Category Archives: Blog

Secret to Successful Content-Marketing

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The Secret to Successful Content-Marketing In 2018 Is Having a Strategy, So Get One.

BCSE is revamping our content-marketing strategy and we’re following these great tips to guide us.  Why not let us help you get your content-marketing off the ground and where you want it to be?  We’ve seen a lot of changes since 2002 & want to use that experience to help you take your online presence to the next level!

Four Tips to Help you Prepare your Strategy for 2018

1. Adjust your mobile first strategy.

Switch your strategy to creating your website in a mobile friendly version and then offering desktop functionality, instead of vice versa.  After all, NO ONE likes a site that is not mobile friendly & mobile will account for 80% of all internet usage in 2018

2. Get more creative and personal with your content.

Visual content is great and was huge in 2017.  2018 is the time to expand on that and feature high-quality live videos that allow the customer to see behind the scenes & operational activities.

3. Prepare for new platforms.

One word, chatbots.  If you aren’t using them, let’s figure out a way to incorporate chatbots for your site.  Customers love the engagement and interaction.

4. Don’t give up on email. Get better.

79 percent of marketers said email was the most successful distribution channel in 2017. This was in comparison to blogs and Social media. That means you probably just need to approach email differently in the coming year.

Contact us to help you create and implement your content-marketing strategy for 2018! For more information on this topic, read the base article in its entirety.

We’re Decking the Halls at BCSE!

BCSE 12 Days of Christmas Event!

‘Tis the season to deck the halls and at our office and celebrate all that we’ve achieved this past year!  Our tree is decorated and the stockings have all been hung with care.  Now, it’s time to start our gift giving and we’d like to kick that off to our customers in our 12 Days of Christmas Event that will start on Monday, 12/4/17 & run through 12/19/17!

Each Day we will offer a different discount on our store that will be valid for that day only.  Check back each day and get some great deals for your site!  Happy Holidays and thank you for your continued support!

 

BCSE Celebrates 15 Year Anniversary!

15 Years of Business for BCSE!

November was an exciting month for BCSE! We celebrated our 15 year anniversary with an open house and ribbon cutting at our office location at 486 Richland Avenue.

Since establishing their company in 2002 in the basement of their home, Carrie & Brandon Saunders have grown BCS Engineering to 7 full-time and 3 part-time employees providing ecommerce, shopping cart & hosting expertise to a world-wide client base. We are passionate about helping others grow their businesses and finding the right solutions to help our customers succeed!

We thank you, our customers and friends, for supporting us on this terrific journey.  Here’s to many more years of serving you all near and far while also supporting our local community!

X-Cart Layaway Mod Available for Holiday Shopping

Online X-Cart Layaway Available Now!

We’ve recently rolled out a Layaway feature for our terrific customer at Hyatt Coins and have found that the interest level is high among our client base for something similar on their ecommerce stores.  With the national trend of paying down debt and not running up credit card bills, we’ve seen a need for online customers to offer layaway options to their clientele. Below is an example of the layaway option that we implemented for our customer Hyatt Coins.

 

Features

The layaway plan is simple and easy and allows the customer to pay for a purchase over time.  They simply place their order online as they normally would, and select “Layaway” under the Payment Method.

  • Items eligible for the layaway plan will have a blue button that says “Layaway Available for this Item”
  • Fully customizable layaway period & terms
  • Upon receipt of a predetermined non-refundable deposit, item is removed from inventory and layaway term is activated
  • Layaway surcharge can be applied
  • Offer shipping or pick up at your local storefront
  • Special orders: You can do a layaway on special orders. A deposit will be processed and the layaway period starts when the product comes in.
  • Making payments is simple and can be managed through the customer’s online account

How to Add this Feature to your Online Store

Contact us for a free quote to customize this mod specifically for your ecommerce store.  Tell us what you’re thinking and we can make it work for you!

 

Is Your Site Compliant with the New Google Security Standards?

Do you have an SSL Cert on your site?

Google has been urging users to move to HTTPS encrypted sites for some time.  Starting in October, if your site isn’t encrypted with an SSL cert, Google will start marking pages that collect password information or credit card information as “Not Secure” in the web browser.  This will affect your Google ranking as well as your sales conversions from your site.  Customers want to be sure that their information is secure and if that is in question they will buy from someone else that has taken the steps needed to stay compliant.

If you’re not using HTTPS and have a contact form, of any kind on your website, it’s likely that you are in this group.  Google wants to provide a secure surfing environment for internet users and the important thing that Google is looking for is the Green HTTPS in the browser window (see below):

Basic Secure HTTPS In Browser Bar

What you should do to make sure you are Google compliant

Contact us or your host company to make sure that you have a valid SSL cert and that your url begins with HTTPS.  We have extensive hosting experience and installing SSL Certificates is nothing new to us!

How to Change Setbacks into Success

Being in business since 2002 has allowed us to experience both ups & downs of running a small business.  We are constantly striving to provide the best customer service while looking for ways to continue to grow our customer base and product lines.  Sometimes we hit a home run, sometimes we swing & miss, but that’s all part of running a business.  We found this great article that epitomizes what we do when we encounter setbacks.  Three simple tips:

  1. When in Doubt, Pause
  2. Know You’re in Good Company
  3. Never Give Up!

We love to see our customers as well as our competition succeed!  We take pride in helping our customers meet our goals and love the challenge of seeing our competitors move forward as well.  Healthy competition keeps us on our toes and we love stepping up to the challenge to keep BCSE recognized as experts in ecommerce across the globe.  Contact us for more information on how we can help you or to request further information.

 

X-Cart Feed Manager is Back!

BCSE now has the source code and is supporting the former Firetank X-Cart Feed Manager Mod!  The updated mod works  through PHP 7 and X-Cart versions 4.7.x  Available as a bundle or purchase each feed separately.  Find out more details or purchase this terrific mod on our website.  We’re excited to offer this new mod coupled with our outstanding customer service for all of your support questions.

Integrate Payments with Authorize.net Accept.js

Are you looking for an easier way to integrate payments while reducing PCI DSS scope?  Look, no further! Accept.js is the perfect solution and will offer you control over the customer experience without sending PCI data through your merchants’ servers.  Accept.js replaces Direct Post Method (DPM) with a modern implementation that doesn’t require a post-back. It can be used just like any other payment type in the Authorize.Net API and is a breeze to implement.

Don’t have Authorize.net?  Sign up now and feel confident in your PCI compliance! Contact Us with any questions or concerns that you have.

Critical Firefox Update Now Available

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Firefox Update Information

We are encouraging all of our clients to update their Firefox to version 50.0.2 or greater to correct the vulnerability that was recently discovered. You can obtain this update by:

  • opening Firefox
  • clicking the box in the far right hand upper corner
  • clicking the “?”
  • clicking “About Firefox”
  • launching the update

For more information regarding this fix, please read this advisory or contact us with any questions that you may have.

Emergency Bulletin- Major Firefox Vulnerability

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We’re publishing this as an emergency bulletin for our customers and the larger web community. A few hours ago a zero day vulnerability emerged in the Tor browser bundle and the Firefox web browser. Currently, it exploits Windows systems with a high success rate and affects Firefox versions 41 to 50 and the current version of the Tor Browser Bundle which contains Firefox 45  ESR.

We are urging our customers to follow the protocols provided in this Emergency Bulletin and cease use of Firefox until a patch has been released.  Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns that you may have regarding this announcement.