I just got the Firefox SEO toolbar and it allows you to see the page as a search engine see it. So you have Title, Description, Keywords, Content, Welcome to Double-B-Books, Featured Products etc as headings. Under the content heading I have
“Loading… Sign in or Register Sign in Username: Password: Type the characters you see in the picture below. Remember me Forgot your password? Cart is empty Cart is empty View cart Checkout Checkout HomeAbout UsFAQ'sBooks BoughtView Cart Search: - All categories - Books Book Care Maps Prints & Engravings Illuminated Leaves Advanced search”
None of which is exactly keyword rich. It appears in this order because I moved the login and the cart to the header area and then have a menu across the top - so this is the first content that the search engine reads.
So my questions are - how much of an impact does this have on SEO? If it's having a serious negative impact what are the ways around it? I was wondering if chaging the order things load in would have an effect (if that's possible).
Site is at http://www.double-b-books.com
no , google will crawl many many more pages, links, content and will determine the best overall view.
Dont sweat the small stuff and just keep in mind the ease of use for your visitors to find what they need and Google will do the same.
Your product, category, names and titles will be important with rich content further describing the same things in detail (but not too many keywords)
Keep it simple, but relevant and let the info flow smoothly from homepage to product.
John
John,
One of the best responses I've seen on this forum and that logic applies to almost all areas of running a small Ecomerce business.
Great response.
Well,flattery will get you everywhere Mr B, 
thx.
[quote name=‘tbirnseth’ timestamp=‘1339306418’ post=‘138392’]applies to almost all areas of running a small Ecomerce business.
Great response.
[/quote]
True…very true !
John
Thanks