Our web-to-print Image Library page got a small re-vamp.

1. There is no difference in web-to-print Image Library page for printers or for end users any more.

2. Users can upload images directly into the web-to-print image library.

3. Images can be deleted asynchronously one by one or all in one go.

4. Long file names are truncated to the last 50 letters, which should be enough to the file name and a bit of a path. This is likely to be noticed by IE6 users only because all good browsers do not include the file path.

Watch out:

• Go to your homepages and click REFRESH to get the latest style sheet. Frequent users have them cashed.
• Tell us if the layout breaks (long file names, different height of boxes, etc) with your images.

Released only minutes ago, some long awaited user management features to make life of web-to-print printer accounts easier.

Add user and User profile page

You can add a user to the web-to-print database and then assign the user to multiple web-to-print catalogs using a new user profile page. You can still do it per-catalog.

Full user profiles can be viewed on the new user profile page. Profiles accessible through Add user or clicking on user name in lists of users per catalog.

You can edit profiles of your customers, but only for those without a password. Once the password is set up the profile can be edited by the user only.  More …

Anonymous orders can be assigned to users

An order placed by an unregistered user can be assigned to an existing user or a new one. Click on Assign to user link on order details page and follow the instruction.  More …

In case you haven’t noticed, there are 2 new features to make your web-to-print site a bit better.

Catalog icons and web-to-print homepage layout

Web-to-print catalogs used to be lists of text links. Now they can be replaced with icons or images like in this example:

Images can be made in Photoshop in any size or format.  Read more in Catalog icons post on web-to-print help website.

The web-to-print homepage layout can be changed showing one or more of the following blocks:

• Popular templates
• Catalogs (as images or text)
• Latest templates

Read more on web-to-print homepage customization.

We are glad to announce that the web-to-print pricing has changed with the addition of one more digit (zero) effective from 1 Apr 2008, which is pretty much now.

The new web-to-print pricing per order is as follows:

• Australia - $2.200
• EU - €1.300
• New Zealand - $2.500
• UK - £0.850
• USA - $1.700
• Other countries - US$1.700

The old prices can be found here.

We are all off to Bahamas due to the windfall of money after the price increase.

Signed:
ZetaPrints,
1 April 2008

Deleted orders are removed permanently

Orders sitting in DELETED folder are retained for 6 months or less. Orders from other folders are retained for a minimum of 6 months. Read more in a new help post.
You can set a different retention period per catalog.

Restore default preview

You can restore the original preview image with one click.

Large templates may take time to upload and may be slow to process later on. The current official limit is 20MB. The unofficial limit for “close friends” is close to 40MB.

A better way to upload large templates

Watch a Flash demonstration or read the full help post.

The bulk size of the file is taken by images.

Replace them with simple solid-fill placeholders produced right in Corel.
The template may look too unattractive, like this one:

Upload and test the template using attractive images. When the preview is generated look for SAVE link under the image. Click on it to replace the default preview image with the current one. Now your template thumb looks OK and the file is still small:

More interactivity

We will be adding more interactive features with client side Java Script. The first lot will contain:

• Expand / collapse menu entries with one click
• Drag a small handle to resize the preview image
• Upload files one by one asynchronously (without clicking UPDATE PREVIEW)
• Crop an image where it is of different proportions
• Delete rows asynchronously (without refreshing the whole page)

Possible issues with Java Script

New interactive features will be enabled for printer accounts only as a trial. Your customers will not see it until we are 100% sure it is error-free.
Please, report any issues you may have with the new features no matter how weird or small they are. Well, not that we expect many, but it is possible and we may not know unless you tell us.

Download and analyze list of users

Lists of web-to-print users can be downloaded as an MS Excel file from Users page of a catalog or printer’s homepage. Read more in this help article.

Payment transactions

All payment notifications for your web-to-print products are now captured and displayed in order details, including declined, refunded and pending payments.

Payment process

Users are taken away from the site where they placed the order to PayPal to make a payment in the same browser window. It used to open a new window.
Users can click on RETURN TO MERCHANT link in PayPal to return at any time. However, we expect some users to feel lost because the link is not very obvious. They can still step back in the browser.
Once a payment is processed the user clicks on a highly visible RETURN TO MERCHANT button and is taken back to the order page.
It takes some time for PayPal to process the payment and send a notification to ZetaPrints and the user may return before the notification arrives. I this case they will still see PAY NOW button, which may also be a bit confusing. The order page uses a background script to check the status and remove the button as soon as the payment is confirmed.
The button will disappear as soon as a notification arrives regardless of the transaction outcome. E.g. if the transaction was declined the user cannot make another payment and have to arrange it with you directly or re-order. Most of declined transactions are fraud anyway.

We were alerted by several customers that some paid orders are sitting in “unpaid”.
It appears we didn’t get notifications from PayPal. Not really blaming them for this as it could be a communication problem or something at our end.

Please, check your recent payments for any “orphans” and try to match to unpaid orders. Email admin@zetaprints.com with OrderID and PayPal transaction ID.

Changes coming to payments system today

We are making changes to how users make payments:

• PayPal will open in the same window, not in a new one
• All PayPal transactions will be recorded in the order details, including REFUNDED, PENDING, etc.
• Users should see the transaction status by the time they return back to the site from PayPal

Payments from printers

Your home page will change from the dashboard to BILLING if you have outstanding invoices from ZetaPrints. The system may pop up the BILLING page at random if your payment is outstanding for more than 20 days. Please, contact us if you think your account should not be charged or if the billing is incorrect.
Alternative payment methods are available, but the BILLING page may still pop up until the payment is cleared.

Trial users

Trial customers still get billed, but we will wave the fees if you contact us. There is no time limit to the trial period. We consider it over when you start taking real orders.

Some suggest to the contrary, but getting your web to print products on the first page in search engines is the cheapest way to get more traffic.

How to get on the first page

First of all, do not go to any SEOs. If you want a snake oil recipe we’ll give you one for free.
Filling your web to print catalogs with content and linking to them from other good websites is the way to go.

Get real

Talking about getting found is only relevant in a context of keywords. What would your customer type into a search engine?
For example you sell “business cards”. Tough luck. There are already established players with catalogs much larger than yours. Google has approximately 60mln pages for anyone searching for “business cards“. Your chance is slim, but hard work may get you there over time.

Find a niche for your web-to-print

A search for “business cards plumber” returns only 160,000 pages. You’ve got a real good chance of landing on the first page there.

Target locals

What is your geographical area? Do you want to be found by anyone from anywhere? Probably not. A search for business cards on Google Australia has only 345,000 pages. You still have a chance of getting close to the top.

What you need

1. Lots of web to print designs
2. Tags for every web-to-print design
3. Comments for every web to print design
4. Links from other good websites to your web to print catalogs and templates
5. Google Analytics account
6. A bit of patience

More in the coming posts.