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.
Just got back from the Internet Retailer conference. Not like other shows where your getting sold by every vendor that comes. (we are guilty of that also).
This was loaded with practical, useful workshops interlaced with interactive one-on-one meetings, along with a smattering of workshop-specific vendors.
I went with a one of our customers, Scott Ramspott,
founder of the parent EshopsDirect.com Company. YourHost.com is engaging to completely revamp the sites over the next few months, after we complete the new endeavor, which is a related site selling unique, high end Teak Furniture.
Scott’s company is in Iowa, yeah it’s cold there so this was a great time in Florida and his team is driven to provide the best customer product and experience, which is inline with YourHost.com’s ethics.
Scott has 20+ years in the patio fireplace and hearth business, has defined his market and made relationships to bring products that will offset the seasonal cycles.
Meeting your customer in a one on one setting is one of the best thing you to better understand each other, allowing for better trust and understanding during and after the ecommerce web site process.
The show opened his eyes to the multiple of elements and processes that go into making a great site and partner.
We did meet the Bold Chat team, specifically Shea and the tech team, and we enjoyed a in-depth discussion on how we can incorporate this tool for Live Chat. Bold Chat allows the vendor to make changes and modifications without engaging the developer each time.
They are just on the edge of an Iphone app and they use HTML instead of Java, which means it will not break in the browser like some other chat tools do.
HardRock Cafe and Best Buy were one of the most impressive company that was there. HardRock displayed some of the most cutting-edge memorabilia tools with user and community interaction coming very soon.
When developing a web site, especially Ecommerce, you need to be cautious to the degree of cutting-edge you become as you can loose the late adopters leave dollars on the table.
Stay tuned, we will be reviewing some of the things I learned. Of course, most of our development team already knows what I learned but they cannot tell you from the basic owner or marketing person. So, we come back to the office with our “Pom Poms” in hand, realizing that you definitely need to be cautious and responsible when pushing technology to your customers.
Should I pay to consult in the design of a web site? (depends, you will find out soon if you wish not to work with them)
Is Search Engine Submissions for $60 bucks a month worth it? (no never)
Let’s face it, Google is the standard that most SEO experts work at targeting and the rest tend to follow. Even with that known, it can be very tricky and downright frustrating to get your web site or commerce store found indexed. Poor website design can result in only the home page rank being indexed..?
Why? The answer is structure content relevance, and a whole lot more elements. Poor design is like bad food for Google or the Search Engines,… They get a taste and find another place to eat that is inviting. (Search engine have electronic spiders that crawl the site and use complex antilogarithms to decide if it is worthy of continuing.
People who are getting a site built tend NOT to be concerned with how the site foundations are made, and only how it looks.
Once quoted a price that seems outrageous, they then seek out to find a brother, family member, and someone that does not have a clue how to build that good foundation. This is a repeated footprint that we see on a regular basis.
To the average customer, looks are most important over mindful layout, heading labeling, content, placement, usability, etc. They still tend to miss that most important fact.
The key to a good SEO friendly site is to find a design team that is well versed in the layout and design as it relates to SEO, and they instruct you on what needs to be on the pages and how.
So, how do you pick a company that knows there stuff and won’t load you up and rob you blind?
It is not easy when we get clients that come to us with some real sad stories. We know that we they are hypersensitive and we treat them with that understanding until we have built a trust based on doing what we say we will do and seeing results.
Search engine Optimization (SEO) is more challenging today than every before. Many Web professionals are taking advantage of SEO software to get the most out of their website, especially for their commerce stores and how visitors respond to the site.
There are many SEO solutions out there and more are fast approaching. These are all items you can bolt on to your Hosted ShopSite solutions with YourHost.com.
Beware when picking a commerce solution that will not allow you to FTP and interact with the basic page, checkout codes using CSS and other forms of tagging. You are basically screwed for SEO and natural search ranking if your source is closed to these options. Closed solutions will not allow you to get most out of your website in respect to ROI.
Web CEO offers a free edition of their SEO software, SmallBiz, and Professional Editions range from $199-$389 (one-time initial fee) . There are many others like RankSense, starting at $29.95/mo., and SEO administrator which range from $129-199 (i believe one-time initial fee). These are all one time fees and you can count on paying for future upgrades on most of the products or they will become stagnant.
LotusJump at $24-$49 per month is a robust SEO software solution that is generating some attention.
Most of these solutions are for smaller sites (What constitutes a smaller site? Many different factors so this is a general statement to be defined when your selecting an SEO solution) and the prices jump up considerably ($250-900/mo.) when looking for some Enterprise for larger websites. These Enterprise systems will allow you to do so many different critical functions, like granular testing and t is too much to mention in this article.
Manticore Technology, Web Side Story, and others like these, are very stable and robust, allowing the web developer to do some pretty amazing things. Be careful when you start mixing your email system with a hosted SEO tool, it can affect your internet email reputation if it is not well managed.
By far, your emails where they come from and how they are sent should not be overlooked.
With the expansion of the Internet, consumers all over the world can now have access to your business. They can now shop or learn more about your services from the safety and comfort of their own homes. There is only one problem, now consumers have access to all of your competitors as well. Products that people used to go to the a store to buy can now purchase products online with little effort. How can you stand out from the herd? Through well thought-out and intuitive web design.
Whether you are trying to get a visitor to your site to make a purchase or to call you, presentation is key. How would you present yourself on a first date, or perhaps a job interview? A homepage to your companies website is no different. The way you present your company will be how people view your company. A lot of care and consideration needs to go into the appearance and functionality of your site.
Do you already have a site up? Has it been up for many years? Just like in fashion certain styles of websites design themes will go in and out of style. It never hurts to update your look from time to time.
Function over style .
The way you may personally feel about this may vary depending on the nature of your company. A cutting edge technology firm will most likely want to have a website that mirrors their company model. For most of us simplicity is best. How does the navigation on your page look? More importantly how easy is it to use? Is it consistent throughout the website? In shopping online I have personally been to websites that were not easy to get through, and more often then not I can get the same product elsewhere. Not only will a well designed and easy to use site keep your customers interest but, it will also be much more search engine friendly.
Browsers:
Opera, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari. Which browser do you prefer? I personally am a fan of Firefox. Have you tested your site to see how it looks in different browsers? It’s always good to have a third party check things out in this regard. Keep in mind that most people around the world still use Internet Explore and that of all the browsers I.E. seemed to be the hardest one to please.
If you would like to know more about how to streamline your internet presence feel free contact me or any other professional designer. Good luck and Godspeed.
