Question: My VPASP Site is Running Slowly - HELP!
My VPASP site is running slowly. I am using MS Access and my host says it is not down to them. What can I do?
Solution:
One of the most common causes for vpasp sites running slowly is that the "prodcategories" table is not properly indexed. By indexing relevant columns on that table you can sometimes speed your site (especially product-search aspects) 10-fold or more. It's surprising how something so minor can have such a positive/large effect. The prodcategories table is a matrix table that holds the cross-referenced list of products and categories (ie it records which products are in which categories) and it's potentially a very large table because of this matrix aspect. If you've got an access database, then you need to ensure that you set the following index options on these 2 prodcategories columns: 1) intcategoryid - indexed=yes(duplicates allowed) 2) intcatalogid - indexed=yes(duplicates allowed) To do that you will need to open your cart's .mdb (access database) file in access itself (as you can't add access indexes via sql statements) and set those options manually on the prodcategories' table's column definitions. If you're using a sqlserver database, then you need to do the same thing, except you'd use your host's web-based front-end to add 2 new indexes to the table, one new index on each of those columns, set to non-unique. There are various other options which can be done to help tune things, but those would just be looked at on a site-by-site basis; everyone will have a different setup/situation, so it's hard to have generic fixes for tuning. If you have a large number of records (especially in the prodcategories table or oitems table) then you should consider moving from access to sqlserver. Multiple concurrent visitors is another potential problem for access databases; if you have a large number of concurrent (simultaneous) visitors then you should definitely consider moving to sqlserver, as access was never really designed for more-than-one user (it was just bolted-on as an afterthought as time went on in the past)
Question: ODBC Error
I was installing one of your add ons my site is now showing Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80040e14'
(Microsoft)(ODBC SQL Server Driver)(SQL Server)'UCASE' is not a recognized built-in function name.
Solution:
[--- UPDATED: 4/27/2009 11:01:47 AM BY AGENT: adrian ---]
Change the relevant setting is in the byz_system_config.asp file
If you are using SQL Server then change the default ("ACCESS") - to "SQLSERVER" and it should be ok.
Question: Support and services charging
Please explain the basis for your charges.
Solution:
[--- UPDATED: 6/18/2009 7:22:41 AM BY AGENT: adrian ---]
From 1st May 2009 onwards we changed the way that we deal with all issues & requests to make our charging policies straightforward, administratively efficient and fair to all parties. We now ask customers and clients to pay a deposit on any work they need doing. Following on from some very bad experiences where we have been left with large bad debts, due to no fault of our own, we decided to implement a system of points which are paid for in advance of work starting.
In addition we also reviewed our support and installation policies because a small number of customers, were absorbing a large amount of time and resources unfairly (for example trying to get answers to complex integration questions/issues on heavily customized sites, expecting us to resolve unrelated issues etc) to the detriment of other customers.
We also decided to introduce differential points rates so that we could provide, installation services, emergency response, development and support when needed as priority.
We will, of course, provide installation / bug fix support for all our software. If you have a general/simple question, we'll do our best to answer it within 24 hours without you having to have a points credit. However, if it is an integration issue with, for example, your site's custom code and the issue starts to get complex and time consuming then you'll need you to buy some points to help us cover our costs.
If you have a points credit then things will be addressed as priority. If you don't have a points credit then the more complex questions will be addressed on an as/when/if time-allows basis and if it's too complex or involves code development or in-depth analysis then we won't be able to proceed further without a points credit.
Having a points balance ensures that you will receive priority attention and a quick turn around.
We will, of course, notify you at the first possible opportunity if we feel your request should be chargeable.
In the unlikely event that you are unhappy with the charges / services provided then we have a complaints resolution service, details of which are included in our terms of business which can be downloaded from here.
Here's a summary of responses/situations that we deal with:
We will provide software support, estimates, advice on upgrades etc. and we will try to respond to those as quickly as we can free of charge - usually within 24 hours during the working week.
Chargeable items are where you need to have a points credit before we can proceed, and if you have a points credit then (if appropriate) the time will be deducted from your points balance and the response will be quick. a) Complex Estimates (involving in-depth analysis) - if your request/situation is a complex one and you want a very detailed breakdown of the precise steps needed to fulfill your request, or needs us to delve heavily into the site before we can get an estimate, then this may be considered as analysis and therefore charged. b) BYZ Addon Support - for complex addon support (eg complex configuration, templates, integration etc) we consider that to be development rather than addon support and so will be charged via points. c) Analysis/Development - analysis can often be as time consuming (if not more sometimes) than implementing the solution and if a significant amount of analysis is required we will need to charge for the time involved. d) Hands on support / consulting - often done via skype chat windows, where we talk to you and explain how a given addon or customisation can be used/configured etc.
For reasons of problem management we can only respond to support requests raised via our support system. Please do not email BYZ staff with support related issue as this may result in our response to your issue being delayed or mislaid and neither you or us wants that.
Question: Can you upgrade my addons for me automatically whenever new versions come along?
New versions of your addons come out quite often, and sometimes I need to do more than one "version-jump" at the same time for a given module. Also, if I've got quite a few addons I find it hard to work out how one addon effects the other.
Can you do all my byz upgrades for me automatically whenever new versions come along so that I'm always up to date and so that I don't need to worry about it?
Solution:
Yes; we now offer a service/option for this.
We can do installations or upgrades for you on an as-requested basis (you'd just get development points to cover the time), or we can keep the byz addons on your site up to date for you automatically.
For ad-hoc (as-requested) installations/upgrades, just contact us for an estimate.
For automated updates, all you need to do is contact us and tell us that you'd like us to keep your byz addons up to date for you, and we'll do the rest.
Generally speaking, the less version-jumps we need to do for a given module on your site, the quicker and easier the upgrade will be for us to do, so it usually saves time/money doing lots of separate single-version updates on a module rather than trying to jump several versions of the same module in one go, so usually having this automated-upgrade service will actually save you time/money.
Whenever we perform an addon upgrade on your site we'll make sure that any relevant existing addon configuration options or customisations are applied to the new files as appropriate, ie you won't lose your configuration options when we upgrade an addon; we don't simply upload the new/changed files, we do proper file comparisons on the relevant files to make sure we don't miss anything.
Also, if we're upgrading a module on your site immediately after a new version of that module has been released then the changes will still be fresh in our minds, which again makes the upgrade process a lot quicker/easier for us to do.
So, the sooner the upgrade is done, the quicker/easier/cheaper it'll usually be.
Here's how automated updates work:
1) You get points/subscription
You make sure you've got a minimum of 30 development points in your bigyellowkey.com account, and that you've got an active addon subscription (eg BYZ147).
2) You contact us
Contact us and tell us you want automated updates applied to your site, and you let us know your ftp server/userid/pwd and vpasp admin login url/userid/pwd/pwd2.
3) You're Added to our List
We'll put you on our list of sites/clients for automated updates for us to apply.
4) You get "New Version" emails
Whenever a new version of a module that you've got comes out, you'll still get the "My BYZ Updates" mailshot and/or the "All BYZ Updates" mailshot (if you've signed up for it/them on the bigyellowkey.com site).
5) We'll apply the update to your byk license key and to your site
Whenever a new version of a module that you've got comes out, we'll apply the upgrade to your site; we'll grab the upgrade for you on your bigyellowkey.com account and we'll physically upgrade your site to the new version, so you don't need to worry about getting the upgrade on the bigyellowkey.com site as we'll do that for you too.
6) We'll email you
After we've upgraded you, we'll email you to confirm that we've done an upgrade (and if you need more points/credit then we'll let you know). The details of the upgrade(s) made will be available for you to see via your "My Points" screen (click on the "Timesheet Entries" link at the top of that screen to see the individual details of each change).
Costs
£5 (plus vat if appropriate to your account) as a minimum fixed cost plus an extra estimated £5 (plus vat if appropriate) per module/version-jump.
The cost of the actual software upgrade itself (ie your license upgrade) will be free (as you must have addon subscription in order to get automated updates applied).
The cost of us upgrading the software on your site will be logged via the timesheet system on bigyellowkey.com (click on "My Points" to see your balance, and click on the "Timesheet Entries" to see all the individual changes/timechunks).
Usually a given module will take us around 5 minutes to upgrade to its next version (ie a single version-jump for a specific module).
Sometimes more than one module may need to be upgraded at the same time, for example, the packing slip (byz001) may need upgrading from V27 to V28 which will take 5 minutes, but byz033 may also need upgrading (eg from V11 to V12) which may take an additional 5 minutes.
If a module is out of date by more than 1 version then it'll take an estimated 5 minutes per version that we need to jump to.
These are just estimates; if the total time looks like it might stray above this estimate then we'll contact you first before we apply the upgrade and ask you if it's ok for us to to it for you.
Sometimes the upgrade for a given module is quicker than 5 minutes, but it's rarely longer as long as it's just a single version jump, and 5 minutes in total for the upgrade-process for all your out of date modules is the minimum that it'll take.
So we charge a minimum of £5 for any upgrade process (when we upgrade more than one module at the same time that minimum fee will not apply for each module, it's just a minimum fee per "upgrade process"), plus a £1 per minute charge for however long the actual upgrade takes to do - that £5 fixed cost covers our costs for processing the upgrade (ie setting up or finding the ftp profile and opening it, emailing you when the job's done, and the time it takes for us to log the files changed in the timesheets etc).
Costs Examples
1. BYZ001 (Packing Slip) upgrade from V27 to V28:
5 minutes (byz033 upgrade from v11 to v12)
5 minutes (byz038 upgrade from v13 to v14)
1 minute (byz036 upgrade from v08 to v09)
5 minutes (byz001 upgrade from v27 to v28)
5 minutes (fixed minimum fee for any upgrade process)
Total Cost/Time: 21 minutes (£21, plus vat if appropriate)
2. BYZ055 (Prod/Cat Check/Fix Tool) upgrade from v12 to v13)
2 minutes (byz055 upgrade from v12 to v13)
5 minutes (fixed minimum fee for any upgrade process)
Total Cost/Time: 7 minutes (£7, plus vat if appropriate)
Conditions for automated updates:
1) You must have an active addon subscription for the domain that you want to keep up to date (ie you must have BYZ147, BYZ148, or BYZ149)
2) You must always keep a minimum of 30 development points in your development points balance (each time we do an upgrade for you, we'll email you if you need to boost your points balance further).
3) You need to make sure that your local files are kept in-synch with what's on the site before you make any file changes on the site yourself. ie if you want to change a file on your site, then make sure you download the current version that's on the site down to your pc so that you don't overwrite our upgrade changes.
Question: Is it worth the effort of getting a google product feed (googlebase) done?
Recently Google have made the rules of their product feed (googlebase) much stricter than before, and it's quite a big effort for us to get our data (and the feed configuration) set in a way that google will accept using the new rules.
Is it really worth the effort of getting our data tweaked and our feed configuration tweaked seeing as we'll still be on the general google listings anyway?
Solution:
There is a long answer to this (see below) but the basic/quick answer is:
"Yes; if you sell products on a website then it's definitely worth the effort, but possibly not for the same reasons that you're thinking of."
(see also: BYZ056 - GoogleBase Feed)
Here's more info on what the google product database is all about, and why we think it's worth the effort, but please bear in mind that this is just a personal view, and it's all open to debate.....
1) What is the Google Products Database?
Google has a separate database specifically setup for products (as opposed to general site info pages, blogs etc).
If you go to google.com, you'll see a "shopping" link at the top; click on that and you'll get into the dedicated shopping system.
Or, go to google.com, do a normal search, and then press the "shopping" link on the left panel (underneath "Everything", and "Images" links etc) which will filter your results to only show actual products that are in their products database.
Using google's shopping system you can compare prices in different stores for the same product, but most importantly, if you're looking for something to buy then you can get a list of places where you can buy a given product without having thousands of spurious info/blog pages etc.
ie it's a bit like doing a search on amazon; you only get actual products that you can buy, you won't get irrelevant results, but unlike amazon you don't actually buy anything from google, you just use google to search and compare the prices etc to find what you want, and then you click on the product to get to the merchant's page for that product; you still buy the product itself by visiting the merchant's website, you don't buy it from google.
2) Who uses it?
With my "customer" hat on, I've personally never used it. Most people I know don't even know that it's there as an option on google. The few people I know who have seen the shopping links on google have never used it because they think it's just a kind of google advertising gimmick, and not a real global product search.
Most search engines (yahoo, bing etc) have a corresponding "shopping" link too, but similarly to google's shopping links, I don't know anyone who actually uses it; everyone I know just does a search on the main google/yahoo/bing sites and then clicks on relevant hits from there.
So, who uses it? I'd guess that at the moment, people who only ever started using google since the "shopping" option was already there probably use it every now and then, but most people who have been using google since before the "shopping" option was added probably don't even know it's there, or don't use it. I'd also guess that the younger you are, the more likely it is that you use it, because for the older ones amongst us it's new and we either haven't spotted it yet or don't care to use it.
3) If not many people use it, what's the point of submitting a feed?
The number of people who use it will increase over time because more people will become aware of it, and the proportion of people who only started using google since the shopping option was added will increase as the population ages and more kids grow up with the internet.
So, the audience can only increase, which is a good reason for having a feed, but that's not the most important point; the most important point is how it effects your general google rankings and your overall presence across the web.
4) Being in the Products Database Increases your General/Main Listings' Rankings
If you're not in the google products database, your site/pages will still be in the main listings when people do a search on the main google.com search page.
But, if you do have products in the google products database, then that massively increases the relevance/rankings (and the number of hits) of your pages on the main google search.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is vital; the higher you are in the rankings/results, the more customers you will get, and the higher your conversion rate will be when the results are relevant to what the customer searched on.
These things (being on the google products database, having a google sitemap on your site, having static urls etc) all feed-off each other; each individual seo task that you do will help, but the results will start to snowball the more you do, because not only will google raise your rankings, but your products/pages will also start getting linked-to all over the rest of the web too.
SEO is kind of viral in its nature; eg do "x" and your ranking goes up by 10%, then, if your ranking goes up by 10% it'll mean that more sites/people will then pick-up/link-to/click-on your pages, which will then increase your ranking even more, which means that more people will pick up your pages, which will increase your ranking etc etc. Then do "y" and your ranking goes up by another 10%, and so on; it all feeds off each other and gets you higher rankings, more customers, and more sales; because of that "viral" nature of seo, and the fact that google takes a while to re-crawl/re-index, it might take a while for all the seo tasks to take full effect, but it's well worth it.
5. If you don't do it, your competitors will
If someone else is selling the same kind of products as you, but you don't have a google product feed, or do other seo-related tasks, then your rankings will end up lower than your competitors and you'll start to lose your online customers because you'll become virtually invisible in the online world compared to your competitors.
see also:
Search Engine Optimization
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