Friday 21 November 2014

SeeMyBest - free webpages for Zazzle stores

EDIT: I've added more features since writing this. Please see the updated post here
I've not announced my latest tool addition to the Zaps stable here yet because first I wanted to get to the point where it had html generation capabilities as well.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... here's what one of the pages created with the free version looks like



What is SeeMyBest?

SeeMyBest lets you (you are a Zazzler aren't you?) show the best products from your store on a set of web pages that are re-created on-the-fly whenever someone visits. And it has a search box that allows visitors to search just in your store!

See what I mean, here's my most popular watches with an outer-space theme.
And here's my newest products.

Who's SeeMyBest aimed at?

Well, first and foremost it's aimed at Zazzlers who are artists first and techno-geeks last! I'd say that you're the sort of Zazzler artist it'll suit if:
  • you probably don't have a website, and if you do, you don't have time nor energy nor technical know-how to easily put your products on it
  • you have heard of referrer ids - and maybe even tracking codes - but don't have much confidence you're using them right, if at all!
  • you would jump for joy at being able to share your lovingly crafted product designs in a way that looks great and is so easy for other folk to pin / share on Pinterest, Polyvore and Google+.
  • you don't really promote / share much because of the time it takes to put together something attractive
  • you maybe have a blog but it's such a fight and time-consuming to put products on it
  • you'd love just one place from which you can do a big promotion push, with pin / share buttons right there, next to each product - easy-peasy for you and for your web page visitors!
    (every navigation click a visitor has to take to achieve something drops the number who do easily by half or two thirds. Having it there in their face means 100% who want to can do!)
Well, SeeMyBest sorts all that out for you and all just by:
  • choosing some options that decide what products will be shown on your page
  • typing a tiny bit for your web page description
  • providing your referrer id so it can be used in the links.
The absolute minimum you have to do, just to see what it looks like, is put in your storename - nothing more. It's so easy, why don't you give it a try here.

And that's all in the free version!

So what do I get out of this?

There is a Zazzle banner on the webpages SeeMyBest creates and its link includes my referral id (and tracking code). This is the only place, in case you were wondering.
All other product links use yours.

At the bottom of each page is a Google ad that can generate revenue for me. Of course many peeps use ad blocker to stop them being shown.

Finally, I ask that if you regularly use SeeMyBest to create your web pages then please donate to my tips jar. If you do, I'll give you access to the Pro version that does so much more...

About the Pro version

It just got better! html generation facility now included. Here's a screenshot of the additional options in SeeMyBest Pro:




As well as all the features in the lite version, the Pro version gives:
  • you can use a page background image (give it the web address of the image you want)
  • give it a page background color to use
  • you can use a banner image for your page (again, give it the web address of the image you want)
  • you can choose your products by newest first or popularity
  • you're given the html for a 'card' (a clickable image / text link combo) that you can paste into blogs etc.
For the astronomy watches page (linked above), here's the sharing card that SeeMyBest gives. The SeeMyBest destination webpage it's linked to is a great example of many of the pro features - have a look!



And if that's not enough, the Pro version features list goes on! Check this out - you also get:
  • a panel which appears after your products and includes (all optional) your:
    • contact email address
    • pinterest profile
    • twitter profile
    • facebook profile
    • blog site
  • the html is given so you can paste into your website, blogs etc. (hot off the press, just released!)
    • decide whether you want the price included
    • decide how you want to handle product descriptions. You can:
      • use them as is
      • strip them of any html
      • decide how much text from the stripped version to use.
        (0 means no product description appears in the generated html)
    • decide on the tracking code you want to be used for links in the generated html
Spoiler alert: there's no sharing buttons (yet!) in the generated html.

Here's a what it looks like when you choose to show the generated html. It shows up on your preview page to give you somewhere convenient to copy it from. Here's a screenshot:
if switched on, the generated html is shown on the page preview (not shown on the actual web page)
You can see how easy it is to get the html you need. Either for individual products or for the entire selection shown. Note the page background and the Get In Touch panel - examples of those pro version features.

And just for completeness, here's the card SeeMyBest (pro) gave me for my newest products:


Well, it's been quite an amazing journey so far creating SeeMyBest - I'm even flattered that some of my regulars see it as a ZSB (ZazzleStoreBuilder) replacement - no technical knowledge needed nor an actual website! Much better for non-techies and techies alike :)

As I hinted at above, I'd like to be able to include various sharing buttons in the generated html but right now that's beyond my skills. Donations to my tips jar will encourage me to find out how to do it so I can bring it to you!

I'd love to see the pages you create with it in the comments below.
So get to it, give SeeMyBest a try and post the results and any feedback here.

Thanks everyone!

comments, likes, +1s, tweets, pins are always welcome! :)

2 comments:

  1. I'm a newbie Zazzler, and I'm confused. Is See my best still operational? Or, has it been totally replaced by the Nifty SlideShow? The hot "give See my best a try" leads to aage that asks for authentication and I don'R know what to provide.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it's still operational. As it says, you have to visit the Zazzle forum for access details (https://forum.zazzle.com/tools/new_trial_version_of_seemybest_pro).
      The focus of Nifty Slideshow Maker (http://www.kdl.to/nifty-slideshows.html) is different.

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