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Yahoo Store Owners: Make More $$$ with your Yahoo Store Shopping Cart Software!

Run a Yahoo Store? Your time is valuable. The highest and best use of your time is working on your business, not figuring the in's and the out's of the Yahoo Store shopping cart software. You make more money taking care of your customers and finding new products to sell them on the internet.

We focus on what we do best: We make your Yahoo Store shopping cart perform better through improvements in store design and navigation, and then use our internet marketing experience to get the folks to click on through to your Yahoo Store and hit the CHECKOUT BUTTON.

I have a lot of free Yahoo Store info on the website, and even more in a series of autoresponder emails I send out. Click here to email info@ystore.com which will start a series of emails over the next couple of weeks. - Rob

   &   

Rob & Steve Snell
Yahoo Store Design & Marketing

Want to know how one of my Yahoo Stores sold over $250,000.00 worth of Pokemon? Or $30,000 in Halloween Costumes the first month? You also get your Free Yahoo Store Internet Marketing Plan -- ROB
Name: Email:
We value your privacy. We won't sell or rent your name, just email a few Yahoo Store Designer Secrets!
Yahoo Store Design & Marketing - a Yahoo Store Design Partner since 1997, we specialize in Yahoo Store design & development, company logo design, & internet marketing through keyword research.  Most of our clients are from all over the United States.
Snell brothers circa 2003
Remember, Your Risk-Free Yahoo Store Designer 100% Satisfaction Guarantee: There is absolutely no risk to you when you hire the Snell Brothers. You either like our design work, our development of your shopping cart software or we fix it to your satisfaction, or we give you your money back. Period.


Sign up for my FREE Yahoo Store marketing reports, then see my Yahoo Store Portfolio (New!)

Need answers to Yahoo Store design and maintenance questions? Read my Yahoo Store Blog. Includes columns and rumblings. Rants & Raves...

I'm on my tenth year of working on the Yahoo Store platform. In April of 1997, I built my first Yahoo Store selling Tri-Tronics dog training collars. Since then I've seen hundreds of stores, talked with the creators and engineers behind the software, and have seen the inner workings of 100+ ecommerce based small businesses.

After four years of consulting with ecommerce clients, I keep seeing the same things over and over again. My most successful clients with million-dollar Yahoo Stores consistently do the same kinds of marketing. We help you target very specific groups of people who are good prospects for buying the products you have in your Yahoo Store.

Interested? It works. I've had several clients hit the ground running this year with $1,000 days within in the first week of opening for business. It's not easy. It takes aggressive marketing. You can't be on the web and expect "free" traffic to generate enough sales anymore.
Rob Snell's Ystore.com -- YAHOO STORE BOOK -- Designer, RTML help, SEO, Marketing & More!
  • Gun Dog Supply - Dog Training Supplies (PORTFOLIO SITE)
  • Janitorial Supplies from Bob the Janitor (PORTFOLIO SITE)
  • Softball Bats from Closeout Bats.com
  • Yahoo Store Help
  • Yahoo Store Resources
  • Yahoo Stores

    "Need help with your Yahoo! Store? My friend, Istvan "RTML101" Siposs is the yahoo store designer who literally wrote the book on Yahoo! Store. He's a great guy and is the developer who can do stuff with RTML that makes my head hurt..."

    Page 1
    Contents at a Glance
    Introduction .................................................................1
    Part I: Finding Out about Yahoo! Store...........................7
    Chapter 1: The Nickel Tour of Yahoo! Store....................................................................9
    Chapter 2: Planning Your Online Small Business .........................................................17
    Chapter 3: Jump-Starting Your Store .............................................................................35
    Chapter 4: Anatomy of a Yahoo! Store Order................................................................63
    Part II: Planning What’s in Store .................................75
    Chapter 5: Preparing to Build Your Yahoo! Store .........................................................77
    Chapter 6: Designing Your Store to Turn Shoppers into Buyers................................89
    Chapter 7: Exploring Store Navigation ..........................................................................97
    Chapter 8: Selling with Pictures....................................................................................109
    Part III: Building and Managing Your Store................121
    Chapter 9: Store Building with the Store Editor.........................................................123
    Chapter 10: Pushing All the Right Buttons..................................................................143
    Chapter 11: Designing All Kinds of Pages....................................................................161
    Chapter 12: Creating Product Pages with the Store Editor.......................................177
    Chapter 13: Merchandising to Sell More .....................................................................197
    Chapter 14: Checking Out the New Shopping Cart ....................................................215
    Chapter 15: Mastering the Store Manager...................................................................227
    Part IV: Profiting from Internet Marketing..................251
    Chapter 16: Searching for the Right Words.................................................................253
    Chapter 17: Driving Traffic That Converts..................................................................271
    Chapter 18: Buying Your Way to the Top ....................................................................285
    Chapter 19: Discovering Search Engine Optimization (SEO)....................................301
    Part V: Making More Money with Your Yahoo! Store ....317
    Chapter 20: Running Your Business by the Numbers................................................319
    Chapter 21: Converting Browsers into Buyers...........................................................331
    Chapter 22: E-Mailing Your Customers for Fun and Profit ........................................347
    Chapter 23: Getting Down with Product Uploads ......................................................359
    Chapter 24: Mastering Domains ...................................................................................371
    Page 2
    Part VI: The Part of Tens ...........................................379
    Chapter 25: Ten or So Tools of the Trade....................................................................381
    Chapter 26: Ten or So RTML Resources and Recommendations.............................385
    Index.......................................................................389
    Table of Contents
    Introduction..................................................................1
    About This Book...............................................................................................2
    What You’re Not to Read.................................................................................2
    Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................3
    How This Book Is Organized...........................................................................3
    Part I: Finding Out about Yahoo! Store ................................................3
    Part II: Planning What’s in Store...........................................................3
    Part III: Building and Managing Your Store .........................................4
    Part IV: Profiting from Internet Marketing...........................................4
    Part V: Making More Money with Your Yahoo! Store.........................4
    Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................................................4
    Icons Used in This book..................................................................................5
    Where to Go from Here....................................................................................5
    “Talk to Me, Johnny . . .”..................................................................................6
    Part I: Finding Out about Yahoo! Store ...........................7
    Chapter 1: The Nickel Tour of Yahoo! Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
    Exploring Small Business................................................................................9
    Introducing Yahoo! Small Business..............................................................10
    Figuring Out Who Uses Yahoo! Store...........................................................12
    Deciphering All the Parts..............................................................................13
    Examining Merchant Solutions.....................................................................14
    Chapter 2: Planning Your Online Small Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
    Choosing a Business Model That Works on the Web ................................17
    Picking Products That Sell on the Web .......................................................19
    Finding popular and profitable niches ..............................................19
    Promoting products with limited distribution .................................22
    Retailing quality products and adding value....................................24
    Selling products that encourage repeat orders................................25
    Maximizing your margins and price points.......................................25
    Leveraging your knowledge and passion..........................................26
    Building a New Business from Scratch........................................................27
    Planning your business model on a napkin ......................................27
    Using drop-shippers for fun, profit, and market research ..............28
    Looking before you leap......................................................................30
    Taking an Existing Business Online .............................................................30
    Creaming your most profitable products..........................................31
    Leveraging existing inventory to the Web ........................................31
    Maximizing supplier relationships.....................................................31
    Selling locally while shipping globally...............................................32
    Migrating to Yahoo! Store from Another Storefront System.....................33
    Making the transition...........................................................................33
    Copying your old site’s look and feel.................................................34
    Chapter 3: Jump-Starting Your Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
    Registering with Yahoo!.................................................................................35
    Creating your Yahoo! ID.......................................................................36
    Creating a Yahoo! security key ...........................................................37
    Opening Your Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Account...................................38
    Jumping into Store Building..........................................................................41
    1. Sign in with your Yahoo! ID and log in to Store Editor.................41
    2. Configure the Store Editor for store building ...............................44
    3. Create sample pages........................................................................45
    4. Publish your site, and you’re live on the Web..............................53
    Configuring Your Store Manager..................................................................54
    Accessing the Store Manager..............................................................54
    Setting your sales tax rate...................................................................55
    Configuring shipping methods and rates..........................................55
    Setting up your shipping methods.....................................................55
    Setting your shipping rates.................................................................56
    Setting your payment methods ..........................................................57
    Working with order confirmations and merchant notifications.....58
    Publishing store settings changes and placing a test order...........60
    Opening for Business.....................................................................................60
    Chapter 4: Anatomy of a Yahoo! Store Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
    Examining the Timeline of a Real Yahoo! Store Order...............................63
    Finding the store in a search engine..................................................64
    Landing on a section page...................................................................65
    Selling with a product page.................................................................65
    Pushing the Shopping Cart .................................................................67
    Checking out the Secure Order form .................................................69
    Confirming orders and shipping ’em out ..........................................70
    Taking care of details...........................................................................73
    Part II: Planning What’s in Store..................................75
    Chapter 5: Preparing to Build Your Yahoo! Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
    Choosing a Store-Building Tool ....................................................................77
    Store Editor ...........................................................................................78
    Store Tags..............................................................................................79
    Starting a Yahoo! Business For Dummies
    xii
    Building a Store Yourself or Outsourcing It................................................80
    Doing it yourself ...................................................................................80
    Outsourcing it.......................................................................................81
    Gathering Elements and Assets....................................................................83
    Product data..........................................................................................83
    Design elements....................................................................................84
    Copywriting...........................................................................................86
    Chapter 6: Designing Your Store to Turn Shoppers into Buyers . . . . .89
    Designing Your Store to Sell..........................................................................89
    Looking through the Eyes of a Customer....................................................91
    Choosing Logos, Colors, and Fonts .............................................................91
    Looking at logos ...................................................................................92
    Compelling use of color.......................................................................93
    Finding fantastic fonts .........................................................................95
    Chapter 7: Exploring Store Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
    Introducing Store Navigation........................................................................97
    Seeing how customers shop ...............................................................98
    You are here: Store Editor navigational elements............................99
    Linking to optimize navigation .........................................................103
    Shopping by Searching Your Store.............................................................105
    Chapter 8: Selling with Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
    Looking to Images to Sell More Stuff .........................................................110
    Deciphering Image Formats........................................................................111
    Working with Product Images in the Store Editor....................................113
    Uploading Images to the Store Editor........................................................115
    Finding Product Images...............................................................................117
    Tweaking Your Images.................................................................................118
    Working with Text Inside Graphics............................................................120
    Part III: Building and Managing Your Store ................121
    Chapter 9: Store Building with the Store Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
    Getting Started in Store Editor ...................................................................123
    Editing your store...............................................................................124
    Publishing your edits to the Store ...................................................125
    Customizing Your Editor for Editing..........................................................127
    Switching to Advanced mode ...........................................................128
    Moving the Edit Nav-bar....................................................................128
    Meeting the Edit Nav-bar buttons ....................................................129
    Navigating the Store Editor.........................................................................132
    Finding pages by knowing the ID......................................................133
    Bookmarking Editor pages with consistent URLs..........................133
    Setting properties on the Config page.............................................134
    Setting the Controls for the Editor...................................................134
    xiii
    Table of Contents
    Controlling Look and Feel with Variables .................................................135
    Colors and typefaces .........................................................................137
    Image dimensions...............................................................................137
    Page layout..........................................................................................138
    Button properties...............................................................................139
    Page properties...................................................................................140
    Store properties..................................................................................140
    Custom variables................................................................................142
    Chapter 10: Pushing All the Right Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
    Navigating Yahoo! Store Buttons................................................................143
    Exploring the Different Types of Buttons..................................................145
    Function buttons ................................................................................145
    Contents buttons................................................................................148
    Choosing Page-Format: Top Buttons or Side Buttons .............................149
    Side buttons ........................................................................................150
    Top buttons.........................................................................................150
    Editing Your Navigation Buttons................................................................152
    Working with Function buttons........................................................152
    Fiddling with Contents buttons........................................................153
    Editing the text on the buttons.........................................................154
    Editing the Appearance of Navigation Buttons........................................155
    Button-Styles.......................................................................................155
    Home button variables ......................................................................156
    Button spacing variables...................................................................156
    Creating a Custom Look with Icon Buttons..............................................157
    Custom Function buttons..................................................................158
    Custom Contents buttons .................................................................158
    Making custom icons .........................................................................159
    Navigation Bar Resources...........................................................................159
    Chapter 11: Designing All Kinds of Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
    Introducing the Home Page ........................................................................161
    Optimizing begins at home ...............................................................162
    Designing your home page................................................................163
    Maximizing home-page Page-elements............................................165
    Selling with Super Section Pages................................................................168
    Top-level section pages usually contain subsection pages ..........168
    Subsections contain products..........................................................170
    Use empty section pages for content ..............................................171
    Contents, Contents, Contents, and Contents ...........................................171
    Exploring Other Function Pages ................................................................173
    Editing your info page........................................................................174
    Creating your privacy policy page...................................................175
    Editing your Shopping Cart...............................................................175
    Editing your store’s Search page......................................................176
    Looking at your alphabetical index or site map.............................176
    Starting a Yahoo! Business For Dummies
    xiv
    Chapter 12: Creating Product Pages with the Store Editor . . . . . . . .177
    Exploring Store Editor Concepts................................................................177
    Let me see some ID ............................................................................178
    Getting positive ID on products and sections ................................179
    Exploring Parent-Child Relationships........................................................180
    Producing Profits with Product Pages.......................................................181
    Looking at Product Elements......................................................................186
    Maintaining Your Pages in the Store Editor..............................................190
    Creating new pages inside the Store Editor....................................190
    Editing product and section pages ..................................................193
    Moving pages by cutting to the Clipboard......................................193
    Copying pages into more than one section ....................................195
    Deleting pages.....................................................................................195
    Chapter 13: Merchandising to Sell More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197
    Specializing in Bestsellers...........................................................................197
    Featuring specials ..............................................................................198
    Making something special.................................................................199
    Editing the look and feel of specials ................................................200
    Troubleshooting specials..................................................................202
    Picking What Products to Push..................................................................203
    Merchandising Top Sellers with Navigation .............................................204
    Figuring out what to feature when you have no track record .......205
    Featuring products across the site ..................................................206
    Finding $30,000 in Sales by Using Cross-Sell.............................................209
    Merchandising Products in Other Ways....................................................212
    Chapter 14: Checking Out the New Shopping Cart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
    Introducing the New Checkout Manager...................................................216
    Exploring the Checkout Manager.....................................................216
    Testing your settings..........................................................................217
    Publishing your new cart ..................................................................218
    Controlling Checkout Flow with Global Settings......................................218
    Flow settings .......................................................................................219
    Checkout Wrapper .............................................................................220
    Checkout settings...............................................................................221
    Configuring Elements with Page Configuration........................................221
    Page Settings.......................................................................................221
    Page Sections......................................................................................222
    Fields....................................................................................................222
    Advanced Settings..............................................................................224
    Customizing Your Visual Design.................................................................224
    Global styles........................................................................................224
    Progress indicator..............................................................................225
    Checkout buttons...............................................................................225
    Tinkering with Advanced Settings .............................................................226
    Jumping to the New Cart.............................................................................226
    xv
    Table of Contents
    Chapter 15: Mastering the Store Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
    Getting (Store) Help When You Need It.....................................................228
    Getting Anywhere from Here ......................................................................229
    Shipping and Managing Orders..................................................................230
    Low-tech order-management solutions...........................................230
    High-tech order-management solutions..........................................231
    Power-user solutions .........................................................................232
    Third-party order-management software........................................232
    Processing Orders — Show Me the Money!..............................................234
    Taking orders all the way to the bank .............................................234
    Searching for that one special order................................................236
    Handling catalog requests.................................................................236
    Changing order numbers...................................................................237
    Working with Credit Cards..........................................................................237
    Setting up credit-card processing ....................................................238
    Processing online orders...................................................................238
    Handling manual transactions..........................................................239
    Processing cards offline.....................................................................240
    Configuring Order Settings .........................................................................240
    Customize Order Form (Checkout)..................................................241
    Fax/e-mail order notification.............................................................243
    Configuring inventory........................................................................244
    Payment methods ..............................................................................244
    Setting tax rates..................................................................................245
    Setting Up Your Sites for Success ..............................................................245
    Setting Up Shipping Settings.......................................................................247
    Shipment and order-status e-mails ..................................................247
    Shipping Manager...............................................................................248
    UPS shipping tools .............................................................................248
    Shipping foreign orders.....................................................................249
    Part IV: Profiting from Internet Marketing ..................251
    Chapter 16: Searching for the Right Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253
    Introducing Keywords .................................................................................254
    Considering Where Keywords Come From...............................................254
    Conquering Converting Keywords.............................................................257
    Collecting converting keywords.......................................................258
    Digging keywords out of your orders ..............................................258
    Prying keywords out of product reports.........................................260
    Working with Your Top Converting Keywords.........................................262
    Seeing How Your Shoppers Search............................................................265
    Starting a Yahoo! Business For Dummies
    xvi
    Researching Keywords................................................................................265
    Overture’s free keyword selector tool.............................................266
    Google AdWords free keyword tool .................................................266
    Wordtracker keyword research tool................................................268
    Tracking Converting Keywords..................................................................269
    Chapter 17: Driving Traffic That Converts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
    Fishing the Right Way ..................................................................................271
    Cranking Up Search-Engine Marketing......................................................273
    Driving free traffic from search engines..........................................274
    Introducing search engine optimization..........................................274
    Buying search-engine traffic with PPC ads......................................275
    Marketing with E-Mail Newsletters............................................................276
    Directing Traffic from Directories..............................................................276
    Heeding the Call of the Mall........................................................................278
    Getting listed in Yahoo! Shopping ....................................................278
    Buying Text-Link Ads for Traffic and Link Popularity .............................279
    Sponsoring Forums, Directories, Nonprofits, and Clubs ........................280
    Commissioning Sales through Affiliate Marketing...................................280
    Exploring eBay Auctions for Yahoo! Store Owners..................................281
    Blogging for Retailers ..................................................................................282
    Exploring Other Ways to Get Traffic..........................................................283
    Peeling One Potato at a Time . . . ...............................................................283
    Chapter 18: Buying Your Way to the Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285
    Introducing Paid-Search Advertising.........................................................285
    Deciding between Paid and Free Searches ...............................................287
    Combining the one-two punch of SEO and PPC .............................288
    Planning Your PPC Ad Campaign ...............................................................289
    Buying Traffic with Paid-Search Ads..........................................................289
    Picking keywords................................................................................290
    Creating clickable ads........................................................................291
    Coming in for a landing......................................................................292
    Determining bid amounts..................................................................292
    Choosing syndication and distribution options.............................295
    Content ads: PPC by any other name ..............................................295
    Setting different distribution options ..............................................295
    Measuring Search-Advertising Results......................................................296
    Using free conversion tracking.........................................................296
    Buying third-party tracking tools.....................................................297
    Working with trackable links ............................................................297
    Improving Your Campaigns.........................................................................298
    Nonperforming keywords..................................................................298
    Underperforming keywords..............................................................299
    xvii
    Table of Contents
    Chapter 19: Discovering Search Engine Optimization (SEO) . . . . . . .301
    Discovering How Search Engines Work.....................................................302
    Order, please! ......................................................................................302
    Enter Google........................................................................................302
    Along came a spider...........................................................................303
    Uh, is this spam?.................................................................................304
    Appreciating Yahoo! Stores for Ease of SEO .............................................304
    Optimizing Yahoo! Stores without Programming.....................................305
    Optimizing Your Store for Search Engines................................................305
    Custom RTML programming.............................................................305
    Keyword research ..............................................................................306
    SEO copywriting .................................................................................307
    Linked development ..........................................................................311
    Measured results................................................................................313
    Doing Your SEO Homework ........................................................................314
    Part V: Making More Money with Your Yahoo! Store .....317
    Chapter 20: Running Your Business by the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . .319
    Discovering What You Need to Know........................................................319
    Introducing Yahoo! Store Statistics............................................................321
    Page Views...........................................................................................322
    Sales .....................................................................................................323
    References...........................................................................................324
    Store Searches ....................................................................................327
    Shopping Searches.............................................................................327
    Graphs..................................................................................................327
    Reports ................................................................................................328
    Click Trails...........................................................................................329
    Chapter 21: Converting Browsers into Buyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331
    Getting Shoppers to Buy .............................................................................331
    Increasing your site’s traffic is not enough.....................................332
    Increasing sales by creating quality content ..................................332
    Building Customer Confidence...................................................................333
    Employ trust symbols........................................................................335
    Offer better customer service ..........................................................335
    Improve product pages to increase sales .......................................336
    Convert more Shopping Carts ..........................................................337
    Improving Your Store’s Usability to Increase Conversions ....................339
    Understanding how little time you have .........................................340
    Revving up your site’s load speed ...................................................341
    Starting a Yahoo! Business For Dummies
    xviii
    Looking at Who’s Looking at You...............................................................343
    Operating system and browser software ........................................344
    Screen resolution in pixels................................................................344
    So, how big can your pages be?........................................................345
    Focus on what makes money............................................................345
    Conversion and usability resources ................................................346
    Chapter 22: E-Mailing Your Customers for Fun and Profit . . . . . . . . .347
    Discovering E-Mail Marketing Tools ..........................................................348
    Thanking customers with e-mails ....................................................348
    Sending Order e-mails........................................................................349
    Taking advantage of personalized replies.......................................350
    Responding to e-mail addresses on your Web site ........................351
    Referral e-mail marketing ..................................................................351
    Advertising in e-mail newsletters.....................................................351
    Marketing products and services with autoresponders...............352
    Marketing in a Spam-Filled World ..............................................................352
    The CAN-SPAM Act and you..............................................................352
    Yahoo’s take on spam ........................................................................355
    Managing Your E-Mail Lists.........................................................................355
    Sign ’em up! .........................................................................................355
    Weeding your list................................................................................356
    Crafting Effective E-Commerce Newsletters.............................................357
    Chapter 23: Getting Down with Product Uploads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359
    A Word of Warning .......................................................................................360
    Introducing Database Uploads...................................................................361
    Creating Products with Uploads ................................................................361
    Formatting Your Upload Files.....................................................................362
    Uploading Data in the Right Fields.............................................................363
    Doing Uploads ..............................................................................................363
    Uploading Data with the New Upload button.................................364
    Reviewing your data ..........................................................................365
    Updating product data.......................................................................366
    Troubleshooting Database Uploads ..........................................................368
    Chapter 24: Mastering Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371
    Exploring Your Domain ...............................................................................371
    Registering Your Domain Name..................................................................372
    Registering domains with Yahoo!.....................................................373
    Registering domains with other companies ...................................373
    Non-Yahoo! registered domains and DNSs......................................374
    Mastering Your Domains.............................................................................374
    Determining your site entry point....................................................375
    Redirecting store URLs to your domain..........................................377
    xix
    Table of Contents
    Part VI: The Part of Tens............................................379
    Chapter 25: Ten or So Tools of the Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .381
    Searching for All the Right Words..............................................................381
    Searching Engine Queries/Filters...............................................................382
    Using the Right YstoreTool for the Job.....................................................382
    Exporting Your Yahoo! Store.......................................................................383
    Checking Your Web Position.......................................................................383
    Tracking Trends with Analytics Software .................................................383
    Checking Out Other Cool Tools..................................................................384
    Chapter 26: Ten or So RTML Resources and Recommendations . . . .385
    Know HTML before Playing with RTML ....................................................386
    Experiment with RTML................................................................................386
    Read Mike’s Books on RTML.......................................................................386
    Read Istvan’s Books on RTML ....................................................................387
    Use Don Cole’s Template Transfer Utility.................................................387
    Read the YstoreForums.com RTML forum ...............................................387
    Look at Lots of Custom RTML Stores........................................................388
    Add Missing SEO Elements .........................................................................388
    Add RTML Navigational Elements..............................................................388
    Index........................................................................389
    Starting a Yahoo! Business For Dummies
    xx
    Page 1
    • Numerics •
    21 Pay-Per-Click Campaign Secrets Your
    Competition Doesn’t Know, 2004 Edition
    (Goodman), 270
    80/20 rule, 31, 284
    404 Error Pages/Page Not Found
    Handling, 246
    800 number, 334
    800 x 600 screen resolution, 91
    1,040 x 768 screen resolution, 91
    • A •
    About.com directory, 277
    above the fold, 65, 67
    abstract, 64
    Abstract field, 185
    access speed, 343
    activating the Checkout Manager, 218
    Add button, 366
    Add To Cart button, 65–67
    Address-phone variable, 140
    adjusting brightness, contract, color
    balance in images, 119
    Adobe Photoshop, 118–119
    Advanced mode (Store Editor), 127–128
    Advanced Settings module (Checkout
    Manager), 217, 224–226
    advertising
    affiliate programs, 280–281
    auctions, 281–282
    blogs, 282–283
    content ads, 295
    directory listings, 276–277
    e-mail newsletters, 276, 351
    paid-search advertising, 14, 273,
    275–276, 285–299
    referral e-mail marketing, 351
    revenue share programs, 281
    sponsorships, 280
    text-link ads, 279–280
    tips, 283
    viral marketing, 348
    affiliate programs, 280–281
    Alertbox column (Nielsen), 346
    algorithms (for search results order), 302
    alphanumeric ID (of pages), 133, 178–179
    alternate product shots, 116
    analytics software, 383–384
    anchor text, 103–104, 311
    anti-aliasing text, 120
    asterisk (red asterisk), 72, 234
    auctions, 281–282
    authors (as online merchants), 13
    author’s contact information, 6
    Auto–Order Notification e-mail, 59–60
    autoresponders, 352
    Availability variable, 141
    • B •
    background colors, 137
    background images, 137
    Background-color variable, 137
    Background-image variable, 137
    bad design (defined), 91
    Banner-font-size variable, 137
    Bar-Delimited files (database uploads), 362
    bestselling products, 197–198
    Beta test for Checkout Manager, 216
    bid amounts, 292–295
    Billing Info Checkout page, 339
    Billing Info page, 69–71
    bitmap files, 111
    BizRate shopping portal, 278
    Black, Mike, president of Internet
    Marketing Resources, 303
    blacklists, 357
    blogs, 6, 282–283
    Bock, Brian, Yahoo! Store developer, 133
    Boisvert, Paul, Yahoo! Store Senior
    Technical Content Producer, 118
    bookmarking pages, 133–134
    borders around product photos, 119
    BOTW.com directory, 277
    branding
    Checkout Wrapper, 220–221
    corporate identity, 85
    home page, 162, 166
    Yahoo! Store branding, 85
    breadcrumbs, 65, 388
    browsers of visitors, 344
    bugs in Checkout Manager, 226
    building a store
    copywriting, 86–87
    design elements, 84–86
    doing it yourself, 80–81
    hiring someone to do it, 81–82
    offshore designers, 81
    product data, 83–84
    with Store Editor, 41–53, 77–79
    with Store Tags, 2, 77, 79–80
    Building Your Business with Google For
    Dummies (Hill), 299
    Bulk Image Upload feature, 116
    Burke, David, VisualFuture.com, 383
    Burmeister, Mary (HTML 4 For Dummies,
    5th Edition), 386
    business e-mail, 14
    business model, 17–19, 27–28
    Button-edge-color variable, 157
    Button-edge-width variable, 157
    Button-padding variable, 156
    buttons
    Add button, 366
    Add To Cart button, 65–67
    Checkout buttons, 225
    Config button, 131
    Contents buttons, 130, 148–149
    Controls button, 131
    custom buttons, 157–159
    Database Uploads button, 131
    Download button, 146
    Edit All button, 129
    Edit button, 129
    editing, 152–155
    E-mail button, 146
    Empty button, 146–147
    Find button, 130
    Function buttons, 145–148
    Help button, 127, 130, 147
    Hide Help button, 130
    Home button, 145–147, 156
    home page, 165–166
    icon buttons, 157–159
    Index button, 147
    Image button, 129
    Info button, 99, 145–147
    Item button, 129
    Layout button, 131
    Link button, 129
    Keep Shopping button, 67
    Look button, 131
    padding, 156
    placement of, 144, 149–151
    Mail button, 147
    Manager button, 129–130
    Move button, 129
    navigation buttons, 152–155
    New Upload button, 364
    Next button, 147
    Order button, 65–67
    Place Order button, 70
    Privacypolicy button, 147
    Publish button, 124–127, 130
    Published button, 126
    Rebuild button, 366–367
    Red Arrow (left side) button, 131
    Red Arrow (right side) button, 131
    Register button, 147
    Request button, 148
    resources, 159
    Revert button, 367–368
    Section button, 129
    Show-order button, 145–146, 148
    side buttons, 149–150
    spacers, 146–147
    styles, 155–156
    Templates button, 130
    top buttons, 149–151
    Types button, 130–131
    Up button, 131, 148
    Update button, 125
    Update Quantity button, 67
    variables, 139
    Variables button, 94, 125, 129
    workaround for above the fold placement
    of Order button, 67
    Button-style variable, 139, 155–156
    buyers. See customers
    buying cycle, 265
    390
    Starting a Yahoo! Business For Dummies
    • C •
    CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, 352–354
    Caption field, 65, 67, 185
    Cart. See also Checkout Manager
    Add To Cart button, 65–67
    conversion rate, 337–339
    customizing, 175–176
    design, 67–68
    editing, 175–176
    functionality, 67
    Keep Shopping button, 67
    navigation, 99
    new features, 215
    ordering process, 67–68
    Secure-basket variable, 141
    Update Quantity button, 67
    cascading style sheets (CSS), 224
    Catalog Manager, 229–230
    catalog requests, 236
    changing
    colors, 94
    domain information, 373–375
    Checkout buttons, 225
    Checkout Manager
    activating, 218
    Advanced Settings module, 217, 224–226
    Beta test, 216
    bugs, 226
    Checkout buttons, 225
    cookies, 224
    CSS (cascading style sheets), 224
    custom fields, 223
    customer messages, 222
    Customer Ratings, 221
    design, 224–225
    disabling, 226
    documentation, 216
    enabling, 226
    fields, 222–223
    flow settings, 218–220
    “Getting Started Guide for Checkout
    Manager,” 216
    Gift Options, 221
    Global Settings module, 216, 219–221
    Help files, 216
    Item Option Validation, 226
    multiple-page checkout, 219
    new features, 215–216
    opening, 216
    Page Configuration module, 216, 221–223
    previewing, 217
    progress indicator, 225
    publishing Order Settings, 218
    Revert panel, 226
    single-page checkout, 219
    test orders, 218
    Visual Customization module, 216–217
    Checkout Manager Guide, 228
    Checkout Wrapper, 220–221
    child pages, 171
    choosing a domain name, 371
    Clay, Bruce, SEO expert, 316, 383
    click trails, 98, 329
    clickable ads, 291
    ClickTracks, 322, 383
    Clipboard, 193–194
    Code field, 182
    Cole, Dan
    Graphic Downloader tool, 382
    Graphic Uploader tool, 382
    Order Checker tool, 382
    Order Processor tool, 382
    RTML Template Transfer Utility, 382, 387
    Yahoo! Store Backup & Feed tool, 382–383
    Yahoo! Store forum, 387
    Collier, Marsha
    eBay For Dummies, 282
    eBay Timesaving Techniques For
    Dummies, 282
    Starting an eBay Business For
    Dummies, 282
    color blindness, 94
    colors
    background colors, 137
    changing, 94
    color schemes, 131
    design, 93–94
    progress indicator, 225
    RGB (red green blue), 94
    variables, 137
    Variables button, 94
    Columns variable, 138
    Column-width variable, 138
    Commission Junction affiliate
    programs, 281
    community of Yahoo! Store owners, 11
    391
    Index
    36_588737 bindex.qxp 2/27/06 11:31 PM Page 391
    comparison of Merchant Solutions
    Packages, 11
    competitors
    merchandising secrets, 205
    search engine optimization (SEO),
    314–315
    Compound-name variable, 141
    compressed file, 236
    compressing images, 111
    Config button, 131
    Config page (Store Editor), 134
    configuring
    inventory, 244
    Order Settings, 240–243
    Store Manager, 54–58
    confirming orders, 58–59, 70, 248, 348–349
    Constant Contact e-mail referral
    service, 351
    consumer protection groups, 335
    contact information, 334
    content ads, 295
    contents
    defined, 171–172
    home page, 172
    product pages, 173
    section pages, 173
    Contents buttons, 130, 148–149
    Contents page (Store Editor), 132–133
    Contents-elements variable, 138
    Contents-format variable, 138–139
    Controls button, 131
    Controls page (Store Editor), 134–135
    conversion rate
    access speed, 343
    customer service, 335–336
    defined, 331–332
    demographic information, 343–344
    effect of design on, 89–91
    instilling confidence in customers,
    333–335
    load speed, 341–343
    product page design, 336–337
    quality content, 332–333
    resources, 346
    Shopping Cart, 337–339
    trust symbols, 335
    usability, 339–341
    viewing, 320
    what works, 345–346
    converting keywords
    defined, 254
    sources of, 257–264
    tracking, 269–270
    cookies, 224
    copying
    product pages, 195
    section pages, 195
    copywriting, 86–87, 307–310
    corporate identity, 85
    costs for a Yahoo! Store, 11
    creating
    IDs (of pages), 179
    product pages, 190–192
    section pages, 190
    credit cards
    accepting payments from, 10
    automatic processing, 238–239
    CVN (credit-card verification
    number), 237
    logos, 335
    manual processing, 70, 239
    offline processing, 240
    real-time credit-card authorization,
    69, 237
    Risk Tools, 237
    Crockatt, Tor, search marketer, 268
    cropping photos, 119
    cross-selling
    Cross-sell feature, 209–211
    Cross-sell-text variable, 141
    Family field, 186
    free gift with purchase, 211
    CSS (cascading style sheets), 224
    CSS Web Design For Dummies
    (Mansfield), 310
    CSV text files (database uploads), 362–363
    Currency variable, 141
    custom buttons, 157–159
    custom fields in Checkout Manager, 223
    custom search solutions, 283
    Custom Templates NOW! e-book (Siposs), 387
    custom variables, 142
    custom-built RTML stores, 388
    Customer Access link (Store Manager), 246
    392