Starting E-commerce Business

[Luvdup]

Hi Everyone,

You have probably heard this a million times but I am a newbie with websites/ecommerce and am trying to get people to know about my site without spending too much money. Any tips/ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[luckyg]

Your in such a competitive market you need to really be on top of your game.

Basics-your main banner is way to big, takes up to much space on the page.
- the products pictures are too skewed. The pcture of the bling string is very funny because it is so skewed.
I don think the background colour of yoru site compliments the rest of it such as banner so i would comsider chaning it. perhhaps the brown on the very top could be used along with white. i like that brown.

I like the main banner though, its just its too big where it is. when you click into a product, you have to then again click to get bigger picture. how about having that bigger picture on the product description page as default without having to click to see it?

how are your prices compared ot your competition? i buy a lot of lingerie and i got an email today from puredcadence saying they are having a closing down sale. i am not suprised though, their customer service was pants

[Luvdup]

Thanks luckyg will consider your points, like I said I am new at this so welcome you reply.

[alphanumeric]

you may want to install a seo mod for the oscommerce, or somthing that will make the address easier for google, im sure someone here can recommend somthing.

I know its abit last year but the lightbox would look a lot nicer instead of the popup... again you should find it as a mod, but overall not a bad template go with what luckyG said :)

[Cromulent]

you may want to install a seo mod for the oscommerce, or somthing that will make the address easier for google, im sure someone here can recommend somthing.

Google copes fine with query strings etc in URLs. Having mods like that is really only a benefit to human visitors.

[matt.chatterley]

Google copes fine with query strings etc in URLs. Having mods like that is really only a benefit to human visitors.

However, having more information in the URL can be beneficial (i.e. product=blue-paint compared to productid=1) - not the discussion for this thread though!

To the OP - comments above are fair, by and large - it's a tough nut to crack, especially in competitive sectors (e.g. clothes, toys, games, books) - some are nigh on impossible to break into into unless you find a niche, too.

Good luck - there are lots of people who know what they are doing on these forums, and you should get some good advice from time to time!

[alphanumeric]

Google copes fine with query strings etc in URLs. Having mods like that is really only a benefit to human visitors.


yes it does cope fine but somthing along the lines of

www.site.com/underwear/pants/sexy/blue

is going to be better than

www.site.com/osc?3o48yowueyroweuyr etc

:)

[Cromulent]

yes it does cope fine but somthing along the lines of

www.site.com/underwear/pants/sexy/blue (http://www.site.com/underwear/pants/sexy/blue)

is going to be better than

www.site.com/osc?3o48yowueyroweuyr (http://www.site.com/osc?3o48yowueyroweuyr) etc

:)

That is why I said it benefits human visitors :). It just does not really change much with Google who pay attention to page content rather than page URL.

[matt.chatterley]

That is why I said it benefits human visitors :). It just does not really change much with Google who pay attention to page content rather than page URL.

Do a search for something which is found in the query string on google. Note the bits which are shown in bold. The fact that they are highlighted proves that they have been parsed to some extent (at least enough to highlight them).

Further investigation should suggest to you that infact, parts of the URL can be relevant, e.g. domain name. Perhaps not strongly so, however, sensical URLs which contain english instead of gibberish will tend to perform better.

[Cromulent]

Further investigation should suggest to you that infact, parts of the URL can be relevant, e.g. domain name. Perhaps not strongly so, however, sensical URLs which contain english instead of gibberish will tend to perform better.

Unfortunately blogs such as the Google Webmaster Blog tend to disagree. Sure they are nice, but won't have a huge impact on performance. Even established SEO companies acknowledge that human friendly URLs is a very small, almost inconsequental part of SEO.

Domain names on the other hand are important but for other reasons. Are they easy to remember? Does the visitor associate the domain name with products / services you are selling?

[More4mums]

Can I add that as I buyer I like to see a contact number and an address in a prominent place - couldn't find one on a quick glance through your site so I wouldn't buy.

[Cromulent]

Can I add that as I buyer I like to see a contact number and an address in a prominent place - couldn't find one on a quick glance through your site so I wouldn't buy.

This is sort of research for my own site but would a Contact Us link in the footer leading to full contact information be acceptable to you as a buyer or do you want it in an even more prominent place?

[matt.chatterley]

This is sort of research for my own site but would a Contact Us link in the footer leading to full contact information be acceptable to you as a buyer or do you want it in an even more prominent place?

Legally speaking:

"Under Regulation 7, in good time prior to the conclusion of the contract to which the Regulations apply, the supplier should provide to the consumer the following information: - the identity of the supplier and, where the contract requires payment in advance, the supplier’s address;"


Quoted from Website-Law.co.uk (http://www.website-law.co.uk/blog/internet-law/distance-selling-regulations-disclosures/) (Distance Selling Regulations).


Basically - it must be prominently available to the (potential) customer, before they complete a transaction.


I would therefore suggest putting it in the site footer!

[Mr Happy]

Hi
Is this a osCommerce site? Did you design it or a web company?:redface:

[More4mums]

This is sort of research for my own site but would a Contact Us link in the footer leading to full contact information be acceptable to you as a buyer or do you want it in an even more prominent place?

As long as I could find it easily I don't mind where it is! Either as an obvious link or on the contact us page many have.

[sysops]

I would therefore suggest putting it in the site footer!

This is neither required nor appropriate. A Contact Us link in the footer is quite sufficient.

[Cromulent]

This is neither required nor appropriate. A Contact Us link in the footer is quite sufficient.

Thanks sysops.