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osCommerce

The e-commerce.

My Guide to a good store


FIMBLE

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My guide to a good store,

 

 

So you have installed your store, added loads of products, SEO gadgets, tools, bells and whistles, now you sit back and wait for your customers to flock to you with their purses open and spend, spend, spend on your shop. You were in a rush to get it on line so you did not really bother with the layout or graphics much but you know, it will be fine you have competitive prices, and Google will ensure you have thousands of visitors hourly to supply you with custom. When you have a quiet 5 you will sort it out.

 

You are going to have more than 5 minute of peace!

 

 

Your store, main page (index) otherwise known as your shop window, the place you need to have excellence if you want your customers to stay and not bounce, this means a combination of informative descriptive non boring text to excite the customer, then mouth watering graphics and product images well placed to give your customers enough interest to get them to click the product image. Wahooo you got one hooked!

 

 

Buying is am emotional experience, you have to get your customers interest and make them want to buy your product, once they are hooked even they cant think of a reason not to buy the “impulse purchase” as its more commonly known.

 

Too much text bores them and gives them reason to think about the purchase

 

 

Graphics… are a must, not only graphics but great eye catching graphics that reflect the products being sold, there is no point in having a great glossy site if you sell dog food, nor is there much point in having simple matt images if you are trying to sell exciting items like electrical products.

 

 

If you want your store to succeed you need to give it every chance of doing so, this means you will probably have to invest time and money if you are able to do it for yourself then you will invest more time, if not then the slide moves to money.

 

 

THINK about how you want your store to look, do a mock up of it change things, layout, text etc there are thousands of contributions that will help you out here.

 

Think outside the box, be unique bold and adventurous if the type of product you sell supports this look.

 

DO NOT DESIGN A SITE FOR YOURSELF, DESIGN IT FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS.

 

 

Check out your competitors sites, how do they look?

 

 

Visual impact just cannot be over looked, why do you think Templates are so popular? It’s not for the code or the features they contain!

 

 

Features are important but they are not going to keep your customer on your site, you have but seconds before the customer decides to go elsewhere, they are not obliged to buy from you!

 

 

Imagine you are a customer, be objective walk thru the process from entrance to purchase think about how you can improve this, install contributions to help you achieve this. Its here you can marry up features with style, try different checkout contributions, whatever the store needs

 

 

I see it all over the forums and beyond, people want it out of the box and don’t think of the customer, that part is expected, usual quote is “ I don’t have much money to pay some one” you do not need to if you learn it for yourself.

 

You are going to invest in buying stock, you should invest in the tool you will use to sell it also.

 

 

You will not please everyone, its not possible but you can please a target audience which I assume you will know by knowing the products you sell.

 

 

If you follow some of the advice here you may have a chance of making it.

 

Customers do not have to visit you, and you need to tick some boxes the very first second they see your page.

 

Also get a critique it might be hard to take but will lead to an improved store, which is what you want!

 

 

Good Luck

 

Nic

Sometimes you're the dog and sometimes the lamp post

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just saw this post, and its great. EVERYONE should read this.. unfortunately you will get a lot of "this doesnt apply to me"

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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I have only been doing this for 10 + years what do i know.

 

Great graphics + Great features + Interesting content = One great store!

 

Thank you for your comment though Lindsey.

ps i love your photography store, its a real achievement and something to be proud of.

 

Nic

Sometimes you're the dog and sometimes the lamp post

[/url]

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thanks nick.. I think that design is something MANY people over look. It also seems to be that people who are great at coding arent so great at design and visa versa.

 

Anyways.. its a GREAT post and more people need to be aware that the design of your store is a LARGE part of how successful your business is going to be - especially if the store is ONLY Online

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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It's said that girls always look at a mans shoes first. Crap shoes = no date.

 

Same for a website. If I see some crappy looking website that looks like it's from 2000 there is no way it's getting my money if I can find something that the store owner has put some effort (or cash) into.

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it would appear another guide is also badly needed: How to post to the right forum (section) - some help to understand what the different forum section means.

Ken

commercial support - unProtected channel, not to be confused with the forum with same name - open to everyone who need some professional help: either PM/email me, or go to my website (URL can be found in my profile).

over 20 years of computer programming experience.

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