Archive for the ‘General guides’ category

How do I find my blogs RSS feed link?

Posted by Mike Loizides

11th December 2009 in General guides, Managing your Tradespace

To link your external blog to your Tradespace you’ll need to know the URL of your blogs RSS feed. Where is this fabled URL that you speak of I hear you cry. Your RSS link can be found in a few different ways depending on which blogging service or browser you use.

In most cases if your blog or website has an RSS feed you should see an RSS icon near your browser address bar. Here are some examples:

Internet Explorer

Firefox

Safari

If you click on the icon your browser should load the RSS feed and the URL in the address bar will change. Here’s an example:

Internet Explorer RSS icon clicked

The URL that’s shown should be your RSS feed link. Simply copy it and paste it into the ‘Add external blog‘ page in the News section of your My Tradespace area.

Also just in case you can’t find the feed for your particular blog here’s a collection of resources that describe various methods.

Finding your Wordpress RSS feed

http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Feeds#Finding_Your_Feed_URL

Example Wordpress RSS link:

http://explore.bttradespace.com/?feed=rss2

Finding your LinkedIn RSS feed

http://blog.linkedin.com/2008/03/28/network-updates/

Example LinkedIn RSS link:

http://www.linkedin.com/rss/questions?cat=ADM

Finding your Twitter RSS feed

http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/15361

Example Twitter RSS link:

http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/15253122.rss

Finding your Blogger RSS feed

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=97933

Example Blogger RSS link:

http://blogsofnote.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

General guides for finding RSS feeds

Tags: RSS
Posted in: General guides, Managing your Tradespace | 1 Comment »

How to make your video content effective

Posted by Dan Wilson

10th December 2009 in General guides

These days, people are consuming more video content via their computers than they are via the traditional television route. With the falling cost of video production equipment, and the rise of video sharing over the internet, it is now easier and cheaper for small businesses to produce and distribute their own videos to promote their businesses, products, and services.

From customer testimonials and product demonstrations, to how-to guides and news-reels, almost all businesses can benefit from complimenting their online presence with video content.

But what makes one video more effective than another? What are the secrets to making your business videos worth watching? Watch our free, live and interactive web seminar where we chatted to industry experts about the tips and techniques that could help make your business videos a success!

We’ve also put together a beginner’s guide to video, so here are our tips to helping you get going with your business video…

Different types of video

Video is versatile and you can use it in many different ways as an online marketing tool:

Introduce yourself: Video can help you add that personal touch to your trading. Simply coming across as a normal human being can give you the edge over your faceless competitors.

Meet the team: If you have staff and premises, show them off. It can give a big boost of trust to wary buyers.

Showcase your products and skills: Complex lines, maybe things with moving parts, can be shown to be in full working order. But it’s not just about goods: it could be about your skills. A catering company could show the chefs in action, for instance.

News and Views: Use a video to establish yourself as a credible person to do business with. An accountant could talk about the latest tax news a DVD seller could review new releases.

Customer Testimonials: Get your loyal and treasured customers to recommend you to others. It’s a powerful way of attracting business.

Making and Editing Videos

You don’t need to splash out on expensive cameras and lighting to create a compelling and professional video. Very often, you’ll be happy with the results that you can get from an ordinary digital camera: most of them take videos nowadays.

In terms of low cost video cameras, Flip cameras are great fun and easy to use. BT Tradespace has teamed up with Flip to give you exclusive deals on flip videos cameras. Find out more here.

It’s also remarkably easy to spruce up your video with editing software. Most computers now come with standard software so you can crop and trim your footage, add soundtracks, insert captions and titles and add all manner of glitzy effects to professionalise your video.

Video Tips

Even though it’s possible to enhance your footage, it makes sense to make your video as good as possible when you shoot it. Here are some useful tips:

Keep it quiet and speak up: Keep background to a minimum and don’t mumble!

Don’t wobble: Use a tripod or rest your camera on a solid surface for a nice steady image.

Good light: Natural light is best and make sure there is plenty of it. Don’t ruin your film be keeping us in the dark.

Keep to the point: Make a list of things you want to say and get to your points. Keep it short and sweet.

Hosting your video on BT Tradespace

Once your video is made and edited, you can easily upload it to BT Tradespace for people to view. Simply log in to BT Tradespace, go to ‘Manage Treadespace’ and select ‘Upload Video’ in the options and follow the prompts.

If you want to find out more about getting your hands on a cost-effective easy to use video camcorder for your Tradespace – have a look at our special offer on Flip camcorders….

Posted in: General guides | 5 Comments »

How to enable Google Analytics

Posted by Mike Loizides

13th November 2009 in Driving traffic to your Tradespace, General guides

So you’ve created your tradespace and it looks great, but is it really as successful as it could be? BT Tradespace has added Google Analytics so you can track the performance of your Tradespace and optimise it for future success.

Setting up an account is simple, first make sure you’ve enhanced your Tradespace, you’ll find the link on your My Tradespace dashboard if you haven’t done this already.

Step one

Click the ‘Activate Google Analytics’ banner. It’s on the bottom right hand corner of your dashboard in the My Tradespace area.

Activate Google Analytics

Step two

Go to Google Analytics, look for the sign in box and click on “create an account now”.

Create a Google account

Step three

Once you’ve filled in your email and password details you’ll be asked to verify those details by clicking on a link in an email sent by Google.

Congratulations you now have a Google Account – this not only enables you to use analytics, but also gives you access to other Google tools, to find out more http://www.google.com/support/accounts/

Step four

Link your account to your Tradespace from the ‘analytics’ link under my products mid way down the page.

Find your Google Analytics code

Step five

Click sign up and enter the details of the website you want to track – in this case <yourdomain>.bttradespace.com

Step six

After the terms and conditions you’ll find a block of code. Don’t worry it’s not as scary as it looks – search for the web property id code beginning with UA (hint it’s at the end of the third row up from the bottom) e.g. UA-11472634-1

Step seven

Now paste your unique id code to your dashboard and save changes – we’ve done the rest.

Paste your unique Google Analytics ID code

Step eight

Login to your Google Analytics account and check the status is showing a green tick – this means that your account has been set up correctly and is starting receive data.

Google Analytics status

Now take a look at the standard reports available by clicking ‘view report’ under reports. Here you can see how many visitors are viewing your site, what pages they are viewing, where they have come from and how they navigate through your site.

If you want more details on the content of a report the ‘about this report’ link in the help resources section on the bottom left of the reports page is a great tool.

Google Analytics resources

Posted in: Driving traffic to your Tradespace, General guides | Comments Off

Activating your Shop

Posted by Fiona Monks

11th November 2009 in General guides, How to sell online, Managing your Tradespace

We’ve made a few changes to buying and selling on BT Tradespace to make sure things are super secure. If you had a shop and sold via PayPal on the old site, you’ll need to check your PayPal details are correct and download a new security certificate in order to make your products appear on the new site.

To get started, you’ll need to add your PayPal details.

Go to your Manage your PayPal account page.
Enter your login email address for your PayPal account.
Click on ‘Get certificate’.
Get the certificate
Now save this merchant security certificate to your PC.
Save the certificate

Next you need to add this certificate to PayPal. Don’t close down the set up wizard while you’re doing this.

To upload your public certificate to your PayPal account:

Go to PayPal
Log in to your PayPal Business or Premier account (If you don’t have a business or Premier PayPal account you will need to change your PayPal account type). A PayPal business or Premier account costs nothing to set up, see the PayPal website for more details.
Once in your PayPal account Click on ‘Profile’.
In the Seller Preferences column, click the Encrypted Payment Settings link.
Encrypted payment settings
Scroll down the page to the Your Public Certificates section, and click the Add button.
Add certificate
The Add Certificate page appears. Click the Browse button, and select the public certificate that you want to upload to PayPal from your local computer.

Note: The file you upload must be in PEM format.

Click the Add button.
You will see a success message and your certificate for BT Tradespace will now have a Cert ID number.
PayPal Certificate ID
Select the Cert ID and select ‘Copy’
Return to the set up wizard.
Use ‘Paste’ to add the Cert ID to the box.
Then click on ‘Save changes’.
Add PayPal certificate ID
You’ll then see the message that your PayPal settings have been updated.
PayPal settings updated

Now if you click on the ‘Add, Edit, Delete Products in your shop’ button you can check all of your products and update them if you need before publishing them in your new shop.

Posted in: General guides, How to sell online, Managing your Tradespace | Comments Off

A guide to using your BT Tradespace dashboard

Posted by Bian Salins

26th October 2009 in General guides, Insider tips from the BT Tradespace team, Managing your Tradespace

Hi there! Welcome to our guide for using your dashboard. Firstly, think of this as the place for you to see and manage everything you do on BT Tradespace. Whether you’re a consumer just here to shop and connect, or a business who’s selling on our site, it’s your stop gap to all your activity.

I’ve divided this guide to reflect the tabs within your dashboard so simply click on the link that you want to find out about.

Your dashboard homepage

Your dashboard homepage is a reflection of your activity on the site. As soon as you arrive you will see

The messages you have received from other BT Tradespace members
Your recent activity – for example, if you’ve become a fan of a business or left a testimonial on someone’s Tradespace it will display here.
If you’re a business you will see a bird’s eye view of your shop Transactions and/or bookings
Businesses will also have the ability to enable your free customer service community from here to offer a top notch customer service.

Inbox

One of the main things we’re about is conversation – so your inbox is your channel to connect and communicate with as many Tradespacers you like. You will see your messages from other Tradespacers, plus get alerts on activity that has taken place in your account. As well as see testimonials you receive (if you’re a business).

Remember, it’s best to update your contacts list before sending a message to people on the site.

To create a message in your inbox, simply click on the ‘Create a message’ button you see at the top of the left hand navigation bar. Once you’re in the message screen, click on the ‘To’ button to see your list of BT Tradespace contacts.
To delete a message go to your inbox, select the message you want and click the ‘Delete’ button at the bottom of the screen.
You can also move messages from your inbox into an archive by selecting the messages and clicking on the ‘Archive’ button at the bottom of the screen.
Finally, if you want to flag certain messages that might need following up, select them and click the ‘Flag’ button. You will see a ‘flag’ icon next to these when you go back to your inbox.

Contacts

This area is where you manage your mailing list effectively. While you can send internal messages only to people on BT Tradespace, you can import your contacts list into an address book from here and ‘announce’ any updates you make to your Tradespace.

To get an in-depth, step by step look at adding and managing your contacts, read the full guide.

Transactions

This tab will help you manage your purchases and your sales on BT Tradespace. If you’re a consumer or you have a basic/simple Tradespace, you will see two tabs:

Your shop transactions – this tab will be empty, because you don’t have a shop but if you’re ever interested in setting one up with an enhanced Tradespace, you’ll be able to do so from here.
Your purchases – this shows all your purchases on BT Tradespace so you know what you’re buying and from whom! (note – all this info is private)

Alternatively, if you’re a business who has set up a free enhanced Tradespace then you will see the same two tabs but:

Your shop transactions – Will show you all the sales coming in via your Tradespace. If you have set up a shop on your Tradespace that is. If you haven’t, don’t miss the opportunity to do so and add it your Tradespace by clicking on the ‘Manage your Tradespace’ tab in your dashboard and going to ‘Add new categories of products to your shop’.

You can also read our full guide on how to set up a shop on BT Tradespace.

Network

We love bringing people together so BT Tradespace has been built to help consumers link up with their favourite businesses and businesses to network with each other. The way we’ve done this is through three features:

Fans: Anybody can become a fan of a business by clicking on the ‘Become a fan’ button at the top of that business’ Tradespace. The fans tab within the dashboard is mainly relevant for businesses and if you’re one, you will be able to see your list of consumer fans here.
Business fans: Simply a list of fans that are also businesses on BT Tradespace.
Businesses we like: This is essentially a list of businesses you have become a fan of and that are now part of your network.

Remember, everyone in your network can get a view of your latest activity on Tradespace. This way, it not only acts as a channel of communication but linking to other businesses with relevant content all helps your search engine ranking!

Communities

Communities are a great way to meet people, get advice and help, spread the word about your business and grow your network of contacts. There are a few ways to start engaging in the communities -

The BT Tradespace Homepage: Shows a list of all the most popular/viewed communities, you can browse through those to get a view of what’s happening there.
When you sign up, you will be shown a few communities relevant to your keywords that you can join immediately.
If there were no relevant communities, the communities area in your dashboard is the next best place to create one that you can invite people to join. It only a takes a few steps to do and once you’ve created a community, you can get a view of the activity from it here as well as manage members within the community.

News

Your news and posts tab in your dashboard will only appear if you’ve enhanced your Tradespace. It’s the place for you to publish new posts, or edit/delete existing ones. Remember the more you post, the more people will come back to view your Tradespace, so make it good.

Favourites

At the moment your favourite tab shows you the people you’re linked to on BT Tradespace. Once you’re in you should see three sub tabs (depending on whether you’re a business or consumer)

Fans: These are people who have become a fan of your business (if you are one)

Business fans: These are people who are fans but also businesses

Businesses we/I like: These are the list of people who you are a fan of.

Once you’re a fan of a business, you should see all their activity updates so you can keep tabs on what they’re up to and know if they’re launching new stuff etc.

Managing your Tradespace

Probably the most important area of your dashboard if you’re a business – here’s where you can update your Tradespace!

Updating your strapline and business name can be done from the profile settings button above the tabs in your dashboard.
You can update the homepage title and description by clicking the Manage your Tradespace tab.
Edit your ‘About us’intro, description and image by clicking on the About us link in the left hand navigation.
Click on the ‘Our testimonials’ link in the left hand navigation to enable or disable the testimonials capability on your Tradespace. You can also see new testimonials you’ve received and choose to publish them or take them offline.
‘Our services’ is the way to list your services, edit your services and/or begin taking bookings in a few simple steps. Click on add services in this area to begin listing!
‘Our shop’ is where you add or edit your shop. To set up a shop, you will need to have a PayPal account and also download your security certificate to make buying from you extra safe. Have a look at our guide to setting up a shop to get started.

Customer service

You won’t see a tab for customer service because it acts like a widget (a plug in) but you can activate your free customer service community (which is then displayed on your Tradespace) from your dashboard. Simply click on the ‘My customer service’ module in the right hand column of your dashbaord homepage or from the ‘Manage your Tradespace’ tab. Your customers will then be able to ask you questions in your own customer service community which you will be alerted to. Once enabled you should receive a ‘Welcome message’ with more details on how to manage your community.

That’s it… a whistlestop tour of your BT Tradespace dashboard, if you still can’t find your way around and need our help, we’re all ears. Simply click the ‘Support’ link at the top and we’ll be on hand to answer any queries you have.

Posted in: General guides, Insider tips from the BT Tradespace team, Managing your Tradespace | Comments Off

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