Features
|
| Star rating: |
 |
| Maximum number of products: |
Unlimited |
|
Payment Gateways: |
PayPal,
PaymentTech Orbital Gateway (US
only), ANZ eGate,
Authorize.Net,
Bluepay,
CyberSource,
iTransact,
LinkPoint International,
Paradata PayGateway,
PsiGate,
Ecommerce Exchange,
QuickCommerce Pro,
Verisign Payflow Pro,
WorldPay
|
Price:
per Month |
Enhanced $24.99
Professional $59.99
Enterprise $229.99 |
| Templates: |
17 categories with up to 18 styles in each for the main site.
45 categories with a selection of styles in each for the StoreFront. |
| Free Trail: |
7 day trial available. Take the HomeStead DIY free trail then logon at
the HomeStead home page, click on the "try homestead storefront" link.
You will be able to build a main web site and a separate storefront.
The two web sites can be fully integrated.
|
| Stats: |
Online statistics are provided by RealTracker. Information about
entry and exit pages, operating systems, screen resolution and
search engine keywords and more.
|
| Email Addresses: |
1 email account matching the domain name. More available at $1
per month.
|
| Domain name: |
Choose your own domain name.
The Storefront will be a sub domain. eg http://stores.yourdomain.com |
| Marketing: |
Pay per click advertising vouchers. $50 for Google and $50
worth for Overture.
Guide to search engines and site promotion available to download.
|
| Support/Help: |
Telephone support for 30 days. Unlimited email support.
Live online training sessions. Downloadable quick start guide and starter
edition user guide. Also online help. |
| Extras: |
Animations,
Clip art,
Photo Library,
Guest Book,
Poll,
Blog,
Chat Room,
MultiMedia |
|
Ease of Use
|
|
The main
site and the storefront are 2 separate web sites. They can interlink
with each other but you can not use the same template for both. The
main web site can be edited with the offline QuickSite software and the
Storefront can be edited online. |
| Page Management: |
Adding a page is simple. Click on new page and select either
previous style, new style or blank page. Opening an existing page is
just as easy, click on open and select the page. There is also a
file manager where you can move, rename or delete pages. The StoreFront
template comes with default pages that can be edited, deleted or
redirected. |
| Edit HTML/Javascript: |
HTML elements can be added and edited but
you cannot access the HTML for the whole page. |
| Edit Tags: |
You can easily edit the description and
keyword tags. Also you can add text in the "head" section of each
page. |
| Edit Navigation: |
A navigation element can be added to any
page and modified. This element can then be used on any other page. |
| Add/modify product: |
Long and short descriptions, also weight
and size to calculate shipping algorithms. 2 attributes available to
add size, color, etc |
| Product page layout: |
There is a large choice of themed templates
|
| Reports: |
Quick stats available including abandoned
carts. Pending and ready to ship orders. Customer information |
| Inventory: |
Inventory options are available in an
upgrade package |
|
Review Summary
|
|
HomeStead Storefront is the ecommerce
add-on to the HomeStead DIY web site builder.
Unlike other online web site builders HomeStead requires you to download QuickSite Builder which runs on your
PC. If you wish to edit your web site from multiple PCs then each
one will require a copy of QuickSite. StoreFront is a separate
product and can
only be edited online.
QuickSite Builder (the HomeStead offline web site editor) enables you to
choose from over 100 templates or start from scratch, this
makes it very flexible and you can easily produce a professional
looking web site.
This flexibility comes at a price and each page element will need to be
added which could take longer than with a simpler online site builder.
The StoreFront is built online using a pre-designed template with standard
pages that can be renamed, deleted or redirected. This means that
you can make any of the storefront pages point to a page on the main
site (or any other web site) The storefront home page can also be
the same as the main site home page.
HomeStead have built over 12 million web site since 1988 and have won
numerous awards including editor's choice from CNET and "best of the Web"
from PC World.
The QuickSite Builder is very flexible and
easy to use and if you have a problem the online help and email support
are excellent.
HomeStead have a free 7 day trial for
QuickSite builder and you can add the Storefront option to try before you
buy. If you want to build you web site even quicker you can use
HomeStead's QuickSites option, just choose your complete web site from
over 500 designs and customise to suit your company.
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