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Wordpress vs. ZenCart for eCommerce site?

by bgg87
4 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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Is an "all ZenCart" website going to be as user-friendly (and SEO friendly) as Wordpress or a Wordpress/ZenCart combination?

I am setting up an ecommerce site for selling products (real products...not ebooks or info), and I have discovered that while Wordpress is my preferred platform for managing a website (and I understand the search engines prefer it as well) I am told by my programmer that WP ecommerce plugin does not allow some functions I want including having a personal account login for returning customers and reorders, as well as different choice of sizes of products.

This programmer insists that we set up the entire site using ZenCart. However, when I asked whether Zencart was easy to add or delete web pages he replied: "it is easy to edit or delete them but not easy to add new ones (possible, but not easy.....)".

I also had another programmer bid on this who said they would use Wordpress for the webdesign and management but add ZenCart for the shopping cart applications.

Any suggestions?

Our site will start with about 20 skus from the initial product line and then add more as we grow.

Thanks!
#ecommerce #ecommerce website #site #wordpress #zencart
  • Profile picture of the author Richard Whyte
    Option 2 sounds about right...

    Use Wordpress for pages and blogs and have a link to your Shopping cart. This is fairly standard practice and as long as you stick with the same look and feel in the Fonts and colors used, the two will blend in well together.

    Have a Great Day!
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  • Profile picture of the author Technista
    Originally Posted by bgg87 View Post

    This programmer insists that we set up the entire site using ZenCart. However, when I asked whether Zencart was easy to add or delete web pages he replied: "it is easy to edit or delete them but not easy to add new ones (possible, but not easy.....)".
    Actually, creating new pages in Zen Cart is very easy. Within the "Tools" menu is a page generator called "E-Z Pages". It has a WYSIWYG editor which makes publishing a breeze.

    There are also several predefined, editable pages in Zen Cart (about us, contact us, site map, etc...) in the "Define Pages Editor" (also under the "Tools" menu). You can put any original content there that you like. The home page for the store and three blank pages are also managed within this editor.

    From SEO point of view, a drawback to ZC are the dynamically generated urls. I think there is a plug-in for this, but I haven't tried it.

    Have you considered playing around with a demo installation? Through Fantastico, you can install it in a subdirectory within minutes. Then you can see for yourself whether or not you think it can work as a singular solution for your needs.
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    Atlanta Website Design
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  • Profile picture of the author HomeComputerGames
    IF you are accepting credit card payments then you will want to go with zen-cart.
    There are functions for implementing merchant accounts which you will need.
    I would also not trust the security on wordpress plug-ins as wp constantly changes including many security issues.
    One thing to think about when using WP plug-ins is unless you go through the entire code you do not know what the developer may have included.Such as sending all transaction information to them.

    Zen-cart is also much more PCI compliant friendly. This is an area many get into trouble at. On some merchant accounts if you read the fine print you will find there can be large fines so you will want to insure you are compliant and have a security policy in place.
    More info: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/

    And as mentioned it is fairly easy to generate new pages with ZC.

    my 2 cents

    Ken
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    yes, I am....

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    • Profile picture of the author dbltoe
      I know it's an old thread, but I couldn't help but add that Zen Cart URLs are handled just fine by the search engines.

      As a matter of fact, trying to modify Zen Cart or any site for URL SEO leads to more problems than solutions.

      Google in their own words at tinyurlDOTcom/3g6nej
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