lightsofrose Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 OK here is the deal.. I just opened my Website a few months ago.. I signed up with IX web hosting... they have a site builder program which is very easy to use... they offered me the osCommerce as a free e-commerce shopping cart... Well this is were the fun began for me <_< I found out that IX web host does not give support for osCommerce.. and I dont have any understanding of coding blah blah.. so what I did.. I merged my Site Builder website with oscommerse . Which means,, I have a main site that has oscommerce attached as a link to my actual Shop... I think I did a pretty good job on creating my website since I never did one before.. I clearly state to customers how to get to my shop.. I just didnt know how to combined my website into one oscommerce site.. its too confusing for me to understand coding.. I am using a lot of graphics etc and just dont know how to incorporate it into oscommerce. I signed up with Google adwords, adsense etc.. and even signed up with MIVA and Yahoo Groups that also link my site. I also wrote articles on the web that link my site.. etc etc.. I get a lot of outside orders and re-orders and have Home Parties. I wanted to expanded my products on the web but nothing is happening, I am getting clicks but no orders - I see people are not staying long at my site.. My products are beautifully made and are made to order for the customer, the products I make are high-end quality with a competitive price! I learned some things here on the help boards regarding keeping my osCommerce shop in decent working order, thank to most of you! I am getting very discouraged and feeling really BLAH about it. Almost feel like a made a big mistake! It's my birthday tomorrow and I want an online order for my birthday whaaaaaaaaa :'( I need some good advice !! Visit My Website Thank you all :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohioman Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I just checked things out and you don't have a bad looking site... consider the following: It's only been a few months. Contrary to popular belief, it takes time to build a steady stream of traffic to your site. This bit of time you've spent is really nothing compared to the longevity many times needed to develop success on the web. (After all.. there are m i l l i o n s of sites around!!)Sure.. there are a few that see moderate or more success very early.. but they are the exception.. not the rule. Myself, I am in a business on the web that is perhaps the most competitive on the net and I knew going in that it would take time to see some traffic numbers... then.. and only then did I really have a shot at making sales. There is lots of advertising, seo, niche finding and many other things that many times have to happen before others see success also. You are not the only one out there that has come acrossed these issues. Look at your site as a long term project. Something that everything you do with it is to build on what you did with it the day before... eventually.. you will see results. It can be frustrating at time, but, if you stick with the plan you set for yourself... things are likely to get better. You might even think.. well.. what about the bit of money I am investing to keep the site open?.. Make it pay for itself? The answer... these are costs of doing business!..."loss leaders" if you will. Doing things in a no-nonsense way though.. with patience.. again is much more likely to get you what you're looking for. ;) Iceman :thumbsup: OK here is the deal.. I just opened my Website a few months ago.. I signed up with IX web hosting... they have a site builder program which is very easy to use... they offered me the osCommerce as a free e-commerce shopping cart... Well this is were the fun began for me <_< I found out that IX web host does not give support for osCommerce.. and I dont have any understanding of coding blah blah.. so what I did.. I merged my Site Builder website with oscommerse . Which means,, I have a main site that has oscommerce attached as a link to my actual Shop... I think I did a pretty good job on creating my website since I never did one before.. I clearly state to customers how to get to my shop.. I just didnt know how to combined my website into one oscommerce site.. its too confusing for me to understand coding.. I am using a lot of graphics etc and just dont know how to incorporate it into oscommerce. I signed up with Google adwords, adsense etc.. and even signed up with MIVA and Yahoo Groups that also link my site. I also wrote articles on the web that link my site.. etc etc.. I get a lot of outside orders and re-orders and have Home Parties. I wanted to expanded my products on the web but nothing is happening, I am getting clicks but no orders - I see people are not staying long at my site.. My products are beautifully made and are made to order for the customer, the products I make are high-end quality with a competitive price! I learned some things here on the help boards regarding keeping my osCommerce shop in decent working order, thank to most of you! I am getting very discouraged and feeling really BLAH about it. Almost feel like a made a big mistake! It's my birthday tomorrow and I want an online order for my birthday whaaaaaaaaa :'( I need some good advice !! Visit My Website Thank you all :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsofrose Posted April 15, 2008 Author Share Posted April 15, 2008 Your right I know I need patience! patience! thanks for your advice Iceman! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avec Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 First, the site has some nice design elements, but they need to be put together in a more congruent way to make it look more professional. I viewed the site in Firefox at 1024 x 768 and noticed a couple things 1.) The flash thing was annoying (I turned the sound off immediately). Use that prime real estate to tell your story. What is your unique selling proposition? Why should I buy from you, but more importantly, what do you sell? Oh, wait a minute. I scrolled down and found your "specializing in" section. That is important. Move it to the top. If the customer has to scroll to find out what is going on, then you have a problem. Get rid of all of the blank space. There is about 6 blank inches between the SSL gif and the Yahoo groups gif (then some unintended html). Then below the footer another SSL gif. 2.) Your site is left justified making things along the right to be out of align (except the footer, which is all the way to the right). Use a center shop contribution 3.) The Welcome link goes to index.php. I would rename it Home or something like that. 4.) Decide if you are going to use all caps or not. Don't mix and match. 5.) On Index.php, the link for Go Shopping and Catalog should take you to the store, not to an interim page. 6.) You say "About Us" but everything on the about.html page is first person singular. It makes me think you are doing this out of your kitchen. Even if you are, that is fine, but don't make it appear that way. 7.) "About Massage Candles" Nooooo not another flash! Same goes for other pages. 8.) After finally actually finding my way to the store (took me a couple of clicks) it looks nice, standard OSC layout, but nice. Fix the left and right corners on the info boxes. They don't match the header. 9.) If you only offer one language and one currency, get rid of those boxes. If I were you I would ditch your home page and move the store to root and add stuff to the store's front page. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsofrose Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 Thanks so much Jeffery for your input! Will be working on some design changes! I will get rid of the flash - actually I have to pay "sitepal.com" a monthly fee for the flash screens ... I will save money getting rid of it! Thank you again Annie :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥FWR Media Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 OK here is the deal.. I just opened my Website a few months ago.. I signed up with IX web hosting... they have a site builder program which is very easy to use... they offered me the osCommerce as a free e-commerce shopping cart... Well this is were the fun began for me <_< I found out that IX web host does not give support for osCommerce.. and I dont have any understanding of coding blah blah.. so what I did.. I merged my Site Builder website with oscommerse . Which means,, I have a main site that has oscommerce attached as a link to my actual Shop... I think I did a pretty good job on creating my website since I never did one before.. I clearly state to customers how to get to my shop.. I just didnt know how to combined my website into one oscommerce site.. its too confusing for me to understand coding.. I am using a lot of graphics etc and just dont know how to incorporate it into oscommerce. I signed up with Google adwords, adsense etc.. and even signed up with MIVA and Yahoo Groups that also link my site. I also wrote articles on the web that link my site.. etc etc.. I get a lot of outside orders and re-orders and have Home Parties. I wanted to expanded my products on the web but nothing is happening, I am getting clicks but no orders - I see people are not staying long at my site.. My products are beautifully made and are made to order for the customer, the products I make are high-end quality with a competitive price! I learned some things here on the help boards regarding keeping my osCommerce shop in decent working order, thank to most of you! I am getting very discouraged and feeling really BLAH about it. Almost feel like a made a big mistake! It's my birthday tomorrow and I want an online order for my birthday whaaaaaaaaa :'( I need some good advice !! Visit My Website Thank you all :) You may well be proud of your website but my advice is "dump it". oscommerce and your main product links need to be as near the top of your site as they can. I would go further and say that links more than one level below root are unlikely to rank unless you have longevity of domain name .. perhaps a decent amount of PR .. and lots of incoming links to your product pages. Ultimate SEO Urls 5 PRO - Multi Language Modern, Powerful SEO Urls KissMT Dynamic SEO Meta & Canonical Header Tags KissER Error Handling and Debugging KissIT Image Thumbnailer Security Pro - Querystring protection against hackers ( a KISS contribution ) If you found my post useful please click the "Like This" button to the right. Please only PM me for paid work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsofrose Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 You may well be proud of your website but my advice is "dump it". oscommerce and your main product links need to be as near the top of your site as they can. I would go further and say that links more than one level below root are unlikely to rank unless you have longevity of domain name .. perhaps a decent amount of PR .. and lots of incoming links to your product pages. I had some feelings also about dumping my homepage site.. but the problems I have is incorporating all that work into oscommerce.. I agree ranking is very important on the web.. but I just dont get all those dam codes in oscommerce - I will need to look more into learning how - thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 The shopping cart is fine. I don't care for the homepage at all. It's not designed very well and I'm not picking I'm just being honest. If you want the homepage try to make it a little cleaner and nicer. Also I would take out the google ads in the center of your shopping page. Besides that everything is ok. If you need any help with anything feel free to contact me. And let me know when you're done or if you are completely live let me know and I'll add to my shopping directory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsofrose Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 The shopping cart is fine. I don't care for the homepage at all. It's not designed very well and I'm not picking I'm just being honest. If you want the homepage try to make it a little cleaner and nicer. Also I would take out the google ads in the center of your shopping page. Besides that everything is ok. If you need any help with anything feel free to contact me. And let me know when you're done or if you are completely live let me know and I'll add to my shopping directory. I need to know how to incorporate my homepage website into my oscommerce store - I rather just one link to my store with all the info I need. It all seems too complicated for me with OSC coding! So what I did was just link my osc store to the main website.. I know its a lazy cop out Thanks for the input - will make some changes to the homepage look - and would love to be added to your shopping directory! Thanks again!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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