Green Arrow Web Design Limited You and your ecommerce website. Don t think it will make your sales with no input from yourself or a professional Your Guide to ecommerce from Green Arrow Web Design
What is an online shop / ecommerce website? An online ecommerce website is a way for you to sale only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in todays world if your selling products you need to be able to sell online all the time. Remember not everyone works 9 to 5, and shopping for any products have to fit in to an otherwise busy life. So what is it? Your ecommerce is your shop window to the world, your way to sell out of hours, your window needs dressing, it has to look nice, but it also must be friendly and findable. You need a good domain, your best to stay with a domain that matches your name and has a.com or if your main market is the UK then a.co.uk end to you name, you could see the domain extension as you would a road in the real world, a.com or for the UK a co.uk are like being on the high street, using some of the new domain extensions are like having your shop in the side street. Treat your online shop as you would a real shop, the window must be fresh, it must changed so those walking past notice it and look, and want to come back and look again. When was the last time you went in to a shop that had no window display or a boring window, humans work on displays when buying, you need to show a great display.
Yes you need to have a great looking website, but a great looking website is not the only thing for you. You need the site to function and be easy to use. A client will not want to keep looking for product they will in fact do about 3 or 4 clicks before the user (your possible client) will run to the next shop because unlike the high street with your online shop the likes of Google or Bing will show your possible client a list of 1000 s if not 10 s of thousands of shops that are in a neat list for them to just click on another link to another shop and so you lose the sale It s a hard life. OK so you have all the above right, your home page looks stunning, that s great what next you may think just put it on the web and away you go, Not a chance! Next move on to your websites payment gateway, you want something that is easy for your customers and is not a headache for you, most clients when starting out go with something like Paypal, its easy to get an account with them just go to www.paypal.co.uk, its not for me to say if they are the best, they are the easiest to set up I would say. We use World Pay, they do come out and see you, there is a little more to getting the account but the cost is very competitive for a small business. There are many payment gateway providers out there and you must pick one that fits in with your business. The main online shop / ecommerce script we use is ZenCart, however we do add full custom design to it and can add extra functions as needed and subject to agreement, that s taking us of topic the cart system can by default (ie no extra cost to you) use the following payment gateways. PayPal, Sagepay, Barclays, HSBC, NoChex or Worldpay (many others can be added, please ask if needed)
What s Next, My Website is Built I Have a Payment Gateway All Looks Good! You guessed it its not just set up and go, what about adding all those product you want to sale, you don t want to spoil all you have done so far by putting poorly displayed products. Many providers will offer what are called XML files that will mean you can have all the products added via the one file, this is really helpful but remember it s a good idea to run though the website looking for poor descriptions and other errors that the providers XML file have caused. More about XML files An XML product feed is a system that delivers the most recent product data from the retailer to the affiliate (in most cases, people who have online stores are affiliates). XML is short for Extensible Markup Language and is a way to deliver data to users while still being capable of being read by both machines and humans. Online retail is based on a variety of trends and changes and product data needs to be circulated through XML feeds. Some retailers are slow to realize the importance of the XML Product Feed, and this can be the only explanation for insufficient results shown to potential shoppers when they conduct a search online. How to Set Up an XML feed Setting up your XML data feed properly is important. This file utilizes groupings of attributes that define each product from a particular merchant in a way that is unique. These attributes allow users to search for and find your products more quickly without too much effort. You will need to decide on the format of the data feed according to your needs and file creation abilities. There are two data feeds that are supported by Google in a couple of formats,.xml and.txt. Get Help from Professional Developers Unless you are a web developer your XML data feed is going to be something that you will need assistance with. Plenty of technology providers are ready to assist with the process. Some merchants provide all of the information already, so set up is easy, the general idea is to obtain data from a database and apply the right tags to it so that the data can be correctly interpreted. It is important to ensure that your data feed is accurate, so it is important to have the technical aspect of these feeds taken care of by a web professional. You don t have or need XML feeds, try the next page
Product Descriptions for those writing their own It is very important to write product descriptions that do more than just describe your products. Your product description must sell your product by enticing the person reading the description to say I need this product. So how do you do this? Put the Focus on that Ideal Buyer Write a description as though you are addressing a single person the ideal buyer. You want to write as though you are having a conversation with that person and choose the right words like you. The ideal buyer might have a sense of humour, uses certain words and hates certain words. Your description should answer any obvious questions that most buyers will have. Think about what you would say to a buyer if you were face to face with them and add that language into your product description. Avoid Overused Phraseology - Stay away from overused phrases like excellent quality product. Most people will read that and think to themselves, yeah, yeah, everyone says that. Try to be extremely specific by providing the technical details and benefits of a product. Adding product details automatically adds a certain amount of credibility to your site and it sells your product. You can never be too technical, add as much detail as possible. Appeal to the Imagination of your Readers It is a scientific fact that if a person holds a product in their hands it increases their desire to own it. When you are selling online your visitors cannot actually hold your products, so it is important to provide large clear pictures or videos. Help your reader to imagine what owning your product would be like, by providing an invitation to them to use their imagination and then going through a vivid description of the product and how it would help them. Start your sentence with the word imagine and finish it with an explanation of the way your product will make your reader feel once they own and use it. Entice People by Educating them about the Benefits of your Product Some buyers may not be very interested in just the specs or mundane features of your product, so it is very important to let people know what is in it for them experience the product. Highlight the benefits of every feature of your product and how it can help the buyer. It is easy for a company to understand the specifications and the features of a product and to get excited about them, but we need to convey that excitement to a potential buyer. Consider describing the benefit of each feature and how it will make your customer feel. How does the product solve a problem that your buyer has? Sell the product by incorporating it into an experience. List Social Proof Add an image of a person to your description when you add a quote from that person. This helps people to make a connection to an online company and to see it as approachable and personal. Buyers like to buy things that are popular, so be sure to point out which products are favoured amongst your customers, we can add functions for the website to do this for you. Make the Product Description Scan Readable Your product description needs to have a design that allows it to be easily scanned, and easy to read. This is more appealing to potential buyers. Use headlines, bullet points, plenty of white space and a large enough font to make the description easy to read.
What About the Product Images When you are working on the set up of an ecommerce site, one of the most important aspects of it is the quality of your product photos. These photos represent the products that you have available for sale on your site and if they are not clear, you probably won t make very many sales. The photos need to be captivating, look professional and fit well with the theme of your website. Here are some tips to get the best photos possible. Your product should be photographed to make it look natural. Jewellery for example should be shown on a person, being worn as it is designed to be worn. Would be buyers can better relate to products when they are shown in a natural environment.
Yes we are Still Talking About The Images! When you are taking pictures, a slight movement can ruin a photo with a motion blur. The closer you get to an object the more intense a motion blue can be. Using a tripod removes the chance of a motion blur and makes a big difference in photo clarity and sharpness. Natural light is the best for any photos and should always be utilized when possible. Photos shot in the day will generally turn out the best. When a light source is small in comparison to the size of the item being photographed, hard shadows are created. If the light source is larger than the item being photographed, soft shadows are created and this is the type of photo you need for product photography. When you use a clean white background it creates a total focus on the object being photographed. The infinity curve lets photographers shoot products against a white background which goes to infinity with no horizon. It is simple to create this type of background, simply use a large piece of white paper or a sheet and bend it up. Place the object in the centre and it will be the only thing that captures the attention of person viewing the photo. Choose a unique point of view, shoot photos of your product from unique angles so as to depict certain features. Take pictures close up or from different sides. The story that you tell will be with the images that you capture and the angles you capture can reveal different features. A Photo Can Tell A Thousand Words!
Social Media Power Once you have your online store up and running, how do you get the word out about it? Social media is an important tool that can help you to find more success and get your business off the ground. How can you make the most of social media for your online store? Post content regularly to ensure continual growth When you post content on a consistent basis you will reach the most people possible. Different audience groups tend to react to the frequency of postings differently, so it is important to have a look at engagement levels and test posting frequencies. Always use images for Facebook posts It all comes down to the fact that people like pictures. When you post something on Facebook, use photos to generate 50% more likes than a post without pictures. Announcements should always include an image too. Add Social Buttons When you create your product listing and description, provide social buttons to make it easier for your visitors to share your product information with other people. Impressions can be dramatically increased when you embed social buttons on your site. Blogs with social sharing buttons automatically encourage visitors to their site to share the content. Build your Brand Social media is an easy and effective way to build brand leadership with your customers. Blogs can help you to create a bit of personality and provide some expertise regarding certain topics without pushing that sale. Blogging about products that have recently come onto the market or upcoming events can be useful, but when you share knowledge and give tips and thoughts about products or industry news, people can t help but read the information. Being an active participant in community forums is another powerful way to reach out to a target audience.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Your potential customers are likely to use keywords to search for what you are offering on Google, Bing, Yahoo! and other search engines. If your SEO is well done, people enter keywords relevant to your business and see you on the first page of search results, and hopefully on the top half of that page. They click on your business name, and all of a sudden you have another new visitor. However, how do you get them to type the keywords that lead to you? By analyses the outcomes from particular keyword searches, you can get helpful information about indexing, and you can arrange your content appropriately. Never forget the SEO of your website! Green Arrow Web Design LTD offer a number of SEO packages, and via our associated business Green Arrow Consultancy we can arrange a custom plan just for your website project, a custom plan is the best way to do your SEO, if your budget allows for it, we can arrange easy payment plans to help with this. All that s left now is for you to give us a call or email us details on the next page
Contact Us Green Arrow Web Design Huddersfield England UK SALES & CLIENT SUPPORT Flat 210 Bankfield Road Huddersfield West Yorkshire HD1 3HR Tel:01484 318 361 / 0845 475 1991 Email: info@greenarrowwebdesign.co.uk www: greenarrowwebdesign.co.uk Registered Office Accounts Dept. Aberfan, near Cardiff Wales UK 29 Ynysowen Fach Aberfan Mid Glamorgan CF48 4RL WALES UK Limited Company in England & Wales. Company No. 09080835
Thank you for viewing our presentation This is all just a quick run through of what you may want to think about with regards to your new ecommerce website sometimes called an online shop. There is vast amounts we can do to help your website succeed and we like helping, our prices are affordable. What about you contact us if your not a client already and see what we can offer. If you are a client but want to see your website do better and cant do it all yourself contact Alan and see what we can do. Look forward to talking to you! www.greenarrowwebdesign.co.uk This Guide is to help you succeed with your online shop, it was written by Darren Tyler Internet Consultant, 18 years experience in the web development sector, Independent Website Consultant to Energizer Holdings, Director and owner of Green Arrow Web Design LTD, plus owner of Green Arrow Consultancy. I would like to personally wish you luck in your business.