Setting up a Sitemap for Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo! Site Explorer

Duncan wrote about the Sitemap feature available for all merchants back in June of last year and also in October when SiteExplorer added the ability to authenticate a site. However, since that time, both Yahoo! SiteExplorer and Google Webmaster Tools have added features to benefit webmasters. Karl Ribas, author of a Search Engine Marketing blog and a Project Manager for All Web Promotion, really emphasizes the usefulness of authenticating your site with Google and Yahoo! in two excellent recently created posts about setting up the Sitemap feature for a Yahoo! Store:

• How to Set Up a Google Sitemap with a Yahoo! Store
• How to Set Up Yahoo! SiteExplorer with a Yahoo! Store

Both of these posts discuss the type of information merchants can get from Google and Yahoo! about how your site is crawled, indexed, and viewed by these search engines. This information is invaluable in identifying potential problems, and also what may be working in your site that you can repeat across other pages not being indexed or ranked well. The posts also feature detailed step by step instructions with screenshots.

And while you are reading those posts, I also recommend browsing some of Karl’s other posts. He has a knack for landing interviews with some big names in the SEO field such as his recent interview with Lisa Barone of Bruce Clay Inc.

Paul Boisvert
Yahoo! Small Business

Taking good product photos

I love photography. One area, however, that has always frustrated me is taking product photos. Since my job has to do with ecommerce, friends often ask me to help them with taking product shots and it is always hard. The problems are wide-ranging – the product is not fully lit all around and looks flat; the shadows are too harsh; parts of the product seem out of focus. And so on. And then I have to put a picture into an image editing program such as Adobe® Photoshop® and labor for hours to get it just right. Honestly, I try to avoid taking product shots as much as I can.

Over time I have tried a few different devices – light boxes, domes, pads, reflectors, special lights, you name it. Many of these devices are fairly expensive and often not very flexible – something that is good for jewelry tends not to work for apparel, etc. More importantly, they just did not really help me.

Given how important great pictures are to conversion, this is a problem that needs to be solved. Most merchants need a way to solve it without having to pay $300 per shot to the pros – that adds up quickly.

The other day I came across Robert Morrissey from Morrissey Enterprises and his ProShot Boxx –proshotboxx.com ProShot Boxx is a very simple-looking box, inexpensive ($499.00) and easy to handle. What impressed me the most were the results. I am including some of the pictures I took – they were not professional shots, but given that I spent about 30 minutes on the whole process, I was quite impressed with the way they came out.

The box comes with a white and black background – I tested both. Also, it took me a few shots to tweak a few parameters – using a tripod and setting aperture very high (F18) helped quite a bit with making the images sharp. Other than that, the camera and the box took care of the rest. I did a little bit of post-processing in iPhoto®, but very little – 30 seconds per photo, not more.

Finally, Robert runs a website called f-stopcafe.com. On this website he has a number of tutorials geared at helping people take better photos. By understanding the photographic process you get a better grasp on how to take better photos. At f-stop café there are tutorials that cover the simple to the complex / from beginner to advanced. He has agreed to give the first 300 Yahoo! Merchant Solutions customer who come to this website a free 3 month membership. Sign up is here: www.f-stopcafe.com/gurucafe.

Thanks

Dmitri Krakovsky
Vice-President of Products, Yahoo! Small Business

A Great Deal Gets Better: No Yahoo! Transaction Fees on PayPal Express Checkout Orders

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Yahoo! PayPal Checkout promotion which featured no PayPal transaction fees for nine months on orders processed through PayPal Express Checkout, a $100 credit for Yahoo! Search Marketing, and also a special shopping cart icon appearing in Sponsored Search ads for merchants that sign up and meet the qualification requirements.

With our latest release today, we are happy to announce additional benefits for the Yahoo! PayPal Checkout program:

• For existing merchants: No Yahoo! Merchant Solutions transaction fees for six months on orders processed through PayPal Express Checkout.
• For new merchants: No Yahoo! Merchant Solutions monthly fee for one month in addition to no transaction fees for six months on orders processed through PayPal Express Checkout.

In order to qualify, merchants must have PayPal Express Checkout enabled in their store (only available with Checkout Manager). Consult help for further promotion details.

Paul Boisvert
Yahoo! Small Business

May 03 2007 Release: Shipping and Tax Wizard

We are pleased to announce the final two wizards are available in the Open for Business control panel.

• Shipping Wizard: Available to merchants that are not open for business, the Shipping Wizard guides new merchants through setting up simple shipping methods and rates while also allowing them to easily set up special case rules such as free shipping or handling charges. Learn more.
• Tax Wizard: Also available to merchants that are not open for business, the Tax Wizard guides new merchants through setting up tax rates for their store. Learn more.
• The Tax Rates page has also been updated with an improved interface and includes new features:
  • Filter: You can show only the rules that match certain criteria that you enter or select such as the location to which the rule applies, the rate, or if the rule is an override or not.
  • Pagination: Decide how many rows you wish to view at a time when reviewing tax rules.

With these wizards released, we will be shifting our focus to ways merchants can promote their businesses and attract quality traffic that converts into sales. We will of course continue with our ongoing projects to ensure the safety and stability of the Merchant Solutions platform as well as other enhancements.

Paul Boisvert
Yahoo! Small Business