9 replies to this topic

[chandldj]

I have designed a website... that is SEO optimized... nice url's, nice layout.

All I want is a cart system that is only reached when a customer hits the "add to cart" button so that SEO is preserved for the rest of the pages and I don't need to go through intense and perhaps impossible customization of zen cart of oscommerce for example to make my site look like it already does now.

The site is in php and session variables could be handled /passed through some function(s) in the "pagetop.php" file which is a common include to all pages on the site.

Is this just a wild fantasy or does something like this exist?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice!

Edited by Randy, 20 May 2008 - 06:47 AM.
Removed unnecessary domain mention.

[Jarret]

Not sure exactly what you are looking for, but have you looked into Paypal? I know they have options to where you can setup a cart, although I am not sure if they provide exactly what you are looking for.

[Randy]

Pretty much every cart out there is going to be built to have Product pages out of the box It sounds like you're looking for something that will use your already created product pages, but then you want the Add To Cart and checkout routine.

You could always leave your pages as they are, install a cart and then change your current pages so that when someone clicks on a link on your current pages it sends the necessary data to the cart application. You'd effectively then end up with two product pages for each product. Possibly mulitple category pages too. You could choose to exclude the cart-produced category and product pages from the search engines.

The only other option that comes to mind immediately is to build your own cart. There are lots of tutortials out there about how to do this, but it's not exactly an easy process. Depending upon how robust you need things to be.

[chandldj]

I heard that litecommerce has the ability to act as an "add on cart" has anyone had any experience with this?

The other one I was eying is Mal's ecommerce... anyone used that? I'm hesitant on Mal's because it is processed on Mal's site... that would mean hundreds of links away from the site... would that affect SEO?

[torka]

I use Mal's for one of my company's smaller sites.

The product pages (all one of them ) were created in plain ol' HTML. I have a quantity field for each product on the page, and a single "add to cart" button at the bottom (I could have an individual add to cart button for each product if I preferred).

This means the Mal's "add to cart" button is actually part of a form script. Since spiders don't fill in forms, it doesn't have any effect on SEO at all. The only thing that's on Mal's server are the secure HTTPS pages, which wouldn't be indexed in the normal course of events with a full-catalog shopping cart program anyway.

Works like a charm.

I also use ShopSite (www.shopsite.com). While it is generally set up as a full catalog, it does contain an "order anywhere" option, where you can embed "add to cart" links or buttons on your own HTML pages and have them route to ShopSite just for the secure shopping cart and checkout portion of the festivities. You can install ShopSite on your own server, so the domain name would be the same as your primary site pages.

Another shopping cart package I've tested but not used in production is PDG (www.pdgsoft.com). Their software offers similar functionality to ShopSite, in that you can simply add an "add to cart" button to an existing web page and simply use the software to serve the secure cart pages and checkout. Like ShopSite, PDG is installed on your own server.

I'm sure there are other catalog software packages that allow the same functionality.

--Torka

[piskie]

I once added phpCart toa site for a client and it was easy to integrate into existing product pages and worked fine with no setup problems.

[arlen]

I may just be repeating what is said above, but ...

Unfortunately, the choices are pretty limited. My question would be do you want to host the cart youself, or use someone else's service?

There are lots of hosted cart services out there, and they act pretty much how you want them to. Most have a monthly subscription cost, some have a per transaction cost. Mal's offers most of what these other's offer but for free, it's worth looking at IF you don't need a lot of customization of the checkout pages / process. Almost all hosted cart systems are a little clunky in the checkout process in my opinion, and practically impossible to customize other than adding a little branding (your logo, color changes, etc). But I've been using one for several years, they work, and aren't a bad way to get started.

I looked at PHPCart awhile back, and if you want to host your own but keep it simple, it's probably the easiest way to go.

It's possible to modify many of the php-based shopping carts (store software) out there to do as you want, however not necessarily easy. I've experimented with this as an interum step in moving to a more advanced cart system, and the 'add to cart' button code (typically javascript) is pretty mobile, i.e. you can cut it from the cart generated page and paste it into your manually coded page & it will work. Howver, you still need to build, manage and maintain a complete product database w/ this solution as if you're using the full system. Also, you have to modify the 'continue shopping' button script to return to your manually coded page, rather than the cart generated one. It just seemed like too much work to mess with and my time was better spent on getting the full package working the way I want it to.

[chandldj]

Thank you very much for the inputs... i'm not afraid to shell out some cash for the right cart.

The Litecommerce / X-Cart has intrigued me as it has alot of functionality, while having the option (when setup) of being a backend solution rather than a full site solution. Does anyone have experience using either of these solutions like this?

[nethy]

I'm going over existing ground here but... what you want is to make your own product pages and use a cart simply for the addtocart through to checkout, rightt:

Option 1 - Simple
Use an existing cart such as those suggested above (Mal, phpcart, shopify) that has an option of just adding the button. You could also just add buy now buttons instead of a cart.
* Isn't this the raison d'etre of paypal carts?

2.1
Many shopping carts designed to be integrated into an existing site would do the trick. These often allow a fair bit of customization (of the back end code as well) that'll theoretically make it possible to do just about anything. Find one that offers a customization service (you could try vp-asp for example) and get a quote. Even if you don't take it, you'll get a clue on the complexity for DIY.

Option 2 - DIY
DIY- Someone always suggests building your own. Personally I wouldn't even if I could. Unless I was going to be doing something fairly big. There are so many things that can go badly and the workload-to-benefit ratio is usually not great. Generally speaking, I would say adapt your requirements. Importantly, by going with this option you miss out on all the extra goodies that come with many shopping carts (discounts, specials, shipping calc, inventory) but I suppose you miss out on those anyway if you don't want to build you product catalog via the products.
* I'm not saying never build it yourself. But it's definitely a V2, V3 project. I would start by using the best cart available and then DIY only if you think you can do better. Otherwise, do it if your requirements really are unique.

Option 3- Flex
Change your requirements. Use a Shopping cart product that you like and build your product catalog with it. If you only have a handful of products this won't take long. If you have a department store, well you need a proper shopping cart site anyway You probably think that your requirements are the exact right thing but it is possible to migrate without SEO disaster. Moreover, unless you have an SEO powerhouse already (in which case you'll have a matching budget, I assume, to monetise it), it'll make it easier to continue powering on.
I don't know if this is the answer for you. But it is the answer for many people who don't think it is. Don't get stuck with vestiges that make life difficult for no reason.

If you go with option 3, you'll either want to 301 all existing pages to the cart generated pages or rewrite the URLS to match your old URLs. For the latter you'll probably need a customizable cart & either DIY abilities or use a customization service (if they have one).
Going with the flexible theme, I'd say don't let the ability to rewrite the urls make your desicion on which cart to purchase. Buy the right cart, 301 and move forward.

The other one I was eying is Mal's ecommerce... anyone used that? I'm hesitant on Mal's because it is processed on Mal's site... that would mean hundreds of links away from the site... would that affect SEO?

This is definitely not an issue.
- It's very possible that the links won't mean anything (links via forms, javascript, etc.)
- Link out is not actually a bad thing
- If you're really worried about it, nofollow the links.
* What I would look in to is the smoothness of the checokut/addtocart process.

Edited by nethy, 20 May 2008 - 09:36 PM.

[michael_ter]

As it was told here carts can be devided into two types- "Add to cart" button and store systems like OsCommerce (sorry, I do not want to mention any commercial carts though there are carts better than OsCommerce). Selection depends on what site you are going to upgrade - new one of existing. At my opinion plain "Add to cart" simple cart (actually this is only visible simplicity) is good for old sites, it will not hurt existing SE ranking.
If a site is new and sales are going to be high (let's imagine you are going to make a shop like Amazon) definitely you should select modern cart, in most cases you can select existing ready shopping cart. But you should know that some modern carts with plenty of functions are too "heavy" so do not select complicate shopping cart/shop systems with extra functions if you do not need them.

Simple "Add to cart" button allows to control every point of your web page especially your site is in HTML base. I tried some PHP carts/shop systems (if you wish I can list them) but they did not give me that ranking as plain old fashion HTML site with simple Perl "Add to cart" type shopping cart. One of problems of a HTML site - you should spend more time manually editing of web pages but definitely these "hand-made" pages give better results. This is my own opinion based on 10 years experience in e-commerce. I see that when my competitors transfered their sites into PHP shop systems they moved down in the Google lists.

Last Christmas season I had to work with my old laptop with 500 Mz processor and 128 M memory, I used Photoshop, Dreamweaver etc. - believe me this is possible. Sale season was really good. So I made a strange conclusion - sales not always depend on technical power of a computer and s shopping cart.

Edited by michael_ter, 24 May 2008 - 06:30 AM.