Managing the Process with Reports, SEM Tools
AmeriCommerce monitors and manages every aspect of your online business through a single, intuitive administration interface that can be accessed on any Web-connected computer. You can view reports and analysis on a company-wide level or drill down into specific storefronts.
Something the company calls "extreme logging" records and compiles every action by every visitor and allows you to review and search through the results. This allows you to view session details for each visitor that includes shopping cart contents and visited pages. You can also create and maintain mailing lists that can be exported to campaign management programs.
AmeriCommerce provides detailed reports that serve information on visitor counts and page views, as well as top-selling products, taxes, search engine results and more. You can immediately see the products and search phrases that customers are using once they land on your site. Graphical reports are attractive and insightful.
 |
Taxes, Traffic, SEM, Cart Action: AmeriCommerce provides detailed management tools to help you oversee your online business.
(Click for larger image.) |
Real-time reporting shows where site traffic originates and what visitors are doing on your site. You can also monitor your keyword marketing campaigns with keyword level return on investment (ROI) features. AmeriCommerce also integrates with the Google AdWords API to provide statistics and analysis.
You can easily upload new products, modify existing products or delete them by using the catalog import and export features. Here you can modify descriptions, photos, shipping information and related products and set and adjust tiered pricing. Here, the tab-based product editor provides an easy and intuitive interface for accomplishing these tasks.
"Kitting" features allow you to bundle several products together into a single one and you can group similar goods on product pages. You're also free to show and hide products and provide different text for different search engines.
Convenient product and inventory mass editors let you update hundreds of products at once, which can be a time saver. You can download your catalog and modify it in Excel and re-load it back to AmeriCommerce. The system can automatically download new orders and synchronize inventory with QuickBooks.
Getting Started: At Your Service
Setting up your online storefront is fairly straight-forward and AmeriCommerce offers lots of options to customize a site. For novices, an easy setup wizard helps you create a professional looking online store and make changes without understanding HTML.
You simply answer questions and select from the limited set of provided themes. An import feature allows you to upload product data via CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. And if you like, you can hire AmeriCommerce to perform the task for you at an hourly rate.
If you have an existing Web site, you can upload your Web pages and AmeriCommerce's support staff can incorporate your site for a fee. The company also offers services for obtaining merchant accounts and SSL certificates, as well as for Web design, keyword advertising and search engine placement.
AmeriCommerce sites are hosted on servers with redundant hard drives and power supplies and sales data is backed-up hourly (web site content is backed-up daily.). According to AmeriCommerce, its hosting services are scalable and can support sites with between 100 and 100,000 visitors per day. Customer information is protected by 128bit SSL encryption and stored using military-grade AES encryption.
Bottom Line: Wave the Flag for AmeriCommerce
With all its comprehensive management and tracking tools, plus stellar shipping and cart functions, AmeriCommerce stands out from the crowd in storefront and hosting providers. And to help with your decision, the company offers a free, 14-day trial. AmeriCommerce's Bronze plan is priced at $39 per month. The company's Silver plan is priced at $99 per month. The Gold plan is priced at $995 per year. The Platinum is priced at $3000 per year. For details, please check out the AmeriCommerce Web site.
Wayne N. Kawamoto has written more than 800 articles, columns and reviews about computers, new technologies, the Internet, e-commerce and small businesses. Wayne has also published three books about upgrading PCs, building office networks and troubleshooting notebook computers. You can contact him through his Web site at www.waynewrite.com.
IE 7
Firefox 2.0
