IBM Computer, Laptops and Servers

• ShopSite Help & Resource Center for in-depth documentation at http://www.shopsite.com/help/.
• Click the button within the ShopSite program to access topic-specific help.

ShopSite Corner is also a great resource for tutorials, articles and tips on using ShopSite. Question/Problem Configuring: Submitting a site to the search engines Answer/Solution Search engines drive approximately 90% of traffic on the Internet. If your site isn't listed and effectively marketed on the major search engines how will your potential customers find you All of the major search engines now use automated systems or robots to index Web sites. They have a schedule and it may be six months before they happen upon your site. Submitting your site to search engines reduces the time it takes for your site to appear in search engine results. Question/Problem Configuring: Attaining a higher placement with the search engines Answer/Solution Unfortunately there are no "search engine secrets" that will guarantee a top position in the organic or "non-paid" search. But, there are a number of small changes you can make that can sometimes produce excellent results. These techniques include: meta tags, the title tag, page layout, page content, a page name, links, image alt tags, not using frames, or if it is already framed - the proper usage of the NOFRAMES area, etc. Again, these are common and easy techniques to implement. Question/Problem Configuring: Difference between search engines and directories Answer/Solution Search engines, such as HotBot, create their listings automatically. Search engines crawl the Web, then allow people to search through what they have found. If you change your Web pages, search engines eventually find these changes, and that can affect how you are listed. Page titles, body copy and other elements all play a role. A directory such as Yahoo! depends on people for its listings. You submit a short description to the directory for your entire site, or editors write one for sites they review. A search looks for matches only in the descriptions submitted. Question/Problem Configuring: Rules for site ranking by search engines Answer/Solution When you search for a topic using a search engine, you will almost instantly sort through the millions of pages in the engine's database and receive the ones that best match your search topic. The best match for your search will be listed first. However, search engines don't always get it right. Sometimes pages that don't relate to your search make it through, and sometimes it may take a little work to find what want. Search engines follow a set of rules to determine which pages best match your search. The main rules are related to the location and frequency of keywords on a specific Web page. Most search engines will place a heavy emphasis on the TITLE tag of your Web page. If you are looking for Hawaiian Vacations, the search engine will first find sites with "Hawaiian Vacations" listed in the Title Tag - there is an assumption being made that those pages will best relate to your search. Search engines will also check to see if your search words appear near the top of a Web page, such as the headline or the first few paragraphs of text. The assumption is that any relevant pages will mention those words in the beginning. How often a keyword or key phrase appears in the Web page is another factor in how search engines determine relevancy. A search engine analyzes how often keywords appear in relation to other words in a Web page. Those pages with a higher frequency of keywords are often considered more relevant. Question/Problem Configuring: Designing your site for search engine success Answer/Solution There are many design decisions that you should consider when search engine placement is important to you. Avoid using frames, use meta tags, and place the top keywords in prominent locations in your Web page. Use text links instead of images as much as possible. Use standard .html or .htm Web pages on your main page. What scripting language you use, or how you control the pages beyond your home page doesn't matter as much. Page layout has a very strong influence on search engine positioning. Mention your keywords in the body content. Place the key words closer to the top of the page than the bottom. Your most important keywords should be paragraph headings. Remember, search engines read a page from top to bottom. Therefore, make sure to place important text before any address or links in your page. Some search engines ignore meta tags and gain their information directly from your Web pages. These use the 1st 120-200 characters of text as the description displayed in search results. Don't waste this area on your street address, phone number or page links. Getting Started: What is a title tag Answer/Solution Your Web site's title is a part of your site's HTML. There are various opinions as to what should be placed in the title, since it may have influence on your site's placement within search engines. If you own a retail and wholesale paint supply store in Denver Colorado, then your title may look something like this:

"Painting, Commercial, Residential Paint Supplies, Denver Paint Company." (Without the quote marks.)

Question/Problem Configuring: Avoiding all invisible or hidden text Answer/Solution Never use hidden or invisible text in your Web site. The rise of contextual search brought about this once popular practice of using text of the same color as the background to jam a Web page with desired keywords, which was thought to improve search engine placement. Now many search engines actually penalize sites that use this practice. Getting Started: What are ALT tags Answer/Solution ALT Tags are used in HTML to describe a graphical element - they become visible when you mouse over an image to which the ALT tag is attached. They are especially important for people who choose not to view images, use browsers which do not support images, or who are site impaired and use a browser which reads the page aloud. Using ALT tags is also a good practice for search engine placement, as most search engines treat the contact of an ALT tag as regular text which is indexed. Question/Problem Configuring: Linking other pages to promote better search engine placement Answer/Solution Links on your Web page to other pages in your Web site can have a positive impact on your search engine placement. When you have a link to other pages in your Web site, it is best to have the new page named for that page's product or service, to take advantage of keywords. For example, if you are linking to a page about screwdrivers, then name that page"screwdriver.html." If the item or topic is more than one word, then save it in this style- "mickey_mouse.html." Getting Started: What is FileManager Answer/Solution FileManager is a Web-based tool for simple FTP and file management functions. You can upload, download and archive files, create new folders, rename or move files and folders, delete them, and edit uploaded HTML files. On UNIX plans: FileManager also allows you to set User, Group and World permissions. FileManager is not designed for full-scale Web site editing. Question/Problem Configuring: Deleting files with FileManager Answer/Solution To delete files and directories/folders using the FileManager: Important: Once a file or folder is deleted, it cannot be restored.

1. Log into the FileManager to display a list of the files and directories in your account.
2. Under the Select column heading, clear the checkbox next to the Home folder, which is selected by default.

The Home folder cannot be deleted. If the Home folder is selected, you will not be unable to delete any other file or folder.

• Select the checkbox for the items that you want to delete. Important: If you select a folder/directory, all files and subdirectories within the directory will also be deleted.
• At the bottom of the page, click the Delete button. A confirmation message appears at the top of the page listing the items selected for deletion.
• To permanently delete the items, click Yes. A message appears at the top of the page to confirm the deletion.

Question/Problem Configuring: Creating a folder/directory with FileManager Answer/Solution To use FileManager to create directories/folders, follow these steps:

1. Log into FileManager to display a list of the files and directories in your account.
2. Under the Select column heading, select the checkbox for the folder under which you want to create the new folder.
3. In the FileManager Tool Box at the bottom of the page, enter the name of the new folder in the field to the left of the New Folder button.

Important: : Your folder name should contain alphanumeric characters only. FileManager does not allow spaces or any of the following characters: @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) If you must separate words, we recommend using a hyphen ( - ) or underscore ( _ ).

• Click New Folder. A message appears at the top of the page to confirm the folder creation and location.

The Home folder cannot be renamed.

• At the bottom left of the page, click the Rename button. A field appears at the top of the page for the new name.
• Enter the new name.

Question/Problem I have an unknown charge on my statement. What should I do Answer/Solution To view past payments and the services/products they were for, as well as identify any unknown charges on your statement, you can log into the Billing Console . If you do not have an account but have received a charge from us on your statement, please call us at the phone number listed on your statement, so we can resolve the issue more quickly. If you have additional questions regarding your account, contact PowWeb Support for assistance. Related Topics How do I view/update my account information Where can I get an invoice for my next payment due and receipts for payments I've made What is your refund policy Answer/Solution Refund information can be found in our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy in the following sections:

• Payment Policies Payment Processing
• Cancellation Policy
• Domain Name Registrations and Renewals
• More About Domain Renewals
• Remedies and Action

Question/Problem Where can I get an invoice for my next payment due and receipts for payments I've made Answer/Solution To view an invoice for your next payment due and receipts for all billing transactions for your plan, follow these steps:

1. Log into the Payment Overview page.
2. Enter the appropriate date range, and then click Get Payment History.
3. Click Invoice to view the printable invoice or Receipt to view a printable receipt for a payment.

If you have additional questions regarding your account, contact PowWeb Support for assistance.

• Invoice/Receipt

Question/Problem Configuring: Viewing usage statistics for your toolbar Answer/Solution You can view the usage statistics for your toolbar to monitor the number of downloads as well as how it is being used. To view usage statistics:

1. Log into the PowWeb Community Toolbar tool. 
2. Select the toolbar for which you wish to see statistics, and click the Edit link next to it. The editing screen is displayed.

Configuring: Deleting a toolbar Answer/Solution Currently you cannot delete a toolbar once it is created. There are two places from which you may wish to delete a toolbar:

1. You cannot remove a toolbar from a list of created toolbars. Once you have created a toolbar, and it appears in your Available Toolbars list, it cannot be removed. However, you always have a choice to not install it and to not use it.

• If you have created and installed a toolbar, and your site visitors have downloaded it from your site, there is no way to remove this toolbar from your visitors' browsers.  However, you may edit the toolbar, which will automatically propagate the changes to all downloaded instances, until there is no valuable information in it, thereby encouraging your visitors to uninstall this toolbar.

Question/Problem Configuring: Browser support for community toolbars Answer/Solution Currently the following browsers support community toolbars:

• IE
• Mozilla Firefox

Question/Problem Configuring: Understanding and using the Catch-All Option Answer/Solution The catch-all option determines what to do with e-mail sent to non-existent mailboxes on your domain. Most frequently, this option is invoked to deal with spam and other mail sent with malicious intent. There are three choices:

• Bounce - All mail sent to non-existent mailboxes is returned to sender. 

• Trash - All mail sent to non-existent mailboxes in your account is deleted.
• Save - All mail sent to non-existent mailboxes in your account is routed to a specified mailbox, typically named username_catchall@accountname, which should appear in the list of mailboxes in MailCentral.

• When this mailbox is 70% full, you will receive a warning e-mail (at your administrator address), explaining that when this Save mailbox reaches 100% capacity, your catch-all option will be reset to Trash.

• You receive a similar warning e-mail at 90% capacity and then 100% capacity.
• If you clean out this mailbox, you can then reset your catch-all option back to Save.

To set the catch-all option:

1. Log into MailCentral.
2. In the Catch-All section, click the Edit link. The Set Catch-All Option page is displayed.

• Read carefully the options presented to you. Most users will choose the first option - Bounce. It protects you from spam, while allowing those who are genuinely trying to reach you to resend their e-mail to a correct address.
• Click Save Changes.

Question/Problem Getting Started: What is an Instant Gift Certificate Answer/Solution An Instant Gift Certificate is a gift certificate that you can customize, preview, purchase and then either print or email all from your Web site. Instant Gift Certificates are branded with your logo and business information and are a unique solution to the last minute gift giving problem. Instant Gift Certificates are available to your customers 24 hours a day so you can be selling even when you are closed.

• Instant Gift Certificates

Question/Problem Configuring: Receiving payment for Instant Gift Certificates sold from your site Answer/Solution There are two ways to receive payment for Instant Gift Certificates purchased from your site. For low volume sales:

1. Customer purchases an instant gift certificate from your site
2. BoomTime securely stores the customer's credit card information
3. BoomTime sends an e-mail notification to you, informing you of a sale
4. You log in to your BoomTime account and retrieve the credit card information. You run the charge for the amount of the gift certificate as a manual transaction, through your credit card processing system; similar to a phone order.
5. There is no fee for this process.

For high volume sales:

1. Set up automatic processing using Authorize net or PayPal which are both supported by BoomTime's systems.
2. Gift certificates purchased from your site are processed automatically, for a small transaction fee.

At the end of each month BoomTime will calculate the total dollar amount of Gift Certificates sold on your site, and will calculate their commission based on this amount. They will then charge your credit card for this commission. Question/Problem Getting Started: Integrating PayPal into your site Answer/Solution We offer three solutions for PayPal Payment Services:

• Website Payments Pro
• Express Checkout
• "Buy Now" button

Please feel free to compare these services to determine which one would suit your needs best. Once you select the solution, please follow these steps:

1. From the Comparison table, click Get Started. You are brought to the PayPal site.
2. Hit Sign Up Today. A page with different plan options is displayed.
3. Under Business Account: For Business Owners, hit Start Now.

• For Website Payments Pro, go to this page, and hit the Start Now button in the How to Get Started section on the right side.
• For Express Checkout, go to this page (Accept PayPal), and hit the Start Now button in the How to Get Started section on the right side.
• For "Buy Now" button, go to this page, and hit the Start Now button in the How to Get Started section on the left side.

• You will be asked to fill out forms with your information and your financial information. This information will be verified, and PayPal will provide you with further instructions.

Question/Problem Merchant Accounts: What Are Merchant Accounts and Why Should You Want One Answer/Solution Scenario You've decided to get yourself into business on the Web, or you're an established company who wants to sell goods and services on-line. While browsing around your favorite sites, you've noticed a plethora of adverts which grab your attention. "Take Credit Cards Now", they scream, "0% Commission!". Fighting your way through the jungle of e-commerce hype can be difficult, but we want to make it simple for you. You need a merchant account You want to sell on-line Let us help you find some answers to those nagging questions. Credit Cards Who cares Your customers are all using credit cards to make purchases on the Web already, so don't ignore the demographics! Retailers refusing to enter the e-commerce arena are probably digging themselves an early grave. You know you want to make money using the Internet, especially if you already have an existing site promoting your business. Take it a step further, and actually sell your products online. You're worried about the cost It's significantly cheaper than opening a new shop! What is a Merchant Account A Merchant Account involves a special type of arrangement with a bank or clearing house that allows you to accept credit card payments into a special bank account (your "Merchant Account"). The results of any credit card transactions passed through your online authorization company are then, hopefully, credited to your account if the transaction is approved. Why use a Merchant Account Having a Merchant Account is the most cost effective way of accepting payment by credit card. It's not the only way, as will be discussed in our Doing It Without A Merchant section. But, put simply, once you have a merchant account (and a company who will authorize the payments online), you will be able to accept credit card numbers on your site, and then receive any payments due to you. It's as simple as that. How does it work Getting the money from your customers credit card and into your account involves several stages. The first is actually approving the sale and taking the customer's credit card details on your Web site. Next, the card has to be verified and approved, to check that it's not been stolen, or has expired. Your Merchant Account company may provide this service, or you may choose to use an online authorization company, such as DataCash. It's wise not being too cheap with companies who provide authorization services, since accepting invalid credit card transactions could cost you dearly. After the card has passed rigorous security checks, your merchant account provider (or online authorization company) then passes the details to their credit card processor who debit the customer's credit card and deposit the money into your merchant account. This chain of events takes between 1 and 2 days with most merchant account providers, although the features that your chosen provider offers may turn out to be different. We'll be covering a number of merchant account providers in our reviews. The other method While some Merchant Account Providers offer an 'all-in-one' solution where they, supposedly, handle your merchant account and the processing of the credit card orders, you may prefer to let separate companies handle each section. For example, you may let one company provide the online authorization service, and get a merchant account yourself with your chosen bank. When we come to review services, later on in this series, we'll investigate both methods. Remember, however, that using the 'all-in-one' method may mean a larger commission is taken out of your transactions, whereas the latter method may just cost you a larger startup fee. Question/Problem Merchant Accounts: Implementing a Merchant Account Answer/Solution Sketching out your digital shop Before you apply for an e-commerce merchant account, you need to establish a strategy for your new venture. Are you selling memberships A wide range of products A single product An ongoing service Whatever your situation, you'll need to approach the task from a certain direction. Decide what your goals are, and stick with them until you're established. Choose suitable software for your e-commerce site You're probably going to need software to run your e-commerce site, especially if you have a large catalogue of items to sell. The software will act as an electronic catalogue, allowing you to enter your wares, categorize them and price them accordingly. E-commerce software usually allows you to enter your own design templates so that your site looks the way you want it to. Even if you're only going to be operating a simple membership service, you'll need a program to handle new subscribers and supplying passwords, although there are some specialist providers who can supply these services directly on their own servers. How an e-commerce site works To establish what needs to be done before applying for your merchant account, let's run through a sample e-commerce site. Your customer arrives at your site, and is invited to browse a database of items. Product descriptions, pictures, and prices are all displayed to the customer by the database driven e-commerce software. They pick and choose from a variety of products and these are placed into their 'shopping basket'. Now the user clicks on the Checkout button. Having decided to purchase their chosen items, the user fills out a delivery and payment form, handing over their credit card details, address, and other relevant information. Where do things go from here This is the point where different systems/methods can be used. If you're using an online authorization company who provides a secure server for your orders to be sent to, then once the user submits their payment details, it will go to the processors secure Web site, they will pass through the instruction to debit the card, and e-mail you the rest of the details (delivery address, product choices, etc.). On the other hand, if you run your own secure server, the details will be sent to your own server. Then, depending on the setup, forwarded onto your credit card processor via programs installed on your server, or stored on the server for you to send, or process, manually. Most Merchant Account Providers can provide you with equipment and software to allow you to process all credit card orders yourself, saving you from paying an online credit card processor to do it. However, this means you will have to provide the secure server for accepting the credit card information, and then you'll have to take each order and run it through your software or credit card terminal. Using an online credit card processor simplifies matters by sending the details straight to them, and they process the orders automatically. After Processing After the card has been processed by yourself, or your online authorization company, the customer's card will be debited, and your Merchant Account credited within usually a couple of days. The Merchant Account Provider will also take a commission of approximately 5% per transaction. Once you have the details of the order, the products selected and the delivery address, you must take action straight away and e-mail your customer a digital invoice, or at least a confirmation of the order. Many e-commerce software packages will deal with this for you, so there shouldn't be a need to worry. You will want to arrange dispatch of the product promptly, to reduce the risk of 'chargebacks' when people become dissatisfied with waiting for their orders. Chargebacks cost you money, and won't put you in good favor with your Merchant Account Provider. Linking your Credit Card Processor with your Merchant Account If you opt to use an online credit card processor in conjunction with your e-commerce software, you will need to supply the credit card processor with details to link transactions to your merchant account. When you get a merchant account, you will be provided with a e-commerce merchant account number, which you can supply to the credit card processor. When a transaction comes through on your account, it merely delivers the money (minus commission) to the specified merchant account. Merchant Accounts: Avoiding the Pitfalls Answer/Solution As with any business, those in the merchant service providing business want to sell as much as possible and make as much as possible. While the fierce competition in this market can prove beneficial to consumers, there are a number of tricks and pitfalls that you should try to avoid when choosing your provider. Get the Information monebaggasse