Guest vorlockfoss Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi everyone, How are you all? I have all but finished creating my new store, save for a few basic design ideas, and I would be very greatful if anyone could have a look and see what they think. There is one issue I do know of; When on the category page and you hit the buy button, the cart box does not always update itself. This was a mod I installed but I think I may take it out, I'm not sure yet. There are a total of 6 test products on there at the moment, in various states of display, enabling full testing of features. I have left the store set to pay through paypal using the sandbox, so if anyone is willing, it would be appreciated if checkout could be tested. I have tested this and so far have had no errors. The URL is below. http://www.gadgetsandgizmosonline.co.uk Thanks to one and all. Regards, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alkaye Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Nice job! It seem to work very well..You obviosly know PHP and design..what mods did yoiu use? Al ---------------------- Hi everyone, How are you all? I have all but finished creating my new store, save for a few basic design ideas, and I would be very greatful if anyone could have a look and see what they think. There is one issue I do know of; When on the category page and you hit the buy button, the cart box does not always update itself. This was a mod I installed but I think I may take it out, I'm not sure yet. There are a total of 6 test products on there at the moment, in various states of display, enabling full testing of features. I have left the store set to pay through paypal using the sandbox, so if anyone is willing, it would be appreciated if checkout could be tested. I have tested this and so far have had no errors. The URL is below. http://www.gadgetsandgizmosonline.co.uk Thanks to one and all. Regards, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest systekuk Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Nice job! It seem to work very well..You obviosly know PHP and design..what mods did yoiu use? Al ---------------------- Hi everyone, How are you all? I have all but finished creating my new store, save for a few basic design ideas, and I would be very greatful if anyone could have a look and see what they think. There is one issue I do know of; When on the category page and you hit the buy button, the cart box does not always update itself. This was a mod I installed but I think I may take it out, I'm not sure yet. There are a total of 6 test products on there at the moment, in various states of display, enabling full testing of features. I have left the store set to pay through paypal using the sandbox, so if anyone is willing, it would be appreciated if checkout could be tested. I have tested this and so far have had no errors. The URL is below. http://www.gadgetsandgizmosonline.co.uk Thanks to one and all. Regards, Paul. job well done Just some adivce (take it or leave it!) How about adding sub cats? eg: you have computing but then also have laptops-notebooks, maybe put laptops/notbooks under computing & put football under health & leisure etc, as i said just some advice, but still nice layout & good work heres mine (still in the making!) http://www.systekuk.co.uk/shop i use cats on mine to keep the main menu a reasonable size :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vorlockfoss Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Nice job! It seem to work very well..You obviosly know PHP and design..what mods did yoiu use? Al Hi Al, Thanks for your kind comments and for having a look. It is much appreciated. I have used and removed many different mods, some free, some paid for. Below is a list, which I think is complete, of the ones I've used. PayPal Non USD Direct Payment-Express Checkout UK - From Cubecart Download Page.Dymo Labels Printing Utility - Enables me to print direct to a Dymo Label Printer - Good Mod.PayPal direct payment fix - 3 different mods - 1 to send shipping address - 1 to provide error messages - 1 to eliminate the comments page before redirect to Paypal.Previous-Next Products v1.0.2 - Enables user to move forward & back through products.Product Clone Tool - Enables me to copy a product in admin without having to enter everything from scratch.Automatic Currency Updater - This is brilliant! With one click it updates my currencies from a remote server. Can be set to run automaticly with a cron job.PHPMyVisites Web Stats Software - brilliant free software to keep track of your site visitors.Shopping Cart Mod - Shows all side boxes on checkout pages as well as index pages.Wishlist Software - Enables users to save a list of things they want to buy for when they log in again.Product Details Shown During Checkout - I like this one - shows details of items to be purchased in checkout - enables customers to see what they're buying.Related Products With Auto Search v1.0 - Enables you to show related products when customer is viewing a product.Print Order Form - Customer Email v1.0.3 - Enables you to print and or email the customers order from admin. Below are the places that I downloaded/bought my mods from. For every 1 mod I left installed there are 2 that I either removed or did not use. http://cubecart.expandingbrain.com/ http://www.cubecart.org/downloads/ http://cc3.biz/ http://www.phpmyvisites.us/ http://www.toucanwebdesign.com/ There are other sites that I think that I downloaded from but I can't remember which. I have to say that this site has probably taken me at least 200 to 300 hours to get it in the condition it's in. It's been a massive learning curve for me! Thanks, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest systekuk Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 where did yu get the mod (#8) from so on checkout you can still see all the boxes etc i would like this myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roban Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Your URL is http://ccgi.vorlockfoss.plus.com/gagol//index.php. Note the //. You have an extra / probably in your path. Your site is a redirect and you will suffer in SERPS for that as well as your slow loading times. IMAGES The total size of your images is 94327 bytes, which is over 30K. Consider optimizing your images for size, combining them, and replacing graphic rollovers with CSS. SCRIPT The total size of external your scripts is 15739 bytes, which is over 8K. Consider optimizing your scripts for size, combining them, and using compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents. CSS The total size of your external CSS is 10806 bytes, which is over 8K. Consider optimizing your CSS for size by eliminating whitespace, using shorthand notation, and combining multiple CSS files where appropriate. The total size of this page is 143215 bytes, which will load in 33.94 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. Consider reducing total page size to less than 30K to achieve sub eight second response times on 56K connections. Pages over 100K exceed most attention thresholds at 56Kbps. The total size of this HTML file is 22343 bytes, which is above 20K but below 100K. With a 10K ad and a logo this means that your page will load in over 8.6 seconds. Consider optimizing your HTML and eliminating unnecessary features. To give your users a better experience, consider using positioning to display useful content within the first two seconds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vorlockfoss Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 job well done Just some adivce (take it or leave it!) How about adding sub cats? eg: you have computing but then also have laptops-notebooks, maybe put laptops/notbooks under computing & put football under health & leisure etc, as i said just some advice, but still nice layout & good work heres mine (still in the making!) http://www.systekuk.co.uk/shop i use cats on mine to keep the main menu a reasonable size Hi Systekuk, Thanks for your comments, it is appreciated. Thanks for the advice. I think you have a good point. I'll take a look at my categories to see what I can juggle. Had a look at yours. Looks good. I'll bookmark you and keep looking once in a while. One piece of advise I can offer is to take a look at http://www.website-law.co.uk/, they offer free legal templates for your terms & conditions and you privacy policy pages, which can be modified at your will. Thanks again, Paul. where did yu get the mod (#8) from so on checkout you can still see all the boxes etc i would like this myself! Hello again, Just done some research, got this mod from http://www.xxx.net/index.php?tar...p;product_id=22. Regards, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest targabuff Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Your site is a redirect and you will suffer in SERPS for that as well as your slow loading times. I currently have www.mydomain.com/index.html redirecting instantly to www.mydomain.com/store where my CC files (and store) are. Are you saying that I'm taking a big hit in SERPS by doing it this way? Should I move CC store up into root to get better SERPS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest systekuk Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 job well done Just some adivce (take it or leave it!) How about adding sub cats? eg: you have computing but then also have laptops-notebooks, maybe put laptops/notbooks under computing & put football under health & leisure etc, as i said just some advice, but still nice layout & good work heres mine (still in the making!) http://www.systekuk.co.uk/shop i use cats on mine to keep the main menu a reasonable size Hi Systekuk, Thanks for your comments, it is appreciated. Thanks for the advice. I think you have a good point. I'll take a look at my categories to see what I can juggle. Had a look at yours. Looks good. I'll bookmark you and keep looking once in a while. One piece of advise I can offer is to take a look at http://www.website-law.co.uk/, they offer free legal templates for your terms & conditions and you privacy policy pages, which can be modified at your will. Thanks again, Paul. where did yu get the mod (#8) from so on checkout you can still see all the boxes etc i would like this myself! Hello again, Just done some research, got this mod from http://www.xxx.net/index.php?tar...p;product_id=22. Regards, Paul. cheers for info on the T&C's & privacy docs ... i will be adding that #8 mod later cheers mate :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vorlockfoss Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi Roban, Thanks for your comments. Your URL is http://ccgi.vorlockfoss.plus.com/gagol//index.php. Note the //. You have an extra / probably in your path. Your site is a redirect and you will suffer in SERPS for that as well as your slow loading times. I'm not quite sure why the extra / is visible. I think it's something to do with the way my service provider redirects to the cgi server. I am in the process of moving my site to a specialist hosting company because I am not happy with the way my current one handles my site. My present hosting company doesn't provide cgi services on the main server. I have installed the SEO mod but because of the redirect it does not work, another reason for moving. IMAGES The total size of your images is 94327 bytes, which is over 30K. Consider optimizing your images for size, combining them, and replacing graphic rollovers with CSS. I have considered the size of the graphics and I do intend to optimize a little. However, after considering the nature of my website, I have concluded that the type of customer I may expect to receive would probably have a larger connection than a 56k modem, or at least I hope so. I have spent many hours researching my competitors and my sizes are comparible or smaller than theirs, i.e. www.iwantoneofthose.com. Their picture sizes alone equal the size of my entire page. SCRIPT The total size of external your scripts is 15739 bytes, which is over 8K. Consider optimizing your scripts for size, combining them, and using compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents. CSS The total size of your external CSS is 10806 bytes, which is over 8K. Consider optimizing your CSS for size by eliminating whitespace, using shorthand notation, and combining multiple CSS files where appropriate. I understand most of what you are saying above. I am intending to have a last minute script edit in order to reduce sizes, i.e. removing whitespace. I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say, "combining them, and using compression where appropriate for any scripts placed in the HEAD of your documents", and "using shorthand notation". I thought cubecart scripts and css files were already combined. The total size of this page is 143215 bytes, which will load in 33.94 seconds on a 56Kbps modem. Consider reducing total page size to less than 30K to achieve sub eight second response times on 56K connections. Pages over 100K exceed most attention thresholds at 56Kbps. The total size of this HTML file is 22343 bytes, which is above 20K but below 100K. With a 10K ad and a logo this means that your page will load in over 8.6 seconds. Consider optimizing your HTML and eliminating unnecessary features. To give your users a better experience, consider using positioning to display useful content within the first two seconds. Would you have any suggestions as to what I could eliminate from my pages but keeping the layout and content as it is. Could you advise me as to how I can refine my scripts but again keeping the layout and content as it is. Could I ask what you mean when you say, "consider using positioning to display useful content within the first two seconds"? Do you mean things like the menus, text and boxes? On the whole do you think I'm heading in the right direction? Thank you very much for the time you have spent on my website. I appreciate it very much! Regards, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roban Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Paul, First let me say I think you've done an amazing job in putting your site together and I am happy to hear you say that you've done hours of research. My business is SEO and any web master who doesn't research their products is in for a long haul. Your site took 27 seconds for me to load on a cable connection and like it or not there are still a ton of folks who still use a 56k connection so IMO we can't ignore them. I think you have to consider your reasons for your online presence. Is it to display animated GIF's or is it to sell a product. Whenever I lose my focus I default to the New York Times web site. Strange as it may sound, they, and other highly successful sites have a few things in common: 1. The most important information is 'above the fold'. In other words, everything you want to convey should be immediately visible. 2. Images are used sparingly and only for their immediate value. 3. Navigation is clear and simple. 4. There is nothing on the site that does not add to the mission. 5. The site is constantly changing with new content being added regularly. As painful as it may be, consider of what value are the animations on your site. Do they add or take away from your mission? Your meta key words, IMHO are not well thought out. They are too general and you will not rank well for them as they are too competitive and since most of your categories are empty you will take a big hit. We have 5 seconds to get a potential customer's attention and if we lose them, they are not coming back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vorlockfoss Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Paul, First let me say I think you've done an amazing job in putting your site together and I am happy to hear you say that you've done hours of research. My business is SEO and any web master who doesn't research their products is in for a long haul. Your site took 27 seconds for me to load on a cable connection and like it or not there are still a ton of folks who still use a 56k connection so IMO we can't ignore them. I think you have to consider your reasons for your online presence. Is it to display animated GIF's or is it to sell a product. Whenever I lose my focus I default to the New York Times web site. Strange as it may sound, they, and other highly successful sites have a few things in common: 1. The most important information is 'above the fold'. In other words, everything you want to convey should be immediately visible. 2. Images are used sparingly and only for their immediate value. 3. Navigation is clear and simple. 4. There is nothing on the site that does not add to the mission. 5. The site is constantly changing with new content being added regularly. As painful as it may be, consider of what value are the animations on your site. Do they add or take away from your mission? Your meta key words, IMHO are not well thought out. They are too general and you will not rank well for them as they are too competitive and since most of your categories are empty you will take a big hit. We have 5 seconds to get a potential customer's attention and if we lose them, they are not coming back. Hi Roban, Thanks for the above. I see where you are coming from. The speed issue is more to do with my service provider, hence my reason for wanting to move to a specialist. Generally when I load my site, with a clear cache, it takes no longer than 5 seconds. I'm looking into utilising mod_gzip, which I'm in the process of researching. As for the animations, they were more of a panic attempt to compare with other like sites. I also wanted to make my site a little more 3 dimensional. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about them yet. I'm going on holiday tomorrow so I think I'll leave that one untill I come back. Hopefully I'll have a clearer mind . I think I'll take one of the banners off also, as its off the bottom of the visible page. I've had a look at the New York Times website and I like their layout and I get your point about the information 'above the fold'. The problem I've got is me. I'm paranoid that if I don't make my site fun, especialy considering what I'll be selling, then my potential customers will not bite. Perhaps I should have more faith in the content!? I will be filling the categories as soon as I'm happy with the design and function of my site. Do you think this would make a difference to the Meta Key Words? I have to be honest, they were probably the first thing I entered when I originaly set up my site about 3 months ago. I will take your comments on board and revise. I am most greatful for your candid professional opinion. Kind regards, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest systekuk Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Paul, Your site took 27 seconds for me to load on a cable connection and like it or not there are still a ton of folks who still use a 56k connection so IMO we can't ignore them. it only took about3-4 secs with me & im only on 1mb, you sure that aint con probs your end, or maybe do a tracert? ..27 secs is a long time, even fully blown flash sights sometimes load just as quick :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vorlockfoss Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Paul, First let me say I think you've done an amazing job in putting your site together and I am happy to hear you say that you've done hours of research. My business is SEO and any web master who doesn't research their products is in for a long haul. Your site took 27 seconds for me to load on a cable connection and like it or not there are still a ton of folks who still use a 56k connection so IMO we can't ignore them. I think you have to consider your reasons for your online presence. Is it to display animated GIF's or is it to sell a product. Whenever I lose my focus I default to the New York Times web site. Strange as it may sound, they, and other highly successful sites have a few things in common: 1. The most important information is 'above the fold'. In other words, everything you want to convey should be immediately visible. 2. Images are used sparingly and only for their immediate value. 3. Navigation is clear and simple. 4. There is nothing on the site that does not add to the mission. 5. The site is constantly changing with new content being added regularly. As painful as it may be, consider of what value are the animations on your site. Do they add or take away from your mission? Your meta key words, IMHO are not well thought out. They are too general and you will not rank well for them as they are too competitive and since most of your categories are empty you will take a big hit. We have 5 seconds to get a potential customer's attention and if we lose them, they are not coming back. Hi Roban, Just to add to our earlier communications, I've made a few tweeks to the index content page, to start with, and I've also considered your thoughts from earlier and, after much brain aching, I decided to follow your advice. I've tested the speed using http://www.websiteoptimization.com/service...lyze/index.html and I'm on the way to achieving my ultimate goal! I have looked into installing mod_gzip but my present provider services do not enable me to complete this. So, I'm going to leave this untill I move to a new. Thanks again. Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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