Need help or info

[knappschiles]

OK, I'm looking at this ZenCart stuff a bit because it's time for my annual site update and I need an easier way to do things than I've been doing myself.

Basically I need someone to help me figure out either CSS for the pages I have so all I need to do is change a few pages instead of hundreds. Or figure out maybe how I could make a ZenCart look at least somewhat like the pages I have now. I made all the graphics and like the look. But my "layout" is with nested tables and I don't have a clue how to do it with CSS.

Or Both.

I have the space on my host for a whole lot more than I currently have up. It would give me a chance to see if a different set-up gets more sales.

I'm not sure quite how to do it, but my host will allow several sites from 1 account. I currently have 2 domain names and could get a couple more if I needed to. I believe I just need to set up different folders somehow.

My host is Netfirms if that makes a dif. Right now I'm using 2 Mal's carts so I can mostly take Google Checkout and a bit of PayPal. I would want to definately have GC.

Please take a look at my site and see what you think would work out. knapps-fresh-vegies.com

Thanks,
Carol

[The Tavern Wench]

Hey Carol!

Your current graphics could definitely be incorporated into a Zen Cart.  It wouldn't look exactly like what you have now mainly because of the difference in setups (CSS vs HTML tables), but you could get really close.

That's what I LOVE about CSS...you only make changes in one file and it changes everything sitewide.

I've searched the Zen forums and it appears that Netfirms does work with ZenCart.  There were a few errors/problems reported but most of those were from back in 2006.  Still to be on the safe side, I would contact them and verify they are set up to run a Zen Cart.

I hope that helps. 

[knappschiles]

OK, I will contact Netfirms to verify the ZenCart thing.

I think the nice part, if I can figure it out, will be that I can keep my current "site" up for sales while I figure out this new set-up. It may take a while, but I really do want an easier way to do the up-dates eventually.

I've tried to figure out CSS myself, but always get lost after just a short time. With something that's already mostly set-up, and the help I know I'll get from my friends, I think I'll be able to do something.

Thanks,
Carol

[knappschiles]

Well too many people must be home for the holidays and working on-line as I can't seem to get connected with the Netfirms support database. But I did find a FAQ pdf that mentioned 3rd party aps that are being used with Netfirms sites and ZenCart was in the list.

So I guess my first question is going to be about the graphics. I know I need to re-do my "sidebar" as I have a couple of new items I added by just putting them in as a word link. I will re-build the sidebar so it's easier to add things. I made it in Paint Shop Pro 9.1 and PSP makes the pic map and the links.

How much of that do I need or need to drop to be able to use that in zen for my nav bar ??

I hope I'm not putting the "cart before the horse", but it will take me a bit of time to re-do the graphics (to even find the tut I used last year) as I don't do this stuff every day.

I will probably be a real PITB with questions for a while til I actually get into working on the cart.

I probably should have been doing this a couple of months ago as we are about to get into my selling season right now. But I was just too busy with the farm til now. The next 6 weeks are about the only "down time" I really have. By Feb I have to start germinating stuff for spring plant sales.

 Can't see the road outside right now. Glad Ray does the plowing now.

Carol

[knappschiles]

Now after reading a bit on the Zen board, I think I will probably be glad to just get up a basic site for now. Then when I have it populated and functioning, I can customize it little by little as I learn how to do this stuff.

I know it won't be pretty at first, but I think by this time NEXT year maybe I'll have something decent.

I need to read a whole lot more before really getting going.

Carol

[The Tavern Wench]

Carol there are lots of free Zen templates that you can use too before you start tweaking yours.  Here is a link to them:

http://www.zencarttemplates.info/138/index.php

Just click on the 'Template Switcher' in the sidebox to see the different ones.

Actually, it's not as horrible and complicated as it sounds....at least not if you've got friends who are more than happy to help.

[knappschiles]

I already saw the templates and that was more or less what I meant -- I'll use 1 of the easy basic templates before I try to make my graphics and get my "own look".

I need to figure out a few things at my host first but I think I need to wait till after the holidays as things were really slow there today. Odd thing about that as they are usually quick about stuff. My guess just too many people on break and on computers.

Carol

[Cherry Pits]

Ewwww.....let me know how it goes.


CrystaBellas is set on Joomla with VM and I am wanting to change it to ZC. I have the design I want to keep. I tried it once and it made me go cross-eyed. Just waiting for that moment of bravery to give it another try!!

[knappschiles]

CB,

I know just what you mean. For about 2 years now I've wanted to use CSS on my site. But every time I try to go thru some "schools" or tuts, I get cross-eyed. About the same thing happened yesterday when reading some of the Zen tuts.

The problem is I only know enough HTML to do what I want with my site, thanks to the NVU wysiwyg program and a few tips from The Wiz way back when. Now my site is a bunch of "nested tables" and I think looks pretty good. To me anyway.

But when I go to learn CSS, the schools are so basic that I feel like I'm never going to get to the point where I'll figure out how to "layout"  my stuff where it belongs. I actually do have a couple of lines of CSS in the head of my pages to set the  standard font and color. But that's as far as I ever seem to get.

I'm hoping that once I play with something that already has the CSS layout, I'll be able to "see" what is happening and hopefully it will "click".



My host has OSC as a basic store program and also has Joomla available. But last year when I asked, the GC module was still a total nightmare. No one on the OSC board had gotten it to actually work as of Feb 07.

From reading a bit on the Zen group, it looks like the GC mod for Zen was having much the same problem. I think the problem at least in part stems from the fact that both mods were written by Google people instead of people from the carts. The Google people don't totally understand the carts like those that have written/worked with them do. And from my experience with Mal's cart, Google is very fussy about what they want / will allow and have changed to be stricter at times. It frustrated Mal so much that he took out GC as an option for new carts about Feb 07. I don't know if he has gone back since more people have been asking for it this summer.

Some of it is just frustrating for us sellers. Sure Google wants it to be secure. But not getting a direct email address can be a really problem. I've tried contacting customers thru Google's system and at least 1/2 the time the customer doesn't get the email. That's a big PITB, especially if something is sold out and you need to contact the buyer.

Don't get me wrong. I love GC and they have saved me a fair amount of fees from PP this year. But Google still has several issues to get ironed out before more people will be able to use them.

Carol

[The Bar Keep]

From reading a bit on the Zen group, it looks like the GC mod for Zen was having much the same problem. I think the problem at least in part stems from the fact that both mods were written by Google people instead of people from the carts. The Google people don't totally understand the carts like those that have written/worked with them do. And from my experience with Mal's cart, Google is very fussy about what they want / will allow and have changed to be stricter at times. It frustrated Mal so much that he took out GC as an option for new carts about Feb 07. I don't know if he has gone back since more people have been asking for it this summer.

GC and Zen:

Here is my experience with GC. I started out with one host and GC was a nightmare. I wasn't getting notifications in my Zen Control panel etc... Come to find out a lot of it was to do with my host and the database that was initially installed. I only found that out after I had opened up a new hosting account (a few more bucks but more bells and whistles) with a different provider. I ended up starting a new site with the old domain forwarded. What I recommend is this. The very first thing you should work on on a new site is your payments, next would be your shipping. Below is a list of standard mods that I have on all my sites:

Google Checkout
Paypal payments pro
Ty package tracker
user tracking
google base feeder
google XML sitemaps
USPS click n ship
sales report
super orders
database backup
Image handler 2
Amazon style Checkout
Return Auth
RSS Feeds


Now I may have a few other mods like Stock by Attributes but that would be site specific. When installing your cart I would do a bare bones install and work off of the mods listed above. When it comes to GC all I can say is some mods don't play nice with others. I have had no problems what so ever with Google Checkout since my move to a new host and freshly installed carts. Another thing to consider is do you really want to do the design part yourself? We all know that Deb and myself are partners in this forum as well as a few other sites. I could have done the same thing and tried learning the design part of websites (I can do some but not a lot) but I decided I wanted to come out of the gate running. I put my trust into Deb knowing that she has an eye for what looks good, cares about the little things that I would normally miss and knows the SEO factor needs to be built into the cart (most web designers don't do SEO, Deb is unique in that regard).

Below is a C & P from my Zen control panel from www.nybikergear.com

Hit Counter Started: 03/28/2007
Hit Counter: 551230
Customers: 593

Please note the above stats are combined totals from my original domain www.nybikerapparel.com and the new domain www.nybikergear.com which was started on 9/4/07.

Last nine days traffic stats:

                       Hits   -  Page views
12/28/2007          621 - 1481
12/27/2007          765 - 1646
12/26/2007          680 - 1595
12/25/2007          344 - 1087
12/24/2007          482 - 1383
12/23/2007          626 - 1554
12/22/2007          873 - 2121
12/21/2007         1072 - 2128
12/20/2007          758 - 1968

Yes I have multiple sales everyday out of this site and the monthly average would be comparable to being a gold level powerseller just out of this one site.

Now I am not saying that Carol or anybody else needs to go out and spend money with Deb to attain the success that I have. Just consider goals for your website and how those goals are attainable. I did the same thing when I started and by years end I look to surpase the goals I set for myself by 20%. That I can attribute to hard work by myself and Deb.


Joe - The Bar Keep