IndieCommunication: Two Webinars, a New Book Data Server, and an Offer From Eventbrite

Here is the IndieCommunication for Friday, March 1:

Join Us for Live Demos of New IndieCommerce Features

The IndieCommerce team has added several new features to IndieCommerce sites and has scheduled two upcoming webinars to provide live demonstrations of these new features. These webinars will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. EST on Thursday, March 7, and Thursday, March 21.

Thursday, March 7: Wish List/Gift Registry

The live demo will cover everything a bookseller needs to know about the Multiple Wish List feature, from promoting it on their IndieCommerce site to helping their customers use the feature. The wish list feature is especially helpful for stores looking to partner with schools, libraries, and book fairs. Sign up here.

Thursday, March 21: Custom Order Confirmation E-mails/Invoices               

Stores can create several custom templates for order confirmation e-mails and invoices and configure them for different types of orders using Rules. The live demo will cover all the configurations and settings to use this feature successfully. Sign up here.

Our Recent Upgrade to a New Book Data Server

Last November, we made some modifications to speed up the search process during the 2018 holiday shopping season. Since then, we’ve continued to see additional, dramatic increases in traffic that have required us to increase the capacity and speed of our hardware. To address these new demands on our system, on February 25 our very own Josh Harding and Matt Supko moved us to a new and incredibly fast book data server.

Your customers can now search 10,000,000+ titles from your website and see results almost instantaneously. We’ve got additional speed upgrades in the works. If you run into any speed issues with search results or web page load times, contact [email protected].

Favicons?

A favicon /ˈfæv.ɪˌkɒn/ (short for favorite icon) is also known as a shortcut icon, website icon, tab icon, URL icon, or bookmark icon.

We’ve noticed on some IndieCommerce sites that there are missing favicons. In some cases, this causes checkout issues on certain web browsers. It’s important to upload your own favicon for the theme used on your website from the theme settings page.

Not Mobile-Friendly? Google Penalizes Websites

Go here to test your website: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

If it’s mobile-friendly, you’re good to go. If the results say, “Page is not mobile friendly,” you may be missing out on web traffic and online sales, customers may be getting frustrated, and Google is ranking you lower in search results. Not only are you losing sales, but you are making it harder for customers to find your website via Google.

Check out our updated list of mobile-friendly themes. Updated this week is the “Professional Theme” (Professional Theme Demo Site). For more info, e-mail [email protected].

ABA Partnership With Eventbrite Offers Booksellers Discounted Event Ticket Management

Last August we announced that ABA established a partnership with Eventbrite, a sophisticated event technology service that allows members to manage ticket sales for their store’s events.

ABA members now have access to a substantial Eventbrite discount and 24/7 customer support via e-mail and phone. ABA members also receive a one-hour onboarding session with an Eventbrite representative. For more information on this popular service, please complete this online form.

Booksellers are encouraged to send their thoughts, questions, or suggestions via e-mail to IndieCommerce staff at any time.

Past editions of IndieCommunication are available on the IndieCommerce Updates page on BookWeb.org.