Adding OsCommerce to existing web page

[plee1091]

I am revamping my webpage and before I invest a lot of time doing it WRONG can I add oscommerce without having to rewrite the entire website?

I would like to have a website that is informational as well as a sales tool.

I'd like to keep my landing page with the same feeling I have now but be able to direct from that page to a store page.

And to complicate things more I have 3 completely different product lines so can I have 3 store pages
Butterflystore
jewelrystore
memorialstore

I remember ditching the idea for oscommerce before because I was under the impression that I had to make the entire website with it.

I just started reworking the website here is where I am at now. www.flutteringwingsbutterflyfarm.com right this red hot minute I am sending people to etsy to see my products. I have well over 150 products ready to list and before I put my energy one way or another I figured I'd ask here.

Thanks from the girl that is wearing many hats.

Pam

[Vasili]

Re: Adding OsCommerce to existing web page

I will try to answer this and still make sense without upsetting you or adding to your stress ... try, that is.

First, thank goodness you did not say Soholaunch, as you can only have 1 installation of Soho per account. Whew!

Secondly, I think osC would be too complicated for you, both to 'customize' and for common management. It is a challenge for most anyway, but if looking at the prospect of 3 different stores, well .... it will likely prove too challenging, based on my experience helping out my peers these many years.

I assume you do not have nor wish to purchase separate domains for each store, and prefer to retain your "Farm" BV site to act as a "Landing Page"/portal for your traffic, so I would suggest simply creating in cPanel separate Sub-Domains for each of them to install separate carts into, as a Sub-Domain will actually add some independent SEO values to the main domain without interfering with the organic valuations. (Hope that didn't sound too technical)

I also suggest you consider using OpenCart as well, instead of osC, as it is clean, has a crisp layout, has an easy-to-use format, has a great Support Community, and besides being able to be auto-installed via Fantastico De Luxe in your cPanel, has all the features you could ever want with many available add-on's that keep it up to date and secure. I especially like the fact the free default version includes a flash-like slideshow header you can load with whatever images you desire, on top of the free ad-on's that include the Product Loader that allows you to load large inventories directly from Excel with a single click, and the SEO plug-in's that are 'Social Media' enabled. There are a lot to choose from, and there is a separate list of all the free ones, unlike most carts that require some payment ...

I am sure you know where to find the cPanel Tutorials on how to create a Sub-Domain, and you can get a feel for OpenCart from browsing their website (since it is included in but not described in cPanel). Here's the direct link to the online Demo Store.


Hope I did OK answering you, and did not get overly technical (as I'm known to do)!

[plee1091]

Re: Adding OsCommerce to existing web page

Thank you so much Vasili. I really appreciate all the time you took to answer this and all the knowledge you shared.

Sometimes I know I try to wear too many hats. I will definitely look into Open Cart and probably work on loading just the jewelry before I attempt the sub-domains. This was just the type of answer I was looking for.

As a side note not to start another topic. I was told by another that I should install Word Press and use that as a part of my website. oiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii I installed in via Fantasico (sp) and understood that it was going to my root. Not understanding that it actually over wrote my "index" hee hee. After I posted this question I clicked on my link to the website and low and behold Word Press came up. niccceeeeeeeeeee Anyway I have uninstalled Word Press and will revisit it at a later date. I have republished my "index" if by chance you had clicked and found the Word Press.

I am well aware of SEO's importance and have attended several classes on it. As the parameters change ALL the time. After I get my content settled on my web site I will revisit optimizing. Good to know that Sub-domains will increase SEO without interfering in the Organics.

[Vasili]

Re: Adding OsCommerce to existing web page

People (who really don't know as much as they think they do) still suggest installing a blog or a forum as a means of artificially stimulating SEO values, but frankly, that is no longer a valid method: the SEs are far beyond their myopic favoritism of dynamically populated websites with scripts demanding automatic revisits per a schedule you can manipulate.

You are far better off relying on the updated BV12 with the WC3 compliant HTML generation to produce web pages to place well-composed Content in, and to have those pages fully tightly built and manually optimized. With the BV build now more coded for the next generation, it will all come down to page relevancy, page-to-page relevancy, and www-to-site relevancy, not the tricks and gizmos. The Net is establishing a much more focused view upon relevancy and "Community Interaction" to value a site simply as a means of further determining which sites amidst the gazillions popping up every day truly merit attention and enviable SERP.

Besides ... do you really have the time to inject content into a blog daily just to keep it compliant? Didn't think so!

[plee1091]

Re: Adding OsCommerce to existing web page

I like your "Didn't think so" spot on. Besides who the heck has the time to read EVERYONE'S bla bla bla........

[plee1091]

Re: Adding OsCommerce to existing web page

Ok Now Questions:

in my cPanel under Fantastico Deluxe / E commerce I only see

		CubeCart
		OS Commerce
		Zen Cart

Should I be seeing Open Cart? If not there then where can I find it to auto load into Voda Host?

When I do find it and download it I am assuming I don't want to leave the "page" blank so that it will not load into my root directory. Correct? Should I name the page "store"? Then create a link to it on my "index" page.

Also, It has been a while since I have been on the forum and I remember being able to "search" a keyword and be able to see prior posts so as not to repeat a question. But I can't find the search forum box now is it gone?