The New MerchantCircle: We've Remodeled!

With the new year upon us, lots of folks start thinking about embarking on remodeling projects. Here at MerchantCircle, we spent much of last year remodeling the site, and you could say we learned a few things.  We thought we’d share our experiences with all of you out there thinking of taking on a remodeling project, no matter how big or small.  

Here’s what we learned...

It’s good to have a plan...but plans change.  Looking back, our original plan didn’t take into account the complexity of the task ahead.  As we went along, we learned a ton about the site and each other.  The biggest lesson: the only way to make real progress is to get out of the “planning” phase and into the “doing” phase.

Everything takes longer than you think.  That’s probably true with many things in life, but definitely true with remodel projects.  You don’t know what you don’t know, at least until you start tearing things down.

You’re never really “done”.  Just when you think you can’t go on a day longer...you will find yourself checking things off your “punch list”.  The initial project will get done, but the tweaking, tuning and improving never ends.  

If you’ve recently remodeled (your kitchen, a bathroom, or maybe even your business website) share your experience in the new MerchantCircle forum. 

Now for the good stuff…

The launch of the new and improved MerchantCircle is a key milestone in the integration of MerchantCircle with Reply!.  As you can probably tell from our new homepage, we’re refocusing MerchantCircle a bit to help busy people get things done – big and small – by connecting them with a network of local business owners who are eager to help.

Here’s what’s new on the site…

For consumers (we like to call them MerchantCircle Neighbors):

·      Better search experience – three search bars focused on finding merchants, answers, or deals

·      New localized category pages that includes top merchants, deals, and advice (see examples here and here for examples)

·      More prominent display of top-rated merchants

·      Integrated “request a quote” functionality on listing pages, category pages, city pages

·      Easier access to expert articles and advice

For our fantastic merchant members:

·      A completely new support section and fresh user forums 

·      Reorganized layout for claimed listing pages to drive more user engagement

·      More prominence for photos and a new Photo Viewer

·      No more anonymous reviews

·      Better promotion of content and better search through new categorizations for businesses

And we’re not even close to done…in the coming weeks, we’ll announce other exciting improvements!

Stay tuned...

Sincerely,

The MerchantCircle Team

P.S. To learn more about the new, improved MerchantCircle, we've created this handy-dandy FAQ

P.P.S. We’ve also create a whole host of “how-to” videos to keep you up to speed on the new features available to you

How Do You Use MerchantCircle?

If you haven't checked recently, one of the newlyly created MerchantCircle Forum threads is "How-To-MerchantCircle." It's an excellent forum for trading ideas on the best way to utilize all the features of your MerchantCircle listing. You can also find how-to guides here, which includes adding a photo, publishing a coupon, creating a blog, creating an ad, amongst others.

MerchantCircle Moderator Monica Ross-Williams of ServiceMaster Building Services in Wayne County recently posted about one of our newest features in a thread titled, "How to Use the New Cool 'Create a Sale Feature' on M.C."



Here's an excerpt:

I have to say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new Create A Sale feature of Merchant Circle. If you have not used it yet, you are missing quite a treat. Here is a How-To-Guide on what to do

First-go to your Merchant Dashboard
Then-Promote my Business
-Start a Sale
-Click on the "Start a Sale" icon box

You are on the Build Your Announcement Page

From there
You can choose your sales template
Redstripe-This logo has a cool red, green, blue and yellow sale bags that state SALE in the various colors
Redtag-This logo is rightly name for the Red Sale Tag Logo in the upper right hand corner
Savings-This logo has a cute guy, counting his quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies for extra savings
Sidewalk Sale-This Logo uses the famous "Market Advisor" picture and replace the words with "Sidewalk Sale" instead....

Thanks for the great advice, Monica!

Read the whole thread and discussion here. Creating a Sale is perfect when highlighting a 1/2 off sale, or a red tag special, or even a weekend special.

There's many, many other gems to be found in the forums. For a list of next month's new features, be sure to periodically check into the MerchantCircle Forum thread "MerchantCircle Product Suggestions."

Sincererly,
Community Relations