AspDotNetStorefront has a built-in Google sitemap that not many people know about.

Google allows website owners to submit sitemaps via Google Webmaster Tools. Submitting a sitemap to Google helps ensure that Google knows about all the pages on your site.

The built-in AspDotNetStorefront Google sitemap is dynamic; it changes as you add new categories, topics, and products to your site.

To get to the Google sitemap, type “googleindex.aspx” onto the end of your URL: www.YOURSITE.com/googleindex.aspx

You should see a page that looks something like this: Read the rest of this entry »

Landing Page Optimization is the process of improving a visitor’s perception of your site so that they’re more likely to complete a goal or convert to a sale.

Landing pages target a specific audience or support a certain advertising campaign. If a landing page is well-optimized it will lead to higher conversion rates.

If your store sells audio equipment and is running advertisements about Logitech speakers, you would create a Logitech speaker landing page for customers that come to your site from that ad campaign.

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Did you know that your AspDotNetStorefront website has an advanced search page built into it?

Don’t feel bad if you didn’t.

Most people running AspDotNetStorefront never know it’s there because there are no links to it in the default skin. Try typing “searchadv.aspx” into your site’s URL: www.YOURSITE.com/searchadv.aspx

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Have you worked hard photographing or scanning products for your online store, only to find the pictures on a competitor’s site?

AspDotNetStorefront has a built-in, easy to use way to add a watermark to all your products’ pictures.

Watermarking your pictures makes them less likely to be lifted from your site and AspDotNetStorefront lets you add a simple text message or copyright notice to your pictures. You can even set the placement on pictures where the watermark will appear.

You can find this AppConfig by going to the admin side of your website and selecting:
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Sometimes web merchants need customers to accept terms and conditions before checkout.

Luckily, this feature is built into AspDotNetStorefront and it’s easy to enable and get set up.

To add this feature to your website, login to the admin side of your site and navigate to the AppConfigs screen:

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Conversion Rate is the percentage of visitors to a site that complete a desired action.

Conversion rate is the primary measurement for testing and optimizing an eCommerce website. If the conversion rate goes up a larger percentage of people are completing the desired action.

Generally conversion rates measure whether a customer bought something, but it can measure other goals like newsletter sign-up or creating an account too.

Conversion rate can measure specific actions on a single page or can be used more broadly to represent an action relative to the site.
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Product videos are a compelling way to increase customer interest.

According to this InternetRetailer.com article, Shoeline.com increased conversion rates by 40% after adding 100 videos showing how a shoe looks on a model’s foot.

We’ll show you how to add links to YouTube videos that pop up when the user clicks a link. To do this, we’re going to use a script called Thickbox. Thickbox opens a modal box displaying the content, immediately drawing the user’s attention to the video.

We’re going to do this in three main steps:
1. Download and install Thickbox on your site.
2. Modify the skin template to use Thickbox.
3. Modify the product description to add a link to the video.

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The default AspDotNetStorefront progress bar is an important part of the checkout progress but unless your store is pale blue, it won’t match your site.

Buy a Matching Progress Bar

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Coupon Code: CPB20 for 20% OFF AspDotNetStorefront Progress Bars!

Did you know AspDotNetStorefront lets your customers add notes to individual items in their cart before checkout?

By default there is an order notes field that allows customers to make comments about the entire order. If you want customer’s notes to be assigned to individual items you can set the “AllowShoppingCartItemNotes” AppConfig to true.

You can find this AppConfig by going to the admin side of your website and selecting:

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In our third installment on email marketing we explore design elements for effective email marketing campaigns. We previously talked about the advantages of email marketing, list building strategies, and developing your email marketing plan. Now it is time to focus on the design of your email.

While content may be king, good design ensures your content will be seen. The objective is to design emails that are opened and acted upon. A well designed email attracts the recipient’s interest, holds their attention and stimulates action. It can also enhance your company’s image.

So What is “Good” Design?

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