
Ok this isn't that bad, it's got the manufacture and size. But how could we make it better .. maybe just a little bit better - which could make all the difference in the world.
New product Title
Sony SNY-XY32 32" Flat Panel High Definition TV
Now, we have the Manufacture, the model Number, the size, the style (Flat Panel) a feature (High Definition).
This is great, especially the model number, it will help people who know what they want find your page.
The only problem is that the new title though is GREAT for Search Engines, it's a little overwhelming for the actual person reading .. and could "clutter" your site up if all of your product names were labeled like this.
SiteDirector has a simple solution. When adding/editing a product it has a place to put in the "Page Title" and the "Meta Page Title".
Page Title = what the website displays to the visitors, this could be the "Sony 32 TV". Clean, short, tells them what they want.
Meta Title = What the search engines see and what they pickup so when someone is searching they see the more detailed title.
So you can get the best of both worlds, simple for ease on the eyes and detailed with search engines by using the Meta Page Title.
Just remember, spend time writing GREAT page titles and your payouts will be much greater!
We get this question quite often from customers who are starting their online business.
"I need to get credit cards, what do I need?"
It can seem confusing, but it is fairly straight forward.
You need two things to process credit cards and three if you want to process credit cards in real-time (ie approve/decline the card after the sale without you doing it by hand).
1) You need a business checking account - just a normal business checking account which you may already have.
2) You need a merchant account - A merchant account allows you to accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex etc... You can get this at your local bank or you can get it at another bank or even with an online service (such as Authorize.net).
If you are selling online or selling in a store you have to have a merchant account if you want to accept credit cards. (Besides paypal, which is a different story and another set of options).
Merchant accounts have their own set of fee's. Usually a per transaction fee and a percentage of the sale, most have a monthly fee as well.
3) If you want to process in real-time, you will need to get a gateway account, this basically sits on top of your merchant account and allows you to process credit cards through your website without you having to actually do the processing. As soon as someone completes the order, the credit card is checked through the gateway and the gateway sends back the approval or decline.
A gateway account has additional fee's. Usually a per transaction fee and a percentage of the sale and could even have a monthly fee.
There are a few companies out there that you may want to look at.
The biggest and most popular is Authorize.Net is the place to go. You can get your merchant and gateway account through our partner CDG Commerce.
Another good one is PayPal's PayFlowPro.
Finally, Your Pay/LinkPoint is another.
You can also accept credit cards through PayPal, but that is for another blog post and explaining their different services.
I hope this helps!
Just a quick note, version 4.91 of SiteDirector has just been released.
Current customers please log into your account to download the latest patch from the download site.
Most of the changes are security fixes and minor bugs. There is one enhancement found in the customer shipping fields that make things a little smoother during the checkout process.
Other than bugs, this will probably be one of the last releases for version 4.
All efforts are on version 5.
We've had this question a number of times, "How do I change the default "Demo Store header image to my logo". It is a pretty straightforward process and here is what you need to do.
Open up the /scripts/default.css file.
Look around line 37 for the following code:
#header h1 a{
width:293px;
height:57px;
background:url(../media/store-header.gif);
display:block;
text-indent:-9999px;
}
You'll see the background:url(../media/store-header.gif); line. The "store-header.gif" is the image that is currently by default being loaded.
You can create a new graphic and save it as store-header.gif in the /media/ directory and it will replace what is currently there. You can also give it a completely new name and save it whereever you wish, but make sure to adjust the #header code above to point to the new location and new image name.
Note, by default, the store-header.gif is a 293 x 57 pixel image.
Not a huge ordeal, but should help a few of you along the way.
We still get a fair amount of questions regarding SiteDirector working with Coldfusion 8. Even though it has been out for quite some time.
The answer to the question is yes, SiteDirector runs just fine on Coldfusion 8. Our servers (the demo included) all run on Coldfusion 8.
Other versions of software,
Microsoft's SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008 are also supported.
MySQL 5.x
Windows Server 2000, 2003 and 2008
Linux (Various versions have been used).
When it comes to Railo and Blue Dragon, we have honestly not tested version 4.x on these. BUT we have heard good things and SiteDirector runs fine on them as well.
For version 5, we are building and testing on Railo so it will be a supported version when v5 is released.
I hope this helps!
One feature of SiteDirector is Meta Titles, though simple enough, can prove to be very helpful to your webstore.
With SiteDirector, you have the option of using Page Titles and in addition, "Meta Titles".
By default, SiteDirector uses the Page title. But if you supply a Meta Title, the system will utilize that meta title for your page title and search engines gobble up the page titles.
It's a simple concept, but difficult to explain so let me explain the two places a "title" is used.
The first is the page, ie a department page loaded with products. You may have a product like "Green Ipod Nano". This is fine for a "title" It is readable, easy for the customer to view on the page and they know what it is.
The second place for a title is in the actual "Page Title" (the small title found at the top of your browser). This is what is read by the search engines. Well Green Ipod Nano is pretty common so lets give the search engines something better to eat or gobble up.
So instead of the "Green Ipod Nano" Lets give our page the "meta" title of "8GB Apple Ipod Nano XXX123" This meta page is giving more information for the search engines;
1) 8GB: People are searching for specific sizes
2) Apple: Brand/Manufacture
3) Nano: Product Name
4) Sku: Finally the part number that people may search on
Utilize your meta titles to give search engines all the information, titles, keywords and sku numbers. These are things that search engines will be looking for and will index on (one of many), but every little bit helps.
Don't go overboard, use thoughtful, useful "truthful" information.
So to recap :
Page Title (Green Ipod Nano) easy for the viewing public
Meta Page Title (8GB Apple Ipod Nano XXX123) keywordy, searchable and useful.
Hope this helps, keep working your product pages!