The integrations section of System Settings allows you to add select third-party services to your website. This can include "Analytics" (i.e., Google Analytics), "Disqus" to add the ability for visitors to comment on blog posts, "reCAPTCHA" to control spam within your forms, and "Stripe" payment processors for the store and forms.

Analytics

Analytics helps you track the use of your website, such as the number of visitors who have opened it and the pages they've viewed.

While all Analytics tools are designed to track the usage of your site, they are not all created equal. Google Analytics not only provides accurate information, it offers much more information. Although Google Analytics is free, you will need a Google email address to sign up for it.

Google instructions will provide you with some HTML code for your website. All you need to do is enter your Tracking ID in the field provided. By activating the service, we will automatically place the code on each page for you.

Using another analytics provider is also possible.

Add Analytics to your website.

  • From the dark gray Admin bar on the left side of your website, click the last Settings icon to bring up the settings menu.
  • Select Integrations.
  • In the Analytics section, "Type" field, click on the word 'None' and choose either Google Analytics v4
  • For Google Analytics v4, add your Measurement ID in the field provided. You can sign up for Google Analytics at https://analytics.google.com.
  • Go to Admin (sidebar at the bottom) from the Google Analytics home page.
  • Then select the account or create an account.
  • Next, in the second column, select or create the property.
  • Next, in the same column, click "Data Streams". Now, choose or create a web data stream.
  • Then copy the Measurement ID; this will look similar to this test code: "G-YM9DCG6129." 
    Here is a video of the steps to get your Measurement ID:
  • For Custom Analytics, add your Tracking HTML Code
  • Click Save

Remember that statistics collection only starts after you set up the connection. It will not show any information before the setup in Integrations.

View Analytics

  • From the dark gray  Admin bar to the left of your website, click the first "Dashboard" icon.
  • Select the link in the first bar chart at the bottom right corner.
    • If you have set up an Analytics option, the link will read "More Analytics." Clicking this link will take you to your Analytics service.
    • If you have not set up an Analytics option, the link will read "Set up Analytics". Clicking this link will take you to where you can set up the Analytics service of your choice.

Chatroll

Chatroll is an online chat tool that you can integrate into your site. You sign up for a chat account and link it to your website. Then, in the theme, you can include the chat interface code so that people can see the chat window and chat with each other.

  • Chatroll is a paid third-party service used almost exclusively by Conferences and ties into a Conference-only "Subscription" collection.
  • You can add other free and arguably better online chat options to your website, like "Tawk.to."

Get started with Chatroll by signing up at Chatroll.com/signup.

Disqus

You can allow website visitors to comment on your blog. Comments are optional, but if you use them, you will need Disqus. Disqus is a third-party plugin that helps you manage comments posted to your Blog.

You can sign up for Disqus and integrate your Disqus account with your website.

  • Setup a Disqus account
  • . at https://disqus.com/profile/signup/.
  • From the dark gray Admin bar to the left of your website, click the "Settings" ico.n
  • Select "Integrations"
  • The second section is labeled 'Disqus.'
  • Once you have set up your account, enter your "Short Name" in the field provided.
  • Click the blue "Save" button (you might have to scroll down to see it).

Signup Notes

There are two types of Disqus accounts. One allows you to make comments on other sites using Disqus. The other allows your site to allow comments to be made. You'll want the one that will enable comments to be made on your site.

reCAPTCHA v3

Creating forms on your website allows visitors to send you messages, but it has one drawback: Both humans and non-humans can access the forms added to your website. Non-human programs that automatically fill out forms and submit them create spam. You can eliminate most spam by adding “reCAPTCHA” to your website. reCAPTCHA will verify that the submission process is done by a human, not an automated one. reCAPTCHA does a great job of eliminating most of these unwanted submissions without being invasive to your visitors.

You can integrate reCAPTCHA on your forms to help prevent spam submissions. Signing up for a free account is easy, and the steps are simple to complete. When you have completed the integration with ReCaptcha, all of your public forms will contain the spam prevention check at the end of the form.

Note: reCAPTCHA is optional - BUT . . . 

  • If you choose NOT to integrate reCAPTCHA, you will receive an emailed notice that a form submission has been made. You will then need to go to forms and view the messages online. If you wish to respond, you must copy and paste the email address into your email processor as the Forms responses list is only a list. You cannot respond directly from the list.
  • If you choose to integrate reCAPTCHA on your website, you will get an email containing the message from the form. You can then reply to the email.

Setup Instructions for reCAPTCHA:

From the black admin bar on the left, click Settings > Integrations and scroll down to see the reCaptcha area.

Note: You will need a Google email account to set up reCAPTCHA, so if you don't already have one, pause and create one at:
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/56256?hl=en

  1. On the reCAPTCHA site, click the "Admin Console" link at the top right of the screen or visit https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin/create.
  2. Setting up a reCAPTCHA for multiple websites on the same account is possible. Therefore, it is essential to distinguish this account from another with a meaningful label. Give your account a label or name. The name of your website works well.
  3. Select the option "reCAPTCHA V3."
  4. You must add ALL the domain names associated with your website. If you are unsure what domain names are associated with your website, you can go to your website's "Settings" and "Domains & Email," where you will find a list of ALL associated domain names.
    Note: within reCAPTCHA, a domain name should not use HTTP, HTTPS, or www.
    1. A correct domain name: mychurch.com
    2. incorrect domain name: www.mychurch.com
    3. incorrect domain name: https://mychurch.com
  5. Accept the reCAPTCHA Terms of Service.
  6. Indicate whether or not you (and any other owners you've added) would like to get alerts.
  7. Submit the form. You will see two alphanumeric keys on the screen - a Site Key and a Secret Key.
  8. Copy and Paste these keys into the fields also named 'Site Key' and 'Secret Key' on the integrations page of your website.
  9. Save the integrations page. (you may have to scroll down to see the save button on the bottom left.
    Once you have added these keys and saved the page, reCAPTCHA will automatically protect all the forms your website currently has and will create in the future.

reCAPTCHA will stop the automated (non-human) filling out of your forms which is the most common reason for receiving email with content not relating to your website. Remember that real people get paid to fill out these forms with advertising messages. Spam blockers do not stop real people.

Snipcart / Store

The SimpleUpdates Store is powered by a robust commercial store product called Snipcart. This product offers an enterprise-level, fully functional shopping cart and checkout experience.

To get started, complete the following steps:

  1. Create an account at Snipcart (https://app.snipcart.com/register). The company does not charge a fee while the account is in "Test" mode, so you can take your time creating products and configuring your store.

  2. Return to your site's dashboard and click Store in the left admin bar.

  3. You will see a form requesting the Public and Secret API keys. To acquire these, go to the API Keys section of the Snipcart dashboard. The Public key will already be visible, but to get your secret key, you'll need to click "Add New API Key." Enter an application name, such as the name of your website, and click on the blank field to the right to reveal your new secret API key. Enter both keys into the form on your SimpleUpdates dashboard that you reached in Step 2.

  4. You should see the Products and Categories options on the left admin bar. We recommend creating several categories before adding products. Customers can use the categories to filter the product list. For example, you might create categories called Books, Clothing, etc.

  5. After creating your categories, click "Products" and enter your products. Note that all products and categories are stored on SimpleUpdates. Snipcart only knows about your products if a customer purchases them or you manually fetch them from the Snipcart dashboard (See the FAQ section below on managing inventory). 

  6. If you have not done so, return to your Snipcart dashboard to set up your payment gateway, shipping, tax, discount coupons, order notifications, etc. We recommend entering your business information, including the "sender email."

  7. When you're ready to accept real, live orders, toggle the Live option in your Snipcart dashboard and create new API keys as you did in Step 3. Go to Settings -> Integrations on your SimpleUpdates site dashboard to update the Snipcart API keys.

FAQ

Can I manage inventory?

Yes, all products are stored inside your SimpleUpdates dashboard, but we also send a copy to Snipcart every time you add or update a product. This allows you to update the inventory from the product list of your Snipcart dashboard. To enable this, use the enable inventory management in your Snipcart dashboard.

Can I manage inventory for each of my product variations?

Yes, each variation is sent to Snipcart as its own product, allowing you to set the stock on a per variation item basis. Follow the instructions above to get started.

How will I know when a customer places an order?

Ensure "Notify me when a new order occurs" is enabled in the Checkout and Cart settings of your Snipcart dashboard.

Can I use other currencies besides USD?

Yes, you can change the currency in your Snipcart dashboard, but if you want to format the prices using a currency logo other than the dollar ($) sign, you'll need to contact our support team. We can manually change the currency on your site for you.
Note: Although Snipcart supports different prices for each currency, SimpleUpdates currently only supports setting prices in one currency.

How do I charge tax?

Taxes are managed in your Snipcart dashboard.

How do I set up shipping rates?

Shipping rates can be set up in your Snipcart dashboard.

Can I create discounts or sales?

Yes, these are also set up in your Snipcart dashboard. However, remember that the discount price will show once the item is added to the cart. When creating discounts, you may need your product or category IDs, which are listed in their respective lists on your SimpleUpdates dashboard.

Adding a Product to the Store

Stripe Payment Processing

The Adventist Church & School Connect platforms support Stripe as the primary supported payment processor. We have selected Stripe because of its industry leadership, low fees, and ease of use. Creating a Stripe account is free and easy. There are no recurring monthly fees. You are only billed around 3% of sales as a transaction processing fee. You can set up your free account here: https://dashboard.stripe.com/register.

The steps you will perform:

  1. Create your stripe account
  2. Verify your email address by clicking the link in an email that Stripe will send you.
  3. Fill out the Business Settings page. This will be how Stripe moves funds into your bank account.
  4. Confirm your Business Settings.
  5. Go to your website's Integrations page. Click "Connect with Stripe" in the Payment Processor section and follow the simple steps.

SimpleUpdates Live Media Streaming - Wowza

The SimpleUpdates live streaming service is no longer available to new users. 

Zoom

The Adventist Church & School Connect platforms support integrating with Zoom to publish your Zoom meeting information directly on your website. You will need a dedicated Zoom host account for this integration to work. Once this is complete, you can integrate that account with your website.

This integration involves two steps. First, connect the Adventist Church & School Connect App to your Zoom account. Then, when this integration is complete, you can add meeting information to most of your website pages.

Connect Your Zoom Account to Your Website

  1. On the black Admin bar to the left of your website, click the Settings link.
  2. Click the Integrations icon.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the blue"Connect to Zoom" button
  4. This will take you to Zoom's authentication site, where Zoom will ask you to log in to your account.t
  5. Zoom and your website will communicate, and when they reach an understanding, you will be sent back to the Integration page.
  6. You can now click the blue "Save" button at the bottom of the page.

See: Adding Blocks and Adding the Media block

Uninstallation of Zoom

Log into your Zoom account, access the Marketplace, and uninstall the "SimpleUpdates" app to disable Zoom.  Public view of any meeting connections you've added to your website content will be disabled.