Category — websites web site design

When I first met Dale Miller of CanvasesbeGone.com she needed a nice ecommerce website. It turns out that Dale is a terrific woman who is both  industrious and generous as she endeavored to make just the right website for her customers.  When I got the flu about halfway through the job, Dale sent yummy soup from one of the online sellers of comfort food. What a thoughtful gift!

I thought that this gift of wonder couldn’t be topped, it was both delicious and beautiful, and oh so convenient for someone who didn’t have the energy to get up and make dinner, or lunch for that matter.

But Dale has done it again..This afternoon Dale so kindly sent a care package of my favorite things… Chocolate! specifically Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Cookies dipped in Chocolate.

It’s rare to find a client so easy to work with, not to mention one so generous and thoughtful as Dale Miller. Check out her needlepoint canvases at her website. Thanks so much Dale for your kindness and generosity, you make the world a nicer place!  …. Suzanne

Most people can not make their own html, so what they need is an online What-You-See is What-You-Get type of editor. If you’re looking for one try this.  After you have entered in your paragraphs, and used bold or other things to make it look like it should you can click on the brackets <> at the top and get the code. Use that code to paste into your form where you need some basic html.

You won’t want to try to make a website doing this, but for fast and simple html, this is worth a shot.

One of the most important aspect of successful e-commerce selling is a goal list. Believe it or not, retailers need to make a list and stick with it. Some of our most successful sellers abide by it. Sit down and plan, make a list and go about methodically taking the time to put it into practice in 2010.

Here is a basic ecommerce plan for new sellers and small shops with limited budgets, that will set you going on your Goal list.

Increase e-commerce sales by 50% this year:

Go through design and evaluate user-friendliness, make adjustments

• Focus on one or two products and make them shine, pick your most popular products
• As a customer, navigate your site in dumbed down mode, what do you see? Does your customer find the information they need to purchase your products?
• What are the benefits of those who shop with you? Put them right in front of the customer. ie: Fast Shipping, Easy Return Policy, etc.

Learn about SEO and make changes to Product Names, pages and improve content on pages.

• Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew. Start with products and label them with proper keywords, then proper content. Subtle changes like this can really make a site noticeable to search engines.
• Get the word out. You should at the very least have your items in Googlebase, which is free. Do one feed at a time and do another one next month.

Set up at least one Pay-Per-Click Channel, give it a budget of at least 1% of expected revenues.

• If you don’t have a few dollars to advertise, you should completely re-evaluate your plan here. This is a business. It requires getting the word out or going viral. If you are not a guru marketeer, then pay for some basic advertising in targeted places.

Set up and maintain an email list, and send out those emails once a month!

• Probably the biggest mistake the new site owners make is to fail to collect emails of interested parties. Our most successful clients use an email list religiously.
• aSending has a great, and inexpensive tool for gathering emails and shooting out marketing materials to your prospective customers about offerings, sales and new products. Use it!

Good Luck on a Great and Prosperous New Year!

I love this RGB color picker to easily identify the color and find the RGB code for it. Simple and straightforward. Funny but we have so many clients that ask for Blue, and we say, “What Blue” – there are so many variations of a color. Next time you ask for something from a web designer, take a check here to find out the RGB equivalent and make your web designer happier.

You want it When?!

Holiday Deadlines are here. Retailers that are interested in selling for the Holidays have about seven  days left to get online and running. If you didn’t already plan for selling this year, and have no web design, may we suggest you sell on eBay?

If you have a Zen Cart and have been agonizing about SEO options, take a look at Ultimate SEO. This one works well and despite seeing all the disclaimers, we did not find any issues with making our Zen install Search Engine Friendly and safe from wierdness.

Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Zen Cart made easy.