Viewing Thread:
"something wrong with our website?"

Hello if anyone is out there... we run an online shop using freeola to host it, as we have done for over 10 years now, but we seem to be having some issues, don't know what is happening but we are still getting quite a lot of people looking (never enough, but should be enough to get some trade!!), and sales are suffering. I can't seem to find what the problem is, but it seems that something is wrong somewhere. We never used to have any issues, but lately it all seems a bit strange.. I did read that there was problems with "packet loss" on some servers and some customers not being able to view some websites, anyone know about this?
Thanks in advance!

davidb wrote:
to be honest no I hadn't thought of asking freeola.. I didn't realise they did ecommerce sites?

Hi David,

Our Web Designers have produced some outstanding work including eCommerce sites that are major advantages for businesses. If you'd like a quote please do request one here .

Please keep in mind that the bank holiday weekend may result in a longer lead time for your quote but they will get back to you!

to be honest no I hadn't thought of asking freeola.. I didn't realise they did ecommerce sites?

Morning davidb ...

re: web site design have you thought about asking Freeola?
Try web design here

yes thanks,
That's it though really, it doesn't really show much difference, apart from the last few days/week , when it has gone a bit strange, people spending lots less time on the site and orders drying up a bit, thanks for the advice though, much appreciated.. we have tried to get the site re-done on several occasions, but have chosen the wrong people to do it for us and they have been less than professional to say the least, hence the old site still being there when it should have been modernised 2 years ago!! 3 times bitten, now don't know who to trust to do it for us!! It seems that either we have been extremely unlucky, or there are an awful lot of people/companies making websites that are talking out of the wrong places!! They all make loads of brochure sites, but an online shop seems to pose a huge problem.
Sorry for the rant but it has all been a bit annoying!!
thanks again

No problem.

Don't forget Google analytics may help you to see if there is a problem. The reports should also show you when your traffic changed.


[s]Hmmm...[/s]

Hello again hmmm, we currently use a company that changed the way it processes orders so that it goes through santu(part of their company) before going to worldpay, it has been like this for a while though, a couple of years, but I have noticed the flash issue too, part of the software we use also unfortunately uses flash, as it is a few yeas old, something we have tried to change on the shop template but cannot seem to do at the moment. Thanks very much for the help and advice, hopefully we will be able to sort these issues out soon. (they have been there for longer than the sudden sales drop, so still a bity of a mystery, but thanks anyway!)

Just a couple of things I noticed in case they help...

Your header image uses Flash, so on many devices where Flash isn't available these days visitors will just see a broken/empty section. I would change this to something non-Flash so everyone can view it.

Also, your checkout takes you to an SSL via 'santu' before reaching WorldPay. I haven't heard of this service before so it would make me think. I appreciate not everyone is so fussy though :¬) It's a shame you don't send visitors directly to WorldPay which may encourage people to complete their order.

I see you are using Google Analytics - can you use these reports to see where your visitors are leaving the site which may help to show where a problem is?

[s]Hmmm...[/s]

thanks, I did see the message on freeola, as it was slower than usual that day last week, that's why I asked..
How do I get to see the errors? I have been checking everything all the time and its driving me crazy, I cant see anything that has changed, that's why I just thought I would ask if anyone else has noticed anything, trouble is not many actually people hosted with freeola seem to ever visit the forum ?
thanks

The issue with accessing the VIP servers was due to the widely reported problem with internet routing and some network providers having problem with their aging equipment not coping with 512k advertised routes being exceeded. It didn't affect us as such, just access to the network VIP is on from some providers, due to them not holding all the correct routes. We mostly had reports from people on 2 major ISPs as well as several transit providers.

As to why you site is getting quieter I'm not sure I can offer much advice on that. There have been no changes to the VIP platform that would cause this as far as I know. Might be worth checking things like the error log in your web root to see if something is causing some visitors to see problems with your site. I'm not aware of other customers reporting such a problem.

hello, its www.bellybar.co.uk , its on vip, the visitor stats are down a bit, unique visitors are down a little, but its summer holidays so not our busiest time, but the hits are down loads in relation to visitors, also, time on site is down a lot too.