The Online Shop Designer Blog

Whether you have a modern CMS such as CMS Made Simple, or and online shop based on Prestashop or Viart, the facility exists for administrators to insert meta information to describe the page to search engines.  Here are some good references I have come across to help with this task:

• Making the most of meta description tags
• Writing meta tags
• Meta description tag

And this is a nice article on writing page titles just to round off the subject. While titles are arguably not as imortant as descriptions they are still relevant:

• SEO page title tips

And what about meta keywords?

Well, the truth is that they are no longer very relevant at all. Still, if you would like to use them ensure that you use no more than about 5-6 words. Long lists of keywords are more likely to have your site flagged for spamming.

‘Offline’ order processing refers to orders where the customer submits there credit card  details as part of the checkout process for secure, encrypted storage in the  database. The site administrator then (in the Australian context) retrieves the numbers and processes the transaction via an EFTPos terminal or online gateway. In this way processing offline orders in Prestashop is quite straight forward.

Here is the sequence after accessing your shop’s admin:

• Click the [Orders] tab
• Click on a line that displays the order of interest -the detail of the order is now displayed. The most recent orders will be listed at the top, and those requiring processing will be flagged “Awaiting Credit Card Validation” in the Status column.
• Click the [Click here to reveal the information] button under the Credit Card Information box to see the credit card details
• IMPORTANT: For additional security click the [Remove Credit Card Data] button after you have processed the order.
• Change the status (top left) during processing to reflect the stage that the order is at. The customer will see the status when they log on to their account.
• At the bottom of the screen there is a New Messages box. This can be used to add a comment to the order or send a message to the customer.

See also:

• Prestashop attributes (options)
• Prestashop quick start guide
• Prestashop image preparation and upload

Did you find this article useful? Feel free to leave a comment.

I often get asked for useful utilities to help site administrators to perform various functions. So that everyone may benefit I have decided to start assembling a collection:

• Meta tag generator
• Color Picker: hex
• Popup Window Code Generator
• International Currency Converter
• Fotosizer: a simple batch image resizer

More will be added over time, however in the mean time if you would like to suggest a utility feel free to leave a comment and I will add it to the list.

Whether you have a website or blog, writing articles focussed on information people are searching for is the best way to increase your traffic. Sounds easy when you put it like that doesn’t it. But how do you do it and how do you know what people are looking for?

One way is to build on what your site is already becoming known for. i.e. Further develop themes centred around keyword phrases that people are already entering into search engines, and that have already successfully directed some traffic to your site.

A simple way to do this is to check the keyword section of AWStats in cPanel (your hosting account’s administration panel). Scroll down to the bottom and you will see a section “Search Keyphrases (Top 10)” and “Search Keywords (Top 25)”.

If you are a TOSD client and you are unsure how to log in to cPanel contact me and I will be happy to assist.

Using these keywords to provide a focus write as many articles as you like, but try to base each of them on just one keyword phrase. In writing the article include the keyword phrase in each of the following ways:

• The article title
• Once as a text link (this could be the menu link)
• Once in the opening paragraph
• As the description or ‘alt’ tag to an image placed in the article
• Once in italics or bold
• Once in the closing paragraph
• If your website allows you to – once in the Meta description
• And if you have a blog – include it as a tag.

While this approach will not guarantee a perfectly optimised article. It will significantly improve the chances of the article appearing in search results. And the other nice thing is that once you have done a few it is a simple enough approach to become almost second nature.

Often, when I talk with business owners and managers about their website, it is apparent they have a very limited knowledge of how to use the Internet to promote their business or the new website I’ll be building for them.

With the Internet now such a mainstay of business communications it’s a concern that too many business people are not doing what they can to learn more about Internet Marketing.

Thankfully, two very smart Internet Marketers are now running a series of Internet Marketing seminars to share their knowledge and empower you to better manage your online promotion of your business and website.

Jeff Richardson and Lucio Ribeiro really know their stuff. I’ve worked with them on a number of occasions to enhance the value of websites I have built for clients. And I can tell you they are well worth a listen if you get the opportunity.

Now, through www.internetmarketingacademy.com.au you can come up to speed with topics such as:

• Search engine optimisation
• Online advertising; Google AdWords and other PPC campaigns
• Social Media for business; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more
• Underutilised strategies such as email marketing, online PR, and
• $200 free advertising you can use to advertise online.

Jeff and Lucio are working closely with Google and Yahoo and both these companies are providing $100 credits for their PPC (Pay per click) advertising for all Internet Marketing Academy attendees. And I’m thinking, if you ask nicely, Jeff and Lucio would even set the campaigns up for you free of charge.

I’ve organised a special deal.

I would really like for you to go along. I know you will learn some valuable tips.

So, I spoke with Jeff and have organised a special deal for my ‘family’. If you decide to attend simply click on the ‘Enter Discount Code’ link on the first registration page and enter the code ‘tosd’.

This will save you $100 off the $250 ticket. At $150, after you add back in the $200 from Google and Yahoo you come out in front even before the information you’ll garner.

Do yourself a favour – find a time and location that suits and invest in your businesses future with www.internetmarketingacademy.com.au

And after you’ve been and seen make sure you come back to the blog to thank share your comment with others.