A rising trend in ecommerce websites and websites in general for that matter, is the use of some type of jQuery slider, fader, or selector to display banners. The purpose of these banners, and of the entire storefront page, is to direct your customers towards the first steps in making a purchase. And that is either a category page, or a product page.

Why not create a set of banners that displays products that you would like to call attention to and link directly to them? Well that’s exactly what a Miva Merchant Design Client asked for, and I was happy to able to accomplish it for him.

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I am pretty sure if I were to ask you to raise your hand if your pagination for your category pages consists of just the basic (and rather horrible looking) “Next” and “Previous” button setup on your store, most of you would sheepishly raise your hands.

Luckily, I am here to tell you that this doesn’t need to be the case! Before I jump in, I am going to step back for a second and explain the importance of pagination for those who don’t use it.

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Today’s blog post comes from our own in-house Associate Web Developer, Michael Serna.

Just when you thought your site couldn’t be any more dynamic than it already is, here is a nice way to engage with your customers without having to make constant updates: create a custom seasonal banner for your site that changes based on a date range that you select. 

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Today’s guest blog post comes to us from Jennifer Davis, Vice President, eMarketing at Lever Interactive.

Sometimes it is hard to say goodbye to old friends, even if they don’t have your best interests at heart.  You put time, money and effort into your relationship, but eventually you begin to realize you are putting in more than you are getting out. This was case with ThePetStoreOnline.com  and their Yahoo store.  They recently made the move to Miva Merchant, and haven’t looked back since.

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If you have questions about .htaccess files, 404 error pages, 301 redirects and other webpage elements in relation to your Miva Merchant store, you’re not alone. Here is an infographic that I put together that explains the need-to-know basics of .htaccess files. 

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In our first Before And After: Web Design And Development Spotlight, we are taking an in-depth look at the recent redesign of Le Travel Store by our very own Miva Merchant Design Team.  As one of the first stores of its type, and according to founders Bill and Joan Keller, the first business in the United States to call itself a “travel store,” Le Travel Store is a valuable resource for travelers around the world.

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Today’s guest blog post comes to us from Steve Fronek, founder of Rainbrooke.com, which offers pink laptop bags and cases for women, and owner of Ten23 Media, offering planning and consulting services for new online small businesses.  You can follow both Rainbrooke and Ten23Media on Twitter.

The power of Facebook for ecommerce sites is amazing. Facebook users can spread around information like a wildfire, and the “Like” and “Send” buttons are one of the most popular ways for people to share.  These two small buttons can put your product in front of hundreds or thousands of new people who may have never heard about your site or product.

Every time someone clicks the “Like” button it will show up in their Facebook news feed. If that person has a few hundred friends, you just had a few hundred new eyes looking at your product. If a few of those people share it, it will spread even further.  It’s a powerful button from Facebook that you can’t pass up.

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Today’s blog post comes to us from James Sharp of Glendale Designs, A Miva Merchant Developer Partner.

When it comes to web design for ecommerce, there are a lot of factors to consider. In the rush to develop their “dream site” many store owners make the mistake of choosing style over substance. Here are some things to keep in mind when planning the design of your ecommerce store.

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A well-designed ecommerce website will encourage site visitors to become customers, and will make them feel confident about their decision to purchase products from you.  Even with a state-of-the-art shopping cart in place, a poorly-designed, website full of broken links can severely undermine your ecommerce efforts. Don’t let your site fall into one of these bad web design categories.

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For those who don’t know, we have had a training series running for a few months now that is geared toward building a stronger developer community. Aptly called the Developer Training Series, it is a structure of 10 lessons over the span of 10 days.

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