Website, from zero to hero

[Pap_sak]

Ian, couple of things to try would be a different sock and/or insole - my wife swears by the LP range.

Yup, it's that "brewshop" look I was trying to avoid, without working too hard .

Depending on how many products you want to upload, and how many varieties of each, the wordpress sites with the e-commerce (free) plugin works pretty well. You probably would end, in my mind at least, with more of a catalogue, than a "shop", but it's quick and easy and is very seo friendly. I played around with it on the maxsport site, and funnily enough it works well - just got an enquiry from Namibia. I do not think it's great for large sites, but for smaller sites with around 20 or so products it works well and you can have an "almost" bespoke site registered and up and running within hours.

[Pap_sak]

Just a quick update on the dartsdirect.co.za site...

Unique visits. Pretty low..may 51, june 43.

So far 4 sales, 3 from 1 customer over the 3 months. So pretty slow, but ticking. Would eventually like to get 3-4 sales a month.

On the bright side, I have managed to find 1 good customer, out of 50 million.

[Mark Atkinson]

@Mark. Some great insights, thanks. I must say that I personally don't dig the Joomla thing too much. Way back when, I started messing with Joomla and Wordpress round about the same time, and for some reason had a mental block with Joomla. Figures can prove anything, depending on how they're used, and right off I need to throw in that Wordpress has had more core downloads than Joomla. WP is not only a blogging platform, although that was its main reason for creation. It is also an incredible cms.

Regarding the size and scope of an e-commerce solution, yes, niche targetting is the way to go. Fortunately Ian is there already.

And in closing (apologies Mark, I am a Wordpress fan. Can't help it.), Wordpress powered sites outperform Joomla with the search engines.

Thanks for your (biased) commentary there Tony!

I do think that your points are valid though. I haven't really done enough on Wordpress to provide a completely objective view on both CMS. So I will play advocate for Joomla! I do think, however, that once you completely understand the ins and outs of Joomla! it is far more versatile than Wordpress.

I won't argue that it does have a steeper learning curve, but the things you can do with it once you've learned are staggering. To me Wordpress seems a lot more one-dimensional, even though it's still completely effective.

Also, simply stating that Wordpress sites outperform Joomla! sites in search engine results is a bold, yet somewhat unjustified statement to make. Many variables need to be considered before you can validly point out something like that.

Out the box Wordpress vs Joomla: Wordpress definitely wins as far as SEO is concerned. The thing is that I can get a Joomla-powered site to perform just as well as a Wordpress site with the right extensions and SEO optimization. Similarly, Wordpress also needs an SEO plugin to make the most of it's already pretty good URL structure and other SEO features.

To conclude, let me sum up the following:

Out the box: Wordpress wins.
For bloggers and content driven sites: Wordpress wins.

For Versatility: Joomla! wins.
For developers and designers: Joomla! wins.

I think a tie is a good result in this situation. It just really depends on who you are and what your requirements for a website are. However because I'm a wee bit biased, and because the "!" at the end of "Joomla" just puts it in a league of it's own, Joomla! wins!

[adrianh]

To conclude, let me sum up the following:

Out the box: Wordpress wins.
For bloggers and content driven sites: Wordpress wins.

For Versatility: Joomla! wins.
For developers and designers: Joomla! wins.

Agreed

[tonyflanigan]

@Mark and Adrian.

Methinks this is the kind of thing best discussed around a braai with a few beers...

Thanks for the input guys.

[tonyflanigan]

@Papsak:

Since May the only people in South Africa who made any money were the okes selling Vu Vu Zela's, and their buddies around the corner who were selling ear-plugs.

Since the FIFA final it does seem to be going back to normal tho', so "hou uit swaer, beter dinge kom".

[Pap_sak]

@Papsak:

Since May the only people in South Africa who made any money were the okes selling Vu Vu Zela's, and their buddies around the corner who were selling ear-plugs.

Since the FIFA final it does seem to be going back to normal tho', so "hou uit swaer, beter dinge kom".

The sad thing was that I was selling vuvavella's , and sales for June were down on last years. Oh well, only second time ever that I have gone down on year on year figures, so will not complain too much. It seems from talking to a few other shop owners, that the industry as a whole is depressed. Julys, at least, are looking better so far. Problem is I am now vat registered, so have to do a fair amount better to earn the same.

[Mark Atkinson]

@Mark and Adrian.

Methinks this is the kind of thing best discussed around a braai with a few beers...

Thanks for the input guys.

Haha too true. We could go on forever arguing the matter. I guess we'll just have to say Joomla! wins and leave it at that.

[IanF]

Tony
I should have listened, I could not even get the logo to display properly. After spending the afternoon trying. So now I will try OScommerce. Using softdux.co.za it is quite easy to change and try the different systems.

[adrianh]

I run Joomla on one site, OsCommerce and I have Wordpress in a test directory. They all serve their own unique purposes. Joola is a great general prodyct, OSc is great for selling and Wordpress is great for blogging. Trying to use them for purposes they weren't intended creates problems.

[tonyflanigan]

imho, joomjoom sucks, wordpress is great. With just a bit of research and effort you will realise that wordpress leaves joomjoom way behind. wordpress is a very efficient, and effective cms.

I do realise that trying to convert a die hard is pretty difficult, but I do need to tell you that I have spent many hours with both. joomjoom just could not, and still cannot do what wordpress does. full stop. end of story.

Yes, Oscommerce is hot. Zen cart need to do lotsa work to catch up.

[garthu]

The world cup seems to have finished as we just got busy again, I hope it lasts.

@Ian -hope you right, the quietest days we've had.. who would have thought!

Just in the process of trying the Zen cart thing as well. Gotta say the back end is a STEEP learning curve... but having said that, there hasn't beed a single thing that i havnt been able to do... with cuck loads of home work and direct php edit. Can't comment on the OScommerce

[adrianh]

imho, joomjoom sucks, wordpress is great. With just a bit of research and effort you will realise that wordpress leaves joomjoom way behind.

I honestly couldn't care less about what sucks and what is great. And no, I am not going to take any effort or do any reasearch. Each product, in its own way, meets my specific need, which is to make money from selling my products.

[IanF]

@Ian -hope you right, the quietest days we've had.. who would have thought!

Garth
Yes I am quiet. The progress so far.
Tried zencart and freeway couldn't get it to work. Now I am using opencart and it is working.
The site is paperkutz.co.za and just has 2 products so far. I have had to go back to the drawing board with production. The original board was too light, so we are busy with samples then we will takes pictures and load products.
ITO opencart it is easier for me than zencart, I just learnt the hard way is upload images through the programme and not FTP.
Just for websites I used softdux for this site and he has loads of programmes you can use on your sites I even got a redirect to work

Now just to eat the cupcakes that go into the wrappers.

[garthu]

Hey the sites looking very nice, crisp and clean!