Build A Niche Store Upgrades To Version 3
A few days ago Build A Niche Store has updated its software to version 3. Since I have a couple niche stores running with the BANS v2, I should really look into the upgrade. For those who don’t know what BANS is and why you need it, you can read my post “How Much It Costs To Build A Niche Store” from last month. It is basically a platform for us to build our niche stores on. A better example of what BANS does is it allows us to startup a supermarket without having to build it. All we have to do is tell the supermarket what type of items to be shown on the shelves.
Automatic Sitemap Generation
Release V3 of the BANS software doesn’t really give you a big surprise. There are 3 add-ons I especially like from the new release though. The first one is the automatic sitemap generation. Before the new release, if we want to have a sitemap for our niche stores, we have to do it manually. But after you upgraded to V3, a complete sitemap will be automatically appeared on your store navigation.
Affiliate Link Cloaking
Another feature that I like from V3 is the ability to cloak your affiliate links. Without this feature, when your visitor hovers over a particular item from eBay, it would display “http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-37018-2978-0/1?AID=1042…” the string goes on forever and the visitor would know he is about to land on an eBay page after the click. Now, with cloaking, the hover will show “http://www.buyasuseee.com/item/NEW-ASUS-Eee-PC-8G…”. It looks more professional and the chance of the visitor clicking it will be higher.
More Control Over Individual Pages
The last feature I like is the improved admin interface. Aside from the cleaner look and feel, the new BANS allows more control over each individual pages. We are now able to create content before and after the listings on our store pages. Also, we can set different banner or Google ads to be displayed on different pages.
A Cleaner and More Functional Interface
If you are already using BANS and haven’t upgraded to V3 yet, I would recommend you to do so. The upgrade is very straight forward and the instructions should be sent to your email by the Build A Niche Store team. However, after the first day the new release went live, people found some issues with link cloaking. The BANS team acted fast and provided the fix without the same day. You can download the fix here. Simply overwrite the existing file inside.
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Tags: affiliate link, bans, bans admin, bans fix, Build A Niche Store, cloak, google ads, link cloaking, sitemap generation, software, upgrade, v3
