While we are still trying to squash more bugs than we would like, our new site has been up and running since December and the feedback from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. There is so much that's new about the site, that in addition to the usual news about new products, we'll cover a few new features in each blog post to help make sure everyone can take advantage of all that we've added. At the most basic level, the architecture of the new site is completely different and modern. This allowed us to make a custom site that works across all modern browsers as well as mobile devices. To compliment this, all the product photography on the site has been updated with much larger images that appear at a magnified size when you pass the cursor over them. Since most of our customers are purchasing products from us they have never seen in person, we've always felt it was extremely important to have the best possible photography and descriptions to help make up for that. When it comes to trade show displays, banner stands and other display hardware, many of our manufacturers don't share our belief in the importance of good photography, so when necessary, we took our own photos when the official versions weren't good enough. We couldn't do that for every product, but generally, we're pleased with the overall quality of images on the site. When it comes to printing materials, we did something we think is unique. We actually scanned samples of every material we offer so we could create an enlarged version that shows the color and texture of each print media. Of course, computer displays that aren't calibrated won't show the color accurately, but these still give a good relative view of the white point of each material. Being able to show the texture of each media is our favorite part of these new images, since it's very difficult to convey that to someone when they don't have the actual material in hand. We still offer printed samples by mail, but not everyone has the time to wait to see those, so these new scanned images are the next best thing to having an actual sample. We've simulated the printed images on each to show the effect of the color and texture, and with giclee fine art materials such as watercolor papers and canvas, where the materials themselves are very similar, often the white point and texture are the main differences. Being able to see that on the site should be very helpful when selecting a material for a print job. Textured wall covering materials, floor decals, fabrics and banner materials tend to each have different qualities that make them appropriate for a particular use, so the texture is not usually what determines the selection of a specific material. However, being able to give our customers an idea of what these textured materials look like when printed is a big deal to us, so we're really excited about this simple addition to the site. One unfortunate side effect of such a complete redesign of the site is that our existing customers have to create new accounts and their old order history is history. With all the benefits the new site offers, this seemed like a fair trade off, but any customers who need help finding what they've ordered in the past can contact us to look up order details for the past few years. Since our old site was completely custom, it didn't have all the bells and whistles that most of us have come to expect from online shopping sites. Being able to see tracking numbers for orders that have shipped when logged in to your account is one example of a feature that we have, but didn't before. Other new account functions include managing any product reviews you've written, tags you've created, or items you've added to a wishlist. You can also ask questions about particular products, and we can have your questions, along with our answers, show up on the product pages so others with the same questions can benefit. You can also add items to a shopping cart and turn that into a quote that can be used for approval, and the quote contains a link that can be used to order without having to recreate the order later. In addition to the standard Reorder functions, we've added the ability to choose certain items from a previous order to be reordered, rather than having to duplicate the entire order. We had this request in the past from customers who wanted to repeat an order, but leave off an item and this gives them that ability. The last new account function we've added is a new referral program. Since we've always valued the word of mouth recommendations our customers have provided over the years, we liked the idea of encouraging customers to take the time to refer us to any friends or colleagues that might benefit from our services, and reward those customers when their friends make purchases. There's a Referred Friends section of the account page where customers see which friends they've referred have actually signed up for accounts, see what rewards they've earned, and refer more friends. The Invite a Friend link sends an e-mail to up to 5 people at a time and can be used for direct referrals. There is also a Broadcast Link that can be cut and pasted into e-mails, blogs or other online posts for exposure to a larger audience, and there are also popular social media linking tools to post to those sites. The way the program works is that when a referred person uses the link to create an account on our site, they are connected to the account of the person who referred them. When they make their first purchase, the person who sent the referral earns $10 for every $100 spent. These credits can be used when ordering to pay for up to 20% of each purchase, and any unused credits stay in your account for future use. It's possible to earn substantial discounts with this program, but of course, this is designed to get new customers to try our services, so referrals sent to existing customers won't quality, nor will sign ups from the same company or billing address. Otherwise, we've provided the tools for our customers to share this link with as many people as possible for the greatest benefit to both us and our customers, so we hope it will be big success that benefits everyone. We'll discuss more new features in our next post, along with some new product information, but as always, we welcome feedback on the new site and will try to incorporate any recommended features that we think would benefit our customers.