Improving "Early Life" -- What's Your Take?

So we've got some shocking news here at IPOWERWEB.

We've been informed that some of our customers get confused when landing in the control panel for the first time. Yeah, apparently it's not intuitive that when you click on "POP Mail," it's the same as clicking on "MailCentral." And who knew that it wasn't obvious that the "Set Site Editor" page doesn't actually let you start creating your website.

These nuances, which we tech geeks at IPOWERWEB have come to know and love (okay, not really), present a bit of a problem for new customers coming on board. Our site essentially says, "Our hosting plans include great website building tools, unlimited email boxes and a free domain name! Go after it!" And I guess the process of signing up and logging into the control panel for the first time doesn't mean customers instantly know that clicking on the "WebSiteCreator by CM4all" icon is probably their best bet for starting a new site if they don't know any HTML.

So where does that leave us? With a bunch of somewhat confused customers calling our support team within their first 48 hours on IPOWERWEB. Our bad.

But, before you throw in the towel, let me say this: we are looking to make a change. We get it now. We realize it's not fun for you to employ the "hunt and peck" method to figure out just which of those little icons will actually be the key to creating your first mailbox. We want you to be happy with your IPOWERWEB account, not feel like you've just stepped into a 2 sq. mile corn maze with no iPhone serving Google Satellite View.

And without further ado, let me present the first step to our solution. Our support, product management and development teams have designed and developed a QuickStart Wizard to walk customers through the first three steps to setting up a hosting account (which, coincidentally, are the top three reasons customers call us): adding a domain to your account; setting up mailboxes; and getting a site started and learning what the heck your FTP settings are.

But the greatness doesn't stop there. After you've run through the QuickStart Wizard for the first time (and completed all the tasks), it turns into a QuickStart Manager, which will always be accessible from the top of the control panel (next to the "Preferences" icon), should you want to go back and manage your domains, email and website from the wizard. Same goes for existing customers: even if you've already set up your account, just click the icon and try the wizard on for size the next time you want to create another email box, etc.

Okay, so bottom line? We want your feedback. When this product launches next week (fingers crossed), we want to know -- is it intuitive? Does it make setting up a domain, email address and website easier? What do you like? What don't you like? Tell us by leaving a comment! With your input, we'll be able to improve the next release, and ultimately use this tool as a model off which to base revamps of other tools in our control panel.

Set Up a Holiday Store

It's not to early to begin thinking about the upcoming holidays. November and December are the busiest shopping months of the year online! Why not take advantage of this and get a holiday store set up on your site? Don't have time to do it yourself? IPOWERWEB can help!

A typical online store can take several weeks at best to develop, even months under the most ideal conditions. That kind of time isn’t available in the middle of October to be ready for the holiday season, and we’d like to offer our customers who don’t already have an online store, the opportunity to establish a presence for their products, begin selling, accepting credit cards, etc.

· This promotion will run from October 15^th, and orders will be accepted until November 7^th.

Here's what you'll get:

• A complete online store solution and installation
• Fully-integrated online payment gateway using PowerPay
• FREE osCommerce Application
• Ability to add up to 20 products to the store
• Store administration training
• For orders received and customer requirements satisfied by November 7th, we will GUARANTEE completion of the website on or before November 22nd. If you have completed all of your ‘to-do’ list activities and we’re still unable to complete the website by November 22nd, we’ll give you a 100% refund.
• Price: Only $499.00

Get started now!

SubmitNet Partnership

Are you looking for a way to attract more visitors to your site? SubmitNet can increase your site's visibility, as it optimizes your site and submits it to all of the major search engines, month after month.

And, with no downloads or installation, SubmitNet makes search engine optimization simple, allowing you to access your SubmitNet control panel from any computer!

Increase your search ranking today with SubmitNet's Basic Plan, which provides you with automatic monthly submissions and reports, and is FREE with any hosting package. If you are looking for more, such as keyword and MetaTag analysis and creation, sign up for a Gold or Platinum Plan at a special IPOWERWEB discounted price.

The sooner you submit your site, the sooner search engines will recognize it! So, optimize your site now!