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August 2009 |
newsletter
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Welcome to the ekmSystems Newsletter. Every month we keep you updated with company news, topical and current articles, a feature shop review and tips on how to get the most out of your ekmPowershop.com account.
We would love to hear your feedback, please email us via newsletter@ekmsystems.co.uk. |
ekmPowershop owners help Ickle Pickles neo natal charity in the Ickle Pickles Parade 2009
 ekmPowershop.com recently teamed up with a selection of our kindest children’s clothes retailers, in a charity event called the Ickle Pickles Parade.
Ickle Pickles is a neo natal charity; set up to help raise funds for specialist equipment, to look after premature babies who need intensive care when they are born.
In 1975, half of all babies born weighing less than 1.5kg died. Today, 90% of all babies who weigh 800g or more survive. A worthwhile cause, which any family could benefit from if ever faced with a premature birth.
The first ever Ickle Pickle Parade was held on Sunday 9th August 2009 on Tooting Common in celebration of the help and care of St George’s Neo Natal Unit, Tooting. The sun shone all day and an eager crowd of 200 (families of all ages) were warmed up from 10am by ‘Amanda Action’ before setting off on the 2 mile sponsored walk around the Common. A swathe of sponsors and donors pitched in to make it a successful, and enjoyable day for all concerned.
ekmPowershop.com and Ickle Pickles would like to personally thank:
for the 10% – 15% discount codes they kindly offered exclusively to participants on the day. A flyer was distributed at the fun run, in all participants’ goody bags and around the event; with the voucher codes and a small advert.
We would also like to thank Rainbow Totz Childrenswear for kindly donating an ‘Ickle Monster’ T shirt for the prize draw on the day.
Rachael Marsh, from the Ickle Pickles Charity wrote to us after the event:
“I am writing to you to express our gratitude to ekmPowershop.com for supporting of the Ickle Pickles children’s charity.
Your customers’ generosity in donating us the Ickle Monster t-shirt and money off vouchers was an immense support for our event on the 9th August and very much appreciated.
Luckily the sun shone and we had over 600 people attend throughout the day.
We are still receiving monies for the day but believe we have raised in excess of £6000 which for a first event is fantastic.”
The whole initiative for ekmPowershop.com and its customers to join Ickle Pickles was instigated through the efforts of our new PR service, ekmPress. So we’d like to say a big thank you to the Press Team for making the connection; and making ekmPowershop.com (and the above online shops) a part of the Ickle Pickles Parade.
ekmPowershop.com and Ickle Pickles intend to keep in touch on further fundraising events; as it is such a worthwhile cause close to many peoples’ hearts.
If you would like to make a donation to the Ickle Pickles then please feel free to visit http://www.justgiving.com/icklepickles/donate/.
And look out for the Ickle Pickles online shop coming soon… |
New features for your ekmPowershop...
At ekmPowershop we never stop pushing the functionality and performance of our market leading ecommerce platform. Here are a couple of recent enhancements and upcoming new features on ekmPowershop:
Customer Login
Your online shop now has the ability for customers to create their own account and login. From the login section, customers will be able to view their orders and also contact the shop owners.
All generic ekmPowershop templates should have the customer login element installed. If your template does not have this once the login feature is activated, then please contact us to have it added.
Custom design templates will incur a nominal £25 charge to add this element. For more info on this feature please see our support section.
CSV Import/Export
The long awaited import/export upgrade has now been released on a beta testing basis. As the feature is in its Beta testing stage, anyone wanting to test the feature on their online shop will need to contact us and a test shop will be set up on our beta server.
The new import/export system certainly looks impressive from our own test runs, allowing you to:
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Upload multiple images for products
- Upload product variants
- Assign category images
- Delete categories
- Upload meta data
And much more. Basically, the new import system allows for pretty much all of the editability you get in the control panel, but with the power of bulk modification.
At present the feature is not being released on live shops. If you would like to become a beta tester then please contact us for more info.
Image File Manager (bulk image upload) 
We have recently released the new image upload system across the ekmPowershop network.
The new image file manager allows for bulk upload and assignment of images to products within your ekmPowershop, intended to make the upload of images quicker and easier than the previous method; which made you add images one at a time.
Web designers using the ekmPowershop platform will also be glad to learn that all design images can now be uploaded in bulk through the same system, as well as product images.
In order to make use of this new feature, you must first migrate over to the new system. Please click here for more info on the migration and our support guide on the image file manager feature.
To read our support guide on the new image file manager please click here or contact us for more info.
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This month's Customer Spotlight features Len Belsher from Skates 'R' Us...
Skates 'R' Us
www.skatesrus.co.uk
Tell us a little about yourself/your business.
SKATES "R" Us is an Online Retail shop. Our goal is to provide our valued customers with the ultimate experience in internet shopping for innovative, high quality, value for money, street sports equipment and accessories. Providing the very best of service, attaining the highest customer satisfaction, our online shop is updated daily. All of our products are carefully vetted to ensure we provide our customers with quality, value for money products for your chosen sport.
Top brands such as ROLLER DERBY – SEBA – XCESS – BLUEARTH – URBAN BLUE – JD BUG – MICRO – RENNER - SPARTAX - BIG MO – POWERISER - WISHBONE - LOADED - LANDYACHTZ - GF HURLEY - PARIS - ABEC - RETRO - BILTIN - KHIRO - CODE - LAKE PLACID - J&R HOME/TABLE SPORTS. Covering most sports such as Micro Scooters, Push Scooters, Kickboards, Cruiser Bikes, Slalom & Inline Skates, Skateboards, Mountain Boards, Longboards, Skimboards, Poweriser, Safety Helmets, Safety Pads, Accessories & spares for the above products.
We aim to provide the very best of service to our valued customers. The success of our business is based on meeting these key business commitments. The measure for success is 'repeat business. I sincerely hope we have met our objectives, and I hope to service our valued customer base into the future.
Why did you setup your business, and what do you hope to achieve?
I set up in business to generate a retirement income that will provide for maintaining my current standard of living. Secondly, one of my life ambitions has always been to own a successful profitable business.
I hope to achieve the above, have a sizeable income from this business in the next couple of years that make me financially secure and facilitate an enjoyable retirement lifestyle.
Why did you choose ekmPowershop.com?
I carried out extensive market research on the internet on which, what, whose, online retail shop back office software and shopping cart to use in my business. ekmPowershop came out tops on every check point I had. Best value for Money, UK based supplier, easily contactable both by Email and Telephone. Very professional approach to business, heavily focused on delivering customer satisfaction and technical help.
How has your experience with ekmPowershop.com been?
Tremendous. I could not have asked for a better bunch of professional people, who are there to coach, support and guide. I would highly recommend ekmPowershop to any and everybody who is contemplating an online shop. Forget the mass of potential suppliers from across the pond; they are just there to take your money. As they say in these northern parts: “Fur Coat but nae knickers”. All the fancy words, commitment but very little delivery.
Would you recommend ekmPowershop.com to others?
YES YES YES. 150% YES! Should any potential customers be considering ekmPowershop, please call or email me for a reference.
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Get a healthcheck: get more traffic.jpg)
SEO is one of the 2 most important parts of an online shop's success. Along with the design of your online shop, SEO ensures your online shop gets the attention; and the visitors your website deserves.
The ekmHealthcheck service has had excellent results for its 'patients' to date. For less than one month's management fees with a typical SEO agency, ekmHealthcheck has had a real impact on the performace of ekmPowershop sites across a multitude of industries:
Freeflow Bikes:
"I run a very big online cycle shop and I have found the hints and tips learned from ekmPowershop's SEO Healthcheck service invaluable, as they break it down so that you can then go on and replicate it yourself.
They give you the basics (and then some); so that you can manage your meta descriptions and tags better.
In the package they did for me, they reviewed 10 of my pages.
Once you get these 10 pages looked at, you will be then able to go through the rest of the pages yourself. ekm give us the tools and the know how: the rest is up to us."
Neil Macmartin www.freeflowbikes.com
Fireside Accessories:
"I had the SEO Health Check done on my site a few weeks ago & found it to be very useful & informative.
I'd always been apprehensive about SEO techniques etc & had previously employed a company to do it for me (with very limited success!).
The ekmHealthcheck differs in that they put the wheels in motion then give you the tools to continue the work for yourself.
In summary it's probably the best £350 I've spent since setting up my online store.
Furthermore, in just a week or so I had attained three no.1, 1st page rankings with important keywords that were nowhere to be seen before ekmHealthcheck did the SEO work."
Stephen Greaves www.fireside-accessories.com
By simply optimising meta data, page titles and other SEO elements properly, we have had customers reaching page 1 for some of their biggest keywords, and in some cases sales have increased by over 400%.
For just £350 + VAT we can carry out an SEO health check on your ekmPowershop. It takes just 20 working days for us to complete the work
(10 pages of your choice), prepare the report and go through the SEO consultation process with you.
For more information on this great new service, please email us on healthcheck@ekmsystems.co.uk or call 0871 230 7116 to speak to a member of the Healthcheck team.
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Could your website be making more money? Looking good always helps...
When you buy online - does the look and feel play any part in the decision you make to enter your personal, sensitive data (credit or debit card details)? Of course it does: badly designed sites look untrustworthy - consider this if your online shop currently enjoys a steady stream of traffic. You should, could and would be making more money!
Every online business in the custom design portfolio has benefited massively from the enhancements that a bespoke design package has brought to their online shops. We think you might agree, they also look rather stunning:
We have many more examples to show you from recent month's custom design work. Please feel free to contact us for an example of a stunning website in your industry today.
Your site can look like any of these for as little as £599 + VAT. We hope this portfolio shows you just how capable the ekmPowershop platform is for selling almost any products on the internet with a bespoke, fully customised design.
If visitors feel positive about the design, then they will feel positive about the content of the site. They go hand-in-hand and this ultimately makes or breaks a sale. Distinctly average sites are soon forgotten.
If you would like a quote for design work, be it for minor alterations or fully customised templates please feel free to email Julia Gatehouse or Stephen Edwards, our Web Design Sales Team on sales@ekmsystems.co.uk or speak to them in person on 0871 230 7116 option 1.
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Ekm Systems Ltd.
Unit 6 Arkwright Court
Commercial Road
Darwen
Lancashire, BB3 0FG
t: 0871 230 7116 e: sales@ekmsystems.co.uk |
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