Shop Builder...

[Rachael]

Can anyone offer any practical advice...if I were to start an online store and wanted to keep it low cost (ie I'm NOT going to hire a web designer so no sales pitches please) and therefore wanted to use a website tool aka moonfruit can anyone recommend such a tool that will help me build a working shop?

I use moonfruit for my current business and love it (it doesn't look template like at all so I'm very happy with the results) and I know they say you can build a shop BUT I wanted to just check if there are any other alternatives that are just as good or even better?

Thanks

[borobabe]

If you know a little bit about coding etc you could try zencart, I am playing with this at the moment and its easy enough to find a template you like to use.
Otherwise I'm not sure, as most tend to look templaty (is that a word?)

[awebapart.com]

Moonfruit were one of the first DIY online website building service suppliers, so in some ways they know what they are doing.

Unfortunately they did originally go the flash route, which has made earlier sites, and sites which opt for more flash, more difficult to make search engine friendly, let alone search engine optimised.

Not every company wanting a company brochure website, get their website traffic from search engines, so having a flash moonfruit site isn't such an issue. However it might be more of an issue for an online store, unless you intend to market your store in other ways.

Have a look at the client sites. I've had a quick look at the customer sites on the moonfruit site, I ran a search for store and shop, and the first 3 moonfruit sites I visited actually clicked off to another site, either ebay, or a different website, when it came to entering the online shop section of their moonfruit website.

[Rachael]

I already have moonfruit site and I have to say I think it's been fabulous for SEO etc...I've not seen any moonfruit ones myself that's why I wondered if there were any recommendations.

[awebapart.com]

I already have moonfruit site and I have to say I think it's been fabulous for SEO etc...I've not seen any moonfruit ones myself that's why I wondered if there were any recommendations.
Moonfruit have made some improvements in recent years in SEO, to work around the limitations of flash, by offering up alternative content. However, if the site you are talking about is the site in your profile, then I wouldn't say that the SEO is great.

SEO, search engine optimisation, is what you do after you've done the basics of making your site search engine friendly, basic stuff like making sure the search engines can index the content on every page. Looking at your site I think that only half the site is search engine friendly in this way, and as such only half the site has been indexed. The content of the pages which haven't been indexed, are mainly the secondary red pages as follows:

Home (e.g. this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22ethos+of+Kochou%22&btnG=Search&meta=) for on page text succeeds)
Events (e.g. this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22Kochou+also+offers+a+unique+Event+Concierge+s ervice%22&btnG=Search&meta=) for on page text succeeds)
Public Relations (e.g. this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22Kochou+will+work+with+you%22&btnG=Search&meta=) for on page text succeeds)
-PR (e.g. this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22At+Kochou+we+also+look+after+individuals%22&btnG=Search&meta=) for on page text fails)
-Photoshoot Coordination
-Celebrity Booking (e.g. this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22Kochou+can+secure+celebrities%22&btnG=Search&meta=) for on page text fails)
-Social Networking
-Casting (e.g. this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22At+Kochou+we+are+confident%22&btnG=Search&meta=) for on page text fails)
Blog/News (e.g. this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22clients+we+have+at+Kochou%22&btnG=Search&meta=) for on page text fails)
-Dec 3 2007
-Nov 29 2007 (e.g. this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22clients+we+have+at+Kochou%22&btnG=Search&meta=) for on page text fails)
-Oct 1 2007
Contact

The searches I have pointed out are quoted searches of text that is on those pages. Whilst these are obviously not useful searches, they do point out that those pages are not being indexed, which means that those missed pages of content could prevent your site from being ranked for more useful searches.

[Rachael]

Thanks for the critique there but I've had clients find me online so therefore i'm pleased with the SEO or whatever its called where you're displayed on search engines as I must be being found somewhere...I probably haven't filled in the keywords etc for the pages that have failed.

[awebapart.com]

I probably haven't filled in the keywords etc for the pages that have failed.
Your issue isn't one of keywords, it is an issue of your on page content not being picked up on certain pages, and on page content is much more important than hidden keywords. For example, your home page's on page content is being indexed, so this search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22ethos+of+Kochou%22&btnG=Search&meta=) succeeds, because the phrase is in the onpage content, even though the phrase and the word ethos are not in your keywords for that page.

It is certainly something worth speaking to moonfruit support about, and certainly something worth considering if you are thinking of using moonfruit for an online shop site too.

[Rachael]

Ok I will do...now back to my original question...