Custom Vantage Web™ How to Work Within the Users Tab - Part 2

 

by Amanda Katon

 

Welcome back to part two of working within the Users tab! This month we will round out looking at the Users tab by taking a look at setting up and maintaining your vendors, affiliates, and mailing lists. We will discuss the differences between manufacturers and vendors as well as explain how the affiliate program/system works. Mailing lists are a great tool to utilize in promoting your business or special sales you may be running on your online store. Stamp Shop Web™ offers many options for enhancing your business and these are just a few more to add to that list! Let’s dive back into the Users tab right into the Vendors section to learn how to setup and work with vendors.

 

 

To begin, as with all Stamp Shop Web™ lessons, first sign-in to the admin area of your Stamp Shop Web™ site. Once you are logged in, click the Users Tab. Next click the Vendors link, once clicked you will see the vendor’s screen where you can create, edit and delete vendors on your website (Picture-1).

 

 

Vendors are similar to manufacturers except that vendors are those that produce certain products for your store. For example maybe your shop produces all your own stamps but another shop/ company produces your embossing seals or promotional products. The product you do not make in-house would be set up on your website to have a vendor associated with them. Within the Vendors link you will see an alphabet spread across the top of the screen. To view vendors, click on the letter that represents the first letter of the vendors name and you will see all vendors whose name begins with that letter. Click the All to see all vendors (see Picture-1).

 

To create a new vendor (similar to creating new manufacturers), click the New button below the alphabet running across the top of the manufacturer’s main screen. This will take you to a screen where you can then enter your vendor’s information (This is the same screen that you see when you edit a vendor). When the information has been entered click the Save Changes button to save your new vendor for use in association with products (Picture-2).

 

 

To edit or delete a vendor, click the Edit or Delete button to the right of the vendors name on the vendors main screen (see Picture-1).

 

 

Affiliates are a great way to attract more business through your online store. Some people would also consider an affiliate a dealer in certain cases. Within the Affiliates link you are able to create and manage affiliates (Picture-3).

 

 

Affiliates allow you to link up with other stores who would like to sell your product. You can manage affiliates by setting up a commission amount along with automatically generating a link unique to that affiliate that can be placed on the their website. You can go as far as creating a separate style sheet, or theme, for the affiliate link to make it look like the affiliate’s main site, but it will be selling your products. To have the theme remain visible through the entire shopping experience a private SSL certificate is requires. Contact Connectweb Technologies for more information on private SSL certificates.

 

HELPFUL TIP: To allow the ability for your customers to sign up to be affiliates of your website you will first need to Enable Sign Up Form by going to the Settings tab and then clicking on the Affiliates link (within the Settings menu on the left). Here check the first box next to Enable Sign Up Form then click the OK button at the bottom of the page (Picture-4). Customers can access this sign up form under the Customer Service (Contact Us) link on your website. Once here on the left hand side is a link called Affiliate Program (Picture-5). Please note that this setting does not need to be turned on in order for you to set up affiliates. It is an option to allow your customers to sign up to become an affiliate.

 

 

 

To create a new affiliate, click the New button at the top of the affiliate main screen. This will take you to a screen where you can then enter your affiliate’s information including their website URL, Name, Email, Address, Commission, and more. When the information has been entered click the OK button to save your new affiliate (Picture-6).

 

 

To edit or delete an affiliate, click the Edit or Delete button to the right of the affiliates name on the affiliates main screen (see Picture-3).

 

 

Within the Users tab you also have the ability to create and utilize Mailing Lists. This is not built to handle major email blast of thousands of email addresses, it is meant for smaller customer group mailings. Contained within the Mailing Lists link you will be able to view, edit, and send emails to your mailing list members (Picture-7).

 

 

To add a new mailing list to your site type in a name for the list within the field next to List Name and click the New button. Once you have clicked the New button the list will be added to the list below. To edit the list click the Edit button directly to the right of the list name. Now that you’re inside the Edit Mailing List page you can manage the mailing list (Picture-8). First you can change the name of the mailing list, or set the mailing list to be private by checking the box next to private. You can also edit which users are members of this particular list. To add user email addresses to the list find their user account on the right column and then select their account (by checking the box next to their username) and click the Add button. This will move their account into the left column, adding them to the member’s column. When you are finished editing the mailing list click the Save Changes button in the middle of the page.

 

 

Emailing Members of your Mailing List:
To email members of your mailing list click the Email button located within the row of the mailing list name. Within this window you are given options as to creating your email (Picture-9).

 

 

 

Format: Here's where you can select which type of format you would like your email to be sent in, either Text or HTML.

 

From: Here is where the email will be sent from, you can change the email address to display any existing email address.

               

Subject: Here is where you can enter a subject for your email.

 

Message: Here is where you can enter the content or message of your email. 

 

Once you are completed with the creation of the email you can send the message to all the members of your mailing list by clicking the Email button.

 

This concludes working within the Users tab! Vendors and affiliates contribute to your business and setting them up to coordinate with your online store will enhance the workflow and increase your sales. Though mailing lists are not intended for large mass mailings, they can be used to send small groups of customer’s special promotional offers or information. Keep those helpful tips in mind and if you have any questions regarding your websites feel free to contact Technical Support at 800-556-9932 or support@cwebtechnologies.com. Stay tuned for next month’s installment as we begin to look at working with your inventory in Stamp Shop Manager™!