Adding Products on Pages in ShopSite

There are a few ways you can add products to your category pages in ShopSite.  You can go to the PRODUCT and add the pages the product is on, OR you can go to the PAGE and add products on the page.  If you are familiar with uploading products, you can do it through an upload.  The first two methods are below.

Adding pages to a PRODUCT

  1. Log in to ShopSite
  2. Click on Products
  3. Find your product (use the search for name or SKU), click on it
  4. Click on Edit Product Info
  5. Scroll down to Product Pages, click on the Select button
  6. Click on pages in the “Product is not in these Pages” section then click on Add, then OK. (TIP: click in the box, then start typing the beginning of the page name, it will jump you down to that page.  TIP2: Holding down the CTRL key will let you pick more than one page at a time.)
  7. Scroll down and click on Save.
  8. Publish when done.  TIP:  you do not have to publish after each one.  You can do a bunch then publish. Publishing shows you your changes.

Adding products to PAGES (TIP: use this method when adding lots of products to a page)

  1. Log in to ShopSite
  2. Click on Pages
  3. Find your page (use the search for name), click on it
  4. Click on Assign Items > Click on Product then proceed
  5. Pick products in the products not assigned section then click on Add, then save changes. (TIP: click in the box, then start typing the beginning of the product name, it will jump you down to that page.  TIP2: Holding down the CTRL key will let you pick more than one product at a time. TIP3: you can search for a certain word in the product and it will display only those.)
  6. Click on pages in the “Product is not in these Pages” section then click on Add, then OK.
  7. Publish when done.  TIP:  you do not have to publish after each one.  You can do a bunch then publish. Publishing shows you your changes.

Google Checkout Going Away

For those of you who use Google Checkout/Wallet as a payment option, looks like big changes are coming.  As of November 20th, this service will no longer be available.  Basically, Google Checkout/Wallet had acted as your payment gateway AND your merchant bank, very similar to how PayPal works.  Google has decided to quit doing this and say they will not offer a replacement product.

What does this mean to you?  If you offer Google Checkout/Wallet as a payment option in your ShopSite store, this will no longer work as of November 20th.  You MUST be sure you have another payment option available.  As I mentioned, PayPal basically works the same way so that would be a good option.  Also, if you usually pay your invoices from me via Google Checkout, you will need to use PayPal or send a check beginning in October 2013.

To read more about Google’s decision, you can directly to their site here:  https://support.google.com/checkout/sell/answer/3080449

ShopSite and Image Alt Tags

Want to get more traffic to your site … you need to make Google happy.  One thing you can do is to have what are called “alt” tags associated with your images.  If you are using ShopSite, these alt tags are not necessarily what you want them to be. Do a View > Source Code in your browser to see what is showing for  your product images.  You may be surprised at what is listed — might be file name which doesn’t mean much for a google search or might even be blank.

hosting at lexiconn
Hosting at Lexiconn

What can you do? Well, if you host with Lexiconn, they have developed a new utility just for this purpose, their Image Alt Tag Module.  If you have a ShopSite Pro account, they let you have this module for free and they will install it for you.  All you need to do is decide what you want your alt tag to be.  Pick from Product Name, Product Description, SKU, an extra product field so you can virtually use anything!  It updates daily so any changes you make show up in a timely manner without you having to do anything. Not sure what field to use for your alt tag? We can help you with that and can help you create a custom field if you want it something specific.

Be sure to use search words in your alt tag to help customers find you and keep Google happy!

Changing Multiple Products at once in ShopSite

Ever have the need to change or review something for all your products in an easy way?  With ShopSite you can do this.  What you want to do is to download your products, save the file, then open it in Microsoft Excel or similar spreadsheet program.

To download your products, go to ShopSite > Utilities
> ShopSite Database > Database Download > Products > Download.

Format: use the top radio button, most recent version

Download Fields:
to create a backup of all your products, use all.  To change or review something specific, click on the selected fields only button and select just the fields you want to see.  Always keep the SKU as it is a key field when you re-upload your changes.

Download Options: download data to your browser.

Download File Name:
give it a file name that makes sense. Save to your computer.

Open your file in spreadsheet program.  Make changes, then you can upload the same way.  Need help with the upload, let us know.  ALWAYS make a backup of your store before you upload just in case!

Social Media and ShopSite

Social Media and ShopSite
Social Media and ShopSite

As we all know, social media is here to stay.  If you are not using it, you are missing out.  ShopSite knows this and is continually updating to make ShopSite work in conjunction with social media.  Two features now included in ShopSite …. allowing your customers to login to your store with their facebook login (requires ShopSite Pro) and having a page at your facebook account that IS your store.

First, you need a facebook account.  You should make it a public account so anyone can access it.   If you already have a personal facebook account, you can create a page that attaches to it that can be for your business.  If you do not have a facebook or want a completely clean, new account, go here: https://www.facebook.com/business/build for instructions on setting it up.

For both features, you will want to be logged in to ShopSite and your Facebook account as administrator.

Facebook Store Page
To setup the page in facebook that is a store page, you can find the ShopSite
instructions here:  http://www.shopsite.com/help/11.2/en-US/sc/pro/index.htm?page=/help/11.2/en-US/sc/pro/facebook.html .  In ShopSite you will want to go to Merchandising > Social Media > Facebook.  You are doing the top section:
Facebook Store.  Wondering what this might look like? Check out the
facebook ShopSite store at Nelle and Lizzy:
http://www.facebook.com/nelleandlizzy#!/nelleandlizzy/app_252286991456101
.  If you cannot see it, login to your facebook account.

Facebook Connect
The second feature is letting your customers sign into customer
registration with their facebook account, (http://www.shopsite.com/blog/2011/08/why-use-facebook-connect/ ).  The instructions for setting this up
are here:  http://www.shopsite.com/help/11.2/en-US/sc/pro/index.htm?page=/help/11.2/en-US/sc/pro/facebook.connect.html .  In ShopSite you want to go to: Commerce Setup > Customer Registration> Configure.  If you are using shared
security (meaning, you haven’t purchased your one secure certificate), you will
need to know the name of the server you are using.  Contact your web host for this information, they can tell you want to use for App Domain (usually the server name, example: tan.secure-host.com) and the Site URL (usually the main secure space, example:
https://tan.secure-host.com).  Once you have set all of this up you may need to tweak your custom customer registration template to add the feature.

To see what it will look/work like, visit Nelle and Lizzy:
https://www.nelleandlizzy.com/cgi-nelleandlizzy/sb/registration.cgi?sbid=SSMSB1361821534.2259&func=1&storeid=*22a6607a641fe7e5e81cb0045967941d4f39d6&html_reg=html
.

Need help, just let us know.