In their defense, only the September 2010 Issue is not accurate -
We consider ourselves Ecommerce veterans and we typically read Website Magazine cover to cover.
Last night I passed around the Top 50 Ecommerce review (page 16) and was sorely disappointed in how the information was gathered and ranked based on the site traffic and basically no other metrics?
We have reviewed, Installed, and hosted several shopping carts and one of the grandaddy of problematic shopping carts, X-Cart, made by a Russian group is ranked 14? OSCommerce ranked 6, has been a derivative of X-Cart. X-Cart and similar ones should not even be on the list… but it is… Open source, ok, yeah I get it.
In short and I am certain that the Website Mag guys know that Ecommerce carts should be ranked based on Security, Reliability, Installation, SEO, Usability, Features, customers needs, etc.
Note: I think very highly of Website Magazine and it’s writers and I hope they will be more cautious next time.
ShopSite cart – http://www.ezupdirect.com/ezup-instant-shelters/exp2vp.php (all words can be easily crawled)
We just finished writing about ShopSite vs others – http://yourhost.com/netspeak/2010/07/shopsite-stil-holding-its-own-sp2-new-features/
I did some research on the web about Pinnacle Cart and came up with some favorable reviews, but we are always cautious with carts as time and time again we have seen some real troubles in one way or another.
One of the main reasons we have stuck with ShopSite is security and it being SEO friendly. ShopSite does not break and its support system is great.
We have been working with ShopSite as a partner since 1997.
Video Player Browser Sniffer – What does it do? Well it will give you the ability to put the code on a streaming player page (VOD) and the page will sniff what browsers, players, etc you have on your computer that might play that file and chose one based on rules you setup.
This code will allow you to play the media with less chance of asking the user to be rejected or to download player.
We are looking at all browsers and players options, including the much discussed, HTML 5, Flash, and QuickTime. It is pretty slick.
Try this beta test page link on your desktop or device you may have.
Is Shopsite still the best platform? We can all agree that this answer is yes. If you have known YourHost.com management and staff for any amount of time, you know that we do not stick our heads in the sand when it comes to shopping carts and what new technology has to offer. ShopSite continues to be a steady and stable ecommerce tool .
Over the past 15 years, others systems have come and gone. Some stick, but have their challenges.
ShopSite is like the Tortoise and the Hare in its offerings and it still stands out.
YouHost.com staff is continuously getting feedback from it’s customers and from our YourHost.com internal design staff as to what we would like to see improved.
We are fully aware that ShopSite could use a short list of items and we are working with ShopSite to improve.
One of the big improvements we have seen in the past updates is templates (request a peak from tech), especially in the new release SP2 that is coming in a few weeks. Learn More…
If you are planning to stream an event at your church or for your organization. Streaming is much like quality email marketing, practice makes perfect, and the number one mantra is Test, Test, and more Tests.
Windows media is a pretty much a no brainier , you set up the link and post it. You do not even have to embed the code in your web page. Let me know if you need for me to expound on that but for now I will go on.
Embedding Windows media is fairly simple and tweaking it is even easier because the code is on the page and all you need to do is change it.
When it comes to flash, you need a flash player and an instruction set to talk to the stream link but also talk to the player and let it know what you want it to do.
RSS feeds are defined as (Rich Site Summery) and it is a way of delivering updated and changing web content.
Many news-related sites and publishers use RSS feeds to syndicate their content to anyone on the planet that has an interest.
I want to go into many different areas of blogging but let’s first see if we can get the RSS feed understood. What benefit is it to your reader? They save time as they are connected to your site updates without having to regularly visit your site just to see if you have added articles and or content that is appealing to them.
If you have not been to a page with the RSS feed symbol and want to experience it got to an example at the New York Times and click on the RSS feed you like.
The Internet is one of the greatest tools that any business could possible have. It allows a company to get their name out, automate the shopping process, keep in touch with your loyal customer base, reach new people and, keep their markets fresh.
Like any tool, if not used at the right time and the right way, its can be useless and counter productive,
Shopping Carts, Email Marketing, Web Design, and Streaming Media are just a few of the topics that I will be writing about to inform and spurr conversations.
Technology moves fast and is in a constant state of change so be cautious about jumping with both feet when learning about new Technologies. Keeping up is not an option and the process can at times seem like a full time job.
I have good news. It’s one of my passions, so let’s start learning together. We will be sharing all the knowledge we collectively gained and push it to you. Let us know if there is any topics you wish to discuss.
Eric Kirkhuff
