Discussion
Would appreciate some advice as I paid to get a website sorted but it's getting me down now.
It's an e-commerce site but if I need to add stock, products, control stock I need to contact the guys that did it. Designer (a friend but under a lot of pressure with other things in life) speaks to the developer (who I don't know) etc,
If all I need to do is add a new type of widget it seems a bit over the top. I have the passwords for admin now but it's wordpress/woocommerce and looking at the site, it's all out of date, updates req'd, red dots everywhere for readability and on and on.
SEO is appalling, we're talking going back through 10 pages of google search for something I sell in the local area and I don't even appear then. I ran adwords and got hits but couldn't see the results in Google analytics, I guess the code's not in the website.
If someone savvy could have a look (link is in my bio), and advise bin, cut my losses or salvageable. I'm only a small fish so wouldn't mind setting up a shopify or something else. Signs all made etc so I would like to keep the site name.
It's an e-commerce site but if I need to add stock, products, control stock I need to contact the guys that did it. Designer (a friend but under a lot of pressure with other things in life) speaks to the developer (who I don't know) etc,
If all I need to do is add a new type of widget it seems a bit over the top. I have the passwords for admin now but it's wordpress/woocommerce and looking at the site, it's all out of date, updates req'd, red dots everywhere for readability and on and on.
SEO is appalling, we're talking going back through 10 pages of google search for something I sell in the local area and I don't even appear then. I ran adwords and got hits but couldn't see the results in Google analytics, I guess the code's not in the website.
If someone savvy could have a look (link is in my bio), and advise bin, cut my losses or salvageable. I'm only a small fish so wouldn't mind setting up a shopify or something else. Signs all made etc so I would like to keep the site name.
I quite like the site, personally.
The value of SEO depends upon the nature of your business and competition
For my online business, we don't worry too much and do advertising and social media to gain traffic.
In terms of adding products, given it is Woocommerce, you should be able to get the passwords and do it yourself - why not pay the developer for a tutorial session and keep him on for overall design etc?
loafer123 said:
I quite like the site, personally.
The value of SEO depends upon the nature of your business and competition
For my online business, we don't worry too much and do advertising and social media to gain traffic.
In terms of adding products, given it is Woocommerce, you should be able to get the passwords and do it yourself - why not pay the developer for a tutorial session and keep him on for overall design etc?
Thank you. Looks like I'm being a bit negative, borne of frustration at getting products on there. I've got the passwords and I'm on the Wwocommerce plug in now, seems pretty straightforward but you're right, I need a bit of training. The value of SEO depends upon the nature of your business and competition
For my online business, we don't worry too much and do advertising and social media to gain traffic.
In terms of adding products, given it is Woocommerce, you should be able to get the passwords and do it yourself - why not pay the developer for a tutorial session and keep him on for overall design etc?
Facebook boosted post worked well, what do you find to be the most effective?
The issue with trading online is the in smaller business the person running the biz has to add "webby person" to the skill set whilst doing everything else.
It sounds like your developer did this as an out of hours job ? That's ok for catalogue sites but with ecommerce you need to make changes and fix stuff quickly and commercially.
You cannot go on as you are and Wordpress is a pain to keep up to date unless you pay the a web dev.
I would replatform onto shopify where the product interface is simpler than eBay, the updates are done automatically and hosting is $30 a month.
Shopify has acceptable and manageable Seo built in and I'm pretty sure you could export your current sites products into it.
Any shopify dev can get you set up or if you took a less than a week off you could do it yourself (honestly) and I would do that because you will know it inside out.
Give me a shout if you want a chat, if you do it yourself we will import (or show you how) your products no charge and check it over for you.
It sounds like your developer did this as an out of hours job ? That's ok for catalogue sites but with ecommerce you need to make changes and fix stuff quickly and commercially.
You cannot go on as you are and Wordpress is a pain to keep up to date unless you pay the a web dev.
I would replatform onto shopify where the product interface is simpler than eBay, the updates are done automatically and hosting is $30 a month.
Shopify has acceptable and manageable Seo built in and I'm pretty sure you could export your current sites products into it.
Any shopify dev can get you set up or if you took a less than a week off you could do it yourself (honestly) and I would do that because you will know it inside out.
Give me a shout if you want a chat, if you do it yourself we will import (or show you how) your products no charge and check it over for you.
dfen5 said:
Thank you. Looks like I'm being a bit negative, borne of frustration at getting products on there. I've got the passwords and I'm on the Wwocommerce plug in now, seems pretty straightforward but you're right, I need a bit of training.
Facebook boosted post worked well, what do you find to be the most effective?
Facebook advertising works for us, but Google doesn't.Facebook boosted post worked well, what do you find to be the most effective?
As for platform, unlike DS, I would see if you can get on with it, but if you do move, Shopify is a good choice. We use ECWID which is equally simple to use and might be easier to drop into your existing site.
we set up clients on Shopify and BigCommerce - both work well though are different - there are frustrations and compromises with both, however business is all about compromise and you can manage with either system - at the point when compromises are too big for your business you will be big enough to move on and then something set up more for you (e.g. Magento) may work better - but that is in the future.
Wordpress and its plugins give us more issues then any other technology we see amongst our hundreds of clients, so where possible we move people off it - Shopify and BigCommerce are so simple that while we often set them up to help our clients we rarely have to run the site for them - an eCommerce site needs to be constantly administered by the business owners, so must be easy to use...
The offer from DSLiverpook above is a very good offer and I would be tempted to make contact...
Wordpress and its plugins give us more issues then any other technology we see amongst our hundreds of clients, so where possible we move people off it - Shopify and BigCommerce are so simple that while we often set them up to help our clients we rarely have to run the site for them - an eCommerce site needs to be constantly administered by the business owners, so must be easy to use...
The offer from DSLiverpook above is a very good offer and I would be tempted to make contact...
akirk said:
we set up clients on Shopify and BigCommerce - both work well though are different - there are frustrations and compromises with both, however business is all about compromise and you can manage with either system - at the point when compromises are too big for your business you will be big enough to move on and then something set up more for you (e.g. Magento) may work better - but that is in the future.
Wordpress and its plugins give us more issues then any other technology we see amongst our hundreds of clients, so where possible we move people off it - Shopify and BigCommerce are so simple that while we often set them up to help our clients we rarely have to run the site for them - an eCommerce site needs to be constantly administered by the business owners, so must be easy to use...
The offer from DSLiverpook above is a very good offer and I would be tempted to make contact...
Thank you, DS and everyone for your input. Can I ask if I do switch to shopify or big commerce, can I still use the website name I already have?Wordpress and its plugins give us more issues then any other technology we see amongst our hundreds of clients, so where possible we move people off it - Shopify and BigCommerce are so simple that while we often set them up to help our clients we rarely have to run the site for them - an eCommerce site needs to be constantly administered by the business owners, so must be easy to use...
The offer from DSLiverpook above is a very good offer and I would be tempted to make contact...
I've just spent the afternoon sorting out categories and sub categories and product placement in them to discover the shop page doesn't show sub categories, some links are now dead and even though the SCM category doesn't exist in Woo or WP it still shows. Pretty much decided I need to switch now.
Yes you can keep your URL just redirect it.
We now only do Shopify for ecommerce but we do shopify plus as well which you could aspire to (Tesla and Gymshark are on shopify plus for example) however others are good possibly better but we've nailed our colours to shopify.
You can get a theme and seriously get it up in a day or three but ux, merchandising and flow generally are poor on amateur sites.
We now only do Shopify for ecommerce but we do shopify plus as well which you could aspire to (Tesla and Gymshark are on shopify plus for example) however others are good possibly better but we've nailed our colours to shopify.
You can get a theme and seriously get it up in a day or three but ux, merchandising and flow generally are poor on amateur sites.
you say you are only a small fish - so no idea how big your ecommerce turnover is, or what your aspirations might be - however you have two approaches:
- shopify and do it yourself - it is very easy to set up a simple website, and there is little that you need to do in terms of coding if you are happy to go with the layout found in one of the templates, you can set up everything without technical knowledge...
- shopify and talk to a dev. company about how they can help you - if they are ecommerce specialists then their assistance should be more than just coding / setup - they should be advising you on how to use the software to maximise sales, and help you build your business - if they are good then the amount they cost should be less than the extra growth for your business...
as said before - you have an offer on here which is probably worth taking
- shopify and do it yourself - it is very easy to set up a simple website, and there is little that you need to do in terms of coding if you are happy to go with the layout found in one of the templates, you can set up everything without technical knowledge...
- shopify and talk to a dev. company about how they can help you - if they are ecommerce specialists then their assistance should be more than just coding / setup - they should be advising you on how to use the software to maximise sales, and help you build your business - if they are good then the amount they cost should be less than the extra growth for your business...
as said before - you have an offer on here which is probably worth taking
akirk said:
you say you are only a small fish - so no idea how big your ecommerce turnover is, or what your aspirations might be - however you have two approaches:
- shopify and do it yourself - it is very easy to set up a simple website, and there is little that you need to do in terms of coding if you are happy to go with the layout found in one of the templates, you can set up everything without technical knowledge...
- shopify and talk to a dev. company about how they can help you - if they are ecommerce specialists then their assistance should be more than just coding / setup - they should be advising you on how to use the software to maximise sales, and help you build your business - if they are good then the amount they cost should be less than the extra growth for your business...
as said before - you have an offer on here which is probably worth taking
Advice appreciated. Tthat's £4K I'll be binning, which is a tad annoying.- shopify and do it yourself - it is very easy to set up a simple website, and there is little that you need to do in terms of coding if you are happy to go with the layout found in one of the templates, you can set up everything without technical knowledge...
- shopify and talk to a dev. company about how they can help you - if they are ecommerce specialists then their assistance should be more than just coding / setup - they should be advising you on how to use the software to maximise sales, and help you build your business - if they are good then the amount they cost should be less than the extra growth for your business...
as said before - you have an offer on here which is probably worth taking
RE traffic and SEO
I don't mind setting up a free report for you for a few keywords to track your positions.
Your best keyword right now is "scm spindle moulder" position 16 in google.
I ran your site through my tools and you are a long way off ranking in top3 for anything.
It's not just the on page SEO you need to fix. Your off page signals are weak too.
You are months away and thousand of pounds from organic traffic.
I would either get on board with SEO if it's worth it long term or find another traffic source.
Don't worry about the indications from Wordpress plugins such as yoast. I have warnings too, and multiple keywords in positions 1-3.
I don't mind setting up a free report for you for a few keywords to track your positions.
Your best keyword right now is "scm spindle moulder" position 16 in google.
I ran your site through my tools and you are a long way off ranking in top3 for anything.
It's not just the on page SEO you need to fix. Your off page signals are weak too.
You are months away and thousand of pounds from organic traffic.
I would either get on board with SEO if it's worth it long term or find another traffic source.
Don't worry about the indications from Wordpress plugins such as yoast. I have warnings too, and multiple keywords in positions 1-3.
MickyDncl said:
RE traffic and SEO
I don't mind setting up a free report for you for a few keywords to track your positions.
Your best keyword right now is "scm spindle moulder" position 16 in google.
I ran your site through my tools and you are a long way off ranking in top3 for anything.
It's not just the on page SEO you need to fix. Your off page signals are weak too.
You are months away and thousand of pounds from organic traffic.
I would either get on board with SEO if it's worth it long term or find another traffic source.
Don't worry about the indications from Wordpress plugins such as yoast. I have warnings too, and multiple keywords in positions 1-3.
Would switching to shopify or a n other commerce platform ease the SEO burden or is it something any site would have to get to grips with?I don't mind setting up a free report for you for a few keywords to track your positions.
Your best keyword right now is "scm spindle moulder" position 16 in google.
I ran your site through my tools and you are a long way off ranking in top3 for anything.
It's not just the on page SEO you need to fix. Your off page signals are weak too.
You are months away and thousand of pounds from organic traffic.
I would either get on board with SEO if it's worth it long term or find another traffic source.
Don't worry about the indications from Wordpress plugins such as yoast. I have warnings too, and multiple keywords in positions 1-3.
This really depends on the skill set of the SEO.
Shopify will simplify the task by placing limitations on certain aspects, this may be easier for you to personally get to grips with but a pro will want granular control.
Shopify may be the solution now to get you making sales from Facebook and other traffic. Also depending on how competitive your market is you may be able to rank and get some organic traffic, as many other shopify sites do.
Send me your top 5 products by margin and I will take a look tomorrow at how competitive the market is.
Shopify will simplify the task by placing limitations on certain aspects, this may be easier for you to personally get to grips with but a pro will want granular control.
Shopify may be the solution now to get you making sales from Facebook and other traffic. Also depending on how competitive your market is you may be able to rank and get some organic traffic, as many other shopify sites do.
Send me your top 5 products by margin and I will take a look tomorrow at how competitive the market is.
dfen5 said:
Would switching to shopify or a n other commerce platform ease the SEO burden or is it something any site would have to get to grips with?
Not particularly. Shopify needs plenty of work to perform in search just as your current platform does. Both have their benefits, but I would certainly think hard before abandoning what you've got. We've got plenty of customers using Woo Commerce and a few of my own sites do and they perform very nicely in search. I had a quick look at your site and it could do with some reorganising to make the shop easier to use which I'm sure would help. Certainly don't want to tread on DSLiverpool's toes if he is offering to show you how to add and edit products on your current set up rather than Shopify? If not I'm happy to give you some pointers. I have videos we've created designed to help clients with WooCommerce which I can share with your privately.
Message if you need.
Website isn't bad, but a few changes I would make
Show prices on the home / landing page
a lot of content is repeated, simplify it, you don't need 'our product' above and below your actual products
Have a look at pagespeeds / pingdom tools, your website scores 52/100, some really simple fixes there.
Do you have any products feeds set up to google?
Wordpress is actually really easy to update, it even does it itself, I would get access to a test server and get it updating on its own, then you can test it before allowing the production website to update
Wordpress / woocommerce is not a bad platform for small websites, I use wordpress, opencart, magento etc, It depends on what you want and how much you want to spend, if you want to expand then something more sales orientated would have been better but you should have no problems with wordpress
Show prices on the home / landing page
a lot of content is repeated, simplify it, you don't need 'our product' above and below your actual products
Have a look at pagespeeds / pingdom tools, your website scores 52/100, some really simple fixes there.
Do you have any products feeds set up to google?
Wordpress is actually really easy to update, it even does it itself, I would get access to a test server and get it updating on its own, then you can test it before allowing the production website to update
Wordpress / woocommerce is not a bad platform for small websites, I use wordpress, opencart, magento etc, It depends on what you want and how much you want to spend, if you want to expand then something more sales orientated would have been better but you should have no problems with wordpress
dfen5 said:
MickyDncl said:
RE traffic and SEO
I don't mind setting up a free report for you for a few keywords to track your positions.
Your best keyword right now is "scm spindle moulder" position 16 in google.
I ran your site through my tools and you are a long way off ranking in top3 for anything.
It's not just the on page SEO you need to fix. Your off page signals are weak too.
You are months away and thousand of pounds from organic traffic.
I would either get on board with SEO if it's worth it long term or find another traffic source.
Don't worry about the indications from Wordpress plugins such as yoast. I have warnings too, and multiple keywords in positions 1-3.
Would switching to shopify or a n other commerce platform ease the SEO burden or is it something any site would have to get to grips with?I don't mind setting up a free report for you for a few keywords to track your positions.
Your best keyword right now is "scm spindle moulder" position 16 in google.
I ran your site through my tools and you are a long way off ranking in top3 for anything.
It's not just the on page SEO you need to fix. Your off page signals are weak too.
You are months away and thousand of pounds from organic traffic.
I would either get on board with SEO if it's worth it long term or find another traffic source.
Don't worry about the indications from Wordpress plugins such as yoast. I have warnings too, and multiple keywords in positions 1-3.
I've run two online stores with Wordpress and taken in a lot of money - so they can work fine.
I'm confused as to why you can't add products yourself; it's pretty simple and not really any harder than shopify or bigcommerce...
I did eventually move on and use Bigcommerce now - it's made life easier that's for sure - but we pay for the privilege.
I'm confused as to why you can't add products yourself; it's pretty simple and not really any harder than shopify or bigcommerce...
I did eventually move on and use Bigcommerce now - it's made life easier that's for sure - but we pay for the privilege.
I paid someone to put together a WordPress site for me and whilst it looks great, it is a pain to update and was expensive.
I wanted to set up a second site for a separate entity and tried to make a WP page on my own. What a colossal PITA.
I went to a different lot called 'squarespace' and got the site up and running much faster than I could have with WordPress.
I wanted to set up a second site for a separate entity and tried to make a WP page on my own. What a colossal PITA.
I went to a different lot called 'squarespace' and got the site up and running much faster than I could have with WordPress.
I've had to get a leased line installed as the internet was so slow it was painful to do anything, so put it on hold for a while.
Whilst waiting for the leased line I've been adding stuff when I get a few minutes at home. The actual woocommerce side is pretty good and very powerful once you get the hang of it, it's just sorting descriptions, photographs and pricing that takes sooo much time. I doubt that side of it would be any easier with any platform so I've decided to persevere with the existing site.
Wordpress side of the website still needs work as there's some blank spaces for product banners and so on but the web guys have agreed to get this put right.
Hoping to start the marketing and get more on there within the next three weeks and will then get the SEO looked at. Doing the midlands model exhibition under the website name in October so best get moving..
Whilst waiting for the leased line I've been adding stuff when I get a few minutes at home. The actual woocommerce side is pretty good and very powerful once you get the hang of it, it's just sorting descriptions, photographs and pricing that takes sooo much time. I doubt that side of it would be any easier with any platform so I've decided to persevere with the existing site.
Wordpress side of the website still needs work as there's some blank spaces for product banners and so on but the web guys have agreed to get this put right.
Hoping to start the marketing and get more on there within the next three weeks and will then get the SEO looked at. Doing the midlands model exhibition under the website name in October so best get moving..
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