Chapter 3: Full Anatomy of Yahoo! Store

From Browser to Buyer, Anatomy Your First Online Order 

Buyer's Eye View of Yahoo! Store:

What is Yahoo! Store?

HTML pages

Product images

Shopping cart software

Secure checkout

Example: Order-501

Specific product search on GOOGLE

SOURCE: title+ abstract in SERPs

PRODUCT PAGE, browses section page

SEARCHES your store, finds product, adds to cart, keeps shopping, checks out,

thanks page, thanks email, your order has shipped, gets the box, rate this merchant, regular emails.

The Merchant's Eye View of Yahoo! Store:

Published Site + Store Manager + Store Editor

Example: Order-501 Merchant Email

Hey! You have an order

Processing the Order:

Login to your store/

Manager > Process Orders

Click Trails

References

Process the Payment

Ship the Box

Your order log / CRM methodology

Inventory controls - offline + online

"Thanks for your order" email and other assets to save you time   

Care & Feeding of a Yahoo Store

How to Create a Product in EDITOR

name, code, price, caption + take a photo, grab a jpeg

feature on NEW items page + make a SPECIAL

SEO  -- collect keywords + write unique content, write a review

How to Create a Product in CATALOG MANAGER

name, code, price, caption + take a photo, grab a jpeg

Part II: Getting Started: A Journey of a Thousand Orders Starts with a Single Click

Chapter 4: Opening your account and get your Domain Name

Master of Your Own Domain

You must have a DOMAIN to begin

Creative NAMING Tools

See RESOURCE list

Creative Domain Search Tools

Whois.SC

FaganFinder

USPTO.gov database - Your Tax Dollars at Work

Domains: Good Brand over keyword-loaded every time

Google.com beats Best-Search-Engine.com

Phonetic issues

Trademark issues

Go for brand + keywords

Shorter is better

You can always buy a good domain

Opening your Store Account

All the Info You’ll Need

Start a folder

Field list

Credit card information

Yahoo! IDs

Yahoo! ID Unique to each store)

Your Yahoo! SECURITY KEY

Second level password

Give each employee a separate YAHOO! ID

Access to your Store: Be careful

Three Levels of Store - which pricing is for you?

1

2

3

Chapter 5: Store building tools, raw materials, and strategies

Store Building & Management Software

Spreadsheet: Microsoft OFFICE (Excel & Word)

GRAPHICS tool: PHOTOSHOP or PAINTSHOP PRO

HTML Editor: DREAMWEAVER

Compression Utility: WINZIP

Text Editor: NOTEPAD or ULTRAEDIT32

Digital Elements – Your Raw Materials

Graphics / Photos

Site Elements

Product Photos

CONTENT

Terms & Conditions – Info.html

Privacy Policy

Footer

Welcome Message

Legal & Credits

Site Map

PRODUCT DATABASE

PRODUCT PHOTOS

Naming pictures the ID.html

Bulk Uploading Product Images

Store Building Strategies

Basic design contraints:

Load speed,

browse window dimensions

browsers used, etc.

Paper Mock-up

Basic Pages

Product page

section page

home page

Template breakers

Uploading products overview

Site Navigation

Organizing Impossibly Large Stores

Chapter 6: Designing a Store to Sell.

      It's not a "store" as much as it's a catalog. Study catalogers!

Improve Store Design with Good Graphics

Store Graphics

Small improvements in the look and feel of your site can radically improve your sales.

            Balance pretty graphics with fast-loading, search engine friendly text.

Convert your existing logos and graphics to a web friendly format.

Use Trust Symbols - BBB, Truste, Verisign, Secure Lock, Yahoo! 5-Star Ratings, eBay awards, etc.

Product Photography and Graphics

Clean up product photos to help polish the site and show folks what they're getting.

Add manufacturer brand names and logos to your product and sections pages

Scan images from paper catalogs or your own photos

Convert images from manufacturers' and distributors' cd-roms into store product graphics.

How to take a $10,000 product photos with a $500 digital camera

If they notice the product and don't notice how they're being sold, then you have a GREAT store

Sometimes, ugly outsells pretty 3:1  -- x10 camera marketing story.

Use Words That Sell

Hey! Seriously! Solve my problem and I'll give you my money!

Remember: People shop in their underwear. Avoid "No Shirt? No Shoes? No Service!"

Make sure your site has a friendly voice.

Write the way you speak.

Talk to me: You are an individual. Make your website a one to one conversation...

Leverage your expertise: You probably know more than the customer about what you sell.

Eliminate confusing or rude "bureacratic" copy.

Remove the risk and customers will buy.

Ask for the sale! Use a call to action everywhere you can.  

Stress the benefits your customers get from shopping with you

Establish Credibility & Trust through Copywriting

ABOUT US: tell your customers all about your company, your staff, and yourself.

CONTACT US: Offer complete contact information. Let me know you're gonna be there when there's a problem.

OUR CUSTOMERS WRITE: Testimonials work. Show happy (and sometimes unhappy) customers through testimonials.

PICTURES -- Show photos of your physical location. Show pictures of the owners and staff.  Show your online store is a real business with real people who can answer questions and help customers.

MEMBERS ONLY -- You've paid your dues. Post links / logos to show affiliation to industry trade organizations.

Chapter 7: Building your Product Database

Product Uploads Overview

Uploads EXPLICIT WARNINGS

Using CSV files and EXCEL

Basic database fields:

product name

code/id

price

sale-price

caption

The compleat uploadable field name list

Uploading Custom Fields

Uploading Products using the EDITOR

Pathing files into other files using PATH field

CONTENTS field : Putting IDs into Other Objects

Custom fields (using TYPES)

Using LOAD FILES

Uploading using the CATALOG MANAGER

Advanced Database Tricks

How to upload products with OPTIONS

Using the XML export tool to get your data

Third Party XML tools

SolidC

YstoreTools

YstoreEditor

Custom RTML templates =  easy export files

The FOR-EACH OBJECT: WHOLE-CONTENTS command

Chapter 8: Yahoo Store Editor

EDITOR at a Glance

Your Login / ADVANCED EDITOR

Some quick tweaks I always do

The PUBLISHING paradigm

working on your site behind the scenes

Managing OBJECTS

EDITOR ELEMENTS

CONTENTS

VARIABLES

CONTROLS

CONFIG

FILES library / the LIB

...

Chapter 9: Yahoo Store Classic

Tweaks and Tricks that involve no programming and little to no html.

Three Recipes for Basic Yahoo! Stores

The HOUSE OF NUTRITION phase 1

GUNDOGSUPPLY.com phase 1

SWPS.NET phase 1

The Variables List

Variables: Complete List (TABLE)

The Side-buttons store

The Top- buttons store

The HEAD-TAGS workaround

Variables: Tricks & Tips

LINKS to search, cart, index, info, etc.

Using FINAL TEXT

Calling a SEARCH form anywhere

the NAME-IMAGE determines width

Chapter 10: RTML Templates

What is RTML?

RTML is ___, but 22,000 stores use it

Mr. Istvan Siposs reverse engineered the whole thing

Who should play with RTML? Not for the timid...

How RTML Works: Templates & Types

Templates

Existing Templates

Copying & Modifying Existing Templates

Creating Templates from Scratch

Types

Existing Types

Object IDs and You

Customizing existing templates

Changing products to custom templates

What can be done with RTML

Wow: Features list w/ examples

RTML resources, books, templates, developers

Chapter 11: Store Tags and You –

Adding ORDER buttons to regular websites in seconds!

Store Tags at Work

Store Tag Wizard

Store Tags Tips & Tricks

Part III: Minding the Store

Chapter 12: Setting Up Web Hosting & Business Email

pretty mechanical ... will include tips & commentary

Chapter 13: Using the Yahoo! Store Manager: Your Back Office

... again, pretty mechanical ... will include tips & commentary

YAHOO! STORE MANAGER

EDIT

Catalog Manager

Store Tag Hub

PROCESS

Orders

Catalog Requests

STATISTICS

Page Views

Sales

References

Graphs

Reports

Repeats

ORDER SETTINGS

Order Form

Order Emails

Shipment & Order Status

Configure Inventory

Pay Methods

Shipping Manager

Tax Rates

Foreign Orders

Risk Tools

Shipping & Tax Test

Auctions Checkout,

SITE SETTINGS

Account Info

Access

Preferences

Domain Names (OLD)

Customer Access

Ratings

PROMOTE

Email Marketing

Mailing Lists

Search Engines

Yahoo! Directory

Yahoo! Shopping

Affiliate Program

Overture Tags

Chapter 14: Setting Up the Back End: Shipping, Taxes, Payment Options & More...

Shipping -- Is it a cost center, a marketing weapon, or a profit center?

FREE SHIPPING works. Sometimes…

Easy shipping model  --  GDS

SWPS makes money on shipping

Realtime UPS Shipping Calculations (slow?)

Other shipping methods

Experiment and find the best model for your business 

Taxes

Where do you have a physical presence?

Payment Options

Online or Offline Credit Card Transactions

Real time Authorization

the BOBTHEJANITOR example

Real time Authorization, Normal

Realtime Authorization & Payment

The Daily Batch

How do I get paid?

MID and TID; Gateways; Merchant Accounts

CVV2 (Risk Tools)

Alternate Payment Methods Work!

Paypal ... the Y! workaround

Check by Fax

Wire Transfer, etc.

Getting a Better Rate on a Merchant Account

Chapter 19: Online Malls, Shopping Engines, and You

Go Where the Shoppers Are

Exporting your data for SHOPPING sites

Optimizing your Data

Creating Compelling Product Copy

Using Optimized Images

Shopping Sites List

All About Yahoo! Shopping

Yahoo! Product Submit

Yahoo! Product Submit Rate Card

Deoptimizing pages you DON'T want indexed using the tag

All About Froogle < Google's Shopping Engine

Froogle was built from Yahoo! Store XML feeds

Froogle FTP feed -- daily

Third Party Froogle tools:

Ystoretools,

SolidC,

Other Shopping Engines & Malls

eBay for fun and profit?

PART V: Running a Better Yahoo! Store

Chapter 20: Conversion Rate 101: Best Practices and Things to Test

Improve Your Conversion Rate - Increase your sales without increasing your traffic

What is Conversion Rate and why is this the most important metric on a store?

Best Practices: Complete an e-commerce conversion checklist.

Make your site easier to use.

Optimize your shopping cart to complete more started checkouts!

Examine conversion rate product by product

Watch it! Create Abandoned Cart Report

Use the "Click Trails/Carts/Orders" to track how many folks bail in the checkout process.

Improve Conversion Rate with Third Party Stats tools

ClickTracks

Indextools

WTL

"Pimp My Product Page"

The 20 things we did to double conversions on our best-selling product pages

Show features and benefits

Ask for the sale with a call to action

Tweak the PRODUCT-IMAGE

Move the ADD TO CART button above the fold

Make FAQ-style shortcuts at the top of the page

Take an editorial position – STEVE SAYS

…

Chapter 21: Improving Sales Through Better Store Usability

Remove all impediments to buying and run usability tests to prove it!

Jakob Neilsen is a god...

Steve Krug is a god...

Lowest Common Denominator

Chapter 22: Troubleshooting: Problems & Workarounds

How to get help

Yahoo! Store online Help Files

Yahoo! Store documentation PDF

Yahoo! Store System Status

Yahoo! Store Phone Support

Unofficial YstoreForums.com

Most common solution:

Edit VARIABLES, click UPDATE, and PUBLISH

Common Problems

Red Square of Death

Make sure IMAGES are less than 100K

I, uh, forgot to pay and they nuked my store

Whoops! Look like mom deleted the entire store again...

BAD HTML

Incomplete HTML tags

The META-REFRESH

How to get to any page on any store.

"Still publishing..." More than 5 pending requests

My store still won't publish

The ID with NO NAME edit ___

My domain is offline

Browser specific problems

Chapter 23: Tracking your Marketing -- ROI Tracking Basics

Why track PPC ROI (Return on Investment)?

Yahoo Store TRACK LINKS feature

OVERTURE LINKS (new!)

Overture + GAW Conversion tracking

"Letting the Fox Guard the Chicken Coop"

Three Third Party ROI tools:

KeywordMax,

ClickTracks

Indextools

PART VI: The Part of Tens:

Chapter 24: Ten Internet Marketing Tools I Can't Live Without

Search Engine Tools

Google ADVANCED OPERATORS

Yahoo! ADVANCED OPERATORS, Marketleap.com tools

Webposition Gold 3

Keyword Research Tools

WORDTRACKER keyword tool

Overture Search Suggestion Tool

SEO Tools

Bruce Clay’s SeoToolSet.com

SearchEngineWorld’s FREE KDA

Toolbars & More

Google Toolbar

Alexa Toolbar / Info

FaganFinder toolbar

...

Chapter 25: Ten Resources of Marketing and Design Talent

yahoo store designer list

elance

webmasterworld help-wanted ads

your competitors' sites,

Chapter 26: Ten Ways to Drive More Sales

Chapter 27: Ten More Ways to Drive Even More Sales

Chapter 28: Ten Online Resources Forums

YstoreForums.com

WMW

Highrankings.com,

Chapter 29: Ten Online Newsletters 

Highrankings

Jakob Neilsen

Bock.com

MileHighComics.com

Chapter 30: Ten Books you Need to Read

Jakob Neilsen’s

Jay Abraham’s

Jay Conrad Levinson’s

Seth Godin’s

Tom Peters’

The DUMMIES books, of course

Appendix: Glossary