Need to Register?

Xenyo · June 11th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdr8271


	1. Your customer knows exactly what youre selling and how to buy it within ten seconds. 2. Clean professional website 3. Search Engine Optimization

I think that is great advice and very to the point, however I am very interested to know how people think item 1 is best achieved.

1. Your customer knows exactly what youre selling and how to buy it within ten seconds.

Assuming that we design for a 800x600 res, it really doesnt leav much room for showing much. Do we cram as much of our good designs within the top half of the homepage, put out good photos of our best designs? Use text?

What are people's experiences?

Much appreciated.

Teeshirtman · June 11th, 2006

It's like having to watch the anti pirate thing before the movie starts on a dvd. I'm gone to another site before its fin. Very rarely are the good

Rodney · June 12th, 2006

Quote:


	1. Your customer knows exactly what youre selling and how to buy it within ten seconds. Assuming that we design for a 800x600 res, it really doesnt leav much room for showing much. Do we cram as much of our good designs within the top half of the homepage, put out good photos of our best designs? Use text?

I would say keep your logo/header small, and try to put some of your best products in the top 1/3 of the webpage with maybe a little leader text about what your site is about.

You don't have to cram everything into the top, but it shouldn't be to hard to have an intro and still have a photo/image of one or two of your best designs to draw the user in (the designs should be linked to the product pages for those designs).

Some sites go one step further and make their whole front page just images of their t-shirt designs with links to buy them. That lets the customer know right away that their site is about buying t-shirts and these are the t-shirts we have (ala bustedtees.com)

dub3325 · June 14th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by maryb


	skip intro sums it up

Rule of Thumb....

If you have to add an option to skip something.....it's not worth putting up.

Although flash is getting closer to becoming a web standard these days, there are too many sites that don't know how to use it effectively. I love flash, but only use it on request and for presentation projects.

Reason is.....if you are operating an ecommerce site, you want to be able to appeal to the masses. Some machines and connections cant support flash, and that is a potential loss of sales.

Bottom line....don't use flash.

chuck scott · June 22nd, 2006

all great advice, I better go look a my web page and put this to good use.

teetime · June 22nd, 2006

As said before, payment options. You will lose people instantly if they don't see how you propose to seperate them from their hard earned dollars. It was the first thing my buddy told me was missing when he first went to my site.

hongkongdmz · July 2nd, 2006

Do colours make a big difference? Also what about the background? If my designs are based on a militart style then i guess i should have military theme colours and maybe a cool background picture.

dub3325 · July 9th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by hongkongdmz


	Do colours make a big difference? Also what about the background? If my designs are based on a militart style then i guess i should have military theme colours and maybe a cool background picture.

Colors and your overall theme are very very important. Certain colors give off certain feelings so you do not want to associate the wrong colors with your theme. If your designs are military based, then it is pretty important that you stay with that theme. If you sold military designs and had a pet shop web theme, then it wouldnt really make much sense now would it.

bcgd · July 10th, 2006

No flash and IMO no pictures of your kids or pets; as a customer I don't care about either and, again IMO, it doesn't look professional. Save it for Snapfish. No music that blares when the page loads too.

Rodney · July 10th, 2006

Quote:


	No music that blares when the page loads too.

Man, I hate that. I've been seeing it a lot lately when reviewing sites. A big annoyance.

lawaughn · July 10th, 2006

I would disagree about the music. I think it depends on the market your going after.

Rodney · July 10th, 2006

Quote:


	I think it depends on the market your going after

I'm not sure. When you're thinking about an ecommerce site selling t-shirts, I don't think auto-playing music benefits the shopping experience at all.

But I have been known to be wrong

I just found this article that agrees with lawaughn! Looks like I've learned 2 new things today:
http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/...le.php/3608016

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecommerce-guide.com


	On the other hand, "Music is really important — the right music. Music is an extension of their identity. So when we visited sites that had really poor music, like short loops of music that was repetitive, or it didn't match the style of what they're listening to — then they're gone." In the view of teens, she says, a bad music track is like, "'Oh, it's adults trying to design for us, and they have no clue.'"

More here: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/...le.php/3608016

So I guess it does depend on your market.

Although I still think it should be optional (ie: you click a play button to start playing the music), but that's just my old fashioned opinion

monkeylantern · July 10th, 2006

The only market where music doesn't offend on an e-commerce site is the deaf market.

Solmu · July 11th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodney


	I just found this article that agrees with lawaughn

That doesn't say that music is good; just that music is an important issue and that bad music is bad. It doesn't say whether good music is desired or simply tolerated (admittedly toleration is more than I'll ever give it).

I can't be the only one who always has iTunes open when the computer is turned on...

Rodney · July 11th, 2006

Quote:


	That doesn't say that music is good; just that music is an important issue

Well, the article is about selling to the teen shopper, and adding music is listed under the "Key Rules", so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that they are saying music is good for that market based on their research

Quote:


	Examples of shopping sites that teens rated highly, both for design and ease-of-use, include CCS.com, Dreamhorse, Lacie, LadyEnyce, Pacsun and Wetseal.

Some of those sites that were rated "highly" have music that auto plays.

I know, it blew me away too

Need to Register?

Preferred Vendors
View Offers

Resources

T-Shirt Sites

5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?

Need to Register?

Preferred VendorsView Offers

Resources

T-Shirt Sites

5 Best Practice Tips for creating a successful T-Shirt Website?

Preferred Vendors
View Offers