site set up help please

[depaco]

Hi all,

I'm looking at setting up a site something like the ones below,selling electrical products


sparksdirect.co.uk
thelightbulbshop.co.uk

Which would be easier to set up open cart or wordpress ??

 

[Big Pete]

Hi all,

I'm looking at setting up a site something like the ones below,selling electrical products


sparksdirect.co.uk
thelightbulbshop.co.uk

Which would be easier to set up open cart or wordpress ??

opencart easier ..

 

[DesignerNick]

I would always use an ecommerce platform if you want ecommerce!

 

[Ali-v-8]

use open cart - although now I am offering a wordpress Ecommerce solution that also integrates with Facebook.
It depends on you experience. 1st choice would be opencart

 

[dx3webs]

Definately not wordpress.

opencart or any of the usual e-commerce platforms (eg magento..) will do the trick.

 

[14Steve14]

Latest version of oscommerce, if you have time to make it look and work like you want.

 

[The Osiris Group]

I personally think opencart is easier. but thats my opinion.

 

[Andy777]

Open cart, or any other dedicated shopping cart.

For blogging purpose, you can always install Wordpress on a sub-domain or folder of your site and link to it from main menu.

 

[Sunburn]

Yep, I agree with the other replies, Opencart is your best bet. for a Free Open Source and relatively simple to use system.

 

[antropy]

Definitely use a system that was designed and built from the ground up to be an ecommerce platform, and of those OpenCart is probably the best right now.

 

[antropy]

For blogging purpose, you can always install Wordpress on a sub-domain or folder of your site and link to it from main menu.

This is a good way to do it - you can theme the blog to look just like your store. We did that with the forum on www.rcgeeks.co.uk which looks like part of the site but is actually a separate piece of software (PHPBB).

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Yeah, I'd use OpenCart, and then if you want a blog to drive traffic, install that to for example yoursite.co.uk/blog

It's better for SEO to install it to a directory off your main domain than as a sub domain, as that'll give more "link love" to your main domain.

Forums are normally installed on subdomains as they link out a lot, which could otherwise have a negative impact on your main domain's rankings.

Subdomains are treated in part separately.

Any decent web host will provide a one click installer so you can have OpenCart up and running in seconds.

If you're curious about the other options available, the Softaculous site (arguably the best one click installer out there) has ratings and reviews for the most popular options:

http://www.softaculous.com/softaculous/apps/ecommerce

OpenCart and PrestaShop come out tops, although I'd recommend the former.

You can even demo them there to see which you like the look of, here's the OpenCart one:
http://www.softaculous.com/softaculous/demos/OpenCart

I hope that helps

Good luck!

 

[ultrapreneur]

I've had extensive experience of using both platforms and while I'd say wordpress is one of the best content management systems out there-it certainly has a far cleaner and easier to use interface than opencart for example, it was never really intended as e-commerce software and opencart is certainly one of the best solutions available.

Although opencart has been gaining popularity lately it does tend to receive its far share of criticism. I personally have never come across any bugs whereas jigoshop for wordpress, while very nice and easier to use, is one of the buggiest pieces of software I've ever come across.

 

[webstore]

Hi all,

I'm looking at setting up a site something like the ones below,selling electrical products

sparksdirect.co.uk
thelightbulbshop.co.uk

Which would be easier to set up open cart or wordpress ??

At a glance those are both custom designed on-line shops and the results of which you are not going to be able to achieve without the help of an online shop designer with good graphic design skills and of which there are many within in this forum that might be able to help.

Therefore your priority should not be worrying about which ecommerce engine to use but more so finding somebody who can deliver on design and functionality.
.

 

[ladybee]

Hi i've just started opencart but looking for better templates/design. How would i go about getting those?

 

[antropy]

Hi i've just started opencart but looking for better templates/design. How would i go about getting those?

Have a look here: http://themeforest.net/category/ecommerce/opencart

 

[ladybee]

Hey Thanks. Any free templates?? & How do i design a banner on my computer?

 

[antropy]

Sure, these are all free: http://www.opencart.com/index.php?route=extension/extension&sort=e.price&path=1&order=ASC

Photoshop is the best tool for banners but it's £600 so try this free online version: http://pixlr.com/editor/

 

[ladybee]

Have just downloaded an ftp winzip file (free template for ocart) How do i upload so i can work with that? Thanks for the help.

 

[antropy]

That's okay, if you unzip it there should be a file called readme.txt or instructions.txt or similar that will explain how to upload it to your OpenCart shop. You'll need FTP access and it's probably worth backing up first.

 

[ladybee]

ftp access?

 

[antropy]

Yes that means access to be able to upload files to your OpenCart website. Your web host would probably have given you the details when you bought the hosting package.

 

[ladybee]

Yes i have but its saying no internet connection/access denied??? Bugging me endlessly now! Probably bugging you too ; )

 

[antropy]

haha not too much

Sounds like either the hostname, username or password is wrong seeing as you obviously do have an internet connection to be able to post here

 

[ladybee]

Should i be using the username & password that i have to access my cpanel? haha not too much? Just a little bit then?...........

 

[antropy]

Lol no not at all.

The host name will probably be your web address and the username and password should probably be your cPanel ones... but do be careful it would be possible to break your website if you upload to the wrong place or delete anything!

 

[ladybee]

Whoopsy....My site cant be found when i type it into the url. Is it broken or is it because im working on it?

 

[bargainmania]

Who are you hosting with?
You might finf they will upload the template for you

Alistair