May
29
    
Posted (rtmlwise) in Yahoo Store How To's, Yahoo Store Design on May-29-2008

Running out of items is a constant problem plaguing Yahoo Store Merchants. The only way to ensure their customers will not be frustrated by this unavoidable issue, is to incorporate an Auto-Notify feature. This feature can increase conversion ratios and had been proven very effective.

Heres how it works:

  • A customer comes across an out of stock item on your Yahoo Store
  • They are presented with a specified place to leave their email address
  • When your store replenishes the particular item in demand, the customer will automatically be notified through the email address they left on your Yahoo Store

Auto-Notification System for Yahoo Store


Check out this feature in action on http://superherotoys.com

 

Auto- Notification can be very useful to busy Yahoo Stores. It also provides a better experience for customers, which can lead to higher reviews.


 
Apr
30
    
Posted (yahoo-store-expert) in Yahoo Store How To's, Miscellaneous on April-30-2008

Scanning text is a method frequently used by page viewers. Many readers on the web don’t typically read that much. They skim the page of the site to gather general information about what it is that the site is about. The eye is naturally directed to perceive web pages in a particular way. But just how much are they (not) reading? Recent studies have shown at most users have time to view about 28% of the pages content.


eyetracking1.jpg

image copyright: useit.com

Nielson Norman’s eyetracking studies used a “heatmap” to see how users look at different parts of a web page.

Due to the fact that web page viewers are not actually reading the details of web pages, the features of a site are not always being used to their maximum capabilities. Research has shown that clicking hypertext is the action made most by web page viewers. Second is clicking buttons on the page, while simply clicking the “Back” button comes in third.

Here are a few recommendations for your Yahoo Store:

 Revise your Yahoo Store item pages to better suit the eye.


 
Apr
13
    
Posted (yahoo-store-expert) in Yahoo Store How To's, Miscellaneous on April-13-2008

In this day and age, email is one of the best ways to spread information to a large audience that is cheap and effective. So why not use emails to get the word out about your Yahoo Store?

newsletter1.jpg


An RTMLWise newsletter for Fjorn Scandinavian Yahoo Store.

Email Marketing will allow you to reach past customers and prospective buyers and inform them about new updates about your Yahoo Store. This is a great and cost efficient way to reach a mass audience. RTMLWise offers an effective email marketing service.

Here’s what RTMLWise Email Marketing Service includes:

  • Setup and design of an initial template
  • Transfer or entrance of current mailing list into newsletter management campaign
  • Maintenance and updates of mailing list
  • Content of newsletter
  • Promotion of products from your Yahoo Store with links in the newsletter
  • Create a draft of each edition of the newsletter with you as the editor
  • Email the newsletter to entire mailing list
  • Supply you with data about the newsletter’s performance

Your Yahoo Store can greatly benefit with the usage of RTMLWise Email Marketing Services.


 
Mar
30
    
Posted (yahoo-store-expert) in Yahoo Store How To's on March-30-2008

Many Yahoo Store owners overlook some key tiny details that are detrimental to the success of the e-commerce store. Here is a list of 10 simple ways to boost your Yahoo Store’s conversion rates

  1. Increase Font Sizes on Yahoo Store Items and Section Pages - Who would have ever thought font size played such a huge role in conversion rates?! It turns out that font size is important because screen sizes are increasing. In order to cater to your customers, adjust your font size to match the growing size of screen resolutions.
  2. Display Larger Item Images on Section and Item Pages - As I mentioned before, as a Yahoo Store Owner, you should cater to the growing sizes of screens to make your images more visible to your customer.
  3. Display Customer Testimonials- Allow your customer to see your credibility by proving to them that many other people rely on your Yahoo Store.
  4. Provide Customers with Coupons- People love discounts. By providing people with coupons, you can instantly generate sales.
  5. List a Phone Number- Allow your customers to feel like they can count on you if they are having an issue. Be accessible to customers.
  6. Start Using PayPal-Hundreds of people have grown accustomed to using PayPal and feel comfortable using their system.
  7. Display Trust Icons- Provide your Yahoo Store customers with a sense of safety. By placing these icons on your online store, you gain the customer’s trust.
  8. Guarantee the Lowest Prices- Guaranteeing your customers with the lowest prices can turn a one time shopper into a loyal customer.
  9. Blog-Blogging can do a lot for your Yahoo Store. By adding content, personality, internal links, and dimension, you can add page rank and draw interest of a customer.
  10. Redesign Your Yahoo Store- Distinguish your Yahoo Store from generic online stores. You can add a sense of individuality and brand by redesigning.

 
Mar
03
    
Posted (yahoo-store-expert) in Yahoo Store How To's, Yahoo Store SEO/SEM on March-3-2008

Make your Yahoo Store more visible to search engines by optimizing it for search engines. There is a new economic alternative to costly PPC programs that generate traffic to your Yahoo Store. The solution is RTMLWise’s Complete SEO Package. The enhancements that are included in the package are beneficial to search engine rankings and completely safe to your Yahoo Store.

The package includes

All of these features increase rankings and can instantly lead to better conversions more clicks. Based on recommended search engine practices, these features will make your Yahoo Store more compatible for major search engines. RTMLWise’s Complete SEO Package increases keyword density, content relevancy, and installs proper meta tags, which will bring lots of traffic to your Yahoo Store.


 
Feb
25
    
Posted (yahoo-store-expert) in Yahoo Store How To's, Yahoo Store Design on February-25-2008

Whether your a new Yahoo Store merchant or an own an established Yahoo Store, redesigning your Yahoo Store should be considered. Redesigning your Yahoo Store can advance marketing, page layout, and navigation features. By providing customers with updated features like, “Breadcrumbs” and “Related Items”you significantly enhance their shopping experience at the Yahoo Store. Redesigning can also mean better search engine optimization which may lead to better conversions. Create an effective design that is customer friendly and incorporates the personal feel of your Yahoo Store.

Operating on a generic Yahoo Store template or a dated design can hinder the effectiveness of your Yahoo Store. Yahoo Stores can lack a sense of personality and can come off as bland if not designed effectively. Often times, default Yahoo Stores lack sophisticated marketing features which can limit the profit of the store. Creating a new design for your Yahoo Store allows you to choose the easiest way for you to manage your Yahoo Store and how your store functions. Also, many Yahoo Stores that have not been redesigned are not well optimized for search engines, which can hinder search engine ratings.

So, does your Yahoo Store need to be redesigned?

Click here to learn about RTMLWise.com’s Yahoo Store design packages.

- RTMLWise offers free quotes and Yahoo Store design consultations.


 
Dec
16
    
Posted (rtmlwise) in Yahoo Store How To's, Yahoo Store Design, Miscellaneous on December-16-2007

Looking for some cohesion within your Yahoo Store? A simple way to incorporate an element of consistency is to add a personalized checkout page in your Yahoo Store. The generic page provided by Yahoo can be boring, confusing, and lack your site’s sense of individuality. This feature can create a clearer display for customers, preventing any confusion. By customizing your Yahoo Store’s checkout page, you improve branding and will witness an increase in conversions.

Customize Your Checkout Page


Click http://www.fjorn.com/to see how this feature works

 

Visit RTMLWise.com to learn more about customizing your Yahoo Store’s Checkout Page.


 
Jul
18
    
Posted (rtmlwise) in Yahoo Store How To's on July-18-2007

Look at your yahoo store click trails analysis page and it will show that the customers come to the store pages from various organic and non-organic listings, view some pages, add some items to the cart and then just leave.

Cart abandonment is the quiet common on online stores. But you can really make some simple changes to the yahoo store checkout pages namely cart contents, shipping and billing page and reduce the non-checked out carts.

  1. Make your Yahoo Store Checkout Pages resemble your store design. It requires an advance level programming skills for installing the layout on the checkout or you can order this yahoo store checkout design service.
  2. On the cart page itself (http://order.store.yahoo.net/cgi-bin/wg-order?catalog=yourstoreid) , add some html below the cart table through RTML showing your store’s usp.
  3. Go to this page and grab the Yahoo Secure Badge Code. Add this code on the cart page as well as on the checkout pages by going to the checkout manager >> global settings >> checkout wrapper. Make sure you grab the https secure server code.
  4. It is not a bad idea to offer a coupon on the shipping and billing pages to be shown once the order is completed. Like “Complete your checkout and get 5% off for your next order”. The coupon code can be added on the confirmation page. A nice incentive!
  5. It is debatable whether to have a single page checkout or multiple page with separate shipping and billing pages. I think if your site has deeper navigation, you should have a single page checkout.

I would like to hear some comments from you all as to what you think are pros and cons of a single and multiple page checkout.


 
Apr
15
    
Posted (rtmlwise) in Yahoo Store How To's, Yahoo Store SEO/SEM, Yahoo Store Design on April-15-2007

Many times our clients ask us,

“how can I send upc, manufacturer,brand or part num info for my yahoo store item to comparison search engines like Yahoo Shopping, Bizrate, Shopzilla, Shipping etc.?”

The comparison search engines pull up all the information from your OBJINFO.XML or CATALOG.XML file. This file is processed and fed to the shopping engines automatically. But you can add some fields to it other than what are there by default.

Here is how you would do that:

1. Log on to the store editor

2. Go to catalog manager

3. Click on Manage your tables

4. Click on default-table or the table you want to add the fields too.

5. Locate Shopping Fields and click on edit

6. From the Select Field drop down, select manufacturer and click on add field. (you can mark it required so that anybody entering the items has to enter the manufacturer name)

7. Click update

8. Click on Save Button

9. Go back to store editor and edit your items to add the manufacturer.

We do recommend that you have these fields populated in your yahoo store items if you are on shopping engines:

  • Manufacturer
  • UPC/ISBN/EAN
  • Manufacturer Part Number
  • Brand
  • Merchant Category
  • Condition
  • Brand
  • Size if you in clothing business
  • Gender
  • Age Group if you sell dvd, video games etc.

Better classification of your items increases your chances for a better placement in the shopping search engines and also letting customers choose the correct item they want. Its half the battle won when somebody clicks on a comparison search engine listing. Having the items setup correctly will save you from any extra clicks and cpc costs.

We also offer Site Wide property addition and updating in case you want to do the bulk changes.


 
Jan
16
    
Posted (rtmlwise) in Yahoo Store How To's, Tools, Miscellaneous on January-16-2007

Ever wondered why some website urls have their logos displayed on the browser address bar?

Favicon On Address Bar

Well, they are the “Favorite Icon” aka FavIcon. The advantage of having a favicon added to your web store that it makes it easier to recognize it from the list of Favorites (Internet Explorer), Bookmarks(Netscape, Firefox, Opera, Safari etc)

The FavIcon also appears on the page tabs in IE, Firefox or Safari.

Favicon for Yahoo stores

You can choose any graphic to show up as your favicon.

Advantages of Favicon for your Yahoo Store

  • It helps brand your site with a nice little icon that is easily recognizable.
  • Helps find your site from the Bookmarks list.
  • Makes your store look more professional and cutting edge.

There is a nice tool available from http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/ where you can upload your logo or part of your logo and it creates a favicon for you.

Once you have your favicon ready, follow these step to use it for your yahoo store:

  1. Log on to your store manager
  2. Go to Store Editor
  3. go to Files
  4. Upload your newly generated favicon.ico file.
  5. Click on variables
  6. Locate head-tags variable in about middle of the page.
  7. add this to the end of whatever the code is in this variable box
    <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/lib/yourstoreid/favicon.ico" />

    replace yourstoreid with your actual store id and favicon.ico with your actual favicon filename.

  8. Update
  9. Verify that you see the newly uploaded favicon in the address bar now
  10. Publish the store and go to the live site to confirm

If you need any help in setting it up on your store, please feel to contact us.