whats happened!

[heavenlygirl]

We decided to upgrade because we had a busy website and were getting orders every day and thought the time would be right, but since we have upgraded we are lucky if we get an order every 7 days, we do not know what has happened or where we are going wrong, and it is very frustrating. Our website looks and operates much better that before, but we no longer are getting the sales,it appears to be the worst move that we could have made, we thought it would improve our sales not kill them!

Any advice on our website would be most appreciated please as we are starting to lose heart.

Thanks

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

What version did you upgrade from?
Have you noticed a change in your google rankings?

[RuralWeb]

Loks like you have been hit by the old using ext info pages being indexed problem eg http://www.craftyaddicts.co.uk/acatalog/info_1151.html . Im assuming you have them set different to what you had in the previous version.

The vast majority of pages indexed by Google are now ext info pages and if people do land on them there is no where for them to go.

[heavenlygirl]

we upgraded from actinic express sales was good daily traffic circa 500 plus uniue visitors per day now we are lucky to have 50.
re google rankings we in our relavent catagories appear to have dropped a couple of pages -

[heavenlygirl]

ruralweb

we upgraded from express its naming convention was very differet - doyou have a suggestions what we can do to correct this situation

[RuralWeb]

upgraded from express
Thats the reason then - Catalog and express are very different and moving from one to the other will almost certainly have wiped out all you pages. In effect you are starting agin from scratch as far as google and the others are concerned. This is the big problem with express ie there is no clear upgrade path.

Your old express pages will still be lurking about and you may have a problem with duplicate content as well as the info pages problem.

[RuralWeb]

There has been some discussion about moving from express before but not many have done it as far as I know. It will require some detailed investigation to see what exactly has happened.

[Stereo Steve]

I'm involved in a move from Express to Business at the mo. Actinic have said they will put up a robots.txt file for the client on the express hosting which should allow redirects to direct google across.

If the express site is still up there and google has suddenly come across another site which is identical in text content, it will filter it. Unfortunately it may be a little late to do much about it.

I would make sure the express site has been removed completely and ask actinic if they will put a redirect on the URL to the new site.

[Stereo Steve]

You have 513 odd pages indexed by google and all but 12 are in the supplemental index at the moment, getting little or no traffic. This will probably be for duplicate content.

[heavenlygirl]

Stero Steve

Thanks ofr your information - how did you come acroos those figures from Google.
It is surprising that the sales chap from Actinic did not provide this information after all we was an long term express user.

Anyway thanks for your help and response - I will be onto support in the morning

regards

H

[Stereo Steve]

Google

site:www.craftyaddicts.co.uk/

This will give you a rough idea of the amount of pages that google has indexed.

Now google


site:www.craftyaddicts.co.uk/*

This will tell you how many pages google has in the main index. The rest are supplemental so they are logged but may not have been fully indexed. Please note this is a rough guide and not a perfect science but the returned stats fit in with your experience.

Actinic need to brush up on this and provide an upgrade re-direct service from express. It's not rocket science but can make a big difference. They ought to know this because there are plenty of people out there who don't have a clue what they are about to do to their google ranking.

Essentially you need a text file called robots.txt created and put into the root of the actinic express hosting which points all traffic to the new version of the page. Google will follow this and should rank the new page the same as the old. Only Actinic can put this file in of course as the user has not ftp access to the server.

What I would do in your shoes is to make absoultely sure that the old site no longer exists and has been deleted from the server. Then wait for google to come to the same conclusion. I have no idea how long this may take. Sorry.

You should have been better informed of the implications and the solution.

[heavenlygirl]

Stero steve

Thanks for your help its has really helped.
Despite cancelling the express site it is indeed still alive - apparently it will now go offline on 15.09.08. The second line tech support has stated that they will sort the robot.txt file as you suggest.

We do seem to have ongoing issue with proper advice from Actinic - but that is for another very popular thread elsewhere.

Thanks for the advice

Regards

H

[RuralWeb]

personally I would be tempered to go back to the express site if it's still live and get sales going again. Also remember customers will be trying to buy and you don't want to loose your customer base.

When sales are coming through again you can plan the move in slow time as at the moment you have a big problem that IMO a simple robots file will not fix. The pages you have listed are mostly ext info which should not be there.

[webgirl]

personally I would be tempered to go back to the express site if it's still live and get sales going again. Also remember customers will be trying to buy and you don't want to loose your customer base.

When sales are coming through again you can plan the move in slow time as at the moment you have a big problem that IMO a simple robots file will not fix. The pages you have listed are mostly ext info which should not be there.

I was reading this thread & thinking the same. Would it be an option to post the old site back up and then make some changes to the new site content & post the new site up on a different url.

That way you still have your existing sales, and can work on getting the new site placement and maybe optimise it on different keywords

Just a thought. I am not a techie though -what does everyone else think ?

katie

[heavenlygirl]

When sales are coming through again you can plan the move in slow time as at the moment you have a big problem that IMO a simple robots file will not fix. The pages you have listed are mostly ext info which should not be there.


Ruralweb - Thanks for the advice - when you say the pages are ext and should not be there - what is meant by this? I am very new to all of this and like webgirl I am not a techie

H

[malbro]

Loks like you have been hit by the old using ext info pages being indexed problem eg http://www.craftyaddicts.co.uk/acatalog/info_1151.html . Heather

When google indexes the extra information pages and a visitor lands on the page from a google search, there is no method (such as a button) on the page to get back to your main site pages. A techie would know to change the url in the address bar and thus get to your site, but many web users will not know this and will just leave the site.

What is being suggested is that you need to prevent google from indexing these pages which requires some technical knowledge on dealing with robots.txt or changing the pages themselves to stop the search engine robots from indexing the page.

[RuralWeb]

dealing with robots.txt or changing the pages themselves to stop the search engine robots from indexing the page.
My advice is to stay well clear of robots.txt files - the problem is due to how you have setup the page structure within actinic ie using the ext info to open in the same window and provideing links to it which search engines can follow.

Unfortunately "upgrading" to Catalog does bring you into another world. If express was working for you why did you decide to change to catalog?????

[heavenlygirl]

We decided to upgrade because express didn't provide stock control, or multiple images, and we could not put on multibuy discounts and promotions, it was too limited to take the business forward.

H

[RuralWeb]

it was too limited to take the business forward
Well you dont have to worry now as you have no sales:eek:

I would still go back to it and work on a plan to migrate the site correctly - I would rather have sales than stock control;)

[leehack]

You need to make sure stock monitoring is what you are after too as actinic does not have stock control as such, people can still order more than what you have.

[RuralWeb]

stock monitoring
Well reminded lee - how can I forget that one:rolleyes:

[TraceyHand]

I was keeping schtum
Might have ranted otherwise!

[Darren B]

you rant - never :D

[heavenlygirl]

Heather

When google indexes the extra information pages and a visitor lands on the page from a google search, there is no method (such as a button) on the page to get back to your main site pages. A techie would know to change the url in the address bar and thus get to your site, but many web users will not know this and will just leave the site.



Hi Malcolm

My other half has added links into the extended page - basically he took the using extened information windows from the advanced user guide this has added the main nav menu and the product catalogue - hopefully this will work - we cannot figure an HTML method to offer a previous page option -
Thanks for your help

H

[heavenlygirl]

Well you dont have to worry now as you have no sales:eek:

I would still go back to it and work on a plan to migrate the site correctly - I would rather have sales than stock control;)


This is one that has caused great indignation - we paid a significant sum for the program, the hosting, support and the SSL cert - we was informed by the Sales department that we would be supported at all stages by Actinic of the transfer from the express site to that of the catalogue - however, this has been lacking - the information we have been given from the forum, the documenttation and the support in many cases tend to conflict, an example is the comment above from Stero Steve who statd that Actinic are assisting with a robot.txt files from tech support - I point tech support to this comment - they deny they do this, however, at the point of purchase redirection from the express site was offered but never provided.
I personnally feel put out as I brought this software etc for my wife as a means of supporting her bricks and morter shop. Nik

[RuralWeb]

Send me a snapshot so I can see what is going on with the site.

[heavenlygirl]

Send me a snapshot so I can see what is going on with the site.

Thank you for the offer how do you want m to deliver the site Nik

[RuralWeb]

Snapshot via mailbigfile.com

[heavenlygirl]

Snapshot via mailbigfile.com

what email address should I put in to notify you of the upload

THanks you for this help - We logged the same question with Actinic Support at the same ime we logged this question on the foruim - thank godness for the generosity of the forum members for thier help and assistance.

Actinic Support - still waiting your response ! - suppose thats for another thread elsewhere

Nik

[RuralWeb]

what email address should I put in to notify you of the upload
info@ruralwebdesign.co.uk

[OriginalTouch]

Please be gentle if this is a dumb statement and if Google have stopped indexing then it may be too late, but it could help!

However, would it not be possible to upload the old site with the old site names again if they were so popular. Then to put a link on each old page redirecting to the new site such as "Buy it here". May take a while but would be worth it and can always use a customised fragment or whatever.

Then the old site gets the current rankings, redirects Google to the new site and boosts the visibility of the new site, whilst sales keep coming in, one shopping basket is used (stock etc) and customers get to know the new site. Then slowly drop off the old site as the new one is getting used.

Personally, having moved from other systems myself, I would NEVER just upgrade a new site with new names without having a system in place to redirect pages - just too costly by way of SEO.

[RuralWeb]

However, would it not be possible to upload the old site with the old site names again if they were so popular.Not really as it was an express site and has been shut down.

Personally, having moved from other systems myself, I would NEVER just upgrade a new site with new names without having a system in place to redirect pages - just too costly by way of SEO.Exactly - but you live and learn;)

[heavenlygirl]

Not really as it was an express site and has been shut down.

Exactly - but you live and learn;)

Yes we do - Web technology is not my forte - if you want server set up a network building then I am your man - but the web! minimal knowledge hence why we upgraded with the "help" of Actnic.

Still the sales are picking up - finally

[Darren B]

I am your man

Hmmmm that conjures up some odd images

[heavenlygirl]

Hmmmm that conjures up some odd images

Yes I bet it does :eek: