Tradewinds Web Design Blog

Busy Backgrounds or Flashing Text

There’s nothing more annoying than a busy, gaudy background. Even if what you are selling is ridiculously garish, you should always use a plain, even toned background.

Nothing says cheap or used car salesman more than flashing text either. Whenever I see flashing text, I generally hit the back button right away.

Music

Many people keep their speakers on at all times when they are web surfing because they are listening to music through their computers (I am generally in very close proximity to a sleeping baby so this isn’t me, but it is my husband). There’s nothing more annoying than a website that forces you to listen to a sales pitch or a speech recording. What’s even worse, sometimes you can’t find the click box to turn it off and you end up frantically trying to close the tab or window or navigate away from the site.  If you are going to have sound, I recommend a soothing background music only, with a very easy to spot off button.

Multiple Levels of Nested Categories

If you have fewer than 500 items, there’s no reason that you need to have 3 or 4 levels of hierarchy to organize your items. The best stores use a clean intuitive navigation toolbar which contain as little hierarchy as possible. Also, avoid using pop up menus with more than 2 levels of hierarchy because they start to become clunky and unusable.

Overly Complicated Checkout Process

If there’s anything that should be made as simple as possible on your online store, it should be the checkout process. Avoid having your customers go through a multitude of pages to actually buy the item. Every step of the way, you will shed customers, so its important to allow the customers to check out as fast as possible. Avoid trying to obtain any information other than the essentials.

Mixing and Matching Different Fonts and Font Sizes

Your website should be consistent and elegant. Whenever you mix and match different fonts and font sizes,the result almost always ends up as a cluttered, unprofessional looking mess. Don’t go overboard with the large fonts either. If you want to place emphasis on certain items or points, use bold or italics instead.

Egregious Grammatical Errors

Everyone makes mistakes but you should always have someone proofread your website and product descriptions. Even a few spelling mistakes here and there is enough to make your site look unprofessional and unattractive.

Missing Pictures

I’m always turned off by missing pictures or broken links on a website. To me, a missing picture means that the website or online store is incomplete, and probably not well maintained. It also tells me that the store owner probably threw up the site or product description in a hurry. Seeing a missing picture also makes me question the overall integrity and security of the store. Take the time to browse your own website to make sure everything is working!

Animated Pictures

You might think that the animated pictures on your website are cute and innovative, but in reality, they both distract and annoy customers. Keep the emphasis of your online store on the products themselves.

Hard to Find Contact Page

Before I buy anything, I always look for the contact us page to make sure that I have a way to contact a human being should anything go wrong with the transaction. In general, if I can’t find the “Contact Us” page right away, I usually will leave the store.

E-commerce consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The concept of e-commerce is all about using the Internet to do business better and faster. It is about giving customers controlled access to your computer systems and letting people serve themselves. It is about committing your company to a serious online effort and integrating your Web site with the heart of your business. If you do that, you will see results!

Every era of business yields new strategies and new ways of doing business. With the advent of radio and television came the first mass-market advertising. Now, the Internet has so radically changed business that the rules for corporate strategy that held for the last 50 years (since the dawn of television) have begun to crumble.

As a place for direct retail shopping, with its 24-hour availability, a global reach, the ability to interact and provide custom information and ordering, and multimedia prospects, the Web is rapidly becoming a multi-billion dollar source of revenue for the world’s businesses.  In early 1999, it was widely recognized that because of the interactive nature of the Internet, companies could gather data about prospects and customers in unprecedented amounts -through site registration, questionnaires, and as part of taking orders.

There are many different forms of eCommerce. There are many many different ways of making it easier for customers to purchase products online… and it can vary in different industries, so it is a ongoing process.  Shopping carts are the most common form of eCommerce that you are likely to find online, a shopping cart is just a system that allows users to shop online as they would in a store- by allowing them to browse around and select the different items which they are interested in… and save each of the items choosen, until they are ready to purchase or check out.

On an increasing basis, consumers turn to the Internet to purchase and research items. According to a September 2007 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, 49 percent of Americans have bought a product online and 60 percent rely on the Internet to conduct product-related research.  It’s hard to beat the Internet for convenience. A full 50 percent of adult Americans have broadband Internet access at home [source: Pew Internet & American Life Project]. This type of always-on, high-speed connection makes it simple to research and quickly buy goods and services. According to a 2008 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 78 percent of Internet users either agree or strongly agree that online shopping is “convenient,” and 68 percent say that it “saves them time” [source: Pew Internet & American Life Project].  According to the Pew survey, 81 percent of Internet users have used the Web to research a product they’re considering buying. In fact, 20 percent of Internet users say they research purchases on a daily basis [source: Pew Internet & American Life Project].

E-commerce levels the playing field for retail businesses. Making expansion much easier. Before e-commerce, businesses were restricted to either their states or to certain areas because it was too costly to set up offices in different areas.  With the coming of e-commerce, businesses has access to consumers anywhere anytime!   Even if you’re a small, home-based company, you can establish a global reach with a simple Web site. Anyone, anywhere with an Internet connection can read about your product, and even better, buy it! You don’t have to set up physical locations in different cities. You just need to invest in a good Web site design and the right online advertising to catch the attention of potential online clients.  A well-designed, well-written Web site can do double (or triple) duty as a marketing and advertising tool, a salesperson and a cashier, all wrapped up in one.  Plus the Internet never closes. This means that your Web site is working for you 24/7. People can read your marketing materials, test drive your products and buy them outside of normal business hours. Customers will love it! Giving customers control of sales process. Builds loyalty.

A topic of great importance to every business is SEO or Search Engine Optimazation.  This is the practice of getting your site to show up on the search results page when potential customers look for the products or services that you offer.  This is for very good reason, a very important part of having a website. After all, what good is a wonderful site if no one knows it exists.  SEO is also a very complicated aspect of developing a website and an ongoing commitment.  The search engines are all a little different and all very vague about what they use to rank pages.  So to best serve your business it is always best to not only have SEO practices set up in the beginning of launching your site, but to also set up a monthly plan with your web firm so they will continuaously update your SEO for you.  Ways that you can help is to have content rich with wording that you think your customers would be searching for.  Consider offering free advice or information on topics that are relavent to your customers.  One of the best ways to improve your SEO is still the tried and true element of time.  Don’t put off getting a website.  The longer your site is out there the higher it goes on the ranking because the search engines have had longer to index it.  If you can’t afford a big investment upfront, look into payment plans or start with a basic site and gradually add to it.

This is almost an obsolete question in today’s market.  EVERY company NEEDS a website!  It doesn’t matter what you do, how big your company is, or where you are located.  In a society where we not only have access to the internet at home and work, but now anywhere we go, compliments of smart phones,  the internet is the single biggest and most effect marketing strategy your company has.  Consider if you will.  Customer A out running errands.  While out remembers that needs product X.  Gets out his phone looks up product X on local search function of favorite web browser.  If your competitor comes up and you don’t, you just missed a sale even if he was sitting 2 feet from your store. Because he had no way of knowing you had what he needed.  This is a very simple example that can be applied to any business, whether a service or product based company.  People no longer drive around looking for what they need or lug around a huge phone book.  All they need is a tiny little device and all their questions are answered in seconds.  Your company needs to take advantage of this!  A great professional website cost a fraction of the cost of print marketing or human marketing, and reaches a much larger client base.  Even if you are not selling your products or services online, you need your business represented.  Click here to see how our firm can help you make your presence known today!