Our opinion is that you don’t need to create the best website in the world in order for it to work. But what you do need to is to make sure that whatever it is your website is about, that it captures the users imagination and makes them want to find out more.

Visual appeal goes some way to achieving that and the level you take it to depends on what your website is about - but Coca Cola, as an example, have used some neat tricks so that when you take a look at each product in their range (http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/default.html) the screen zooms around to give a little flashy presentation.

You might not want to go to that level, but using techniques like Coca Cola have done means you can get a  lot more info on your website without overloading it. With only so much space on websites and impatient users that want things and they want them now you need to think very carefully about what your most important user-engaging features are and hit them with it straight away.

Carousels on websites have been around for some time now but the transition effects are become slicker all of the time. Users love to see slick graphical touches and when they get the ‘ooooh’ feeling they remember it, they’ll probably stay on your website for longer and they may even tell others - http://www.neteffekt.co.uk/email-marketing-screens.php

Sites like Amazon have the right idea when it comes to content placement by the way that after they’ve learned a bit about you they push more relevant content onto the screen by swapping out the generic place holder type offerings. It’s pretty basic but it makes me feel good because I feel like my web pages on Amazons aren’t like anyone elses. (Maybe that’s a little sad!)

This is definitely the way to go. Showing all users all of the same content each time they visit your site won’t give the user a feeling of satisfaction and it will become stale and boring for them over time.

When I use websites I want to know that the sites I’m using are learning about what I’m interested in and what I’m not interested in. It also helps refresh my memory when I revisit sites I’ve not been to for a while and draws my focus back to what I was last doing.

We’re already written a few articles on copy writing & content, email design, ecommerce features and usability that are also worth reading and they should help you consider how you can fine tune your users experience when interacting online with your business.

Don’t stop with your website and make sure that any other type of communication using email, social media, RSS or whatever else are just as engaging and are reinforcing your brand in the way you want them to.

One thing we all agree on though is that we want results and we want them fast!

Google Base may well help you do just that. It’s a free service, owned by Google, that enables you to tell them all about the products and services you sell - there are some rules and restrictions around this but it’s simple to do.

When users search Google your results will appear as ‘Shopping Results’ in a position on the screen that is almost as prominent as PPC.

It’s not a replacement for PPC and it’ll do nothing to increase your organic search rankings BUT it will definitely give you some fairly instant search visibility and it won’t cost you anything either.

Google search results usually show a screen with PPC on the right, and maybe at the top, and the organic search results down the left.

Depending on the search keywords and results Google may stick in Shopping Results on the left hand side just like in the screenshot below - the idea being that they’re trying to help you find relevant products and services in relation to your search terms.

Shopping Results inserted into the left-hand side

You need to give your products or services the best chance of appearing if you’re going to use Google Base so that’s where you need to follow the guidelines on how to submit information correctly. There’s no point going about it half-heartedly and you’ll need to optimise the content, price the items competitively, ensure image links are valid etc.

When the search results show Google selects a few products to show on the screen, if relevant, with a link to drill-down into the full results.

What’s also good about Google Base is that if you’re using Google Analytics then the traffic that Google Base generates for your site will be recorded as a traffic source within the reports - basically, you can see how much traffic it’s generating and how many sales you’re getting as a result!

Obviously, our v.stall ecommerce solution takes care of all this for you but if you’re not one of the lucky ones using one of our solutions then maybe this is something you should look into.

Click here for more info from Google about Google Base

As ever, we’re here to help so email us on hello@neteffekt.co.uk or call us on 0870 41 777 41 to talk more

But on the other hand, the excitement of whizzy tools like Google Analytics can sometimes mean that more fundamental things are overlooked in relation to how your website is performing.

Think about implementing feedback loops for customers and it’ll give you the best and most honest information around. OK, so some of the feedback may be a little harsh and some of it may be useless but it’s all information that will give you a better understanding of what your customers really want, what they don’t like and what they do like about your website. They may even be nice to you ;0)

We’ve picked out 2 really good feedback loop services than can help you make your websites do more and help to retain more customers. We’re not affiliated with any of these companies but I thought it’d be useful to pick out a couple of real life services that do the job. I do like the look of them both though…

Product Reviews
Everyone uses product reviews these days and it makes perfect sense to do just that. If you’re going to spend £100 on a shiny new thing then you’re going to want to know if it’s worth the money and that it can do the job.

You can easily find the best priced product by using Google Base, Kelkoo and other comparison tools but what you really want to know is what the people who bought it thought of it.

At the same time, you don’t want to cram so many product reviews into your website so that the layout becomes horrible to use and services like Reevoo have overcome this with a number of different ways to layout and style the process of capturing and displaying product reviews on your website.

For more info on Reevoo click here

Customer Satisfaction Surveys
When customers engage with your website their experiences can vary massively because of things like browser differences, operating systems, network connectivity, how skilled the user is etc etc.

You don’t have control of how they interact and the thing is, you’ll never know exactly what happened and what they thought unless you ask them.

Surveying customers can be really low-effort in terms of set-up and deployment and what’s great is that it gives you the very best information on how to keep your customers happy. OK, so some customers won’t respond and you might get some abuse but you’ll be left with info you and your team can really work with.

Shopzilla lets you set-up your own surveys online and they’ll collate and send you the data so all you need to do is make sure your customers are asked to participate.

We’ve talked about automated messaging on our blog before and if you utilise that as a way to deliver surveys using email to your customers, say 3 days after they bought, then the whole process can be automated and set-up with low-effort and low-cost.

…what you waiting for?

Seriously though, you should think about surveys and product reviews for your website. Even if you decide one or both is not for you then at least give them some thought as these could be a couple of things, which are relatively easy to implement, that are holding your website back.

Ok, so you’ve missed this year’s Christmas rush. But as we move into 2009, getting smart with what you do online is definately the best way to beat the crunch.

Make money online
Sell online. Free isn’t always the best way so choose your solution provider carefully - it’s all about SEO if you want to attract visitors so make sure the decision you make has all the features a successful ecommerce site needs e.g. Google Sitemaps, Google Analytics, content management, searchandising etc etc.

Get serious about online sales & marketing
Prospecting, customer retention - whatever you want to do just make sure you do it properly. Start an ecommerce site, start email marketing campaigns but keep it simple and keep it focused. Your business won’t won’t sell itself!

We’ve been working with stacks of businesses for years on ecommerce and email marketing projects and we’ve got lots of information and advice to help you do more online. Check out the other articles on our blog and read our website but most importantly - if your thinking about ecommerce or email marketing then give us a call, we know what we’re talking about ;0)

Worried by the supplier bills, salaries and all the other expenses that go with running a business, many are looking at ways to curb expenditure in order to weather the economic storm - and all too often the first casualty is all things ‘online’.

“Why should we be investing in Pay-Per-Click, updating our site or sending out emails when things are so tight at the moment?”

The answer to that question is simple, “because your competition still are”

Your competitors will have asked themselves the same questions you are. It’s worth while looking at the answers to all your questions, because your competition may very well be picking up on an answer that you may have at first overlooked.

In addition, you should consider that it doesn’t necessarily take a big investment into your website or online marketing campaigns to bring results. The cost of developing and expanding your online business can be very small in comparison to offline or traditional marketing costs of print, radio or TV advertising and yet still yield great returns.

(example: is it going to cost more to take out those ads in the local newspaper that will only run for a week, or improve the usability of your website and get more ad banners on a selection of your affiliate partner websites?)

A lot of companies often fail to realise the potential of their online commitment to their business when their perception of their results leads them to feel that a particular process wasn’t successful. This “marketing campaign didn’t work”, or “that banner ad didn’t work”-is what they’ll say. Why didn’t it work? What factors where present that could be effecting other areas of our business? Is the image of the puppy dog killing your message? Have we targeted the right people?” Even bad results have value.

Commitment means taking results and converting them into something tangible. “OK that didn’t work for us, …why? …Then let’s try this…” This kind of attitude will, in the long term, achieve more results because of the knowledge building nature of the problem/solution response.

examples of how developing change can cut costs

• Transferring traditional marketing to online digital versions (PDFs and so forth) can dramatically cut costs. By simply making company information such as catalogues, brochures, white papers available as downloads which can then be distributed via the internet  can eliminate printing and postage expenses which frees up budget for other departments.
• By using analytics tools you can discover whether your PPC campaigns are actually cost effective (something that some companies will hide from their clients.) Sometimes more revenue could be gained from attracting repeat customer business through email marketing as opposed to trying to attract new, unique custom through search engine marketing.
• Testing and adapting your website content can achieve massive results. From simply changing the wording of a headline or title, removing an image or changing something that was confusing your customers. It’s outstanding how small differences can have big results. But only by commitment and not being afraid to face some home truths can positive change develop.

Commitment and effort to any online activity should be sustained and energetic. Whether it’s an ecommerce website or an email marketing campaign designed to drive traffic to your website or solicit some other kind of interest or response, as a company you should believe in your goals, what you are doing, what you are saying. Dropping off with momentum will be seen by your customers and interpreted as you just don’t care that much. It’s understandable why so many companies are doing just that in this current time, but now is really the time to be focusing more effort on these areas of your business, as opposed to cutting them off. Your competitors may see this and use it to accelerate past you, using these uncertain times to their benefit.

Most web-based businesses see increased drop off in return when their websites stagnate. If you’re not committed to updating your site, bringing your users latest products, information or customer care, or making your website better to use, then they won’t be loyal.

By committing to your online goals you can achieve results. Adapting, changing tact and developing your methods for delivering your message may be called for, but this is to be expected as part of any realistic world view of marketing your business.

Through analysis we can see what’s working and what’s not and then adapt and change to fit the surrounding landscape, or even stand out further as maybe the case. But commitment to the fight is what makes successful companies stand out from those companies that fail to see the relevance in staying committed to online marketing.

If you would like to know more about why you should be considering more commitment to your online business then give us a call on 0870 41 777 41.

The degree to which software can be used comfortably by a wide variety of people, including those who require assistive technologies like screen magnifiers or voice recognition.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at why you need to make sure that your website is accessible.

In the context of web browsers, “assistive technologies” are pieces of software that help users understand the contents of a web page. Examples could include screen readers or braille displays for the blind or partially sighted. These work by reading the raw HTML of the web page and they don’t pay attention to CSS, (although there are now styles in CSS2 that are targeting screen reading technology, so it is worth bearing in mind for the future). You can give these users the best chance of successfully using your website if you mark up your pages in a semantically correct fashion. This will help the software and therefore the users infer the correct meaning from your websites.

Bearing that in mind, you might think that this sounds like a great idea, but surely it is going to cost more to take the time to make sure that the page is accessible. Won’t it require some compromises in design? You’re right to think that, because it will. However, there are two big reasons to make sure your pages are accessible. The first one is the legal argument.

Back in the year 2000, the organisers of the Sydney Olympics were successfully sued by an individual, Bruce Maguire under the Australian Disability Discrimination Act, because parts of the Sydney Olympics website were inaccessible to him. Bruce, being blind, used a Braille display and encountered numerous problems with the site. For example, images on the site did not have a text alternative specified using the “alt” attribute for the “img” tag. The organisers ignored the ruling and were then fined A$20,000. They had argued that the W3C’s accessibility guidelines were too new to be taken into account when implementing the site, but they had also ignored things like the alt attribute, which had existed since HTML 2.0.

This has world wide implications because disability legislation is broadly similar in Australia, USA, Canada and the UK. The guidelines were new 8 years ago, but not anymore. It is generally understood that you need to reach the “AA” level these days. You could save a bit of time and money and create a site that doesn’t follow these guidelines, but prepared to face the legal consequences. Better then to take them into account at the earliest stage?

The second big reason doesn’t have anything to do with accessibility, but rather search engines. Search engines use “bots” to visit your site and index the content. Like screen readers and braille displays, these bots are pieces of software that read your HTML. When it comes to searching this content, how it is marked up and the contents of the attributes will have a direct bearing on how likely it is the search engine will think your content is relevant. This is because the algorithms they use will try and infer more meaning to the content. “Reading between the lines” as it were.

Making your ecommerce website accessible gives you three benefits.

1. Enables more people to use your site and spend money with you
2. Saves you legal worries in future - the guidelines will only get stronger!
3. Improves search engines understanding of your site

Here at neteffekt we’re experts in creating accessible ecommerce websites and email marketing campaigns. Get in touch with us if you want to start profiting from the above benefits. You can’t lose!

Looking at the failings of your website is just as important as looking at your successes.  In order to keep ahead of the game, it isn’t enough to just be happy with the users that actually “converted” (that is someone who bought something or downloaded from you, or made an enquiry). You need to know why those users who didn’t get as far as buying from your store left at a certain stage, or why they fell short of clicking the “download now” button.

And what that means is taking a cold, hard look at what you have put online as representative of you or your company. What you have said, how you have said it, the way you have presented yourself, your company or your products online requires evaluation and re-evaluation in order to get the best results.

Many people simply don’t like to admit that they got it wrong.

Improve Your Website Success through Knowledge

Using tools like Google Analytics, and Website Optimizer, will help you learn about visitors behavior on your site. Where they have come from, what they have looked at, how long they have stayed on your site.

The beauty of analysing information like this is that the results aren’t emotional, they aren’t judgmental. They are facts. Pure and simple. And by accepting facts we can move forward with solutions.

Knowing the facts can help you to make decisions.

And we can help you realise those decisions.

Analytics tools alone won’t give you ALL the answers as they only work with facts. But marrying up facts with astute, critical and informed observations on your site will furnish great results.

If people aren’t converting on your site then we can help you to look at the factors that could be holding you back. Maybe your terminology is having an adverse effect on customers; maybe an image by a button is causing confusion?

By analysing website data we can look at improving the performance of your site. Maybe introduce an email marketing campaign to drive visitors to a new product or area of your site. Maybe changing a page title, article title or re-wording a description might improve how your website visitors interact with your site.  There are lots of things that we can do to help improve your website. We can help you to begin to understand who is visiting your site, what they are looking at, and why they are leaving. Amending or even just slightly changing relatively minor elements of your website can, in some instances, yield massive results. But only through analysis, questioning and testing can you achieve better results.

By working together we can use information to get a greater insight into who is out there, lurking in the woods that is your website, and with effort and thought we can get them to come in out the cold.

Benefits of Analytics

With the upsurge in analytics tools available, there was a time when it was quite confusing as to which way to go with analytics tools. With the release of the totally free Google Analytics the choice best suited to the average man was apparent. Although GA offers a wealth of sophisticated analytics tools, the reports can be broken down simply enough for anyone to understand.

Learning to use GA shouldn’t be too daunting for anyone who actively takes a keen interest in their website. What we encourage is user uptake from our clients in order to spark positive action and reaction on their site to trends, performance and results.

•    Did a particular email campaign encourage more visitors on a certain date?
•    Did more people buy product X after the banner campaign launched?
•    Or was there an increase in traffic after we advertised on Site A?

But of course, it’s one thing to have the facts. Doing something with them is entirely another matter.  Being committed to long term growth and development with your website (especially if you are a web-based business) is crucial in terms of reacting to website analysis.

But don’t worry; this isn’t as scary as it may sound…

Help Is At Hand

If the idea of using analysis tools, adopting new ideas and taking a new approach to how you deploy your website sounds all too radical, then do not fear.  Help is at hand.

Along with the wealth of information available on the internet (which we would advise you start to take a look at), we’ll be more than happy to help you design and execute your web strateg(ies), email and marketing campaigns. From advice on adapting or updating site layout, terminology, colors, and even content, we can offer help and advice on all aspects of your website functionality.

As you evolve as a company, so too should your website. Continually evaluating, testing and re-developing your website will go some way to ensuring you’re as close to the curve as you can possibly get.  That’s where we can help. We can advise and offer our technical expertise on all levels of strategic planning.

If you would like to discuss your current website and how you could improve its effectiveness then please get in touch.

The pages we recommend are important so please bear in mind, as with any content on your site, you’ll need to pay attention to what you’re writing, making it informative, interesting and something that your customers will want to read.

You may think theses few pages are quite obvious suggestions, however there are still many people failing to see why these pages are there, and ultimately failing to utilise them to promote the selling of their products or services.

about us
All too often the about us page of a website is either left as an afterthought which results in copying and pasting in some content from an old brochure - or very short and waffly overview that doesn’t say much about you or what you do.

The purpose of the About Us page is to give your potential customers useful information about your company that will give them the confidence to buy from you. When writing for this section of your website you need to bear in mind that your customers will want to see things that pertain to you as a company being:

• Reliable and honest
  I will get my products, when you say I will, and are they the cheapest?
  
• Trustworthy
  will my details be kept safe?
  
• Well established company
  who have you worked with, for in the past and any accreditations etc. How long have you been going?

• Contactable
  if my order goes wrong who can I contact?

The higher the cost of your products the more your users may want to know about your company in order to feel comfortable before they move forwards and purchase from you. The about us page does not need to be a massive essay on the heritage and the birth of the company. What it needs to be is a piece of content that supports the potential sale of products from your site by instilling confidence in the online shopper.

contact us
Quite often overlooked on the contact us page are the full contact details, especially when there are multiple departments available. Give your customers a rock solid point of reference for all contact options with you in one area. Telephone numbers for all the departments that are available should be available along with addresses (for instances where you have multiple sites or operations), emails and, quite importantly, days, dates and times when staff are available. Customers need to know what time(s) they can call you. If you’re selling internationally then what times can people in different countries call you?

You need to give your users as many points of contact as possible otherwise your users will simply use one of your competitors that give them these options.

Remember, the less visibility you give your users on how to contact you the more it looks like you don’t want to be contacted. What kind of impression does that give your potential customers?

Exactly.

site map
The site map is essential for users to be able to reach whatever they are looking for with 2 clicks. Hopefully your website will be that well designed and with everything arranged so beautifully that your returning visitors will have no problem in finding what they were looking at before, but just in case, the site map is an essential tool that helps users make sense of what is available on your site.

There are obviously search engine considerations and benefits to including a site map on your site however for the sake of this article we are only focusing on the customer benefits.

why buy from us?
Probably the most over looked a page that is often omitted from ecommerce sites, the message that this page conveys should appear throughout the site, NO MATTER WHAT! Why should we as consumers buy from YOU as opposed to ANY OTHER SITE? If you don’t spell out for people why you offer a better deal for them, better products or simply a better price, then you can’t simply expect them to know. Your potential customers want and need to be told what the benefits are of buying from you, and each benefit should be backed up with evidence that what you say is true otherwise the offer could look like cheap gimmicks to get people to look at your site.

This page should bring together all the benefits that you are offering your customer, which could include:

• Free Delivery
• Free Returns Policy
• Price promise / Price Match / Guarantees
• Useful product / service specific info

legal info
Terms and conditions, privacy policies, and legal notices are massively important in protecting your company from liability and the benefits of that are perfectly self explanatory. But this information is also very useful to your customers and omitting this information from your site not only makes you look unprofessional, it also gives the impression that you are trading illegally.

testimonials & reviews
Although many websites make use of “phantom” testimonials where the actual quote and person to whom the quote is accredited are completely fictional add absolutely no value, qualified testimonials from real companies and people (especially if these people can be contacted) are great ways to reinforce your company brand.

Unanimous testimonials don’t add any value to your site or brand as a whole. They are (quite rightly) perceived as totally made up and there for if you are going to include testimonials ensure that they are accredited with the person who said it and if possible try to include a link that will allow that person to be contacted directly.

conclusion
There are lots of instances where an ecommerce website can benefit from useful content. However every website is (or should be) unique. Many can look the same but each has a different company behind it, with different kinds of approach, customer relationships, goals, products and services and it’s your job to make your users understand what makes you different and why they should buy from you and not one of your competitors.

1. What’s the best SEO Tactic for websites?
   There isn’t one
2. What’s the best font size to use on a website?
   There isn’t one
3. What’s the best CMS?
   There isn’t one
4. What’s the best colour combination for websites?
   There isn’t one
5. What’s the best screen resolution for designing websites?
   There isn’t one
6. What’s the best way to structure websites?
   There isn’t one
7. What’s the best way to SEO page titles?
   There isn’t one
8. What’s the best keyword density score for a website?
   There isn’t one
9. What’s the best font to use on a website?
   There isn’t one
10. Where can I find a good image of someone in a headset?
    There isn’t one

If you’re struggling finding your answers then give us a call on 0870 41 777 41 and we’ll be glad to help

Here’s the final part of rules & tips to help make your ecommerce website a success.

20 Rules For a Successful ecommerce Website Continued

Image displaying point 11 through 15

11. Give Users As Much Information As You Can
Although it may seem like a daunting task when you have thousands of products, it is worth while making sure that your website gives users as much information about each product as possible. Different products have different criteria, however a user is more likely to stay on your website if you offer them a reason to stay, and giving them information regarding a product they are interested in is much more effective than any flashy design or gimmicks. For example, you may give technical information, what kind of “fit” a garment is, what size it actually is, what it’s compatible with. The list is vast.

12. Availability
Let the users know if you’ve got the product in stock, whether it is a special order item, if so, how long does it take to be ordered? This kind of information is useful for users, even if you don’t have it in stock you have at least saved the user the pain of going through the order process only to be sent an email telling them they can’t have it. Using this approach makes the user experience a much more positive one.

13. When Can I Expect My Goods?
Give the user shipping information. Let them know what kind of delivery services are available. Is there a charge? What other options are there? Some products may take longer to be delivered than others. This is important information and the user should be able to find out these things quickly. The information should be plain and obvious to understand.

14. Delivery Costs?
Show users the costs involved in sending them their products. Adding these costs at the end of the buying process can give the user the sense that they haven’t been given the full picture, thus they may not return. Conversely, if shipping is free, then highlighting this to users is a great way to secure sales.

15. Product Images
If there are multiple product images available then the user should be able to see them. Seeing a product from different angles, in situ, colour variations etc adds value to the product and increases the chance of a sale. The more images the better.

Image Demonstrating Points 16 Through 17

16. email Confirmation
Once an order has been made send the user an email to show them what they have ordered. This is a reassuring and professional process that also gives the user a point of reference should they have a query on their order.

17. Display All Order Details
Display all order details that are relevant to the user. Giving them the option to view all of their details allows them to check for any errors which can be costly to put right.

Image Demonstrating Point 18

18. Search Engine Friendly URLS
v.stall™ automatically inserts relevant keywords into urls so that the page URL is relevant to the products or category that it displays. This helps with Search Engine Optimisation whereas a URL with a long code string (lots of letters and nnumbers) is meaningless to the user and search engines alike.

Image Demonstrating Points 19 and 20

19. Highlight Special Offer Products
Making special offer products stand out is a great way to promote and increase sales potential of products that aren’t selling too well. Adding feature graphics to product images (as in example 19) draws user attention very effectively, and can achieve great results. Be careful not to use this approach too much however. If every product is on ‘SALE’ or ‘Discounted’, the user may feel that the prices have been doctored to just appear that they are cheaper than they actually are.

20. Highlight Keywords and Cross Sell
Highlight keywords that describe products as this will grab the users attention. The nature of web content is such that most people scan web pages drawn in only by things that stand out. Making keywords bold will grab attention, but consider also making relevant words into links. For example, one product may be compatible with another product. Linking off to these products is a great way to generate product awareness.

If you’re thinking about selling online or you want to discuss your current ecommerce solution then please call us on 0870 41 777 41 and let us help you put these 20 rules into practice