Re: E-commerce Packages

I'll throw my two cents worth in about ShopSite.

I have a client who is wanting me to do online promotion for her site.  She
had built it using ShopSite.

Phase I of the promotion is getting her placed well in the search engines.

As I began to work with her on keywords, content, yada-yada, I noticed that
when I would go to her site a page would flash very quickly and the title in
the browser title bar would say "Under Construction" and then her Home Page
would appear.

After closer examination, it appears that ShopSite puts what the designer
creates as the primary index page in a folder called "store" and places a
blank page in the root directory of the server with a redirect to the other
page.  The refresh rate was set at "0" so most people would never notice.

But a search engine would.

Many search engines would "hit" the primary index page in the root, find a
blank page with no meta tags, no content, and that is titled "Under
Construction" and would look no further.

So if you have built any sites using this software, I encourage you to
examine the files on your server with a good FTP software and make sure that
you haven't been slipped a "blank."

/Garry

Garry W. Harrell
www.bizmind.com
www.ardmoreonline.com
www.handtech.com/garry

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Schultz" <mike(at)virtualtech.com>
To: <jkeilholz(at)thedepot.com>; <hwg-business(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: E-commerce Packages


> Hi Joe (and anyone else reading this)
>
> We found the same issue with ShopSite when we used it for our clients'
> e-commerce sites.  It was the only package offered by the hosting provider
> that we resold for.  About a year ago we switched to a new provider and
are
> in the process of moving all of our sites to them.  This particular
provider
> uses the MivaMerchant e-commerce package, which is an outstanding program.
> You can either use it as is (similar to ShopSite, using the Web interface)
> or customize it to your heart's content.  There are several add-ons
> available to customize the storefront to the point where it is not
> recongizable as a Miva store (conversely, I can spot a ShopSite store the
> minute I browse to the storefront).  Two major players using Miva are
> www.ebaystore.com (not the auction site) and www.mapstore.com .
>
> BTW:  I have no connection to Miva other than being a satisfied user.  If
> you email me off list I can give you several resources to look further
into
> it.
>
> HTH!
>
> Michael Schultz
> Vice President of Operations
> Virtualtech Web Design and Promotion http://www.virtualtech.com
> (800) 474-7001
> "We Put The Pieces Together"
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jkeilholz(at)thedepot.com <jkeilholz(at)thedepot.com>
> To: hwg-business(at)hwg.org <hwg-business(at)hwg.org>
> Date: Friday, September 01, 2000 3:13 PM
> Subject: E-commerce Packages
>
>
> >Hello All!
> >
> >I am in the midst of trying to find an alternative e-commerce solution to
> >the package I currently use. A colleague of mine suggested that I check
out
> >http://www.merchandizer.com and look at Merchandizer as an option. My
> >question is, has anyone used Merchandizer or know someone who has and
know
> >what the pros/cons of this product are? Does anyone have any other
options
> >for me to pursue? Currently, I am dealing with a product named ShopSite
and
> >have found that while overall it's not a bad product, there just doesn't
> >seem to be a lot of customizable options. If any one can let me know of
any
> >alternatives, it would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> >Thanks in Advance,
> >Joe Keilholz
> >On Site Producer
> >thedepot.com
> >(336) 373-3488
> >
> >
> >
>
>

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