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osCommerce

The e-commerce.

Feedback on my store


johnwvg

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So I have my store up and running. It's been running for about 3 months now but I don't have any orders and not sure why. I am working on my position in search engines but other than that I don't know what else to do. I had two customers make accounts but no orders yet. Anyone have any input as to why?

 

I'm working on adding more products but at the moment I would think I have enough to get some orders. Anyway any input would be great.

 

www.airlessusa.com/catalog

 

Anyone use PPC places? Im thinking of doing PPC through google's adwords as my products are for a niche market that I think I could target pretty well with a few keywords. Anyway get any good or bad results using google's Pay-per-click ads? Plus I don't think there's a lot of competition in this area online. There's some, but not a lot.

 

Finally what about those sites offering "garunteed website traffic" for $xx ? Anyone use those? Are they a gimmick or do they actually work? One example is http://www.webtrafficwholesale.com/

 

Anyway please just tell me your thoughts! Thanks!

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your site looks like stock oscommerce, it looks like its not ready to go live you. All you did was add some products and your own banner.. You need to do a LOT more customization work..

 

Look at your site and then look at your top competitors, yours is not nearly as professional looking. DOnt spend money on adwords, spend money on a good designer/programmer

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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I know it appears stock but I feel like I've spent countless hours installing, tweaking code, adding contributions, etc. I feel like I hardly have time to list products. In your honest opinion, what is more important to drive sales on a site like this... bigger selection of products, visability on search engines, customization of the page, or prices... or something else?

 

I have looked at my competitors sites and honestly, my "stock oscommerce" install is WORLDS more professional. Remember these are contractors, most of their online stores look like stock yahoo shopping carts (many of them have "yahoo cart" logo's and others still on them) but I know they are doing much more business than I am (seeing as I'm doing none so far). I don't get it.

 

Does anyone have any specific suggestions? I can't do much with "customize more" to be honest. Although I really do appreciate you taking the time to look at my site and give input. How about some examples of stores running oscommerce who ARE getting good sales each month so I can look and see what customizations they have?

 

If I am wrong about any of this don't hesitate to tell me that. :unsure:

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I have gone over this in another thread, but you can have all the products in the world but if your store doesnt look professionally done, then people are not going to trust their credit card information to you. If your store looks like its run out of your living room, who is going to expect the same customer service and speed of order processing of the big boys..

 

Link me to some of your competitors, id love to see what your are talking about.. I get catalogs for that type of equipment all the time and look online for stuff like that, and although some of theonline catalogs arent great, they look better than the stock oscommerce..

 

I could give you specific instructions on how to make your site look better, but that is the kind of stuff you pay a designer to do.

 

 

also, you are asking for feedback on a design that is not yours.. people are not going to give feedback on the stock look because you didnt create it, so its techincally not your design to get feedback on.. people will just be giving feedback on oscommerce in general.

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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So, using your own argument... stock OSCommerce is not professionally done?

 

I created the color scheme, custom logo's, big "dummy" navigation buttons on the main screen, the structure of the categories, re-ordered boxes, took as professional of photos of the products as I thought possible, inserted professionally written descriptions and technical info on each product, added contributions to make it easier to use, a news section on the front page. Sorry to list everything individually but it's hard for me to not take offense when I've spent weeks working on a site that someone from here takes one quick look at and says "oh, it's stock".

 

I would like to link you the competitors but I don't want to drop their company names or websites here. I appreciate the input, I really do, I suppose I'm just frustrated after all the hours and late nights. Lol. Really though do you have examples of websites running oscommerce that are successful? I'd like to look at a few and see what you mean.

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nope.. Stock oscommerce's CODING is professionally done, and even then there are security holes and things missing that need to be added. Stock oscommerce is not an out of the box solution, it is an open source coding that people use as a skeleton to create more professional looking and functioning stores. I cant name one overly successfull store that can compete with top competitors that is just stock oscommerce.

 

The things you said you did are just a PORTION of what is needed to run a successfull online store. Most people with sucessfull stores probably couldnt even individually name all of the changes that they made to their store because there are soo many.

 

You spent weeks on a site because you are new to it. What you did to your site is truthfully only a day or so worth of work for any coder. Not weeks.. I'm sorry, i understand you have a learning curve, we all do when we begin, but you can not look at that store, and look at a store oscommerce store and thinkthat yours is any different.

 

Changing colors is one little code change, 5 minutes at themost.. Adding new graphics is the same.. Adding products and product descriptions is nothing short of what EVERY e-commerce store owner needs to do. The customization you did was adding contributions, which ones?? aside from the news one that really doesnt serve much of a purpose atthis moment because you really should be working on other things.

 

Listen, i am NOT trying to be mean, I was where you were, and i have been working on my store for a YEAR and its still not near where i want it to be. The thing is, you HAVE to compete with everyone. Unless you have a brick and mortar store and are just using the ecommerce as a suppliment, then you REALLY are competiting with the WORLD

 

look at these sites, these are onthe top page of google when you type airless sprayers. Do you think that even if your website made it to the top that it could compete with those guys??

 

airless sprayers

 

airless sprayers

 

Airless sprayerrs

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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oh yea.. here are some of the top oscommerce stores

there is a thing called the oscomemrce top 100 which are supposed to be the nicest designed stores using oscommerce

oscommerce top 100

 

also, look through other people's sites on the feedback section.. you can see what teh generic answer is to most people with stock sites, and people with customized sites.. there is always room for improvement, so even if they have a nice looking stor,e there will be suggestions, but you just cant give a full rundown of EVERYTHING that needs to be done on a stock install.

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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OOPs.. this is the link to the FULL top 100 stores

 

oscommerce TOP 100

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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I think the site looks nice. What is so wrong with the oscommerce layout? I know the buttons are a bit cheesy and they should definitely be changed, but no one on earth except people in this forum would have a clue what "Stock osCommerce" even means. And the first site that was linked to looks stock too.

 

I'm not trying to argue with anyone, but probably people buying compressor parts don't really care if the website has a bunch of funky add-ons. They're not coders, they're painters. The oscommerce layout is functional and makes sense, so why change it if you don't need to?

 

My 2 cents...

 

Nicole

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Sorry, I'm going to have to agree with Lindsay here. The site looks unfinished and unprofessional. Your competitors have professional looking sites. In this category, you lose.

 

Google and Yahoo checkout are names folks know. They are going to feel safe using it. Don't kid yourself.

 

When I clicked on "My Account" there was no ssl. No ssl on a website that's asking me for my info is a no go to most folks. Any professional site has ssl. Your server is not secure, yet in the privacy page there is an inference that it is. You absolutely must get ssl.

 

I can't find anywhere that lets me know how I can pay. Am I just missing it?

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Hey thank you! I appreciate the top 100 list (I didn't know a list like that existed).

 

As for your list of those other airless websites... without getting too much into it. None of them are like my category of business. My page sells airless repair parts. The ASM and Titan websites are general sites for a brand name. That would be like linking a www.ford.com and saying the guy who sells tires website it nothing like ford.com. The first one does sell airless units but not repair parts. The only other places that I've seen selling repair parts are pretty poorly done. Never the less I understand the point you are making.

 

I'm going to sit down with a pen and paper and see what ideas I can come up with to redesign the site more heavily. Hopefully I'll be back on this section of the forum soon asking for tips on a new and improved site!

 

Also, if I was only one man (which I am) and you were me, what would you spend your energy on with my site to boost business? Would it be 100% on the design of the site? Do you think that would produce more results then adding more unique products, or working on search engine placement, or advertising etc?

 

Thanks again for the input.

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I think the site looks nice. What is so wrong with the oscommerce layout? I know the buttons are a bit cheesy and they should definitely be changed, but no one on earth except people in this forum would have a clue what "Stock osCommerce" even means. And the first site that was linked to looks stock too.

 

I'm not trying to argue with anyone, but probably people buying compressor parts don't really care if the website has a bunch of funky add-ons. They're not coders, they're painters. The oscommerce layout is functional and makes sense, so why change it if you don't need to?

 

My 2 cents...

 

Nicole

 

Nicole,

 

You're right about 'stock oscommerce'. Customers don't know. But look at his competition. Did you click on the links Lindsey posted? Look at them, then look at his site.

 

People don't care about funky add-ons (those are behind the scenes anyway), but they are not going to give their personal info on a site that doesn't look professional....especially without a 'lock' on their browser. Contractors, construction workers, etc. DO know about that. They'll buy off of ebay , etc. cause they know their info is safe. Also, the sites rep.

 

So bottom line, you can have as much pr as possible, but if most of the competitors are more professional looking and have recognizable checkouts, you lose. It's just the way it is.

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Hey thank you! I appreciate the top 100 list (I didn't know a list like that existed).

 

As for your list of those other airless websites... without getting too much into it. None of them are like my category of business. My page sells airless repair parts. The ASM and Titan websites are general sites for a brand name. That would be like linking a www.ford.com and saying the guy who sells tires website it nothing like ford.com. The first one does sell airless units but not repair parts. The only other places that I've seen selling repair parts are pretty poorly done. Never the less I understand the point you are making.

 

I'm going to sit down with a pen and paper and see what ideas I can come up with to redesign the site more heavily. Hopefully I'll be back on this section of the forum soon asking for tips on a new and improved site!

 

Also, if I was only one man (which I am) and you were me, what would you spend your energy on with my site to boost business? Would it be 100% on the design of the site? Do you think that would produce more results then adding more unique products, or working on search engine placement, or advertising etc?

 

Thanks again for the input.

 

You can't pick just one. I'm only one woman, but I knew I had to do it all. Multitask!

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if your store doesnt look professionally done, then people are not going to trust their credit card information to you. If your store looks like its run out of your living room, who is going to expect the same customer service and speed of order processing of the big boys..

 

110% agree with this.

 

I would rather pay a few $ more for a given product that is available at a store that look decent, thansave myselfa few bucks buying at some site that I've seen a hundred times...

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parts site

parts site

here are two sites that you can contend with that still have quite an edge over you on looks and design..

 

Basically, what your are doing now is OBVIOUSLY not working.. And the thing is, you have a LOT to do.. MOST of us here are just one person.. I am one person with two sites, Deb is just one person.. but we are all trying our hardest to compete out there and taking actual feedback.

 

The thing is, you need to advertise, but you do NOT want to advertise a site that looks like that because even if people go to it, they arent going to think its professional enough to trust with their personal data. It just doesnt have that LOOK. The fact that you dont even have SSL is a HUGE HUGE deal, but i feel like you dont even need tod o that until you get the look fo your site down.

 

When i built my sites, i realized that its best to do the following.

Get the look that you want. Make sure that you are happy with it and that it suits your category of products.

Then decide on the functionality that you need and ad that (coupons, payment mods, ect)

Then update the look to make sure those mods fit nicely

then work a LOT on SEO. install SEO contributions and read about it..

 

Then, once your site is presentable and fully functional, then you can get towork.

 

There are a LOT of functions with oscommerce that people over look too, like the invoice that is sent to the customer, and the emails to update the order status..

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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Anyway any input would be great.

 

www.airlessusa.com/catalog

 

OK - what you have is stock oscommerce with a few stylesheet changes. Not a bad thing, but I consider that stock oscommerce is NOT a professional solution, and shows that the store owner does not value his website or his customers. That's my opinion only, so bear in mind that opinions are like a-holes - everyone has one.

 

Suggest:

 

visit www.istockphoto.com and find a decent header image

think up new colour scheme

remove a column

(re)move infoboxes (what's new, best sellers, shopping cart, search box)

remove the crappy standard osc clipart

add some sexy effects using javascript

make the columns wider

make the text larger

make the prices clearer

showcase featured products and special offers

reduce the checkout procedure

 

and so on. There's a hundred things you could do to really make your site one of the nicest out there.

 

Finally what about those sites offering "garunteed website traffic" for $xx ? Anyone use those? Are they a gimmick or do they actually work? One example is http://www.webtrafficwholesale.com/

 

AVOID, like the plague.

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Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it and from your suggestions im putting together a good list of things I need to do. The list is longer than I'd prefer but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes. Oh, and thanks with putting up with my frustration. :D

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