SitesPlus Blog

Get your website listed on Google Maps

sp07 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:14:26 +0000

Ever wondered how other businesses manage to get Google Maps to appear when you search in Google? Here’s how, it is simple to do and is free too.

Google Maps combines powerful mapping technology and local business information, including business locations, contact information and driving directions. In order to create a local business ad, your business listing needs to be included in Google Maps. You can add or edit your business information in Google Maps at any time and for free.

It takes about 10 minutes to complete. Visit http://maps.google.com/ to start. You will need set up a Google account first - whilst you are in there, set up your Google analytics too for your website statistics. Click here for more information.

How to allow several documents to be downloaded with one click.

sp07 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:56:04 +0000

We’ve been asked if there is a way to allow several documents to be downloaded with one click of a link. This is particualarly useful if you have created pdfs of an excel document for example that contains many pages. You don’t want your clients to visit your SitesPlus site and have to download many times

So here is how to do it.

In My documents (in your own computer), find your pdfs and select each one that you want to be included in the zip file (hold the cntrl key down whilst you select to add several documents.)
Now with them selected, right click your mouse – then select Send To> then select compressed (zipped) folder
A new file will then be created underneath your files, with a yellow button (that looks like a clamp)This is the new zip file that you can now upload onto your SitesPlus website.
Then upload the new zip file in the same way as you would any other file

New Catalogue and shopping cart

sp07 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:33:45 +0000

Important news! We’ve installed the new SitesPlus Catalogue and Shopping Cart!

What you will see
If you use the products and services pages to sell online or to display listed items, you’ll notice several
changes.

Horizontal layout - in line with current best practice, all items will be displayed
horizontally in one column. This means you can display more
text against each item and has also enabled us to improve the general
layout.

Brief and full product descriptions - gives you more control over the text displayed against
listed items You will be able to enter a brief description and a separate full description for each item, viewable on selecting the More button.

Image enlargement - improved display of the larger versions of product images.
It’s advisable to upload an enlarged product image wherever
possible.

Fully featured shopping cart - allows multiple purchase of the same or different items integrated
with payment via PayPal.

Administering the new pages

Your existing products and services pages now form your catalogue. You’ll notice the products and services buttons have disappeared from the left-hand menu in your adminstration system and have been replaced by a new catalogue button. Don’t worry! They are still there!

Click on Catalogue to see a summary of the catalogue pages we used to call Products and Services and download the briefing which will guide you through the new system.

For instance, to edit items, click on View items, next to the category or page in which you placed the item, then click edit next to the item name and make your changes.

The change also allows you to add new catalogue pages on request.

We hope you’ll find the changes a significant improvement. Please let us know straightaway if you
experience any hitches and, finally, don’t forget to let us know what you think of the new system!

Shopping cart in Beta test

sp07 — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:00:50 +0000

Kate - Good news, the shopping cart is in beta test now. This means we are plugging it with real data and testing it to breaking point.

We should be able to annouce the new cart very very soon. Keep watching.

De-mystifying Websites presentation now on-line

sp07 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:44:26 +0000

Following on from our event last week at Uffculme school in Devon, we’ve posted up the presentation for those who couldn’t attend. Download it here. If you would like a SitesPlus username to have a go, then let us know.

New SitesPlus workshop dates are being annouced now, so if you want to find out about one near you, then do call or email us.

Shopping cart news

sp07 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:07:21 +0000

It’s taken rather longer to incorporate a shopping cart into SitesPlus than we’d expected. But we think it will be worth the wait.

Subscribers had already started to ask us whether they could have an extra products/services page so they could have separate ’shopping pages’ for different types of products. Thinking to the future, we decided to make it possible to add additional shopping/catalogue pages, on request, and this has created knock-on development for the shopping cart.

We’re now hoping to install the shopping cart next week and will send an e-news to everyone to let you know.

If you already sell products from your site, this should all happen seamlessly. The first indication would be, hopefully, that you start receiving orders for multiples of the same product or for a combination of different products.

So, watch this space!

Blackdown Hills Women’s Business Exhibition success

sp07 — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:54:18 +0000

Kate says:
Last Friday we attended our first exhibition specifically for women in business or thinking about starting up. It was a great sucess and an enjoyable day too. We showed off our new pull-up banner (see below, what do you think?) and listened to many women tell us about their website requirements and troubles. They took time to look at SitesPlus too and enjoyed looking at sites you have created. They were very impressed!

We’ll be running several workshops in the Blackdown Hills area during spring. So do let us know if you’d like to come along.

Our new SitesPlus banner - coming to a session near you soon!!

Easy skipping to same-page content

sp07 — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:04:19 +0000

We have recently enabled the anchor button on the text box toolbars. This means visitors can skip from one part of the page to another, rather like same-page hyperlinks. Just follow these instructions to have a go:

At your link destination

Click your mouse at the start of the sentence where you want the anchor
Then select the anchor button
Give your anchor a name – this is just for your reference, one word will do

Activate the originator text

Further up the page, select the text you want to link with your anchor
Now click the link icon
Under link type choose Anchor in this page option.
Your anchor list will now appear with your anchor names listed
Select the one you want.

Internet shopping hit an all-time high last week

sp07 — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:31:18 +0000

Kate says:
A payment processing company have reported that online spending hit a record high at 1.09pm on 10th December.

Shoppers spent £767,500 over the internet within 60 seconds at that time - the most money per minute ever spent online by UK shoppers.

The surge in spending is expected to make today the biggest ever online shopping day for the UK, according to Retail Decisions which processes card payments.

Shoppers will splash out a predicted £370 million online today - 106% more than on the second Monday of December last year.

If this isn’t an incentive to get on-line then I’m not sure what is!!

Services Page Image enlargement

sp07 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:33:44 +0000

Kate says:
Good news, the services page now displays the ‘enlarge image’ option too. So you can click on the image to see a bigger picture, as you can in the products page.

To use this feature save your services image twice, once as a small image about 90 pixels high and again as a larger image up to 500 pixels high. Upload them in the usual way. Call or email us if you have any queries.