SiteKreator: Hostess With the Most-est By Michelle Megna
October 25, 2006
If you want a simple, quick and affordable way to set up a Web store, consider SiteKreator Business Edition — a hosted site-building program that includes wizards, templates and integration with e-commerce must-haves such as PayPal and QuickBooks.
Designed for small businesses and e-entrepreneurs, SiteKreator, an online application, starts at $15 a month for 200 MB and eliminates the need to download, install and upgrade software. There is also a 400 MB/$25 plan and a 1 GB/$49 plan.
SiteKreator lets you add interactive features, such as blogs, Web forms and discussion forums, to engage shoppers and convert them into repeat customers. Web site information can be tiered through multiple content layers by adding members-only areas and registration forms. This can encourage visitors to share key information, such as e-mail addresses, in exchange for access to certain areas of the site with exclusive content.
If your business grows, the site is scalable, says the company, and its sites are optimized for search engines so e-tailers can set up search keywords, descriptions and integrate Google site maps.
The Business Edition provides interactive wizards and animated tutorials to help guide you through the building process and live technical support is available, but chances are, you won't need it.
Smooth Sailing: Easy Set-Up SiteKreator has a nice set of professional-looking templates and the build interface is uncluttered and straight-forward. The business templates feature the following options: ability to add your own logo, show your own copyright text, have several navigations and multi-level menus, change the header image on each page, select between different color schemes for each page and change content placement through the use of editing blocks.
SiteKreator Business Edition makes setting up a shop a snap.
To edit your elements, tiny letters that anchor editing menus are attached to content blocks. A click on these opens a menu for moving, editing and so on. To make changes to a block of content, clicking on "properties" opens up a working screen, while selecting "edit" lets you cut, copy and delete.
Adding images is easy: you select "add image" from the anchor-menu and the image gallery opens. You can upload a single file, a ZIP file, or, select one from the thumbnails in the gallery. Once you have the image on the page, an edit box with cropping and rotating options lets you tweak the placement of your photos.
The program even makes the little details, such as page-header images, easy to address. You can either choose one from the library or upload your own. If you do not select a header image from those supplied, the space is used for your page title.
Another great benefit to e-tailers is the ability to use your own domain name, which can be done in two steps. First, you specify your name in the "site properties," and then set it to point to SiteKreator's IP address.
With SiteKreator Business Edition, most of the technical aspects of your set-up is taken care of, leaving you to focus on getting your business up and running — and making money.
Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.
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