Google search issues

[madboyo]

The following search in Google reveals weird results.

If I search for "leo vince fast box" without quotes as per http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&q=leo+vince+fast+box&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK|countryGB

I get the following page

http://www.mxbits.com/acatalog/Performance_Exhaust_Systems_Leo_Vince.html


rather than getting the page below:

http://www.mxbits.com/acatalog/Performance_Electrical_Leo_Vince_Fast_Box.html


We've been experimenting with page names, page titles, meta names, meta descriptions etc.

Has anyone got any ideas on what is happening either with the way Actinic builds pages for the search engines or what Google is doing and why it returns the results it does?

[Darren B]

I aint got a clue about SEO but i would say the page it gives you has lots of references to Leo Vince and the fast box is also on that page.

So it is more relevant as the name appears lots of times. Go's against googles SPP idea though :rolleyes:

[grantglendinnin]

Indeed. Pretty much exactly as Darren put it.

And 'Awaiting PO Box'????????

Not only should an online store never have a PO Box as the contact address, but not displaying any address whatsoever?? IMO you shouldn't have received a single order with that address, if you have - more fool your customers.

:eek:

[madboyo]

Indeed. Pretty much exactly as Darren put it.

And 'Awaiting PO Box'????????

Not only should an online store never have a PO Box as the contact address, but not displaying any address whatsoever?? IMO you shouldn't have received a single order with that address, if you have - more fool your customers.

:eek:

Ok well apart from being off topic :rolleyes:

There were what we believed to be valid reasons for doing such.

1) P.O. Box allows us to move the business which we have done with absolutely no knock on effects to our customers. Admittedly we need to add that into the site now.

2) By not broadcasting our actual address we maintain a high level of invisibility as being a relatively niche sport there are more burglarys made on shops of this kind.

3) If you do a whois on the domain name you actually get an address.

[Mike Hughes]

As above AND maybe because the link from the first page to the second one is broken, causing Google some indexing problems.

Mike

[Rich Brady]

If you do a whois on the domain name you actually get an address.

Which most day to day user will not be aware of (unless they read this post:rolleyes:), but thieves probably do, so you're only alienating potential customers.

One of my clients insisted on a PO Box address and didn't want a contact number shown (business ran from their home). They want me to come in next week, because they don't feel they're making as many sales as they should.

[madboyo]

As above AND maybe because the link from the first page to the second one is broken, causing Google some indexing problems.

Mike

Damn why is it you can never see your own mistakes!:o

I would have expected Google to have indexed the correct page independently of the broke link on the other page surely?

[grantglendinnin]

When you hear about 'Online Sales' on the news, what's it most likely about? Fraud. Or more recently, the recession.

PO BOX = Screams out fraud to me (and everyone else). No name, no address, no physical location, the list of disadvantages is endless.

With regards to being for the purpose of safety from burglaries, that's what insurance is for.

Honestly, publish a physical location. Pro burglars are smarter than you and everyone else around here, otherwise they'd all be in the nick by now. Have a read of this (http://www.actinic.co.uk/examples/cs_stinkyink.htm) - quite an inspiring story from John.

[madboyo]

When you hear about 'Online Sales' on the news, what's it most likely about? Fraud. Or more recently, the recession.

PO BOX = Screams out fraud to me (and everyone else). No name, no address, no physical location, the list of disadvantages is endless.

With regards to being for the purpose of safety from burglaries, that's what insurance is for.

Honestly, publish a physical location. Pro burglars are smarter than you and everyone else around here, otherwise they'd all be in the nick by now. Have a read of this (http://www.actinic.co.uk/examples/cs_stinkyink.htm) - quite an inspiring story from John.

And in what way do you think the story about Stinkyink is relevant? All that article said was make your site in actinic and get betters results. Oh and by the way be careful other there!

We have overseas customers. One of which is in South Africa and because we couldn't believe he would shop with us rather than locally given motocross has a fairly good market position in SA we decided to check him out. We got home, work addresses, we checked that he was an employee and the said business was legit etc etc etc.

[madboyo]

Damn why is it you can never see your own mistakes!:o

I would have expected Google to have indexed the correct page independently of the broke link on the other page surely?

and to carry on from this I have just looked at the Google stats.

Google have referenced the new page as it's listed specifically on one of the pages. What does appear to be happening with this product and some others is that it appears to be taking the first reference it can find in the site map rather than the correct page. e.g. The link that show the fastbox ignition in with the exhausts is approx 32 lines higher than the actual page. The same is true for some of the other products now we've started digging a bit more.

Any ideas about this behaviour?

[grantglendinnin]

Unfortunately - I don't even know your name - this is a community for those using Actinic, both developers and shop owners. I'm only trying to help just as everyone else is. Sure, everybody enjoys the casual banter - but at the end of the day the work has to get done to get the sales online.

In my opinion, you shouldn't be worrying about burglaries. If your business use the recommended level of security, and have the place insured then there's no worries - yes, it's a pain in the arse if your place gets robbed, but hey, that's business. The company opposite us have been broken into 3 times in the last year and lost well over £100k in stock - their insurance has always saved their asses.

Consumers like to know that when they buy online they are buying from a company with a physical location - for all they know you could be a 14 year old kid selling stolen pieces from your bedroom with your parents sleeping next door. The reality is far from that - but this definitely puts it into perspective - you need to assure buyers, not give them reasons to go elsewhere.

[acompton]

And in what way do you think the story about Stinkyink is relevant? All that article said was make your site in actinic and get betters results.
Did you read the whole article? Even the last section about the burglary? it seems relevant to me.

[Mike Hughes]

and to carry on from this I have just looked at the Google stats.

Google have referenced the new page as it's listed specifically on one of the pages. What does appear to be happening with this product and some others is that it appears to be taking the first reference it can find in the site map rather than the correct page. e.g. The link that show the fastbox ignition in with the exhausts is approx 32 lines higher than the actual page. The same is true for some of the other products now we've started digging a bit more.

Any ideas about this behaviour?


Link structure, pagerank and anchor text or all off page factors that will determine how well a page ranks in Google.

You shouldn't be relying on links in the sitemap. Important pages should be linked to directly from the home page and the fewer steps in the navigation to that page the better.

Mike

[RuralWeb]

Full Name: Never! Company Name: Never! NEVER answer

[bamboo]

As far as anybody knows the search algorithm goes along a line of text known as a page title looking for the first words entered in the keyword string.

So in your search example leo vince fast box it's looking for correaltion with leo then vince then fast then box. As fast and box are none specific words that appear in many peoples page titles it seems to lend more 'weight' to leo & vince.

As it goes through the first page you list it finds 17 instances of the leo vince combination in the page body 9 of which are bolded.

As it goes through the second page it finds 3 instances of the leo vince combination in the page body 3 of which are bolded.

So in this instance Googles algorithm ranks the first page higher because it appears to be more relevant to the search string.

This is just my opinion as in common with everyone else I can only guess based on the evidence what Googles algorithm actually does.

I would suggest you make the leo vince exhausts SPP and then you should see the leo vince fast box appearing above the leo vince exhausts page for the search string 'leo vince fast box'.

[madboyo]

Full Name: Never! Company Name: Never! NEVER answer

So suddenly my full name and company name are essential as well?

The company name is MXBits if you hadn't noticed.

Maybe you'd like to know the serial number of the software to check if it's legit as well would you? Would you like a look at the books as well?

What has this got to do with technical questions about Google rankings???

[madboyo]

Link structure, pagerank and anchor text or all off page factors that will determine how well a page ranks in Google.

You shouldn't be relying on links in the sitemap. Important pages should be linked to directly from the home page and the fewer steps in the navigation to that page the better.

Mike

Thanks Mike!

So submitting a sitemap file periodically is a bad thing to do?

[madboyo]

When we first set the site up we purposely removed the catalogue sections and subsections because when we looked at other sites we actually found finding what you want from the listing on the left-hand side clumsy and made for a huge front page.

What your saying is we've probably done more harm than good. If I understand you correctly?

An example of this would be : http://www.dirtbikebitz.com/

[Mike Hughes]

So submitting a sitemap file periodically is a bad thing to do?

Not necessarily bad, but for most websites it's not really worth doing. Google uses the links on the website to rank pages, so if it can't find the page via your navigation then those pages aren't going to rank well anyway.

When we first set the site up we purposely removed the catalogue sections and subsections because when we looked at other sites we actually found finding what you want from the listing on the left-hand side clumsy and made for a huge front page.

What your saying is we've probably done more harm than good. If I understand you correctly?

I wouldn't say that. Your navigation should be set out for the user rather than Google, but google is important too. I would change the links that go via the cgi-bin to direct links and not have too many levels (links) to get to the content pages.

As an example of this last item. You have to go Plastics > UFO Plastics > Honda Plastics to get to the product page. At each step Google essentially views the next page as weaker than the current one. The more levels you go through to get to a page the weaker that page will rank.

If you link to all the pages from the front page then they'll all be ranked quite weakly. Link to the important ones (a 'bestseller' or 'popular item' breakout is a good way of doing this) and let the navigation take customers / SE's to the other pages.

Mike

[Darren B]

OK i skipped through this as, but is it not a requirement under distance selling to show a full address and contact number?

Im sure i read this at some time

[Darren B]

At each step Google essentially views the next page as weaker than the current one. The more levels you go through to get to a page the weaker that page will rank.



This is exactly what i see on mysites, the deeper you go the lower the page rank, i tend not to worry as the deeper pages are the spp ones that base will take them to. The higher pages with more info are the MPP's

[Rich Brady]

EU Regs I think (This isn't a piss take based on an earlier thread) It only rings a bell as eBay, who never used to let you put your contact details anywhere now encourage it

[madboyo]

Thanks guys other than the lot who wanted to flame mxbits just because we don't have a postal address and a name! :rolleyes:

For all the others who have provided constructive feedback then I thank you for sharing with me your knowledge and experience. I can now go forward with ideas to test.

I will also look at the laws surround internet sales re: address etc.

[madboyo]

EU Regs I think (This isn't a piss take based on an earlier thread) It only rings a bell as eBay, who never used to let you put your contact details anywhere now encourage it

I have found the following document: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

If you read page 11. Section 3, Sub-section 3.1

You must give your consumers certain information before they agree
to buy from you. We refer to this as pre-contractual information which
includes the following.


i) Your identity including sufficient detail for the consumer to be able to identify the business they are dealing with.

(vi) If payment is required in advance, you must supply your full geographic address **

**This applies before goods or services are received by the consumer.


So as it stands we aren't breaking any law.

We do not charge before we dispatch for the reason that we can't possible hold every stock item for every brand of motorcycle up there so therefore we sometimes have to wait a day for the stock to arrive before we dispatch.

That was the reason we did not implement systems such as Prox.

[grantglendinnin]

Mr X.

Regardless what the law states - only a fool would part with their cash to a back alley fraudster, which is exactly what most small companies running PO Boxes are.

Sorry to bring the harsh reality to your attention - this is advice, not criticism.

[bamboo]

i) Your identity including sufficient detail for the consumer to be able to identify the business they are dealing with.


With laws containing phrases as vague as this no wonder scam merchants are everywhere. Not suggesting you such a person, madboyo, but you have to admit it reads like a get out of jail card.

Just goes to show that the Law is often an Ass.

[bamboo]

Just a heads up. I had this pointed out to me today as a fault on one of my sites by a caring soul on this marvellous forum so I am doing the same for you good sir.

Your T&C page contains

Tax Charges For orders made from the UK or the European Union, 17.5% VAT is added. All other orders are VAT free.

[RuralWeb]

So suddenly my full name and company name are essential as well?It just shows the respect you hold for the forum you use:mad:

[Darren B]

I have found the following document: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

If you read page 11. Section 3, Sub-section 3.1

You must give your consumers certain information before they agree
to buy from you. We refer to this as pre-contractual information which
includes the following.


i) Your identity including sufficient detail for the consumer to be able to identify the business they are dealing with.

(vi) If payment is required in advance, you must supply your full geographic address **

**This applies before goods or services are received by the consumer.


So as it stands we aren't breaking any law.

We do not charge before we dispatch for the reason that we can't possible hold every stock item for every brand of motorcycle up there so therefore we sometimes have to wait a day for the stock to arrive before we dispatch.

That was the reason we did not implement systems such as Prox.

depends what is ment by geographic address, that excludes PO Boxes, only under special circumstance are they, normally for new builds whilst royal mail are allocating one

[TraceyHand]

I

(vi) If payment is required in advance, you must supply your full geographic address **

**This applies before goods or services are received by the consumer.


So as it stands we aren't breaking any law.

We do not charge before we dispatch for the reason that we can't possible hold every stock item for every brand of motorcycle up there so therefore we sometimes have to wait a day for the stock to arrive before we dispatch.

That was the reason we did not implement systems such as Prox.

Unless you charge your customer AFTER they have their goods, you're still receiving payment in advance!

[madboyo]

Mr X.

Regardless what the law states - only a fool would part with their cash to a back alley fraudster, which is exactly what most small companies running PO Boxes are.

Sorry to bring the harsh reality to your attention - this is advice, not criticism.

Your so called "advice" is worded in such a way to be aggressive and confrontational. Further more you constant insinuation that MXBits is operating a "scam" or in a "fraudulent" way is disrespectful and verging on the point of being libel.

Fine so we've overlooked or failed to publish an address for the reasons previously stated but MXBits is not a scamming fraudulent business and has a good strong customer base which we would like to build on. Our returns policy is fair and we have on many occasions taken it on the chin for the benefit of the customer contrary to our our T&C's because we felt it was the right thing to do.

I do have to question your motives towards a forum member who has acted in a totally respectful way to others who have offered advice and guidance previously and throughout this thread.

Maybe you would like to explain why when others have tried to assist in the topic asked about you constantly feel the need to pursue a subject so far removed from Distance Selling law as it could possible get that you felt

a) go so far off topic
b) trash a thread with aggressive insinuation
c) ignore forum rules
d) act as Judge, Jury and Executioner.

If you really had our best interests at heart why did you not contact me via PM to advice me of a possible shortcoming rather than insinuate everything you have in a public forum about a company or persons you have never met or traded with?

Surely that would have been the adult forum friendly behaviour that RuralWeb seems to suggest I have denigrated so much by not publishing my real name.

[madboyo]

Just a heads up. I had this pointed out to me today as a fault on one of my sites by a caring soul on this marvellous forum so I am doing the same for you good sir.

Your T&C page contains

Thank you for yet another mistake on our part rather than as some others have insinuated a deliberate case of scamming or misleading any or all of our customers.

The fact that you got pulled up on it suggests that we are probably not the only ones guilty of this oversight.


With laws containing phrases as vague as this no wonder scam merchants are everywhere. Not suggesting you such a person, madboyo, but you have to admit it reads like a get out of jail card.

Just goes to show that the Law is often an Ass.

Well it seems that given the law is so vague I will take further advice on it.


Thanks again :D

[Darren B]

Your so called "advice" is worded in such a way to be aggressive and confrontational. Further more you constant insinuation that MXBits is operating a "scam" or in a "fraudulent" way is disrespectful and verging on the point of being libel.

Fine so we've overlooked or failed to publish an address for the reasons previously stated but MXBits is not a scamming fraudulent business and has a good strong customer base which we would like to build on. Our returns policy is fair and we have on many occasions taken it on the chin for the benefit of the customer contrary to our our T&C's because we felt it was the right thing to do.

I do have to question your motives towards a forum member who has acted in a totally respectful way to others who have offered advice and guidance previously and throughout this thread.

Maybe you would like to explain why when others have tried to assist in the topic asked about you constantly feel the need to pursue a subject so far removed from Distance Selling law as it could possible get that you felt

a) go so far off topic
b) trash a thread with aggressive insinuation
c) ignore forum rules
d) act as Judge, Jury and Executioner.

If you really had our best interests at heart why did you not contact me via PM to advice me of a possible shortcoming rather than insinuate everything you have in a public forum about a company or persons you have never met or traded with?

Surely that would have been the adult forum friendly behaviour that RuralWeb seems to suggest I have denigrated so much by not publishing my real name.

The way you are conducting yourself leaves people to be suspicious, and what ever way you read it, at some point you will be contacted by trading standards and then you will realise the error of your ways.

i wish you well in your crusade you build a site that fails to offer confidence, part of SEO is to build a site that works for people, thats how google tries to rate a site. You are trying to build a site that does this yet at the point of ordering your saying no thank you????

If you feel people are verging on libel, then you obviously are like many people that come here asking advice yet actually dont want it. (you posted in the site review section what did you expect :rolleyes:)

In that case

Your site is ok however as a biker this is a site i would not purchase from and to be honest doubt i ever would as i honestly believe if i had an issue i doubt i could get it resolved.

[grantglendinnin]

Not going to waste another minute on this subject. You posted in the Site Review section and got a harsh review. In fact, not really harsh - you got told what works and what doesn't. No name, no business name, no registration number, no address - nothing.

Oh, and you can't charge restocking fees. That's limited under the Distance Selling Regulations and Sale of Goods Act.

Good luck.

[madboyo]

Not going to waste another minute on this subject. You posted in the Site Review section and got a harsh review. In fact, not really harsh - you got told what works and what doesn't. No name, no business name, no registration number, no address - nothing.

Oh, and you can't charge restocking fees. That's limited under the Distance Selling Regulations and Sale of Goods Act.

Good luck.

I posted in here for help with SEO as the title of the forum suggests. Did I ask you to review my site or specifically the T&C's? No I didn't.

I've been told what effects the way you build the site has over search engines so I have got my answers. I have also had opinions from constructive members regarding some potential problems which I have already stated I will look into and although I have found documents I will also contact Trading Standards to verify and abide by there advice. So I've saved you the job of contacting them!

You could have handled this so differently as I previous stated so I still question your motives towards other site owners using this software and still question who made you Judge, jury and executioner. Friendly and constructive you are not as you can see by others who have advised on the same subjects.

For your information my name is Lee Hooper. MXBits owner is a Mr B Phelps. You have the company details including the telephone number. Whilst my role is to try and help with IT matters given I am an IT guy who specialises in Infrastructure management rather than website design I do my best to help on a purely voluntary basis. So MXBits is a one person company like so many others out there are and any way I can help I do. The fact that up until now I have represented MXBits in this community is because I'm the one with an element of understanding which is greater than the owners.

The fact that I am careful about who knows my identity on the internet is neither here or there. Many people publish details about themselves that others can profit from on the internet. Since when has being careful being fraudulent or a crime?

Is there anymore information you would like to validate me, Mr Phelps or MXBits?????

[grantglendinnin]

I think you need to take this with a pinch of salt. To be frank, I couldn't care less who you are. Just being 100% honest here.

Put yourself in the customers shoes.

Would you buy from a site which doesn't display any contact details but a telephone number, nor publishes a company registration number? If I remember rightly, when we first launched a site online, which was merely a brochure site, the site had an online store added on, using Actinic v6, from some oversight, our company registration number wasn't added anywhere on the site, which is apparently against the law in Scotland. (Selling online, you must display or notify the consumer of your company registration number) Whether or not that law applies in England, or even still applies in Scotland (probable, centuries-old laws 'n' all:rolleyes:) is another matter.

What I have mentioned to you increases customer confidence and makes your company appear more reputable and thus, will help you convert an undecided potential customer into a customer.

[leehack]

I award a goat point for breaking your own name curfew.

[madboyo]

I award a goat point for breaking your own name curfew.

As my namesake you're a funny guy! :p

It seems that in order to be taken seriously my name is essential:confused:

[madboyo]

Ok well the details we are at fault with or have been advised by other forum users we have corrected.

The address is added.

The Company Registration number is not required to be listed as MXBits is a sole trader.

VAT comment has been changed. That was an oversight.

We are contacting Trading Standards regarding the restocking charge for special order items not held in stock e.g. special wheel, hub, spoke set that are coloured in a way to make them useless to anyone other than the person who ordered them.

Anything else you would like investigated whilst Mr. Phelps is talking to Trading Standards?

http://www.mxbits.com/acatalog/Terms_Conditions.html

[leehack]

You would always walk into a room and say hi or shake someone's hand if you intended to talk to someone, see providing your name as an online equivalent I guess. It's impersonal enough the internet, don't add to that IMO. Particularly if (in general) it is the help of the people who it pisses off, that you are after.

PS - I'm happy to call you never, as long as I have something polite to call you, that's fine.

[madboyo]

You would always walk into a room and say hi or shake someone's hand if you intended to talk to someone, see providing your name as an online equivalent I guess. It's impersonal enough the internet, don't add to that IMO. Particularly if (in general) it is the help of the people who it pisses off, that you are after.

PS - I'm happy to call you never, as long as I have something polite to call you, that's fine.

My only problem with the few members concerned was the way the aggressively attacked MXBits as a scam or trading in a fraudulent matter. There was no need to take that approach. The same thing could have been said is such a different way.

I haven't posted very often because I manage to work most things out but in the other threads I have created I have been nothing but respectful and grateful to other participants.

I fully take on board your comment about introducing yourself when you walk into a room. I do but obviously wouldn't when walking into a bar or restaurant as that would be plain weird! :D

[Rich Brady]

My only problem with the few members concerned was the way the aggressively attacked MXBits as a scam or trading in a fraudulent matter. There was no need to take that approach. The same thing could have been said is such a different way.

I think you have misunderstood the very nature of the guys on this forum.

You asked for SEO help, yet when we looked at your site we saw were more pressing issues.

You could have the best rankings in all of Search Engines, but people will be put off by the fact that you have no address. Having a PO Box address is far from ideal, but stating that you are awaiting one stinks of a scam.

I understand your concerns as I have a client that use a PO Box address, despite my best advice.

It doesn't matter whether it is law or not, it's just common sense.

I think you info page has some coding issues because the <head> area is missing which also suggests that this site is not legit.

You have a lot of info on there about what a customer should do if they want to return an item, but they have no idea where to send it...

You also state that there is 17.5% VAT applied, this needs to be communicated to customers at product level and your VAT registration number needs to be visible. IT SHOULD ALSO BE 15%

All of these issues detailed in this thread need to be addressed before you drive more traffic to your site. Otherwise you run the risk of loosing a potential customer for ever.

IMO

[grantglendinnin]

Hoops? That'll do me :)

Surely you understand the concerns raised - from a consumers point of view it does look dodgy. All these articles you get in the media about 'how to avoid internet fraud' always mention PO Boxes, looking for physical addresses, contact details, official verifications, etc - which is exactly what showing your real address and registration info would give the consumer. It's all about reassuring your potential customers - they are already freaking out about fraud because that's all the media have to say about e-retailing.

On another note, not to be picky, but your T+C's are in breach of the law simply because you only state you will charge a 20% restocking fee for items returned if unwanted - no mention of whether or not this applies to certain products or not.

I'm sure Trading Standards will help guide you on this matter, though be aware even TS make mistakes and give it wrong advice. Check this (http://www.actinic.co.uk/news/060615.htm) out - there's a longstanding debate of whether or not this increases or decreases sales - but the "OFT-approved" Policy and Terms documents which you get for free are definitely a helping hand everybody could do with.

[bamboo]

All of these issues detailed in this thread need to be addressed before you drive more traffic to your site. Otherwise you run the risk of loosing a potential customer for ever.

The best piece of free and unbiased advice you will have received all year.

[Rich Brady]

Thanks Derek, I'll be here all week :D

The mad thing about all of this, along with quite a few site reviews recently, is that it's all been said before.

Every site review thread is essentially the same. If guys read through other site reviews first, searched the forum for how to implement the changes, worked on there site, then repeated this process a few times, by the time it came to asking for a site review all the basic stuff should be in place and then members can drill down and tweak.

[madboyo]

Grant (I'm assuming that's your name?) I do understand and have taken everything all have said. Hence I have advised my friend the owner to change the T&C's.

He is in the process of changing the returns policy right now and then submit that to TS's.

Hoops is my nickname given my surname is Hooper.

[grantglendinnin]

Yup, you got it ;)

Another major thing I think would improve the site:

Your home page doesn't link through to the shop sections, as previously mentioned.

The shop landing page is very bland - every section uses the same image. Make the images for the sections represent the section content as best as you can - users look for images before words.

Furthermore, to solve the issue of having a very long-winded list on the homepage, why not use Norman's Collapso (http://www.drillpine.biz/actinicstuff/) - this seems a more than ideal solution for this sort of problem. Though I don't see what's wrong with using the TLS menu you have in your shop-page layout. If you insist on having a long (in terms of height) home page, there is still a good bit of space you could use on the left sidebar to include the same menu you have used for your section/product pages.

Finally, apply your overall layout to your T+C's page. Notice once you click on T+C's there's no way to get back to the shop without clicking the 'Back' button.

[acompton]

It seems that in order to be taken seriously my name is essential:confused:
Not essential, but it helps. People in here are dishing out advice on commercial matters, and like to know that the person they are helping is a serious trader, and not a scammer. They have to make a judgement call about the motives of the poster - much like the judgement that customers make when they visit a site. Trust is important when selling on the internet and for the customer, it comes down to a gut feeling in the end. You'd be amazed how many people actually read the About Us page.

BTW: "Bike Extras" shouldn't have an apostrophe.

[acompton]

Finally, apply your overall layout to your T+C's page. Notice once you click on T+C's there's no way to get back to the shop without clicking the 'Back' button.
Its a common convention that the top banner or top-left logo should be a link to your home page. Unfortunately, this isn't a default facility in Actinic.

[madboyo]

Yup, you got it ;)

Another major thing I think would improve the site:

Your home page doesn't link through to the shop sections, as previously mentioned.

The shop landing page is very bland - every section uses the same image. Make the images for the sections represent the section content as best as you can - users look for images before words.

Furthermore, to solve the issue of having a very long-winded list on the homepage, why not use Norman's Collapso (http://www.drillpine.biz/actinicstuff/) - this seems a more than ideal solution for this sort of problem. Though I don't see what's wrong with using the TLS menu you have in your shop-page layout. If you insist on having a long (in terms of height) home page, there is still a good bit of space you could use on the left sidebar to include the same menu you have used for your section/product pages.

Finally, apply your overall layout to your T+C's page. Notice once you click on T+C's there's no way to get back to the shop without clicking the 'Back' button.

It's interesting that you raise the points you have given this was a conversation I had with the owner before I logged back on and saw your comments.

I have suggested we move the logos in the lefthand panel and replace with the section headings as per when you are actually in the shop. I also suggested given how the products have been arranged in what he thought were logical grouping that we use the Windows slide out menu system that will allow the user to navigate directly to the product that could actually be 5 levels down.

The bland comment is fair enough as it's personnel opinion. The aim of the site was to provide some sort of common layout that as soon as the user had viewed one section he could navigate all the sections. This has led to some levels being there for the sake of being there e.g. Guts Racing. The flag icon was used as we were struggling to get everything to look even across the page i.e. line up horizontally and vertically as it looked a really mess when we used specific images some of which didn't like being reduced that small. We've found that enough users would miss products or couldn't be bother to scroll down with pages that extended to far down.

Just to readdress the address issue I've also been told that customers were starting to turn up unannounced thinking it was a retail outlet where in reality it's a warehouse for mail order only. I guess we need to make sure it's advertised properly that MXBits is mail order only.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say TLS menu and hopefully you'll see we don't like long pages for some of the reasons previously said.

The T&C's were set out like that because if you use the T&C's section under the Business settings it didn't allow us to put in bold headings or structure it in the way we wanted to. We just deleted all the previous info within Actinic and then composed a new page outside of Actinic and changed the link. Totally agree we need a link back to either the home page or the entry to the shop.

This is great help and totally agree with the comments we need to fix it first before worrying about our rankings. Just a shame it took so long to get to this point.

[madboyo]

I think you info page has some coding issues because the <head> area is missing which also suggests that this site is not legit.

I'm sorry I'm not clear on which Info page you mean.


You have a lot of info on there about what a customer should do if they want to return an item, but they have no idea where to send it...


I believe the address is part of the form the customers are required to complete. Customers are also expected to call MXBits to register there is a problem and that the address is given out at that point from what I have been told.

You also state that there is 17.5% VAT applied, this needs to be communicated to customers at product level and your VAT registration number needs to be visible. IT SHOULD ALSO BE 15%


MXbits is legit including VAT registration as hopefully you guys now accept. Is showing the VAT no. a feel good thing or is it required by law?

My friend i.e. the owner has been told by me that no other products are to go on this site until we correct everything else otherwise we'll be having this type of discussion in another 12 months.

[Rich Brady]

Info page = Terms and Conditions

You must have your VAT registration number on the site. There's a field in Business Settings for it.

I don't doubt that you guys are legit, but we wanted to give you opinions from a customer perspective.

Well done for convincing the owner these things aren't just going to go away. He may even be surprised how many more conversion he makes :D

[acompton]

Is showing the VAT no. a feel good thing or is it required by law?
Even if it isn't required by law, its just another small pointer that makes the site stand out as a serious business.

[Darren B]

Did anyone mention pci-dss for collecting credit card information?

[Rich Brady]

Can't remember, add it to the list LOL.

Alan if you are VAT registered it is a requirement to have your VAT Registration Number visible.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.l1=1073861197&r.l3=1075384925&r.lc=en&type=RESOURCES&itemId=1075385126&r.l2=1073866263&r.s=sc

[grantglendinnin]

Hoops, which version of Actinic are you using? Changes to the layout of the T+C's page can be made on the 'Design' tab on v8 and v9. Ideally you want the same features throughout the site on every page - stick to a horizontal menu at the top and a vertical menu on the left - this way once a customer gets to your site, they don't have to hunt just to find the menu - keep things simple.

Have a look here (http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=34654) and here (http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=34663) - I think they will help you alot with using different sized images which cause your layout to appear messy as you described.

Get the basics done, then you can worry about the fine details later. Though the topic which Darren mentioned is also an urgent matter which you will need to look into sooner rather than later, as it is now required by law.

[madboyo]

Did anyone mention pci-dss for collecting credit card information?

PCI-DSS????? Sorry you're gonna have to explain that or provide me with a link so that I can read about it.


Can't remember, add it to the list LOL.

Alan if you are VAT registered it is a requirement to have your VAT Registration Number visible.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.l1=1073861197&r.l3=1075384925&r.lc=en&type=RESOURCES&itemId=1075385126&r.l2=1073866263&r.s=sc

Umm well I read it so I'll pass it on and see what the boss says. As far as I'm concerned it needs to go on the site.


Hoops, which version of Actinic are you using? Changes to the layout of the T+C's page can be made on the 'Design' tab on v8 and v9. Ideally you want the same features throughout the site on every page - stick to a horizontal menu at the top and a vertical menu on the left - this way once a customer gets to your site, they don't have to hunt just to find the menu - keep things simple.

Have a look here (http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=34654) and here (http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=34663) - I think they will help you alot with using different sized images which cause your layout to appear messy as you described.

Get the basics done, then you can worry about the fine details later. Though the topic which Darren mentioned is also an urgent matter which you will need to look into sooner rather than later, as it is now required by law.

Grant, there are two things I love cut and paste code and great advice. I know for a fact that image code would save him hours of work. The only issue is that he/we work on v7.x and to be honest whilst there are a few things that later versions make easier e.g. the customisable t&c's section, mailshots (I think) being another. I've already written code to extract email addresses from the database and remove all the duplicates etc so I've got around that problem. I'm not sure the reasons are compelling enough to spend the extra money. It's not my decision so I'll have to pass it on again. Unless the people with experience who thought like MXBits but bit the bullet and did the transition can give me a set of bullets points as to why productivity, management of the site will increase then I doubt the money to upgrade will be spent especially in these times where less people are riding less frequently therefore turnover is lower. It's the 80 > 20 rule if you get my meaning.

I guess I could download the trial version do the upgrade and then start playing around to see the improvements.

re: the menus at the top and the left. I'm assuming you mean the 3 buttons that appear on the shop page that aren't there on the front page and the 1st level section headings as well. I did speak to him about those especially the left menu. It's almost getting to the point where he could almost do with losing the front page but that page is so useful to advertise new stuff with out messing the front page of the catalogue up all the time. I'd like to give the sliding windows style menu a try but he's not sure. Maybe I'll do it on the backup pc and see what happens. I think with the way the sub-sections are split down and the fact you can go 5 levels down before you even get to a product the sliding menus would be a way of speeding things up.

Man there's so much to think about and I don't even get paid for this. LOL

It's interesting that none of you have mentioned something that's been driving me nuts about the top main logo. Internet explorer interprets that section differently to Firefox. One has one white outline and the other has two. I don't know which browser is at fault but I'm guessing it's IE. If I remember correctly IE inserted the bottom white line. All I did was add the same dimension white line into the jpg to make it look the same. That was before I realised Firefox didn't. Oh well. The stats show 98% of the users on MXBits use IE (more fool them) so I guess for the majority it looks symmetrical. It bugs the hell out of me being a techie and a perfectionist as well.

[leehack]

PCI-DSS????? Sorry you're gonna have to explain that or provide me with a link so that I can read about it.
This forum and the web have stacks of info on this, use the forum search to see all threads on it. It started in April last year, so you are 10 months late already.

[acompton]

PCI-DSS????? Sorry you're gonna have to explain that or provide me with a link so that I can read about it.
There's a sticky thread in the e-commerce business section
http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=34718

[madboyo]

There's a sticky thread in the e-commerce business section
http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=34718

Oh how I love you guys :p

The PDI-DSS is unreal. One one hand you can do all your online banking using 128bit ssl connections but it isn't secure enough for online payments??????? I know that isn't the only issue as holding data and making sure you have controlled access to it outside of Windows based security is also another.


http://www.actinic.co.uk/services/pci-dss.htm

According to this "For the majority of small businesses, achieving compliance will probably not be practical or cost-effective."

"Alternatively, you can have your customers and staff enter card details only into sites and systems supplied by a third party who are themselves PCI DSS compliant."

Great so the banks basically give small or startup businesses no chance of being PCI-DSS compliant unless they go to a PSP due to costs.

Even if you adopt PSP and therefore become compliant any employee is allowed to enter payment details for the customer over the phone. What stops staff from writing them down on pieces of paper? How many small one-man businesses shred there waste paper or have it securely disposed of?

Wheres the mention of how secure you communications are i.e. cordless phones, mobiles, bluetooth devices, VOIP etc etc etc? All of those devices have security risks some more than others.

All this from asking about SEO LOL.


So he/we are trying to work out whether to go Actinic Express and Payments or to go with the latest version of Actinic, possible Actinic cover and or Actinic Payments. What happens to our existing site? Does it need to be compliant still? Obviously we will drop the current shared cert being used now.

I still fail to understand how businesses who wish to only charge customers at the point of dispatch can easily use a PCI-DSS compliant service which allows customers to input details beofre they need to be charged.

He/we are talking to Streamline about how our current payment system complies given this quotation from Actinic's own site "Royal Bank of Scotland/Natwest/Streamline and HBOS have made clear statements that a merchant can depend on the compliance of their PSP.

Act Express sound like it may be ok with added benefits of hosting, support and software upgrades all rolled in to 1 monthly payment but I have the following reservations.

I think contact with Actinic will be made to see if they have migration tools available to help you assess if Express is the correct product based on you site.

I'm also concerned on how flexible the product will be given we have written/copied code to allow single product pages such as http://www.mxbits.com/acatalog/Honda_Renthal_Sprockets.html and as you have seen modified menus. We have also substituted flat buttons with gradient buttons using custom made gif's because of the lack of expertise surrounding CSS and implementing into Actinic. Basically the supplied templates only had the basics of how MXBits wanted to portray itself. Now if Express doesn't contain that level of customisation or allow us to insert code to allow us to make it look how it needs to then Express is not the product for MXBits. It also looks like it does not have the email infrastructure built into it the our current hosting does to service the mailboxes we run either. On the other hand having the all in one cost allows MXBit's to reduce it's current outlay.