The first Webinar will look at our Ecommerce shop builder and will take place on Friday 25^th May at 2pm. In this Webinar we will be showing you the basics on how to use our Ecommerce product to build your online shop!

In this Webinar you will learn:

• How to access your Ecommerce Product
• How to start building your Ecommerce shop
• Key Features
• How to add products, images and descriptions
• How to manage orders, payments and shipping
• Plus Tips and Tricks to get the most from Ecommerce

After the main tutorial there will be a question and answer section where we will address any questions asked during the webinar and have time for an open question and answer session with our experts.

To reserve your place on this Webinar click here and register today!

Our previous guides have shown you how to access the ‘Page Master‘ and edit the title of your website as well as editing your menu. Its now time to working on the main look of your SiteMaker website.

Click on Insert from your toolbar. This will activate a new menu of objects on the left side of your screen.

To Insert a title into the main body of your website, click Title Text. Double click on the ‘Title Text’ box to enter your text.

You can reposition your title by dragging the ‘Title Text’ box into place. To change the style of your font, use the ‘Editor’ toolbox. Here you will be able to change the type of font as well as size and colour.

To enter your main text, repeat the process this time selecting Body Text.

You can use the ‘Editor’ toolbox to change the style of your text.

In our next installment of SiteMaker: The Basics we will show you how to insert images into your Website – don’t miss it!

To see all of the tutorials in our SiteMaker: The Basics visit our Online Support Centre where you will find these and many more helpful articles.

From 1st May 2012 all .UK domain registrations and renewals are no longer restricted to a 2 year period, they are now available for up to 10 years!

PLUS the longer the registration or renewal period, the bigger discount – for example, you can save up to 40% when you renew a .UK domain for over 2 years.

Benefits of renewing for longer

• Great savings
• Take the hassle out of renewals
• Keep your email, website content, search engine ranking, customers and revenue

.UK is Britain’s Favourite
Preference for .uk domains remains strong in Britain, with 81% of those surveyed in 2011, saying they prefer .uk sites when given the choice of a .uk or .com in search results

So make sure you make the most of the multi-year registrations and get your .UK domain for longer.

Menus can be repositioned through Page Master as explained in ‘SiteMaker: The Basics… 1. Adding your Site Name’.

Now that you have settled on a new position for you menu, you may wish to rename the ‘tabs’ so that they relate to the type of website you are trying to create.

Click Pages on your editing toolbar and the ‘Page Management’ menu will appear on the left of your screen. Select Organise your pages.

‘Add and organise pages’ will appear. This dialog box will allow you to amend your page names, add a new page and also hide your pages.

In this example, I have renamed my pages and clicked Apply when finished.

Your new tab names will be displayed

If you wish to change the colour of your menu tabs, select Design from the toolbar and then Menu on the left side of the screen.

Select Button Colour from the ‘Item’ option.

You can now select your desired colours under the ‘Parent’ section. The first colour box will define the colour of your tabs when they are not selected. The second colour box defines the colour of a selected tab. You can test how this will look by moving your mouse over ‘Example’. Click Apply when you have finished.

Your menu tabs will now be updated.

We will be continuing with our SiteMaker Basics Tutorials over the coming weeks, look out for our next installments:

Still to come we will show you how to insert text, images, audio and video into your SiteMaker website – Don’t miss out!

Shortly after the release, we took a trip down to Portsmouth to visit one of our Ecommerce customers and find out about his e-business, its success and what he thought about the upgrade and the Ecommerce product in general. We got some fantastic feedback and heard an inspirational success story that we wanted to share with you.

Paris Nolan has been with Namesco a relatively short time and already runs numerous online shops with us, from his home in Portsmouth.

His latest shop Demon Eyez sells fun coloured and themed contact lenses to the UK and America and within three weeks of setting up the shop he was receiving over 100 orders a day!

“We came to Namesco because of the price and the whole package – it had everything we wanted, for example, the emails, easy design, handling the customers all in one place and its all set up for payment integrations.

I found Ecommerce very simple to use, there are instructions, help guides and you have technical support there too if you get stuck. It took us about 3 weeks to design the website and within 3 weeks after putting the website live we started taking orders”

An advocate for our Ecommerce product, Paris said he finds it user-friendly and has all the features he needs to run a successful online shop:

“I really like the setup, where it has the order manager, and when you are sending orders, it automates emails to customers with one click handling, rather than having to send them out individually to each customer. Plus it’s really easy to design and upload instantly – it’s perfect!

I like the new SEO feature. Sometimes you forget to put in keywords – now you can check the page and it will tell you what you need to do to put things right and gives you an SEO score. Also on the new features, everything is on one page, so you haven’t got to keep clicking through and wait for things to load, you can do it all a lot quicker now.”

It doesn’t stop there – Paris and his wife Sam have more tricks up their sleeve and are taking on some other new and exciting ventures with Ecommerce:

“We have got two shops live at the moment, another that’s almost ready to go up and another three or four ideas to add with Namesco. Plus we are bringing our diamante shop to Namesco as well.

I have had a lot of success with Ecommerce and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.”

So there you have it – Ecommerce is a fantastic way to turn your online shop ideas into reality!

Stay tuned: In the next few weeks we will be releasing the Video of our day with Demon Eyez, make sure you don’t miss it!

Want to know more?
Next month we’ll be hosting a live Webinar on our Ecommerce product showing you how to use it and start building your own online shop – keep checking back or follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

If you need any further help in the very first stages of getting started with your new SiteMaker website; you can follow our guide ‘Getting Started with SiteMaker‘, from this you will have successfully chosen an appropriate template and have launched SiteMaker.

So lets get started editing your new SiteMaker website – our first tutorial will guide you through the first steps of adding your Site Name:

The first thing to note is the editing toolbar across the top of the screen. It is this toolbar that will allow you to design a great looking site.

One of the first things you will want to do with your new website is to display your website name. To do this, double click the top section of your Home page.

A dialog box will appear stating that you will be accessing the Page Master. The Page Master is the area that will appear on every page of your site. Click Yes.

Double click the current site name to activate the ‘text box’. Delete current text and enter your new site name. You can also drag and position the text box elsewhere. Click Save.

Within the Page Master you can also pick up and reposition your menu. Click Save when you have finished.

In our next blog tutorial we will show you how to edit your menu… to view all tutorials please see the SiteMaker section of our Support Centre, where all tutorials for SiteMaker and other products are available.

What’s a reseller? Just like the term suggests, it’s a business that resells the services of another hosting company under its own brand name. As a reseller, you can offer hosting services at prices of your own choosing, target specific markets that interest you most and add other options or services. Your customers don’t even have to know that you’re a reseller (although some resellers choose to be upfront about their status as a way to build customer trust). With our brandable Online Control Panel and WebMail, you can offer an individually tailored solution at no extra cost, which is perfect for resellers.

But why would someone choose to host with a reseller instead of a large international Hosting company?
Some smaller companies prefer hosting their Website with a one- or few-person operation where they know they can call up and ask for the owner by name. Others appreciate a reseller who can offer add-on services other hosts might not have; for example, writing services, custom Web graphics or public-relations services. And some customers like having a reseller host that understands their particular niche – whether it’s hosting for educational sites, women’s groups, not-for-profits, etc. So this can be the perfect time to provide a unique service to niche companies.

So what does it take to get started as a reseller? Understanding the basics of hosting technology – knowing the difference between Windows and Linux, for example, feeling comfortable with FTP (file transfer protocol) programs, and having a grasp of concepts like bandwidth, megabytes of storage and POP email – is essential. After all, you don’t want your top answer to customers to be, “I don’t know,” whenever they have a technical problem with their Websites (and, sooner or later, they all will).

Once you’re comfortable with the basics of hosting, make sure you develop a business plan so your reselling venture starts off with a solid foundation. Reselling web hosting is as real a business as any other, so the more research and work you put into it before launching, the better your odds of success.

How to get started:

1. Research web server providers. This will allow you to know what other resellers are doing, who provides the best web hosting packages and the web server companies that offer the best services. Research the best names for your reseller business. Select a name that says what your business does instantly.
2.  Sign up for the Hosting package of your choice; the package you choose will depend on your experience and size of your business – we offer a fantastic reseller Hosting package with unlimited storage, email, multi domain hosting and FTP accounts, that will get you started. Plus we offer a re-brand-able control panel and email platform. Our Platinum Hosting enables you to manage multiple websites and clients with ease in a choice of Windows or Linux platforms on a per-domain basis.
3. Build your website with us to announce your web hosting reseller business. Website owners will sign up for your services and pay you through your website.
4. Invest in advertising and SEO (search engine optimisation) to make sure your online business can be found by the right customers for your service. At Namesco we also offer Advertising packages to suit you and will be launching our fantastic new SEO service in the next few months – so you can do everything in one place, with one provider making your life far easier.

Contact us today on 0845 363 3630 to discuss your options and packages that are best for your new reseller business!

It is unfortunately a known issue that certain countries have a higher prevalence for malicious traffic and so we have developed an extra security measure for our customers to help you limit the access to your account. You are now able to limit the access to the country you are in, extend it to include countries you enter when on holiday

or even further narrow it down to white list by ip address for extra security and peace of mind.

** UPDATE We are now providing this feature on a per domain basis, so you can have separate settings for each domain on your account. **

To find out more and view our support guide with feature tutorial click HERE.

We are constantly working on improvements to security measures for our customers, please keep checking back or join us on Facebookand Twitter to get the latest updates and development news.

Reading customer feedback about your products and services is fantastic, it’s a great way to learn first-hand what your customers are thinking and in real time.  Have they started using the new web hosting ecommerce feature yet?  What did they think about the free email upgrade you gave them last week?  It’s instant feedback on a plate…on a very public plate.

So what about when something goes wrong?   Many people head straight to Facebook or Twitter at the first sight of a problem whether it’s to find out if other users are experiencing the same, to get in touch with the Company responsible, or just to have a moan.  We all do it!

Any business will know that you can’t keep 100% of customers 100% happy 100% of the time.  But what you can do is listen, and respond.

Here at Namesco, we focus heavily on giving the best customer service we possibly can and that extends to our social media activities.   More and more of our customers are now using our social channels to get in touch with us and we are there to respond, 7 days a week.

We have a Social Media Team in place that covers many disciplines within our business; Customer Care, Technical Support, Content and Marketing.  This allows us to have the right people in the right place talking to our customers.

If you’re running a business online you really need a presence on social media, not only to understand what people are saying about you, but also to get involved and engage with your audience.

Here are some top tips for businesses on how to be keep customers happy on social media:

Be there!

Rule number one – be there! If you’re not active on Facebook and Twitter, who is there to answer questions relating to your business, shout about your successes, or defend your name?

The right people

Having a mix of individuals from around your business responding to social media feedback brings different experience and knowledge to the table, and your customers will appreciate talking to someone who understands their needs.

Respond or feel the wrath

Keep responding to your customers, especially if there is an issue.  Even if you have no news or you’re ‘still working on it’, keep everyone informed.  An unhappy camper can often be mellowed if they at least know you’re doing your best to resolve things.  An unhappy camper left to stew?  Let’s just say, news on social media can travel fast.

Answer feedback directly

Respond to your users individually where possible.  Just because you’ve posted something on your Facebook wall or Twitter feed, doesn’t mean your users have seen it.  If someone has asked you a direct question, answer them directly.  Nobody likes to be ignored!

Answer positive & negative feedback

All feedback in any shape or form is valuable to your business.  If someone posts something negative, find out why.   Is it something you can fix and change their opinion?  Be polite, helpful and most of all transparent.  If you can change someone’s opinion you will often find the negative feedback turns into positive down the line and that’s worth its weight in social gold.

So, if you’re a business and you’re embracing Facebook and Twitter, remember that common sense will always stand you in good stead.  Imagine you’re talking to a loved one – don’t ignore them, don’t antagonise them and understand their feelings ARE important!

Come and talk to us on Facebook and Twitter

The latest version of our Ecommerce shop has now been released, with fantastic new features to save you time administering your online shop and to optimise the shopping process for your customers.

The new features and improvements are automatically available to our customers – and they’re completely free!

The upgrade has gone down so well that one customer tweeted:
“@Namesco once more you’ve come up trumps! Fab new update for E-commerce! #verypleased”

Want to find out what to expect from this long awaited upgrade? From Batch Processing to Interactive menus, read on to find out more….

1.  Increase your conversion rate with the new, simplified check-out process
Guiding your customers quickly and easily through the checkout process is one of the secrets of success for profitable business online. With the new, simplified check-out process, your customers’ progress through the payment process is made easier than ever before.

Your customer will swiftly be guided through the entire process; from the order confirmation, to entering their address, to the actual payment process. Say goodbye to abandoned shopping carts!

2.  Quick batch processing – complete tasks in one simplified step in the back office
Our new batch processing feature cuts the time you need to spend administering information in your online shop: in just one step, you can now edit large volumes of data records. Whether it’s creating and printing invoices or assigning customers to newsletter campaigns – the new batch processing tool will help you quickly take care of these tasks whilst keeping an overview of the actions you can perform with the selected data.

3.  Interactive menus comfortably guide your customers through your Ecommerce shop
With the help of the new interactive menus, it’s even faster for your customers to find what they’re looking for. By rolling the mouse over the menus, they will see all the additional levels of each category – no further clicks are necessary. This tool will help your customers to get an overview of your online shop in a matter of seconds. Ideally a ‘fast find’ will lead to a quick purchase!

4.  Save precious time administering your Ecommerce shop by using Inline editing.
Maintenance of your inventory will be faster and easier than ever, thanks to the new Inline editing tool. If you want to change the number of goods in stock, or the price of a product, you can now do it directly in the product overview. All the changes will automatically be applied, so that in future you no longer need to change each individual setting in the submenus – saving you valuable time.

5.  SEO Cockpit (for Professional, Premium and Platinum customers) – Leads you to the top results in all search engines
Search engine optimization is vital to the success of a high-turnover online shop. However, to many online merchants SEO remains a mystery. The new SEO-Cockpit helps all merchants to optimize their search engine rankings, whatever their level of SEO understanding. Access to the SEO-Cockpit is in the back office of your Ecommerce shop.

The tool will display an SEO percentage for every page, to help guide you to the pages which need to be edited. A task list will also be generated, giving you specific suggestions on what to change. It’s a simple process – with only a few clicks, you can find the parts of your shop which need to be search-engine optimized.

PLUS here is an overview of a few more key features:

• New e-mail export functionality makes use of external newsletter tools possible
• The magnifying glass tool offers your customers an enhanced product viewing experience
• A better overview for administering your payment methods
• New setup assistant – now setting up an online shop has never been easier
• Interactive Checklists – miss no detail when setting up shop!
• Customisable order numbers to suit your needs – these could include customer names, dates or corresponding invoice numbers
• Optimised product display in your back office, making important settings easier to find.

Don’t have Ecommerce yet? Want to get your business online and take advantage of  these fantastic new features?

Compare our Ecommerce packages today and start selling tomorrow….