The New Merchant Solutions Developer Directory

April 28, 2006 | In News & Announcements |

Some of you may have seen the new Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Developer Directory. Yes, it is now the “Developer Directory” and not the “Designer Directory.” As many more of our designers have branched out to provide custom applications, systems integration, and business consulting, among other services, it was time to change the name.

You’ll notice immediately that the new site allows you to sort developers based on a few different criteria. You are no longer limited to the default listing or sort by location. You can also search by any one of our specialty areas. This is intended to save you time by matching you to the right developer based on your needs. Developers have been reviewed by Yahoo! and listed in the following categories based on specialty:

  • Custom Applications: Shopping feeders, order managers, CRM, advanced search and more.
  • Education & Training: Training seminars, RTML training, books and other resources.
  • RTML Programming: RTML add-ons (such as breadcrumbs) and advanced template development for the Store Editor.
  • Systems Integration: 3rd party application integrations such as CRM, accounting, inventory, backoffice and more.
  • Web Design: Graphic design, visual development, page layouts, custom CSS and more.
  • Campaign Management: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) bid management, marketing campaign management and more.
  • Organic SEO: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services for organic search listings (not paid advertisement).

But why do I need a developer?

Good question. Although all the tools are available to you out the box, it does take some time to develop a highly customized store. The amount of time it takes varies greatly depending on your experience level While the base template that Yahoo! provides is enough to get you started online, developers really help you compete with larger online stores by adding features typically found only on high-end ecommerce sites. A highly customized store can highlight your products or services in a way that will create a compelling shopping experience for your shoppers helping you to increase sales and conversion

A recent article at Ecommerce Guide gives some examples of the type of work that Yahoo! Merchant Solutions developers provide, from adding breadcrumbs to rebuilding your templates to search engine optimization. According to the article, you may be surprised to learn that some projects start for as little as $350. The costs for some advanced features are easily justified when considering the incremental revenue that the features may generate. Developers may be able to provide some rough estimates of the average return on investment for some of these features.

Yahoo! provides this list of developers as a courtesy to our merchants. If your organization develops eCommerce websites using the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions platform and would like to be listed, please visit “How to Participate” page for more information. Yahoo!® provides this list of Developers as a courtesy. Yahoo!® does not endorse or guarantee the performance of these developers, and disclaims all related liability. Yahoo!® does not provide or endorse any “Authorized Developer” program.

Randy Yim & Michael Ober
Yahoo! Small Business

7 Comments »

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  1. Why didn’t you place a link to the directory in the article?

    Comment by brian — April 28, 2006 #

  2. Missed putting that link in when I wrote this one up. Good catch. The link is in now.

    Paul

    Comment by Administrator — April 28, 2006 #

  3. The Yahoo Store Developer directory is a joke. You will find that most “developers” listed there are amateurs that will charge an arm and a leg for things that can easily be done by yourself.

    Comment by Jason Cordozo — May 17, 2006 #

  4. The purpose of the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Developer Directory is to provide our merchants with a list of developers who are experienced with modifications to Yahoo! platform. Of course, if a merchant knows how to customize the platform themselves, there is no need to hire a developer. However, many merchants prefer to focus on marketing and building their business while using a developer to build, customize or enhance their online presence.

     

    We recently completed a major renovation of the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Developer Directory. As part of this renovation, we completed an exhaustive review of all listed developers. In fact, we dropped more than 30 developers who did not meet our new criteria for inclusion. The developers currently listed employ anywhere from 1 to 50 people in their firm, with most averaging between 3-10 people. This gives our merchants a wide variety of experience and personal attention to choose from. In the end, each merchant will have their own reasons for hiring a developer or programming on their own. We hope that the directory, in its current form, will meet the needs of those merchants using it.

    Comment by Administrator — May 18, 2006 #

  5. Hi,
    I have a legacy Yahoo store. I am trying to change the background color and text font of my “buy now” buttons. Any suggestions?

    thanks.

    Ken

    Comment by Ken — May 31, 2006 #

  6. Hi Ken,

    In order to modify the background color and font of the “buy now” buttons, you will need to edit your RTML templates. You can use CSS to change the attributes you mention and embed the style information or call an external CSS file using the head-tags variable. Your RTML will then need to assign the class or ID in your stylesheet that is associated with the buy now button.

    There are a few options for you:

    –Learn RTML: This is a great long term approach as the more you know, the more you can customize your store. There is a learning curve with RTML so it is not for everyone. While Yahoo! Customer Care cannot help debug custom RTML, there are numerous resources available for merchants wishing to learn. I recommend checking out Y Times. You can also post RTML questions to the YStore Tools forum.

    –Hire a developer: If you wish to make this change soon, and do not wish to learn RTML, I would recommend hiring a developer to make this change. Solid Cactus offers a service for a custom checkout button as do other developers. Browse the links in the directory to see which developers offer this customization as a stand alone service.

    Comment by Administrator — May 31, 2006 #

  7. I built a few large, highly customized e-commerce sites last year and, for each, it was around six months before the client had pretty much run out of customization ideas. Going cookie-cutter is only good for those who are willing to stay within those boundaries.

    Comment by MJ99 PHP Scripts — March 13, 2007 #

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