Month: July 2013

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Adding Pages to ShopSite

So you want to create a new page in your ShopSite store.  Maybe it is a category page, maybe just an informational page.  The EASIEST way to do this is to copy a page similar to the one you want to create.  Why? This is so that all the settings for the page will be copied over and you won’t need to worry about those.

Login to your store, click on Pages.  Find the page you want to copy and highlight it.  Then click on Copy Page.  Enter in the name for the new page and the file name.  For the file name, do not use blanks … just use alpha numeric and hyphens.  Make the page name make sense.  Click on copy and you will be taken back to the main List of Pages.

Find the name of the Page you just copied, highlight it and click on Edit Page Content.  Now you will be changing the content to be the new content from the page you copied from.  However, one field  does NOT copy over and you must REMEMBER to set it.

Links to Page.  This is the page you want this page to appear on.  Sometimes it doesn’t appear on a page, but ends up in a your custom navigation.  It is good to pick something so you can go see it … I recommend adding it to a testing page so you can verify what it looks like before it is actually added to the page(s) you want it on.

Not sure what a field is for?  ShopSite has a great help section.  Just click on the Help in the top menu (red circle with the ?).

Don’t forget to publish to have your page show up!  :O)

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Affiliate Programs

Earn Money as an Affiliate
Earn $$ as an Affiliate

Many sites now have affiliate programs where you can advertise for them and earn a commission.  There are large companies that manage many affiliate vendors and if you become a member there you have many  companies at your disposal.  Or, if you use ShopSite, it has a built in affiliate program.

But as a manufacturer, how to decide if it is a good idea and how big do you go?  Look at your direct competitors … are they doing it? Look at the cost … how much does it cost you to maintain the program vs how much you get in increased exposure and revenue.  You must also be careful who you allow to be an affiliate.  If it is what is called a “coupon” site and they are your affiliate you may be paying out when really they didn’t give you any benefit.  How can this be?  Say a customer is on your site already.  But they think, hey, maybe I can find a coupon code.  They do a search for “coupon codes for X company”. They get to the coupon site, click the link for your store that looks like a coupon and really all that happens is the coupon site now gets a commission for referring that customer when they really didn’t.

With ShopSite you can run your own affiliate program.  You decide who gets in and you also decide how much commission each partner earns.  So you can have different earnings based on how large they are, if they are a website or blog or just send the link in email.  ShopSite creates reports that show you how much each affiliate earns. The only down side is that YOU maintain all of the program … meaning you must cut the checks to the participants.

Nelle and Lizzy just setup an affiliate program.  Stay tuned and we’ll let you know how it goes.  But for now, you can check out the pages created explaining the program and see if it might be something you’d want to try with your store.