SEO Update

Dear All,

We have completed the first phase of our online PR and marketing activities for Toolscout.

Based on continuous monitoring of results we have tweaked the pages further, and the results are very encouraging !

In just One Month after the launch, We are on the top pages of Search results for many of the search phrases. You can view the screenshots of results online by clicking the link below:-

Toolscout Search Result Pages

Going Ahead, we intend to commence the Email campaign next week, and publicity for the site in various forums.

In the past one month the site has 167 unique visitors and 597 visits, however, most of the traffic is from Search engines, in response to our submissions. True results can be expected to emerge after some more time and with adequate advertising.

Toolscout Online Product Catalogs

Links to Toolscout product catalogs for online access are given below:-


DIN 69893 HSK Tool Holders

DIN 69871 SK Tool Holders

DIN 2080 (ISO) Tool Holders

Din JIS B6339 MAS 403 BT Tool Holders

CNC Precision Tools Accessories Collets Pull Studs

ToolScout Updates

SEO Activities

Redesign of all five product sub category pages has been done with a view to improve on page optimisation for the desired keywords.

Subsequent to launching of the website, manual submissions of the website URL to major search engines and portals were commenced. The site has been registered with fifty search engines and the web address tagged at major social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Reddit, Technoratti, Blue Dot etc. Press releases have been submitted to two major free PR sites and the same have also been tagged. Submission to directory portals and maps are in progress.

The above actions have resulted in Toolscout being listed on top in most search engines, as well as association of the site with the desired keywords. During the last one week, since 05 Oct, there have been 140 visitors and 1227 pageviews.

Over the next few weeks, optimisation will focus on ranking well for the targeted keywords.

Payment Gateway

Being followed up by OBI. Awaiting further communication from CC Avenues.

Training

The key personnel of OBI who will deal with day to day sales activities had reported to BITS on two days, for briefing and demonstration. The personnel have been asked to try out the system at length and revert if necessary, with queries.

Changes in Process flows.

Consequent to launch, without the payment gateway facility, changes have been made to the workflows to accept orders without payment (as enquiries). For casual customers, only India has been enabled in countries list.

Click on links here to view different product pages directly;-

Machine Tools Precision Tools

DIN 2080 ISO Toolholders

DIN 69871 SK Tool Holders

DIN JIS B 6339 (MAS 403 BT) Tool Holders

HSK Toolholders DIN 69893

Toolscout Launch : Press Release

Links for the Press Release regarding the launch are given below:-


HTML Version http://www.prlog.org/10367917-toolscout-online-store-for-machine-tools-launched.html

PDF Version http://www.prlog.org/10367917-toolscout-online-store-for-machine-tools-launched.pdf

ToolScout Beta

Dear All,

We have a few weeks to go before Toolscout is ready for sales. Untill then, we have put up a temporary site for testing. The test data will then be deleted before launch. Please visit the site and give us your valuable observations.

For the Main site, click on the link below :-

www.toolscout.net/Home.aspx

You can login using the following accounts:-

Authorized Customer: User id - aut, Password- aut

Registered Customer: User id - reg, Password- reg

Project Completion:

Week / Woche - 31:

BITS anounces the successful completion of Build 1 of the Toolscout project, exactly on scedule, as planned, in week 31. All points raised in the review have been effectively completed.

The launch of the site and commencement of sales in India is albeit postponed by a few weeks due to the client's requirement of more time for organising procedures and registration for third party services.

Accordingly, routine weekly posts on this blog shall be discontinued henceforth and important milestones only shall be posted.

BITS would like to thank the Toolscout team for their support and encouragement.

Going ahead, we shall focus on improving the site further and on online marketing efforts.

Week / Woche - 30:

--Invoicing: Decision still pending.
--Payment Gateway: Needs approval & processing by OBI.
--Early bird prize / Gift packages for registering – Not yet decided.

Testing:Complete testing process is going on & whatever bugs/suggestions rose were fixed then & there.

Development:
-- New addition-> Maintenance / Deduction of Stock for Regular offer (online), daily updation of stock (cnc range) to ToolScout website is under development.
--Country selection restricted only to ‘India’ now.
--Required alert messages provided during allocation of goods – in auctions.
--Provided the option to bring back the closed Auctions / Special offers.
--Menu Access is under development which includes ‘super admin’ & ‘administrator’
--Help file is under development.

Minutes of Meetings on 16/17 Jul 09

The points raised and decisions taken during Client visit to BITS on 16/17 Jul 09 are as under:-

1. First launch ‘ToolScout’ in India as a test phase, followed by Germany & USA. During the test phase, of about one month, the system and procedures to be checked thoroughly by Indian TS team.

2. Advertisements other than related to ToolScout to be avoided in the launch phase.

3. Need more clarity on ‘Money back guarantee’ & ‘Commission %’ . Indian TS Team to review and intimate if any changes are necessary.

4. Automatic approval for pending Orders for which 100% payment is received was suggested. BITS advised to retain human intervention for approval. Status quo will be maintained till further confirmation.

5. Invoicing . Discussions inconclusive. Indian TS Team to suggest appropriate action in this regard after further discussions.

6. Country – Orders will be restricted only to specific countries (to be given by ToolScout), In the launch phase it will be only for ‘India’.

7. Option for daily online stock updation - daily updation of stock (cnc range) to ToolScout website by uploading from an excel file to be included.

8. Stocks to be reduced after placing each order for regular offers & special offers so that orders do not exceed availability of stocks.

9. Integration with ERP – Requires extensive analysis, onsite work and outsourcing SAP effort. Therefore it can be taken up as phase 2 only.

10. Regular offers pricing to be finalised by Indian TS Team depending on billing in the name of Toolscout or Client's name. Status quo till then.

11. All alert or warning messages to be revised & presented as soft toned as possible. (Pleasing to the customer).

12. Auctions Allocation – Prompt messages to be provided like qty already allocated and remaining for allocation, to facillitate easy allocation.

13. Customer should not bid less than the min. bid amount and should not exceed a limit. (Note :- To be reviewed since even if customers bid more, the auction does not get closed and allocation is decided manually. Recommended to give upper limit as total qty available. Clarification to be sought from German Clients)

14. Option to bring back the closed Auctions / Special offers to be provided.

15. Separate login for ‘Super Admin’ - Toolscout & ‘Administrator’ – BITS for maintenance.

16. Indian TS Team will handle the entire business process.

17. In India, the Payment Gateway decided to be outsourced to ‘CCAvenue’. To be registered in Indian Client name.

18. Help file about TS - order processing & TS-administration to be documented. Reference file to administer the website & its process flow.

19. Early bird prize / Gift packages for registering – Not yet decided.

20. ToolScout Payment:-

(a) Basic Project cost & SEO stands approved. Balance amount will be paid in due course.

(b) German Version - Translation will be arranged by German Client. Costs payable to BITS undecided.

(c) Onsite Support - Decision will be taken later.

(d) Maintenance Support - To be decided later. Basic warranty on delivered functionalities will be provided.

(e) Advertising Budget - Not decided. BITS strongly recommends allocation of suitable budget since targeted visitors is the crucial factor for online success.

21. A meeting will be held between BITS & ToolScout-India to discuss the business processes further.

Week / Woche - 26 / 27:

Transfer of www.toolscout.net domain:

Approval of transfer obtained. Payment of Rs.800/- to be made, after which hosting will be possible. Expect to complete by tomorrow.

Payment Gateway:

Decision taken on subscribing to ‘CCAvenue’ for the payment gateway process, which covers all the Credit cards, Debit cards & direct bank transfers through most of the Indian banks. Integration will be possible only after hosting is complete.

Payment gateways for USA and Germany needs to be contracted separately since pricing, bank accounts, workflows will be separate.

Development Activities:

Web Page:

All functional web pages for running the online shop are complete and ready for launch. Testing & refinement process is going on which is an ongoing process, since we are trying with different varieties/combinations.

SEO:

Detailed research and analysis of competetion has been completed and optimal selection of keywords completed. On page optimisations will start after completion of hosting.

Price-list, Discount structure:

Actual Price list/discounts/tax structures and items to be offered on special offers and auctions have been requested from Morris India but is unduly delayed. It is hoped the required live data will be provided by week-28, failing which we can only launch the site without accepting sales orders.

Administration:

Approval process for Regular/Special & Auctions completed.

Menu Access Control & Data backup is in the development process.

All the required reports are under development.

Danke. Passieren Sie bitte Ihre Anmerkungen.

Week / Woche - 25:

Transfer of site:
Transfer of website (www.toolscout.net) has taken up with Shimas Networks, India. This procedure takes approximately 45 days.
So, if the registration key is provided, we can undertake transfer ourselves. Client (German) is requested to provide a copy of the registration confirmation email from which we will get the details.

Bank Account:
Details of TS-India bank account obtained and will be used for payment gateway registration for India sales.

Development Activities:
Web page:
Development of Special offers & Auctions got completed. Now we have done more refinements in the process flow & look n feel of the web page, so related modifications are under development.
The Order process for regular offers is under development

Administration:
Development of Approval process for Special offers, Regular Offers & Auctions are under development.

Completed the development & Testing of Tax structure, price list, zone definitions, country, shipping cost, etc.

Danke.

Week / Woche - 24:

A bit of delay has arisen because of confusion regarding registration of Domain Name. Three options have been suggested to Toolscout Team for giving a decision. Decision is awaited and accordingly, the temporary site hosting will be progressed.

Development Activities:
Administration:

Completed the workflow for placing of orders against Regular Offers, Special Offers & Auctions. For regular offers, stocked & non-stocked items are taken into account with clear indication before placing the order and during the order acceptance process. Payment is accepted only in case the items are readily available in stock. If order includes non stocked items, an email confirmation is sought from customer and no payment is necessary. Thereafter, the order has to be followed up manually during approval process.

Email notifications to Customers/TS team / dispatch agencies have been designed along with the write-ups. Order process further refined in order to filter the junk orders.

Development of the acceptance and approval process for above is in progress.

Pricelist / Shipping cost / Zone:
Completed the content management for editing the pricelist, defining country, zone, to calculate the shipping cost, etc.

Specification of volume discounts with respect to each currency is under development.

Computation of Tax structure & EMD completed.

Danke. Passieren Sie bitte Ihre Anmerkungen.

Week / Woche - 23:

Details of registration of domain sought from Germany still awaited. Changes in workflows being implemented as described below.

Development Activities:

Administration:

Completed the workflow for configuration of tax structure, discount structure, EMD%.

Programming the computation of shipping cost with respect to weight, destination and despatch location is going on.

Completed the development of Customer part, change paswd option, User access control and its in the testing phase.

Country:
Identification of country automatically as our webpage get loaded in the customer place got completed and displaying the pricelist / shipping costs, etc corresponding to the country concerned . Now it is in the testing phase.

Regular / Special offers / Auctions:
Since special offers may have different despatch agencies, it has been decided to seperate the work flows for regular / special & auctions.
Development of special offers procedures got completed & it is in the testing phase.
Integration of regular offers along with tax structure/ discounts involved & the shipping cost is under development.

Danke. Passieren Sie bitte Ihre Anmerkungen.

Week / Woche - 22:

Based on the changed approach to setting up and launching the site as directed by client, plans have been revised in order to launch the online shop for India as the test phase. It is now planned to use the India address and contact details, with the Toolscout name and present bank account for accepting payments, to start with, for the proof of concept. Later, this may be changed as desired by client.

From discussions held with Indian Client, it is evident that there will be limited items available for immediate despatch. Hence it is planned to include an indication for stocked and non stocked items and regular orders with payment will be possible only for stocked items. If order includes non stocked items, the order will be recorded by the system, without accepting advance payment, and it must be progressed by client through normal procedures.

Indian Clients have been requested to decide on items to be offered on special offers and auctions.

Project delay on account of this unexpected change in plans is inevitable. Efforts will however be made to cover up the lost time.

Details of registration of Toolscout domain sought from Germany, is still awaited and thus hosting of temporary site will be delayed till end June (Provided information is received by mid June).

Development Activities:
Administration:
Completed the design work & the development process started to accomdate the tax/duty structure, discount structure (individual customer & volume discount), shipping cost - based on zone & weight, EMD percentage, etc (for India operations only).

Customer upgradation, Change password option, User Access control option, etc are under development.

Regular/Special offers:
Integration of tax, discount, shipping cost, etc to the total order value is going on.

Danke. Passieren Sie bitte Ihre Anmerkungen.

Week / Woche - 21:

List of Activities to be addressed by Toolscout team was presented by BITS to Toolscout team on May 19th.

German Client had immediately replied for the list of activities. Based on their reply, the decision was made to test run the Toolscout in India initially and slowly it will be extended to other countries.

As advised, a meeting was held in BITS, with Indian Clients to decide on the business process of Toolscout. A few points needs to be clarified with top management about the legalities involved.

Development of web pages:
Option to calculate the tax structure, discount structure, net weight for shipping cost, etc are under development.

CMS: Development of upload the pdf file for product info page got completed.

Week / Woche - 20:

Director's Visit:

A demonstration was shown to German & Indian Top Management on the functioning and look & Feel of the ToolScout Site and the entire work flow was explained.

There were apprehensions raised on the readiness to start sales, in terms of organising the business processes, availability of stocks etc. There is also a point of view that we can pend Indian operations for the time being till processes get streamlined. Also, some decisions are awaited.

MD-Client directed that a list of points to be addressed by Toolscout team be sent for progressing actions.

Development of Website:
Administration:
Customer registration/notification/approval/agreement:
Customer registration completed along with email notification, downloading the agreement & approval of customers of different categories completed.
Indian Director had asked to include the option for Credit limit for each customer.

User Management & Menu control:
Development of user management procedures with cascading menu's are completed with menu control for each users.

CMS:
Development of CMS for regular offers completed along with few refinements like an additional option to load a pdf file for product information page.

Week / Woche - 19:

Guten Morgen zu Allen

Development of Website:
Administration:
Customer registration/notification/approval/agreement:
Customer registration completed along with email notification, downloading the agreement & approval of customers of different categories completed. Both testing & further refinements will be completed by week 20.

User Management & Menu control:
Development of user management procedures with cascading menu's are going on.

CMS:
Development of CMS for regular offers is completed. Testing & further refinements will be completed by week 20.

Web Pages:
Regular Offers:
Development of Order processing for regular offers is going on. various factors like discounts, taxes, shipping cost based on nett weight, etc are under development.

Danke. Passieren Sie bitte Ihre Anmerkungen.

Week / Woche - 18:

Guten Morgen zu Allen

Immediate Requirement:
Toolscout Team has been requested to provide the following information:-
VAT: applicable different Taxes / Duties / levies, etc that are applicable for various countries.

Development of Website:
CMS / Web Pages:
Refinements post testing being effected. It was observed that the screen space is inadequate for all the details so an additional details screen as a popup has been designed.

Customer registration/notification/approval/agreement:
First iteration completed. Workflows for approval of registrations redefined and development commenced. Both development and testing will be completed by week-18.

Regular offers:
The design part is completed for the complete range of products including the accessories. The database design under progress & development will be completed in week-18.

Hosting of Site:
P.O. been placed. Temp site planned to be up by month end.

Danke. Passieren Sie bitte Ihre Anmerkungen.

Week / Woche - 17:

Draft Agreement for Toolscout Project:
Agreement on the Scope, development and maintenance responsibilities for the Toolscout Online Toolshop project submitted to German Clients.

Website Hosting:
As per the discussion with German Client, the Toolscout website will be hosted by Shimas networks, India.

Website Template:
German Client had approved the second template for the Toolscout Website. All developmental activities will be based on the second template.

Development of Website:

CMS:
Based on the test reports, further refinements & enhancements are happening in Special offers, Auctions & in product info page.

Customer registration/notification/approval:
The complete process was reviewed and further modified based on the requirements. The new process is in the development stage.

Regular offers:
Product list of regular offers is ready. The database design is going on for regular offers based on the selection categories. All related accessories to be listed along with the product list.
The web page design is going on for regular offers.

Danke. Passieren Sie bitte Ihre Anmerkungen.

Week 16 / Woche 16:

Guten Morgen zu Allen

Website Template Link:

http://www.toolscout.net

Development of Web pages:
CMS:
Development of special offers & auctions completed and the testing is going on. Based on the test comments & other suggestions minor changes were done for the better look n feel of the page & more user friendly.

Product info page (product details page) completed. Based on the test comments & suggestions, the page was redesigned to be more informative & expected to complete in week 17 including the testing.

Web page - Home page:

Development of home page got completed which includes the master page, the listing of special offers & auctions.

Special offers page completed without the payment procedure, which will be included after the confirmation of payment gateway procedures.

Auctions: Development of Auction page & its procedures got completed. Based on the test results & suggestions, more refinement is going on. Expect to complete the entire flow in week 17.

Regular offers: Extraction of details from the catalog got completed.

Danke. Passieren Sie bitte Ihre Anmerkungen.

Week 15:

Website Template:
Finalized the website template with two variants of logo & given to the client. Use the follwng link to check out,
http://www.toolscout.net

Development of Web pages:
Auctions:
Development of work flow completed. Fine tuning of the pages with other required options, different models & color combinations are going on. Complete Auction process will be given to testing at the end of week no.16.

Content Management System:
The process of fine tuning is going on in Special offers & Auctions based on few changes made.
The development of product details page is going on.

Email notifications to Customers & Toolscout team are tested in various models.

Hallo !! to Tool Scout Team

http://www.toolscout.net

Week 13 - 14:

Development of Web Pages:

Auctions:
Development of Auction pages is almost in the completion stage. Hopefully it will be given for testing in Week-15. Further refinements are going on.

Special offers:
Development of special offers page is going on.

Templates:
The final template is getting shape slowly where more thought process is involved. The sample templates are published online to give a live feel & effect to the client.

Administration:
Automatic Email notifications & Confirmation from Customers through Email link is completed and its in the testing phase.

Content Management System:
Special Offers:
Testing completed. All required changes are completed based on the test report and it is in the final review i.e., about the look & feel of the page.

Auctions:
Development of CMS for Auctions is completed & will be given to testing in Week 15.
Further refinement expected based on the test results.

Sample Templates for Final selection:-

Based on the preferred design we have created 5 sample pages with minor variations. These have been hosted on our website so that you may review the actual look & feel on a web browser.

Description of the samples are given below:

1. Sample-1: This is the basic design that was selected by you.
2. Sample-2: This is the modified design based on your suggestions (which we hope we 've understood correctly !).
3. Sample-3: same as 2 above but with the tail extended.
4. Sample-4: what we recommend as a modified design. We have reduced the bottom panel to save space.
5. Sample-5: same design as 4 above, showing what an internal page will look like... (this is why we recommend sample-4).
6. Sample-6: The old preferred design... just in case there are second thoughts !

Please post your comments.

(Pasted from deleted comment)

We seem to have arrived at a point where the design is more or less finalised, at least from the developer's perspective i.e. we hope we can go ahead with building the other pages following this template, without any major reversals! We have put up two more samples of the same design, optimised for space and allignment etc. Please have a look at these

links..

http://www............/Prototype/Default1.aspx

http://................../Prototype/Default2.aspx

We have put some of the menu items as buttons on the left side to reduce clutter and space. These will also have text tooltips that appear when mouse is placed over them. Moving the rest of the menus to the top did not appear good so we have kept it at the bottom; anyway, these are only the reference links. The screen size has been optimised for most common display settings, and for accomodating everything. Placing the punch line at the bottom serves the underscore our USP or 'bottom line'. The advertisement panel on the right provides a means of generating additional revenue and also for advertising our own products. this panel will not exist in the internal pages.The second sample is the same but with the logo changed. Please indicate your choice...

Week No.11 - 12:

CMS (Content Management System):

Development of CMS for SPECIAL OFFERS is completed and now its in the Testing Phase. Further refinement expected based on the test results.

Development of Web Pages:
Auctions:
Development of Auctions page is going on.

First the home page with list of products to be auctioned.
Second lead page will have the information about the product & its related bidding informations and option to enter the bid amount & Qty.
Third - sub page for Product details which will have the technical informations about a product and its drawings & photo image.

Customer Registration:
Customer registration is completed & now its in the testing phase.

Email Confirmation:
Once the customer registered, an automatic email will be sent to the customer email id to confirm his email id. After receing the email, the customer should confirm it by clicking the link provided. Once the customer clicks the link, after the validation, the email flag will be confirmed in the database automatically.

Website Templates presented to Tool Scout Team:-

Week No:10 :-
Website templates were presented to Tool Scout team with 5 variants (sample templates by mixing together different logos, backgrounds, etc).

Summary of Development Activities week 1 to 10 :-

Development of Web pages:
Week No.7-9 :
Development of Master page.
Coding of Login process flow.
Development of Customer registration page.

Templates:
Week No.6-9 :
Designing of final Templates with variants.

Payment Gateway:
Week no.5-9 :
Payment gateway is to be outsourced to third party. Details of different payment gateway solution providers with their pricing & other details which best suits our needs were analysed. Suggestions will be sent to Tool Scout team for finalization in due course.

Web Hosting:
Week no.6-9 :
Analysis & collation of website hosting options. Hosting will be finalised in Apr with Tool Scout team.


Content Management System (CMS):
January 2009 :
Week No.1 :
Designing the CMS system for Auctions, Special offers & Regular offers to add/edit/delete the products offered in Auctions, Special offers & Regular offers. Secured login option provided to allow only the authorized users and an additional approval option for the changes made in the existing system to make it more secured

Week No.2 :
Allotment of work to concerned developers and scheduling.

Week No.3 - Week No.9 :
Development of CMS prototypes and workflows.

Database Design & Development:
Week No.1 - Week No.10:
Database design & development. Decided on the database to be used and tables designed to support functional flows.

28th January 2009 - Quotation

Quotation for the project submitted to client

24th January 2009, Tool Scout Presentation @ BITS.

Head BITS gave a presentation on the Tool Scout project to the client and explained the Scope & the entire work flow of Tool Scout with the help of a “Mind Map” along with a presentation and a “demonstration” of the Content Management System.