I started working on a store for our gallery in January, and finally have it to the point where either I'm satisfied or my technical expertise has hit a wall. I used CRE Loaded standard. I have no PHP skills, limited web design skills.
We've had no sales yet, but several accounts created. Likely that's due to the fact we currently have shared SSL (dedicated is on the way in a few days).
http://www.lbvgallery.com/shop/
So far I've installed & done the following:
-added 250 products that are best-sellers from our store + interesting things that generally aren't available elsewhere on the 'net
-took pretty photos, optimized them
-wrote interesting product descriptions including lots of measurements
-Chemo's SEO URLs
-dynamic Sitemap
-Google Sitemap (and submitted to Google)
-submitted google base feed
-gzip + mod to compress blank space
-have meta tags + meta descrip for each product
-made an RSS feed and submitted to some directories
-made a widget with the RSS feed
-submitted to ~400 directories from the Vilesilencer list
-submitted to all search engines
-added GiftWrap module
-accept PayPal
-accept checks/m.o./giftcards/store pickups
-offer free shipping over $50, flat rate $4.20 for purchases under $50
-took d.o.b. & co. name out of registration
-changed the stock layout's colors and buttons to match our original site
Problems/Issues I'm aware of:
-no dedicated SSL (is coming in 1-2 days)
-checkout is LONG and looks slightly unprofessional
-currently accepting PayPal or CCs over the phone
-can only view 12 items @ a time
-a few products are lacking descriptions
-our shopping site is in a subdirectory (not sure how this affects things)
-haven't installed an auto-thumbnailer
Good things:
-googleBot *loves* us.
-# of visitors has been rising steadily
What else can I do on an incredibly limited budget? I'd love to change the template and integrate the shopping site with our custom-designed website, but I don't have the skillz nor the budget to pay someone to do so. I think that even though we've used the stock template it looks o.k. after all of the mods I've made.
And do we not have enough products?
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