Customizing your Online Store

How do I customize my website? Tagging, Featured Products, Banners, Banner Manager, TCG Promotion Controller, Website

Dan McCarty avatar
Written by Dan McCarty
Updated over a week ago

After you have edited your settings and established the prices and quantity of your inventory, we should concentrate on making your brand standout and launch your website.

Branding your CrystalCommerce website is not as difficult as it seems. While you can use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in the Design > Appearance tab, you do not have to be a web designer to brand and customize your CrystalCommerce site. All you have to know is a little bit about the admin.

BEFORE PROCEEDING…
First, if you need to refresh your knowledge on the introductory parts of the CrystalCommerce admin reread that first so you would be more comfortable navigating the instructions on how to change your website. Second, if your website is older consult with our support team if you are able to use the features we will learn below.

WHERE ARE MY TAGS?
Knowing the tags on your CrystalCommerce website means knowing the editable spaces you can easily control. The specific tag names on your website serve as landmarks where the changes you make in the admin appear on the website.

  1. Open your website and type /?mytags at the end of any URL on your website

  2. Boxes will appear all throughout the website

  3. The words within the quotation marks (“ ”) are your tag names

  4. Pay close attention to these tag names and the notes they indicate

  5. If no boxes appeared after adding /?mytags, your website might be using an older framework. Consult with our support team for assistance before proceeding.

CUSTOM DISPLAY CONTROLLER

Some newer themes have a feature called Custom Display Controller. Depending on the theme, you may be able to use this feature to choose product categories from which to automatically display products, change the tagnames used in displays, change various text and marketing area content, and so on. See the Custom Display Controller help article for more info and instructions.


WHERE ARE THE LINKS TO MY HEADER AND FOOTER?
Now that you know your tag names, use the nav-main and nav-footer tags to create header and footer links on your website.

  1. In your admin, go to the Design > Site Pages tab

  2. Choose a Site Page and click Edit or...

  3. Press the blue ( + ) plus sign to create a new site page. 

  4. In the site page window, customize the titles, SEO names, and descriptions. Note that some of the site pages that are pre-created for you do not have an editable SEO names like buylist, deckbuilder, buylist builder and cardcondition guide.

  5. In the tags field, your site page will either be on the header of your website if you use the tag name nav-main or on the footer if you use the tag name nav-footer.

  6. Note that some pre-made Site Pages uses a strict SEO Name such as the card condition guide, deck builder and advance search site pages. 

  7. If you need to review, click how to use the Design > Site Pages again.


HOW DO I CHANGE IMAGES ON MY WEBSITE?
Perhaps the most apparent part of your website are the image related banners which direct your clients to many of your products and promotions.

  1. For tag names that involve images such as Slider Banner, Sidebar Graphic, Sidebar Banner, etc. open the Inventory > Products tab. 

  2. In the Product Type field, choose the Banner Manager product type. 

  3. Alternatively, you can also type the tag names in the Tagged By field. 

  4. The former method will bring up everything under the Banner Manager product type while the latter method will only bring the images that uses the tag name you specified 

  5. Either way, scroll down and press the Search button

  6. Once the search results are returned, find the image you want to change and press the edit button (right under the image name) or…

  7. Batch update the search results by using the Add or Remove check box and type the tag name in the space provided

  8. Click the link if you need to learn how to Batch Update again.


HOW DO I CHANGE OR TAG BANNER IMAGES MANUALLY?
If you choose to edit an image one by one, click the edit link below the product image and a new window will open. Pay close attention to the notes on the following fields:

Use Catalog - this may or may not be present depending on the product you are editing. If present uncheck the box so Catalog updates do not change/revert the product image you are changing. Leave it checked if you want our Catalog team to be able to update the products automatically.

Name - for Slider Banners the alphabetization dictate the order how these show on your website.

Category - make sure this is indicates the Category folder that holds your website images (i.e. Banner Manager).

Tags field - this is where you add/remove the tag names associated with the website

Disable and Enable dates - schedule your banners to appear only on specified dates

Link - enter a URL here and users are taken to that URL when they click the image

Upload file - will allow you to browse for the image you want. Note the default (circular radio button) and delete (square radio button) to choose/remove images.

Description - create custom texts and buttons for banners that have text overlay. Note the editing tools as they are similar to the Design > Site Pages and Advertising > News Post description fields.

WHAT IS THE TCG PROMOTION CONTROLLER PRODUCT?
A special part of newer CrystalCommerce websites is the TCG Promotion Controller product pages.

  1. In the Inventory > Products tab, you can find this product by using the Banner Manager product type filter or... 

  2. By typing the product name in the Name field right under Product Specific Filter

  3. Once found, click edit and pay attention to the following fields: Alternate Text, Disable and Enable On dates, and Link

  4. Click the links to learn how to use the TCG Promotion product and enter the set codes in the Link field. 

  5. If you cannot find the product it is possible that your website does not have this feature and you would need to buy it from store.crystalcommerce.com or get assistance from our support team.

HOW DO I SHOWCASE PRODUCTS ON MY SITE?
Similar to changing the image banners on your CrystalCommerce website, you can feature or showcase your products online by tagging them as well.

  1. Find the products you want to tag as Featured Products or any product related tags ( i.e. Spotlight, Featured buy list, Newest Product, etc) by going to the Inventory > Products tab

  2. Use the Product Specific Filters to narrow down a select number of products (i.e. finish, rarity, sell price, or even buy price) 

  3. Click Search and tag each search results manually (by clicking edit) or using batch update. If you need to review how to Batch Update click the link.

  4. Note that it can take a few minutes to show these products on your website so be patient and refresh your website.

HOW DO I COLORIZE / STYLE MY WEBSITE?

  1. By going to the Design > Appearance tab, you can use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to adjust your website. Please only do this if you know how to write proper CSS, as incorrect code can break your website.

  2. To learn more about the Appearance and Design Request Form tabs reread the Design tab overview.

HOW DO I CONNECT MY SOCIAL MEDIA FEED AND GOOGLE CALENDAR FEED?
Most of these are in your Account > Locations tab.

Some social media links in the locations tab may be output into your site as linked icons, and depending on which theme you have, these may be in your site's footer, main body, header, or floating on the side of the site.

Some of our newer themes also allow you to manually embed feeds from Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram into the homepage in the specified areas.

If it gets too complicated reach out to our support team or your onboarder if you are still training.

HOW DO I CONNECT MY DOMAIN NAME TO MY CRYSTALCOMMERCE WEBSITE?
Your domain name is very important so it is imperative that you connect the appropriate domain name to the CrystalCommerce website.

  1. Find your domain provider (i.e. go daddy, host papa etc) credentials (username and password) and login. 

  2. Follow the walkthrough in the next article or... if it is complicated

  3. Connect with one of our team members to connect your domain name with your CrystalCommerce website. 

It is very important to utilize the website one way or another. If you are already managing another website, use the CrystalCommerce website for another purpose. It is part of the services you pay for so make most of it.
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CONGRATULATIONS!
You have finished launching your website but your online presence is only beginning! Now that you know how to manipulate your website using the CrystalCommerce admin do not forget to expand your horizon by utilizing social media accounts, starting a consistently scheduled Newsletter campaign, create coupons in the Advertising > Coupons tab, and write useful blog entries. The more you talk about your brand, services you offer, events you host, and even recent news about the game and hobby industry, the more you will be able to establish your online and community presence.

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