Payment Gateways

In this version we have improved the role payment gateways have in your online business as a whole, with attention paid to maximising robustness, increasing the control you have over payment methods and presenting you with key information.

Whenever we add new features to our ecommerce system we take care to ensure that the core part of the system we’re working on is operating optimally. In this version we spent a lot of time developing the payment gateway components of the system so we took time out to review how this works and make improvements where required.

Statistics

For website owners using a number of payment gateways on their Ballyhoo Commerce e-commerce website we’ve developed a new reporting system. Whether you are using a combination of PayPal, SagePay and Google Checkout, it’s important that you know how well each is performing for you and which is the payment gateway of choice for your customers.

In the Payment Gateway section of your admin area, under General Settings, you’ll now see statistics next to each payment gateway in use in your online shop. We’ve reworked the system to record which payment gateway is used for each order and the value of orders. You’ll be able to monitor the most popular payment gateway and we hope this will help you make important decisions about your business.

Min/Max Order Value

As part of giving you more control over payment gateways, and in a bid to help you reduce transaction fees from the likes of PayPal, we’ve added minimum/maximum order values to the payment gateway installation process.

When a customer goes through the checkout process they will only be given the option to use payment gateways that have been set in your system to accept orders of a certain value.

For example, you have set PayPal to accept orders between £0 and £100 and SagePay to accept orders between £50 and £500.

• If a customer is placing an order with a value of £20 they will have to use PayPal.
• If the order value is £70 they will be able to choose between PayPal and SagePay.
• If the order value is £120 they will have to use SagePay.

SagePay Server Integration Improvements

SagePay’s server integration for payments is proving very popular with our clients and customers alike. This payment gateway allows the customer making a payment to stay on your website at all times throughout the transaction process and they will not be directed to a third party site at any point.

We’ve improved the SagePay Server payment form to make the integration of SagePay and your website seamless. We’ve redeveloped the way this form takes shape so that the form used in the transaction will be identical in style to any other form on your website, creating a feeling of consistency for your customers.

Making this improvement to the way SagePay server integration pages are generated has also streamlined the payment processor installation process as we will not need to take extra time to style this page for each client.

SEO

Search engine optimisation continues to be an important factor in the way Ballyhoo Commerce evolves.

Traffic to your website drives your business and today more and more people are relying on Google search engine results to lead them to sites that will fulfil their needs. While for most sites a concentrated SEO effort is required, there is a lot we can do at the core of your website to make sure it is as search engine friendly as possible and a solid foundation for any SEO strategy.

Custom Meta Tag Controls

Meta data is essentially a way of quickly telling search engines like Yahoo and Google what information your web pages contain. Depending on your SEO requirements the attention paid to this area of your website varies.

Previously, Ballyhoo Commerce automatically generated meta data from the content on the page in question. This has consistently worked well and has been a key part in the success of our most thriving e-commerce websites.

As the internet evolves and more effort is required to shine light on websites and products it may be advantageous to tailor this meta information, especially if you have a focused SEO strategy.

In this version we can now enable custom meta tag controls for advanced users. When adding a product, a content page or a category you’ll have the ability to enter information into the following fields:

• Page Title: a title for the page that has appropriate keywords. On a product page this does not have to be the same as the Product Title.
• Meta Keywords: a range of search terms that you would like your website or product to be found under in search engines. These aren’t thought to be as important as the description.
• Meta Description: a short description of your page or product containing appropriate keywords. This actually appears under your listing in search engines.

General SEO Improvements

Again, as we were working on this area of the system we took some time to ensure that our code was optimised and that everything was working as it should.

We also made a few other improvements to the system such as ensuring that pages with no relevant content aren’t indexed (picked up by the search engines).

It is important that your clout in the search engines is focused in key areas on your website and isn’t diluted through a number of pages which contain no relevant content (like the Email To A Friend page under Other Options on product pages). In this case the page has no relevance other than being a useful tool for your customers so it is not beneficial for search engines like Google to know about it.

To upgrade your version of Ballyhoo Commerce or to arrange to speak to us about your e-commerce project, please call 0121 286 9390 or email us at info@ballyhoo.ltd.uk.

As well as introducing improvements to the blog features, registration process and category decriptions, this version has allowed us to set foundations behind the scenes for further releases of the system.

Blog Improvements

Every online shop these days seems to have a blog. This is a place where the owners can share important news, funny stories and tips on how to make the most of their products.

It is widely recognised that adding regular, fresh content to your website helps you get noticed by search engines and can have many benefits for your search engine strategy, namely the inclusion of more relevant content and keywords on your website. Blogs also have the power to create a community around your website and keep customers coming back for more – many sites thrive on the repeat custom of avid blog readers.

Ballyhoo Commerce has gradually been introducing blog features that will help make this an easy process for our customers. In this version the layout of blog pages has been reworked and we’ve enhanced the blog posts to include the date of the post and the name of the author.

We recommend that you include a blog on your e-commerce website and frequently produce articles that your customers will find informative and enjoyable.

Terms & Conditions Acceptance

Selling online is different in many ways to selling face-to-face and there are specific rules governing the sale of products over the internet. Every e-commerce website should have a Terms and Conditions page to inform customers of your legal details and the terms of sale that are unique to your business. Ts & Cs are designed to protect both you and your customers’ interests.

In reality you only need to have your terms and conditions present somewhere on your website to comply with regulations, preferably linked from somewhere prominent on your website, and it’s up to the customer to be aware of your terms before they make a purchase.

For additional peace of mind we have now added terms and conditions acceptance to the customer registration process. When a new user signs up to make a purchase or become a registered user of your website we can now specify whether they will have to accept your Ts & Cs before they complete registration.

A link to your Terms and Conditions page is provided for the user to review your information and all they have to do is click on a simple check-box to record their acceptance.

Hide Category Descriptions

In the Ballyhoo Commerce e-commerce system you have the ability to add text to your product category pages, we call these category descriptions. Today we are seeing longer descriptions as our customers come to realise that, for search engine optimisation purposes, a lengthy and informative description with lots of keywords will help their search engine rankings.

However, your descriptions could end up taking up much of the page and detract from your products. Naturally your end goal is to display your product range and many customers may know exactly what they are looking to purchase and so won’t want to read any of your content.

We’ve found a way to keep everyone happy and have introduced a ‘Read More’ feature to product category descriptions. You’ll still be able to add as much content as you want but only the first few lines will show on the page (the number of lines is adjustable). Customers who want to read the whole description can simply click on the ‘Read More’ button to reveal the rest of the text. There’s even a ‘Close’ button to hide the description again.

Your products will be prominent in the main area of the website and search engines won’t know the difference.

To arrange an upgrade to this version of the system or to discuss your e-commerce project please give us a call on 0121 286 9390 or email us at info@ballyhoo.ltd.uk.

Improvements To Language Switching

To fully communicate with your customers Ballyhoo Commerce can facilitate any number of languages. We add new languages to the system on an on-demand basis and currently we have support in place for English, Welsh and Brazilian Portuguese.

If you have multiple languages available for your users to choose from we usually represent them with flag icons on your website. Previously, a user who clicked on a flag to change language would be directed to the site’s homepage in the specified language. We have now improved this to keep the user on the same page no matter how many times they switch between languages.

We have also made it easier for our developers to build you a multi-language e-commerce website and allow quick and easy switching between languages.

Ability To Copy Variations Between Products

If you sell a lot of similar products, with much the same product variations, we can appreciate that it can be time consuming and repetitive to add these variations to each product on your e-commerce website individually through the Product Manager.

That’s why we’ve developed a new feature to help save you time to get on with other important jobs – when managing variations you now have the option to copy variations from another product.

Clicking Copy From Another Product in the Variation Editor will show you a list of products that currently have variations configured. You can click Copy This Product beside the product of your choice to duplicate its variations (but no other details) over to the product you are currently working on.

Sub-Category Images

If you have a large number of products you probably have a complex category structure with many sub-categories within each main category.

Adding category images is already part of the system and these are visible when you navigate to a category page itself. With this version of Ballyhoo Commerce we have added functions to allow you to output sub-categories with images.

Online shoppers are notoriously lazy, if they can’t see what they’re looking for straight away they move on to the next website. This new feature means users of your website can instantly see what your categories are, making their decision process a lot quicker and holding their attention.

Overhaul Of Code Structure

We are constantly working towards making Ballyhoo Commerce slicker and more robust. This system has been around for over 5 years so understandably over that time new methods and opinions about the best way to do things have emerged. We want this e-commerce system to evolve with the times so we regularly try to work new technologies into the system and overhaul older parts to keep up with the ever-changing internet.

In this version we have overhauled the code structure to make it a lot easier to maintain. This also means we can integrate the system more smoothly and simply with other software like WordPress for blogging.

If you would like to discuss upgrading your current Ballyhoo Commerce e-commerce website to this version or you’d like to find out more about e-commerce web development from Ballyhoo, feel free to call us on 0121 286 9390 or email us at info@ballyhoo.ltd.uk.

As usual, this release of Ballyhoo Commerce includes minor bug fixes to the e-commerce system and a number of improvements and new features including currency choice, a new language option, SEO improvements and a brand new templating system.

New Features

Price Per Metre

Price per metre is a new addition to the system that allows you to sell products that are made-to-measure, for example lengths of fabric, wood, cable or tubing. This new feature was built into the system at the request of a client who wanted to sell their products online priced by the metre.

You’ll find this new feature in the Product Manager when you add or edit a product. When adding the price of a product you can now specify whether the price is per item (each) or per metre.

Customers at the front-end of the site are still able to type a quantity but if a price per metre has been specified they can type in a length too.

Example: The price per metre of a product is £10. If a customer enters a quantity of 5 and specifies a length of 50 centimetres their order will be for five 50cm lengths of the product. Each length will be £5 each and the total price will be £25.

Currency

We now have the ability to specify the currency in use on an e-commerce website. Previously this was fixed as Pounds Sterling but you can now choose any currency to sell in.

Intended for our clients using Ballyhoo Commerce in other countries, this feature could also be useful for international sellers who want to adopt a widely recognised currency such as the US Dollar or Euro.

Multiple currencies aren’t supported quite yet but are in the pipeline. Look out for future releases of our e-commerce software.

Languages

Ballyhoo recently developed an e-commerce website for a client targeting the Brazilian market. The site was built on Ballyhoo Commerce and needed to support both English (EN) and Brazilian Portuguese (PT-BR).

Brazilian Portuguese is now available for use in the system joining our other supported language, Welsh (CY).

Ballyhoo Commerce can support potentially any language. At the moment we are adding these on request but hope to support many languages in the future beginning with the most popular languages such as French and German. If there are any others you would like to see supported, please let us know.

Improvements

PayPal Improvements

PayPal instant payment notifications have been problematic in the past so we’ve taken steps to ensure that our PayPal integration is more robust so if there are ever any issues the system can deal with them with ease.

Ballyhoo Commerce already has a good error logging system, so if anything goes wrong it’s recorded and we can see where to rectify the issue. This improvement means that the log records more data if there’s ever a problem with PayPal and any issues can be ironed out as swiftly as possible.

New Templating System

You may be aware of our new content management system, Ballyhoo Refresh. New technologies available when we built the templating system for Refresh prompted us to re-assess how templates are built in Ballyhoo Commerce and re-develop this area of the e-commerce system.

The result is a more modular system that’s really flexible and makes it easier to integrate and tie in with other pieces of software such as WordPress.

Google Product Feed

Your site’s Google product feed is now externally accessible meaning you can give Google the URL of your product feed rather than manually submitting it whenever you want to update your list of products.

Google are able to check it whenever they want and it will always be the latest version as it is updated in real-time.

SEO Improvements

We’re constantly making search engine optimisation (SEO) improvements to boost our e-commerce websites’ visibility in search engines. We work closely with a search engine expert to make sure that the changes we make are in line with the latest Google algorithms and factors affecting search engine rankings.

Version 1.9.11 includes general improvements to the meta tags (hidden information about your website that only search engines can read) and page titles and more importantly changes to the category structure to prevent duplicate content. There were issues with the way categories can be re-ordered and have multiple pages so we’ve improved the way these are output – Google and other search engines like to see unique content so it’s important that every page is individual.

To schedule an upgrade to this version of Ballyhoo Commerce or to discuss your e-commerce project, please get in touch on 0121 286 9390 or email us at info@ballyhoo.ltd.uk.

This relatively minor release includes some customer requests (made by you!) and the building blocks for some big features in the future.

User Registration

We’ve now added the ability for users on your website to register without having to place an order. Not only does this pave the way for a streamlined checkout process in future releases, it’s also enabled us to include this next feature.

Improved Product Reviews

Spammers are the bane of  every website’s existence.

Previously, anyone could review the products on a Ballyhoo Commerce site and unfortunately this feature has been taken advantage of – a real headache for the administrators of these sites.

We’ve now improved the system so that only registered users can add product reviews. We hope that this simple step will be a barrier to successfully deter any potential spammers in the future.

Product Management

Price On Request

Sometimes you might not want the prices of your products to be freely accessible by anyone who chances to come by your website. Now you can elect not to include a price when you add a product to the system.

Whenever this is done, a Price On Request message is displayed instead of the product price. This message is also a link that will take your customer to the product enquiry form so that they can let you know they’re interested in buying your product.

Stock Messages

Stock management is a feature we’ve wanted to include in the system for a long time and we’re excited that stock messages are our first step in this direction.

When you add or edit a product you’ll now be able to specify whether a product is in stock or not. You’ll also be able to add a custom message to be displayed next to the In Stock/Not In Stock output.

Discount Codes

We’ve improved our discount code manager to include the number of times a discount code has been used and the total amount of discount applied.

This will help you track the popularity of your discount codes  - very handy if you publicise multiple discount codes at a time.

Quick Edit

You may have noticed quick edit buttons in some areas of this e-commerce system so you can quickly (as the name suggests) edit settings without having to fully enter the management options.

We’ve now added quick edit buttons to the Product Manager section too so you can quickly set whether your product is for sale, in stock or featured.

Remember, we always want to hear back from you on ways you think we can improve the system – let us know your thoughts by calling 0121 286 9390 or emailing us at info@ballyhoo.ltd.uk.

Product Images

Scrolling Thumbnails

Sometimes only a few product images just aren’t enough to showcase how great your product really is.

We’ve added a scrolling thumbnail feature so you can add as many images as you like without cluttering the product page.

We custom built this feature using JQuery, one of the most popular development tools in use today.

The resulting scroll buttons only appear when your image total exceeds the amount of thumbnails that will fit comfortably on the page.

Image Zoom

No one likes poor quality images, so you should use the highest quality you have wherever possible.

When you add a product image to Ballyhoo Commerce the system will scale the image down to be used as a product image and a thumbnail.

Up until now, clicking on the product image would open the full size file in a new window. We’ve now added an image zoom feature so your customers can see your products in all their glory without any fuss.

We’ve used JQuery again here to make this possible. Clicking on an image will expand the file to its full size on the page. Clicking again will restore the product page.

Content Management

Blog Output

A blog on your website is a fantastic way to keep your customers up-to-date with your latest news. It  also has excellent search engine optimisation benefits (search engines love regularly added fresh content).

So, we’ve started to build a simple blog function into the system. In this version of Ballyhoo Commerce, blog content is still in its infancy but we want you to be able to have a functional blog that’s easy to use and can handle everything you expect of it as part of your e-commerce system.

You can add new content pages and specify whether you want sub-pages to be output as a blog or as a list. If you select blog, any sub-pages will be output in date order with the most recently added article at the top of the page.

List Output

Alternatively, as mentioned, you can choose to output any sub-pages as a simple list of links.

We hope that these new options give you more control over the content of your website – we understand that there’s a lot more to your business than just your products.

Security

Security is so important when you’re selling online. You’re website needs to be like Fort Knox when it comes to security threats so we’ve carried out an extensive and thorough review of the entire system.

Ballyhoo Commerce has been built with security in mind from the outset so there were no major holes to fill but we’re not taking any chances. Any possible security threat we discovered, no matter how minor or unlikely to be taken advantage of, has been eliminated.

If you’d like to find out more or to schedule an upgrade with us, give us a call on 0121 286 9390 or e-mail support@ballyhoo.ltd.uk.

We’re now on version 1.9.8 of the system, enhanced product interaction tools make this our most customer-friendly version yet.

Product Enquiry

The first of three new features, your customers can now make a direct enquiry to you about one of your products.

Clicking on ‘Make an Enquiry’ (or however you choose to phrase it) will load a contact form for your customer. They’ll need to enter their name, email address and a message and you’ll then be sent an email.

The email subject line is pre-populated depending on which product your customer has been looking at so you instantly know what the email is regarding.

Because your customer gave their email address when they contacted you, you can reply directly to the enquiry email with the answer to their question!

Email A Friend

Have you ever been shopping online and instantly seen something you know your friend will love? Or have you ever needed a second opinion?

Your customers can now email a friend a link to your product  - all from your website!

Clicking on Email to a Friend (again, this can be phrased however you want) will load a form where your customer can add their details, their friend’s details and an optional message.

The email your customer’s friend receives is addressed from your customer and will include their message and a link to the product on your website.

Request A Product

Our final addition to the system in this version is the ability to request a product.

Request a product is a really useful tool for your customers, here’s just a few potential situations we’ve thought of:

• Customers short on time can send you a quick message to see if you’ve got what they’re looking for
• If you’ve got a large product catalogue your customer can send you a message and let you do the hard work tracking down what they need
• Your customer might love your existing product range, but maybe you don’t stock something they need – they can now let you know what they want in just a few clicks

Depending on which version of the sytem you are currently operating, upgrading your site to this version of Ballyhoo Commerce could cost you as little as £40.

If you’d like to find out more or to schedule an upgrade with us, give us a call on 0121 286 9390 or e-mail support@ballyhoo.ltd.uk.

JQuery

As part of continually improving Ballyhoo Commerce not only as an advanced yet easy to use e-commerce system, but an attractive system too, we’ve updated many of the functions in both the front and back-end to use the JQuery web effects library. These effects help heighten your users’ experience on your website and, although subtle, effects such as a simple fade in and out of text can be very impressive.

As an example, if you add a product to the shopping basket the quantity and sub-total will gently fade out then fade back in with the new values to indicate there has been a change. This effect has also been used when changing product variations where a change in price is specified.

By using these effects, usability has been greatly enhanced.

Language Management

Many of the language management functions developed in previous versions of the software have been refined for Version 1.9.7. These improvements make the multi-lingual functionality of Ballyhoo e-commerce websites much more efficient and flexible.

Notifications

As well as making the language system more efficient, notifications can now be sent to multiple users based on the language they were generated in.

In the admin area it is possible to specify who will receive emails such as order notifications, submitted product reviews and product return requests. For example, notifications generated on your French language site won’t be sent to someone who can’t speak French (or vice versa) and can therefore be handled appropriately.

Are there any features you would like to see included in Ballyhoo Commerce? Or have you discovered any bugs or defects in the system you think we should know about? We really value your contributions and comments so let us know by calling 0121 286 9390 or emailing us at support@ballyhoo.ltd.uk.

If you would like to upgrade your e-commerce shop to Version 1.9.7, please get in touch using the contact information above to schedule an update.

Our e-commerce software Ballyhoo Commerce will support the Welsh language as of Version 1.9.7.

Translations have been added for all of the text that is standard with any installation of our e-commerce software.

This means that you will be able to add products and content to your site in Welsh as well as English, giving your users the flexibility to view your website in their preferred language.

Although Welsh is a minority language, we thought it would be a great addition to the system as so many of our customers are based in Wales.

However, the system is not limited to Welsh and is capable of supporting any number of languages – some of which will be added as standard to the system in the future – including French, German and Spanish.

If you are an existing e-commerce customer and want to use this facility on your website you need only pay for the time it takes us to upgrade your site to Version 1.9.7 (when released) – which could be as little as £40 – £80.

New e-commerce customers will enjoy this feature as standard.

For more information or to upgrade your e-commerce website please get in touch.

Upgrades to this e-commerce software will be rolled out among our customers on a first come, first served basis and price depends on your current version. If you are interested in this version we recommend you get in touch soon to schedule an upgrade.

Learn more about this version of our e-commerce system.