Avactis Shopping Cart

Get Shoppers in Festive Mood

2011-12-12T06:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas is just a few days away and you can see Christmas decorations everywhere. But what happens to online stores? Many of them do not seem to be ready for Christmas! I believe that online stores should be decorated as well to get shoppers in festive mood.

Below you can find some links to Christmas animations, flesh cards and pictures that will help you decorate your online store.

Christmas animations:

http://www.free-animations.co.uk/christmas/miscellaneous/christmas_1.html

http://www.fg-a.com/christmas.htm

http://www.animationplayhouse.com/new/christmas5.html

http://www.christmas-graphics-plus.com/

Christmas countdown flash banners:

http://activeden.net/item/customisable-christmas-countdown-clock/

http://www.flashbannernow.com/free-flash/christmas-countdown.php

Christmas countdown at FlashBannerNow.com

More flash banners:

http://blog.fazai38.com/index.php/

http://www.flashmint.com/free/flash-christmas-card.php

http://www.amarasoftware.com/flash-animations/flash-th eme-animations.htm

http://www.istockphoto.com/

Nice Christmas cards:

http://www.jacquielawson.com/cards_christmas.asp

http://www.mes-english.com/flashcards/christmas.php

http://www.care2.com/send/catxmas1.html

Stock photos:

http://www.dreamstime.com/search.php?firstvalue=ch ristmas&srh_field=christmas

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/search/christmas/

http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=christmas

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/christmas/source/basic#104669bb

Stephanie Roberts: For Mission Critical Software, I Prefer the SaaS Solution

2011-12-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

Stephanie Roberts is a web developer who has designed and maintains websites for over 150 clients. Many of these are eCommerce sites. Today she shares with us her experience with Avactis.

Emily: You have several stores built using Avactis software. What do you like best about Avactis?

Stephanie: I love many things about Avactis, but the two things I love most are:

1. How easy it is for me to set up. I can easily edit the site design to suit my clients, import their data, and have a store up and running in just a few hours.

2. How easy it is for the client to learn to manage the back end. Everything is very neat and organized, with everything pertaining to a particular product right there on the product pop-up window, and conveniently tabbed so it's easy to find.

Emily: You host some of your stores on your own server, and some on the Avactis server. Do you notice any difference in website performance?

Stephanie: The sites I host on dedicated servers, with initial server tweaking provided by the Avactis support team, run very well. The ones I host in a shared hosting environment do not. Recently I tried Avactis hosting and it seems to run very well. It is more economical than dedicated hosting, and any upgrades are done by the Avactis team.

Emily: Why did you decide to try Avactis hosting?

Stephanie: In this particular instance, the cost of a dedicated server was outside the client's budget, but the Avactis shopping cart features were a perfect fit. So I suggested we use the Avactis hosting.

Emily: What is your opinion of SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions? Do you think they could become more popular than downloadable software?

Stephanie: I LOVE software as a service. I use it in different forms every day. When you consider the man hours and potential downtime incurred by software and hardware upgrades, failures, incompatibilities and other things that can occur, you’ll appreciate the "set it and forget it" service SaaS provides. It lets me concentrate on gaining new business, rather than running my business.

Emily: What kind of software do you prefer, downloadable or SaaS? Why?

Stephanie: Honestly, it depends on the type of software. For mission critical software, I prefer the SaaS solution. It’s reliable and secure, and that’s what matters if your business depends on it to run. If the software is not mission critical, then I prefer the economy of owning it.
That’s what’s great about Avactis...you have the option to choose!

Emily: What are your plans for the future in eCommerce?

Stephanie: I will add Avactis Hosting to my list of solutions. I think my clients will feel secure knowing their website is in the hands of the very people that designed the software. That will give me less to worry about, so I can go out and sell more sites!

Emily: Here are some examples of the web sites created by Stephanie: http://animalhatcreations.com/, http://www.fortsmithsurgicalsupply.com/index.php

How do you choose an SSL certificate?

2011-11-24T05:05:00.000-08:00

When you open an online store, one of the most important things to consider is web site security. If you’re going to accept payments via credit cards, an SSL certificate is a must. But with the wide variety of certificates available, which one to choose? Good question. Some organizations need SSL simply for confidentiality, e.g. encryption. Some organizations wish to use SSL to enhance trust in their security and identity, so customers know they have been vetted and are a legitimate organization.

Let’s take a closer look at several types of certificates, using Comodo SSL certificates as examples.

1. Comodo Essential SSL is an inexpensive and fast domain validation. It is available to both individuals and legal entities. The Essential SSL verifies your ownership of the domain but does not authenticate the organization behind the online business. An SSL certificate secures one specific domain.

2. Comodo Instant SSL is available to both individuals and legal entities. It validates both the domain name and company details before issuance. This certificate secures one specific domain.

3. Comodo EV (Extended Validation) is available only for legal entities. The vetting process is more extensive than for any other type of security certificate: it verifies your organization's identity, the validity of your request and the overall legitimacy of your business. One feature is that the URL address bar turns green so your customers can easily see that they’re protected.

I would like to note one more SSL certificate – the Rapid SSL certificate. This offers a low-cost domain validating solution, which is easy to install and requires no paperwork. Unlike Comodo SSL certificates it does not have Mobile Device Compatibility, making Rapid SSL an ideal solution for companies that need basic security.

Which certificate to choose is entirely up to you. Just don’t forget: if security is not your priority, customers may choose not to trust you.

New Features of Google Analytics

2011-11-22T02:12:00.000-08:00

Google announces a release of new version of Google Analytics within a few weeks. New version of Google Analytics is going to be extremely useful for online store owners. It allows real-time reporting, campaigns tracking, flow visualization and much more.

Google Analytics Real-Time

Real-Time reporting shows you what's happening on your site - right now! The reports are updated continuously and each pageview is reported seconds after it occurs on your site. You'll find Real-Time reports in the "Home" tab.

Multi-Channel Funnels

See which channels your customers interacted with during the 30 days prior to converting or purchasing. Conversion path data includes interactions with many media channels, including clicks from paid and organic searches, affiliates, social networks, and display ads.

Video demo & Usage guide.

Mobile Reporting

More and more, visitors are using mobile devices to browse the web. Mobile reports in the new version of Google Analytics help you understand how mobile visitors are interacting with your site. You can even see which mobile devices your visitors use and optimize for those devices.

Flow Visualization

Flow Visualization is a beautifully designed and highly sophisticated tool for graphically showing how visitors navigate through your site. We've completely re-imagined and redesigned the navigation tools available in the old version of Google Analytics.

Video demo & Usage guides for Visitor Flow, Goal Flow.

Interview: Jenny Seddon’s E-Commerce Experience

2011-11-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

Jenny has been an Avactis customer for several years. In this interview she shares her experience using Avactis for her online stores.

Emily: Please tell us a little about your business. Are you a web developer?
Jenny: I'm not a web developer (although I could now confidently create an Avactis store for pretty much anyone). I'm a graphic designer, but wanted to build a store in my spare time. So I decided to sell gift hampers (www.alderwoodhampers.co.uk) because I enjoy creating interesting and unusual gifts. I can also use my design and print knowledge to economically produce marketing and packaging materials for the business. For instance, our hamper boxes are just plain regular shoe box-size boxes; however, we dress them up with beautiful sleeves which the customer can choose themselves to create a stunning and original gift. Our products have evolved over the last year or so to include individual gifts as well as hampers. The prevailing themes, though, are gourmet cuisine, kitchen giftware and hampers.

Emily: What is your favorite thing about Avactis?
Jenny: My favorite thing about Avactis is that it’s remarkably easy to achieve a functional website - whether you’re a rank amateur or a real geek. Once the software is installed, you can actually have your site up and running in an hour or two using the pre-installed site templates. It's that easy. And you can make as many (or as few) adjustments to the layout and design as you like.

Emily: How did you hear about Avactis? Why have you chosen it for your websites?
Jenny: I came across Avactis by chance - there was a free trial included in an e-commerce magazine. I downloaded it, loved it, and the rest is history! Since then I have created around half a dozen e-commerce sites using Avactis.

Emily: Was it hard to start using the Avactis Shopping Cart?
Jenny: I found it reasonably simple - despite the fact that I NEVER read instructions or technical manuals! I created my first e-commerce site purely by the seat of my pants :-)

Emily: How would you rate Avactis compared to other shopping carts?
Jenny: I only have experience with OSCommerce, which frankly I found bewildering.

Emily: What do you think should be improved in Avactis software?
Jenny: Hmm, that's a tricky one, really - the software is getting better and better all the time. Whenever I do come across any problems, I just visit the Avactis Live Chat and chat with one of the techies - they're VERY knowledgeable and can sort out most problems.

Emily: What are the main things to know when you start an online business?
Jenny: Take advantage of the Avactis installation service: it saves a lot of stress and doesn't cost much. Keep an eye on your competition's websites and make your site better than theirs. Give serious thought to how you'll DELIVER your products, and to how you plan to accept PAYMENT for your products.

Emily: Do you have any advice to those about to open an online store?
Jenny: Be realistic - just because you have an online store, it doesn't mean that you'll automatically receive orders overnight. Even though Avactis software has excellent SEO capabilities, you have to generate targeted traffic independently, so you'll need to budget for some PPC, too. Keep adjusting and updating your home page offers, just like a real shop window does. Make the navigation as SIMPLE as possible to avoid abandoned sales.

Interview: The most important aspects of e-commerce, by Mary-Ellen McAllister

2011-10-28T05:21:00.000-07:00

Meet Mary-Ellen McAllister, owner and CEO of MV Media Web Solutions. Here, she shares her experience using Avactis software and gives her tips on how to create a good web site.

Emily: Mary-Ellen, please tell us a little about your business.

Mary-Ellen: MV Media Web Solutions is a web solutions company. We are experts in WordPress and helping our clients market their online and offline presence.

Emily: How did you learn about Avactis and why did you choose it for your online store?

Mary-Ellen: I have a client that needed a great shopping cart. I did a lot of research and stumbled upon an Avactis ad. When all was said and done, Avactis had the right solution for my client.

Emily: Do you manage the web site yourself? If yes, was it difficult for you to learn the system?

Mary-Ellen: I manage the website for my client. There was a learning curve, but we made use of the support system and have acquired all the tools that we need to grow our product offerings. The changes that Avactis is making to the cart are a considerable improvement over the original version we had. My client loves the way the cart works, and the SEO is much better than that of his old Drupal website.

Emily: Do you use Avactis services to support your website?

Mary-Ellen: I have used Avactis support, and have had excellent results with everything I have asked them to do.

Emily: What do you think is most important in the business of e-Commerce?

Mary-Ellen: Accessibility and ease of use from a site visitor standpoint are the most important aspects of e-commerce. Prospective buyers will move on to another site if they cannot find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

Emily: What is your formula for a successful online store?

Mary-Ellen: My formula for a successful store is simple: it must be attractive, and it must be easy to find what you’re looking for.

Thank you, Mary-Ellen. We hope that you’ll create more Avactis-based online stores, especially now that we have a new plug-in for WordPress sites. We look forward to hearing about your experience with integrating the Avactis shopping cart into WordPress sites.

Integrate your store with Joomla

2011-10-25T07:38:00.001-07:00

One of Avactis’ main features is easy storefront integration with existing designs.

We now offer a new, free extension that lets you easily integrate the Avactis storefront within your existing Joomla website.

You can continue using your favorite CMS with your favorite design theme. Just add an e-commerce feature to it and start selling.

Our Joomla extension contains a new, specially designed skin and a Joomla component, making it simple to integrate your Joomla site with Avactis. All the main features, including the shopping cart, categories, product details and checkout, will work inside your Joomla site.

Starting now, you can use all Avactis features with your Joomla CMS.

Main features include:

- Product categories
- Product details
- Shopping cart
- Customer account registration
- Wish list
- Promo codes
- Gift certificates
- Complete checkout integration (one-page checkout)
- Ability to integrate your storefront with Facebook (using Avactis extensions)
- Email subscriptions and built-in marketing tools

Click here to view a demo and download the Joomla component

Checkout optimization: Why do customers leave during the checkout process?

2011-10-17T04:29:00.001-07:00

According to research provided by companies specializing in e-commerce, about 59% of buyers abandon their orders. Here are the most common reasons for this.

The shipping cost was too high

Often people add products to their cart to see the shipping cost. Some of them haven't decided to purchase something at all: they just want to know what it would cost if they purchased the product.

Another group of customers are the people who really want to purchase a product, but found the shipping cost unexpectedly high. A good suggestion is to add free shipping for orders over a certain amount. That way, if the customer's order cost is too low to qualify for free shipping, they can simply add a cheap product to their cart. This will also increase your sales.

I only wanted to compare products and prices

Customers often said they didn't plan to purchase anything – they only wanted to learn the prices for future reference. They only plan to purchase once they find the online store that suits them best.

This is your chance to try and draw their attention to your store. If you offer subscriptions, invite the customer to subscribe. That way you’ll have their email, giving you the opportunity to send them an email asking whether they had trouble placing their order. If this is their first order from your store, give them a discount off their first purchase.

I was not ready to purchase at the time

Sometimes people browse products and can't decide which one to buy.

I know a woman who often abandons her orders. This is what she has to say:

“Most of all I like to order clothes online for my child. When I open a store and see lots of beautiful clothes, I want to buy them all at once. But I don’t have that kind of money. So I add a product to my cart, then another one, then a third. Then I look at the order price to see whether it's too expensive for me. I replace an expensive item with something cheaper. Then I decide I can afford this once in my life and add the deleted product once again. I change the products in my order several times. Eventually, I get tired of the process and decide I will think about it for a day and analyze what I need most. The next day I start with a reasonable selection of products, but soon I repeat yesterday’s process. I put off ordering for one more day. In the end, the order I place may be completely different from my initial cart. Once I spent a week trying to order clothes on sale! Only after a week of terrible indecision did I finally place my order.”

I didn’t have enough time to finish my order

If the checkout asks for a lot of details, if customers have to fill in long forms and

they experience a slow checkout, they can lose patience and close the browser. To make checking out simpler, remove all unnecessary fields from the checkout. Host your store on a fast server.

I was uncomfortable with the buying process

If customers feel something is unclear with your checkout, they can't find the “Next” button hidden in the content, or the button that opens the confirmation page says “Place order” and there is no note stating that the next page will display the final order details, they may afraid to place the order.

The price was too high

Sometimes people want a product that is too expensive for them. They add a product to their cart just to dream about getting it. You can help such customers a bit if you provide quantity discounts for your products. The customer can organize his friends to purchase the product together.

Shopping cart technical problems, payment and shipping issues

You should place test orders with your store to check whether everything works properly. It may happen that your payment or shipping provider has changed their API or the cart won’t work with an updated browser. Of course you’ll get emails from your customers about the problem, but you would rather be the first (and last) person to notice it.

The product wasn’t what I wanted

If a customer opens the product details page and can't get a clear product description, or the images are not legible, he’ll be afraid to purchase the product because he doesn't know what it is. A good idea is to write a detailed description and add several images for each of your products.

The general recommendation for all these situations is to contact customers that abandon their orders. If you have their email address, send them one email asking if they experienced problems and how you can help. Integrate a live chat with your store. You can see your visitors, see what pages they are on, and offer your assistance.

Interview: Achieve measurable internet marketing results with AMG Concept

2011-10-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today we present an interview with Ms.ChunHua, representative of AMG Concept Pte Ltd, an internet marketing and web development company.

Emily: Please tell us a few words about your company.

Ms.ChunHua: We are a company that combines the best of three words in the internet world: the best workable internet marketing, the latest internet technology and fantastic website design.

Our goal is always to push the edge, while creating a balance of attractive design and functionality. Our job is to make web sites work for both our clients and their customers and achieve measurable internet marketing results.

AMG Concept helps maximize the chances of website success with our more than 10 years of extensive experience in online commerce.

We have created Avactis design templates that are currently sold on the Avactis website.

Emily: What is your position at AMG?

Ms.ChunHua: I am a project manager: I plan and manage projects for what needs to be done, by whom, and how to do it. I also decide which software will be used. I do help with troubleshooting and solving project issues where needed, and I understand web design, applications and internet marketing.

Emily: When and how did you start working with Avactis? Was it hard to start using Avactis Shopping Cart?

Ms.ChunHua: We started with Avactis around May 2010. The way we got started was that I was doing research to find the best CMS e-commerce with an internet marketing component. Yes, initially it was hard to change the design layout, as at the time we started with version 1.91. Since then Avactis has improved a lot to enable the web designer to easily and conveniently change the design or insert PHP codes.

Emily: Do you use any other shopping cart systems for your work? If yes, how do you choose a shopping cart for a particular project?

Ms.ChunHua: We used to use OScommerce, but it’s not as good as Avactis in terms of user-friendliness and internet marketing components. During research Magento Design is nice, but using the features and functions is complicated. Now we just use Avactis, because since we started using we have found it to be user-friendly and to fulfill the need for CMS and internet marketing components.

Emily: How would you evaluate Avactis compared to other shopping carts?

Ms.ChunHua: Avactis is good in terms of variety of features and functions, especially the internet marketing part which other e-commerce software lacks. The only thing is that in terms of design templates more variety will be needed.

Emily: What was your best e-commerce project? Why?

Ms.ChunHua: Our best e-commerce project is Apple Beauty Hall. The reason is that previously the customer had been using Zen Cart, but the design isn’t nice and it doesn’t have internet marketing features and functions like Avactis has. The moment we executed it for her using Avactis, she began receiving overseas enquiries from Thailand and the USA which she had not been getting in the past.

Emily: What do you think should be improved in Avactis software and services?

Ms.ChunHua: I think that Avactis needs to have more design templates that are already integrated with coding, not third-party templates that require Avactis to add coding.

You should have a new Facebook e-commerce template design: the current one is too plain.

We have had a few customers ask about integrating POS with Avactis. It would be good if Avactis could integrate with a retail POS system live stock inventory.

Also, you should have Avactis available in all mobile versions, be it Apple, Symbian, Android, Blackberry, or Windows Mobile.

Emily: Thank you for your advice. Actually, you can already add a mobile storefront to your stores.

Do you have any advice for those people who want to open an online store?

Ms.ChunHua: Yes: when you open an online shop it is important to look into internet marketing first, because if nobody knows about your shop there is no point in opening it. Opening an online shop is a business that needs promotion, so let people know about it. That is why Avactis is the best choice, as they have a good internet marketing component.

New WordPress plugin for WordPress and Avactis integration

2011-10-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

WordPress is one of the best-known CMS systems in the world. WordPress is used by over 14% of Alexa Internet's "top 1 million" websites and is the most popular CMS on the internet, according to BuiltWith.

Now you can easily integrate your Avactis store in your existing WordPress blog with no programming skills. Your visitors will see your Avactis store inside your WordPress blog and your blog will use the same theme design as usual.

Note: to proceed with integration, you need to install WordPress and Avactis Shopping Cart on your hosting server.

Here are some screenshots that represent how your WordPress blog will look like after integration:

Store page:

Checkout:

WordPress integration instructions

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to easily integrate Avactis and WordPress:

1) Open your WordPress admin zone and install the Avactis module there.

Visit the WordPress admin zone -> “Plugins” and click the “Add new” button.
Enter the keyword “Avactis” and click the “Search Plugins” button.

You will see “Avactis Shopping Cart Widget” in the list.

Click the “Install now” link to start the installation process.

2) Configure the Avactis module

Visit the WordPress admin zone -> “Plugins” and click the “Settings” link in the “Avactis Shopping Cart Widget” section.

Enter the path to Avactis Shopping Cart (e.g. http://example.com/store) and the iFrame width in pixels (760 is the default value) in the module settings and save your results.

3) Place the widget anywhere on your WordPress blog

Open any WordPress page, switch the editor to HTML source mode and add the tag "[Avactis shopping cart]" to the page where you want your online store. Save your results.

WordPress configuration is complete. Now you can proceed with Avactis configuration.

Avactis integration instructions

Note: If the module installation is too complex for you, feel free to contact our support department. We will be glad to install this module for you.

1) Integration files overview

Download “avactis.2.1.1.extension.wordpress.zip” to your local computer and extract its contents to the new folder.

In the new folder you will see the following: readme.txt file, "avactis-themes" folder, "patches" folder and "WordPress" folder.

The folder named "patches" contains a patch for your store's system files.

The "avactis-themes" folder contains the new skin for your Avactis storefront which will be displayed inside your WordPress site.

The folder named "wordpress" contains the standard WordPress plugin that you already installed.

2) Avactis theme copying

Open the "avactis-themes" folder of your Avactis Shopping cart using your favorite FTP client and copy the "avactis-themes/wp” theme from the “avactis.2.1.1.extension.wordpress.zip” archive.

3) Patch application

Copy the file "joomla_wp_support.patch" from your computer (located within the "patches" folder) to your remote site inside Avactis store's root folder (where "avactis-system" and "avactis-themes" folders are located).

You should then apply this uploaded patch. To perform this operation, you can use the "patch" utility (http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/patch/). It is available by default on most Unix and Linux servers. To run the patch command, either connect to the site via SSH, or use the PHPShell script (http://phpshell.sf.net/).

Should your physical store have an online counterpart? See what consultants have to say.

2011-09-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

Today we approached one of our regular customers, Mr. Kara, with a few questions about his experience with Avactis software and his views of eCommerce. Here is what he told us.

Emly: Please tell us a little about your business. Are you a web developer?

Mr. Kara: I work as a consultant and web developer for marketing and advertising companies. Only rarely do I accept direct business.

Emly: Why do you choose Avactis? What things do you like about it most?

Mr. Kara: The fact that it’s easy for the end user to use, and the commercial support. It has most of the functions you need for small shops. It’s easy to install and easy to customize.

Emly: What do you think are the main trends in eCommerce business nowadays?

Mr. Kara: It’s growing fast: small and medium business can compete with larger ones, as technology is becoming easier to implement and costs are coming down.

Businesses still need a consultant to help run the show, as they don't have the experience to do it all themselves. I think over the next few years most of the websites for which I’m responsible will offer online quotes and/or purchasing.

Emly: Do you think online stores will one day displace regular stores?

Mr. Kara: Maybe, to a certain degree, especially with products that are easy to ship and compare, which account for many of the goods sold today. Even food, construction materials, and services are sold online. The main reason for these sellers to save office hours is to handle orders, not to get more customers.

Emly: Is there anything that you would like to add to Avactis software?

Mr. Kara: I miss extensions, for meeting my clients’ needs. They should be available for free or at very low cost. Sometimes I request a quote for custom extensions, but the downside is that then I have to maintain the custom products through each software update. Here are some examples:

- Include all code in the HTML editor, so I can use JavaScript, Flash, etc. for fancy product presentation
- have a simple form editor for setting up support and contact forms
- better user management, to sort, select, and group customers by their shopping behavior
- there should be product options for selling admission to events and accommodations online.

These features would be helpful.

Emly: Thank you, Mr. Kara. We will add these items to the “Our Customers’ Wishes” list. We do our best to meet our customers’ needs, though sometimes it’s impossible to include every feature imaginable in a single shopping cart. That is why our customers are always welcome in our custom development department, where we can create almost anything you can imagine.

Your Landing Page is Not the Same as Your Home Page: Why This Matters

2011-09-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

The Landing Page is a separate page on a website, which has to receive traffic from various sources: advertisements, banners, electronic mailings, social networks, and, naturally, search engines.

Many think that their site's index page, or home page, can serve this function. Such is not the case, however, as these two pages serve different purposes. The index page is the point of departure for navigating the site. Its chief contents include your logo, a menu with links to the primary areas of your site, a Contact Us form, and a welcome text. Advertising banners may also be located on this page.

A landing page is something you need principally to increase your site's conversion: the ratio of visitors to your site who go on to become your clients (customers,subscribers, etc.) to your site's total number of visitors. A landing page is created in order to attract current and potential clients to various new products, promotions, and special offers in order to increase the number of orders for various products and services.

Landing page types

There are two types of landing page: reference and transactional. A reference landing page needs to include information about the product or service, which a visitor expects to find upon clicking a link on an advertisement or banner. The information can be presented in the form of text,images, or related links. The chief aim of transactional landing pages is to encourage visitors to perform a certain action: buy a product, request a service, or complete a registration form. As a rule, these pages contain minimal information and design: they are geared to have the visitor immediately perform the suggested action without getting distracted by anything else.

Recommendations for creating landing pages

The page should include an image of the promoted product, or a picture reflecting the service offered. The majority of people think in complete images, not in numerous specifications and properties pertaining to a single object. An image adds emotion and helps the page make a positive impression.
The headline needs to be explicit, and should convey the essence of what you're offering to your potential clients.
Short comments from other clients are a welcome addition to the landing page.
Post licenses and certificates on the landing page. This will boost the confidence of your landing page’s visitors.
Your visitor needs to be informed directly and explicitly that he must perform a given action on this page right now, this very minute. It is highly desirable to phrase this as a call to action: "Register here"; "Place your order right away".
Bolster your call to action with the following persuasive arguments: "Buy today and get 20% off"; "Limited to supplies on hand".
The page should contain nothing superfluous. No menus or navigation panes with links. If your information won't fit on one page, it's better to display additional info in pop-up windows, to keep your visitor from leaving the current landing page.
Registration forms must be located directly on the landing page, and should contain the bare minimum of data entry fields that you actually need to complete the registration process, rather than for working with your future client later on.You can find out his home address later. Don't forget that having to click a"Next" button or link will cost you 20–30% of your potential clients.
Last but not least, rest assured: no-one likes having to squint to read tiny gray text. An easily readable font size is 11 points or larger. Sentences and paragraphs should be as short as possible.

CloudFlare CDN helps e-commerce merchants save money, increase revenue

2011-09-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

The bigger your e-commerce business, the bigger the area your website has to serve. As you get visitors from farther away, page speed decreases, negatively impacting customer satisfaction, search engine rankings, and your profits.

If only you could open regional branches, like traditional retail chains do!

Well, we have good news for you: with the help of a Content Delivery Network, you can!

A CDN has powerful web servers all around the world. When you host your website on a CDN, all your static files (images, stylesheets, scripts) are instantly copied to all of the servers.

When a visitor opens your website, she gets all your static files from one of the CDN servers—the one closest to her. Thus, any visitor always gets your images, stylesheets, and scripts at the fastest possible speed, regardless of her geographical location. Your server is freed from this task and can generate pages faster. Combined, these factors greatly improve your page speed.

Marco Bannink, a long-time Avactis customer, recently began using the CloudFlare CDN for his fashion store Sustilo, in an attempt to increase its speed.

Even though the site was running on two expensive dedicated servers (application + database), page speed was low since the servers were overwhelmed by requests from a growing audience, mostly for static files.

CloudFlare was the perfect choice for quick implementation as it requires no modification of the store—it fetches and caches websites “as is”.

After nearly a month of usage, we conducted an interview with Mr. Bannink.

Q: How did you find out about CloudFlare?

Bannink: “We heard about it from Avactis, and they got us interested right away.”

Q: What was your initial reaction?

Bannink: “Well, it sounded too good to be true, but we got a good feeling about it when we saw the great support they offer via Twitter and tickets. When we had questions they were answered right away. We decided that if this was for real we had to get an account.”

Q: How did you like CloudFlare’s website and setup wizard?

Bannink: “We loved it; it’s attractive, clean, and clear.”

Q: How did you feel when you saw the reports and graphs?

Bannink: “It was amazing to see how much we’ve saved with CloudFlare!”

Q: Did CloudFlare help you save?

Bannink: “It saves us money because we don’t need to purchase more bandwidth or a faster server.”

Q: What was the most unexpected thing for you about CloudFlare?

Bannink: “The most unexpected thing for me was the price. For just a few dollars you can make your website so much faster!”

Q: If someone asks you about CloudFlare, what will you say?

Bannink: “Well, I don’t tell anybody. ;) I do not want my competitors to find out. Let them be slow. :D But if a friend asks I’ll recommend it for sure!”

Mr. Bannink’s excitement is easy to understand. Soon after switching nameservers to CloudFlare, Sustilo.com’s page load time dropped from 7 to about 2 seconds. Application server load decreased and they were able to move the database from the second server and cancel it. The cost of the CloudFlare Pro plan paid for itself in less than a month.

We are publishing the following graphs from CloudFlare dashboard with Mr. Bannink’s permission.

Sustilo.com statistics for the last 30 days

The Avactis team wishes the Sustilo team success in their business, and highly recommends the CloudFlare CDN to all customers who offer an extensive selection of product.

Avactis Shopping Cart celebrates its 5-year anniversary today!

2011-09-16T01:17:00.000-07:00

We’re 5 today! Is that a lot, or is it not? The internet environment changes so fast these days that it seems an achievement to have stayed on top for five years now. Today we have our most stable software version ever, great customers, and huge plans for the future.

We want to say thank you to all our customers for being with us all this time. We do our best to create a solution that makes your online business easy, prosperous, and immensely enjoyable.

Our latest survey shows that we have achieved much in e-Commerce software development and services, and that you rate our products and services very highly. We promise to maintain this high bar and even raise it.

We would like to extend special thanks to those people who contribute so much to our community and our growth. Thank you, Andrew Gardiner, Angela Drabek, Brina Bujkovsky, Chris Willcox, David Fierstien, Don Hanson, Jennifer Cook, Jennifer Skopinski, Loren McDonald, Michael Priskorn, Paul Froggatt, Suna Yildirim, Tom Stoffer, Thomas Bjornseth.

Everyone is invited to take part in our 5-year anniversary giveaway. Click HERE to see the terms and conditions and to register. 15 winners will receive a full Avactis Owned license, 5 winners being chosen at random on September 28, October 12, and October 31.

We invite you to visit our Facebook page to see how Avactis integrates with Facebook.

Check out our integration with Joomla and WordPress.

Check our latest extensions.

We’ve invited our customers to share their experiences with Avactis on our blog. If anyone would like to participate, please let us know.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AVACTIS!

Does your store need a Contact Us form? Try this one

2011-09-14T03:59:00.000-07:00

After getting frequent requests from our customers to integrate a Contact Us form, I decided to share with you the free “Fancy AJAX Contact Form» jquery plugin. This plugin doesn't require integration into Avactis code, and functions independently.

To start using the plugin, you just need to complete a few simple steps.

Download the ZIP file containing the plugin files.

Unzip them to your PC and open the “submit.php” file in a text editor like Notepad. Here you will see the following line:

$emailAddress = '';

In quotes, specify the email to which you want to receive messages and save the file.

Upload all the unzipped files to your server.

That's all. Now when you open the demo.php file in your browser you will see a Contact Us page with the form. Send a message to test how it works.

You can add a link to the demo.php page to your Avactis so that your customers will see the form after clicking on that link.

To make the demo.php page the same style as the rest of your store, add Avactis tags to the demo.php file:

Add the Avactis initialization tag ( < ?php include('init.php'); ? >) to each PHP page in the ZIP file.

Copy the page structure from the “avactis-themes\system\pages\templates\page.template.tpl.html” file

Replace the following placeholders #center_column# with the content of the “demo.php” file located inside the “body” tag

Replace other placeholders with the Avactis block tags

Copy the content from the “head” section of the “demo.php” file to the “head” section of your new file.

To see how the form looks like in Avactis, visit our test store.

I hope this article will help you in adding this very useful page to your store.

Measure the speed of your web store using Google’s Page Speed Service

2011-08-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Google reported earlier that website speed is one of the Google Rank factors.

So it is quite important to measure your website speed from time to time and see the website speed optimization recommendations Google makes.

It is very easy to learn how to increase the speed of your web store by using Google’s Page Speed online service available at: http://pagespeed.googlelabs.com/

Google will provide exact recommendations on how to improve the performance of your website, including your mobile version.

They will show you the speed score for your website which you can compare to those of your competitors and see how they are respectively optimized.

Reducing page load times can reduce bounce rates and increase conversion rates.

Follow these simple steps to check your web store speed:

1) Open http://pagespeed.googlelabs.com/
2) Enter the URL of your website or store
3) Click ‘Analyze Performance’

After testing, you will see a result like the following:

The page Avactis Demo Store got an overall Page Speed Score of 72 (out of 100). Learn more

In addition you will see performance suggestions for this page sorted by priority.

Do not expect a speed score of 100 out of 100. For example, the speed score of Microsoft.com is 78. The score of Apple.com is 79.

A speed score above 70 is a good result.

Gain insight into consumer trends with Google Insights for Search

2011-08-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Search trends from Google Insights can let you know your brand's position in the market.

Search activity is a measure of consumer interest. The Google Insights for Search tool can show you the popularity of your brand or your competitor’s.

With this data, there’s no need to hire a marketing agency: you can see all this information in real time.

To start your research, open http://www.google.com/insights/search/ and enter the search terms in the fields. You can enter and compare up to 5 terms.

For example you can compare the popularity of MySpace and YouTube?

Here are results:

In addition to these statistics, you can see a world map with a search index for each region.
You can easily see the countries or region in which these brands are popular.

It is possible to see the results for any U.S. state if needed, for example:

In general, Google Insights for Search lets you:

- Understand global search trends

Learn where in the world your customer interest is the strongest. What brand is more popular?

- Track seasonality

Measure interest levels over time in different regions.

- Research your own brand popularity

Study search levels for your brand or product.

E-commerce Marketing to the Masses

2011-08-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Let's open the list of most popular US webites and see how you can use the top 10 websites from the list to attract customers to your online store.

1. Google

Webmaster Central helps you improve your website so that people find it more easily and frequently.
Merchant Center lets you list your products in Google Product Search.
AdWords lets you display advertisements next to relevant search results and on relevant pages across the web.

2. Facebook

Create a page, list your products there, and post interesting content on a regular basis. Eventually your fans will share your posts on their walls and thus promote your page to their friends. If their friends like it, they will share it with their friends. And so on.

3. Yahoo!

These guys have a lot of advertising options, and you definitely shouldn't miss the ones that fit your type of business.

4. YouTube

If you shoot really interesting stuff, you can get literally millions of people watching your video. If it is relevant to your business, you get millions of potential customers.
You can put links in the video description—they become clickable.

5. Amazon

The largest online retailer, trusted by millions of people all over the world, allows you to list and advertise your products on their website.

6. Wikipedia

If your business is notable (has received significant press or media coverage), you can create an article about it and keep it up to date. Wikipedia readers are smart and considerate, and people coming to your website from the article become very good customers.

7. Blogger

If you tell interesting stories on a regular basis, people will come to read your blog again and again. If the blog has links to your online store, you get loyal customers.

8. Twitter

If you tweet smart, funny, to-the-point messages on a regular basis, you will gain followers who will re-tweet them to their followers. Their followers also re-tweet the message, and so on. If you recommend a good product, they will buy.
There's also paid advertising on Twitter.com itself and on multiple partner websites.

9. eBay

This website is simply a huge marketplace, so it has plenty of opportunities for sellers. It's not unusual for some companies to even conduct all of their business on eBay and look no further. But it can be a strong support and source of visitors for a standalone online store, too.

10. Craigslist

This website is all about local. It actively encourages visitors to deal locally, personally, and avoid long-distance deals or payments—to prevent scamming. So if you're looking for more customers in your area, this is the way to go. Listings are free. They auto-expire, though, and you need to create new ones.

There are hundreds of super-popular websites throughout the list. With proper effort and attention, you can find marketing opportunities on all of them. Good luck, and please don't hesitate to share your findings in the comments.

Avactis Newsletter August 24

2011-08-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

→ Purchase New Extensions for Avactis 2.1.1!

→ Brain Storm on Avactis Page on Facebook!

Purchase New Extensions for Avactis 2.1.1!

Product Comparison

Select products from the catalog, add them to a special block, and then compare the attributes of the selected products.

$10 OFF till August 28!

Buy now

Price Filter

The Price Filter block creates several links with a range of prices for filtering the current product list. The number of links and the numerical price ranges themselves are defined automatically based on the prices of the products displayed.

$10 OFF till August 28!

Buy now

Invoice in PDF

This extension lets you generate invoices in PDF format.
Customers can download these PDF documents from their order history page (My Account), and also on the next page of the checkout process (success page).

$10 OFF till August 28!

Buy now

Mobile Skin

The extension enables a mobile look of your Avactis store for your mobile visitors.
The mobile skin is a lightweight version of the default ("system") skin, optimized for small screens and tight internet connection of mobile devices. All storefront and customer account pages are present and functional, just as in regular skins. Full checkout sequence is supported.

Buy now

Brain Storm on Avactis page on Facebook

Peter was 17 years old the day before yesterday. Next year he will be 20. How can that happen?

Do you know the answer? Post it on Avactis page on Facebook.

Want more questions? Check Avactis page weekly.

Where to Start with Avactis: A Beginner’s Guide

2011-08-23T05:08:00.001-07:00

We often receive questions from customers who have just purchased our software and don't know where to start. In this article I will describe the main steps to take after you purchase Avactis.

If you purchased a SaaS license, skip the first step.

1. After you place your order on our website, a download link is sent to your email. Download the software to your local PC. Install the software using the instructions provided in our manual.

Avactis Shopping Cart Installation

2. Add products

First of all you need to add your products. If you have a CSV file, check whether the file complies with the Avactis rules:

Product Import

Correct the file as necessary and import the products using the built-in import/export tools.

Edit the product SEO information if necessary. This is available on the “Edit product” page in the admin panel.

3. Change the owner info

Now you should add information about your store and the store's owner. Go to the “Store settings” page and click on the “Store owner's profile” link.

This will open a page where you can enter your information.

4. Change the store meta tags for your index page. Go to your admin panel, open the “Manage categories” section and edit your Home category. On the category settings page you will see the “Search Engine Information” section. Edit this section. This article should help you a bit:

Promote Your Website on the Internet. Part 2: Meta tags

5. Change the company logo and the center banner using the Layout design section.

6. Edit the text under the center banner. Use the “Content” section to do it.

7. Set up payment

The next thing to address is your store’s payment options.
By default, the “Cash on delivery” payment method is activated. If this suits you and you do not need something else, skip this step.

If you don't mind redirecting your customers to another site to enter their credit cards, simply activate a payment module that works in SIM mode. Of course, you have to create an account with the payment provider you select.
If you absolutely want to allow your customers to enter credit cards right on your site, you will need to provide an https connection for checkout. This means you need an SSL certificate. Purchase this at a company you trust. Our company has recently begun to offer SSL certificates

After the SSL certificate is installed, enable the https connection on your checkout pages. Go to the “Admin” page and click “HTTPS Settings”. Select “checkout”.

After that, feel free to activate an AIM payment module. As we said before, an account with the payment provider is required.

8. Set up shipping options

You have to decide what type of shipping calculation you will use. There are two global options:

- Offline payment calculation. This method of shipping calculation doesn't require an account with a payment provider. Set up your own shipping rates using the “Custom shipping rates” or “Standard shipping rates” module.

- Online shipping calculation. Sign up for a shipping provider and activate the corresponding shipping method using the information sent to you by your shipping provider.

Everything should now be ready. Go to your storefront and place a test order. Use a real email address for customer information. A notification will be sent to the specified email. Check whether you received it. Then go to your admin panel and check the order details.

Completing these steps is all you need to do to start selling your products. Good luck in your e-commerce!

Getting Started in E-Commerce

2011-08-19T04:21:00.000-07:00

Lots of people nowadays are thinking of opening their own stores online. The advantages of having a store are obvious, but very few are brave enough to take the first step.

This article is for those who have the courage for adventure but are still hesitating. Actually, the steps for launching e-commerce are so simple that you may feel disappointed at the lack of adrenaline rush.

Here are the steps:

Decide what type of online store you will start and what products you will sell. It is best to choose a field with which you are familiar. Otherwise it will be hard to understand your customers’ needs.
Choose the e-commerce software that will run your store. You never know if the software is good enough until you try it. Testing a demo or downloading a free version is the perfect opportunity to remove all doubt.
Choose a hosting provider. Some people call the web hosting service the site’s technical backbone, so choose carefully the first time, as moving to a new host can turn into a big headache. By the way, Avactis hosting is the best for Avactis software. ;)
Come up with a name for your store and register it. Ideally your store URL should be short and easy to remember. It should also be easy to pronounce, so that your future customers can type it after hearing it.
Choose a payment company and create a merchant account. Make sure the selected gateway is PCI compliant to meet the latest security requirements.
Choose a shipping company that suits your needs. The key factors to consider here are the company’s pricing plan, shipping times and guarantees.
Create a website that is intuitive and easy to navigate. Before you decide to economize on quality web design, consider that an ugly storefront is not likely to inspire your customers with sufficient confidence to enter their credit card information.
Promote your site by registering it with as many search engines as you can. Considering that some search engines let you register for free, the time and effort invested can pay off very quickly.

As you see, it's easy as 1-2-3. And if your store were up and running, you would already have earned some dollars while reading this article...

Your Google AdSense Revenue: How to improve CTR

2011-08-17T05:42:00.000-07:00

These days there are many ways of making money on the Internet. One such way is the Google AdSense contextual advertising service. This service posts graphic and text ad blocks that match a site's context. Site owner who posts these ads on their sites earns income for visitor clicks (when a visitor clicks an ad link) and for ad views.

As we know, how much income Google AdSense generates depends largely on the CTR (Click Through Rate). This factor is the ratio of the number of times an ad banner is clicked to the number of times that banner is viewed, and is usually measured as a percentage. For example, if your ad block is viewed 100 times, and one person clicks it, that ad block’s CTR is 1%.

To make Google AdSense more effective, you need to increase either your trafic or your CTR. Traffic is a hard thing to alter, but the CTR factor may indeed be increased by placing ad blocks more advantageously on the page, and by changing their appearance and content.

Try to see through the eyes of your site’s visitors. Think: are there things about your ad that might scare people off? What part of the page is the best location for the ad block?

Under no circumstances should an ad block be framed by a border.
Try to make your advertisement "blend in" as organically as possible into the page's primary content. Don't overdo it, though – otherwise the advertisement text could completely disappear into the primary content. Experiment with text colors and backgrounds.
Try to place your ad block so that visitors will not need to scroll down to see it once the page has loaded.
The advertisement text should be easy to read. Here, wide-format blocks have the advantage; these should be placed at the beginning of the content.
On pages where visitors are drawn into reading a text, statistics show that the advertisements placed within that text achieve the greatest CTR.
If the site content is not of particular interest to visitors, ad blocks should be placed at the top of the page.
A good place for ad blocks is near navigation elements (menus, site maps, etc.).
Constantly experiment with the location of your ad blocks: you never know which locations are best for your ads on which sites.
Try using ad blocks of different sizes. Statistics show that advertisements measuring 336x280, 300x250, 160x600, and 728x90 enjoy the greatest CTR.

Finally, remember that you cannot achieve higher CTRs without experimenting. Don't be afraid that this could have an occasional negative effect on your advertising income. In the end you'll win every time.

Good luck, and happy sales!

5 More E-Commerce Myths That Can Harm Your Online Business

2011-08-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

1. I don't want to mess with complex software; I just need a way to add a couple of product pics, nothing more.

As you become successful, you will need more features: quantity discounts, coupons, gift certificates, live shipping quotes, etc. Because your customers will want them and ask for them.

If you haven’t planned ahead, this will ultimately mean changing your online store software. And that is a big pain: downtime, lost data (every software uses its own format and they are rarely, if ever, compatible), and stress.

Choose the software that has everything you will need in 5 years.

2. I have PayPal, so I'm all set! Everyone has PayPal, right?

PayPal is certainly very popular, but it is absolutely not the only payment method, especially outside the US. If you want to reach the maximum number of customers, in addition to PayPal you should at least give people the option of paying with just a credit card, by entering their card number. You should also be able to accept wire transfers and checks. So you should choose a merchant account provider that offers all of this.

3. Once a customer pays for her order, it's done and I can relax – maybe even put off shipping it for a couple of days.

PayPal lets purchasers cancel any transaction within 45 days, right from their account. Credit card transactions can also be canceled by the cardholder’s bank – all it takes is a phone call.

Not only do you not get the money, but you also gain a bad reputation with your merchant account provider. If you end up with too many chargebacks, you’ll find your account disabled and yourself blacklisted.

A payment is a signal for you to spring into action, not relax.

4. I totally trust my web host! If something ever happens to my store they’ll have it back up and running in no time.

If you want to guarantee your online business’s stability, you should trust nobody, and take backup into your own hands.

Website backup is a huge topic and there are various approaches to it. You can choose what’s best for you, but here are two things you should always observe:

Backup files should reside as far from the original files as possible. If your website is in a Dallas datacenter, back it up to a datacenter in Washington. Or in Australia.
Back it up often. Think of it this way: how many recent orders can you lose? Then schedule backups at appropriate intervals.

5. My customers are smart – they’ll figure out everything for themselves, and contact me if they're stuck.

If you don't provide a clear return policy, and one of your competitors does, switching to them takes just seconds of your customer's time.

Time is the most important factor in e-commerce. If you don't save your customers’ time with a fast website, real-time shipping quotes, an AJAX shopping cart, a guest checkout, and an overall clean and informative site layout, you’ve lost her.

5 E-Commerce Myths You Shouldn't Believe

2011-08-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

1. E-commerce is awesome – I can do what I like and be my own boss.

Your customers, not you, decide when you work and how.

Online customers expect your online store to be always on. If they order a product at 11 PM and have questions about delivery, you’d better be there and answer it quickly if you don't want to lose their business. If you sell overseas, be ready to hire a sales manager who will assist your customers while you’re asleep.

2. All I need to do is put my products on my site – Google will do the rest.

Google is definitely popular and important, but it’s hardly the only way people look for products to buy online. If you focus solely on Google, you’ll miss a good portion of your potential audience.

Open Alexa's Top Sites for your country, and you will see where most people spend their time online. Your task is to find ways to reach people on all of those super-popular sites.

3. My e-commerce store needs a totally cool, unique design that stands out, or I won't succeed.

If a customer can see a product’s photo, description, and price, and that’s what she’s looking for, she doesn't really care about the rest of the design.

Awesome designs costs a lot of money. When you're just starting out, it’s wiser to invest that money in essentials like stock or advertising.

4. Lots of people visit my e-commerce store, but only a few actually buy anything. My products must be really bad :(

The average conversion rate is about 2% for everyone. That's normal.

Only if your conversion rate is significantly lower should you look into raising it by improving your online store. Sometimes just getting rid of conversion killers can double your conversion rate.

5. No way can I get lots of customers without a huge marketing budget – I shouldn't even bother starting without one.

Luckily, the Internet provides lots of opportunities for you to get customers without spending thousands of dollars. Instead of using paid ads to push your product on people who don't even need it, you can reverse the process: make people want to come to your site for something cool. This is called inbound marketing. If your site has some really awesome content, they will find you, buy your products, and then tell all of their friends about it, bringing you even more customers.

Support request. How to reduce response time and keep your credits

2011-08-08T04:22:00.000-07:00

Why does resolving a simple problem sometimes take so long? There are some objective reasons.

Often people make don’t make their support questions clear. For example, a ticket that contains only this sentence, doesn't provide a direction to start from:

My site doesn't work! Help!

This request contains no information.

When a support specialist reads such a message he or she tries to figure out what it means. First, he or she will open the license information to find the store URL.

In some cases the store has not yet been registered, and, therefore, the store URL is unknown. That makes it impossible to solve your problem based on your first support request.

If the store URL is included on the ticket that definitely saves time. That’s our first recommendation.

After the URL is found, the specialist opens the storefront.

Is is good when the store index page does not load. I say it is good because we were able to reproduce the problem and now can fix it.

If the index page loads properly the specialist tries to open the Avactis admin panel. If it also loads properly, he or she goes to the storefront and places a test order to examine the main store pages and check them out. Only if the problem is not reproduced we will send a request for details. This takes more time, but the problem is still unresolved.

It is very helpful to send a link to the page where a support specialist can see the problem and report what error you get.

The next common description of a problem is something like this:

When I open a product with a “noimage” image I see a directory listing.

This request is much more informative than the previous one, but if the store has several hundred products and most products do not use the default image, it is difficult to find the problem product.

Sometimes, the problem occurs only after specific steps have been taken. For example:

I set up USPS, but when I go to checkout step 2, no shipping option is shown.

In this case the support staff takes the following steps: first he or she goes to the storefront and executes each step until checkout step 2. But they get shipping options! It is likely that the support staff either added a different product than you did, or used a different shipping address so the rates were displayed.

The specialist then describes the steps he took and might create a screenshot, and then asks the customer to describe how to reproduce the problem.

This takes about 10 minutes, but if the specialist knew what product was added to the cart and what shipping address was specified on checkout step 1, he or she would be able to reproduce the problem, check the settings, and figure out what caused it. So, the next recommendation is in your request provide the steps that have to be taken to reproduce the problem and details on how to access your server. Post your ftp information using this secure form:

https://www.avactis.com/support.php?ftp

Next, if you suspect anything that may be causing your problem, describe them briefly; provide information as clearly as you can. A good request for help with the problem in this example would be:

I set up USPS, but when I go to checkout step 2, no shipping option is shown.

To test it I added one product, id=26, to my cart; on checkout I specified the following shipping address:

Country: US

State: NY

ZIP: 10001

The next example is a ticket referring to a number of questions. For example, if a ticket mentions Custom development work, a problem description, and general questions of how to set up the store, it is difficult to follow up on the ticket because it will be sent to different people. So, one person will address one issue on the ticket and then forward it to another specialist. We suggest you create separate tickets for each issue. If you include an appropriate ticket subject, it will help the processing of the ticket.

This is an example of a well-written request:

Subject: Change gap between blocks

I want to change the gap between the “Subscription” and the “Navigation bar” blocks. Where can I change it? The screenshot is provided.

You can be assured of a timely and appropriate response to a support ticket like this.

To summarize the recommendations:

Post each problem on a separate ticket.
Do not post the same question on different tickets. It is not helpful at all and makes it difficult to process the tickets.
On your request, include your store URL and a link to the page where the error occurs.
Report the error text precisely.
Provide the precise steps taken that produced the problem.
Provide temporary ftp access using our secure form:
https://www.avactis.com/support.php?ftp
If you are too agitated by the problem, your cart, or our company in general to clearly and positively report your problem to us, please wait a few moments before writing a request.

I hope this article will help you in writing support requests that will help us to help you quickly and efficiently.