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Part Two: A Site for Sore Eyes
Part Two |
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Written by Stacy Bradshaw
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Website Design Considerations
Part One of this article was featured in the
February/March edition of Canadian Florist. In it we outlined three
different options for launching a website. You clearly identified your
business goals and objectives, and decided exactly what functions you
want your new website to perform.
Now it’s time to develop a strategy.
Prior to actually creating the site, you must decide on a layout, design, and of course, content. But you can’t make any of these decisions lightly; each one should work to help achieve the goals and objectives outlined in Part One.
The main objective is to create an online experience that will eventually lead the customer to purchase something from you – either online or in-store. That means you want to focus on the elements that facilitate this buying process, and avoid the ones that hinder it.
Websites
Twenty and thirty-something customers are going to check the Internet before the Yellow Pages when searching for a business. If a full e-commerce solution is too involved for your purposes, don’t underestimate the need for getting a simple brochure-style website started.
What to Include
Name: In addition to an image of your logo, get the name of your shop into the text, where it’s searchable.
Contact info: Your physical address and phone number needs to appear on every single web page. Search engine traffic rarely enters your website via the homepage or “front door.”
Map: Obtain a map at www.maps.google.ca
Description: What makes you special, what do you do well, why are you unique?
Calendar of events: Promote sales, workshops, events.
Newsletter: once you get your site up-and-running and you’re comfortable with e-mail, consider sending out an e-mail newsletter offering customers care tips, coming events, reminders, and suggestions. Don’t send e-mail too frequently or without permission or your recipients will become annoyed.
Designs and prices: You’ll have a major advantage over local competitors if you can manage to add a photographic sampling of your designs. Customers can order over the phone while looking at your designs online.
Low Cost Options for Starter Websites
1) Design Templates
If a well-meaning friend or relative offers some web skills to you, or if you’re going to attempt to build a website yourself, ensure a professional design by purchasing a design template (for smaller budgets) or by hiring a professional web designer to create a custom template (for slightly larger budgets). By entering the information yourself, you can cut development costs and have unlimited edits and updates. There are hundreds of templates available on the Internet for as low as $58. Simply go to Google.ca and search for “website, templates, floral.”
2) Create It Online (Option B, p. 8, February/March)
Blog Sites: Create a blog in minutes and establish a place where you can communicate with your customers. You’ll have a web address to use on all ads and communications.
www.wordpress.com
www.blogger.com
Web Creation Sites: Using only your browser to upload images and enter text, you can build your own website at such places as
• www.homestead.com - Free trial.
$4.99-$59.99/month. Based in U.S.
• www.tictacwebsites.com - Free trial.
$19.98/month. Based in Vancouver, B.C.
• www.citymax.com - Free trial. $19.98/month. Based in Vancouver, B.C.
• www.iRun.com - Free trial. $39.99/month. Based in California.
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Design with the customer in mind
Do not underestimate the power of good web design. Ezra Silverton, marketing director for the Toronto-based web design firm, Ninth Sphere, says Canadians are more cautious than our U.S. neighbours when it comes to making online purchases. And it’s their lack of confidence in a vendor’s site that typically deters them. So whether you’re selling arrangements on your site or simply promoting your shop, remember, “perception is key.” A business with a professional-looking site is perceived to be both legitimate and trustworthy.
Basic web design principles dictate that a website should be simple to follow and easy to read. Even a seemingly minor design decision could impede the entire experience. Choosing a sans serif font (for example Arial, Helvetica, or Geneva) and maximizing the contrast between the text and background guarantees the site is easy on the eyes. Giving visitors the ability to scale type to different sizes ensures visitors with poor eyesight won’t take their business elsewhere.
As a design professional, you must also temper your (or your web developer’s) desire to showcase a full spectrum of web design talents. Resist the urge to use lots of images or graphical elements in your template. It means the pages will take longer to load. Save the images for your product shots, which should be viewable by different angles and sizes, with lots of descriptive copy.
Who’s navigating?
Unfortunately, you can’t be there to walk visitors through every step of your website. So you have to make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for.
Every page should encourage the customer to take some sort of action, whether it’s purchasing an arrangement on the site, calling in an order, or visiting the shop. Finding the phone number or the product they want to buy should be effortless. Otherwise, they can get frustrated and decide to shop elsewhere.
Che Borden, creative director for Media Eye Studios in Calgary, recommends structuring pages so visitors can find the information or product within one to three clicks. The more clicks or deeper they have to go into the site, the more likely they’ll get lost or stop altogether.
Jakob Neilson is one of the world’s foremost experts in web usability. On his website, www.useit.com, he recommends the following: place a “back to home” button on every page; make all the buttons look “clickable;” and differentiate between places the customer has visited and ones they haven’t – usually accomplished by changing the type colour. Also use logical, familiar web language such as, “about us,” “contact us,” or “add to shopping cart.”
Credibility = Confidence
If a customer lacks confidence in your website, they’re less likely to make a purchase. Silverton recommends four ways to increase customer trust, and therefore increase sales.
Have an SSL (secure socket layer) on any page that asks for personal information. This security technology reduces the likelihood of someone stealing the data. Silverton says you will know the SSL has been added because the URL will start with https:// instead of an http:// protocol. Display the SSL certificate on your site.
Consider adding the Hacker Safe service, which scans your host’s network for vulnerabilities. Hacker Safe offers graduated pricing starting at $500/yr for a small business. (Available at www.scanalert.com.)
Display your return policies, privacy policies, shipping costs, taxes, and guarantees. Display your full contact information, including phone number, e-mail and address on every single page. It reassures customers you’re a real brick-and-mortar business.
Keep it current
Keep your website current to encourage repeat visits. This can be accomplished by something as simple as posting today’s date on the homepage to something as involved as a blog.
Customers look to independent florists like you because they appreciate that personal touch. Show your online customers that you still maintain that individual approach by personalizing your site with a blog – news and information straight from the florist. It’s also a great way to showcase your new products and design ideas.
Special occasions also provide ample opportunity to refresh the site. It’s a good idea to categorize your seasonal arrangements and bouquets by both price and occasion, but when Mother’s Day comes around, draw more attention to those special arrangements on your homepage.
Follow up
Once your website design is complete, don’t ignore it. Silverton says it’s crucial to collect visitors’ feedback and evaluate your web statistics to determine the successes and failures of your design.
Usability testing is a way to measure how “user friendly” your website is. Hiring a professional to conduct a full usability audit is recommended, but costly. You can carry out your own test by asking a few friends to complete specific tasks on your site. Watch over their shoulder to determine where the tricky spots are and make the necessary improvements. It’s a good idea to run usability tests during the development process and long thereafter.
In his online blog, Silverton notes that overall e-commerce sales, (defined as orders placed online that may or may not have been payed for online) increased in Canada by over 35 per cent in 2006. He also notes that in a recent J.C. Williams survey, over 38 per cent of Canadian respondents reported buying something online and picking up their purchase in a retail store.
These statistics reinforce the point made in Part One of this article: whether you’re using your website to drive business to your flower shop or to sell bouquets online, the importance of having a strong online presence in the Canadian retail market cannot be undervalued.
If you don’t have the time or budget to launch a full e-commerce store, don’t underestimate the value of a basic brochure or pamphlet-style site as a way to begin establishing an online presence. For an overview, refer to Option B in Part One of “A Site for Sore Eyes,” in the February/March edition of Canadian Florist Magazine available online at www.canadianfloristmag.com.
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