# General Business Category > Business Online Forum >  Crit Time: Our First Major E-commerce Site

## Mark Atkinson

So last month we designed and developed our first really major e-commerce website. We've designed plenty online stores before, but none of this magnitude. 

This site took an absolute age to get just right. It is probably the first major site in the country to offer online financing for the purchase of its products. To get this right we had to put together a 15 page online credit application form and integrate that with the e-commerce system. Hundreds of conditional fields, calculation fields, upload fields and a what feels like a million bugs later, we finally managed to get it all working.

We also coded a collection plugin which allows customers to choose a depot from which to collect their goods from, should they not want it delivered.

Would love it if I could get some feedback on the website. The website address is: https://bfore.co.za

We also manage BFore's SEO, PPC and social media campaigns. 

Some extra notes on the site on the performance of the site thus far:

Two months after production, we're seeing around 2,000 unique visitors per month.The Facebook page has grown to 1,300 fans as a result of the competition and ad campaign we're running. We expect this to drop off a bit after the competition, but because we plan to run competitions almost every month, this should be somewhat negated.On average, Facebook posts are reaching 35-40% of the fan base. Compared to norms of 8-17%, that's phenomenal.50% of all traffic is coming from search.Conversion was a bit of a problem due to the nature of the store's offerings. For this reason we are continuously split testing and making conversion tweaks to the site. For example, the visual content you see on the home page was almost all text-based before.  We changed it to images/diagrams to help visitors to more easily understand BFore's cellphone contracts and financing.We are about to add a one-page checkout system to help increase conversion even further.Another thing on the list is social sharing buttons on each of the product pages.

If anybody wants to take a look at the Facebook page, it's facebook.com/bforeSA - Enter the iPhone comp while you're at it. Ends Friday.  :Smile: 

I'd just like some feedback on the general appeal of the site, user-friendliness and and anything else odd that you may be able to spot.

Oh, we also did a total rebrand of BFore, logo and stationery included.  :Smile:

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## adrianh

I've managed to crash the site twice. It seems that it gets confused when I change menu options too fast. Other than that the site is really nice.

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Mark Atkinson (27-Jun-12)

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## adrianh

I can replicate it. I click "Collection Information" and while its loading click "Products" - doing this kills the IE session. I'll see if it does the same on Firefox

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## Mark Atkinson

> I've managed to crash the site twice. It seems that it gets confused when I change menu options too fast. Other than that the site is really nice.


Really? Haven't encountered that one before. What browser are you using, Adrian?

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## adrianh

Firefox is fine. Its not "Collection Information" it is "Collection Addresses"

I played with it on IE again. If I switch from any menu to any menu while its loading the menu option it takes the IE session down.

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## Mark Atkinson

I tried to replicate the error in my IE. I couldn't get it right. 

May be something to do with the fact that some of the form code has to load last to avoid the drop down conflicting with other parts of the site. 

Thanks for the heads up though.  :Smile:

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## adrianh

I can crash it over and over again. Go to Collection Addresses and while it is loading the maps hit Products.

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## Petrichor

> I can crash it over and over again. Go to Collection Addresses and while it is loading the maps hit Products.


For what it is worth... I tried simulating what Adrianh experiences, but if works without any hitches on my side. I am on IE8

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Mark Atkinson (27-Jun-12)

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## Mark Atkinson

For what it's worth, I think IE should be banned for all eternity.  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## adrianh

I tried it on 3 browsers on the tablet and they're all fine. Yea, IE should get banned...

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Mark Atkinson (27-Jun-12)

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## Rod

> For what it's worth, I think IE should be banned for all eternity.


The only thing IE is good for is downloading a new browser

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## Pap_sak

Nice site mark.

on one of the banners

launch specials : click for*e* more specials

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Mark Atkinson (28-Jun-12)

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## IMHO

I am impressed.

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Mark Atkinson (28-Jun-12)

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## Mark Atkinson

> on one of the banners
> 
> launch specials : click for*e* more specials


Wow, the site has been up for two months and you're the only person who has noticed that. Thanks, Pap_sak. That's what happens when you type "BFore" too many times.  :Wink: 

You should see me trying to type "before" these days!  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Mike C

Hi Mark - Very nice site!  Loads quickly and is pleasing to the eye - striking without being too busy!

I wasn't able to replicate the crash on IE but it loads faster on Firefox.

Well done - and here's wishing you lots of success.

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Mark Atkinson (28-Jun-12)

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## Mark Atkinson

Thanks so much, Mike. 

I'm particularly glad you commented on the load time. That's something we worked really hard on. 

Everything loads faster on Firefox/Chrome.  :Wink:

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## vieome

Great Site, often sites trying to sell product are just too busy with content, banners in the wrong places, video etc, but your site is great. 

You say 50% of all traffic is coming from search what key words do you think people are using to find the site. 

In google for bfore I notice it does not bring up the facebook page for the site, as per discussion the the google using more social network sites in rankings thread This thread not that is has too, but wondered if that was something you could exploit. 

Pushing it here...
Also in terms of SEO optomization is it moral or legal to hijack say a viral video on you tube, meaning you post some one else viral video and put a link to the site ?

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Mark Atkinson (28-Jun-12)

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## Mark Atkinson

> Great Site, often sites trying to sell product are just too busy with content, banners in the wrong places, video etc, but your site is great.


Thanks, vieome.




> You say 50% of all traffic is coming from search what key words do you think people are using to find the site.


Long tail keywords mainly. Specific product names. This is exactly how we would expect  a site of this nature to start out.




> In google for bfore I notice it does not bring up the facebook page for the site, as per discussion the the google using more social network sites in rankings thread This thread not that is has too, but wondered if that was something you could exploit.


I'm not really concerned about it not showing up in the rankings. The page is indexed, though. In any event, Google will be picking up on the social signals, as it is the links that people paste on their own pages that are the ones that are likely highly valued. 

Social strategy is a big part of the whole Internet marketing strategy that we've got going on for BFore, so we've made sure that the page is easily shared. 




> Pushing it here...
> Also in terms of SEO optomization is it moral or legal to hijack say a viral video on you tube, meaning you post some one else viral video and put a link to the site ?


Definitely neither moral nor legal. Your Youtube account will be locked as soon as the owner of the video, and subsequently Youtube, figures out you've taken it.

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## dfsa

Welldone Mark, It looks brilliant, clean, fast loading, nice open spaces, easy to navigate. PP, T&C are clear easy to read. SSL is good and active.

If you want I can go through the online Credit App and check everything. Will just put fake info, but mainly go through all aspects. Let me know.

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## Mark Atkinson

Thanks dfsa.

Don't worry about testing the loan form, I had one of my employees fill it in every day for about a week.  :Devil2:  Because there are so many things that could go wrong, it had to be completed literally hundreds of times, testing each calculation, condition, etc. Strangely enough we're still having a problem with the file size of the uploads, but it seems that has to do with the hosting company. Hopefully that will be fixed soon, but otherwise it's all good.

That form was a total nightmare, though. Completely underestimated and undercharged the job.  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Dave A

Looks good!

I did notice one small thing though:



That highlighted bit is part of your header image - which links to the homepage.

Having the header image link to the home page is perfectly normal. However, I had thought the Cellphone contracts | Laptops | _et al_ would be clickable links to categories and found clicking on them and keeping on getting the home page a little... disturbing. (Please pardon me, but old school web page design means this particular style of presenting text links is deeply ingrained in my psyche).

Once I'd figured out what was going on, I did regain my equilibrium  :Smile:  but I think it would be a good idea to turn those "not links" into category buttons. I doubt I'll be the only one that'll be foxed - and it introduces some useful functionality in a prime location.

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Mark Atkinson (29-Jun-12)

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## Mark Atkinson

Thanks Dave.

I think that's a good enough suggestion. Going to work on getting that done. 

Initially those words weren't there at all - we added them simply to let visitors know at a glance what it is that BFore sells.  I don't think we anticipated people actually trying to click on them. I can see how easily it could happen though.  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Arramack

Hi Mark,

The site looks good. My only beef is with the logo.

1) The exact same thing that Dave did, I did as well. I also tried to click on those "links".

2) I don't like that your logo is mirrored to the left. The first time I opened your website (even after reading your name as bfore.com), I struggled to read that logo. It really hurt my brain, so I just ignored it and continued on with the rest of the site.

I'm not sure if I am alone on this, but if more people feel this way it will probably lead to less people remembering the name, Bfore. Maybe make the left side of the logo (the inverted part), a little bit more transparent. I don't know if that will look bad.

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## IMHO

For what it is worth, I liked the logo again. Different and make you pause to see what is going on, but only for a second, then you can carry on. So, a good thing in my book, as you are forced to look at the logo.

One crit. My first impression is that they sell cellphone contracts. If I was not compelled to look at the site via this thread, I would just have left, as I am locked in with Vodacom. (Where is the vomit icon).

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Mark Atkinson (03-Jul-12)

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## Mark Atkinson

Thanks, IMHO.

The logo is a combination of our initial concepts and the owner's own direction given. So there's not *too* much that can be done in this instance. The mirrored "B" is used as the symbol for Bfore throughout all its marketing efforts. I think it's easy enough to recognise.  :Smile: 

Also, if that was your first impression them I am more than happy - because that's exactly what the focal point is supposed to be. They sell cellphone contracts. They sell them mainly to people who can't get contracts through the cellular providers due to their stringent requirements. They make it affordable by facilitating the financing of the phones, so your monthly payments end up at a similar point (sometimes slightly inflated) to those when going directly through MTN.

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## Dave A

> 1) The exact same thing that Dave did, I did as well. I also tried to click on those "links".


Phew! I'm not alone on that one  :Smile:

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## Mark Atkinson

> Phew! I'm not alone on that one


Fear not - it's on our to-do list!  :Wink:

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