NOW AVAILABLE: Zen Cart 20 Ways Template Conversion Pack
October 16, 2007
Includes all template files needed
to implement the most important 20 ways
Just $24.95
Since the release of the book 20 Surefire Ways to Increase Sales Using Zen Cart, I have had hundreds of requests from readers asking me to implement the template changes featured within the 20 Ways on their site.
As a result, I have created the “Zen Cart Template Conversion Pack” to help everyone benefit from and easily implement the template changes yourself.
The Conversion Pack Includes:
- 20 Ways Complete Implementation Guide (10 pages)
- Complete Zen Cart 1.3.7+ template files for use with your website (including the templates needed to create the side-by-side login shown in Surefire Way #2)
- Complete Zen Cart 1.3.x template files for use with your website (including the templates needed to create the side-by-side login shown in Surefire Way #2)
- Graphic “Action” Button Files ready for testing with your site.
- Pre-Installed “Order Steps – Tabeless” Contribution
- Pre-Installed “Telephone Optional on Signup” Contribution
Zen Cart Compatibility
Currently, the Conversion Pack includes templates that work with Zen Cart version 1.3.x and up.
I have implemented these changes on 1.2.x sites as well, but because the older Zen Cart versions were table structured, the alterations in the enclosed package will not work.
However, if you have an older version of Zen Cart (1.2.x) and would like these implemented, please contact me using the form on this website and let me know. I can arrange for you to get that version.
Simplify Your Checkout and Optimize Your Chances of Success
The template files in this pack have been tested over a large number of sites. They include some of the industry’s “Best Practices” and should help bring some of the major problems spots on your e-commerce site up to “standards”.
Testing has shown these templates to decrease cart abandonment once a user enters the checkout process, and help increase conversion by more clearly identifying what is required of a customer in order for them to complete the purchase.
Keep in mind that all industries and markets are different, and there is no substitute for continued testing, solid market strategy, and a product with a demand. The proven strategies implemented within these templates are a starting point to give you the best chance at success.
I know you will find them very beneficial and helpful on your quest for better conversion.
To Your Success!
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October 17th, 2007 at 1:12 am
I thought your guide was excellent and have been trying to implement as many changes as possible over the last few days including action buttons etc.
If I purchase this template - will it damage the look and feel of my site or undo any of my hard work? (I’m not very fast at making the changes!).
Is there a way of uninstalling or rolling back?
Thanks for your help and excellent work.
Steve
October 17th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Steve,
As with the installation of any contributions, you should always backup your original files so you have something to roll back to in the event you run into problems.
Having said that, I have setup this template pack to use the built in Zen Cart overrides system. It does not require you to write over any core files.
The files altered should be “plug and go”, however, once again, if you have made changes to your current files already, I would suggest making a backup before implementing. You may also feel more comfortable comparing the files within the template package to those on your site.
You could then copy and paste any changes from the new files to your site. In most cases, this should not be required and you could just “upload and go”.
However, due to the large number of other third party contributions available that make changes to files, and due to the fact that different sites install contributions that they see fit their needs, it is possible, as is with any contribution, that certain changes will affect your site in one way or another.
That shouldn’t be the case, but I mention it for those that happen to run into it.
I’ve made these templates with you, the end user in mind. They should be “easily compatible” and provide what you need with no headaches.
Yes. Very easy as long as you make backups of your original files. It is as easy as “copying the original files over the new ones.” Do that, and you’re right back to where you started in just a few short seconds.
I like to simply rename the original files and leave them in their current directory. I would give them all a similar extension so they are easy to spot. Something like “xxxxx_file_PRIOR20.php” (as an example). That way, if you ever decide to roll back to the original files, all you have to do is delete the new version, and rename the original back to the proper form.
October 17th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Thank you for your work on this.
I have already implemented the simpler steps you listed in your book on my site and can see the difference.
In order to take full advantage of your pack do i have to install any other contributions such as the 4 step checkout bar you mentioned in your book or do these contributions come with the pack?
From the 20 steps in the book how many are being included in your pack? Does the pack include implementation instructions?
Thank you
October 18th, 2007 at 7:48 am
Glad you have seen the difference. Many months (sometimes years) of testing go into what I write and develop. The information I provide is based on real world successful examples that I have experienced with client sites as well as my own sites. A lot of it also comes from long hard research and testing.
I’m glad to see it working for you.
To take full advantage of the ability for the pack to help conversion, you should have the two contributions mentioned on this page.
Both contributions come already installed with the pack. The only thing you will have to do is to run the SQL patch for the “Telephone Not Required” contribution.
The package includes all steps that involved template alterations with the exception of the product page (which differs from site to site). Of the 20 ways, close to 10 of them involved actual template changes. 9 of those are included in the pack.
They primarily deal with the checkout process beginning with the login page. Most Zen Cart stores I come across and work with seem to have this as one of the biggest problems.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Thank you for a quick reply. Are you going to start a support thread on Zen Cart forum?
October 18th, 2007 at 11:04 am
This package will not be uploaded to the free contributions section on the official Zen Cart site (obviously) so I won’t be opening a support thread for it there.
I will be supporting it (and any other “products” I offer) on this site.
You can post here to this page and get answers to questions etc…
In the near future, I will be offering a “knowledge base” and “exclusive members” section to this site of which I will detail in a later post (when that time nears).
I have found a large number of users are looking for more “personal” information on how to improve the conversion of their websites, and a “community membership site” is the best route to take for that level of information.
I want others to benefit from the many sites I work with and the positive experiences I find through continual testing and marketing of those sites. The addition of an exclusive membership section will achieve that purpose.
October 19th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Is there step by step instruction for people with heavy modified store?
October 20th, 2007 at 8:10 am
The code is commented so you can move things as needed from within the files. The enclosed manual also gives more insight into that for users who want to “copy and paste” the code into their own site (rather than just “upload and go”).
I’ve been to your store, and you should have no problem either way.
October 28th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
In have installed the Remove / Bypass an Account Success Screen decriped in Surefire Way #3, page 20. Works fine if customer first fill the shopping basket and second create an account. But Creating an Account with an empty shoppingbag result in a warning messages the script could not run. So… how to deal with this?
October 28th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
The proper code to use there is as follows. That was brought to my attention a while back but I guess I never posted the answer here.
The code you want to use is:
That addresses and corrects the warning message by skipping the Create Account page only if there are items in a users basket.
October 29th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Will “Telephone Optional on Signup” Contribution work properly with 1.3.7+?
Both your site and the zen-cart downloads are seem to imply that it is only for 1.3.6 and lower.
October 29th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Yes, this works on 1.3.7 + as well. I am running it on a few sites now with no problem.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:58 am
I just installed the templates, awesome work. Thank you. I have one issue however and I’m not sure how to fix it. I’m using the cherry zen template and the 20 ways conversion pack. Work well together except on the account signup split screen. The account signup is spanning the middle of the page and pushing the returning customer to the bottom. When you go to the page at first it puts you in the middle of the page. Please help everything else is awesome.
Thank you and once again well done.
P.S. I’m running 1.3.7
November 27th, 2007 at 11:49 am
MII,
Make sure you closely follow the look of the login pageg from the 20 Ways book. Your page still has both left and right sidebars on it. For conversion reasons, those should be removed, and must be done manually (explained below.)
Also, pay particular attention to the fields you are asking your customers to fill out when checking out as well. Things like asking for company name, age, fax, and in some cases phone number should be left off the form unless you really use them. Asking for information like that when you don’t need it will hurt conversion.
To remove various fields from the login form in zen cart, login to the admin and go to the following:
Configuration > Customer Details.
Turn off sideboxes using the Zen Cart overrides as follows:
Open the following file:
/includes/templates/{your_template_here}/common/tpl_main_page.php
Shortly down from the top of that file you’ll see some commented out code that looks like this (usually around lines 40 - 50):
// the following IF statement can be duplicated/modified as needed to set additional flags
// if (in_array($current_page_base,explode(",",'list_pages_to_skip_all_right
_sideboxes_on_here,separated_by_commas,and_no_spaces')) ) {
// $flag_disable_right = true;
// $flag_disable_left = true;
//}
Follow the commented out code there to remove sideboxes from the pages you want.
As an example, if you wanted to remove both left and right sideboxes for the login page, you would do the following:
// the following IF statement can be duplicated/modified as needed to set additional flags
if (in_array($current_page_base,explode(",",'login')) ) {
$flag_disable_right = true;
$flag_disable_left = true;
}
To remove other pages you would add them after the word “login” and separate them by commas.
**** UPDATE 12/02/07 ****
The Zen Cart website has a good tutorial on this which can be found at the following link:
http://tutorials.zen-cart.com/index.php?article=233
December 6th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I have just installed all the files and now I get the following error on the bottom of all product pages:
Warning: require(includes/templates/template_default/templates/tpl_modules_xsell_products.php) [function.require]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/c/a/canineops/public_html/shop/includes/templates/classic/templates/
tpl_product_info_display.php on line 270
December 6th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Ian,
The template for the product page does not includes the code needed to implement the “Cross Sell” module as well. Not everybody has the module iinstalled.
Just take the code that is required for your cross sell module and delete it from the tpl_product_info.php page. Once you do that, the error message will go away.
Once you find the section of code starting with
BOF: Cross-Sell informationand ending with
EOF: Cross-Sell informationJust delete everything between it.
It is occurring because your cart is looking for the cross sell module code (to include on the page) but it is not there (means you do not have that module installed in your zen cart install.)
December 7th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Hi, thanks for the response to Cross Sell code that is sorted now. I have a few other issues that need sorting if you can help please;
1. I still get error message at signup when nothing in basket even though I have changed the code suggested above. This is the message;
Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context in /home/c/a/canineops/public_html/shop/includes/modules/classic/create_account.php on line 413
2. I seem to have a number of buttons missing now on product pages and checkout, here is one example;
BUTTON_IMAGE_ASK_A_QUESTION
3. I have removed both sets of side boxes from check out pages but there is still not enough room for box at top. Do I need to increase total site width or am I missing something?
Thanks for any help.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
To solve this do the following:
Open the file
/includes/modules/[your_template]/create_account.php
Find the following line:
if (is_array($this->contents)) { // if items in cart, then by pass create account successReplace that line with this:
if ($_SESSION['cart']->count_contents() > 0) {It has been brought to my attention that a few users with various versions of Zen Cart notice this occurrence. It is because language file “button_names.php” that was included with the pack did not include the define statements for a few buttons (reviews, ask a question, etc..).
To correct, you can do one of two things.
1) Start with your ORIGINAL button_names.php language filee and add the commented “new code” defines from the 20 Ways packet to your original file (copy and paste). It is only a few lines that are commented.
2) Option 2 is to take the missing defines from your ORIGINAL file and copy and paste them into the new 20 Ways language file for the buttons.
Either way will correct the issue.
This is site specific, so you would have to play with the width your site possibly. It depends on what you are trying to achieve. This is done from within your stylesheets. To control the width of the login page forms etc.. , you can use the “login.css” overrides file provided in the pack. You cannot control the entire site width fro that file though. Only the internal width of the forms etc.. on the login page.
December 8th, 2007 at 5:41 am
Thank you for the 20 ways ebook and templates! I installed them tonight and I too am having the problem with missing buttons. It seems to be the same problem that Ian is having. I looked at the code (trying to follow your steps above) but I’m confused about what to copy. Would it be possible for you to clarify what code to copy. Your help is greatly appreciated.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Charlie,
The easiest way to find the define files is to look at your original button_names.php file and search on the constant name that it says is missing.
From hearing other comments, it looks like you would want to search on the following:
define('BUTTON_IMAGE_REVIEWS', 'button_reviews.gif');define('BUTTON_IMAGE_ASK_A_QUESTION', 'button_reviews.gif');etc…
If there were any changes made to language files with any third party contributions, you would want to add those in as well.
In my opinion, the easiest way to go is to find the new lines added in the language file included with the 20 Ways, and then copy those lines to your original working language file.
To do that, just open the language file included with the 20 Ways, and then look at the code in it. I have commented in it the lines that were added for the 20 Ways. You could copy those alterations to your original file and you should be ready to go.
Hope that helps!
December 13th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
OK, I got the install pretty well going.
Doing some fine tuning.
Getting this error when - I add something to the shopping cart and than delete the item. I’m taken to the empty cart page. The following error(s) (warnings) are noted on the bottom.
What does this mean and how do I fix it?
thanks
rodgw
Warning:include(includes/modules/show_google_components.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/sotpmag/public_html/store/includes/templates/custom/
templates/tpl_shopping_cart_default.php on line 234
Warning:include(includes/modules/show_google_components.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/sotpmag/public_html/store/includes/templates/custom/
templates/tpl_shopping_cart_default.php on line 234
Warning:=include() [function.include]: Failed opening ‘includes/modules/show_google_components.php’ for inclusion (include_path=’.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php’) in /home/sotpmag/public_html/store/includes/templates/custom/
templates/tpl_shopping_cart_default.php on line 234
December 13th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Those errors look to be related to maybe Google checkout module.
They don’t directly relate to any module that is included with the 20 Ways templates.
The code for that module is included (the include file) in the template pack on that page. If you do not use Google Checkout, then you’ll want to find the section of code that looks like this
< ?php include(DIR_WS_MODULES . 'show_google_components.php'); ?>Near line 234 within file:
/includes/templates/[your_template]/templates/tpl_shopping_cart_default.php
REMOVE that line of code and you should be ready to go.
I would suggest that if you have Google Checkout on your site, you make sure the proper files are referenced on that shopping cart template page, and if you do not have Google Checkout installed, then remove that
January 15th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I’ve just installed the login page modification and it looks great, the only problem is that when I try to log in as a customer, it wont let me and gives me a security error “There was a security error when trying to login.”
I haven’t installed the order steps as cherry_zen already had it in but would this effect the login?
Hope you can help as it looks great.
Cheers,
Sarah.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
The changes that are made using the pack mainly affect design and layout. It should involve no code alterations that actually “work for logging users in”. So, unless you made some changes by accident while installing, the package should not cause this problem by itself.
January 20th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Can anybody comment on how easy/hard these changes are to apply to 1.3.8? I’m pretty good at PHP and understanding how this works, but my new site is 1.3.8 so before I buy this, I’d like to know how much is still applicable? I know 1.3.8 didn’t implement any of these strategies, so the concepts are valid.
January 20th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Jeff,
You do not need to be proficient in PHP to make these work, however, if you are, it will make it easier for you to implement (as sometimes understanding the “how” helps understand the “why”), but again, it is not a requirement.
Implementation into 1.3.8 should be fairly simple. The majority of changes are DESIGN related (so they affect the “tpl_” file sets). There are a few that alter modules (again though, these are DESIGN related).
My recommendation for implementation into 1.3.8 is to simply take the design alterations from the template pack, and since you know PHP, copy them into your working 1.3.8 site.
That way you are sure they work smoothly.
Basically, since the template pack revolves around the DESIGN aspects of zen, it should integrate pretty easily with any version over 1.3.x.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:50 am
There’s an error in the Button_names.php file.
define('BUTTON_IMAGE_IN_CART', 'button_add_cart_green.gif');
should be
define('BUTTON_IMAGE_IN_CART', 'btn_add_cart_green.gif');
To match the graphic file name.
February 28th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Actually, this IS due to the conversion pack…it uses a version of the file “tpl_login_default.php” that’s slightly dated and missing a critical new feature. ZenCart has added security tokens to verify login information, these tokens are not included in the Conversion Pack file. It’s an easy fix with BeyondCompare…but could certainly use an update in the Conversion Pack, to avoid confusion.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Blackhalo,
Yes, you are correct. The error here is only seen on Zen versions 1.3.8 + in which a security token was added to the login form to tighten security.
An updated version of the pack has been uploaded which corrects this and a few other reported issues of missing buttons etc….
April 4th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Excellent book and conversion pack! I’m going to purchase the analytics book today. Two questions:
My uncompleted site is www.killerlube.com/store/.
1. When you add something to the cart the checkout link appears on the top left nav. Per your suggestion I want to make that stand out. I was able to make it bold with sloppy html tags in the tpl_header.php file but can not figure out how to wrap that bit of code for the checkout in CSS, so I can really make it stand out and control the style. Whenever I attempt it, the whole page disappears.
2. If you proceed to checkout I have installed your mod. It works well but the two columns have a large gap between them. What would I edit to tighten all that up?
April 11th, 2008 at 2:09 am
I really like the registration/checkout setup, but I’m having some problems. Some of them I’ve been able to fix like the buttons, although it would be nice to have a button that says Ask a Question rather than using the Read the Reviews button. I’ve not had any luck trying to create a similar one. And there were no buttons for the restocking section and I kept getting an error so I finally deleted that section from the tpl_product_info_display.php file.
But my biggest problem right now is that I cannot get the order checkout (tabless) to move beyond step 1 if you are a registered customer and enteriing personal information if you are a new customer. And it goes to my original registration page, but you never get anywhere else. I went to the Zen Cart forum and also put this question to Clyde who wrote the Order Steps Tabless mod but he suggested that I talk to you since you incorporated it into this kit.
Also if you click on the “ask a question button” I get a 404 error. I don’t know that I ever had an ask a question button or page before. So was there a new as a question page file created? I didn’t see one.
I really want to get this all working as the gardening season is upon us and I need to get these bugs worked out so people can set up accounts and buy stuff. I guess I should not have put this on my live site.
I’m not the most techncial of people, but I’m learning fast, but there are lots of php syntax stuff that I don’t understand. Still I’m getting better each time I add a mod and fix an error. So any help will be greatly apprecicated. Thanks in advance.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Kathy,
Answers below:
Actually, you did this incorrect. You tried to implement the “reviews” button with the “ask a question” option (which your template does not have installed). So, what you want to do is to delete the section that uses the “ask a question” in the tpl_product_info.php page. Make sure you LEAVE the actual “reviews section” in the template. To activate that, you will need to turn on “reviews” form within your Zen Cart admin.
No problem here. You are correct to delete it if you are not using the “restock authorization” mod.
This has to be related to something you did when installing. I’ve never had any reports of this issue, and have never seen it happen with a good install. Since I don’t know what you may have altered here, I can only give you a suggestion based on what might have occurred.
I would check the files you altered during the checkout process and make sure you did not remove anything that is related to the user actually checking out (moving forward). The checkout steps module should have no effect on the ability to move forward or back through the checkout. It only provides a graphical representation of where the visitor is during their checkout process.
This is because of how you tried to integrate the “reviews” button with the “ask a question” option. Remove the section “Ask a question” from the tpl_product_info.php page and you should be ok here. You are not using that optional module anyhow (third party add-on).
Hope this helps!
April 12th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I have installed the 20 ways. I have been able to correct most of the problems by reading the psot above. I would like to know how to add information to the two boxes on login page. One box is “Shop with Confidence” and the other is “Customer Service”.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
To alter the text in those boxes, you need to open up the “tpl_login_default.php” page. You’ll find the sections with that code in there.