Out of the box Magento looks great, but it can be a little large for people with smaller resolution. Analytics has taught me that majority of users are stuck on 1024X768. Sadly this resolution is tiny and really limits how wide your website can be – unless your working with something fluid, but your probably not. One of the biggest issues I saw in Magento’s large styled product page is the Product Options Box. In Magento’s demo you can see two options:

Large Product Options Box:

Better Formated Box

The first image is what comes out of the box with Magento. So how can you get the Product Options Box smaller and better formated? It’s an easy edit:

Open File: /app/design/frontend/default/-YOURTEMPLATE-/template/catalog/product/view.phtml

Locate this code:

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</div>
        <div class="clear"></div>
        <?php if ($_product->isSaleable() && $this->hasOptions()):?>
            <?php echo $this->getChildChildHtml('container2', '', true, true) ?>
        <?php endif;?>
    </form>

Replace it with this code:

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<?php if ($_product->isSaleable() && $this->hasOptions()):?>
            <?php echo $this->getChildChildHtml('container2', '', true, true) ?>
        <?php endif;?>
        </div>
        <div class="clear"></div>
    </form>

Now you have a better optimized product options box! Users with smaller resolutions will be more likely to see Add to Cart which in turn should help out your conversation rate. Of course you should always A/B Test any changes!

Here is one problem that was a simple Magento fix, but took me hours to understand. Of course many of my products require bullet points – it’s like a standard on eCommerce products. When I imported or even manually inserted them into my Magento website it would never display correctly. I searched the forums, google, and even asked a few people. There was no easy answer. I gave up and came back the next day. I luckily stumbled on this quick and simple fix in the Magento wiki:

Add this code to the bottom of your boxes.css: (/skin/frontend/default/-YOURTHEME)/css)

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.product-specs ul li { list-style-type: disc; list-style-position: outside; margin-left: 20px; }
.short-description ul li { list-style-type: disc; list-style-position: outside; margin-left: 20px; }
.product-specs ol li { list-style-type: decimal; list-style-position: outside; margin-left: 20px; }
.short-description ol li { list-style-type: decimal; list-style-position: outside; margin-left: 20px; }<a href="http://www.robbiehodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/bullets.jpg"><img src="http://www.robbiehodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/bullets.jpg" alt="" title="bullets" width="127" height="71" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156" /></a>
.description ul li { list-style-type: disc; list-style-position: outside; margin-left: 20px;}
.description ol li { list-style-type: decimal; list-style-position: outside; margin-left: 20px;}

Now open up view.phtml (app/design/frontend/default/-YOURTHEME-/template/catalog/product/view.phtml)

Find this code:

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<div class="short-description"><?php echo nl2br($_product->getShortDescription()) ?></div>

Replace with:

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<div class="short-description"><?php echo $_product->getShortDescription() ?></div>

Do the same for description field and now you have bullets and ordered lists..

Hopefully one day this will be fixed/patched in. I really enjoy the wysiwyg editor, but sometimes it just causes more problems then its worth.

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the chance to make an official announcement of another project I have been working on. About a month ago I set up a Meetup.com group called eCommerce Charlotte.

This group was created for quite a few reasons. I started attending SEO/SEM meetups such as SEMCLT, AIM, and Stompernet which focus on Search Marketing as a whole. In those meetups I met a handful of people who either did eCommerce or wanted to know more about e-commerce. I was only able to have short conversations with those people during the socialization time before and after the main presentation. I wanted more. How could we get more? Start up a group!

Another reasons/benefit is I hope this group brings is growth the Charlotte community in eCommerce. Finding knowledge, employees, help, or guidance in this subject on any level is hard to locate. It never had a chance to exist locally. Now we can make this happen. Let’s put Charlotte on the map for eCommerce.

So what are you waiting on? Check out eCommerce Charlotte and sign up. The first meeting is April 8th.

Recently I was mentioned in the Search Engine Journals post Interview with Chris Brogan, Social Media Maven by Robert Enriquez @NC_SEO. The original article was just a Q&A with Chris Brogan. My mention came in the question “What’s the next social media platform you see people using?” Robert and I spoke at CES in regards to my success with social advertising on the application FourSquare.

What is FourSquare and how can you use it to advertise your business for free? First you must download and register with their service. I would suggest applying a profile picture and linking up your other social networks. I went ahead and skipped Facebook as I feel my Facebook friends would grow tired of my multiple updates per day. Find friends already using FourSquare with the quick and easy search. You can search via your Twitter name or phone contact book. Add all or whoever you feel would like to see your check ins.

Now search and locate your business name and location? Not listed? No worries you can manually insert your business name and address for everyone to see. This is already a great step into public advertising because everyone that comes within close proximity of your business will see your business name when checking into other locations. Go ahead and check in to your business location. Now you’ve alerted your new friends on FourSquare and the social networks you connected in the previous paragraph.

On my first check in I received an influx of questions and comments about my business. Three of those contacts turned into sales within the first week. Those three sales generated a small buzz within my friend’s circle of friends which resulted into more orders. The avalanche of local customers has continued even now which is four weeks later. Of course you can keep checking in each day when you get into the office. This will keep your friends and social networks minds fresh with your business name. You can also throw in ‘shouts’ such as sales, new ideas, new products, give aways, etc.

You probably have at least two or three people in your business location with smart phones. Explain FourSquare to them as a game and start the competition to become Mayor of your location. Mayor? What’s that you ask? We’ll the Mayor of a location is the person who has visited at least 2 times and has the highest amount of check ins. All of a sudden you have a ‘game’ to play that is a perfect marketing tool. Your business name is going to reach multiple social networks with multiple groups of friends. Instant branding ahead! Companies have already started offering special deals to their customers who gain mayorship. Read up about a company local to me in North Carolina here – At Foursquare Venues, The Mayor Eats For Free(via TechCrunch).

This is just a short intro on how to advertise on just one of the many upcoming location based social networks. I expect this segment of the ever growing social aspects of technology to explode in the next few years. Soon you will see your mother checking into the grocery store to get extra coupons. Good luck and feel free to leave a comment with your questions or stories involving location based social network advertising.

I recently picked up a Canon XSi to start up my photography hobby. Pictures and photography have always had an appeal to me, but I never had to time/resources to get it started.

Follow what I am doing here:

Robbie Hodge – ModelMahyem.com

Local to Charlotte and want to do some TFP? Contact me!

A few months ago I found a random thread on slickdeals.net saying I could host a party and receive a free copy of Windows 7. I assumed it was a long shot as ‘free’ and ‘online’ typically don’t happen often. Low and behold I get an email a roughly a weeks later letting me know I could potentially get this Party Pack if I signed up in time. Frantically I keyed in all my personal information. I then recieved confirmation I would be hosting a Windows 7 Party.

Fast forward to today.. it arrived! It had more goodies then described when I signed up. From Windows 7 playing cards, bags, napkins, streamers, a puzzle, and so on! A really great surprise considering it was all free. Now I have to start planning up my party. But before that I have the pictures to share:

So I just finished up a great business trip with FireFold at the Cedia expo. It was a BLAST! I had a very unique opportunity to be part of a radio show called “Into Tomorrow” with Dave Graveline. Radio shows are a little different from the local news I’ve done before. In this case we recorded a quick 5 minute conversation. No stopping, little editing, just quick and to the point. The topic of the conversation was HDMI and FireFold; two things I know on an expert level. Though I did not know the questions that would be asked. A little nerve racking for sure. In the end it was the fastest five minutes of my life.

I was 100% focused on Dave and what he was saying. His voice is intimidating- a natural radio host for sure. Here I am trying to not only make sure I am speaking clear and precise but also having to come up with answers on the fly! The first question threw me right off, but I was quick to respond. I kept up well and didn’t sound like I was blabbering. Overall I’m pretty happy with the outcome. They even mentioned coming back on air with them at CES.

Now what you really want to hear. The interview! Cut down to just my interview: Robbie-Graveline.mp3

I would highly recommend listening to the entire show via the Into Tomorrow website.