Merry Christmas!
Posted on 2017-12-22

On behalf of the entire Pro-Active Websites and Cutting Edge Solutions team, we wish you a happy and healthy Christmas and a very prosperous New Year.

We are very proud and honored to be a part of your business and look forward to serving you in 2018 and beyond!

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Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted on 2017-11-22

From our Pro-Active Websites and Cutting-Edge Solutions Family: we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving filled with fun and family and gratitude.

Our offices will be closed on Friday, November 24, BUT All support teams will be on duty. Everyone will be checking voice and email and will return your messages promptly!

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Visit Pro-Active Websites at The NAMM Show!
Posted on 2017-01-09

Pro-Active Websites is once again happy to be exhibiting at The NAMM Show * January 19-22, 2017 * Anaheim Convention Center * Anaheim, CA

Please stop by and ask our reps about the many new features and enhancements available for your Pro-Active Website.

See us at Booth 4933!

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NEW Feature: Abandoned Cart Notifications
Posted on 2016-07-06

So.. a visitor to your website has selected a few items.. then DISAPPEARED! Annoying? Yes!

Now a Pro-Active Websites Responsive system can send those visitors TWO reminders that you craft. First one is the day after they abandon their cart and the second notice is one week later. Each message that you craft also features the items they have left behind.

Contact us for more information.

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Pro-Active Websites Announces Integration with Reverb.com
Posted on 2016-05-10

Are you a dealer with a store also on Reverb.com? If you are, AND you upgraded your site to our new responsive platform, we have GREAT news for you.

You can now push over items to your Reverb.com store from the products area in your Pro-Active Website! It's easy. Contact Matt Smith, National Sales Manager for more information.

If you haven't upgraded, talk to Matt about our special upgrade offer only available during the month of May. Matt can be reached by phone at: 847-398-5444, x104 or via email at matt@pro-activewebsites.com

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Happy New Year From Pro-Active Websites
Posted on 2015-12-30

From our family to yours....

Thank you for being a part of our family and allowing us to help you enhance your business. May you and yours have a healthy, happy and prosperous 2016!


The offices of Pro-Active Websites will be closed Thursday, December 16, 2015 and Friday, January 1, 2016. Should you have any support issues, please email our support team: support@pro-activewebsites.com. For all other issues, please contact Matt Smith, National Director of Sales and Marketing: matt@pro-activewebsites.com

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Visit Pro-Active Websites at The NAMM Show!
Posted on 2015-12-18

Pro-Active Websites is once again happy to be exhibiting at The NAMM Show * January 21-24, 2016 * Anaheim Convention Center * Anaheim, CA

Please stop by and ask our reps about the many new features and enhancements available for your Pro-Active Website.

See us at Booth 5725 in Hall B, across the the Hal Leonard Booth!

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Cutting-Edge Solutions Unveils Pro-Active Commerce System
Posted on 2015-02-20

Check out the latest news coverage from the Music & Sound Retailer magazine about our new Sell Everywhere system.

Check the link: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/b4f7b938#/b4f7b938/10

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NEW! Sell Everywhere POS Now Available!
Posted on 2015-01-16

We are proud to announce an exciting new component to our Pro-Active Commerce suite of eCommerce tools. Available now, our new "Sell Everywhere" Point-of-Sale (POS) system seamlessly works with the Pro-Active Website platform giving you complete control over customer service and checkout.

Sell Everywhere POS brings you out from behind the counter for an improved point of sale experience. The system can be run from tablets giving your sales staff unparalleled flexibility and efficiency. Pro-Active Commerce gives retailers the best way to personalize every sale and build relationships that improve customer loyalty.

The new solution combines instore and online technology, mobile computing and wireless infrastructure to give every retailer the most effective sales and marketing tools in the industry. It integrates seamlessly with the flagship Superstore eCommerce platform, giving retailers the best of both worlds. It allows for the completion of sales transactions, rentals, lessons, reoccurring charges, online payments, vendor purchase orders, create email blasts, digital catalogs, sales promotions, discount programs, instant product brochures and much more.

"Sell Everywhere" combined with the Pro-Active Vendor Network program, enables retailers to easily sell thousands of name brand items, updated by the vendors with fulfillment options including in store pick up or direct drop shipping. Vendor product feeds from leading suppliers: Yamaha, Davitt & Hanser, M&M Merchandisers, US Music Corp., SHS International, Harris-Teller, Hal Leonard, D'Addario, and dozens more are available.

Put your staff where they can have the most positive influence on your business, namely the selling floor! We eliminate the restraints that typical POS terminals dictate. With this new tablet integration, your sales staff will be able to focus more on the customer, create cross-selling opportunities, speed up the checkout process and build meaningful relationships.

Whether you want to speed up the checkout process or make purchasing a more pleasant experience, retailers need to use the most cutting-edge technology to increase their sales and profits. This ensures that every visit to the store builds customer confidence and sales. Our goal is to ensure that every visit both online and in store, offers customers a great shopping experience.

Please call Pro-Active Sales at 847-398-5444 to learn more and sign up!

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Visit Us at Winter NAMM!
Posted on 2014-12-29

Pro-Active Websites is proud to be exhibiting at the Winter NAMM held in Anaheim, CA Jan 22 - 25.

Please stop by and ask our reps about the many new features and enhancements available for your Pro-Active Website.

See us at Booth 4418 in Hall C!

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Visit us at Summer NAMM
Posted on 2014-06-27

Pro-Active Websites is proud to be exhibiting at the Summer NAMM held in Nashville, TN July 17 - 19.

Please stop by and ask our reps about the many new features and enhancements available for your Pro-Active Website.

See us at Booth 801!

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Join Us at NAMM!
Posted on 2014-01-16

Cutting-Edge Solutions (parent company of Pro-Active Websites and The Generator) will be exhibiting at the Winter NAMM Show Jan. 23 - 26 in Anaheim, CA.

We are announcing several new products and features at the show!

Please visit us at Booth 4418 in Hall C. If you wish to make an appointment, please email us at sales@pro-activewebsites.com

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New Feature Added: Event Calendar
Posted on 2013-05-10

New Event Calendar Tool enabled for Superstore users.

Now you are able to easily list your store's events using the Event Calendar tool. It's easy to add events using the built-in rich text editor.

You may upload pictures, add links, bold, center, highlight or underline text, spell check, etc. This is much like using Word or any other word processing program.

You may create the event details in an HTML editor and copy/paste the code in to the workspace.

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Pro-Active Superstore Websites Are Now Mobile Ready!
Posted on 2013-02-01

Cutting-Edge Solutions, parent company of Pro-Active Websites is pleased to announce that their eCommerce solution for retailers is now mobile ready.

Bill Walzak, CEO and President states, "Any Pro-Active dealer may now enhance their website with the new mobile format option. As the number of smart phone users continues to grow, this timely enhancement helps dealers reach more customers and create more selling opportunities."

David Hall, Vice President of Sales and Marketing added, "Our system offers over 200 features and provides dealers with the best value and ease-of-use in the industry. The new mobile format tool is extremely easy to navigate and helps shoppers quickly find what they're looking for in a familiar format."

Walzak adds "with 71% of shoppers using their smart phones to make purchasing decisions, a mobile format is essential to the dealer's succuss."

Hall adds "it's important that our dealers utilize every tool within our system to reach and sell to more customers. The Mobile App puts the dealer in the right place and matches their store to the preferred shopping method used my more and more consumers!"

Please Click Here For More Information


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Join Us at NAMM! Booth 4418 Hall C
Posted on 2013-01-21

Cutting-Edge Solutions (parent company of Pro-Active Websites and The Generator) will be exhibiting at the Winter NAMM Show Jan. 24 - 27 in Anaheim, CA.

We are announcing several new features at the show!

Please visit us at Booth 4418 in Hall C. If you wish to make an appointment, please email us at sales@pro-activewebsites.com

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New Feature! Create a Sort Order for specific products within designated categories
Posted on 2012-11-27

You may now modify the sort order of how products appear when browsing categories.

This is a great tool to allow you to control what products are viewed FIRST while consumers browse product categories.

Use this tool to list your most important products, best deals, closeouts and more.

There is no limit to how many products may be assigned a sort order position.

Please watch the VIDEO TUTORIAL within the Product Manager section within the Video Tutorials Menu or view the simple instructions within the HELP pages.

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Updated User Guide now available for download
Posted on 2012-11-27

The Pro-Active Website User Guide has been revised and update. It is now ready for downloading. You may access the guide from the HELP/FAQ home page.

From your Control Panel, simply click on the question mark at the top-right of the menu. A new window opens and you will see the link to the guide at the top of the HELP/FAQ page.

You may right click on the link and save the guide to your computer for future reference and printing.

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NEW FEATURE: Cart Discount Tool is Now Enabled
Posted on 2012-11-16

New Feature!  Cart Discount Tool

Now Pro-Active Dealers can create immediate, no code required discounts for website sales!

Want to run a special weekend sale but there's little time to promote it? Or, running a Black Friday limited offer sales event?
Just want to run a short-duration sale to spur some web sales?

The new Cart Dicount Tool enables you to create purchase level amounts and correlating discounts with no-programming required!

For example, let's say that you want to offer customers 5% on orders of $199.00, 10% on orders of $499.00, 15% on orders $999.00 and 20% on orders $1299.99

The new Cart Discount Tool will automatically apply the correct discount when your customers reach the required amount!

This is a tremendous tool and will be able to help you in many ways!

Click here for instructions on activating this incredible sales generating tool!  http://www.pro-activewebsites.com/faq/info.php?qid=153&catid=6


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Pro-Active Adds New Features
Posted on 2012-07-20

Drag-N-Drop capability has been added to websites utilizing the Standard Template format. Please check with support@pro-activewebsites.com to check eligibility prior to moving column components.

The New Logo Manager has been added simplifying how logos are updated within your Pro-Active Website. There is no longer the need to manage your logos via FTP.

Now dealers can create pages and have them be accessible via link only. This is an ideal tool for creating Secret Sales pages, specific school pages, individual teacher information pages and much more. Detailed Instructions have been added to the HELP/FAQ area.

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Visit Pro-Active Websites at Summer NAMM
Posted on 2012-07-01

Pro-Active Websites will be exhibiting at the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville.

Stop by Booth #320 to learn about our new features and see a one-on-one demo.

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Webinar Invitation: SEO Tips for your Superstore Website
Posted on 2012-05-10

When:  Thursday May 24, 2012 11:00 AM CST  RSVP Required

Attendees Will Learn:
  • How to manage SEO information within your website
  • How to add general keywords and meta-tags
  • How to add keywords and meta-tags to individual items
  • Overall SEO strategies
Who Should Attend:    Everyone with Website ADMIN access to your website who wants to learn more about adding products

Click Here to Register:
http://www.shop.pro-activewebsites.com/information.php?pID=16


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Join Us for a Live Webinar!
Posted on 2012-03-12

Join Us for a Live Webinar!

Use the Built-in Tools to Promote and Drive Traffic to Your Website!

When:
* Thursday March 15, 2012 11:00 AM CST RSVP Required

Attendees Will Learn:
* How to add Featured Products to your Home Page
* How to instantly create eSpecials Email Blasts
* How to activate and utilize the Contest Manager
* and more!

Who Should Attend:
* Everyone with Control Panel access to your website who wants to
use these powerful tools to reach more customers and sell more products!

Call us now at 847-398-5444 Ext #105 to register!

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Join us at NAMM
Posted on 2011-12-08

We'll be exhibiting at NAMM. Please stop by at Booth 4323 in Hall C

Thank you!

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Free shipping icon for master/slave items
Posted on 2011-08-15

Previously, you needed to list Free Shipping details within the description for Master/Slave items. Now your Superstore allows you to add an icon to these products drawing attention to them.

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Ability to use fixed discounts and dollar amounts for affiliate codes
Posted on 2011-08-15

This enhancement allows you to create Discount and Affiliate codes with specific discounts or dollar amounts.

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Gift card payment module and message creator
Posted on 2011-08-15

The website can now accept Gift Card payments.

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Option to indicate specific products to never ship free
Posted on 2011-06-13

Streamline your Free Shipping strategy and indicate "Item never ships free" on designated products.

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Ability to sell products below MAP ("too low to show")
Posted on 2011-06-13

If you price an item below MAP, the website will show an icon station "Too Low To Show". Once the item is added to the Shopping Cart, customers are able to see the price.

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New Warranty Field Added to Add Products Tools
Posted on 2011-05-18

An additional field has been added to the Add Products Tool allowing you to list the duration of the item's warranty.

This entry is viewable on the product detail page and provides your customers with instantly seen warranty duration details.

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Ability to Add Comments and PO Number During InfoSync
Posted on 2011-05-18

Now you have the ability to add comments to your vendor and your own unique purchase order number when sending an order to the vendor for drop-shipping.

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Mark products as in-store only or online only
Posted on 2011-05-04

You now have the ability to designate products as In Store, Online Only or both. This simple to use feature will eliminate your customer's confusion of where and how they can purchase products.

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New Customer Loyalty Rewards Module
Posted on 2011-05-04

Now you can create a discount schedule for repeat customers to receive deeper discounts. You set the thresholds and discount amounts. When the customer passes a threshold, the will automatically receive the discount on their orders. No need for special codes, your parameters make it simple!

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New Video Tutorials Menu Added to Help/FAQ
Posted on 2011-03-28

With the continued growth of our Video Tutorial Library, we've created a separate menu selection within the Help/FAQ website.

This will allow you to quickly browse all videos and easily select titles for viewing.

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Automatically Generate Small Images for Products
Posted on 2011-03-10

This time saving enhancement automatically resizes your large image for thumbnail use.

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Modify GPM per Product Feed
Posted on 2011-03-10

Now you have the ability to adjust your Gross Profit Margin for each specific product feed pushed to your website. This simplifies your pricing and eliminates the need for individual product or category adjustments.

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Stats for Unsold Carts and Customer Conversions
Posted on 2011-03-10

Now you are able to view any abandoned Shopping Carts complete with customer contact information. This will allow you to contact them to see why they did not complete the transaction.

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Downloadable Sheet Music Module
Posted on 2011-02-17

Dual purpose system allows customers to browse, view, purchase and print sheet music instantly either in your store or any place that have web access. We clear the credit card and you get a generous commission on every sale.

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Search engine friendly product & category URL's
Posted on 2011-02-17

Redesigned URL's are now better recognized by search engines. The name of the product is now included along with category details. This enhancement will have a big impact on your search rankings.

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Email notification when a review is submitted
Posted on 2011-02-17

You'll be notified when a customer submits a product review. Log in to your Control Panel and edit or delete the review prior to posting it to your website

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New feature "Dangling Carrot" !
Posted on 2010-07-19

It's designed to entice customers to continue shopping until they reach your free shipping point. The Free Shipping module must be enabled.

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Page Titles and Meta Tags Per Product
Posted on 2010-07-19

Currently our system now supports page title and meta tags per individual products.

Having custom meta tags/page titles for individual products should increase your rank with search engine companies if done properly.

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In-Store Pickup/Online Only Notification
Posted on 2010-07-06

Currently our system now supports a In-Store Pickup/Online Only notification.

Now customers can see if you physically have the product in your store's stock or if it is an online only product.

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Online Lesson Management Tool
Posted on 2010-02-28

Dealers can now allow authorized teachers to list open lesson times and students can book the lessons online using the website.

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Contest Manager Enhanced
Posted on 2010-02-24

The Contest Manager has been enhanced to allow dealers to include more details about the promotion. A Rich Text Editor has been added that enables dealers to add graphics, pictures and enhanced text to better promote the give-away.

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CAPTCHA Now Enabled to Inhibit SPAM
Posted on 2010-02-17

The Contact Us page now has the SPAM inhibiting CAPTCHA tool. Customers must type words prior to sending messages to the website.

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Gift Message Now Enabled
Posted on 2010-01-12

Customers now have the ability to add a Gift Message within the shopping cart.

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Pro-Active Websites Featured in Musical Merchandise Review:
Posted on 2009-12-06





Social Networking Tool Added to Product Detail and Contest Pages
Posted on 2009-11-25

Now customers who visit your Superstore website can easily share product or contest detail links with their friends on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and over 260 more websites.

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Improved PayPal Payment Module
Posted on 2009-10-21

Your Superstore website now has the ability to accept 3 different types of PayPal payments. Depending on your choice, you can set your shopping cart to accept PayPal Standard, PayPal Express or PayPal Payments Pro. Please visit www.paypal.com for program details.

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Superstore Websites Now Accepts Online Payments
Posted on 2009-08-05

Now your customers can make online payments for rentals, lessons or general payments. They simply select the type of payment, provide a few details and go through the shopping cart to make the payment. As with all other orders, you are notified once a payment is received.

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Support for Multiple Images Per Product
Posted on 2009-05-27

Dealers now are able to add multiple product view images for items sold within their Superstore websites. This is a tremendous new tool that will help increase sales.

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Pro-Active Websites Featured in Music Inc Magazine:
Posted on 2009-05-01

The way Bill Walzak sees it, music retailers are missing a boatload of sales - sales that don't require inventory or staff. Three years ago...

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Pro-Active Websites Invited to Speak at NAMM
Posted on 2008-06-22

Bill and David were invited to address NAMM-U attendees and discuss ideas and concepts for what makes a great website.

The highly-attended session offered insights regarding the advantages of turnkey websites and better ways to use their website to improve marketing to consumers.

NAMM invites Pro-Active's Bill Walzak and David Hall to give seminar at the Summer NAMM Show held in June 2008.

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Wins "Best in Show - Company to Watch" Award at 08 NAMM
Posted on 2008-02-06

Pro-Active Software sets the new standard for website creation, management and order fulfillment allowing music dealers to effectively compete on the Internet

Feb. 06, 2008 - Arlington Heights, IL. - Pro-Active Software Website Solution won a "Best in Show - Company to Watch" Award at the winter NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Show 2008, the largest music products trade show in the United States. Pro-Active Software was chosen as one of the "hottest" companies because of its full-featured, turnkey website solution and the highly effective suite of sales and marketing tools included within the websites built for music retailers.

A music store owner herself, Liane Rockley, of Rockley Music selected Pro-Active Software because she was impressed with the feature-packed program and how it can effectively help music dealers even the playing field on the Internet. She said, "As a store owner and advisor to the music industry, I have the privilege to be on the panel that selects the products and companies for the 'Best in Show' honors that happens at every NAMM Trade Show. During my recent search for 5 of my favorite exciting new products and companies unveiled at the 2008 Winter NAMM Show, I discovered Pro-Active Software and was extremely impressed with the bang for the buck this company provides music retailers.

She also commented on the built in Affiliate Program Manager that allows dealers to offer discounts to a wide range of groups. Liane said "for example, the Affiliate Program has the ability to allow the dealer to provide a discount to a local school music program and let the director stay in the loop by logging in to see what students have bought from the website. If a dealer provides a percentage of the sales to the school's music program, the directors can even see how much is in the account. What a great marketing tool and positive program for the community! "

Liane went on to say that "Pro-Active Software and their parent company, Mechanical Music have over 25 years experience in the music industry and understands what makes dealers successful. The websites they create for dealers are attractive, easy to manage, come pre-loaded with over 100,000 vendor drop-shippable products, and allow you to easily upload your own products. They even include a suite of powerful marketing tools to better help you integrate your brick and mortar business with your website."

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Bill Walzak & David Hall Featured in NAMM PlayBack Magazine
Posted on 2008-01-08