Starting up a business website got a couple questions?

[bigpoppa911]

Gremlin how are you coming along with the google checkout mod? I've hit a road block I can't seem to get through. What errors are you getting?

[bigpoppa911]

Gremlin I finally was able to get the GC plugin operational, it took the some trial and error. The readme file is confusing.

[GREMLIN]

Hi bigpoppa
I tried to work on the google checkout integration for another site that i have. The problems that i was facing was that after uploading the files and then installing it from the admin panel. I wanted to run tests on it so was using the sandbox method. Everything seemed to be working fine but it just wouldnt allow new customers to log in just returning customers. I posted a couple of questions about it on the zen-cart forum but never got much luck. Since then I just uninstalled the mod as another payment method exists.

I would like to offer google checkout but would need to find a fix first.

Any guidance would be great

[bigpoppa911]

Did your GC work with your sandbox test transactions? Did you have any other mods on your site before you installed the GC? If you have a modded template did you remember to copy your template files into your modded template? Are your sandbox and production id and key numbers entered correctly?
What I've found if you install the GC on a fresh Zencart Install you have the best chance of success then you can copy everything over to your modded template. Hope that helps.

[GREMLIN]

Hi
Yes i followed all the instructions. the sandbox merchant id and key were both correct. i didnt bother trying to check if it worked as no new user could sign up only returning customers. TBH i haven't really spent alot of time on it. I will have a look into it again.

In a week a so im hoping that a merchant account that ive applied for comes through. Its with streamline and will need to work on the integration for that. Once i get round to checking the google checkout mod properly i will be sure to bug you if i need your help. Hope you dont mind

do you use any SEO url mods for your zencart or are you allowing it to pull up its own Urls? How are you finding the cart compared to other carts? Are you happy you have chosen zencart and put in the effort to learn it? Would you recommend zencart to others?

cheers

[bigpoppa911]

No I don't mind at all. I haven't done any SEO url mods been letting it pull up on it's own. What do you recommend for SEO that's what I need to work on next. I've tried magento, mercantec and os cart and IMHO I prefer the Zencart. The learning process is continous I'm a DIY so that's fine for me. Yes I would recommend Zencart as long as you are going to put in the effort to learn it.
All of the free stuff that's offered is a bonus, you can mod your zencart to create a professional attractive website that runs efficiently and provides you all the info you need to run your business.

[GREMLIN]

Yeh i think zencart is good. Ive tried using Joomla but didnt really put much time into it so ditched it. Since using zencart(2 months or so) ive actually designed 3 websites. I love all the free mods and am looking for a category mod which will allow me to have my categories listed with a block background. Im not sure if you have used the horizontal header flyout menu mod, well if you have then im looking for a similar one but for the category sidebox.

Regarding seo, Aspkin had a word with me also and recommended that i use friendly seo urls. I would deff consider this however as all my urls got indexed fairly quick and have a few backlinks pointing to them i thought i would leave it. I did inquire about the seo urls and someone said that it does not make much difference as the spiders are much more intelligent then once were and can now index standard urls. Also when reading through the zencart forum regarding the various url mods I noticed that there was an issue with duplicate contents and your robot.txt file would need to be modified accordingly.

Other then that as long as you are filling out your meta descriptions and have done some keyword/ keyphrase research you should be fine with the seo. Just use your keywords and phrases on your pages along with them playing a role in your backlinking anchor texts. If you go to whois domain and type in your url it actually tells you what percentage SEO your page holds. Not sure how accurate this is.

cheers

[bigpoppa911]

I haven't used the horizontal header mod I do like the idea though. I am looking for a category mod as well that will allow categories, sub-categories and product type.

[GREMLIN]

Try the category dressing mod. Its good. you can have whatever effect you like. Have different shades for hovered, active, visited and standard links.

[bigpoppa911]

That may be just what I was looking for I'll give it a spin and let you know how it works out.