eComm Tips

I know that a good number of the people that read this blog are people that I work with to show them how to setup and advertise their websites. This message is directly mainly towards those people and anyone else that is using a Website Dynamics builder (SiteCreatorPlus.com, CityMax.com, CityMaker.com, AtomicShops.com, etc.).

Website Dynamics has added a new feature to their builder where you can add a custom message on your confirmation page after someone places an order. This is a nice little feature, and I’d recommend you take advantage of it. As a side note, you cannot do this if you are using PayPal Standard as your merchant processor.

Here’s a link to the announcement from Website Dynamics: Customize Your Order Confirmation Page

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As with the other two options that we’ve talked about, using some type of a website builder can have it’s pros and cons as well. For example, if you are brand new to building websites but don’t have the funds or desire to have someone else do it, using some type of a builder program would be a good option for you.

There are a lot of website building programs on the market today. For those of you that are really just getting started, you’ll want to use some type of a template builder. Look for one that is easy to use, but also has all of the functionality that you need. Here are a few things to look for:

• Ease of Use
• Shopping Cart
• Email
• Professional Look
• Good Support
• Price

There are some more advanced features to most of these programs that you can look for as well, but these should be enough to get you started. I would also recommend that before you sign up with a builder, see if you can use it for a few days as a free trial. It’s also nice if you can see examples of some sites that use the same builder so you can see if they have the look and feel that you want to achieve.

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Hiring out your website design and build is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, you’ll probably get a much nicer site than you could ever do on your own.

Probably the biggest concerns that people have with this one is price and control. So, let’s take a look at those two.

Price of Hiring a Designer

There are plenty of website design companies that could do a website for you. One thing about design and that type of work is that you will generally get what you pay for. Yes, there are those people and companies that way overcharge for the quality of work that you do, but that’s why you always look for a good portfolio before you do anything with them.

Another option is to have a freelance designer do the work for you. You can find them at either Guru.com or Elance.com. With these sites you post a job that you need done and designers that are interested in doing the work for you will bid on the job and show you a portfolio of what they’ve done in the past. Then you would hire on of them and work with them to get it done.

Contol of the Site

One mess that you can easily get into with having someone else do your site for you is losing some control of the site. What you want to avoid is the type of situation where if you need to make changes to the site you have to go through your designer to make those changes. This puts the control in their hands, not yours. This type of setup can also create a really bad lag time between when you submit the changes and when they actually get done. So if at all possible, have them create the site on a platform that you are comfortable with so you can easily edit it yourself as you need to.

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Whenever you’re going to start a new website you have a lot of options in front of you as to what you should to do build your site. Should you try to build it yourself from scratch? Should you hire it out? Or should you use a building program to make it a bit easier for doing it on your own? In the end, I don’t have a blanket answer for you. So over the next couple of days I want to address each of these topics so you can decide which might be the best route for you.

First, let’s talk about doing it from scratch.

Doing it Yourself

Simply put, if you know what you’re doing this is probably one of the best options for control. If you put it together, you know what to do to change it and make updates as you need to. On the other hand, if you don’t know much about HTML, PHP (for shopping carts and other platforms), or other basics about website building then this probably isn’t the best option for you.

Time

Another point to consider if you’re going to do the site completely on your own is that unless you’re really fast it could take longer to put it together on your own. This will depend on the person, but you could possible get it built faster going with one of the other methods.

Cost

Unless you already have the programs, you might have to invest a little bit to build your site from scratch. FrontPage really isn’t the best option, most designers make fun of it all the time. I’ll admit that I’ve never touched it, but that’s mainly because of all the negative things that I’ve heard about it. My personal favorite is DreamWeaver, but the price tag is a little high. Another option would be Nvu. I don’t think it’s as good as DreamWeaver, but the price is nice (its FREE!)

I know that this is in no way a comprehensive list of things to consider if you’re going to build the site on your own. My goal with this series is just to get you thinking about what would be the best option for YOU.  Until next time!

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Going along with the last few posts I’ve done about some of the different pages you should have in the website, let’s move on to the About Us page. In case you missed it, here are some links to the Home Page and Contact Page posts.

Before we get into some of the specifics for the About Us page, let’s talk about some of the reasons behind having one. Basically, we would hope that if someone comes to the About Us page that they would leave that page feeling more comfortable buying from you. There are two basic ways you can approach this page: personal or company. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each:

Personal About Us Page

The personal approach can be very effective because it helps people to connect with the person behind the site. But if you’re going to do the personal approach you need to be credible in what you’re talking about. Another way of saying this is that if you have a reason to promote yourself, then the personal approach could be a great way to go. Otherwise, go with the company approach.

Company About Us Page

For most people this is the way to go. With the company approach you can talk about the background of the company with things like a mission statement, policies, overall attitude of the company, etc. The key here is to be customer focused. Remember that we want people to feel more comfortable buying from you, not bore them with a lot of details. This page can also be a good place to talk about the quality of your products as well.

One question that a lot of people ask me is if they should mention how long they’ve been in business. Well, if this is your first website or you haven’t been in business for very long, the answer is NO! Imagine going to a site that says “We’ve been in business for 2 months.” Would you buy from that site? Maybe, but it still doesn’t convey the image that we want. So just don’t mention anything about that unless it would help.

Other than that, write what you think is best for the About Us page to give that good, customer focused feeling to your visitors.

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A few days ago I wrote about some general principles behind the home page. Today I’d like to move into another basic page, the Contact Page.

The concept behind the Contact Page is simple: we need to provide a way for customers and potential customers to contact you if they have a question. So, the first thing we want to do is have some type of an introductory paragraph on this page that leaves the visitor with the impression that you are there to help them. Have you ever seen a site where when you go to the contact page there’s nothing there except for an email address? Does that really make you feel like they care? I know it doesn’t leave a good impression with me! So leave a good, customer centered intro paragraph.

Next, you want to provide a way for people to contact you. I’m going to go over 4 different ways you could do this. DON’T DO ALL 4 OF THESE!!! Instead, you want to pick out the 1 or 2 the work best for you. So here are the 4 methods:

Physical Address

If you have a regular store, this could be a good idea. But if you’re running your business out of your home, this one might not be the best option. Personally, I feel that this is the least necessary for an internet business, but some people like to do it so I’ll include it in this list.

Email Addresses

Emails are great because they’re easy to set up and people use it all the time. You could do this two different ways. First of all, you could provide one general email address for people to use. Or, you could leave several emails depending on why someone would need to contact you. For example, you could break your emails up into ‘departments’. This does two things: it helps you organize your email and it makes you look like a bigger company.

Contact Forms

I’m a big fan of these forms for a couple of reasons. First of all, they tend to look nice . Secondly, they take a little more space on the page. One problem we run into sometimes with the contact page is that it’s way too short. Forms help to get rid of that problem. And third, when you have a contact form you are the one controlling the conversation because you’re the one asking the questions. It makes it easier to get the right information from the visitor because you’re asking for it. Naturally, don’t go crazy and ask for too many details. Keep it simple and forms can be very effective.

Phone Number

The phone is a powerful tool. There are still a lot of people out there that will call the phone number of an online business before finalizing their transaction because they want to make sure that the company really exists. So this is a great way to build trust with your customers. But, treat it with some respect. Don’t just use your home phone or your cell phone, you’re just asking for problems if you do that. Get an 800 number, maybe even have it go to voicemail, but make sure you get back to people.

Using these principles you should be able to come up with a pretty good contact page.

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