Me again y'all,

After searching a gazillion posts I could not find the one that Northie commented on that implied that one page should be created and optimized for each product on a website.  I finally gave up. So...if you're out there Northie...please comment again.

My first thought was...NO WAY!!!  I offer somewhere between 210 and 230 products so that would mean creating 230 individual pages.  Granted, they all could be based on a common template but then to optimize each page so it was specific for the unique features of the product would take some real work to say the least.

Currently, I am still using StoresOnLine for my web host so what I've done is create a common product feature page that I think draws the specific product info (.jpg, description, prices, etc.) from a database which has a record in it for each product.  At least that's the way I think it does it.  And...this is exactly what I thought about doing when I get around to building my website and cutting the ol' StoresOnLine apron strings.  I was going to start out with OS Commerce for this purpose.

So...let's hear it gang.  What's the general consensus here??

GP

GP Michal wrote:

would take some real work to say the least.

not that easy this internet thing is it eh?

Northie is right...but that is the ideal situation because if you think about it...let's say you sell computers for example...well i may do a search for a particular model and it is in your best interest to have a sperate page deidacted to that model (for example i may type "toshiba satelite P4592w" in google)

with that many products as you mention it will take a lot of time though...so what you may want to do first is group some together and optimize those pages...so instead of having a page for each model you may have a group called "Toshiba Satelite Laptops"  instead with all that fall in that group there

the downside to that is that the braoder the category is of your pages, usually the more competition for it there is, hence you will have to do more work to compete...so while creating individual pages may take a while in the begining...there won't be as much competition for "toshiba satelite P4592w" then there will be for "Toshiba Satelite Laptops"  which means you won't have to do as much other work to get placed highly

Ha ha! We meet again!
Ok, for starters I freakin HATE managed solutions as they tend not to be very adaptable. If you are in a market with little in the way of competition (uber-niche) then sure… but if there is competition, they don’t tend to cut it from an SEO perspective and I dare say, a conversions perspective as well

I greatly prefer (and have worked with) cart systems like OsCommerce to a certain degree as they are more controllable. They also would automatically create the drill down pages to an individual product page. This also generally can create nice URLs that can also be used in targeting.
That being said, from both a SEO and conversions point of view, I like to use a CMS (content management system) in concert with it for marketing purposes. Most cart applications aren’t flexible enough to adapt to changing marketing plans, nor make a good ‘target page’ for SEO activities.

You wouldn’t want to ‘target’ every product U have. You would do the basics of SEO on those pages and only aggressively target products that are more profitable/popular. We also use the target page to go after the money terms in a market… ie; ‘buy flowers’ or ‘buy flowers online’ instead of targeting the page about ‘roses’  …. Get them to the site and then get them around to the various products. We can’t ‘get them to the site’ many times because there is nothing but a cart… which s bad for search engines and bad for end users in many ways….

So, I like a stand-alone cart and a stand alone CMS …. Then again, I like to use snalytics packages that are installed locally… I don’t use any managed services… not even Google Data Gathering Tools… erm.. uh… I mean Google Webmaster Tools… he he


Ok… my drink is empty… gotta get a refresher.. I will let U get back on that so far….

Not to brag........................

2845392 Products on 1 of my sites.
Each with own product page and 587 separate category pages

Took me ages to hard code all those pages

Never get them all in a search engine, mind  you all cat pages are in all SE's + about 5000 prod pages in each

I like Gy's approach of targetting the best sellers, now products that people will really search for
That said there are applications out there that allow you to easily to basic page optimisation for each product.

You don't have THAT many

I think a lot depends on the product itself. Few of our product pages make it out of the supplemental index in google unless they are rich in unique and compelling content. Unless you are able to wirte 200+ word descriptions for a product which are totally different from any other description on the site then its best to either group 4 to 10 products on the same url. If the product is over £100 then maybe it deserves its own URL however for a £5 product probably its more cost efficient and SEO friendly to lump it with similarly priced products on the same URL.
Repeating blocks of the same text throughout product pages e.g. "comes with free delivery and box etc "will lead to duplicate content issues. I think its better to create a seperate URL for issues such as delivery and then link to that page where neccessary.
Once you create a seperate page/url for each product its not easy to turn back. If that product becomes obsolete in 5 years time you then have to think about what to do with the URL/page and all the inbound links that page inherited.

Wow...so many responses.  Most of them very similar but unique none the less.  You guys are SUPER!

I think it would behoove y'all to know what products I'm offering. The main product is many types and styles of picnic baskets.  I do offer other related products as well.  Every basket has it's own name and some of them are publicy known by their name. (not many though...only a few) i.e. I actually have found some of the names showing up as search terms in the many keyword development tools out there.

Becasue most of them are not known publicy, I can see grouping them together in categories for sure.  i.e. picnic baskets for 2, english style baskets, wine totes, etc.  and this is exactly what I have done.  The only thing I haven't done is created a single page for any particular item.   After reading your comments it looks like I need to get busy and start creating some unique product pages for some of them at least.

GP

matte wrote:

I like Gy's approach of targetting the best sellers, now products that people will really search for
That said there are applications out there that allow you to easily to basic page optimisation for each product.

You don't have THAT many

Just to note that when I say TARGET ... I am generally talking about link building to that page. I would still do the 'basic' SEO on every page, I simply wouldn't go heavy on internal linking and back link building on pages that aren't really going to perform as well.

GP Michal wrote:

Becasue most of them are not known publicy, I can see grouping them together in categories for sure.  i.e. picnic baskets for 2, english style baskets, wine totes, etc.  and this is exactly what I have done.

Have you done any keyword research here Michal to see what people are actually looking for within the picnic basket industry?

Nic,

Yes.  When I optimize a particular page I do extensive keyword research to ensure that I am targeting the best options.  I try to choose a keyword or phrase option that has a good balance between popularity and ROI with the least amount of competition.  The balance is tough to come up with at times but I know that its VERY important.
GP

Look like you're on your way to building a great site Michal- putting a lot of thought into it- great to see soemone really applying themselves and making sure they have the right blueprints before spending too much time on constructions...good on you

GP Michal wrote:

Nic,

Yes.  When I optimize a particular page I do extensive keyword research to ensure that I am targeting the best options.  I try to choose a keyword or phrase option that has a good balance between popularity and ROI with the least amount of competition.  The balance is tough to come up with at times but I know that its VERY important.
GP

Did you read the article on Keyword research??? Partially inspired from our last chat  :0)

Nic wrote:

Look like you're on your way to building a great site Michal- putting a lot of thought into it- great to see soemone really applying themselves and making sure they have the right blueprints before spending too much time on constructions...good on you

Yeah, I think there is lots of hope for him.....the only thing he could have done better so far.. is HIRE ME .... bwaaaa ha ha ha ha....  outside of that... he's doin great

Whoaaaa...Gypsy...great looking article!   No, I haven't read it yet...but I will be sure to.  I have been struggling as of late deciding on which tools I should use for my KW research.  It looks like your recent article will  help in that effort.  I purchased a 30-day stint from Word Tracker and I really liked it.  NicheBot looks good as well.  I'm just not sure about the price yet.  I know you say that it's best to use a good variety of tools in order to get a good, all-around perspective but GAWWWDDD...that could be expensive, no?

Thanks for the compliments on my effors and the support, guys...

GP

I is here

It's called a database

1 page, 1 template, different query string = many different URLs each for a different product

If you want to hand code 230 different pages....be my guest....but PHP + MySQL will do it a hell of a lot faster

And yes, you really should have a unique URL for each product you sell; even if you group them into category pages at a higher level.

I'm still on holiday so I really cannot be arsed with giving a full answer right now - just go and learn how to make a database driven website; if you learnt how to hand code HTML then you can learn to code some basic PHP without much difficulty, just look at the php manual! - http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.m … -array.php

Thanks, Northie,

I hope you're enjoying your Holiday.

OK...Yes, I do know how to code HTML and CSS and have been looking into PHP.  I downloaded a complete packge (Universal Server) that has Apahce, PHP and MySQL in it just for testing my trials and tribulations.

So, I guess what I'm hearing from you is that by using PHP/MySQL I'll be able to create an HTML template page that will not only show my individual product details, i.e. jpg, description, cost, etc. in the <body>, but I'll also be able to have the PHP change the META (title, description, keywords, etc.) in the <head> section as well when the template is populated with the changing product info?  If I can do this with PHP/MySQL, then I can see how one can truly optimize each product dispaly session in an unique way when that particular product's info populates the template.

Did I make any sense??

GP

GP Michal wrote:

Thanks, Northie,

I hope you're enjoying your Holiday.

OK...Yes, I do know how to code HTML and CSS and have been looking into PHP.  I downloaded a complete packge (Universal Server) that has Apahce, PHP and MySQL in it just for testing my trials and tribulations.

So, I guess what I'm hearing from you is that by using PHP/MySQL I'll be able to create an HTML template page that will not only show my individual product details, i.e. jpg, description, cost, etc. in the <body>, but I'll also be able to have the PHP change the META (title, description, keywords, etc.) in the <head> section as well when the template is populated with the changing product info?  If I can do this with PHP/MySQL, then I can see how one can truly optimize each product dispaly session in an unique way when that particular product's info populates the template.

Did I make any sense??

GP

Yes, GP, using PHP and MySQL you can change anything inside the HTML. That means, <head>, <title>, <body>, etc.

It's actually quite easy to do and doesn't take a long time to learn. W3Schools is a great place to learn - as is PHP.net

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the info.  So...let's take an example just to make sure I understand what's possible and what's not.

Let's say someone is browsing one of my category pages and decides to look for more detail for product A.  When he clicks on the link he is taken to a product detail page which is actually a template that populates from data stored in the MySQL database.  Somewhere in the HTML for this template is PHP instruction that instructs the browser to look in the MySQL database in the Product A record for data that populates the following:

1.  Meta Title in <head> section
2. Meta Description in the <head> section
3. Meta keywords in the <head> section
4. <h1> in the <body>
5. <p> detail in the <body> for an unique description
6. <img> instruction to see the related .jpg for Product A
7. price data for Product A
etc, etc, etc....

And when the customer clicks on a different product link, Product B, all of the above populates the template with data found in the Product B record stored in MySQL.

Is that how it works??

What Mark Said!

Sorry for a snap-remark the other day - trying to fit back in after a week in the middle of no-where!

No prob at all Norhie.  It wasn't taken as a "snap" at all.  Any input from you is always appreciated!

You got it GP! Honestly, its not hard once you know the commands and how to code it.

If you have any questions, please let me know (or post it here - there's alot of brain-power floating around!).

Welcome to the world of PHP and MySQL!