Building a Yahoo! Store  (Graded individual or group assignment for Chapter 7)

This objective of this assignment is to give you an idea of what's behind an Internet store & how web hosting services work.    You'll build a working Yahoo! store.  Yahoo! allows you to build & try a store for 10 days at no charge (the 10 days start as soon as you submit your account application & you can't actually sell anything).  Be forewarned - this project requires up front planning & exact timing - in 10 days from the day you sign up for it, your store will be gone.
 

IMPORTANT:  If 10 days is too short, you may build your store at http://www.bigstep.com, where you can build & try your store indefinitely (as long as you don't have a merchant account or make a sale).  However, Bigstep.com is harder to use than Yahoo!.

Also IMPORTANT:Due to the unique time requirements of this assignment, I'm giving you flexibility to work it into your schedule:  you may do it any time before the due date indicated on the schedule. Your store must be completed & turned in (see below) by the date indicated on the schedule.

Although this assignment takes some planning, it is not difficult.

PLANNING

Go to http://store.yahoo.com/  look through the site & visit some sample stores.  Read about the "test drive" service.  If you aren't a member of Yahoo!, sign up to become a member and read through their very lengthy service agreement.

Decide what your business or service must be.  You may select whatever you wish, within the following guidelines:

• Your site cannot in any way be in violation of Yahoo!'s policies or illegal.
• You must have at least 10 products or services for sale in at least two sections, complete with descriptions & prices.
• There should be some images on the site. Note:  These can't be clipart, but must be .jpg or .gif files.  There are some links to art sites on this website.
• Include a "shopping cart" and a "check out" feature.
• Promote at least one "special" or "sale item".
• Grandma who needs help finding a PC's on/off switch should be able to use your site - make it easy, have clear instructions, etc.
• Include a mission statement & privacy policy for your business (see example of both at http://www10.proflowers.com - click on "About Us";  detailed privacy policy example can be found at http://www.dell.com - click on "Online Privacy Practices" in lower left corner in very small type).
• Remember - anyone visting Yahoo! can see your store.

GET A YAHOO! STORE ID

After you have planned your store, you can get your store ID.  This starts your 10 day period, so don't do it before you're ready.

Go to http://store.yahoo.com/  & login as a Yahoo! member.  Then select "How it Works" from the getting started section & the click on "Test Drive".  Complete the form by filling in the appropriate spaces.  The store ID you select becomes part of the URL that people will use to reach your site - so you might want to choose wisely (for example, if your store ID is "Bad-Day" then your store's URL will be "store.yahoo.com/Bad-Day").  Once you create a store ID, you cannot change it.
 

CREATING A STORE

You'll create 3 kinds of pages: the front page (opening page with some info & navigation buttons), sections (to organize your products) & items (products for sale that appear in sections).  For example, a "Cat Toys" section page would be used to compartmentalize the various cat toys you carry.  There would be a "Cat Toys" link that customers could follow.  Similarily, a "Dog Toys" section page....

Yahoo! provides extensive documentation & help & a great demo/tutorial.

When you log in to your store to create it, you'll see 3 options under an "Edit" heading: Simple, regular, & advanced.  Click "Simple" (if you find that you need more features, you can use regular or advanced). Your store's front page opens, along with a help section explaining the commands.

Click the "New Section" button to create your first product or service category. When done, click "Update". Now click the button for the section you just created & start adding products.

When the "publish" button shows on a page it means that you have not yet saved changes (A "Published" button indicates all changes have been saved).  If you click the "Home" button while you're working, you'll notice none of your changes are visible - that means your changes haven't been saved.  You must click the "Publish" button to save your store.  After it is saved, you can visit it as a customer & check it out by typing "http://store.yahoo.com/" plus your store ID.

WHEN YOU'RE DONE

After you have finished creating your store, "turn it in" as follows:

1. Post your store URL in the Yahoo! conference on the WebBoard.
2. Send me an e-mail with your store URL

You must do both these things no later than DAY 6 of your store's life or it may not be graded.
 

WHAT YOU'VE STILL GOTTA DO

1. Check the Yahoo! WebBoard conference regularly during the semester (even if you haven't done your store yet) and visit as many of your classmates stores & use them (use fake info when ordering).  PLEASE do this as often as possible so everyone gets some statistics to report.
2. On Day 9 of your store's life, log on to your store to manage it and collect as many statistics about your site as you can (e.g. number of hits, click through paths...). Compile & analyze this info and prepare a brief report evaluating your website and its use. E-mail it to me.

HOW YOU'LL BE GRADED

If you do everything required in the preceding assignment and it all works, you can expect a grade between 80% - 90%.  If you do it very well (that also means any bells and whistles you add work correctly) you'll get a 90% or better.