Problem: Genealogical Publishing Company was an early adopter of e-commerce sales and marketing in the early history of the Internet. Their e-commerce site had been re-written several times on different platforms, including Cold Fusion and Microsoft ASP. The site had been custom written with little documentation and was primarily supported by only one developer. The company recognized the need to add functionality and more sophisticated search engine optimization tools (SEO) to increase Internet sales.
Solution: VMT proposed that the new e-commerce site be built on an open source platform called Zen-Cart. Working in conjunction with a graphics design and SEO firm, Zen-Cart was configured with new company branding, navigation and content to provide an effective e-commerce site that could be optimized to increase sales. Significant customizations were made that allow customers to perform sophisticated searches in genealogy to find their CD's and books of interest. Zen-Cart also offers a content management system (CMS) component that allows the company to customize thier content at will.
Result: Genealogical Publishing has been able to refine their content and product offerings to continually increase traffic to the site and Internet sales. Support and maintenance costs are minimized by the ability of their staff to make these changes without the aid of a programmer.