Website Tips

Building a Successful E-Commerce Website

August 18th, 2010

At Digital Peabody, we’ve developed e-commerce websites for all sorts of different businesses, and we’re often asked what goes into a successful one. Though the answer has lots of different facets, at its most basic level, it boils down to two requirements: an idea and a platform with which you can realize that idea to its fullest potential.

Planning

The site planning phase will be different for every business. It depends on your business, your existing model and how e-commerce will fit in. When we built a site for Scribbles, a stationery and invitation shop in Denver, we recognized that the company already operated a successful physical store. Scribbles’ online storefront, then, needed to offer the full functionality of the store for their online storefront — specifically, product customization. So we built them a site that offers just that: nearly all of the stationery and invitations can be tailored to a customer’s needs. Custom font faces, ink colors, monograms and names are all at users’ fingertips on Scribbles’ site.

The extreme ski movie producers at Matchstick Productions, on the other hand, have a completely different model. Matchstick sells extreme skiing DVDs and ski merchandise worldwide, both through various vendors and directly through its website. For this site, we needed a whole different set of capabilities, so we integrated a state-of-the-art ExpressionEngine content management system to stream high-definition video and display photo galleries, among other things, in order to showcase their products and athletes.

Execution

Coming up with a great idea for a website is one thing, but it is meaningless if your web design company can’t fully execute it. At Digital Peabody, we specialize in the Magento e-commerce platform, which has the unprecedented flexibility you need in order to realize your web goals.

To begin with, Magento has every feature you would want and more — the average e-commerce site doesn’t need half of the functionality it offers. We’ll run through a more complete list of features in an upcoming article, but here are a few of the most popular ones:

• offer coupons and gift cards
• allow users to compare products and create wish lists
• ability to ship to multiple addresses for one transaction
• create product bundles
• display related products
• product personalization
• much, much more

In addition to its out-of-the-box features, developers worldwide have created, and continue to create, every sort of extension imaginable to expand Magento’s functionality. Chances are, if you want a certain feature for your site, it either comes standard with Magento or there is a tested, proven extension that does exactly what you want. Magento is also easily integrated with other inventory and accounting systems through its highly flexible application programing interface (API). This means that our developers can seamlessly integrate Magento into whatever software you are already using to keep track of everything.

Another key benefit of Magento is its excellent SEO (search engine optimization) performance right out of the box due to its support for customizable URLs, an auto-generated site map, meta information for products and more. In an increasingly competitive e-commerce world, Magento’s SEO advantage makes it that much easier for potential customers to find your site — and potentially buy from you.

Digital Peabody can give you the expert help you need with both the planning and execution phases of building a successful e-commerce site. Our specialty, and our passion, is helping clients dream up their websites — and then making those dreams a reality.

Want to learn more about building an e-commerce site with Magento? Contact Digital Peabody at 303-468-5707, and take a look at our featured sites for more examples.

Posted in Content Management System, Search Engine Optimization, Tips, Web Design, Website Development, Website Tips
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WordPress: The Right Fit For Your Company?

August 4th, 2010

In our last article, we went through some of the benefits of ExpressionEngine, one content management system (or CMS) that Digital Peabody works with on a regular basis. But for many of our clients, a website built with WordPress as its CMS is a perfect fit for their needs. (Learn more about content management systems, and why your site needs one, here.) Below, we’ll highlight a few areas in which WordPress shines.

Perhaps WordPress’ biggest advantage is its cost-effectiveness. WordPress is a free platform, eliminating at the outset of any website project the cost of paying for a CMS. Better yet, WordPress isn’t a substandard product by any stretch of the imagination — its content-management capabilities are right in line with many other top CMS competitors, with features like workflow management, multimedia posts, blogs and more.

WordPress also has an enormous array of so-called “plugins” that allow users to extend their site’s functionality in nearly any way imaginable: e-commerce, social networking, Web analytics and more. Another popular WordPress feature is its support for widgets, which allow users to control the content that appears in the site’s sidebar without needing to make any edits to its code. The widgets that appear on any given page can be customized by page or section — or they can remain constant throughout the site. Among hundreds of others, popular widgets include one that displays upcoming events, another that shows a Twitter feed and another that displays a summary of the most recent post on the site’s blog.

Redesigning a WordPress site is also relatively fast because of the platform’s use of themes to control design and content presentation. Themes are essentially templates into which content fits. If you think your site needs a new look, our designers can code and upload themes to control its appearance and interface without losing any of the content already on the site. And as a CMS, WordPress is well-known for its ease of use: you don’t need any technical experience to maintain a dynamic, interesting website using WordPress.

Want to learn more about WordPress and how we can tailor it to your business? Contact Digital Peabody at 303-468-5707, and take a look at our featured sites for more examples.

Posted in Content Management System, Tips, Web Design, Website Development, Website Tips
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The Benefits of a Content Management System

July 16th, 2010

A content management system, or CMS, is a web-based interface through which site administrators can control what appears on their site — without needing any technical experience. Rather than having to code and upload a new static page for every additional page on a site, creating new pages with a content management system requires just a few clicks. At Digital Peabody, we’re often asked by customers about the benefits of having a CMS on their site, and we’ll run through a few below.

1. Ease of customization. With a CMS, quickly and efficiently changing content on your site is as easy as composing an e-mail. You don’t want your site to always look the same, nor do you want to have to call your developer every time you need to change a paragraph somewhere on your site.
2. Consistency. Pages created with a CMS automatically have a consistent aesthetic feel — you won’t have to keep tweaking minute HTML tags to get your pages to look the same. In addition, CMS-generated pages have the same meta structures, making the site more search-engine friendly as well as more navigable for users.
3. What you see is what you get. WordPress and ExpressionEngine, the two content management systems with which Digital Peabody works most often, both feature “what you see is what you get” (or WYSIWYG) editors, meaning what you see on the screen is what will appear on the page. Content creators don’t have to be HTML gurus to post through a CMS.
4. Separation of design and content. If your CMS-based site needs a design upgrade, it won’t mean you’ll lose the content you spent so much time working on, or have to copy-paste it into new pages. Instead, it’ll appear in the newly-redesigned pages, saving you a lot of time and effort.
5. Search engine optimization. Search engines value new content — easily posted through a CMS — as well as consistent site architecture, including metadata, URL structure, headings and more.
6. Multiple content creators. Since a site’s CMS is accessible over the web, anyone with the proper credentials can log in and post from anywhere with an internet connection.
7. Workflow management. WordPress and ExpressionEngine, as well as most other content management systems, can be configured so that users have different levels of access to the in order to ensure all posts go through adequate quality control before they are published to the web.
8. Multimedia posts. WordPress and ExpressionEngine make sharing photos and videos easy. There’s no need to go through all sorts of trouble with external photo and video hosting — just select and upload.
9. E-commerce. Digital Peabody also specializes in the industry-leading Magento e-commerce platform, which allows unprecedented flexibility for business owners looking to sell online. Magento has a variety of advanced features, including the ability to ship to multiple addresses for one transaction, create product bundles, offer coupons and more. Check out the business and e-commerce section of our portfolio here for some examples.

Want to learn more about content management systems and how they work? Contact Digital Peabody at 312-933-3430. Ready to begin? Get a free quote today, and take a look at our featured sites for examples of what a CMS can do for your website.

Posted in Content Management System, Tips, Website Development, Website Tips
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Who Should Do SEO, and Why

July 6th, 2010

More and more, people find what they’re looking for online with search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. But for companies and organizations with websites, being found isn’t as easy as just throwing together a website and hoping for search engines to rank it highly. Search engine optimization, or SEO, aims to make sites more findable by improving their search engine rank. But who really needs to do SEO?

The short answer: everyone could benefit from SEO. Most companies will turn up in the first few search results if they have a website and someone searches for the company’s name, but when it comes down to competition over keyword searches, SEO is a vital practice for nearly any type of company or organization with a website.

E-commerce: No matter what you’re selling, customers need to find your site before they can even think about buying your product. If you’re one of the top results on Google, then actually achieving a sale is just a few clicks away — whereas if you’re on the second page, the third page or the 50th page, selling your product becomes harder and harder. In a competitive industry, SEO work can mean the difference between success and failure.

Other businesses: Even if you’re not trying to sell anything over the web, your web presence is key to direct physical traffic and attention to your business. If you operate X type of business in Y city and people search for X type of business in Y city, a strong search engine presence means you will be noticed and likely end up with new customers. A weak presence, on the other hand, will probably mean more business for your competitors.

Nonprofits: Nonprofits need SEO work, too. If you’re operating a nonprofit, you want people to find your organization, hear what you have to say, access your resources and maybe even make a donation. If your site isn’t easily accessible on major search engines, that entire interaction is lost.

Dollar for dollar, SEO gives you excellent return on your investment because it will send highly targeted traffic to your site. And it lasts, too: cleaning up a site’s architecture is a lasting improvement that doesn’t expire like a PPC ad campaign. Most of the work in a SEO campaign is done at the beginning, meaning that as time goes on, cost per new click decreases — and you get better and better value out of your investment.

Even if you’re already appearing toward the top of rankings, SEO can help you stay there. Chances are, your competitors aren’t going to be content sitting on the fifth Google page while you’re on the first, so staying up to date on the most current SEO practices is key.

To learn more about SEO and the practices Digital Peabody will use to keep you at the top of search rankings, contact us at 312-933-3430.

Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Tips, Website Development, Website Tips
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Get Smart - Get A Business Website

February 26th, 2008

Benefits of Building a Website for Your Business

There are a number of benefits to building a website for your business. A simple website can tell people about your company, provide them with directions to your location and give them your contact information. Most of all, it’s the best way to create a good impression for your customers and clients. A website can do so much more, and Digital Peabody can help in all of the following ways:

Branding Your Business
Your business will also benefit when you use your website to help brand your company. Branding, marketing and PR efforts become easier tasks when you do them online. You can make your press releases available to reporters outside of your region, you can also make sure your customers, prospective customers and clients understand your company’s mission, vision and goals. Your online marketing efforts definitely do not need to “match” your other collateral materials, but there should be some cohesive messages in all of your marketing materials about your brand.

Online Reputation Management
If you’ve had “issues” with complaints about your small business online, you can use your website, a powerful reputation management tool, to fight back. In addition to posting information that helps clear your good name, online reputation management has other benefits, too. Used as part of a smart organic SEO campaign, the information you provide will quickly begin showing up in first page Google results. And online reputation management will take the negative online posts about you, your team or your company and push them back, to the pages in Google that aren’t as well-traveled.

Unlocking Organic SEO
Organic search engine optimization (SEO) is the number one benefit of using a website to promote your small business. When utilized properly, a small business website can help improve your company’s search engine results. With the right mix of organic SEO techniques, like embedding keywords and tags within your content, there’s no reason why your website can’t get into first page Google results within a month or two of optimization. With organic SEO that focuses on conversions, you can also target specific groups of customers and increase sales through your small business website.

Money-Saving Opportunities
There are some important ways to save money with your small business website. You can cut back on inbound customer service calls by providing a list of frequently asked questions about your business online. You can reduce mail processing and inbound calls when you accept payments online. Providing information on your website that you used to have to print and mail to clients and customers can also save you money. And, providing employees with information about benefits online can help ease the phone calls into your already overtaxed Human Resources area. 

There are a number of other ways you can use a website to benefit your small business. You can conduct market research online, utilize e-commerce options to help move inventory more quickly and generally provide your customers and clients with the kind of 24/7 service they demand.

For more information about online reputation management and organic SEO, please contact Digital Peabody or call 303.468.5707. 
 

Posted in Web Design, Website Development, Website Tips
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Your Small Business Website is More Important Than Starbucks’ Website

February 22nd, 2008

Think about it…does Starbucks really need to be worried about their website?  Is General Electric worried that they don’t get enough internet traffic?  Of course not.  Because large corporations rely on their sites as mostly a bonus for a large existing customer base.  But for the small business owner, a great website can mean the difference between scraping by, and really being successful.
 
Owning a business can be rewarding on many levels. The idea of responding to the wants and needs of a group of people can bring great satisfaction to a small business owner. The twenty-first century entrepreneur has embraced the fact that not only is the physical location for their business important, but also a virtual address for their customers as well. The small business’ website can introduce products to new customers, increase income from ad programs, and communicate more effectively with new and current customers.
 
In addition to efficiently presenting your services to the world, website can save a great deal of money in advertising costs. Spending $400.00 to place a 2″ x 2″ ad in a local newspaper, to be posted for one day, can quickly deplete an advertising budget for the month, with little impact since describing a business thoroughly in such a small space is nearly impossible. The development of a great website can be affordable, and initially may be as simple as a one page description of what and where the business is, and what the product is. A website is not just viewed by people locally, but it can be viewed by anyone, at any time, from all over the world, thereby, introducing a product to a greater number of people faster.   Digital Peabody can customize a website that does everything you need a site to do to help grow your business.
 
Increasing product awareness to customers via a website will increase direct revenue, but a website can also earn additional income for a business from online ad programs. Ad programs, such as Google AdSense, accrue money by cost generating links, search engines, or referral programs. Each program may generate money a bit differently, but generally the idea is a visitor clicks a link on the website, and money can be earned. Also, affiliate link programs, which are large online companies like eBay or Amazon, links visitors to their website, where they are prompted to make a purchase. Once a purchase is successfully completed, the referring website gets a percentage from the sale. Additionally, once a website has a large number of monthly visitors, other online businesses may be interested in paying for advertising space, and this form of income can be very prosperous.
 
Establishing a good rapport with customers is essential, in keeping a business alive and healthy. A website gives a business an easier way to connect with its customers, where a feeling of community may be felt. Innovative features, such as a forum, are open streams of communication where visitors can learn about products and services through other customer’s experiences. Newsletters can be sent out to include new product, or discounted product information.  And posting a fun interactive contest on a website where coupons can be won to use on a next purchase of products can inspire people to revisit your site and become a regular customer. And as your business grows and you have need of gathering information about your customers, surveys can really gain insight on their likes and dislikes, and a guest book is where visitors can sign up for newsletters and emails. Simple, open, and honest communication with customers is Digital Peabody’s specialty, and helping you create a site that will lead your business to understand your customer’s wants and needs in the present, and in the future.

Posted in Web Design, Website Development, Website Tips
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A Professional Copywriter Makes All the Difference

February 21st, 2008

You’ve either got an existing website, or are getting ready to build one.  And your website designer, in the nicest possible way, indicates to you that perhaps you might want to contract a professional copywriter.  At first you are confused.  Who better to talk about your business than you?  And then you are slightly offended, are thy implying you aren’t good enough?  And then you are practical.  Why on earth should you increase the cost of website development by hiring someone else to describe what you do?  The important thing to know is that the investment in a quality copywriter will have the same benefits as a quality website designer creating your site, or a quality graphic designer working on your brand.  A professional copywriter will take your site to the next level, and since you are relying on your site to help take your business to the next level, it only makes sense to be smart about it.  After all, the prettiest, easiest to navigate site in the world is only, ultimately, as good as it’s content. Even here at Digital Peabody, where great websites are our business, we utilize professional copywriters for our own website, and have several whom we recommend to our customers to help them optimize the content in their sites.

About 80% of all the hits that a web page gets come from a search engine like Google or Yahoo. This is a large chunk of traffic and ignoring that statistic is perilous for anyone who wishes to attract customers to their websites and in turn make money. The reason that so many hits come through search engines is that most people believe that when they put in a search query, the result that they get is more trustworthy than any other type of result,( i.e. Pay Per Click Ads, Banner, Paid Placement, etc.) This is called an organic result, because the programming behind the search engine found the result naturally, and not by having the web site’s owners paying to be the top result. So getting your website to the top of that organic query is number one priority for all web site managers. If you “optimize” your website with carefully chosen and placed “keywords” then traffic should naturally come to you, through search engines. There are two tricks to getting this done:

1) A search engine’s programming (sometimes called an algorithm) has to find your page on the web.

2) Your web page must be attuned to the right keywords that customers are searching for when they look for your products or services.

Not only that, you want to make sure that in the list of websites that appear when a potential customer does a search query through their favorite search engine, yours is one top (or as close to it as you can get.) Since consumers feel that organic results are best, this will only help you when they find you “naturally” on the web.

Now, natural results are a matter of course here at Digital Peabody.  On the Internet there is a certain untamed flow that even mimics natural selection and evolution. We focus on the development of content that subscribes to the organic philosophy.  Part of that is utilizing professional copywriters in site development.  Everything you can do to get your web page get to the top of the food chain helps you get noticed on the web and sell more of what you offer. The first and simplest method of getting yourself found by search engines and the consumers doing the searching is to get that copy optimized.

While some people may search for one keyword, like “scarf,” “beer,” or “art,” many use a string of terms to find what they need like “wool scarf,” “IPA beer,” or “modern art.” Most even use longer terms, a combination of terms or even whole sentences to search for what they are looking for.  A professional copywriter is not only skilled in incorporating as many of the best tags into your content, they create the right tone for your site.  Are your potential customers and clients more comfortable with a site that is written in a clear businesslike style, or are they likely to respond better to something conversational?  Is your site designed to have someone linger and explore, or do you want to attract people who will get to the site, find the relevant info, and get out quickly.  With a copywriter on board, you get the best of both worlds.  Content that is specifically written for your target market, and content that is optimized for keyword searches.

Look at your web copy. Does it satisfy all the possible search terms that customers may be using? Do you utilize tags, titles, headlines, and optimized copy to capture that business? Do you know all the terms? Do you know how to use them eloquently so it doesn’t look like you are “stuffing” the HTML with random words you think may get you noticed?

While it may be satisfying to set up, publish and even host your own business’ website, the scary thing is that you may be the only one who cares or even notices. A webpage needs to shout out to the world that you are open to business and here are the things you offer to the public in a real and virtual way. Yes. You may be the expert in your particular field of interest and have the knowledge of the terminology that your customers look for when they seek you out, but how do you get those disjointed terms and keywords onto the computer screens of potential clients?  By adding a professional copywriter to your team, you not only guarantee that your website is operating at the highest standards, but you free yourself  up to do what you do best, focusing on growing your business, not sitting at a computer writing about it.

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Content Management Systems Will Save You Time and Money

February 18th, 2008

Your website is a critical connection between you and your clients. And it’s nothing new to learn every successful website includes a strategy for publishing fresh, new content to your website. But we also know that the process can be tedious, an endless back and forth between your content provider and your website management team.  And god help you if you have breaking news, an error to correct quickly, or information that is time-sensitive.  And forget about weekends! 

Rather than paying a web master or a web design firms to make these updates, you can do it yourself. And not only don’t you have to know HTML, you don’t even have to know what HTML stands for!  A simple content management system allows you to easily maintain and publish content to your website directly, no middleman, no extra charge, no muss, no fuss.

For companies of all sizes and all budget levels, web design firms like Digital Peabody, offer web-based content management solutions that help you maintain a current, content-rich website. The content management system can be tailored for your organization’s website, creating simple templates for you to fill in, and point and click options that make updating your website as easy as filling in a simple form.

Your non-technical staff will be empowered with these easy-to-use tools, as basic to operate as Microsoft Word ®. If you can type a letter in Word®, change the font type, size, and alignment then you have all the skills needed to operate a content management system.  And even better, multiple contributors can publish to the website through the content management system so the work does not need to fall on one person’s shoulders.

You aren’t even limited to just text. You can also add graphics and pictures with the greatest of ease. And once you are comfortable with the system, adding sections and pages is just as easy.

A content management system can be the solution to most of your website maintenance and publication hassles. Digital Peabody’s team of experienced content management experts can help you best determine which solution can provide the most value for your organization. See how easy it is for yourself – give Digital Peabody a call at 303-468-5707 or send us an email to to request a 5-minute demonstration of a content management system.

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Save up to $1,000 on Logo Design When Your Website Designer Creates Your Logo

December 28th, 2007

Getting noticed by potential clients and customers is essential in today’s business market.  And we all know that there are different ways that people are likely to notice you.  Sure, you could hang out in a plaid leisure suit and try to get passing folks to stop rolling their eyes long enough to hear your pitch. Or you could don a custom tailored Armani suit and have people stop and inquire about how you might assist them.

New businesses and even established companies have to vie for customer’s attention. One of the most effective ways to get recognized it is to have a memorable, timeless, consistent, and recognizable company identity.  Your reputation for quality business is a part of that, as are referrals from existing clients.  However, when it comes to attracting new business, in this day and age, you want to have a public image that is clear and effective.

Starting up a new business is an expensive endeavor, and often areas like logo design fall into the “we’ll do something temporary now and fix it later when we have some cash flow” category.  But this is one of those areas where you can’t afford to skimp. First impressions are everything, and your logo is going to be the first thing most people see.  And, you want to make sure that first impression is a good one!

Even if you have only a moderate budget, you don’t have to settle for an unprofessional, unimaginative logo. With few exceptions, you are going to need a website as well, even if it is just a single page with information about what you do and how to find you.  Building in logo design as a part of your website design can be a great way to have your cake and eat it too.

Most professional web design companies, like Digital Peabody, have quality graphic artists on staff. When you are interviewing web design companies (read this informative article on how to hire a web design firm) talk to them about the idea of branding.  Let them know that you are looking to create a cohesive marketing and communication plan, and ask if they have the resources to do that for you.  Ask that when they create the bid for your site that they include the cost of designing a logo.

The average price of a professionally designed basic website is around $4,000. If you were to hire a graphic artist to create a logo along with a corporate identity package you are likely to pay around $2,000. Chances are your web design company will underbid that when it is included in the cost of a larger project. It is likely that you can have a custom logo designed for only $1,000, half of what you would pay elsewhere. That’s a great deal considering how important your company’s branding is to your success.   

Contact Digital Peabody today to discuss how we can help you create the perfect public image.

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How To Build Trust with Your Online Customers

December 10th, 2007

Over 99% of consumers check to see who is behind a website before you purchase something from a website. When there is no contact information or anything about the owner or company, most consumers will move on.

Unfortunately everyone has heard a few too many stories about corruption on the internet and nobody wants to be the next victim.

As a website business or website owner, your first job is to protect your client and conduct your business in an honest way. To convey this to your customers, here is a short list of things you accomplish this:

• Provide Contact Information – When you need help the worst thing is not being able to reach someone who can help you resolve the matter, right? At the very least place an email and regular address on the website. But since most people prefer to talk to a real person rather than use email, you should provide a telephone number. Answering a few questions might be enough to win a customers trust.
• Include an “About Us” Page – Let your customer know all about yourself and/or your company. Another nice touch is to include some photos of staff and facilities. In short, the more you can establish a personal bond with your potential buyer, the greater your chances of success.
• Include Testimonials – Over the years we have found that testimonials are a great way to showcase your business, its services or products, and establish credibility. It takes a lot of time to get fresh testimonials but it is always well worth it.
• Use Secure Transactions – For e-commerce secure transactions, know as an SSL Certification (Secure Security Link) is a MUST. If a consumer is providing you with his or her credit card number, home address, or other personal information should be able to do so without worrying about have the sensitive data compromised.
• Explain Your Policies – Be upfront about your policies, terms, and conditions. This way you clarify most of the issues prior to the transaction and both parties know what to expect. Put your customer’s fears at ease and you will have a happy customer.
• Accept Refunds - Always accept reasonable return and refund requests. Deal with them promptly and professionally, no matter how the customer acts towards you during the process. It may be a hassle, but this instills a lot of trust. A customer’s biggest fear is that he/she may not receive what he wants or may not be able to return it.
• Provide a Guarantee – If you provide a guarantee for your product or service it will place your customer’s mind at ease. The longer the guarantee the better.

If you follow all of these tips, you will make more sales based on the credibility and trust you have established from your website.

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