Small Business Web Design

You may be thinking that brick-and-mortar stores and traditional retailers are "so 1990". But in reality they can teach you quite a bit about how to approach your ecommerce web site design.

Here are a few things you can learn from those Mom and Pop stores.

1. Identity and Trust - Offline, this isn't nearly as important as it is on the web. Customers want to feel secure in knowing that they can trust your store. Familiarity is one of the key ways to establish this trust.

Questions to ask yourself: does your website consistently flow with the same layout, design and navigation? Is it easy for the user to find what they're looking for? What safeguards do you have in place to ensure their credit card details are secure?

Having clear, easy to understand navigation and placement of your online store products helps the user feel more comfortable about trusting you.

2. Clear Descriptions - In a retail store, the customer can handle and inspect the goods. This isn't quite possible on the web (at least not yet!), so you have to be clear with how your products are described.

For tangible products - what color and size is it? How much does it weigh? How will it help me? If it's a digital product, like an e-book, how many pages is it? Can you show the table of contents on the sales page itself so that the user knows - in detail - what your book covers?

3. Immediate Satisfaction - Offline, the buyer can seek out an associate for help or questions. Online, this process has turned into things like live help, but old standbys like a toll-free phone number and an online contact form can help.

The customer wants to know that they'll be taken care of promptly when they order from you - and in case they have any questions, using live help technology, online forms and a phone number can help ease their mind when it comes time to checkout.

Now, take a look at your online store - do you have some or all of these features built in? If not, consider hiring a professional web design firm to help you implement these cost-effective benefits. In the end, your customers will notice and their confidence - and your online credibility - will both be higher! Best of success!

They're one of the easiest ways to get customers involved with your website -- feedback forms. But these simple web tools can also cost you customers. Fill out your web forms the way a potential client would - and see if you make the following mistakes:

1. Ask for too much, or unnecessary, information - It's good to have an idea of who your customers are. But asking them to fill out a form with non-essential questions (or too many questions) can cause them to become suspicious and back out of the ordering or registration process.

Here's how to fix it: For first-time customers, only ask for the essentials. You can let them optionally choose to create a profile with more details later - but only if they choose to do so. Requesting an address is fine if you want to send them a catalog, but not just to have "on file" in case you need it.

Phone numbers are also very touchy - you'll know why if you've ever been called right in the middle of dinner to take a phone survey or be pitched some other offer. And, while you may not use unsolicited telemarketing as part of your sales strategy - your customer may not know that! Bottom line: Be clear and up-front about what you collect in forms - and why.

2. There was a mistake - go back and re-enter everything again. Have you ever filled out a long form only to be told on the next page that there was an error?

That in itself isn't so bad - except when you have to re-enter everything again. If your form doesn't "remember" what the user typed in previously - you can bet they aren't going to take the time to fill it out all over again!

Here's how to fix it: Consider upgrading your form programming. Some forms, even on corporate sites, are using technology and code that could be easily hacked into or used for other devious purposes (such as sending spam or smut to their customer database!)

To prevent this, get a free quote on your web form programming from iElectrify. Tell us what you need and we'll reply with an affordable quote and a timeframe for completion of your project.

Plus - you won't have to worry about any of the aforementioned mistakes happening on YOUR site!

You'd be surprised how many websites - even corporate and business web sites - are missing a key feature that would help them generate even more sales. It's easy to add to any website and can be done in as little as 10 minutes. What is it? A feedback form.

Feedback forms - also known as contact forms, are used to let your visitors immediately get in touch with you about any questions, suggestions or concerns they have about your website or products. Forms like this can be used for more than just making an initial contact, though.

You can use a contact form to encourage your visitors to get a free web design quote, like I've done on my free web design quote page. They can also be used to let your visitors request more information - such as a catalog of products.

This ensures that your catalog, brochure or other product listing only goes into the hands of people who want to receive it instead of a blanket "mass mailing". It saves you money - and it saves trees!

If you have several employees with different functions throughout the company such as technical support and sales, you can use contact forms to route a customer's inquiry to the appropriate person.

Once you get a form inquiry, do your best to respond within 48 hours (although preferably, an e-mail reply letting the customer know that you received their note should be sent within 1-2 hours within receiving their message). You or your web designer can configure this "auto-response" so that you don't have to manually type out a message every time.

Finally, many spammers have caught on to the form submission trick and, if you're not careful - they can use your web form to send their junk email offers out to other people - sometimes even under your name!

To stop this practice dead in its tracks, you'll want a form that includes a series of letters and numbers (called a CAPTCHA) that humans can recognize, but the computers that send out these junk mails, cannot.

Now that you know having a contact form is a good idea - head over to iElectrify.com to get a free quote for your website design and form programming needs!

If you've been doing business online, but haven't been getting the sales you'd hoped, there could be several reasons why. In this article, you'll learn about the three major "sales killers" that can cause your ecommerce website to lose money - and what to do about them.

1. An Unattractive Website - This is hands-down, the most important area of your online business. If your potential customers come to your site and it doesn't project a professional look and trustworthy feel - your credibility is gone.

You can help build your online reputation by working one-on-one with a reliable web designer who has experience in creating e-commerce web sites. These web designers have often studied what "makes people buy" - and they can incorporate those "sales triggers" into your website.

A look and feel that matches what you're offering and looks attractive and easy to navigate will give your visitors peace of mind as they browse your products and make a purchase.

2. A User-Friendly Shopping Cart - How many times have you gone to place an order on website and found out that you first had to register, check your e-mail, verify your e-mail, come back to the website and finally enter your payment information to complete the purchase?

Having your visitor jump through too many hoops to make a sale can hurt your business. While it's important to collect their contact information, it isn't necessary for every single buyer to register first. If your shopping cart program does not make registration optional, consider using one that does. I highly recommend SunShop by Turn Key Web Tools.

3. Search Engine Friendly Pages - Humans aren't the only ones visiting your pages. Search engines also like to browse your products - although they won't be buying. Instead, they'll be indexing your pages and making it easier for people to find you.

Making this process as easy as possible should be your goal. If your shopping cart pages are plagued with long, undecipherable strings of letters and numbers like www.example.com/productID=1847yw98b938s3 - that tells the customer (and the search engine) nothing.

On the other hand, search engine friendly pages show the web address in a way that's easy for people to come back to - and simple for search engines to read as well, like www.example.com/products/handbags/leather

Isn't that easier?

With this in mind, you should now be able to look at your own ecommerce website and see if you're losing sales because of any of these profit-leaking mistakes.

If you're interested in having your website redesigned using a shopping cart solution - check out iElectrify.com for a free ecommerce web design quote.

Good luck!