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Archives for the ‘E-Commerce Design’ Category

One of the concerns I hear most often from online merchants is the problem of Shopping Cart Abandonment. They wonder how they can lower the percentage of shoppers that leave their carts before checking out. In a study conducted by Marketing Sherpa this year, nearly 60% of online shoppers abandon the cart during the checkout process.

These are worrisome numbers and they come from a variety of causes. But this problem is important. You know how much effort is involved and money spent to get shoppers to your site in the first place. If you’ve gotten them all the way to the point where they’re in the process of buying, it is essential that you keep your customers focused and purchasing. Here are a few questions to help you examine your own site:

Is shopping your site quick and simple?

Navigation really isn’t much of a concern anymore; online shoppers have become more accustomed to the online shopping experience and are now familiar with following required steps. That said, try and spare your customer from the annoying ritual of having to fill out page after page of information. Many online merchants require customers to log in or create an account before they can even get into the checkout process. Instead of requiring your customers to create an account, offer it to them for a quicker checkout process in the future. This will give them the option of creating the account or continuing quickly through the process.

Have you shown your customers that your checkout is secure?

Place graphics prominently that will reassure your customers that their information is safe. Although your checkout URL is secure, your customers might not ever look there. Keeping a graphic or two in the design of the checkout can go a long way in making your customers comfortable with entering their information.

Do your customers know your policies?

Add links in your checkout process to pages that explain your returns, refunds, warranty and shipping policies. This will ensure that if your customers have a question they can find the answer. In addition, adding a toll free number can be a big plus. Customers can call for help, and the number can also help in other areas of the sales process, especially if you have well-trained customer service reps available to answer questions and offer advice on additional items.

Do you provide all pricing details before the checkout?

Too often, customers may not know the final cost of shipping until they are ready to complete the order and then see a charge they are unwilling to pay. This can be a very big concern. One way to eliminate this is explain your shipping charges prior to customers going into the checkout flow. Another solution is to give them the opportunity to calculate the cost on the shopping cart level prior to entering the checkout process. This could help to reduce the number of unhappy customers leaving the cart once they see how much shipping will cost. If you offer shipping promotions, make sure you advertise them throughout your site. If a customer notices a promotion for Free Shipping over a certain purchase amount, this can encourage your customer to not only add more items to the cart, but the free shipping makes them more likely to complete the order.

There is no single solution to the shopping cart abandonment problem, but simply put, the more customers know going through the shopping process, the more likely they are to complete it. These little updates can help. If you have tried something that works for you, please let me know. I would like to see how other merchants are dealing with this problem and what is working or not working for them.

The design industry has streamlined the way we create designs and acquire content. Long gone are the days of typesetting firms, photostat cameras, and wax paste-ups (though the venerable x-acto blade has its place… along side the first aid kit). Type setting and image acquisition no longer require lengthy waits for content providers or scheduled photo shoots. The Internet lets you gather resources for your projects within minutes or hours. The stock photography industry has flourished and the type industry isn’t far behind. These conveniences come at a price you can’t afford to ignore — Licensing.

Stock photography traditionally required close monitoring and has been licensed almost from the start. While often overlooked, license agreements are legally binding and with any signed contract, digital or written, you had better know what you are signing.

Fonts Font foundries and distribution sites thrive by offering online purchases. DaFont.com is a popular distribution site which allows you to quickly and effectively search for a font from several foundries at once. Once you have the font—then what? The License Agreement for Font Software on Dafont.com states that the font may be stored in one geographic location and stored on up to 5 computers. The font file may only be stored on one file server that is accessed by a limited amount of machines. The font purchased is available only to computers and geographic location and may not be shared with others. Once purchased, that font is to be used and stored by the purchasing company and no others.

For more options, you are often asked to contact the supplier for what is often known as an Extended License. These End User License Agreements (EULA) also state that the license is non-transferable. This prevents your designer from supplying the font or image to anyone outside your company. Clients often mistakenly assume they will have font usage rights after a particular project is over. This can create client and designer legal woes. In some cases, though “essentially not permitted”, some Eula’s do offer a transfer of license so that the font may be transferred to a new party. Obviously, these limitations cause great concern when dealing with embedding resources into an online document or supplying documents to a professional printer for mass reproduction. The EULA will often allow the printer limited rights (providing they agree to the EULA) where they may accept the font for reproduction and editing purposes only. They cannot be made available elsewhere after the project is completed.

Many people simply avoid the legalese and go with free fonts. Several sites on the Internet provide fonts for limited or unrestricted use, but even these have some form of license. Often you’ll see the term Freeware, Shareware or Public Domain associated with a font. These licenses can be explained as follows:

• Freeware is commonly known as software (fonts included) that is available free of charge.

• Shareware will allow use upfront with an expectation of payment after a limited amount of time.

• Public Domain often refers to items which are not copyrighted or have expired copyrights and are available to anyone.

Even sites that offer free fonts may have fine print such as: “If no author/license is indicated that’s because we don’t have information, that doesn’t mean it’s free.” This notice can be found on Dafont.com and is very clear in warning that you must never assume that a font is free even when you can’t find the license for it.

Many of the basic licensing practices applied to fonts translate to online stock photography as well.

Stock Photography Within the last 10 years, this industry has seen the bulk of its market move away from print and towards digital media. What started off as a means of selling “secondary images” or “location shoot rejects” has become a $1.8 billion dollar annual industry. The resource firms have grown in numbers and the added competition has resulted in higher quality images and competitive costs. At the same time, stock photography has opened itself up to new forms of piracy. A 2003 study by the Stock Artist’s Alliance in conjunction with PicScout concluded that 9 out of 10 online Rights Managed stock images experienced unauthorized use. Stock Photo companies realized they were experiencing a staggering loss of revenue in an online environment that was not monitored. Soon, a new industry was born. PicScout is one of many companies that monitor the web looking for misuse and blatant theft of licensed images. Collection from unauthorized image use is contributing revenue for Stock Photographers and even leads to repeat custom business. This is revenue that used to go uncollected. Stock Photo companies are keeping an eye on their photos’ uses, even if you aren’t.

The monitoring and enforcement of online Stock Photo licenses is now a growing industry. Rights Managed images are typically of higher quality and more unique in concept. The prices associated with these images are controlled by the author and usually vary based on the end use. Royalty Free means that you can use the image freely in a project without paying additional and often confusing fees. These images typically have a flat fee regardless of the type of usage. Both types of images have licenses regardless of the term “free.” That low cost image that you selected for your homepage was appropriate, affordable, and potentially on 10 other websites across the internet. Conversely, a premium image could cost hundreds of dollars for a single use on your homepage. It is probably perfect in every way… and only available on this exact location and nowhere else, not even your interior pages.

In this case, the Royalty Free images are common but attractive. Still, you are limited in what you may do with it and how often you may reproduce it. Some stock houses prevent you from reproducing their Royalty Free images on sellable items such as t-shirts or mugs. Some prevent the use of their images in magazines without special acknowledgement to the Stock Photo company and photographer. Other suppliers may allow you to display their images online but without any modifications.

These licenses, though similar to EULA for Fonts, are different enough to be required reading. Many stock houses will place the following restrictions on their images:

• You are entitled to a limit run of the image in a printed manner

• The image may not be used for resale purposes, such as on T-Shirts or web site Templates

• The licensed image may only be stored and used by the licensee. That is, the license is non-transferable.

Violating any of these restrictions will constitute an “unauthorized use.” In September 2007, news syndicate Reuter’s hired Attributor Corporation to monitor and enforce their online news content and trademarks. Maintaining the integrity of their photographers’ images and controlling where their content is published has become a top concern. Don’t think you’re too small of a target for Stock Photo companies to find. Online technology is advancing daily, watermarking technology is invisible to the naked eye and automated tracking via online “spiders” is becoming more and more common. More companies offer online monitoring and enforcement today than ever. Online licensing is a serious matter.

When dealing with a 3rd party design house or freelancers, be sure that they adhere to the license terms set forth by online resource providers. You will pay if your designer carelessly lifted the image from a Stock Photo company without securing the proper license. If you are caught using an unauthorized image, you will at least be asked to take it down immediately. More commonly, a legal injunction will be presented and the fees will be much more than the cost of the actual image(s) used.

Keep track of Stock Photo purchases as proof of ownership in the event that you are audited. Most Stock Photo companies will have an internal record of your purchase so your paper trail may not be needed.

Whenever you use digital resources like Fonts and Stock Images, review the agreements in full. Resource providers are businesses. They provide much needed services to our industry and earn their profits. This article focused primarily on Fonts and Stock Photos, but legal enforcement is not limited to these resources. Video abuse is a genuine concern for content providers. Rest assured; they’re watching you.

If you could put a price tag on trust, what would you be willing to pay? Trust plays a leading role in any business, but this is particularly true for e-commerce. People are connected to your business by the thin filament of the Internet. Trust is the core of its strength. Every interaction that you have with your customer, directly or indirectly, affects their perception of you and your company. Customer expectations and experiences have changed what we all knew as e-commerce into TRUST-commerce.

Whether someone has been to your website or not, they have a basic perception of you. Once you understand how to mold that perception into something which attracts them, you will create a loyal customer. Recently, the owner of Zappos.com was interviewed and gave his top ten lessons learned in over 8 years of online business. 75% of Zappos.com orders come from repeat customers. Not surprisingly, 5 of his 10 lessons dealt directly with trust.

Because customers cannot walk into your store and talk to someone directly, or hold the product in their hands and examine it closely, you have to go to great lengths to make your online business transparent. It goes beyond a simple e-mail address listing or explaining your privacy policy. In order to gain their trust you will need to put your business out on a limb. Without the risk, you can�t expect any reward.

Building Trust on Your Website. Clear shipping methods and rates, toll-free phone number, e-mail address and mailing address should already be part of your website. Here are three things that may not be on your website, but will play an important role in building trust:

1. Product Reviews - Amazon has had it for quite some time. Wal-Mart and Staples just added it to their online business. Do you have it? If you�ve spent a lot of time online you may be noticing that businesses are paying a premium for community-oriented websites such as YouTube.com and MySpace.com. The community is playing a larger role online than ever before and online consumers trust one another more than you, the �expert.� Put the peer reviews up on your site. Make it easy to build that trust.

2. Highlight Secure Shopping - One of the main reasons that customers abandon shopping is because they don�t feel �secure� in placing the order through your website. If you�re an experienced internet user you may see the little �lock� in the bottom of the browser, but not every shopper will notice. The best way to alleviate fears is to prominently display security information such as SSL encryption, cookie management, etc. Put a large graphic on your shopping cart that says �SECURE SHOPPING (read how)�. Take out the guess work and you�ll get that extra order.

3. Clear Return Policy - If you do accept returns, tell the customer exactly what to expect. Do not try to wiggle around the issue with some fancy terminology or hidden fees. If you can�t afford to refund the return shipping cost, tell them. To minimize the number of returns, create a return window by only accepting returns with 30 days of the purchase, or some other reasonable time frame. Your customers will appreciate how easy it is to return an order and you will minimize any customer service issues that may arise.

Your website can play a vital role in building trust with consumers. In the 2007 E-commerce Benchmark Guide from MarketingSherpa, one study showed that 58% of online consumers preferred customers reviews when shopping online. Use the trust that consumers have for one another to your advantage by adding features such as Product Reviews to your online store and continue building that trust through secure shopping and a clear return policy. Build trust in your business one piece at a time, one secure customer at a time.

You take your time setting up the perfect shot, you get the lighting just right, you take the picture and everything is great� except the color. Don�t worry, you�re not alone. The simple fact is, no matter how good your setup is, sometimes you need to tweak your images to make them better.

Color correction is just one part of image correction, a process which includes cropping, touch-ups, hue & tonal adjustments in order to make the final image look as good as possible. If done well, it is completely unnoticeable and will make the difference between a good and great image. There are two industries where color correction is applied, print media and on-screen media. We will be focusing on the latter.

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Your logo is a crucial aspect of your company�s brand identity. Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business. But what exactly does �branding� mean? Can it help a small business?

Branding is your competitive edge and your promise to your customer. It represents what your company offers that others can�t. What makes you unique? Are you the cutting edge maverick in your industry or the experienced, dependable one? Is your product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? The biggest branding mistake companies make is trying to be all things to all audiences. Who you are should be based on who your target customers want and need you to be.

Your website, packaging and promotional materials�all of which should integrate your logo�communicate your brand. Businesses too often change or alter their identity. This includes the logo, the logo colors, marketing materials and website, as well as other important parts of a company�s mission statement. This can be confusing to existing customers. It is ironic but true: when you become tired of your logo, tagline, and branding efforts, is when they begin to sink in with your customers. Branding, first and foremost, is about consistency.

Your Logo
The foundation of your brand is your logo. A good logo presents your company�s values visually. Discuss your company�s values, goals and information about your target audience to help your logo designer. Once the designer has a good idea of the image you hope to portray, he or she will use fonts, color, placement, size, graphics, and design motifs to convey this to your customers.
You Need a Professional Logo to:
� Establish trust and commitment. Many e-commerce businesses are run from private homes. A professionally designed logo can portray a reputable
image and instill trust in your customers. It shows that you are serious about your business. You may not have been in business �since 1908,� but if you have invested in your identity, you are more likely to appear reliable in the eyes of new customers. It is another step toward building that all-important �trust.�
� Stand out from your competition
� Attract more customers. Customers look for a well-defined company and �look and feel� may be important to them.
� Be more memorable. 40% of people remember what they see more than what they read or hear. Associating consistent graphics, text, style and colors with your company will help your customers to remember you.
� Explain your business. If your company name is difficult to pronounce, hard to remember or doesn�t relate to your products/services, you�ll need compelling graphics or a tagline. If your business is nontraditional or in a hard-to-explain industry, a logo can better clarify exactly what you do.
� Comply with expectations � frankly, in most industries a logo is standard.

What Makes a Good Logo?
All logos should use vector art. Vector graphics are geometrical shapes based on mathematical equations. This allows the shapes and text in the logo to be enlarged or reduced without compromising clarity and symmetry. Therefore, you can use the same logo on a business card and a billboard without sacrificing detail or quality. A common file extension for vector art is .EPS. Ask for your completed logo in this format.

Color is important to brand recognition, but should not be an integral component to the logo design. Logos should utilize as few colors as possible to establish the identity of the company. Depending on color to distinguish your brand is very risky. What if the logo is faxed or photocopied? Will your logo maintain your company�s image accurately? Many designers will show you the logo concept in black and white before they add color. This is a good idea. Be satisfied with the other important elements of the design before adding color.

This is also the reason your logo should not contain any gradients as a major feature. If your heart is set on creating a logo using gradients, I suggest making a �web� version of your logo and another version of the logo without using the gradients for your print materials. Your logo should convey the same message with or without gradients or color.

A good logo should be able to maintain its integrity when printed in any size. Also, consider the various fabrics or materials where your logo may be printed in the future (e.g. clothing, pens, coffee mugs, hats, etc). Will the shape of the product distort your logo?

A tagline added to a logo can create a memorable phrase summing up the tone of a brand or product, or to make your company more memorable. If your name needs explaining, a tagline is a good way to tell people exactly who you are, what you do, and why they should care (e.g. the company Skygeek has a tagline of: Our parts fly, but our prices are grounded).

The most important aspect of logo design is making it unique and memorable. It doesn�t have to be complex or flashy to attract your customers� attention. In fact, many of the best designed logos are memorable because they�re simple (e.g. McDonald�s, Nike, FedEx).

Guidelines
In addition to the elements outlined above, there are several guidelines for logo design which are simply common sense. For example, a logo should not feature the face of a person that is still alive. Additionally, a logo should never include imagery that could be classified as culturally sensitive. This could range from national flags to religious icons. Finally, a quality logo design will never rely on photography, clipart or other forms of complex imagery.

Types of Logos
1. Text-Based Logos
Visually, text logos are very simple, clean logos that aren�t cluttered with heavy visuals and graphics. These logos are favored by many Fortune 500 corporations. The apparent simplicity of text-based can be misleading as these logos can be enormously difficult to design.

Text-based logos include the company name (and/or URL) in uniquely styled type font that accurately represents the company while still appealing to the target audience who will be buying their product or service.

A main reason to consider using a text based logo is for legibility and ease of recognition, even when the size of the logo is reduced (e.g. for printing your business cards).

2. Iconic Logos
Iconic logos feature simplified graphics (symbols) that reflect an aspect of the company. The symbol can be used by itself, with text, or the text can be integrated into the icon.

An icon is never a photograph or a life-like representation of an object. Instead, it is simple and clever and connects us to the company�s name, its products or services. Other iconic logos often include geometric shapes, simple patterns, or initials representing the company or the company name. It may also create an entirely new symbolic meaning (e.g. we did not originally associate the Nike �swoosh� with the company, but now we do).
In order for an icon to be a truly effective logo, it should be easily recognizable and memorable, while remaining clear when reproduced in small sizes.

3. Illustrated Logos
Illustrated logos are much more elaborate and detailed than iconic logos and should inspire awe in the intended audience. Illustrated logos should provide accurate representation of some aspect of the company or product portrayed. This can be the name, the business concept or a character/mascot. Illustrated logos can often brand the company by use of the illustrations alone.

A strong, unique, professional logo defines your brand identity. It can inspire trust and commitment in your customers and differentiate you from your competition. Your logo should represent the values of your company and the image you portray to the general public.

Intellectual property protection has become an increasingly hot topic throughout the rise of the Internet. However, while e-merchants spend countless hours and money in developing their website content, they often overlook adequately protecting that content. Such protection can be invaluable in the long run. Of the intellectual property protections that are available, one of the most misunderstood and overlooked by e-merchants is that of copyright.

Copyright is a form of legal protection provided for original works of authorship and protects a large variety of intellectual works such as movies, music, books, plays, paintings, poetry, sculptures, photographs and architectural designs. Under most circumstances, a copyright owner is granted an exclusive bundle of rights in their work, including the right to make and distribute copies of the work, lease the work, create derivative works, and perform and display the work publicly. More importantly, it is generally illegal for others to violate any of these rights. As this typically applies to e-merchants, they can be entitled to copyright protection for the text, photos and artwork appearing on their website, including product photos, product descriptions and other related content.

There are several basic requirements for a work to be entitled to copyright protection. The work must be original, it must be the result of at least some creative effort on the part of its author, and it must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Original work must be independently created by the author, regardless of whether the creation is similar to already existing works, or even if it is lacking in artistic merit. For a work to be the result of at least some creative effort, it must simply display a modicum of creativity on the part of the author. Finally, the work must exist in some physical form for at least some period of time, even if brief. Once these elements are established no other action is required for copyright and the work is essentially protected from unauthorized copying. However, registration with the U.S. Copyright Office provides advantages that are not automatically inherent at creation and are truly necessary to sufficiently protect the copyright owner.

Registering with the Copyright Office is worth the time and money. In most cases a copyright owner cannot even bring a claim against an infringer without first having registered their copyrights. Additionally, registration establishes a public record of the copyright. This puts potential infringers on notice and will establish evidence of the validity of the copyright in court. Moreover, if registration is made prior to an infringing use of content or within three months after publication of the content, statutory damages and reimbursement of attorney’s fees are available to the copyright owner. Otherwise, the copyright owner will only be entitled to an award for actual business loss, which is difficult to ascertain and even more difficult to prove in court.

It is absolutely vital for e-business operators to register their copyrights in order to truly protect their interests. The Internet presents a myriad of challenges with respect to unauthorized duplication of copyrighted content and other forms of unfair competition. Increasingly, competitors are copying e-merchants’ original content and using it for their own gain, resulting in lost profits, reduction in market share and other substantial damages, making copyright registration more important than ever.

Particularly important for e-merchants search engines allocate extra weight to unique content. If someone copies the content, it is no longer unique and can affect a website’s search engine rankings. Also, unique content distinguishes websites from their competition. Therefore, e-merchants must register their websites and related content with the Copyright Office. Unique and quality content takes time, energy and money to develop and it is critical for e-merchants to protect it.

Products benefit from 360 treatment when, literally, “pictures are worth a thousand words.” Customers can become immersed in the product. Conversely, using a 360 product view at the wrong time or on the wrong product will distract customers from their ultimate goal - purchasing. No one wants to see a rotating trash can, but a digital camera with unique features could help finicky customers avoid reading endless product specs. Remember, the goal isn’t to showcase one cool feature; it is to showcase a complex product.

I recommend no fewer than 8 photographs and no more than 16. The more slowly the product rotates, the more images you’ll need to make the rotation believable. If your customers don’t have fast Internet connections, forcing them to download multiple images could test their patience.

Here is a sample of the script in action! See it in 360°

 

You may download the sample image files used in this article if you’d like to play around with the feature before building your own.

Click here to download a step-by-step PDF Guide.

I write this piece, or something like it, every year at about this time. This is the pre-holiday rush for e-commerce operators. This is when they have to decide what, if anything, they should do with their websites to be ready for the holiday season. This is when I remind people to take a look around their site as they might if it were a brick-and-mortar store. Then ask, is it fresh? Is it current? Does it answer the questions customers will ask? Will it sell what I offer?

Change is Key
It is important to redesign your website every 2 years at the most. I promise this is not my mantra. I admit it is self-serving for my business, but it is still true. It is critical to demonstrate to your customers that your site is state of the art. It’s what they expect. Don’t be fooled by the fiction that cyberspace is huge with a shopping pool to match. The fact is, your business will rise or fall on your regular customers. If your site is stale, the regulars will notice. And while they may be familiar and they may be regular, they may also assume because the site is the same that your products haven’t changed either.

“Greekgear.com needed a redesign for a simple reason. Websites need to look fresh and hip for their customers. Make no mistake, our business is doing great. But my wife’s family has a brick-and-mortar store, and they update every two or three years. The fact is the Internet is changing. More people are shopping online, and they expect us to change, just like conventional stores.”
— Joe Tantillo, Greekgear.com

The Sooner the Better
Only you will decide if it’s time to redesign, but here’s a hint. Ask your friends, confidants and others whom you trust to visit your site. Ask them for their impressions. If they are regular surfers and they aren’t impressed, that’s a sign. If you have an area for customer feedback and comment, monitor it. What are your people saying about you? Another hint is the mirror test. Ask yourself, “is my site still hot compared to the others in my industry?” If the answer is anything short of a resounding—YES!—you have your answer, don’t you?

There are two other, more practical reasons to strike sooner than later. First, you want your shoppers to be used to your new site. So it’s best to be up BEFORE they start buying for the holidays. Second, and perhaps equally important, if you have made improvements in your site content with respect to the search engines, you’ll want to give the site time to move higher in the search rankings

Improve the Process
Redesigns help improve conversions in several ways. First, any redesign should make your site work better. Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, so it’s a good idea to update your site with a cleaner code that will help optimize your site for good rankings.

You should also take advantage of newer features that might not have been available in the past. Remember, it was only a few years ago that we didn’t have airbags in cars. Now they’re standard equipment, As Products Reviews are now an integral part of the online shopping experience. If you don’t have the feature you should definitely add it. Checkout design has improved dramatically as well in the last couple of years. These improvements make it better for your shoppers. You can’t afford not to investigate them.

Over the years, you probably have added a lot of piece-mail items to your site. They may not all be tied together as tightly as they should, so a redesign will help make them look like they belong together. Of course any redesign should also make your site and products more attractive.

Watch Your Back!
Big brand sites have evolved. It is more important than ever to pay attention to what the 800 pound gorillas are doing in your industry. You should benefit from their millions of dollars in market research. But as those sites evolve, yours should too. Please don’t take this “monitoring” as encouragement to rip the competition off – it’s important to be original and unique. Still, there is a lot to be learned from the major retailers. The fact is, large or small your competition has gotten better over the years and a redesign will once again set you apart.

Watch Your Bottom Line
Redesigns can also help with cross selling and increasing the average dollar value of each order. A well-designed site is intriguing as well. It will interest shoppers and help convince them to dig more deeply into your store. When they do they may discover other products of interest.

I hate when I say this because it is so self-serving, but I don’t care. It’s true. Do NOT be fooled by today’s success. No matter what industry you’re in, the brick-and-mortar big boys are waking up. They didn’t succeed in old retail by accident and they’ll expect to succeed in cyberspace. Your advantage is that you were out here first. Make sure you keep that advantage. Redesign to stay fresh, to stay nimble and to stay successful. And most of all, believe that old sports adage: “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.”

“Perfection is not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
The above statement is especially relevant in relation to web design and its best practices. Too often websites are built for design’s sake only. Websites loaded with flair and dazzling details can draw more attention to themselves than to the site’s message and purpose.

When More is Less
Remember—we are not hanging websites on our walls, we are delivering content. When approaching the design phase of your website, it’s easy to get lost in the details and forget about the end user. The sad reality is that most users are not interested in the “art” of your website. What they do care about is getting relevant information quickly and then moving on. Decorative designs might attract amateurs or first time buyers but they will only annoy regular online shoppers. Great web design delivers and communicates information by making it obvious. Ironically, a great web design that successfully communicates without distracting the readers or shoppers attention is too often overlooked and considered plain, boring, or unimaginative.

This is not to discourage creative and visual web design but instead to encourage the benefits of context. The key is the knowledge of what distinguishes the differences between all forms of design verses art. That difference is communicating its purpose. By all means, strive to have an original website which delivers style, intrigue and emotion. Bad design is not original and it plagues the web. Look around and you are bound to find far more badly designed sites and content presentation than you are clear and presentable websites.

What Works?
Do some homework and investigate successful e-commerce websites or websites you already like. The best way to determine what works for them and what might work for you is to adopt the role of a shopper. Was it the flash animation and spinning logo with the dropped shadow text that kept you there? Was it the chaotic color choices and unreadable small type that made you want to shop? Maybe it was waiting for the images to load and the 3D menu. Or was it the ability to navigate to the product you were interested in and having that product be available at a price that was reasonable all the while being visually pleasing?

Nine out of ten times everything in the right context - design, functionality and content- is what kept you as a returning customer.

Know Your Design Goals
Assuming you already have a business plan in place, create a list of objectives and goals and pass those details on to your designer. The more information you can provide about your vision the better. Allow the designer to create a visual representation of your purpose for you. It goes without saying that learning to trust your design team has to be earned, even if only on the merits of their previous work. Trust does have to happen in order for “everything in the right place” to work successfully.

When planning for your web design or communicating your visions to the design team, focus on the information first. Too many times keywords like “pretty,” “cool,” “stylish” and “super-duper” over step the website’s purpose. For e-commerce, the concentration should be on how your products are displayed and organized.

How easy will it be for the average user to navigate, check out and get to the shopping cart? Believe it or not, this is as relevant to web design as it is to web programming.

Key Areas of Concentration:
1. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) - Do not rely on a design that makes your user think. Choose a design that is clear. If the user can not find the direction and order they need, they will soon grow exasperated and give up.

2. Use a Strong Color Scheme - Two or three colors relating to your brand and “feel” should be sufficient. Too much color can distract instead of deliver. The repetitiveness and creative use of color placement within the design can be a visual guide for the user. It can also create a familiar and comfortable atmosphere, all while highlighting your brand.

3. Use Decorative Fonts Sparsely - There are many benefits of using real text over decorative image fonts for areas of your website. Search engine optimization, typography control (ability to change text, color, and size), offering the ability to copy and paste text, bandwidth usage, and so on. If you are going to reply on decorative fonts within your design keep them to minimal usage. For instance, decorative fonts work well for headlines and logos, but it is best not to use an image-based menu system. All menus should be dynamic and editable. Briefly, web design and print design are two different monsters; your design should allow interaction and administrative modification. There are plenty of creative ideas to get html typography to present itself in an original way. Although the choices seem slim, readable fonts are the default for the web for a reason. Using them does not stifle originality; it enforces usability and encourages creativity for any professional design team.

Remember Your Customers
Do not underestimate a creative logo, header and color scheme with original content presentation. By keeping web design decoration and flair to a minimum and focusing on the overall purpose of the website you are allowing the customer to focus on the product. Great web design should almost be transparent, or at least fluent enough to deliver that product and/or a company’s brand by enhancing it but not over taking it. Delivering a clear and coherent whole effect with a relevant and appropriate web design is a key element to a website’s success.

Displaying Your Wares A good picture of your product has been proved to help you make that sale in cyberspace. Now virtually all tangible products require a good picture in order to successfully sell online. The idea is to display a product’s best features to its best advantage. Your picture should not only show what the particular product is, but also show important details of the product and look pleasing. However, the sword cuts both ways. While creative photography can make your product look better, it is important to create a genuine representation or customers may be very disappointed. If you decide to do it yourself, the following hints will help.

Doing it Yourself — An enormous amount of money and time can go into photographing merchandise. For taking your own pictures, read on for some pointers from experts. We just want to show you how to take good pictures of small products with a simple setup and relatively inexpensive equipment.

Getting Started — Before photographing a product, you should spend time thinking about how you want to present it. What kind of emotional response do you want to get from a prospective buyer? Beyond that, you need to consider the following:

• Item’s size, texture, and surface material.
• Reflective surfaces must be carefully lit.
• Do you need to capture small details?
• Will any other items be in the photo, such as related products or props?
• What color background is appropriate?

The Camera — The camera you use can be either digital or film, but digital has clear logistical advantages. If you use a film camera you will need to develop the film and then scan the negative or print before uploading. Digital cameras by contrast give you an image which can be uploaded to your web site instantly.

Taking a Clear Picture Steady… — The easiest way to ruin a photograph is to move the camera while taking the picture. We have all done this at one time or another, creating a blurry image. You don’t have to move the camera much to disturb the clarity of the final image. The camera will record even the slightest hint of movement while the shutter is open. A sturdy tripod will hold the camera still while the shutter is open and the image is being recorded. If you don’t have a tripod — improvise! Use the back of a chair or a table top… almost any surface that can help you hold the camera steady while the picture is being taken will help to improve the clarity of the photograph.

Film Speed — Use a higher speed film - The higher the ISO rating of the film the faster the film. So, 400 speed film is twice as fast as 200 speed film. The higher the ISO number, the shorter the time the shutter is open and the less influence camera shake will have on the finished photograph.

Working with Your Product’s Texture and Shape Glare — Glass, ceramics, plastic and metals usually reflect light, so you have to watch for glare spots. Use indirect flash by “bouncing” your flash unit. I usually bounce toward a white colored ceiling. Be sure that the ceiling you are pointing the flash at isn’t textured or yellowish. This will create odd-shaped shadows or a strange color cast on your product. You don’t need expensive flash units. An on-camera “speedlight” pointed slightly away from the item, or directly up will do just fine. The combination of 2 indirect light sources prevents harsh shadows.

Temperature Warmth — The easiest way to convey warmth in a product is to put it near a soft textured object or background. Objects that are naturally ‘warm’ aren’t very reflective and include paper, wood and fabric. With ‘warm’ materials, a modest amount of shadow is appropriate.

Coldness — Colder products include metallic and reflect objects. Products including cold colors (such as gray or blue) should be arranged near a soft textured object or background to balance the temperature.

Background Color & Texture — White, gray or blue backgrounds work well with most subjects. It is always best to use a solid, non-dominant background color so that your product will be emphasized more than your background.

Choose a smooth matte finish texture. This can be seamless paper or poster board. It should be flexible so you can slope it behind the subject eliminating a harsh horizontal line behind the subject. Shooting tables are made just for shooting small products. If you plan on doing a lot of product shots you may want to look into purchasing one of these.

Lighting and Shadow What Type of Light Bulbs to Use — Tungsten-filament bulbs are the most widely used light source in the world. Be careful because they will burn your hands if they are unscrewed while lit. The bulbs are infamous for generating more heat than light. On the plus side, tungsten’s continuous light (or Hot Light) is very helpful for product shots. Flood lights are economical for small jobs, but the bulbs don’t last long and they change color as they age. If you are using a two light set-up, when one bulb goes out it is best to change both so they are the same color and brightness. Quartz bulbs will last much longer and not change color with time, but they will cost more initially. Also, some quartz lights are brighter than flood lights.

Positioning — Avoid moving these lights around when they are hot, because vibration will break the filament and cause the bulb to go out. These lights are very hot, so be careful and turn them off if you leave the room. Also, if you are using a film camera, purchase a blue filter to balance the film for the tungsten light or use tungsten balanced film. Tungsten film is usually slide film, though more recently tungsten-balanced print film has become available. When shot under daylight conditions, tungsten film takes on a very blue color cast. KODAK Ektachrome 1 GOT Prof. is a good, economically priced tungsten-balanced film to use. However, using a digital camera will eliminate this issue completely. If you are going to photograph and download your own product images on a continuing basis, you are probably best served to have a digital camera.

Managing Lights — Set your main light up so it is about level with the camera (or slightly above). The fill light (or reflector) should be set off to the side and slightly behind the subject. If your subject has a rough texture you want to show, set the main light off to the side more. Clear glassware works best if the main light is coming from behind the subject. Position your lights very close to the subject for a softer shadow.

Managing Shadows — The combination of 2 indirect light sources prevents harsh shadows. Position the lights very close to your subject to create a soft shadow. Use indirect flash by bouncing your flash unit to make the shadows less overpowering. As stated earlier, be sure to bounce the flash toward a light colored ceiling that isn’t textured or yellowish. This will create odd-shaped shadows or a strange color cast on your product.

Summing Up Most e-commerce sites need good photography to display their products and improve their sales. Here is a word of caution: don’t cut corners on your photography. Remember, you’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression.