This is my journey as an E-commerce Consultant
Posts tagged Web Mastering
Go Cubecart Go – E-commerce Software ROI
1713 days
Well on Tuesday evening I completed my new CubeCart 4 store, and by Thursday evening it had made back its purchase price. I doubt there are many systems that I could say it takes less that three days to see return on investment. This includes the price of the security certificate too.
A small targeted adwords campaign (costing me £3 in clicks) made sure that I drove a bit of traffic to my new URLs ( ALL the site URLs have been changed to text URLs. I am still fearful of this as SEO efforts will be temporarily effected by this change)
Support was lightning fast. Being in customer support for the last 2 years, its nice to remember what it is like to be the other side of the fold.
I also created a new google sitemap pronto and changed all the links to individual products in the blog associated with the site. Its only a hobby site targeted at a niche market, but I feel absolved for investing the money into the site this week.
Generating a Google Sitemap FREE
1714 days
Google site mapping is a free service, and for those who do not like to deal with python script, generating said sitemap should also be free.
If you have a site under 500 links, try: Create your Google Sitemap Online – XML Sitemaps
but if you want more links, try: GSiteCrawler which is an application to download for windows. It is also free (you can kindly donate) and you can also export as a google base file for a product based site.
I have now practised what I preach, and changed the Hairfreax URL’s to text based URL’s and I am now writing individual HTML titles and meta for each category. It has been a long time coming, and will take a long time to do. Translation of the site will also take time!
Setting up a secure e-commerce website for under £100
1715 days
by Liz
in Web Mastering
Well hairfreax needed a revamp, and with the launch of Cubecart 4, I decided to do just that.
Cube 4 at a minimum (keeping the copyright notices) ~ £78 with the VAT added (subject to exchange rate as the price is quoted in dollars)
Your website needs to be secure, so with a £14 SSL certificate from Trusico (£12 plus VAT) the whole e-commerce website costs you £92…
This means you have £8 left to put towards your hosting, the cheapest (and most reliable) I have found in the UK is OxyUK, at 99p a month, the very basics you need. If you need more then I would pay no more than £5 per month for hosting and emails.
Once your SSL cert is installed (usually with help from your host) you can install cube pretty easily as well as..
- Google Checkout
- PayPal Payments Pro
The two designs they have for you are basic, but enough to get you by in your early stages of e-commerce. You can have a professionally designed skin once you know your brilliant idea makes money. Don’t think setting up an e-commerce store can cost the earth or cause you trouble…
You can get a 14 day trial with cube 4 and still FREE access to cube 3 (and the upgrading is almost seamless I tell you).
If you want to know what they get up too, visit the CubeCart Development Blog
Designing a ‘Storefront’ – Channeladvisor
1717 days
by Liz
in Web Mastering
Designing within the constraints of a store front (notably Marketworks and Channeladvisor in the UK) can be tricky, but some designers don’t let anything get in their way:
http://www.cybercheckout.co.uk/ is a channeladvisor store designed by Sell-it-smart who have made this table based basic store look and feel like a real website.
More examples are Grapevinehill who have used a splash page integration to make sure their store front looks and feels like a real website. Hagchairs uses a similar method.
Can’t should never be in a development or design firms mentality, as you can have fantastic websites using store front systems if you try and push the boat out.
On further digging I also found Junction Quest who also manage ChannelAdvisor Store Design and the site Exclusively Home designed by Rick Wells Ltd.
New Technologies and Virtual services – Virtual Personal Assistant
1722 days
My cousin has been a PA to the stars in Dubai…..well to managers at Hewlett Packard and Dell for the past 13 years, but has now decided to come back to the UK in the Spring. The cats have their passports so it is a serious move. Jane is going to set up a ‘Virtual PA’ business which I have already purchased the domain and set up an email address for her.
I will be very much involved in the set up of her website and helping her deliver her services with the new technologies out there. E-commerce is not just about products, its about virtual services also.
The website will be http://www.virtuassist.co.uk
I have decided to charge to cover costs on this project, as it is going to involve a lot of training also. I don’t think £20 a month for web mastering, setting up the site, marketing, script and email maintenance is asking a lot!
