Yahoo Web Hosting today launched Site Solution, a free service designed to let subscribers create a storefront with templates and drag-and-drop navigation through a guided step-by-step process covering Web page building, navigational links, copy writing, photo sizing and more.
"This was born out of a lot of conversations with our customers," said Guy Yalif, director of Yahoo's web hosting products. "There's no software to download, you access it from the Web, you'll never see a line of code. The big take-away is ease-of-use and lead generation."
Highlights of the new storefront plan include the capability to capture contact information through a sign-in box that stores the e-mail addresses, providing an easy way to gather leads, and the automatic file conversion of photos, saving you from resizing large images so they will load quickly on a Web page.
In addition, the service automatically streamlines design choices. For instance, once you choose one of the 10 templates currently available, the software will only let you make changes that work within that family of styles, preventing the creation of a storefront comprised of several mismatched templates and layouts. "We provided some guard rails to keep people from falling into some of the common pitfalls in the process," said Yalif.
While the ten templates available at launch does represent a small range of Web site design options, Yalif said that Yahoo plans to expand that number in the coming months.
The new service includes designs that work specifically for real estate or restaurant businesses, he said, and they are automatically optimized for search engines with the inclusion of meta tags and keywords. If you aren't sure how to write content for your site, you'll benefit from guidance in this area, too, as the software prompts you to describe your business and explain how buyers will benefit from your products and services.
Here is a summary of the key features:
- An online tool.
You can build a site right in your Web browser. No downloads or special software needed.
- Easy-to-customize designs. Customizable designs allow you to build a unique site for your business without starting from scratch. Streamlined content entry process includes selecting a design, typing in business information, adding pictures and a logo without any coding.
- A guided process.
A simple checklist walks you through creating a complete site — building Web pages, creating navigational links, providing copy tips, sizing photos, etc.
- Easy site maintenance.
You can easily update pages and text so that your Web sites stay current with changing business needs. Just point and click to make an update.
- Customer leads.
Web site designs include forms to collect visitors' contact information, logo and business name to feature on every page. Additionally, you have the option to display a map to the business location to help acquire more customers.
- Search engine submission.
Yahoo helps businesses reach potential customers through search results by automatically submitting sites to Google and Yahoo and building the site to meet search engine standards.
In other news, Yahoo Merchant Solutions rolled out a payment upgrade. The new step-by-step payment wizard is designed to allow you to easily set up your Web site to accept online payments, with the addition of PayPal Website Payments Pro, a merchant-account service that enables you to accept credit cards directly on your Web site.
The payment wizard provides a simple guided process and compares different ways to accept online payments to make it easy to select the best option. Once you select a payment-processing option, instructions are provided on how the application process works and the information needed to complete it. Future payment wizards to be added later will help store owners with tax rates, shipping and financial transactions.
Yahoo Small Business introduced the first phase of a significant upgrade of its e-commerce platform, Yahoo Merchant Solutions, in October of last year. The enhancements are part of the company's "Open For Business" initiative, a multi-stage project focused on enabling merchants to more quickly and easily launch online retail businesses and to help them become successful once they are open for business online.
Previously launched enhancements included new "Design" and "Add Products" wizards that streamline the process for designing and setting up professional-looking online stores that are search engine friendly.
Full product and pricing information regarding Yahoo Merchant Solutions is available here.
Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.
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