When designing a website or going through the re-design process it is important to develop a design that is professional and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  However it is even more critical to integrate marketing and conversion improvement tactics into the website to ensure the overall success of your business objectives. 

Twelve Horses recently launched a new website - efurnitureshowroom.com. This website is an online furniture store with discounted furniture items.  It has marketing integrated throughout the entire website.  The screenshot is just of the homepage and only a select few marketing strategies have been highlighted. For further description see below.

Notice the following: 

1. Phone Number - The phone number is listed on all pages in the header for easy reference for anyone who is ready to call as they search throughout the website.  The graphic makes it easy to recognize as a reference to contact the furniture company.
2. Website Search - Having the search in the upper part of the screen makes it an easy for a website visitor to quickly search for what they are looking for if they happen to be having difficulty finding the specific furniture item they are looking for.
3. SEO-friendly Categories – The category names were developed from what the most common areas of furniture are as well as what people are searching for online.  If you know a specific product it is easy to find which category it would be listed under.  Having too many categories would be overwhelming and confusing yet having too few would inhibit the visitors ability to find what they are looking for.
4. Homepage Clearance – The main homepage graphic has a clearance and sale promotion.  This is important because many users who shop online compared to a retail store are looking for good deals.  This is of immediate interest to those users and directs them to the furniture products they are looking for.
5. Free Shipping – One of the main unique advantages this online furniture store offers over its competition is free shipping.  Shipping is a major concern for online furniture shoppers as the items are generally large and bulky.  Not having to worry about an extra charge at the end of the checkout is re-assuring.  This is emphasized on the homepage with a website graphic in the upper right corner.
6. Homepage Categories – The homepage has the main (most popular) categories in a graphical format on the homepage for users that are visual learners compared to readers.  They will find the area of the home they are interested in and can click easily into the products they want.
7. Shopping Cart – There is a shopping cart snapshot the left on every screen to allow users to quickly view the number of items they have so far and total price.  If they have a specific budget in mind they can make changes as necessary very easily without having to click into the shopping cart.  Payment options are listed in the left for quick reference.
8. Email Capture – A simple email subscription call-out box encourages users to sign-up for a furniture newsletter if they enjoy the products they find and information they come across.
9. SEO Text – There is a section at the bottom of the page to tell the search engines what the website is about, what it has to offer, and other such information.  This is useful as it may come up in SERP result pages descriptions.
10. Information Links – The footer contains links to important promotions and information such as faq, shipping, privacy policies, terms and conditions, contact information and more.  This is the traditional area of the website viewers look for this type of information so keeping it familiar to them is important.

Hopefully these focus items will help you create the most effective online shopping experience possible. Let us know if we can help you with your ecommerce objectives.

On the heels of three other recent website launches, we are pleased to have taken the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau website live. Take note of the flash features like the promo area, the multimedia gallery, and my special favorite, the Insider Tip, which you will find on any of the sub pages under the main Flash promo area. It is just a subtle little addition that gives some personalized information related to the areas you are interested in and want to visit.

Visitors can take advantage of some other very useful features like being able to create a profile, build out their own itinerary, and conduct searches based on locations, categories, and events. Stakeholders have their own user interface that allows them to create and edit their own pages; and Monterey controls it all with their own content management system.

The site also features an interactive map, the ability to book online, and the option to sign up for newsletters. I should also mention that the site is tag-based, which organizes content in a very clean and searchable fashion.

There is a lot going on behind the scenes that makes this site work well. Kudos to our web designers and web developers for bringing it all together in a user-friendly and functional manner. Next step - a little dash of search engine optimization to help Monterey attract new visitors and meeting planners to an unquestionably beautiful area of California.

QuickPost Wordpress plugin

I added two new features that were being requested by the users.

1. Ability to turn the WYSIWYG editor on or off in the plugin admin page
2. Ability to define a unique default category per posting type in the plugin admin page

Let me know if you find any issues.