We have reached the end of our series! Its true, so many little things can ruin your entire website. In the series I tried to touch on each of the most common pages businesses place on their site and then discusses the top ten worst things for each. Here we'll do a quick summary of those lists.
But what I want you to take away is this: your website is part of your branding. Make sure every page, every line of text exemplifies who you are as a company. That's the best way to create a great website.
Not all sites have an e-commerce section, but many do. Today, in our continuation of the Top 10 ways to Ruin your website series, I want to talk a little bit about your "shopping cart". Any e-commerce site has multiple sections from how products are laid-out to payment options, but I just want to focus on getting through the "cart" area, in other words the process it takes to get from a product to a sale. Not all e-commerce solutions offer flexibility, some are straight-out-of-the-box so to speak. But when you are making the decision, look out for these top ten.
1. Log-in Hell
I understand the need to have customers "log-in" so that you can have their information and contact details. But, this process should be as simple and intuitive as possible. If the log-in frustrates a customer they may give-up and never come back. If you require membership, give your clients an option to sign-up as part of their check-out process.
2. Not saving contact information
Give clients the option to save their information (leave me logged-in, remember my password, that kind of thing). Nowadays we all have 573 passwords we're supposed to remember. Don't let the reason you missed a sale be because a customer forgot how to log-in.
3. Deleting everything when there's an input error
This may be a personal issue but I really hate it when I spend 10 minutes carefully filling out my contact information, my credit card, etc. and then I mistype one number and the page reloads saying: there was an error with your credit card. Then, all the information I painstakingly added, vanishes. I have to do it all over again. This alone has made me give-up and use a different website before.
4. Not making the cart front and center
I don't see this often, so when I do, it stumps me. Put a link saying "Buy now!" next to every product. There should as many opportunities to click to purchase as possible. This does not mean tricking the client into purchasing, but it means make it easy to get the money.
5. Not giving prices up front
Prices vary for a number of reasons: tax, shipping, bulk ordering. However, simplify the question of cost as much as you can. Let them know if tax will be added. Give them an idea of what shipping costs average. Do not let the final charge completely surprise them. Also, make sure you include prices next to each item in a highly visible way.
6. Making the process more than 3 steps
If it takes more than 3 clicks to get from the product to making the payment, you need to simplify. Places you can cut:
consolidate like information (shipping & tax, membership & credit card information)
cut out unnecessary personal information requests
only ask for approval to bill their credit card once
Send an email confirmation instead of a page they can print
7. Long Load time
An e-commerce site may have heavy back-end coding. The reasons vary from lots of products to automated systems. These things can cause a slower load time. This is a hard problem to fix. You may need to find a new program or solution if wait time becomes an issue. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Don't lose clients because your page won't load.
8. No options:
The average person excepts your site to cater to them. Make sure to give them options. Marketing used to follow the rule: ask forgiveness, not permission. That philosophy went out with the 90s. Now people want to choose. So be sure to offer choices. You have a newsletter? Let them opt-in or out. Give them the opportunity to save their password, or let the site remember their log-in (or even keep them logged in for a period of time). Do they want an email receipt? Why not ask instead of assuming. These are just a few examples of options you can give your customers.
9. Errors
It happens. One misplaced bracket and it throws off the whole page. Check for coding errors. E-commerce requires multiple facets therefore it require extra time to debug. Don't be surprised if your web company charges extra to check these things, or be willing to walk through yourself.
10. Charging the wrong amount
The worst glitch that can ever happen is charging someone the wrong amount. If you charge too little, you have to charge a second time. If you charge too much, you have a pissed off customer. Much like site errors, these things sometimes happen. The best I advice I can offer you is deal with it immediately. As soon as the error becomes obvious, fix it.
I hate to add this but I will. Sometimes companies charge the wrong amount on purpose. They add a few cents or charge twice, just to see if the customer double checks. Its wrong. Don't do it. And if you ever do it and get caught, you'll be lucky to still have a company, so make sure to be honest.
How about some examples of good shopping experiences. If you spend money online, who do you like to shop with?
I'm going to be doing a Top Ways to Ruin Your Website series. We're going to go through some of the more common aspects of a webpage and point out the best ways to screw them up. Mainly so you can avoid them.
Today I want to deal with the most basic of pages: HOME. I'll discuss some over-arching themes too (like design). I'm going to deal with them here because your homepage is most likely to be your landing page--the one people see first. So things like over-all design matter more.
In no particular order:
1. Too much text:
Within two seconds my mind will be made up. I'll decide if I like your website, or if I hate it. I'm not the only one. That's the average time span for viewing a site. A decision must be made, and fast. If you bog me down with a page and half of text, I'm overwhelmed. There is an appropriate place for superfluous text: your blog. Your landing page is your elevator speech. Don't put more than two (short) paragraphs there. It should detail very simply, what you do, the purpose of your site and why I need to be on it.
2. Unclear navigation:
Think of your homepage as a gateway. It should read like the back cover synopsis of a good novel. Give just enough hints to get your reader hooked. Then let them read the book! They should never search for the next page. If someone likes your site make it easy, like my-ignuana-climbed-on-my-keyboard-and-I-ended-up-at-this-awesome-website easy to get to the rest of your site. Navigation needs to be easy to read, easy to use, easy to get to.
3. Clutter:
Clutter comes in so many forms: ads, text boxes, design elements, links... Be careful with all of them! The most important parts of your homepage: logo, navigation, welcome. That's pretty much it. Consider anything else "extra". Remember any extras need to remain secondary. Narrow your focus. Your homepage is the appetizer: tasty, pretty and short.
4. Screaming Colors:
Consider for a moment, the palette of colors: so many choices, so many variations. Why then do I regularly see all three primary colors in their purest brightest forms on websites? Is that painful for anyone besides me? Remember art class in fourth grade? Remember secondary colors? Use them. Test your color scheme on a varied audience if you have doubts. Also, what you see on paper and what you see on a screen are not always the same thing. Check the screen.
5. Forgetting the bottom line:
I must stress again, narrow your aim. Be a marketing sniper. Your home page exists for one purpose, to snag the reader. Make sure you snag them for the right reasons! Make your purpose clear from beginning to end. Don't write a beautiful intro and forget the key points like, what your company sells.
6. No logo or branding:
Your website is an extension of your branding. It needs to tie in to your print material and other marketing material. If you distilled all your branding to its most essential form, it would be your logo. Make it the centerpiece of your home page, or at least draw attention to it.
7. Flash:
Don't do it. Don't put a flash intro on your home page. If anyone viewing your sight has less than high speed internet it will slow them down. Its also annoying. It will probably play unnecessary sound, and probably skip over heart of your information. I know it looks cool, but save it for another section. Put it on Youtube. Anywhere but auto-playing on your front page. I'm not even going to get into the SEO ramifications. Stay away from flash.
8. Too much scrolling:
This ties in with #1 too much text. Everything important on your home page should be visible without clicking. Other pages may require scrolling, your home page should not. If you need more room for text cut out designs or images that eat up screen space.
9. Ads taking up the top half of your site:
This is just tacky. Example: I read a certain blog but refuse visit their site. I get each post via only. If ever click on a post I just see a wall of ads and have to scroll down to get to any content. I don't mean one pretty banner ad at the top, I mean a wall of advertisement preventing me from even seeing text. If I didn't already know a blog post hid down at the bottom I'd just click back thinking I found a fake site. Don't let that be you.
10. Skimping in the design department:
Really consider the design of your homepage. It probably won't look the same as every other page. Hire a professional, or at least a consultant to give you feedback. Your design is much more than colors (which I mentioned above). It should invoke an emotion or at least a perception of what kind of company you are. Be sure the feeling your site creates matches your values. Also consider what your target market expects/likes to see in design as well. This is your first date with your perfect client, make the best impression.
Worried that your site may fall into one of the top ten? Veribatim offers free site reviews. Send an email and let us share our professional opinion of your site.
Here are ten super quick ways of getting your website out there and clicked on. The number one excuse I hear from business owners is "I don't have enough time to do that". So let me offer ten "5 minutes or less" solutions.
10. Connecting your blog/site to Linked-In. You can add a link to your website directly in your profile or you can add the Application which will import your most recent posts right into your profile! 9. Connecting your blog/site to Twitter. Twitter's profile allows you to connect to one website but to get better results consider adding a blog feed. I use . 8. Connecting your blog/site to Facebook. Same as Linked-In. You can add your site to your profile or you can import notes from your blog .
7. Creating a company profile on Linked-In.Linked-In has opened a beta version of company profiles. You can easily add a blog and website here too. . 6. Checking your company profile at GetListed.org is a neat little service that will let you check for company profiles on major search engines. It make take more than 5 minutes to add yourself to each one, but it will only take 30 seconds to check your listing information. 5. Responding to one blog post with your website connected.If you are reading other people's blogs or even news articles, take the time to comment. Even if the comment doesn't have to do with your industry, you could still drive traffic. I know I look at the website of everyone who comments on my posts. Most comment sections ask for your name, email and website. So add it! 4. Adding one relevant "back-link" to your next post.If you blog regularly, or even occasionally, add a link for "further reading" at the bottom. You don't need to explain it, but an extra link will usually bring by the author to check you out or if you link internally, keep your readers clicking. 3. Putting your web address or blog in your email signature.More people click on email links than you think. I do it all the time. Especially if there's some catchy phrase or description attached like: Wanna see how I help companies market themselves online? Instead of just www.howImarketonline...
2. Submitting your site to review. Plenty of websites exist strictly to review other sites and they can drive a ton of traffic. Submit yourself to or . It takes about 2 minutes to send your information in.
1. Writing a 3 sentence review. Marketing sites say that people are more likely to trust customer reviews than just about any other form of advertisement. Take a minute to review one of your partners or competitors and include a backlink. Try Google or Yahoo for the most-read reviews.
