osCommerce design or not?

mickstaf35 · #1 (**permalink**) 09-05-2006, 03:45 AM

Hi I'm after some advice please. We have a website already www.platinumpc.co.uk but were applying for funding to get a new website and SEO or get our site improved, our site is an osCommerce.

I have talked with a few companies who have said osCommerce sites are not the best but then say our new site will be an osCommerce site but will look & work better than ours and be SE friendly.

What I would like to know is do we have to get a new website or can they improve ours to look and work as they want the new one they want to build, do we want an osCommerce site again?

What should questions should I be asking these companies?

johngroup · #2 (**permalink**) 09-09-2006, 02:20 PM

Ask for examples and talk with their clients.

supernatural_247 · #3 (**permalink**) 09-10-2006, 08:23 PM

You don't want an osCommerce site again! bad for SEO

PM me with your budget and I'll give you a cart system ($150 for the cart) that has the same amount of features as os but is 10x more search engine friendly (with my optimizations of course) :)

Orion · #4 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 08:44 PM

os-commerce if they are giving you that AGAIN, they will (unless they are a tad daft) redo the template maybe add some modules and customize the existing install update it etc.

there are mods that will make os-commerce much more se friendly

however if you're not happy with it (it is a bit heavy) there are other solutions out there..

The one that I've recently switched to is CubeCart add in the SE module to create accessible URLs (also se friendlier).

And of course there are many many mods out there for it, and several people that can make it look how you want for your site.

Jon-WebsiteCM · #5 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 09:16 PM

We've worked to help develop 100's of SEO friendly e-commerce stores using xcart and have ready-made SEO mods in use on thousands of e-commerce stores. We'd be happy to speak to you by phone, email, or MSN messenger, XCart e-Commerce Store and ready-made XCart Mods.

RegDCP · #6 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 09:28 PM

I have done some 21 sites in CRELoaded which is a CMS based on osCommerce but with about 35+ modules pre installed.

CRE is excellent for search engines.
As with oscommerce CRE is open source.

Reg

**incrediblehelp** · #7 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supernatural_247

You don't want an osCommerce site again! bad for SEO

I have optimized OS Commerce websites in the past with no problem. However if you choose OS Commerce you should understand the changes that you will have to make so the URL strings are SEO friendly from the beginning.

weslinda · #8 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 10:34 PM

In general, an open source project can be less "friendly" than other solutions, but the benefits is that the base system is free.

The real question, in regards to your situation is what they are going to do to the system to improve it.

Most carts can be made SEO friendly, but the quality of the SEO depends on the developer customizing the cart. The same is true in your case, with OSCommerce, not a bad system, but it will take some work to get it done right.

As mentioned previously, ask for examples of their work and judge from there. Also, remember, you get what you pay for from people, so get results, not the cheapest budget.

RegDCP · #9 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weslinda

In general, an open source project can be less "friendly" than other solutions, but the benefits is that the base system is free.

The real question, in regards to your situation is what they are going to do to the system to improve it.

Most carts can be made SEO friendly, but the quality of the SEO depends on the developer customizing the cart. The same is true in your case, with OSCommerce, not a bad system, but it will take some work to get it done right.

As mentioned previously, ask for examples of their work and judge from there. Also, remember, you get what you pay for from people, so get results, not the cheapest budget.

In the case of OSC it is simply adding a module.
For CRELoaded there is nothing that has to be done. CRE SEOs well.

I have examples of search results for one of my latest CRELoaded sites on my mainpage.

Or Google "graphic filters", no quotes and my fantastic machines is in #3 and that site is CRE also.

Reg

weslinda · #10 (**permalink**) 09-11-2006, 11:07 PM

Reg,

I'm trying to answer this gentleman's question on whether to use OSCommerce again or not. I think that depends on who is doing the work for him.

I prefer to use Pinnaclecart, which I have found to be one of the easiest to implement shopping carts in the world. It has a great backend for management, and can handle quite a bit of work.

Please realize I'm not trying to discredit CRE or any other system, just wanted to let this individual know what he should do before trying to secure funds for this new site.

ozetrade · #11 (**permalink**) 09-14-2006, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickstaf35

Hi I'm after some advice please. We have a website already www.platinumpc.co.uk but were applying for funding to get a new website and SEO or get our site improved, our site is an osCommerce.

I have talked with a few companies who have said osCommerce sites are not the best but then say our new site will be an osCommerce site but will look & work better than ours and be SE friendly.

What I would like to know is do we have to get a new website or can they improve ours to look and work as they want the new one they want to build, do we want an osCommerce site again?

What should questions should I be asking these companies?

Hi mickstaf35,

There are a lot of so called osCommerce guru's out there that claim they can provide the best value for your dollar - as in most industries, most are just after a quick $$$, your $$$'s, and seeya later.

Always, and I mean always ask for references and referals - other customer's that can confirm they provide a valid service - notice I said service, not website. If they provide a valid service, you will get a decent website.

Do you need to redevelop your website?? If you did your own website with osCommerce, then yes you probably do. osCommerce is a good framework for a shopping cart, but it's a skilled web developers that can build osCommerce to behave as a professional website.

osCommerce comes is many flavors - revamped and modded.

Examples are:
- Zencart. A very professional revamp. More robust and secure, and recoded to process code more efficiently.
- osCmax. OsCommerce pumped full of added mods and features/
- CRE Loaded....ditto.
Just to name a few. All flavors have a mod that is designed to make the shopping cart search engine friendly.

Step one - find the "right" developer
Step two - the developer assesses "your" needs.
Step three - The developer provides a price
Step four - "you" make the decision

It is simple if you do the right sort of homework first.

oz