When creating an online shop, it is highly likely that the majority of your products will be similar, and therefore have the same attributes.  OpenCart sadly has not realised this yet, and every product’s attributes must be entered one at a time and for every individual product.

I've moved the attributes up to below the Manufacturer (in my case "Author") to improve visibility.

The store I am working on at the moment is a bookstore, and therefore each product has these four main attributes:

• Illustrator
• Publisher
• Format
• ISBN

(I know what you’re thinking: “where’s the author?”.  I have already re-named the “Manufacturer” field to “Author” for some nice in-built functionality.)

My main problems with this are:

1. Remembering the four common attributes
2. The time it takes to add each one

I wanted a way of adding these four attributes automatically, but only to the 90% of products that required them.  Here’s how I did it…

1. I created a new javascript function based on the existing one that adds attributes to the page.

Open the file: admin/view/template/catalog/product_form.tpl

Around line 740, the is the function “addAttribute”.  Copy this and paste it just underneath the first and make the following changes:

function addAttribute2(attName,attID) {
    html  = '<tbody id="attribute-row' + attribute_row + '">';
    html += '  <tr>';    html += '    <td><input type="text"
name="product_attribute[' + attribute_row + '][name]"
value="' + attName + '" /><input type="hidden"
name="product_attribute[' + attribute_row + '][attribute_id]"
value="' + attID + '" /></td>';
    html += '    <td>';    <?php foreach ($languages as $language) { ?>
    html += '<textarea name="product_attribute[' + attribute_row + ']
[product_attribute_description][<?php echo $language['language_id']; ?>]
[text]" cols="40" rows="5"></textarea><img src="view/image/flags/
<?php echo $language['image']; ?>" title="<?php echo $language['name']; ?>
" /><br />';    <?php } ?>
    html += '    </td>';
    html += '    <td><a onclick="$(\'#attribute-row' + attribute_row + '\')
.remove();"><?php echo $button_remove; ?></a></td>';
    html += '  </tr>';
    html += '</tbody>';

    $('#attribute tfoot').before(html);

    attributeautocomplete(attribute_row);

    attribute_row++;
}

2. Added a new link to the same file

Around line 308, there is an empty table cell whee i added the following link (I’ll explain what it means in a moment):

<a onclick="addAttribute2('ISBN',12);addAttribute2('Illustrator',13);
addAttribute2('Format',14);addAttribute2('Publisher',15);">Add Common Attributes</a>

The new link in place...

The new function “addAttribute2″, does exactly the same as the old, but pre-fills the attribute name and ID.  The name is obviously needed so you can see which attribute is which, but the ID is needed because the system saves the ID, not the name, so you will need to find the ID of each field you want pre-populated.  I found mine through phpMyAdmin, but there are probably other ways to find out.

Conclusion

So, now I can add the four common attributes at the click of a button saving me a little time and a lot of brainpower.

You could extend this to include common attribute values as well, but that wasn’t necessary in my case.

Presently, we monitor the exact URL of the site that linked to ours. In the case of the Google search result page, this also tells us the search term used when finding our site.  We then monitor this data and can identify which words are most commonly used.  This list can help us target our marketing carefully and make the most of any budget we have.

So, what are they up to? Google’s comment about privacy seems a bit of a smokescreen, since it apparently doesn’t affect AdWords clicks. Advertisers will still be able to see keyword data, even from logged-in users, so can Google really be all that worried about privacy?

No, it has been suggested that the real reason is based on hitting Google competitors in the online advertising arena.  Some companies are using the search keyword data to “retarget” ads based on what the user was searching for.  Simply put, when you search Google for something and click on to an article or blog post, the advertiser uses your search term to decide what adverts to show you.  This can then also be cookied, so that if you later visit other sites in the network, you can continue to be served adverts based on your earlier searches. It’s the same technology that is in use when you visit a clothing website and then read your Hotmail or go to TheSun.co.uk. You are then served adverts for the exact clothing chain as before, but this time with offers or incentives to encourage you to return.

This latest announcement will stop companies from using this data, but don’t believe that the data isn’t being collected – Google has its own targeted advertising networks which will still be able to access the data.

So, it seems Google are out for a bit of free PR on the back of an attempt to hinder their competitors. What should we do as marketers? Link your Webmaster Tools to your Analytics account. Webmaster Tools is nowhere near as accurate Analytics for keyword data, but it will continue to give you SOME data when the final changes are made.

First thing I’ve found is how hard it is to persuade friends to give it a go with me.  Even though Google has shown me that they have scanned my email account and found hundreds of contacts, I’m not willing to bulk-email all of them inviting them to join, primarily because most of them are business contacts.  It also seems that Google is happy to send invitations to all email addresses in my contacts, even though many friends have multiple email addresses and would therefore be encouraged to set up multiple accounts.

So, one week in and with only six friends signed up, I must say it’s pretty slow going. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been impressed with anything.  Here’s my top 5 features:

1. Circles

The circles feature is a big win. Not all your friends are friends with each other, or even know each other, so circles helps you keep track of who you are broadcasting and listening to.  The AJAX drag and drop page where you set up circles beats Facebook hands down because, as someone put it, “clicking check boxes is for old fogeys”.

2. Hangouts with extras

Still partly in development, Hangouts with extras is Google’s name for their latest features in Hangouts.  Best bits include Screensharing (show everyone a website, document or game in hangouts) and Sketchpad - A simple drawing tool, which all participants can use at the same time.

3. Mobile pictures uploaded immediately

With the mobile app for Android, any photos I take on my phone are immediately uploaded to a safe place on the web.  This means that I can choose later which ones to share with my friends, and just store the rest for later.  Also means no more seeking out the cable to connect my phone to the PC – I’ll actually bother to use my phone camera again!

4. Extended Google Bar

Google has done some fine work on improving their navigation bar.  The new notification feature shows an interactive menu of the latest activity on your entire Google account.

5. Whole user interface – very nicely done!

I just love how smoothly everything works.  Yes there are a LOT of tooltips, but they don’t intrude on your experience, and actually open up a whole lot of functionality that I didn’t always realise was accessible from that page.  Altogether very well designed and I can imagine a lot of sites stealing ideas from this new UI.

Our top tips for creating your own would be:

• Keep it simple
• Use colour carefully – choosing your palette well is vital
• Layout is key – Think of the graphic as a journey

The kings of infographics have to be Mashable, and here we have our Top 5 Mashable Infographics:

1. Obsessed with Facebook

2. The Apple Tree

3. Social Network Wars

4. What’s Trending @Twitter?

5. Farmville Vs Real Farms

We’ve written our top 5 tips for making your next email marketing campaign your best one yet!

1. Experiment with your subject line

The subject line is your only chance to get your reader to open your email without deleting it as soon as it arrives in their inbox, so make it count!  If you have a list of 10, 000 addresses, try first sending the same email to two test groups of 1,000 each, but with different subject lines.  After a few hours you can see which one has performed the best and use it with the remaining 8,000 recipients.

It’s surprising the number of smaller companies who leave their subject line blank – DO NOT do this as this will boost your spam score and risk not ever getting to the recipient.  For the same reason, don’t use all capitals and only use one exclamation mark – or try to use none at all.

2. Treat your data as sacred

One of the best things about email marketing is that your list contains only those who are already interested – those who have subscribed.  It’s not like stuffing flyers through random letterboxes, or placing an ad in the local paper, here you have a bunch of people who have actually asked you to keep them updated with your business.

For this reason, it is highly important that you treat your data with respect.  Here’s a few suggestions on how to look after your data:

• Remove unsubscribers immediately.  People are funny about this sort of thing and it’s in your best interests anyway to make sure you don’t send marketing to someone who has specifically asked not to receive it.
• Don’t be tempted to fix mistyped email addresses like “@hotmail.cmo”.  Email addresses are a private matter – instead make users re-type their email address on sign-up to double check they have typed it correctly.  If you are worried about people entering false email addresses (for a free download for example), put the download link in the auto-responding email – that way only real addresses will be able to be successful.
• Check the reason for your bouncers – some may just have full inboxes (in which case leave them on the list for next time), but some email addresses may no longer be active.
• Don’t sell your list – these are your customers and you should take care of them.  If you genuinely have a partner who has something of interest to your list, then why not mention them in your own newsletter?

3. Motivate people to join your list with a bonus

Making users sign up can get increasingly difficult as people become ever more reluctant to give their personal email address away.  Free downloads, discount codes and free trials are all good ways of getting that email address in the first place.

4. Be personal

It has been suggested that simply starting your email with “Hi [subscriber_name]” instead of “Hi there” can increase reading and click-through rates by up to 650%.  Why?  It reminds your recipient that you already have a relationship with them – you’re not just another spammer.  If you only have their email address and no name, consider addressing it to “Dear Subscriber” (again showing that you already have a link) and following it up by explaining that you’d much prefer to greet them by name (they will prefer it, too).

5. Just like in web design, be aware of “the fold”

Most popular email clients (like Outlook and Thunderbird) use a preview pane to show the first part of the email.  Always have your best content at the top – If it’s interesting enough, then your subscriber will open your email and continue on reading.

GreenPanda Internet Marketing,
Corby Enterprise Centre,
London Road,
Priors Hall,
Corby,
Northamptonshire,
NN17 5EU

We’ve put together the top 6 mistakes businesses are making when they start using social media in their marketing.

1. Repetition

If you only have one product or service, it’s easy to think that tweeting the same message once every week is fine as different people will see it each time.  Unfortunately, it’s more likely that potential customers will visit your Twitter or Facebook pages and see a long list of posts, all saying the same thing.  This will drive down your credibility pronto, so change your message!

2. Thinking that social media is free advertising

No business I’ve seen has managed to drive significant direct sales from a post on Twitter or Facebook.  That really shouldn’t be your objective.  Instead, try to make your Facebook page a place to discuss your brand and products.  A good review from a satisfied customer is worth 100 tweets from you saying how wonderful your product is.  Also, use Twitter to show your followers that you are an expert in your industry – comment on the industry topics of the day.

3. Choosing the wrong media for your market

Not every business suits every social media tool.  If your Facebook page has flopped and no one has “liked” you, then it may be that your industry just doesn’t use Facebook.  I have found that academic institutions often block Facebook, so if your target audience is university lecturers for example, you might want to try Twitter next.  Best to get rid of that embarrassing Facebook page, too!

4. Constant spelling and grammar mistakes

I’m not talking about the occasional typo here, we all do that.  If the idea of all the marketing is to make your business look professional, then sorting out your spelling should be a high priority.  A lot of people don’t put any value at all in spelling and don’t even notice mistakes, but beware – many are distracted, even offended sometimes, by bad spelling and grammar.  Spurious apostrophes (the likes of DVD’s and PDF’s should be DVDs and PDFs – but you knew that, eh?) can be so off-putting to some users that they close the page on first sight (I know because I’m one of them).  It sounds petty, but I promise it’s true.  Besides, it doesn’t take long to have your copy checked, or use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox which both come with built-in spell-check (you should be using one of these anyway, but that’s another story!).

5. Thinking that your personal sites are personal

Those who are interested in your company are likely to be interested in you and your employees as well.  As much fun as Facebook is, unless you’re VERY sure you’ve set up controls on who can see your content, don’t post holiday photos of you in your bikini, or comments on how much lager you downed last night.  This is especially true for consultants and sole-traders where your business is you – you are one and the same.

So, how many of these mistakes have you fallen foul of?  What changes will you make to improve your strategy and get SMM working for your business?  Have you make any other mistakes that we haven’t covered?  Why not share them on the comments below?

Hope ahead?

There may be hope ahead, however, because according to Christien Oestlien, a member of the Google+ project, Business Pages are under development as we speak.  Well, thanks Christian – any chance it’ll be any time soon?  We expect Great Things™ from Google+ and we want to see them!

After a lot of deliberating, I have finally taken the plunge and set up my own business. I won’t pretend I’m not nervous, but I am genuinely excited to be self-employed.

My central aim for GreenPanda is to help small businesses connect to their customers with Social Media Marketing – something that I am convinced is a massive help to the right kind of business.  It’s also something that I believe a lot of business don’t know where to start!

I also have a number of other projects on the way (watch this space!) so being self-employed should hopefully free up some time to spend on those – as well as my new family!

Thanks for taking to time to visit my site today – if you have any questions, or think that we could help you and your business, please contact us today!