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I have run an online shop for the past year. Although I only sell one product, there are over a thousand styles available right now. My products are high quality and low price. Most are priced $15.

However, business is not good because I only receive 20 orders per month. Is my product unpopular? Useless? Why aren’t people buying from my site?

I appreciate any suggestions from you.

Puzzled

Great question! I don’t want to disclose this person’s business website. However for the record, their product is for everyday wear. Though only one product is sold, there is such variety in styles, the seller can create a niche market. The web site looks professional and secure for shoppers. The web site also offers several ways to search for what you want.

So what the deal? Here’s my response:

Dear Puzzled,

Congrats on a web site that is well-organized and professional. It even looks as though you have optimized your web site for keywords pertaining to your product. Have you put your name out there? Submit your site to e-commerce search engines so that your products come up in their internet searches. Maybe you can even do some search engine marketing like Google AdWords. Promote yourself with press releases, news articles, email newsletters, videos, whatever you can think of!

Now another thing to look at…. the buying process has to be really easy, there can be no roadblocks or annoyances.  When I clicked on “Add To Cart”, a dialog box popped up saying “You Must Login First.” Then users must sign up for your site just to purchase a tie.

My suggestion is to eliminate this step.  Allow people to “Add To Cart” and to pay as anonymous guests. Then once you have gotten their payment/billing info, offer the option to save them as a registered user in your database.  I hope this makes sense, it will eliminate the alarming popup box that might be discouraging shoppers.

Well what do you think?

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If you offer an online shopping experience, these are sobering numbers. In the article 24 Ways to Get a Customer and Keep a Customer, you will find the top mistakes e-commerce websites make, and how to beat out your online competition. It highlights the importance of the search function and your landing pages.

WebProNews also notes that a study from the e-tailing group listed these as the most important online shopping features to customers:

1.    Product overview
2.    Merchant’s guarantee
3.    Stock status/availability
4.    Quality of image
5.    Customer service links
6.    Product specific information
7.    Long description
8.    Size chart
9.    Toll-free number
10.    Ratings and reviews

Not only do you need these features, but they must be functioning correctly and be simple and intuitive to use. Contact Mindspring Design today to install these features on your e-commerce website.

For the other 14 quick fixes, read:
24 Ways to Get a Customer and Keep a Customer

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Free webinar details the secret to web site success…

Often times web sites are developed by cool designers who have little or no interest or understanding in your business needs. What you need is a website that really works.

Mindspring Design is a cutting-edge web development firm. We know how to make a web site that generates leads, positions your business, and increases customer care.

Specializing in:

• web site development
• improving under-performing web sites
• online marketing

For your FREE Webinar: 9 Steps to Building a Small Business Website, or for your free consultation, call (856) 393-0385.

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9 Steps to Building a Successful Small Business Website
November 25, 2009 @ 2:00 PM EST
Enter Webinar Room Here | Sign Up Below
Dial In (International): 702-473-3463
Atendee Passcode: 646377

On the agenda….

1. The webinar is scheduled to last 30-40 minutes.
2. We will cover what small business owners need to consider before they even consult with a web designer.
3. We will discuss the main steps small-business owners often overlook.
4. We will talk about what we can learn from a few case studies.
5. And you will leave with an actionable plan to get your business website started or even updated.

You can sign up below. After the webinar, I will post a recording of the webinar. And I will also be doing a review of the free, online webinar software called Dimdim that I will be using. It is supposed to be a free alternative to WebEx, so we’ll see how that goes!

Sign Up for the Webinar Here:

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While visiting web sites of companies in my local area today, I ran into several splash intro pages. You know, those intro pages with big Flash animations welcoming you to the web site. Completely unnecessary pre-home pages.

NOTE:

This practice of adding a splash page is outdated. It also fails to add informational or entertainment value as 100% of visitors will skip the intro.

TIPS:

1. Web site animations should serve a purpose, help users reach a goal, learn something.
2. Animations which are purely decorative are annoying and useless.
3. Animations should give users the option to stop, pause, play, skip, fast-forward, rewind.
4. Animations and/or videos should also give users some feedback — as in length of animation, download progression, etc.

EXAMPLE

After a recent downpour, my roof leaked and ruined the drywall in the ceiling. What to do? Here’s an animation that’s functional and understandable. It is easy to follow, clearly showing the steps for repairs. It includes the text in addition to audio. And, it has the options to stop, pause, play, fast forward, etc. Great job! (By the way, I’ve personally worked with Easy2 DIY programs and staff, and they are absolutely great. Maybe I’ll do a review on their software…)

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Monitor conversations about your brand, and join them to your advantage.

A recent article in CNN Money’s Small Business section acknowledged the power of consumer-generated content. I always read blog posts and customer reviews before trying a new product or service.

Are people talking about your small business? Do you have any control over what’s being said?

Check out John Curran’s article: Track what your customers say about you.

And after that, set up a Google Alert for your brand to monitor the conversations…

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• Log in to your Facebook account.
• Near the top right side of the page, go into “Settings > Application Settings.”

• Click on “Notes.”

• Click on the “Import a blog” link.

• Enter the blog feed where it says ‘enter URL’ and click  ’Start importing’. (Figure out what your blog RSS feed URL is here. Or, you may just enter your blog’s URL — like www.mindspringdesign.com/blog/)

• Preview the content and then confirm.

Hope this helps!

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A pro blogger:

• Posts a couple of times per day (I know not all will agree with this one, it really depends on the nature of the blog)
• Posts lots of pictures (where applicable)
• Writes about a popular, niche market, filling a need for information
• Invites other voices/writers on the blog
• Holds contests and giveaways
• Stays up-to-date on the industry buzz, even attending/participating in professional events
• Develops series of posts that can be repeated with new information (informational series, story-telling series, tutorial series, etc.)
• Has personality
• Invites comments
• Invites photo submissions and stories
• Shares personal emotions, experiences, thoughts and mistakes
• Has many different, appealing categories listed in the sidebar
• Is a cheerleader for her supporters and views information sharing as a labor of love
• Coins her own terms, gaining an internet following and building a brand
• Stays mainly positive in tone

This is what I’ve noticed about this successful blogger. I will remain a loyal reader until she stops posting — who knows what valuable beauty tips I’ll miss if I don’t! Hopefully you can use some of her blogging secrets to breathe life into your blog.

Let me know what works for you…

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Effective website links draw the eye and spark interest. They encourage clicking because people want more. Click here is an oft overused link term which is nondescript and uninteresting. No one will click anywhere without a good reason. Get a $10 discount for commenting on this blog would entice more clicking ; )  If you want a “sticky” website that offers findable information, you need to write effective links.

Jakob Nielsen recently conducted a study (First 2 Words: A Signal for the Scanning Eye) based on their findings that web users typically scan a web page in an F-pattern. They tested 80 users understandings of the first 11 characters of 20 different website links. The most effective links followed these guidelines (excerpt):

• Use plain language
• Use specific terminology
• Follow conventions for naming common features
• Front-load user- and action-oriented terms

(Read the study summary here. You can also learn more by signing up for their Writing for the Web course at the Web Usability Conference. If you do any writing for the web for your small business, this is a must-do.)

Notice the F-pattern? People generally read the first few lines in a list and read less as they go down.

I did a quick little test on my own website. Here’s a truncated list of a few of my links:

• Learn more
• See example
• View Resume
• Contact Min
• contact us
• Web Design
• Web Design
• SEO/SEM & I
• Dynamic, In
• Web Analyti
• E-mail Mark

Not  too bad. Areas to work on: (1) Learn More and See Example are too generic. (2) And the two links starting with Web Design are two different links, but you can’t tell because they’re truncated. Other than that most links use plain language, are specific, or use action words at the beginning. So I’ll go back a tweak a few of my links.

HOMEWORK: Scan your website’s links (especially ones that are in list format). Without reading the context, can you predict where they’ll take you? Let me know how you make out!

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