Colorado Web Solutions

Google Datafeed Submission Changes

Posted on August 29th, 2011 by Brent Carey

For any of our client’s that are currently submitting feeds to Google – there will be some important changes happening on September 1^st of this year. Our feed partner, Godatafeed.com strongly suggests updating feeds, as a failure to do so could result in account suspension from Google Product Search. Please take note of the following 3 key changes to Google datafeed submissions:

1. Unique Identifier Requirement: Merchants will need to provide 2 out of 3 data points: accurate Brand/Manufacturer, MPNs or UPC codes (or ISBNs for books).

2. Google’s Newest Requirements: The following data will now be required: Google Product Category, Product Type (recommended), Availability Fields, Images (300×300).

It’s important for any apparel merchant to provide variant information for size, color, gender and age by the 22^nd of September.

3. Shipping and Tax Information Requirements: Include tax and shipping information by September 1^st. The pricing data can be set through your Google Merchant Center or by item-level in your datafeed.

It’s important to have accurate tax and shipping information. Exclusion of this information may cause your feed to be disapproved.

For more detailed information please visit our partner’s page related to this topic: http://godatafeed.blogspot.com/2011/08/googles-top-3-feed-changes-to-review-by.html

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Yahoo! Stores Business Solution Extends Reach

Posted on September 28th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

Colorado Web Solutions was recently Featured In Internet Retailer. A copy of the article is below.

Bridgeport, CT, September 27, 2010

Colorado Web Solutions, a design solution that enables online businesses to improve performance, announced today a partnership with Bongo International that provides international shipping for online retail customers, effectively opening up the global marketplace. Colorado Web Solution’s customers (U.S. Yahoo! stores) can now access Bongo’s international shipping capabilities almost immediately, thus allowing shoppers to view real-time international shipping costs, local currency, language translation, and an expected delivery date.

“We don’t just design website’s, we design businesses. That’s what makes us such a great company to work with. We understand online business,” says Matt Sampson, CEO of Colorado Web Solutions. Matt specializes in taking an idea and making it into a productive reality. The business model is simple; design a solution that allows online businesses to do better business through improved efficiency allowing increased profits. “It’s not about our success, ” says Sampson, “We’re only successful if our clients are successful. We remain steadfast and focused on the clients themselves and their businesses. The proof of their success is determined by the success of their clients. This is a time tested equation, service levels are often the defining lines between companies who make it and those who don’t. This is even more critical in a tough economy when the customer ‘experience’ weighs in more heavily than usual in the final purchasing decision.

Colorado Web Solutions is not just writing code and selecting a color theme for the client site. Rather, they perform as business analyst and virtual architect. These are the guys who do the behind the scenes work ensuring the customer has a positive experience, and continues through the checkout process to return again. Brent Carey, Lead Project Manager of CWS continues, “The most important thing to consider is creating a website that accurately reflects your business culture and clientele. It’s very important to understand your expected customer base and to create a site that caters to their expectations.”

This is also where Bongo International’s area of expertise in overcoming international eCommerce obstacles is applied, and is paramount due to the significant growth occurring in eCommerce. Very often in the international checkout process, the steep estimated duties and taxes shock a potential conversion into a definite shopping cart rolling down the virtual aisle unattended, or abandoned, as it were. Bongo counters this by offering competitive and accurate shipping costs, including duties and taxes, delivery date, insurance, and language translation. Bongo is able to provide significant shipping discounts to U.S. merchants because of the product volume they ship out of the United States. Through Bongo, U.S. Merchants are able to access untapped international demographics with a simple software implementation that is almost immediate. In brief, Bongo offers a simple solution to the complex process of transitioning into international eCommerce.

Meagan Jump, Account Executive with Bongo first came across Colorado Web Solutions when another merchant mentioned that they utilize CWS to complete all web developing within their site. “This merchant suggested I contact CWS because they are always looking for value-added solutions to offer all of their merchants. When I contacted Colorado Web Solutions they were excited about offering their merchants a solution to open the doors to the international market without taking on any of the risks or challenges that are involved when shipping internationally.” Bongo International also screens international shoppers to prevent fraudulent orders, resulting in an impressive 0.00 percent fraud rate throughout company history. For international buyers, Bongo offers a one-off purchase plan or a subscription plan that provides additional shipping savings. For additional information on Bongo visit the website at http://www.bongous.com/.

Colorado Web Solutions (http://www.ColoradoWebSolutions.com ) has been designing Yahoo! Stores since 1997 and is one of a select group of official “Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Developers”. Colorado Web Solutions specializes in designing and re-designing Yahoo! Stores and focuses on helping train merchants to use and understand their stores in addition to crafting user friendly and custom store designs. Colorado Web Solutions has an additional service called 15SEO.com designed to assist all Yahoo Store owners with SEO reporting and training. Colorado Web Solutions is a full service provider for any small to medium sized business working within or moving to the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions platform.

Source: http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/09/28/yahoo-stores-business-solution-extends-reach

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Add International Shipping to your Yahoo! Store today

Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

Colorado Web Solutions is pleased to announce our newest partnership with Bongo International to provide International Shipping Services to Yahoo! Store Owners.

Colorado Web Solutions has partnered with Bongo, a leader in International Shipping and is now able to offer Yahoo store owners quick and easy access to international shipping services. Aside from a one time set up fee that we are offering up to 50% on, there is absolutely no cost to you as a merchant! We have also been able to negotiate a one year commitment for our clients vs the standard two year commitment normally required by Bongo.

If you are not familiar with how Bongo works, let me explain it to you. It’s quite amazing.

As a merchant you will sign up for the Bongo service and we will install the technology on your site for you. There is a $500 fee for this set up process. For the rest of the month and all of next month, we are offering a 50% discount on installation and set up bringing the total price down to only $250! This is the last fee you will have to pay for international shipping!

Once your website is set up and the code is installed, your international clients will have the option to join Bongo for their international shipping. Your customers will join Bongo and create an account directly on-top of your site so you will not be sending anyone away from your domain. International clients have the option to pay a per-use rate or they can sign up for a monthly membership and get substantial discounts on shipping.

After your international customer has created their account, Bongo will provide them with a US based shipping address and they will enter this address into your yahoo store. Once the order has been placed you will ship the item to the Bongo facility and they will take care of the rest for you!

You will never have to fill out another customs form or wonder if you are shipping to a “real address” ever again.

Speaking from experience when I used to manage a Yahoo Store, we were hesitant to start international shipping due to the fraud, customs and headache of offering the service. We did end up offering international shipping and it became a good portion of our business. If we had had access to a service like Bongo back then, it sure would have made life quite a bit easier.

My advice to you is: if you have considered offering international shipping from your yahoo store, I would highly suggest you give this service a good look.

If you would like to read more about International shipping for Yahoo Stores, please click this link to explore the service further.

If you would like us to have a bongo Representative contact you asap about International Shipping Options, please click this link to fill out our interest form.

Thanks so much everyone and have a great week.

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Free SEO Reports for Yahoo Store Owners @ 15SEO.com

Posted on August 10th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

15SEO.com has always been a hidden gem within our company. Our clients that use it absolutely love it and the ones that haven’t heard of it yet don’t know what they are missing. Until now. I am very happy to announce that we have just launched a brand new version of 15SEO.com and with that launch we have added the ability to order a FREE SEO REPORT with absolutely no obligation. We don’t even need a credit card from you!

In addition to the new “Freebie” SEO Program we are offering, we have added two new paid options to the mix to bring the total packages to five. We offer Monthly, Weekly and even Daily SEO reporting now. Our monthly packages start at only $15 a month!

If you are not familiar with 15SEO yet, let me tell you a little bit about what we offer and how it benefits you as a Yahoo Store Merchant. There are way too many features to list them all here, so if you would like to get more in-depth information about 15SEO’s features, please click here to view them all.

In a nut shell, 15SEO offers you the ability to track your store’s ranking within the three major search engines, Yahoo.com, Google.com and Bing.com. We track on an individual keyword basis and at the start of every month we send you a detailed and easy to read report outlining your search engine rankings, how they have changed from the previous month and provide you with a list of keywords that are not showing up at all in the engines. In addition, we send monthly tips and guidance for Yahoo Store owners to work within their own store and improve their search engine rankings.

If you would like to learn more details about the new 15SEO.com SEO Programs for Yahoo! Stores, please click here.

Our new re-design also brings with it a new feature that has been extremely popular so far. Live Sample Reports! If you are unsure as to whether 15SEO’s reports are right for you, we have a live sample report available for you to play with, view and explore. If you would like to see the live SEO report samples, please visit: http://15seo.com/view-sample-reports/

What reports are prepared every month for your Yahoo Store?

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Free Webinar introducing Bing’s Free Shopping Engine

Posted on August 10th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

Hello everyone! I just received some exciting news from our Partners at Go Data Feed regarding a new webinar they are hosting to introduce the new Bing Shopping Portal. Join GoDataFeed, our Shopping Feed Management partner, for a Free Webinar with guest speaker, Bruce Curling of Bing Shopping, to introduce Bing’s long-awaited Free Comparison Shopping Channel.

Get an overview of Bing Shopping’s new program, how to make the most out of your Bing Shopping feed campaign and gain valuable insight on how to:

· Drive Traffic to your Site for Free
· Expand your Reach to Bing’s 83 Million Unique Searchers
· Plan your Back-to-School and Holiday Shopping Channel Advertising Efforts

When: Tuesaday, August 17th, 1:00 pm Eastern Time

Reserve your Seat! Space is limited, so reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/625458065

If you would like to learn more about GoDataFeed, please click here!

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Introducing the Colorado Web Solutions Partner Program

Posted on July 8th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

Earn $100 when you sign up with our Preferred Partners!

We have always prided ourselves on helping Colorado Web Solution’s clients find and use the best technology available for their needs. In the 13 years we’ve been building Yahoo Store’s for people, we have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t.

Today I am proud to announce that we are presenting our first two technology partners as the original Colorado Web Solutions Partner Program members. We have vetted both of these companies for a few years and feel that they both can benefit almost every Yahoo Store Owner.

The two founding members of the Partner Program are:
Constant Contact and Capital Merchant Solutions.

Constant Contact is the ultimate email marketing suite for businesses of any size and Capital Merchant Solutions offers incredibly low credit card processing rates for Colorado Web Solutions clients. As a part of the Partner Program, participation in their services will earn you cash to spend on current or future design needs!

If you sign up for both Constant Contact and Capital Merchant Solutions through the links we provide for you, we will credit your account for $100 to be used at any point now or in the future. This offer only applies to signing up for BOTH services. We are also offering a $25 credit for only one of the services.

The Details on Signing up for Constant Contact:

1. Sign up for a Constant Contact account here. If you are a Colorado Web Solutions client getting a full design package we will create this for you.
2. Convert your Free Trial to a paid account with Constant Contact
3. Send an email to cws (at) coloradowebsolutions.com with your constant contact user name and we will verify.

The Details on Signing up for Capital Merchant Solutions

1. If you do not have a merchant account yet, follow this link and submit your application for processing.
2. If you currently have a merchant account, follow this link to request a savings evaluation on your processing. If your savings are adequate for you, submit your application for processing.
3. Once you are approved, please send an email to cws (at) coloradowebsolutions.com and let us know you are live with the service.

Once we receive confirmation that you are actively using both Constant Contact and Capital Merchant Solutions a credit of $100 will be applied to your account.

Further Information:

1. Can people that already use both Constant Contact and Capital Merchant Solutions qualify for this credit? In many cases, YES! Send us your constant contact ID and we can verify for you. If you originally signed up for Capital Merchant Solutions through Colorado Web Solutions then you will also qualify.
2. $100 is delivered in the form of a credit on the clients account. No refunds or cash will be sent. Credit expires after two years.
3. If service with either Constant Contact or Capital Merchant Solutions is canceled within 6 months, Colorado Web Solutions reserves the right to remove any remaining credit (up to $100).

We hope that you find this new offer beneficial! Two services that you should already be using can earn you money in return! We hope to offer additional rebates and discounts with future partners that we feel are a perfect fit for most Yahoo! Store Owners. Visit our Partners Page and look for the Partner Program Logo to see the current list.

Have a great week everyone.

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eWish Gift Registry Offers New Features for Yahoo Stores

Posted on June 28th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

Colorado Web Solutions and eWish have been partners for quite some time now. We often have clients expressing interest in finding a reliable, functional and economical Gift Registry. To date we’ve always steered clients towards eWish as we feel it’s a great fit for Yahoo store owners. Across the board – our clients have been extremely satisfied with the eWish platform.

( Request more info now about eWish.com and Yahoo Stores )

What is eWish?

eWish is an affordable Gift Registry platform for online and offline merchants looking to increase revenue and customer satisfaction using another vertical channel. The registry will allow customers to inform their friends as to what types of products they are interested in. The tool is powerful and best of all – it’s easy to use and relatively easy for Colorado Web Solutions to install. eWish is a web-based service and once installed, the system takes care of itself.

New Changes to eWish

eWish will be introducing some great upgrades/enhancements this year. For those Colorado Web Solutions clients already using eWish – you’ll love this addition:

eWish customers can now have their registries appear on Knot sites. Now eWish merchants can opt to have their registries appear in “Find Registry” results on Knot owned sites like TheKnot.com, WeddingChannel.com and TheBump.com.

There’s more to come from eWish this year – so stay tuned! If you’re not currently using a registry, you might consider the eWish application as it can be a critical tool in taking your store and sales to the next level. Lean more about eWish here.

How much does eWish cost?

eWish is entirely commission based. The current commission is 5% per transaction plus a one-time refundable application fee of $399. If within one year of purchase the client is not satisfied with their service, the application fee will be refunded.

Colorado Web Solutions will also need to install eWish on your Yahoo store. The current cost for development fees is $225.00. We can have the application installed on your store in generally one business day.

Ready to get more information about eWish integration with Yahoo! Stores?

Click Here to get started.

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How to Import Yahoo Store Customers to Constant Contact

Posted on June 25th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

The majority of our clients are using the Constant Contact email service for their stores, and one of the most common questions we receive is “How do I import my Yahoo Store Customers into Constant Contact?” It’s a great question, and one that we would love to answer for you.

First of all, something to consider – I highly suggest that you keep your paying customers and your email list members in individual groups. For example, I would suggest a GLOBAL mailing list for everyone that is on ANY of your mailing lists and then I would suggest adding a new mailing list called “Yahoo Store Customers” or something like that to import your paying customer info into. These customers are extremely important to you and should be kept in their own list as well as in the global list.

We have created an online video training tutorial about how to import your Yahoo Store customers into Constant Contact as well if you would prefer to watch and listen vs read these simple instructions. The written instructions are directly below the video presentation. Here is the training video on how to import your Yahoo Store Customer Data into your Constant Contact Account:

VIDEO: How to Import from Yahoo Store to Constant Contact

In order to perform these steps you will need to be able to log into your Yahoo Store and your Constant Contact Account. If you need to sign up for a Constant Contact account, please click here to start your free trial (will open in new window) and then you can come back here to import your customer data.

Step One: Exporting your Yahoo! Store’s Customer Data

• Log Into your Yahoo! Store’s Manager Section and click the ORDERS button
• In the SUMMARIZE section, enter the order number range you would like to export. It is not a problem at all to export customers that have already been imported to Constant Contact so you can export all of your orders, or, if you are keeping track, you can export the next batch of orders you want to export. Larger batches will take a little longer for Constant Contact to process, but it’s not a big deal at all.
• Once you’ve entered the order number range, click SUMMARIZE
• On the next page you will see a summary of the orders. At the very bottom of this page click EXPORT TO EXCEL.
• The next page will give you a list of downloads, please select the DOWNLOAD link next to ORDERS.csv.
• This will prompt you to save the file, I would suggest your desktop or someplace easy for you to find it.
• The export process is now complete.

Step Two: Editing the Data for Import

• This step is optional, but we highly suggest doing it to save time in the end.
• Open the file you just exported in either Excel, Numbers or even Google Docs.
• I’m going to suggest that you delete a bunch of the columns in the file so that you don’t have to tell Constant Contact to ignore all the unused columns. While this is not a required step, we do suggest that you edit your file to same enormous amounts of time while importing.
• Once the file is opened, delete the first few columns (order ID, Date, Numeric Time) so that your file’s first column is Ship Name. Continue to delete columns so that you are left with only Ship Name, Ship State, Ship Country and Email. Be sure to continue to scroll to the right of the spreadsheet, there are a lot of fields.
• Once you only have the few remaining fields, you can save the file (override the original) and close the window.
• The Editing Phase is now complete.

Step Three: Importing Into Constant Contact

• Now that we have the edited file ready to go, log into your Constant Contact Account (link).
• From the home page, click on CONTACTS in the top navigation bar.
• On the Contacts screen, click Add / Import under My Contacts
• The first screen will ask you to select the List(s) you would like to add your contacts to. If you have not yet set up any lists, you will see one list (General Interest) as the only option. As I mentioned before, I would highly suggest keeping a second list with only your Yahoo Store Customers on it, so let’s create a second list.
• If you want to create a new list, click CREATE A NEW LIST
• Enter the new Lists Name (for example: Yahoo Store Customers) and click SAVE
• You now see that your new list is check marked for you. If you would like to add these names to additional steps either check the lists you want to use or create additional lists.
• Once your Lists are selected, click NEXT
• On the “How would you like to add your list” page, select IMPORT CONTACTS FROM A FILE and click NEXT
• On the next screen, click BROWSE and find the file you downloaded and/or edited in excel. It might be called Orders.csv if you didn’t change it.
• Click SUBMIT DATA
• You may see a few warnings and confirmations. Read through those and accept terms, etc.
• The next screen will present you with a selection of your data and ask you to map it to the Constant Contact fields. This is the part that makes you glad you edited the file in excel before importing…
• You will see a drop down menu above each column asking you to either “Select Label” or guessing for you. Select the correct items for Name (we suggest using First Name since Constant Contact does not support Full name), State and Country. Email may already be detected for you, but if not, be sure to specify the email column as well.
• Once you have mapped your fields, click START IMPORT
• The entire process is now complete.

We go into more details and explanations as to “why” on the video if you would like to get some more information. The steps are exactly the same as above. If you have any questions about this process, let us know.

We have a Free Constant Contact Templates Program as well! If you are interested in learning more, please visit:
http://www.coloradowebsolutions.com/contact-email-free-template.html

We offer a number of additional Constant Contact services that are described in detail on our website at:
http://www.coloradowebsolutions.com/yahoo-store-email-marketing.html

Have a great day everyone.

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Free Constant Contact Templates Program

Posted on May 13th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

We are happy to announce that we have finally ironed the bugs out of our Free Constant Contact Template Service and are ready to release the first batch of templates!

Our first batch of templates are 11 different color variations of an updated “Welcome Email” “Change of Interest Email” and “Profile Change Email”.

If you would like free access to these templates as well as online training on how to install them, please fill out this form.

We plan to continue to build out our template library this spring and summer and we will keep you informed via email when new templates are available once you’ve filled out the form. The next templates will be focused on the marketing emails as opposed to the informational emails.

We hope you enjoy this new Free service from Colorado Web Solutions (http://www.coloradowebsolutions.com)

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Great News for Yahoo! Stores accepting Credit Cards

Posted on April 29th, 2010 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

Hi Everyone!

I am really excited to announce that we just secured record low rates on credit card processing this week for our clients! I know it’s not as exciting as a new feature release for your store, but these new low rates can save you some serious cash instantly! I’m assuming that you are paying somewhere between 2.19% and 2.69% depending on who your processor is. We just negotiated a record low of 2.04% for all of our clients. AND we got them to waive the set up fees, lower the cost per transaction fee and also lower the monthly statement fee’s!

Here’s what we are now able to offer you:

2.04% Fee’s on Credit Card Transactions

$0.24 transaction fees
$8.95 Monthly Statement fees

There has never been a better time to switch your credit card processing than right now.

How do I go about signing up for these low rates?

Signing up for credit card processing is super simple. We’ve got an online form for you that can be found here: http://www.coloradowebsolutions.com/yahoo-store-credit-card-processing.html

Do you already have a decent rate?

Let us run a comparison for you at no charge!

We are so confident that we can lower your monthly costs that our credit card partners have offered to run complimentary cost comparisons for any of our clients based on their current credit card company and our new lower rates. If you would like to take advantage of this free offer, please fill out this form and we will get in touch with you today!

http://www.coloradowebsolutions.com/contact-credit-card-request.html

Is it hard to switch my credit card processing? I’m really busy right now!

Switching credit card processing is an extremely simple process. Once you fill out the application and get approved we will take care of the rest for you. Typically within an hour we can switch your current processor to the new lower cost processor in your store. Nothing technical required at all on your side and your store will not have a moment of down time while we make the switch.

What’s the catch? Seems too good to be true.

There is no catch. That’s the beauty of it all. Our negotiating power has grown over the years as we have turned out hundreds and hundreds of Yahoo! Stores. Our goal is to pass the savings on to you. We know how hard it is to run a small business, we’ve been doing it for over a decade, and we know that cutting fixed costs (like credit card processing) is a huge benefit to businesses of all sizes.

I know this isn’t the most exciting announcement I’ve made this year, but it’s one that can save you a lot of money, so that makes me excited! Take 5 minutes today and look at this offer, it will be worth your time. And don’t forget, if you’d like a free evaluation of your current rates vs our new lower rates, it’s really simple, just fill out this form and we will get in touch with you quickly to go over everything.

Have a great week everyone, we hope you enjoy the new savings!

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