Aspdotnetstorefront offers lots of great search engine optimization opportunities (including the ability to pretty quickly add Google Analytics tracking to the entire site) which is one of the primary reasons that Beacon selected it as our go-to eCommerce platform many years ago.

However, the resources to set up these items are scattered about a bit, so I thought I’d note specific links I find useful when discussing these topics with clients and/or developers. Hope they are helpful and please be sure to include your own suggestions in the comments section below!

Online User Manual

• Google Analytics and eCommerce Tracking– http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-441-google-analytics-and-ecommerce-tracking.aspx (Version ML8) and http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-1035-google-analytics-and-ecommerce-tracking.aspx (MultiStore)
• Submitting your Site to Google Sitemaps (Versions ML8 and MultiStore)– http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-436-submitting-your-site-to-google-sitemaps.aspx
• Submitting your Sitemap to Yahoo! (Versions ML8 and MultiStore)– http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-437-submitting-your-sitemap-to-yahoo.aspx
• Search Engine Optimization– http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-505-seo.aspx (Version ML8) and http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-1029-seo.aspx (MultiStore)
• A/B Testing with Google Checkout– http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-747-ab-testing-with-google-checkout.aspx

Forum posts

• SEO in ASPDNSF– http://forums.aspdotnetstorefront.com/showthread.php?t=17028
• Google Analytics Ecommerce tracking– http://forums.aspdotnetstorefront.com/showthread.php?t=16236

Blog posts

• The Token Analytics Article– http://blog.vortx.com/analytics/the-token-analytics-article/

• Analytics: What’s the Deal With All These Numbers? – http://blog.vortx.com/analytics/analytics-what%E2%80%99s-the-deal-with-all-these-numbers/

• Google Analytics and AspDotNetStorefront– http://blog.vortx.com/analytics/google-analytics-aspdotnetstorefront/

There are a lot of e-commerce web solutions and can be hard to choose from.

We prefer aspdotnetstorefront with its ease of use and great customer support. It provides great integration with new and existing sites and is also customizable with its settings to fit your needs.

You can customize things such as your overall site look and feel, desktop or mobile, change back-end settings in an administration panel to work with your product categories and much more.

Another great feature is that it allows the products to be be setup for multichannel selling to reach a larger audience. There is so much you can do and we can help you every step of the way.

Recently one of our AspDotNetStorefront clients asked me to come up with a way to modify the display of his products that vary by price.  One of the things I really like about AspDotNetStorefront is that there are often “hidden gems” or functionality that you might not use one day, but come up with a way to incorporate it later.  For this client, I recommended that he investigate either the product attribute features of a simple product or set up the products with separate variants.

Attribute Option

This is the easiest product setup and, in general, requires the least XML package modification/development, but may not be the ideal user experience, depending upon the type of product being sold.

1. Log into ASPDNSF Admin and search for the product to modify
2. Click on the product and then on the Main tab
   • Change “Color Option Prompt” to the appropriate label to indicate why this product has multiple prices (for example “Product Options”).
   • Change the XML package to product.simpleproduct.xml.config
   • Hit the “Update” button.
3. Go to the Product Variant link, click on the default product variant displayed and then click on the Attributes tab
4. Enter text like this in “Colors” field– “Product Option 1[-100.00],Product Option 2[-50.00],Product Option 3″.  In this example, product option 1 will be $100 cheaper and Product Option 2 will be $50 cheaper than product option 3.  Add as many product types and prices as needed; separate all product options by commas.
5. Hit “Update”  and then view the product on the live site.  Selecting “Product Option 1″ from the drop down should  discount the item by $100 when added to the cart
6. See http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-967-varying-price-by-sizecolor.aspx for more info on this setup

Variant Option

Depending on the type of product, I think this is the best looking option for the customer, but sometimes requires modification of the XML package by a developer to display correctly.

1. Log into ASPDNSF Admin and search for the product to modify
2. On the Main tab
   • Change the XML package to product.variantsindropdown.xml.config
   • Save the product with the “Update” button
3. Go to the Product Variant link and clone the default/existing variant using the “Clone” link.  Create as many clones as there will be product options for this product.
4. Click on the first variant in the list.
5. Change the variant name to “Product Option 1” (or other applicable label) and change the price field to the correct price for this product option and then save the variant.
6. Click on each subsequent variant in the list and change the variant product name and price for that product option.
7. Save the product and then view the product on the live site.  Each product variant will appear as a separate choice in the drop down box along with the applicable price for that product variant.

I hope that you find this information helpful!

In older versions of AspDotNetStorefront (ML/8 and older), the built-in search functionality does not search the product or category description fields by default.  Though this seems strange, the explanation that I’ve been given in the past by AspDotNetStorefront Support is that this could cause a strain on the server’s performance due to the large amount of text that can occur in these fields.

However, most clients that I’ve worked with really need this data to be searched as well, in order to quickly get the customer to the right product.  Therefore, I always make it a habit to ask a customer when we start an AspDotNetStorefront project whether or not these fields should be included as search fields.  If they say  ”yes” (and they always do), I keep this handy forum post bookmarked and make sure that the developers include this “fix” during the development phase of the project:  http://forums.aspdotnetstorefront.com/showthread.php?17219.

Please note that this may be handled differently in newer versions of AspDotNetStorefront, but it works quite effectively in ML.   Just in case this link ever is disabled, here’s the gist of the post (BE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR DATA AND FILES FIRST!):

If you own the source code and host the database:

Modify the Aspdnsf_GetProducts stored proc, find @extSearch param and change the initial value from 0 to 1.

create proc [dbo].[aspdnsf_GetProducts] @categoryID int = 0, @sectionID int = 0, ………. ………. @extSearch tinyint = 1, ……….. ………..

Re-run the script, just the Aspdnsf_GetProducts so the change will take effect.

If you do not own the source code or have access to the database/stored procedures:

Modify your XML package to set:

,@extSearch = 1

in the <sql> section

Hope this helps!

We are  pleased to announce the launch of a new AspDotNetStorefront site today – Artsy Abode. More accurately, this is actually a new “MoreStore” for the base site we launched last year for Flirties Earrings. Both sites are now administered in the same AspDotNetStorefront Admin, with one additional store being added later this year.

Points of interest on this site:

• Site-Wide
  • Brand-based graphics in site header that link to topic pages maintainable by client in Admin
  • Background color is an appconfig that can be changed by client via Admin simply by adding a new HEX color code!
• Home page
  • Flash home page slide show from original site replaced by a custom Beacon module that is administered in the Admin site
  • Customer favorites section on home page populated by mapping products to the “Favorites” category
  • Promotional graphics (under rotating banner) editable via topic page
• Thumbnail images displayed on search results page (nonstandard functionality for AspDotNetStorefront)
• Enabled product option to display ring sizes: http://artsyabode.com/p-3623-kr01.aspx
• Enhanced store locations page with links to Google maps and maintainable by client in Admin: http://www.artsyabode.com/t-locations.aspx
• Direct integration with Constant Contact for newsletter registration
• We also updated the design a bit and made it more modern and fresh:
  

  Artsy Abode “Before” Shot

Artsy Abode “After” Shot

For all you Demon Deacon fans, be sure to check out the Wake Forest selection! Or the Virginia Tech selection if you absolutely must (kidding- deep office rivalry, if you can’t tell!).

Thanks to everyone involved, but particularly Tiffany May and John Wallwork, who navigated this venture into the MoreStore functionality of AspDotNetStorefront with style!

Let me start off by saying, I’m a big fan of AspDotNetstorefront, have written several blogs about its benefits and features, and have been personally involved in over a dozen site launches or enhancements involving the ecommerce shopping cart. However, as with any out-of-the-box software, there are areas where I think it could be improved and therefore have put together this “wish list”.  Also please note that these items pertain to versions 9.2 and older– they could be addressed in future versions (and as a Custom Development partner, we’ve heard that a number of these items are currently “in the works” and we eagerly anticipate sharing the enhancements with our clients when available!):

1. Reports– Though there are a few reports that come out-of-the-box with AspDotNetStorefront, I wish they were more extensive and customizable.  In addition, most of these reports are “on screen” display only and a “download to CSV” option would be ideal for every report.  I’ve tinkered with the “Custom Reports” option myself, to create a few simple reports needed by my clients, but  unless you have extensive knowledge of SQL and AspDotNetStorefront’s product and order tables (which Beacon’s developers do, I assure you!) you’ll want to stick to simple reports.  Finally, I’ll give a shout out to our friends over at Compunix, that offer a nice variety of add-on reports that we use regularly to enhance our client’s sites.
2. “Getting Started” Documentation– I use the online manual and developer forums for AspDotNetStorefront daily and they are excellent, but I find that all the information is a bit daunting for a new AspDotNetStorefront administrator.  Years ago, the developers provided a PDF with basic installation and administration information, but after it reached 500+ pages, they discontinued its maintenance in favor of online documentation.  Since this basic “how to” resource is no longer available from AspDotNetStorefront, Beacon has written a “primer” on site administration, with just the basic info like creating entities and products, editing topic pages, etc.  It would be nice if a small PDF with just the basics like this was provided out-of-the-box.
3. Hyperlink the product name in Admin “Browse by Category”– This is the smallest, nit-pickiest thing, but if you’ve had to do it 1,001 times like I have, you’ll appreciate the issue.  In Admin, when you choose to look for a product by browsing the category (Organization, Manage Categories, click on Category name, click on Products tab).  First, you have to click on “Show Selected Only” (see next bullet) and then, even though a list of the products in the category is there for you, you can’t actually click on any of the products to see their product pages.  You have to copy/paste the product name or SKU into the search box and search for the product and then you can click on the product page.
4. Show Selected Only– Directly related to the item above and similarly nit-picky, when you browse to a list of products via the Category, you have to manually click on the “Show Selected Only” checkbox to filter out the products that are NOT in that category.  Huh?  This is actually a simple customization that we’ve done several times to automatically have this box checked by default, but it should really come this way by default.
5. Hide Seldom Used Topic pages– This is an example where AspDotNetStorefront is giving us TOO much functionality.  By default, there are dozens of topic pages listed in the “Manage Topics” list in Admin, only a small fraction of which will ever be used by a “normal” small business.  While I love to be able to enable these when needed, it makes for an unwieldy list for a new administrator.  Could these be separated into “frequently used” (like hometopintro) and “other pages” so that the initial list is not so daunting?
6. Test Publishing Environment — I’m really reaching here, but it would be so nice to be able to update a product or topic page and publish it to a Test environment first, before releasing it to the public site.  I’ve been known to make ugly HTML errors from time to time, and I just hate to have them shown on the public site, even for a second.  We accomplish this at Beacon by having a totally separate Test installation of AspDotNetStorefront for every site, so that theoretically, a client could go to the Test site first, enter their update in the product/topic page, check how it looks at the Test URL and then copy/paste the HTML version to the Production site.  But this is laborious for a small change.  Being able to view a “test” version of the page before publishing would be ideal.
7. Include “product description” as basic sort field– By default, the basic AspDotNetStorefront search includes the following fields:  Product Name, SKU, Manufacturer’s Part number.  I’ve never had a client that didn’t want the basic search to also include Product Description.  Again, this is a simple customization and we do it frequently, but it doesn’t make sense to me why it isn’t included as search criteria in the first place.  Perhaps there’s a concern that it might cause a performance issue due to additional data, but if your server or database can’t handle an additional value like this, you have other issues going on.

Anybody else have a “wish list” item to include?  Please share… Maybe someone at Vortx is listening/reading!

Just read a great article from our friends over at AspDotNetStorefront and wanted to share- “7 Tips for Boosting Conversion at Checkout“.  The most stunning stat that the article notes is that “according to 15 highly reputable studies of shopping cart abandonment (including studies by Listrak, MarketingSherpa, Forrester Research, and Coremetrics), the average shopping cart abandonment rate is almost 66%.”

Wow!  That’s a startling number, especially with the holiday season coming up in a poor economy.  What can you do about it?  Jon makes several terrific points that match up with our experience at Beacon as well, including:

The basic principle to keep in mind is simple: Reduce friction. Anything that adds complexity, risk, unanswered questions, or extra steps to the process is going to slow it down and drive some people away.

The article includes several specific examples for improving your checkout process without much time or effort.  With these suggestions, hopefully you’ll be able to reduce that cart abandonment rate to something much more palatable!  And of course, please contact us if we can be of assistance in your efforts!

Recently I won my very first iPad by providing the winning suggestion in a product detail page review for AspDotNetStorefront and it arrived today!  The contest involved reviewing a product detail page for a current AspDotNetStorefront customer and my suggestion involved modifying the color drop down box to display different images, based on the color selected (manual instructions here).  The customer explained that they “chose your comments over all others because you were brief, to the point and pointed us to a feature of ASPDNSF that we were not utilizing. We appreciate the time you took to share your comments with us.”

Thanks to the folks at http://www.safetylightsandsignals.com for selecting me and my buddies at Vortx for sponsoring the contest!

What should I do first??

The process of accepting credit cards on an online store is fairly complex– involving gateways, processors, banks, merchants and more. Authorize.net (one of our preferred gateways for Aspdotnetstorefront because of the ease of set up and range of options for the merchant) provides this multi-step diagram that I think does a great job of explaining the process: Credit Card Processing Diagram.  Hope it helps!

There are literally thousands of settings that you can configure for a new AspDotNetStorefront site, but here is a set of instructions that we use to quickly set up a very basic non-eCommerce (catalog only) site in Version 8 of AspDotNetStorefront:

1. Follow manual instructions to do a base install: Installation Guide
2. Skin/Template set-up
• Review the available default skins or purchase a skin template
• Navigate to the docs/skins folder of your new AspDotNetStorefront site and rename the  Skin_1 folder to Skin_old
• Copy the new skin to docs/skins and rename “Skin_1″
• Resize the company logo to the height of the logo.jpg file included in the skins/skin_1/images/ and save as logo.jpg in this folder (if not a jpg file, see #3 below)
3. Template.ascx Set-up– Open /docs/skins/skin_1/template.ascx in an HTML editor and make the following updates to the HTML code.
• If the company logo is not a jpg file (png, for example), change logo.jpg in template file to correct logo name
• Remove shopping cart and wishlist links from utility nav in template.ascx
• Remove all links and content from top and bottom nav that do not apply
• Update copyright line/year in footer
• Remove departments/sections from left nav (if not in use on site)
4. Style.css Set-up– Update colors and styles in docs/skins/Skin_1/styles.css as needed to match corporate colors
5. Admin Set-up
• Log into Admin with default id/password and create super users under Customers/Add New Customer and then Customers/View-Edit Customers/Super User button.  Notify new admins of id/password/Admin URL.  Log in with one of the new super-user accounts and delete default admin user. 
• Update store details under Configuration/Site Configuration Wizard including Store Name, Store email address, etc.
• Go to Configuration/Email and set email server information
• Appconfig updates– Make the following updates in Configuration/Advanced/Appconfig Parameters
• Search for “meta” in the Appconfigs section and complete all relevant fields with search engine data/keywords
• Remove buy and wish list buttons by setting ShowBuyButtons and ShowWishButtons to “false”
• Remove items from site map that should not be displayed by searching appconfigs for “sitemap.” and setting areas that should not be in site map to “false”
• Hit reset cache to force updates to appear on public site
6. Topics– Update the following under Content, Manage Topics in the Admin area
1. Add content to all topic pages that are relevant to this company (about, service, security, hometopintro, etc.)
2. Hyperlink any new topic pages to Help & Info box so they show in the left navigation
3. Review each existing topic page and do the following:
• Remove topics that will definitely not be used using “Delete Topic” button
• Set topics that should not show in sitemap to “no” with “Publish in Site Map” field
• Update text on all topics that start with “Empty” and “Productnotfound” topic
• Update hometopintro with homepage content
• Update pagenotfound text
7. Products/Categories– Add Categories and Products using either a product import (our preference) or manually in Admin
8. Complete “Go Live” checklist
9. Carefully review and test the site, make revisions as needed
10. LAUNCH THE SITE!