I spent one month on the site. Is it worth the effort?

[netman]

I spent nearly one month developing this game accessories site. Below is a breakdown of my efforts:

10% on layout and graphics
30% on extra modules
30% on hacking codes and bug fixing
30% on entering products.

Where do you thing I can save some time? This is my first prestashop shop. I came from Virtuemart background. It took me a few weeks to learn about the prestashop. My main experience gained from developing this sites are:

1. Learn the Prestashop structure first
2. Get to know the file structure. Find out what each file does.
3. Search this forum to learn how to hack the codes to achieve your result
4. Find addon modules to add extra features.

My site is hosted on a shared hosting account. How do you think of the speed? Is it necessory to move it to a dedicated server?

[D-fox]

if traffic is low no need.

[venutelli]

I suggest to use SSL on the registration page.

[netman]

HI Venutelli,

What is the advantage of using ssl for registration?

[venutelli]

all serius eshops use SSL on pages with users data, have a look to amazon.com, or web email like gmail... the cost is about 80€ per year.

[netman]

Hi Sarahd,

I agree. If a site has little traffic, there is not much point making too much an effort. However, how can you know how much traffic you may have before launching a site? My belief is that a good site will generate more traffic than a bad one. I am just hoping my effort will be awarded proportionately with good traffic.

This is my first online shop. I am on a learning curve to get some customers. I am sure a lot of beginners are in the same situation. Can the experienced online shop owners provide some tips?

http://gameaccess.co.uk

[netman]

OK, shop is up and running but no sales. What can I do to get sales? How long does it take you guys to get your first sale? Or shopping sites are completely waste of time? Check my shop to see if there is anything wrong?

http://gameaccess.co.uk

[mooshi]

Hi! Netman

I few things and I agree with the other..firstly SSL is important. Customers want to know that their info is safe. Content is king! eg: for your product descriptions .On your contact form, it is good to have at least a contact address or phone.

(Yslow extension for firefox) , if you don't have it already it is a great tool to have.

Submitting Your Site to Major Search Engines & Directories

Google - http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
Yahoo - http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
(Regarding Yahoo, it works differently. It require you to "Suggest your site")

http://dmoz.org/add.html - DMOZ Directory

It does take time and it won't happen over night! but you will get there

[netman]

Hi amikka,

Thanks for your advice. They will put me in the right direction. May I ask you What the Etags do?
I have another question regarding sitemap submission. Is it necessory to submit it on daily basis? Have you seen the effect of daily submission. I submited the sitemap to Google a week ago. It has 1200 URLs but only 30 are indexed. How can I increase the indexed pages?

My game accessories shop has about 600 products but the sitemap created by Prestashop has 1200 URLs. Can you explain the difference?

Thanks for your help.

[mooshi]

Hi!

I'm no expert and I learn as I go, but I hope it helps.

I'm not sure about why the 600/1200 ratio, but make sure you Redirect sitename.com to www.sitename.com (or vice versa) for SEO in your htaccess.

I should explain myself about the sitemap, when ever I add new content or products I regenerate it.

Here are a couple of links to help explain about the http headers

http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html

Google webmasters tools

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=sitemaps&passive=true&nui=1&continue=https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/&followup=https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/&hl=en

http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/validate-xml-sitemap.html

Hope this helps you a bit!

[tomerg3]

I'm personally not a fan of google ad words, and they take a big chunk of your right column...

I would also add a filter module to the site, you have categories with over 100 products, I don't think too many people will scroll through 10 pages.

[netman]

tomerg3, thanks for your comment. What does a filter module do? Will it help improve page layout and searchability?

[enigma32]

uh... why do you even have adwords? no offense but it seems to me you have no idea what you're doing.

you're an ecommerce site. your business model is suppsoed to be based on making sales, not advertising.

let me explain:

situation 1: Someone runs a blog or review site that reviews one of the products you sell. They do not sell anything, but have a decent user base that trusts their reviews. So they put adwords ads on their site as their revenue source. adwords displays a link to said product on your site. user clicks it and buys the product, having read the great review. they make a small kickback from google, you get a sale. hooray.

situation 2: you run an ecommerce site. you list adwords ads. customer is viewing a product on your site and sees an adwords link on your same site linking to the product on another site. they click it and buy it there instead. you just gave up a sale for adwords income instead. Um.... right...

[enigma32]

which in a kinder and more blunt way, adwords is a great marketing tool for small merchants which is the key to google's success.

remove adwords. spend money on it instead.

[netman]

Enigima32, thanks for you advice. I placed the ads there purely for Google ranking. It is a new site and will take a long time to rank well. I heard that Adsense helps with ranking. I am not sure it is true or not.

[Lee]

Hi Netman,

your site looks good! It's quick loading too considering your on shared hosting, and i wouldn't say you've wasted your time on it as it doesn't look that much like a prestashop site, unlike our sites.. If you're still not getting sales or indexed as yet, I'd probably try a couple of things:

- get rid of the adsense banner like a couple other people have said, it's just losing you custom to competitors and you'll not earn much from it being there anyway, and replace it with rotating wii controller skins images or something that'll look ok sat in that space and stand out aswell, your products.

- a couple of your product images don't load at times so you might want to reupload them or check the paths, just click round the site until you see missing images and try to tidy them up.

- try £30 on adwords and see how it goes for you, it's the fastest and cheapest way to get traffic and you'll be able to see if people are comfortable buying from your site. Also if adwords works for you, you won't need to have anything to help you improve your ranking in the short term 'cos you'll be paying to be seen on the front page, assuming your keywords aren't too expensive.

all the best

[steve189]

Definitely get SSL enabled as soon as you can, it is worth a lot certainly with regards to reassuring hesitant customers.

I did have some struggles enabling SSL to work correctly on my installation of Prestashop (Version 1.2.5.0) but got there in the end... There's my thread here regarding my findings: SSL giving warnings

With regard to using AdSense ads (not AdWords which is the opposite side of the AdSense coin for using to create your own ads) I've never come across any ranking benefit at all but before you remove them, experiment with blending the colours to match into your site layout better, the default colour scheme screams ADVERT!!!

I would also disagree with those who say AdSense will drive your customers away, if your shop content is good then interested parties will not simply exit the second they see an advert. If they're not all that interested in the first place they will exit regardless and so it's better they leave via a link that'll make you a few bucks than just click their browser back button.

[netman]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your comment. I am still uncerntain about any benefits AsSense may bring. I have not seen any evidence yet. I agree with your point on leaving the AdSense on the site as long as it does not do any harm. You can see most of major online retailers display ads on their sites like Amozon and Ebay. They must do it for a reason.

I am wondering if I can replace the text "Ads by Google" with something like "our sponsors", which will make it better integrated with my site. Any idea?

My Game Accessories site

[steve189]

Hi Netman,

You can't alter the Ads by Google text in fact any alteration to their provided code is a breach of their terms and conditions of use.

Aside from the webshop I have set up using prestashop I run a website for advertising rental property in France and I have found the AdSense (due to careful optimization of the site and contents) to also be useful to my site visitors.

The site gets between 25,000 and 60,000 views per month (average time on site per visitor 8 minutes) and many, many enquiries are sent to property owners who have listings on it. For the visitors who can't find the property they're looking for the AdSense gives them an immediate obvious place to click and go. I certainly haven't found that my site visitors leave instantly because of the ads.

[J. Fernandes PT]

I don´t like the way the categories are setup in your site.

As a gamer with an Xbox 360, the easy way to navigate was something like this, IMHO:

All Platforms - Xbox 360 - Type of accessory - list of accessories of that type


Cheers

[netman]

Steve, Thanks for your advice. I will change the adSense style and change the location as well. I see you place ads in the middle. Does the location make any difference?

J, I agree with you on the category. I find it hard to find products, especailly in the BO. I will create some subcategories.

[steve189]

Hi Netman,

Yep the middle spot (for me, for that particular site I must add) is the best spot so far for conversions. The side column ads do very little - banging well optimized ads within the main content seems to work best. The ad links are right there and you'd think would cause the site visitor just to leave but from what I can see from my Google analytics, page view times remain well above average with several clicks to other pages often involving an enquiry to a property owner before a user finally leaves often via a google ad according to my userfly page use tracking.

[netman]

Steve,

It seems the real world is indead different from what is most people's mind. I did think Good Ads could hard my site. But I noticed that all major online retailers put ads on your sites. They must know more than we do.

Any other people out there has any experience with Google Ads?

[letall]

Ok,

i went on as a buyer, and would have purchased somthing

However the first thing i wanted to know was, how much shipping and how long does it take to get to me, cant find that anywhere or your site, BIG BIG NO NO FOR ME.

Then on the thing i was going to buy, i thought that looks good what does it do, how do i use it?

No description at all, so what i suggest is you forget about trying to make money for ads, and concentrate on giving a happier easier shopping experience for buyers, as they will do exactly what i have just done, and get peeved as nothing has descriptions an there is no info anywhere on the site about who you are, delivery times, costs etc etc.

Also your customer service button brings up a page not available, i think that says t all!

Just my opinion but if you do want to make the site a success concentrate on the things that will make you money and make people want to come back, rather than a cheap earn here and there.

[netman]

Hi Letall,

Thank you for your comments. I have improved my shop quite a bit. It is now fully functional and generating income. The shop is three months old. I would like to share some my experience with all of you.

Below are some of my findings and tips on how to make your shop generate money.


1. The shop must look professional, clean and elegant,
2. The shop must be user friently and easy to use
3. Product images must be good
4. All information about your shop must be available. Creditability

Then comes to the most important bit – marketing

5. bring traffic to your site

There are many ways to to this.
5.1 Search engine optimisation – make sure your sites are optimised for your keywords. Optimising individual products are more important than general site optimisation. Most my visitors come from product search, and they go to the product page directly. Many of them have not seen my home page at all.

Put all meta data in. Check your competitors to see what they have done. Use Google keywords tool.

5.2 Use Google Products. This is free Google tool. Very useful. Upload alll your proudcts into Google products. Youi need to optimise Google products as well to achieve higher ranking in Google products search. The techniques are different from your site products optimisation.

After I started using Google products I have found Google bot visit my site a lot more frequently, from once a couple of days to once a couple of hours

5.3 Google adwards

Google adwards can help you generate instant traffic but it can be very costly. I think it has helped me to increate my generic search rankings. I spent £5 per day for a week. It did not bring in any sales. All my sales are from generic search.

5.4 Create as many inbount links as possible from related sites.

5.5 Upload your products to shopwiki. It is free and can generate a lot back links to your site. There are other free listing sites as well.

6. Optimise your hot sellers first

If you have many products, optimise your hot sellers first. Here is my best sellers –

Wii fit balance board.

It has generated most of the sales.

I have done a lot of research on my competitors to select correct key words for the products.

7. Set price right

I have a few tips on setting prices.

If you rely on generic Google searches, make your price competitive. Most Google searchers are bargain hunters. Put your price in the prodcut title to attract atention.

If you sell on ebay as well, you may set a different price, usually higher. Ebay charges 10% + Paypal fee.

Ok. That is it from me for now. Your tips, comments and questions are welcome. I hope this thread will help many new shop owners.

Please share your expericences here. We can all learn from each other.

[matthewmorek]

OK, few things here. I know it might sound blunt and offensive, but it's just a friendly advice on how to get your business some revenue, as to me you seem to be a person who has read few things here and there and is trying to make an e-commerce business anyways.

1. SEO basics:
Content is king! Choose your keywords properly, think about what people might type to get to your products in search engines and put some relevant content wrapping it around some basic HTML structure (H1, H2, tags and anchor text). Enable Google Analytics, create an account and track your site properly! Also you can (if you wish) invest in Google AdWords (not AdSense!) to gain some paid search traffic to your site. Get a Google Webmaster Tools account, verify your site and set it up, decide what kind of canonicalization method you want to use for your address (http://www.yoursite.com or http://yoursite.com) and stick to it! Create SEO friendly url, rewrites and if required redirects. These are all basics!

2. User Interface:
Get rid of AdSense as you may be loosing prospects, there is no need for it unless you want to advertise some other retailers. Put yourself in an average visitor's position. You want to find something. You want to find it quickly. Visitors don't like to wait! Put a search bar somewhere visible and maybe put a focus on it using JavaScript so user could type straight away. Whatever you do always try to direct your traffic to the homepage. Yu can use it to steer user's attention and point them to specific products using simple methods, like CTA's.

2.1. Less is More:
You think that your interface is maybe cool, cause it's clear - but it's not that clear. You've got too much stuff to choose from, there is not enough whitespace to rest your eyes on, so visitor is bombarded with stuff. It hurts his/her eyes. They don't like it. You loose business. Don't try to fill every available space with content. Give it some space. Generally users won't even look beyond the fold if they see something interesting up in front. so don't put 16 different items on the homepage cause the more you give them, the more you distract them.

2.2. Don't even compare yourself to Amazon or eBay. These guys WILL ALWAYS have traffic as they have already established their brands. Start small, and grow. As every business does. Put relevant and important links to FAQs, About pages or Delivery T&C;'s. This is all important. If they know where you are and how to contact you besides your website, you are already earning rep.

3. Homepage:
This is where you unfortunately fail if it comes to a business model. You push too hard. Use your homepage as a road sign for your prospects, tell them where to go, make it clear and easy, and they will follow.

4. Checkout & security:
Get SSL! Nothing is generating more bounces than a lack of security in front of your store. Get good SSL cert and tell users about it. Tell them it's secure. Tell them about the security of paying through your gateways. It all matters.

This is it for now folks. Don't give up on your businesses. It's a tough piece of life. But we can all make it. Now about the previous post from Netman.

5.1 General site SEO must be always the most important one, unless you just want to have sales and no brand at all. You want to generate conversions not visits!

5.2 Google Base (or Google Products) is a good thing, but only if you have already good traffic to your homepage and want to promote your products directly through Google Search. It's a tricky thing to get there though. It's not necessary to get it straight away.

5.3 Google AdWords. If you know how to create your advertising campaign, know how to select keywords etc this will generate a lot of traffic, but there is a catch. If you use it in the beginning when the site is barely recognizable for Search Engines than you loose money. You don't have to spend a lot there. And you pay for clicks not on a daily basis, so only if somebody clicks on your link Google takes a piece of money. That's how we call it: PPC Campaigns. And if you didn't know - Google's not the only one doing it.

5.4 Link exchange can be deadly. If a relevant page has some nice matching content and a good PR factor, than it's cool. But remember that if the link is coming from the URL you are pointing to as well Google will ignore both of them respectively. Large businesses are paying for links thousands of pounds every year to increase their PR's and position in Google. I don't think you have that budget.

6. It seems that you don't have an idea of what product optimisation is at all. You have to make it stand out, be presentable and have clear call to actions. On the product pages there is nothing that could say anything special for your item. Nothing that would indicate to your prospective customer: "hey, I'm here, buy me now!". There is no CTA's as all of them are blurred by the use of the same colors EVERYWHERE. Make it stand out.

Prices: Including prices in title tags or heading tags is a waste of keyword space. Nobody is searching for "wii for 80 quid". They search for "wii bargains" etc. If Google sees that that the price is relevant to users search it will be displayed within the summary, don't you worry!

Sorry for showing no mercy, but it's better to get your mind in the right directions before you will start "educating" other people about something that is not very helpful or can even ruin their businesses. I'm not saying you are 100% wrong, cause you're getting there, but there are things that could be improved.

If you want to know more about things that I've mentioned look here:
www.smashingmagazine.com
www.sixrevisions.com
www.uxbooth.com
www.usabilitypost.com
http://designreviver.com/

One more thing: one month it's definitely not enough to start a successful e-commerce business. It's an ongoing thing. Always.

Hope I've helped few people. If you have any questions - I'm here.

Matt

[Kash123]

One of the most productive post and helpful discussion.

Thank you all.

It motivates me to keep up with my small business site (www.maauma.co.uk) which is still waiting to sell its first item.

Once again, Many Thanks.

[TomJackson]

Hi Letall,

Thank you for your comments. I have improved my shop quite a bit. It is now fully functional and generating income. The shop is three months old. I would like to share some my experience with all of you.

Below are some of my findings and tips on how to make your shop generate money.


1. The shop must look professional, clean and elegant,
2. The shop must be user friently and easy to use
3. Product images must be good
4. All information about your shop must be available. Creditability

Then comes to the most important bit – marketing

5. bring traffic to your site

There are many ways to to this.
5.1 Search engine optimisation – make sure your sites are optimised for your keywords. Optimising individual products are more important than general site optimisation. Most my visitors come from product search, and they go to the product page directly. Many of them have not seen my home page at all.

Put all meta data in. Check your competitors to see what they have done. Use Google keywords tool.

5.2 Use Google Products. This is free Google tool. Very useful. Upload alll your proudcts into Google products. Youi need to optimise Google products as well to achieve higher ranking in Google products search. The techniques are different from your site products optimisation.

After I started using Google products I have found Google bot visit my site a lot more frequently, from once a couple of days to once a couple of hours

5.3 Google adwards

Google adwards can help you generate instant traffic but it can be very costly. I think it has helped me to increate my generic search rankings. I spent £5 per day for a week. It did not bring in any sales. All my sales are from generic search.

5.4 Create as many inbount links as possible from related sites.

5.5 Upload your products to shopwiki. It is free and can generate a lot back links to your site. There are other free listing sites as well.

6. Optimise your hot sellers first

If you have many products, optimise your hot sellers first. Here is my best sellers –

Wii fit balance board.

It has generated most of the sales.

I have done a lot of research on my competitors to select correct key words for the products.

7. Set price right

I have a few tips on setting prices.

If you rely on generic Google searches, make your price competitive. Most Google searchers are bargain hunters. Put your price in the prodcut title to attract atention.

If you sell on ebay as well, you may set a different price, usually higher. Ebay charges 10% + Paypal fee.

Ok. That is it from me for now. Your tips, comments and questions are welcome. I hope this thread will help many new shop owners.

Please share your expericences here. We can all learn from each other.

Netman,
Great thread and great update. I'm just wondering, if you had a chance to do it over, would you still go with PrestaShop?

[Parts Lunacy]

I read these posts with great interest.

I have been tinkering with PrestaShop and a few others to find one a simple person like myself can use and do on my own as I started out with very little and like to do most things myself. This phase of checking each system out took me about 12 months to decide to use PrestaShop, in that time it grew and changed enough that I waited for 1.4 to be delivered before I went too far with it. I personally have been working on my current store www.partslunacy.com/store since about day 5 of the 1.4 launch. So not long. I have not even advertised it yet or even placed a link to it anywhere, other than on a post or two here to nut out some small issues.

Having said this, with all of my sites flaws and the fact that I am doing it mostly on my own I SOLD MY FIRST ITEM today!!! Mind you the price had double tax which I still need to fix but I SOLD MY FIRST ITEM! so YES all of the pain and frustration in getting everything close to right is not only fun and an adventure but well worth it the moment someone actually signs up to your shop and does actually buy something from you.

As for frustrations that nearly made me give up I spent about two weeks to work out that IE9 is a peace of you know what because it made me waste 2 weeks of my life looking for a bug in PrestaShop that it caused, another story and one I am still trying to solve (ideas?)!

So yes, great advice all round and very much worth the effort. I sell hundreds of items on eBay Australia, with over 3000 sales and none has made me as happy as a simple $15 sale on my own website today.

Thank you PrestaShop, members and all of those that post helpful info and help others out here in the forum.

Regards, Parts Lunacy