Step 5

Marketing

Your online store is starting to take shape. Sure, you may have your products, options and shipping settings all set to offer your customers great deals and great products or services, but how do you plan to get the word out about your new store?

Winter ‘09 comes equipped with a series of tools and functions that put the word out there. This set of marketing tools helps get your business noticed and drives traffic (and potential sales) to your store.

In this section, you’ll find out just how to configure your store to stand out in the crowd.

Search Engine Optimization

If you’re new to this term, Search Engine Optimization is a class of design techniques and best practices involving website design, layout and function that are aimed at increasing the ability for various web search engines (e.g. Google, MSN, Yahoo!) to browse, categorize and index information contained within a website. This in turn increases the likelihood of that information being returned via relevant search queries to these search engines. As a result, it increases the potential of more traffic reaching your site, which provides you additional opportunities to convert visitors into customers.

To configure SEO settings, click Marketing >> SEO in the admin area.



This page is divided into several functions that address optimizing your store based on the data, URLs or content.

Enabling Basic SEO Settings

Within this section of the SEO page, you’ll find two settings.



First, check Enable SEO Friendly and click Save near the bottom of the page. This turns on Volusion’s SEO engine and enables subsequent SEO features. This option must be active for other SEO settings to work.

A Note on SEO-Friendly URLs

By default, each product, category or article displayed within your store is generated by a series of active server pages. This eliminates the need for you to create individual web pages for each item displayed on your storefront. This process, however, uses a dynamic URL for each product, category or article (e.g. www.mystore.com/product_details.asp?ID=ABC123). This type of URL is not conducive to SEO.

Volusion's SEO engine, however, reformats dynamic URLs to appear as simple, static web pages. This increases optimizes the pages for search engines. This URL reformat (or rewrite) is automatically implemented once the Enable SEO option is activated.

For example, the dynamic URL listed above could be rewritten by the SEO engine to appear as www.mystore.com/cool_product/ABC123.htm.

Hyphens vs. Underscores

This option is matter of visual preference. Configuring it will neither increase nor decrease your store’s level of optimization. It simply allows you to choose whether you prefer hyphens ("-") or underscores ("_") when rewriting your URLs for SEO compliance. Note that hyphens or underscores will be used to substitute for spaces within product or category names, and within article titles.
 

Configuring Store Meta Tags

Meta tags are specialized HTML data tags that contain information about a page’s content for the benefit of a search engine system.

Search engines examine web page content directly, but they also reference the site’s meta tags when indexing the page. Essentially, the more relevant data you store within meta tags, the easier it will be for search engines to index web content. 

The Default Meta Tags section consists of three basic settings that allow you to quickly configure meta tags for your store. Note that the meta tags defined here control meta data for the main areas of your store. Product and category meta tags are defined elsewhere in the Volusion store.

The following meta tags can be configured from this page:

Meta Tags
Meta Title	This field sets the title meta tag of the entire site. This title will appear in the title bar of any web browser window visiting the store. This setting does not affect other title settings within the store such as the business name that appears on shipping labels, etc.
Meta Description	This field should contain a brief description of the  store (e.g. what the store sells or specializes in).
Meta Keywords	Enter keywords that relate to your store. These keywords will be indexed as meta data related to the store and can be used by potential visitors to find the site via search engines. Each keyword should be separated via commas (e.g. term1, term2, term3) and should relate to products, services or brands that a store specializes in.

Once these settings are configured, simply click on Save.

Advanced Settings

SEO also provides access to a Advanced settings.



Note that the SEO settings in Advanced tab on this page override any settings configured within the Easy Mode. In most cases, you won’t use the Advanced mode, but it is available for experienced web designers who want to enter custom meta information.

Configuring SEO for Products & Categories

After configuring your store’s meta tag settings, the store will be optimized for search engines, but additional settings must also be configured for individual elements within the Volusion database such as products and categories.

For these elements, there will be a heading within their individual configuration pages marked Search Engine Optimization. The settings contain all variables for that element’s meta tags and other SEO information. The number of meta tag settings available will vary depending on what type of element you’re editing (e.g. products have five meta tag settings, categories have only four).

Note that to reach the SEO settings for any category within the store, you must mouse over a category name in the main Categories page and select Update Category.

It’s important to enter values for every meta tag setting available, whether you’re editing meta data for a product, category, website article or any other element. All meta tag fields should be defined for your products and categories. This will increase the chances of online search engines indexing and directing visitors to your site.

Below are examples of how the SEO URLs will appear for your article pages, category pages and product pages when your site is optimized.


Note the bolded “_a”, “_s” and “_p” for the respective URLs. All articles will use “_a” after the meta tag tile to distinguish it as an article page. Categories will use “_s” and your product detail pages will use “_p”. SEO is the only way to rename the store’s URLs.

Purchasing SEO Services

SEO is a broad topic. There are many practices and techniques to make an online store SEO-friendly. Winter ‘09’s SEO functions address some SEO best practices. If you’re in search of an affordable solution for more in-depth optimization, Volusion offers paid SEO services to Volusion merchants. You can find more information online at here.

Creating Coupons and Discounts

Now that you have your products ready to sell and some of your SEO basics configured to attract customers to your store, let’s create some discounts you can offer to help drive sales.

You can set up coupons and discounts at the admin area’s Marketing >> Coupons/Discounts page.


Here, you can edit default coupons and discounts by clicking the number in the left-hand column, or click Add to create a new one.

Coupons/Discounts Settings

Coupons and discounts can be configured with a variety of settings. The following section will cover creating a coupon and a quantity discount. Feel free to experiment with other ideas. For more detailed information on each coupon setting as well as a few tips, see the “Advanced Settings” section of this manual.

Setting up a Coupon

If you want to create a 10% off coupon redeemable for any store product when 2 or more products are purchased in that category, you can create a specific coupon code for this discount, which you can add to your store newsletter or other marketing materials. The coupon is valid for one-time use only, is non-transferable and can’t be used with any other coupon or discount.

First, enable coupons for your store at Settings >> Config Varibles. Select Checkout Variables from the View menu at the top. Locate Config_EnableCoupons, check the box, and save your changes. To create the coupon:

Return to Marketing >> Coupons/Discounts and click Add.

• Enter the actual coupon code into the Coupon Code field. This will be the code customers must enter to apply the coupon to their order during checkout (e.g. new10off).

• Assign a title for the coupon in the Name field (e.g. 10% Off Promo).

• Select “Percent off ENTIRE ORDER” from the DiscountType menu.

• Set the discount’s value to 10.

• Assign a promotion start date and (optionally) an end date. For example,  you can set the redemption period for one month. 

• Enable the "One Time Use Coupon" and "Cannot be Used with Any Other Coupon" options.

• Enter the ID of the categories the coupon will apply to in the ApplyToCategoryID(s) field. In this case, you’d enter the IDs for every category in the system. Note that each category ID must be separated by a single comma

• Enter “2” into the MinQty field.

• Enable the Span option within the coupon settings.

• Click Save to finish.

These types of promotions can be helpful when marketing an online store. Since customers must know the coupon code to actually apply the discount to their order, this can be used as an incentive for them to sign up for your email newsletter, or as a way to reward valued customers.

Setting up a Quantity Discount

This section will detail how to create a quantity discount that applies automatically to certain products when a customer orders three or more units. It can be used multiple times for each new order a customer places, cannot be combined with any other discount, and has no expiration date:

• Under Marketing >> Coupons/Discounts, click Add.

• Assign a name to the discount (e.g. 10% Off For 3 or More).

• Select "Percent off a PRODUCT" from the DiscountType menu.

• Set the discount’s value to 10.

• Enable the "Cannot Be Used with Any Other Coupon" option.

• Enter the product codes of all products the coupon will be eligible for in the ApplyToProductCode(s) field.

• Set the MinQty field to 3.

• Enable the Span option within the coupon’s settings.

• Click Save to finish.

Repeat the above steps to create a tiered quantity discount system. For example, you can offer a greater discount for a purchase of five or more units, and an even greater discount for a purchase of ten or more.

Once this coupon is created, a "QTY Discounts" button will appear on the product’s detail page. When your customers click it, they’ll see the available quantity discounts. Any order placed for three or more units will automatically be reduced by 10%. This type of discount can not only increase order quantity, but also number of orders.

Create Email Newsletters

One of the primary goals of marketing is to reach out to your customers and keep them connected to your business. Building a relationship helps foster loyalty. The Volusion newsletter system can help you accomplish this.  

The Newsletters page allows you to create newsletter emails and automatically send them to customers who signed to receive store updates. You can design the email content, focus the email to a broad or targeted audience and even track the return on investments with this system.

The Newsletter Table

In the admin area’s Marketing >> Newsletter page, you can view a list of default newsletters, and view basic statistics for any email newsletter, including:

• Number of times each newsletter has been sent

• Percentage of newsletters that have been opened by recipients

• Percentage of clicks each newsletter has generated per recipient

• Percentage of conversions based on the number of newsletters sent

You can edit a newsletter by clicking the ID number in the left column. To remove a newsletter, simply click on the X checkbox to the far right of the entry and click Save.

Creating a Newsletter

Creating an email newsletter is easy. Email newsletters can entice potential customers to your store, inform existing customers of new products or highlight an upcoming sale.

You can style your newsletters using HTML, creating elaborate notices with product photos, images or simple text.

To create a newsletter, click Add, and edit the following settings (required):

Targeted Newsletters

Once you’ve designed your initial newsletter content using the settings described above, you’ll have to define its target audience.

Customer Interests

Initially, each newsletter entry comes configured with 20 different customer interest types that you can enable or disable under the "Send to Customers with following interests" only heading. This list corresponds to an identical list within each customer’s account settings.

To keep track of the 20 possible interests within your newsletter and customer accounts, you can name each interest globally by clicking Edit located just to the right of this section’s heading. Simply enter your custom description for any item in the interests table and click Save.

Note that your customers can’t configure interests for their own accounts — this feature is only available for store administrators.

Testing & Sending a Newsletter

Before sending a newsletter, make sure to test it by reviewing the content, design and overall presentation. On the newsletter edit page, click Preview.


On this page, you can not only preview the newsletter, but also view the following statistics:

• Number of newsletters sent during the current billing period.

• Amount of emails opened within the current billing period.

• Number of customers who unsubscribed from the store’s newsletter list.

• Number of customers who’ve marked the newsletter as spam.

This data can be instrumental in determining the effectiveness of the email campaign.

Note on Sending Newsletters

There are limits to the amount of email newsletters you can send depending on your monthly pricing plan. Please see the Newsletter Limits portion in the Knowledge Base.

Note on Unsolicited Email

Email can be a very powerful marketing tool, but some people consider them an unsolicited annoyance or even an intrusion of privacy. When it comes to spam, Volusion has a no-tolerance policy. You have access to powerful email marketing tools within Winter ‘09, but we ask that you do not abuse these privileges.

To meet industry guidelines to guard against unsolicited email, all emails you send should meet the following criteria:

• The recipient has made a purchase, requested information, responded to a questionnaire or a survey or has had offline contact with your business.

• Newsletter emails must provide a working link to unsubscribe from the mailing list (already provided in your store’s default email template).

• Requests to unsubscribe from newsletters must be processed within 10 days of receipt.

• The "from address" must contain the Volusion store domain name.

• Email subject lines must not contain misleading information.

For more information, US-based merchants should review stipulations provided by the CAN-SPAM Act of 2004, located here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm

In order to unsubscribe a customer from your email newsletter list, you must edit the email subscriber variable on their account page. Information on this process can be found in the “Advanced Settings” portion of this manual.

MyRewards Program

The newest marketing feature in Volusion is the MyRewards Program, which was heavily requested by users of V5. While this is not a required feature, we encourage you to check it out.

Enabling the Program:

• In the admin area, click Marketing >> MyRewards.

• The program is disabled by default. Use the MyRewards Setup dropdown to select a reward structure:

• The Points Redeemed per Currency Unit  field instructs the program how many points are redeemed by each reward currency unit. You can also think of this value as the number of points required to earn a reward currency unit.

• Set the Minimum Points Required to Redeem. This value must be larger than Points Redeemed per Currency Unit to be relevant.

• If you’d like to set a timeframe (days) between when points are earned and when the system awards them to the customer for redemption, use Time until Rewards are Redeemable. Note that the program does not consider points as earned until the order is marked as “shipped.”

• If you’d like an expiration date for awarded points, enter the number of days in the Time Rewards are redeemable (days) field.

Your customers will be able to view and redeem their points by clicking MyRewards on the My Account page accessed from your storefront.


Here, customers can also review the terms and conditions of the program.



If you view this page on your storefront, you’ll be able to edit the default text.




You can also edit the default text through your admin area using page ID 144 under under Design >> Site Content. Make sure to edit this page to reflect your chosen settings.


Once the customer chooses to redeem the points, they’ll be notified via email and on the account page. The system will create a gift certificate and automatically apply it to the customer’s record. When they place their next order, their redeemed points will automatically be deducted from the total order amount.

You can also see how many points a specific customer has accrued in their admin account page.



For more information, please refer to this Knowledge Base article: http://store.volusion.com/kb_results.asp?ID=538



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