Uploading your site .... when is the right time ?

[simonwar]

I have been developing my site for 6 months plus now and still have not selected an ISP or generated the HTML and FTP'd it ?

What am I waiting for !!!

Not sure, lots of you seem to have uploaded what you have and still working on it, even thought the site is not functioning fully.

Q. Is there a way of stopping people getting peeed off with a semi-functioning site, and yet still uploading and therefore learning lots of other teething issues on the way, and begin page ranking ?

S.

[pinbrook]

I would upload a robots.txt file whch tells spiders not to index the site. Search within this forum for more info on robots.txt.

Also turn off online ordering , if people do find the site they still won't be able to order. Place a message on the front page, maybe also incorporate another message into the header/footer within actinic to tell peope the site is not yet operational

then you can upload and test without the fear of too many visitors.

and whilst your site is online you can start to develop you r linking strategy etc

[chris ashdown]

Simon

You need to get picked up by the search engines ASAP as it can take months to get on some

Why not load up a simple site with a few products to start with and then modify it as you go

I dont see any point in delaying as your first few months are going to be very slow in sales anyway

What do you mean by "even thought the site is not functioning fully"

[simonwar]

Chris/Jo,

Thanks, i will get on with it ...

1) I need an ISP ?
2) I need a PSP ? (Can I do this later, as I am still developing and not selling or should I tie the ISP and PSP together?)
3) Search Engine (is this simply a submission/application to the particluar engine)
4) robots.txt

Web virgin, Simon.

What do you mean by "even thought the site is not functioning fully"

Ooops its a typo, I mean

What do you mean by "even though the site is not functioning fully"

i.e. half my products are on, some of the templates that I have tweaked are a bit unfinished, not how I want them... etc, etc ..

[Duncan Rounding]

1 - You will need a suitable Actinic compatible host for your shop - and an ISP for yourself (although presumably you have an ISP already)
2 - You can do it later but it can take some time to get all that done - start sooner than later (PSP and ISP are not interdependant)
3 - You can submit your site (once only) to the SEs and also submit a Google sitemap
4 - Unless you wish to exclude the SEs from something on your site (which is usually not the case) then you don't need one

[pinbrook]

Personally I would not launch the site that is not ready.

There's nothing to stop you creating half a dozen pages detailling what is to come, and build up excitment

but theres nothing more destroyng than have your first few customers arrive at an incomplete site and cause headaches for you.

Have an index page detailling the shop to come, about us, contact us and a couple of sample product pages (all keyword rich). Get these pages indexed and these will then pull in people when you launch the shop for real.

[jont]

When launching my latest site I did it in stages - got the basic products in and the layouts more-or-less as I wanted them and then published live. This allowed people to buy (if they found the site) and started the cumbersome and slow process of getting the spiders to crawl the site.

The additional products were then added in over the following weeks and template tweaks that only come to light whn you have lived with the design for a while. Adding new products all the time is liked by the search engines as new content plus you may as well be trying to make a sale if possible.

I guess it all depends on how close to a finished site you are in terms of product numbers and templates etc

[simonwar]

Good stuff, I need to get an index page sorted for sure.... spent too much time on sections and products and should have got an index up.

I'm on it, well if I ever get off this forum..... is it addictive or is it me... maybe I need to talk to people....losing it!!!!

Thanks, S.

P.S. Its just dawned on me that I can "Hide In Website" all my dodgy, (unfinished) pages.... is that a good idea ?

[pinbrook]

P.S. Its just dawned on me that I can "Hide In Website" all my dodgy, (unfinished) pages.... is that a good idea ?

Very good idea...

[chabrenas]

1 - You will need a suitable Actinic compatible host for your shop

Which means, as far as I can see, one with CGI (for storing and executing the shopping cart code) and SSL (for encrypted transfer of confidential info such as credit card details). Have I forgotten anything?

The point is that most hosting services offer an entry-level subscription which does not provide the above. You should expect to pay around 20 dollars a month, not 10.

[pinbrook]

CGI (for storing and executing the shopping cart code)

also the ability to change permissions

SSL (for encrypted transfer of confidential info such as credit card details)

only if you are going to download CC detail to your PC for manual processing rther than using the online processing of CC provided by many PSP


other things to look for

Tech support who know about Actinic
Servers that are not overloaded