Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
Quote:
Originally Posted by hestonian
I like to know what shipping is up front. I don't want to have to go through several screens, inputting my name, address, etc., only to get to the final screen to find out what the shipping charge is.
It's only one tip, but, in addition to the great tips already posted, it's one I plan on using with my own site.
I'm the same way, I hate it when I go through the process of placing an order and then I get to the end only to find out that the shipping price is outrageous!
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TomandBunny
We also do vinyl cutting for stickers and for one off shirts. we have now on all orders off the site, we wait 1 week and we mail them a surprise decal for their car! this really has shocked people and has made them not only ask us for our cards to give people but they now come to our site to buy more shirts! we could send the decal in the same package as others have suggested, but we thought that unexpected envelope a week or so later with a nice thank you letter and a cool decal for their car window just makes a bit more difference.
Sending the goodies a week later is a great idea! Something I have noted and will implement with my website once it's launched. Cheer!!!!!
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TomandBunny
Oh, lemme point out. I don't like sites that want me to create an account to buy one shirt. I have been on five sites now that when you go to pay it requires you to create a profile. I just click the close button on my browser. to me that is a pain and I see no need for it.
The good checkout automatically creates an account as you need to enter all the particulars for shipping anyway... but it does depend on how it's presented as if it's a must then I don't bother, where as if there is an incentive to become a member then I'm usually more than happy to oblidge and sign up.
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
Generally I think even if you opt to not create an account, the account will still be made anyways and your information will still be stored on a server somewhere.
Unless this store owner keeps no records at all, and they probably won't be in business for long.
__________________
original esoteric art shirts
: : www.enclothe.com : :
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
I keep seeing "search engine optimized." Can you guys elaborate more on this? Do you mean have each tshirt design specifically searchable on your site? Or do you mean optimize exposure on search engines such as google, yahoo, etc.?
And as for Flash, my 2 cents is this: Flash has its greatest value for 1st time visitors who may go "oooh and ahhhh" at your site. But assuming that you want repeat customers, the flash will lose it's novelty, and if you're like me, you'll just want to get straight to the product! The less clicks it takes for your customer to puchase your product, the better.
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
One good suggestion for usability - do not make registration on the site mandatory in order to complete a purchase. Allow to simply pay for the items in one step (either PayPal / Google Checkout) or integrated credit card processing gateway.
Also, do not use payment gateways that redirect user to another site.
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
To add:
1. Contact information (on every page)
2. Privacy Policy
SEO wise - each page should focus on a niche.
Flash Intros aren't good because SE's can't read them, they take up valuable time(some viewers will click away) & they may be slow to load for those with dial-up.
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SunEmbroidery
To add:
1. Contact information (on every page)
2. Privacy Policy
SEO wise - each page should focus on a niche.
Flash Intros aren't good because SE's can't read them, they take up valuable time(some viewers will click away) & they may be slow to load for those with dial-up.
There are techniques to make Flash SE indexable.
As far as speed, you know, in 5-10 years from now there STILL will be people with dial up. Same as there still will be people who ride horse carts not trucks. You can't adapt to that kind of demographic forever. For example, I know that my t-shirts are a little more expensive then regular t-shirt price. So I assume that if my demographic can buy my shirts, they can also afford high speed internet. Plus I know exact stats on connection speed of my users from Google Analytics, and I know that only 3.5% of my visitors still use dial up. So I don't take them into account - and if I want a huge cool Flash presentation, I will have it.
My point is, you have to know your demographic and not simply make it a rule that Flash is a no-no because some users have dial-up.
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?
That's very true, it depends on your targeted demographic. For me, I like flash but would never have it on an ecommerce site, but my audience is not as far up the economic food chain as yours are. Most of my customers are going to be using dialup, or at the very least, the type that don't have the patience for loading times.
This is a discussion about 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website? that was posted in the Ecommerce Site Design section of the forums.
Re: 5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website? 
