Can I just upload buy buttons to my existing site?

[Acorn1]

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question. I already have a website and wish to add some sort of shopping cart system, with add to cart buttons.

After searching FAQ I get the impression that I have to use ready made page templates to display my products on etc. This would obviously completely change the look of my site.

I was hoping to be able to just add, buy now buttons to my existing pages and have them direct products to the cart which in turn can be used in conjuction with paypal standard payments.

I have never set up an online payment system before so I am a complete novice. Any advice is much appreciated.

Regards
Acorn1

[JHouse]

You can use the buttons provided by Zen Cart, or you can create and subsequently upload your own. You can also create your own template if you want as opposed to using the stock one. There is a FAQ for this too.

Good luck!

[Acorn1]

I'm not sure if you have misunderstood my question.

Are you saying that I can just add zencarts buy buttons to my existing website without using zencarts own website templates.

Thanks for your help on this matter.

Regards
Acorn1

[JHouse]

Oh, I guess I did misread it. My bad.

Regarding this:

"I was hoping to be able to just add, buy now buttons to my existing pages and have them direct products to the cart which in turn can be used in conjuction with paypal standard payments."

You can add Zen Cart's buy now buttons to your existing pages, however, then it's going to take the user to the shopping cart. Which, like you said, is using a different template other than yours. These buttons need to point to the shopping cart in order for the shopping cart to actually work.

"After searching FAQ I get the impression that I have to use ready made page templates to display my products on etc. This would obviously completely change the look of my site."

Yes, you have to use one of the ready made templates, or you can create your own. So yeah, you can take your existing design and make it a template. Here's a tutorial on the subject:

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?article=142

Hopefully that answered your q.

Peace.

[Acorn1]

Yes that's very helpful, thank you. I will have a good look at the tutorial link you posted.

It sounds like just what I need, the button will point to a cart template which I can either modify to give it the same look as the rest of my site, or I can make a completely new template which matches the look of the rest of the site.

Regards
Acorn1

[fairestcape]

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question. I already have a website and wish to add some sort of shopping cart system, with add to cart buttons.

Zencart is designed to be a COMPLETE system, so it becomes your full website. The "front end" dovetails in many complex ways with the "back end", so having "buttons" on your existing site as you indicate, is a pointless quest (unless you just go for PayPal's easy button system which is now regarded by most online shoppers as archaic and indicative of the site being a "garden shed" operation.)

ZC will give you a slick, sophisticated and professional image, so even if you are in reality a "garden shed" outfit, you'll look like a corporate conglomerate!

In general, it is possible to configure zencart's template(s) to match the general style and appearance of an existing HTML site.

But your current site won't "interface" with ZC. Your complete site must be ALL ZC.

ZC has one of the more reliable PayPal gateway interfaces, so your existing PayPal set up is very easy to configure for a ZC site.

[Acorn1]

The main reason I want to use my own site is because it is well established, well designed, highly optimised and therefore has a high ranking on search engines for most of the key phrases and words.

I fear that if I change the site too much I may loose that high ranking which took me a long time to achieve.

Regards
Acorn1

[fairestcape]

You could start by installing zencart in a SUB-DIRECTORY of your main site, then having a link on the main page (and probably all your existing HTML product pages) to the shop and various products.

This is an approach I have used in the past, and have managed to get ZC sites well indexed by search engines within a few weeks.

ZC is already very SE friendly, and there are some good additional modules that help with SEO efforts.

As your zencart section starts to get featured on search engines more and more, you could look at a point of time in the future where you delete your current HTML site.

As I said, of all shopping cart software now available, ZC is capable of replicating the aesthetics of most websites. You are limited only by your skill level, and your imagination!

[JHouse]

Yep, what fairestcape said. He hit the nail on the head.

[Acorn1]

Your advice is very helpful. I think putting the zc pages in a sub directory linked to my existing site will be a great idea.

I think as you say I would have to go totally zc and delete my current site eventually. It's a case of having to move with the times.

I'm still only at the beginning of this thing as I am trying to find out how to check I have the right permissions set up on mysql. Ive seen a tutorial in the FAQ but I still can't find where I can set the permissions.

I've emailed the hosting company for help, hopefully they will reply tomorrow.

I have a feeling, I will have a lot more questions before I get my zc site set up so I will probably be a regular on this forum for quite some time.

Thanks again for everyones help.

Acorn1