Product Research Part 3 – Filtering unwanted items from Keyword Search

March 15, 2010

Product Research Part 3 -  When doing product searches, sometimes you will get products that don’t match what you are looking for because when you do a keyword search, the system defaults to search the product name, number, and description.

Sometimes the description of unrelated products will have the keyword you are searching in the description.

For instance, in a keyword search for “bottle” you might get backpacks or bags that have bottle holders included because DC found that keyword in the product description.

You can filter out these results by unchecking the description field under the keyword field and selecting search again.

For most common searches, you are going to want to leave “Product Number” and “Product Name” selected when searching with a keyword.


Product Research Part 2 – Sorting Your Search Results

March 15, 2010

Product Research Part 2 – Resort your product search results for more customized results.

Once you have done a keyword search in DistributorCentral, you can sort those products by any of these fields below:

  1. Item Number
  2. Item Name
  3. Price
  4. Minimum Quantity
  5. Supplier

The Sort option is on the right side at the top of the search results page. Once you select one of the options, the page will reload with the products reordered based on the option you selected.

This sorting option would be especially helpful when you wanted to see the least expensive products first, if you sort by “Price $-$$”, it will resort the listings with the lowest priced products on the first pages.


"I received my first order from my website…what do I do next?"

January 27, 2010

This is a popular question from Distributors, here are a few tips to get you on your way:

•  Once an order is submitted from your website, you’ll receive an email noting that there has been an order placed. Go to the Account Maintenance area in the Account menu to verify your email address. A notice will also display on the Home page in your DistributorCentral account (see figure below). 
 
 
•  Once you have located the order within your DistributorCentral account, you will be able to see who your customer is on the Order Summary page. You’ll also see  when they placed the order and any payment information they have provided (see figure below). 
 
DistributorCentral does not process any payments for you. Also, payments between you and your customer, and you and the supplier are separate. The payment information that your customer provides would need to be processed by you. You would then need to also provide your payment information separately to the supplier.
To access the payment setup area in your DistributorCentral account, Go to the Account Menu >> Payment >> Payment Setup.
•  On the Order Summary page, you’ll also be able to see who the supplier is for that product as well. Orders are never automatically sent to the supplier, and you will have control over when/if you would like the order to be sent to the supplier. (see figure below).
 
 
•  Once you verify the order, you have the ability to create and send the PO to the supplier through the DistributorCentral system. If you prefer, you can also print out the order and fax it to the supplier, or you can save the order as a PDF and email it to the supplier with your standard email client (see figure below).  If it the first time placing an order with a supplier, you will need to contact them to setup an account and business relationship.
Click on the links below to access brief guides that can help you get your account setup and ready for business. 
We also recommend that you place a few test orders from your live website to see exactly how the system works. Make sure to log out of your DistributorCentral account when doing this.


Easily Search For Orders Across All Your Child Accounts

December 3, 2009

If you have Child Accounts setup, you can search and access orders that are in those accounts from within your main DistributorCentral account.

To do this:
- Go to the Orders Menu
- Select Orders
- Then either Orders From Customers or Orders To Suppliers
- Enter in the search criteria for your order and select the Yes radio button in the Search Child Accounts area (see image below).


Suppliers…Make Sure to Optimize Your Products

November 23, 2009

ATTENTION SUPPLIERS:
When entering your products into your DistributorCentral account, make sure to include plenty of relevant keywords in your product description. Strong product descriptions will make it easier for Distributors to find your products from within their accounts, and will make it easier for them to sell your products on their websites.

Look at these to examples below:

This product has a weak description and virtually no keywords which would make it very difficult to find in the product catalog unless the customer knew the exact product name or number. You should not expect products with descriptions like this to have much success in DistributorCentral.

The Eastwood Series with Metallic Accents
# WAMA-150

The Eastwood Series with Metallic Accents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This product on the other hand has a great product description with lots of keywords which makes it easy to find with keyword searches and will help the Distributors sell the product on their websites since end customers will know more about the product and feel more comfortable purchasing it.

Chubs Widebody Ballpoint Pen w/ Rubber Grip
# 5003 Widebody Ballpoint Pen w/ Grip

As the name denotes, this pen is a bit thick (or Chubbier, if you will). Great for your advertising message to stand out with its translucent barrel. Choose a black imprint on the yellow or a silver or white on the other colors to. Black rubber grip with chrome colored accents. This is a wide body, retractable, grip, click, ball point pen.
• This is one of our many great looking ink pens
• This pen is a great writing instrument for advertisements
such as bank accessories, real estate, office supplies, health care or many other business.
• Med. Point Black Ink
• Comes in 5 different colors

 

Products with strong descriptions like the example above, not only improve the integrity of the product catalog on DistributorCentral, but also help Distributors increase your sales. Take pride in your products, it may take a little more time to add strong descriptions, but it will be well worth the effort.

Visit this site to get ideas for keywords to add to your products in DistributorCentral,
http://www.google.com/sktool/#

Visit this site to learn more about optimizing your products and about Preferred Product Placement,
www.distributorcentral.com/websites/pso


How to Place a Reorder

November 5, 2009

DistributorCentral makes it easy for you to place a reorder for orders that you currently have in your account.

To do this:

- First, on the home page in your account, go the the Order Search section
- Then key in the Order Number that you would like to place the reorder for (you can also search by PO Number, Cutomer Name or Phone Number – see step 1 below)

Reorder Step 1

Reorder Step 1

- Next Click on the Reorder button at the top right portion of the page (see step 2 below)

Reorder Step 2

Reorder Step 2

- You will then be prompted to specify which type of reorder it is, such as An Exact Reorder (same product and no changes in imprint or artwork), A Reorder With Changes (same product, but has changes in artwork or other options) or Rework Of Previous Order (generally used if there was an error on the previous order)
- Then review your order and Save or Send it



How to Create Animated GIF’s with PhotoShop and ImageReady

October 16, 2009

Animated GIF’s are images containing a series of GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) graphics that are displayed in rapid sequence in a web browser, giving the appearance of a moving picture. They are a great way to catch you website visitors attention and to show many product images without having to take up a lot of space on your site.
animatedproducts-ylh

Here is how to create them using Adobe PhotoShop and ImageReady…

Step One: Compile each image or frame that you would like displayed in the animated GIF on its own layer in PhotoShop

Step One

Step One

Step Two: Click on the ImageReady icon at the botton of the tool bar in PhotoShop

Step Two

Step Two

Step Three: Create frames in ImageReady by clicking on the >> icon and set the display times for each frame. You can also add fading effects from frame to frame by using the Tween option.

Step Three

Step Three

Step Four: Save the image using the Saved Optimized As option

Step Four

Step Four

That’s it. If you are using this for a website, just upload it like a normal JPG or GIF file.

There is a fine line between using animated graphics on your website as a tasteful method to display information to your visitors and having them be distracting. We suggest that you use only one per page.

Click here to view premade animated GIF’s that you can use on your website.


Website Design Tips – Part 6 (IFrames)

July 2, 2009

How to use an Iframe to put your DistributorCentral product catalog onto your outside website…

An <iframe> tag defines an inline frame that contains another document or web page. Iframe’s allow you to display content (i.e. the DistributorCentral catalog) on a site in a window, which eliminates the need for a pop-up window.

Click here for an example of a demo site that is outside of DistributorCentral that has the DistributorCentral catalog in an Iframe.

You’ll notice that the catalog looks seamless with the outside website.

Here is the HTML that is typically used to put an iframe on a site.

<iframe src=”YOUR DC CATALOG LINK HERE” frameborder=”0″ height=”600″ width=”100%”>
</iframe>

You can find your DistributorCentral catalog information in your DistributorCentral account in the Website Publisher area.

Click here to visit a site that explains more info about Iframes.


Website Design Tips – Part 5

July 2, 2009

Customize the Product Catalog Page on your Website…

By default, the All Products catalog displays on your DistributorCentral website which has products from all of your suppliers on DistributorCentral. However, you can create Custom and Preferred Supplier catalogs to give your website a more personal touch.

Click on the links below to see the difference:
Default Catalog Page
Custom Catalog Page

On the example above, the catalog page consists of the default All Products catalog and 14 Custom Catalogs which have been created in the account and assigned to the website. There also are custom images uploaded to represent each catalog.

Click on the image below for reference of how the Product Catalog page above was created.

See the Users Guide to learn how create Custom Catalogs, or watch the Quick Custom Catalogs Video Tutorial.


Website Design Tips – Part 4

June 24, 2009

Add Featured Products to your website…

The DistributorCentral web editor tool in your account makes it easy feature products on your website. Using this function on your website can help you advertise and promote products to your customers. This feature also automatically links the products to a details page where your visitors can learn more about the product and order it as well.

Click here or on the image below for an example.

On the example above, you’ll notice that the site is not only using the Featured Products tool, but also has an image uploaded to help enhance the area, which is also hyperlinked to a page on the site that has a more Featured Products.

To add Featured Products on your website, Edit the page you want to put the search area on and select Featured Product for the content type for that block. Click on the image below for reference.


Website Design Tips – Part 3

June 23, 2009

How to add a Category Search area…

The DistributorCentral web editor tool in your account also makes it easy add a product category list area to any page of your website. Inserting this function on your home page of your website can make it more convenient for your customers to search for products.

Click here or on the image below for an example.

On the example above, you’ll notice that the site not only has the Category List area, but also has an image uploaded to help enhance the area, and it is also hyperlinked to a page on the site that has a Full Category List.

To add a Category List area on your website, Edit the page you want to put the search area on and select Product Category List for the content type for that block.

Click on the image below for reference.


Website Design Tips – Part 2

June 22, 2009

Add a Quick Search function to your website…

The DistributorCentral web editor tool in your account makes it easy add a product search area to any page of your website. This is standard on most of our templates and inserting this function on your home page of your website can make it more convenient for your customers to search for products.

Click here or on the image below for an example.

On the example above, you’ll notice that the site not only has the Quick Search area, but also has an image uploaded and text to help enhance the area and to give customers searching ideas.

To add a Quick Search area on your website, Edit the page you want to put the search area on and select Quick Search for the content type for that block. Click on the image below for reference.


Website Design Tips – Part 1

June 16, 2009

The introduction to your website…

An introduction to your website is important since it lets your visitors know upfront what your website and company are about. However, keep it short and sweet, since most website customers are looking to research products and shop rather than read a lengthy bio regarding your business.

If you want to elaborate further about your business, add an “About Us” page on your website, where you can then discuss more about your business origin, mission and concepts.

Click here or on the image below for an example.


Helpful Articles – Small Business Marketing and more

June 16, 2009

Click on the link below to access some great articles regarding small businesses. They range from marketing to finance and technology.

They are from Microsoft Small Business but there are some great unbiased tips available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/small-business-advertising-branding.aspx#marketing,advertisingbranding


PowerBoost Feature- Change Product Images

June 9, 2009

Use this new feature to PowerBoost your website:

You can customize the images that show to your customers representing products on each of your DistributorCentral website catalogs!

There is a $20 charge per website, per month to utilize this feature.

Maybe you would like to add your customers logo to all the products that are listed on their company store website to help them visualize what the finished product will be. . .
-OR-
maybe you would just like your own images to represent certain products on your website.

There are many reasons why you might want to use this new feature to help make your site your own.

Click here to see the instructions to add this feature to your website.


View Supplier Locations Geographically on a Map

May 20, 2009

We have added a new feature that allows you to conveniently view Supplier locations on a map when you do a product search in your DistributorCentral account.

To use this feature:

- First conduct a product search.
- Once the search results display, click on the Suppliers tab.

- Next, click on the See suppliers on a map link.

- The Suppliers for the corresponding search results will then display geographcally on a map. Click on a location to view the Suppliers.


Email Multiple Products to Customers

April 16, 2009

DistributorCentral has added a new feature that will allow you to send your customers multiple product selections at once!

This is a very similar process to creating a quote for multiple products.
  1. To utilize this feature, you should do a search for the products that you would like to send to your customers.
  2. Then on the search page, select which ones to add by selecting “Compare” below each product image.
  3. When you have completed your product selections, you can select the Compare Tab above your search results.
  4. There you will see that you have a list of your products selected previously.
  5. To send an email flyer for the products you should select the button “Send Quick Email”

This will allow you to enter your customers email and any comments in the field. You will notice that is the same format as the feature “Email This Product.”

You can also modify the Retail pricing that shows up on that flyer before you select the “Send Quick Email” button. You would add a % to the right box under “Options”. This will change the Retail price in the pricing tier for that product.

You can even select your customer from your customer database in DistributorCentral and when you send that email it will save it in that customer’s correspondence. It will save the comments in the correspondence field and then save the actual email flyer as an attachment. This can help you to keep track of what products you sent out.

Helpful Websites

April 6, 2009

Here are some sites that you might find helpful:

How to Combine SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Blogging, and Social Media for Marketing Results
HubSpot.com


Search Engine Chat Tools
SEOChat.com/seo-tools

Cool Text is a free graphics generator that you can use to create images for your website
CoolText.com

This site has a tutorial that explains how to create animated GIF files that you can use on your website (you will need PhotoShop & ImageReady)
DigitalScrapBookPlace.com


Product Presentations for Your Customers

December 9, 2008
The Compare feature in your DistributorCentral account makes it easy for you to create product presentations  for your customers.  Print this Guide

Here’s how to do it:

First, search for the products that your customer is interested in, and then click on the Compare link for each one of those products. (we suggest that you do not exceed 10 products)

Once you have clicked the Compare link for all of the products that you want to present to your customer, click on the Compare tab to review your selections.
Next, click on the  Create Quote button.

Here, you can customize the quote by adding your company’s logo an your customer’s information. You can also modify the product image, product details and pricing as well. Click on the Finish button once you are done customizing the quote.
Once the quote has been created, you can email your presentation directly from your DistributorCentral account by clicking on the email this quote link, or you can save the PDF to your computer and attach it to an email in your standard email program.

Print this Guide


Don’t Forget To Setup Payment Methods For Your Website

December 3, 2008

Your DistributorCentral website comes with a shopping cart that allows your customers to place orders directly to you. Be sure to setup the payment methods you want to have available in your shopping cart for your customers to choose from.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Account Menu, then select Payment >> Payment Setup

2. Next, select the payment methods you would like to have available for your shopping cart and then click on Save.

3. Test your settings by going to the live version of your website and placing a test order for any product. The payment methods you specifed should show up midway though the ordering process (63%).
DistributorCentral does not process any order payments for you. Payments between you and your customer, and between you and the supplier are separate. The payment information that your customer provides would need to be processed by you. You would then need to also provide your payment information separately to the supplier.
Here is more information regarding the payment setup area in your DistributorCentral account:
Bill to Account – This is the default payment method if you do not specify anything. It represents that you will invoice your customers for the order.
Credit Cards – If you have an Authorize.Net account and would like to electronically process credit card transactions, choose “Credit Card – Authorize.net Merchang Account”. After clicking on Save, you will then be prompted to enter your merchant account gateway information.
For basic Merchant account holders, select “Credit Card – Collect info only – no processing”. This will allow you to securely collect your customer’s credit card information and process it manually.
Purchase Order Number – Select this option if you customer will provide a purchase order against which you will generate an invoice.
Check / Money Order – Select this option if you accept payment via check or money order.
PayPal - This option will allow your customer to indicate that he or she will pay you via PayPal. This option is not automatically integrated into the transaction; your customer will receive an order confirmation that shows your email address, to which they will be required to send payment.
Bill to Department Number – Select this option if you will invoice a specific department.

Feature Products on your Website

September 30, 2008

The Feature Product block in the web editor area of your account allows you to easily pick products to display on your website.

Here is how you can add Featured Product Blocks to your website:
1) Add a block to your page
2) Select Featured Product as the type of content for the section
3) Search for the Supplier or product you want to feature
4) Click Save at the bottom of the page

You can specify either “medium image with description” or “small image and no description” when displaying the product.

Add multiple featured product blocks to a web page to quickly highlight products to your customers. Remember to periodically change the products to keep your content fresh. Added bonus: search engines will pick up on the product details to help boost your page rank.

Click here for an example and for further instructions.


Easily Email Product Links to Customers

September 8, 2008

Cool Website Tip

Did you know that you can easily email links to your customers for products on your DistributorCentral website? Give it a try!

  • Go to your live DC website *
  • Conduct a product search
  • Right Click on a product image
  • Select “Copy” from the menu (see first illustration)
  • Paste the image into an email (see second illustration)

1.

2.

The images will automatically be hyperlinked to the details page for the corresponding product on your website, where customers can learn more about the product and place an order for it.

*Note: Make sure to copy the links from your live website and not from the preview mode.

For best results, use Internet Explorer.


Design Websites For Specific Customers

September 5, 2008

WebSite Tip!
Your DC account allows you to create as many websites as you like and we’ll host your domain names as well, FREE of charge! Take advantage of this valuable feature by creating target or niche sites in your DistributorCentral account.

Take a look at this site, www.distributorcentral.com/websites/mugsandtumblers
it’s an example of a niche website with only mugs and tumblers on it. This allows visitors who only want drinkware, the convenience of not having to filter though 1000’s of other products. So if you specialize in a specific area in the promotional products industry, whether it’s mugs, magnets, pens, bags, edibles, etc., create a website for it in your DistributorCentral account!

Here’s how to do this:

  • First create a Custom Catalog with just the specific products you want to display on your website (see the Users Guide to learn how to do this, or watch the Quick Custom Catalogs Video Tutorial)
  • Second, design a website in the web editor area of your account to target the specific products (watch the tutorial How To Create Your Own Website to learn how to do this)
  • Third, remove the All Products catalog that comes standard with your website, and replace it with the Custom Catalog you created
  • Fourth, map your domain name if you’ve purchased one, otherwise, just publish your site and you’re finished

If you have any questions or want to learn more about this, just give us a call or email info@distributorcentral.com.


Image Resource Site

August 21, 2008

Hello DC Website Users!

We’ve added a resource site to the DistributorCentral website area. This site will have various images that you can download and use for your website.

To access the site, go the Websites menu and click on Add/Edit Websites. You’ll find the link for the site in the Resource/Demo Websites section.
Click on http://www.distributorcentral.com/websites/imagesforyourwebsite to access the site.


New Website Templates

July 18, 2008

Now it is easier than ever to create a great looking site in a matter of minutes!

We have added new templates to the Website area in your account. To access them, go to the Websites menu, and then click on Add/Edit Websites. You’ll find them in the Pre-made Templates area. Just click on the “Use” link to the right of the template to enable it. Remember that you can create as many websites in your account as you like.

Click on the links below to see previews of the new templates:

Modern
Modern
Modern Categories

Mirrored Glass
Mirrored Glass
Mirrored Glass Categories

Red White and Blue
Red White and Blue
Red White and Blue Categories

Silver Screen
Silver Screen

Steel
Steel

Green Promotions
Green Promotions

Note: On the samples above, the product links will not work. Once you select to use a template, the product catalog links will then become active.



Updated Website Video Tutorials

May 21, 2008

We have recently updated and added a number of Video Tutorials in your DistributorCentral account.
Access the new tutorials by clicking on the button at the top on the page.

New website tutorials include:

  • How to Create Your Own Website
  • How to Add Images to Your Website
  • How to Add Links to Your Website
  • Feature Products on Your Website

Other updated videos tutorials include:

  • Distributor Intro & Supplier Intro
  • Features Overview (for Suppliers)
  • Basic Order Management (for Suppliers)
  • How to Add or Edit Your Contact Information
  • How to Change Username / Adding Users
  • Search Products

Also, see these helpful guides to learn more about your account. They can be found in the Education Menu > DistributorCentral Tips > Quick Start.

We’ll keep you up-to-date as more features and updates become available.