DIY 'SEO Friendly' Website Design + SEO/PPC advice

[Brennerz]

I'm just getting back into the game and wondered if anyone had any advice on setting up a very small 10-20 product e-commerce site, to rank on google and the use of PPC/Google Shopping.

I have had a play with Shopify's 13 day trial, I love how it is setup in minutes, easy to use, mobile friendly etc.

However I can see it has limitations, even simple things, such as having to edit their code to display 'inc vat' next to prices.

I'm not saying Shopify isn't the right product for me, but I wondered if anyone had any recommendations for a system that is also perfect for SEO purposes without having to fiddle around with its code before hand.

The 10-20 products that will be available will be priced between £300 and £1300, I would say average price of around £700. However, the margin is fairly tight which is a bit of a worry when it comes to pay per click, there are competitors using google shopping which I think might be a good option to start with?

Any tips?

 

[Brennerz]

I should add that I do have some coding experience and a fairly good understanding on how ppc and seo works, but I am not an expert.

 

[fisicx]

Wordpress and Woo. It's free (only cost is hosting) and if properly configured can rank well and convert well. Easy to set up but getting it configured properly and choosing the right theme takes a bit of time and effort.

 

[antcurious]

I would echo the vote for Wordpress and Woo. You will have total control. I recently had to install google remarketing and other tags in Shopify and it was way more trouble than it should have been!

 

[Brennerz]

I've not personally used Wordpress and Woo before, however when I used to do hosting I would constant get hassle from customers who have installed Wordpress, installed addons, not updated it and got hacked through unsecure addons - then blaming me the host.

But this was some time ago,

Would you say it is pretty secure?
At present I have a VPS, is it demanding like Magento?
The thing I liked about Shopify is that It could be up and running in minutes without coding etc - maybe I'm just being lazy.

 

[fisicx]

Would you say it is pretty secure? - if you keep it updated it is
At present I have a VPS, is it demanding like Magento? - No
The thing I liked about Shopify is that It could be up and running in minutes without coding etc - maybe I'm just being lazy. - I can get wordpress installed and configured and woo set up in about 10 minutes if don't get distracted. But I've had lots of practise so it's easy for me. For a complete noob you can still do it in under an hour if you follow the instructions,

 

[Tin]

As @fisicx has already mentioned, Wordpress and WooCommerce is a very popular combination and works well together. What I would add into the mix here is that I'd also incorporate the Wordfence Security Plugin for Wordpress, the paid version is very good.

 

[Brennerz]

Brilliant advice, thanks!

In terms of best practices for SEO etc, would there be any need for any extensions to add? Or is the Wordpress Woo combo perfect as it is?

If it helps, the market is Domestic Heating Oil Tanks - so as I say, the website will literally have 10-20 products. I have a feeling the competitors in the market online aren't probably that strong when it comes to SEO compared to those in other markets - e.g. most competitors don't even have mobile websites.

I'd like to keep it clean and simple, without tonnes of call to actions, sidebars etc - so considering the size of the site would I be doing lots of customisation such as stripping out sections of the site. I remember magento was a pain for that 'Back to School'

 

[fisicx]

You may need an SEO plugin so you can optimise your page titles and descriptions but it all depends on how you set up your site.

It may be you don't even need Woo. You could easily set up the the site with a simple payment portal on the product pages. In fact you may not need a page for each product.

A lot depends on the theme you choose and how you configure the site. You can have a really simple clean layout that works really well on all devices without doing lots of customisations. But if you like getting your hands dirty you can even build your own theme. I managed to do this without any php or WordPress knowledge at all. Happy to give you some guidance if you want to DIY. Send me a PM if you want to chat.

 

[RedundancyClaim]

As already mentioned above, wordpress and I'm sure you could find a cost effective theme via theme forest.....?

 

[fisicx]

No need to pay for a theme, there are plenty of free woo themes. And many of the WordPress themes will work as well.

 

[Edith@TerraNetwork]

For themes, choose a company that is established and provides regular updates. Hacks are most often out of date themes & plugins. I had issues in the past with ThemeForrest where a company put a theme but then provided no support / no updates. For WooCommerce I'd be inclined to try to the free Storefront theme by Woo and code a child theme for it. As it's by the same company how does the WooCommerce plugin it should be most compatible, safe & kept up to date.

 

[Alan]

Here you go a recipe

• A hosting account with a WordPress one click install
• An SSL certificate
• A WooCommerce compatible theme
• Plugins

• WooCommerce
• Wordfence Security
• Abandoned Cart Lite for WooCommerce
• Akismet &/or AVH First Defense Against Spam Plugin
• WP Maintenance Mode (if you think occasionally you will need to take off line)
• If your theme doesn't have one, a contact form plugin e.g. Quick Contact Form or Ninja Forms
• The SEO Framework

 

[CreativeSeoCompanyBristol]

In Addition to the wonderful advice above from everyone here, don't forget to plan backingup your site, which can easily be restored in the case of the site going down.

For WordPress sites, BackupBuddy and Updraft plugin can help you do the job.

 

[Idosell Shop]

I would go for Saas solution. This way you focus on market development since provider delivers the rest. In case solution does not meet your requirements you can swap between solutions. You do not need to be a developer, a lot of service providers delivers the turnkey solutions.
It is up to service provider to keep solution up to date and secure. There are some providers who have coded strong passive SEO algorithms already.

 

[fisicx]

Or just install wordpress. It's about as turnkey as it gets and you can automate updates. No need to pay for an SAAS solution.

 

[Idosell Shop]

There is no need to pay for anything since you have knowledge, time, resources. There is another thing- in a bad day who will take a responsibility for that. With the reliable service provider, there is someone to take responsibility for it. Usually, so-called free solutions are more expensive on a bad day.

 

[fisicx]

Have you used wordpress? You don't need time, knowledge or resources. It's an out the box solution. If you follow one of the many thousands of start up guides you can have a working site up and running in a couple of hours.

Figures show over 25% of all websites now using wordpress. There are thousands of themes, plugins and support resources. There are hundreds and thousands of developers. Can your SAAS solution give me the all that? For free?

I'm not suggesting what you do isn't as good as wordpress but will your dashboard let me install, configure and preview dozens of themes to test each one? Do you have plugins or extensions that provide just about all the functionality that anyone could ever want? All for free? This is the competition and it's why a lot of developers now provide services to wordpress - it's very lucrative and really easy to sell.

 

[Idosell Shop]

Dear Fisicx,
I agree with that it is only a few hours for installation. Since not all are developers, admins.... Let me ask: is there anyone who offer free hosting, bug fixing, backup recovery, backup setup, tailoring the solution, keeping up to date payment and couriers integrations, drop shipping integrations and take responsibility for his free of cost work?
My expensive solution is cheaper than your free of cost one. Let's compare apple to apple and see which solution provides better value for money. Just PM me.

 

[Idosell Shop]

Dear Fisicx,

"WordPress Installations - Everything you need, all set up and sorted for just £280" +hosting +administration + bugs hot fixing by freelancers... all of these comes free?

 

[Alan]

Dear IdoSell,

We have a saying in English

"People in glass houses should not throw stones"

I'm not sure how it translates into Polish.

"Idosell -> If you would like to start your online store for free, sign the agreement for at least 2 years. In case of signing the agreement for an indefinite period of time the installation fee is £149 / 169€ - the initial payment is the sum of the installation fee, three times the license fee for CLOUD subscription plan and the cost of a chosen implementation package. If you choose one of STANDARD templates, the initial payment does not include the implementation package."

I can't even work out what that means, but I think you definition of free is many thousands of £ ( maybe it makes sense in the Polish version )

 

[Idosell Shop]

Hello Alan,
Thank you for your message, at least you took a look at our work.

I have never said our service is free it will never be. We find GBP49.99/month for the solution (with daily features updates) +hosting + unlimited support pretty much cost effective. We do not monkey business and it is maybe why we got Deloitte Technology Fast 50Central Europe 2014.

Just to clear out not to advertise:
- Installation fee can be 0- it is up to the user which contract agreement is going to sign.
- STANDARD implementation package is offered free of cost- there are several templates to be chosen.
- there is initial service prepayment 3xCLOUD but since we know that it takes up to 3 months to get ready on customer side to run a business effectively- we double that service initial prepayment.

STANDARD cannot be included since it is offered free of cost.

I can show you our works in the range of GBP200 to bespoke and you can judge yourself if it is worth of any pay or not.

 

[Alan]

I don't want to know