Managing my store, installing add-ons?

[superdairyboy]

My husband set up an OS Commerce Store. He found a guy who likes OSC and is willing to take care of getting it set up how we want it (for a fee) and even writing programs we need for it.

 

We currently have a fully functioning .html website, which provides our main income. (Many keyword phrases coming up #1-10 on Google and MSN.) We manage this whole site by ourselves.

 

From what I am reading here, we need to install some add-ons so our OSC site. (ultimate seo, header tag controller, dynamic sitemap) If I wanted to learn HOW to do this, where would I start?

 

Would it be practical to run a (3000+ product) OSC store and working on the SEO side of things myself WITHOUT being able to take care of installing the add-ons and tweaking as necesary? I think so far my husband has had our "guy" do all of the set-up work, but I'm questioning how I should handle things from here, since I'm ready to crack down on this new site and get it working well, bringing in as many (or more) sales as our current site.

 

Thanks!

[Jack_mcs]

Many people start with not knowing anything about oscommerce and find themselves making changes in little time. So, yes, you can do this. It will be difficult at first since you need to learn the procedures but if you go slow and ALWAYS do a backup, you'll be OK.

 

A word of warning about contributions though. There are a lot of updates that should not be allowed on the server. You need to do some research to find the correct one to use. Once you have it, then if you carefully follow the instructions, it should work as planned.

 

Also, if you are planning on switching your domain name from your html site to oscommerce, expect the listing positions to drop initially. If you set up the oscommerce shop the same way you have your html site, the positions should recover within a month or so, but they will drop initially.

 

Jack