Archive for the ‘E-Commerce’ Category

« Older Entries

Are tablets the way forward?

Monday, January 16th, 2012

6 months ago I purchased a Motorola Xoom tablet as the old laptop was creaking and groaning and the wife kept pinching my work laptop. I am a big fan of the Android operating system, and having an HTC Desire HD phone, I soon got to grips with the Android 3.0 interface.

Having passed the tablet onto my wife – who loves it, we have discovered a few frustrations and it’s not with the device itself. It’s with websites you view. Now I am the first to appreciate that tablets are new to the market in comparison with the laptop / notebook however they have been purchased in significant numbers for the past 2 years. So why are some of the big players still not optimising for tablets.

Problem 1 – You are a Phone

When serving a page to a tablet, the server thinks it’s a mobile phone. This often means a text version or stripped down version of the website is made available. Now if this website has the same functionality as the “normal” version then all is good, however many websites lose key functionality.

Example – The Next website allows you to view products and purchase, however if you want to make a payment to your next account, this function does not exist.

Solution – offer a view full website link which will over-ride the server selection and ask it to serve the full website

Problem 2 – Download the App

Mobile and tablet applications are an excellent way of getting consumers interacting with your brand. They can offer key functionality to the mobile and tablet user, designed in a way which makes best use of their interface. There are 2 key issues that crop up time and again

- We’ve developed the iPhone app but have no Android App – missing a real chunk of the market given that the Android platform is now more popular worldwide than the iOS (source Gartner).

- We have an Android App but your version of Android is too old / new

Example – The Tesco application was launched on iPhone approximately 6 months ago and has only just come to Android. However if you are on 3.0, then you cannot find it in the Marketplace. Oh yeah the mobile version of the website is terrible for shopping.

Solution – sort out mobile version of website.

In short, tablets are another medium to which people are consuming content, be it text, images, video and it is important that your brand is accurately represented within this “mobile” marketplace. If you would like to chat to us further about how to make your online presence penetrate further into the mobile / tablet market, please give us a call on 0114 2679277.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , ,
Posted in Customer Service, E-Commerce, Mobile, Website Design, Website Management | No Comments »

Vertebrate Graphics pushing brands global

Monday, November 21st, 2011

Vertebrate Graphics has had a trio of successes in pushing new and old brands alike to a global marketplace.

Vertebrate Graphics specialises in graphic design and web design for the outdoor leisure market, having worked on outdoor pursuits programmes for Adidas, the BBC, the National Trust as well as familiar brands such as Scarpa, Mountain Equipment, The BMC and Rab.

Recently their skills have been employed to great success in the global market.   New work and websites have been seeing significant overseas interest. First up start-up company Steepedge (steepedge.com), brain-child of Brian Hall and John Porter. The film download and streaming site, has rapidly become the world’s largest collection of climbing, skiing, biking, caving, canoeing and adventure films, significant overseas subscribers has meant the company, still in its first months of life, is planning foreign language stand alone sites. Brian Hall commented, ‘slick functionality and a robust website coupled with an unrivalled collection of new and historic films has made the site very appealing to the global market’.

Second up is the massive success of the the revamped Rab (rab.uk.com) website, already with dedicated UK and US sites, a roll out of key European sites is well under way for spring launch. Latest stats show an increasing use of the site from overseas, with some countries showing a 100% increase in views compared to the old Rab website.

Third up is Vertebrate Publishing’s quiet bit of empire building, already well respected as a leading producer of outdoor leisure guidebooks to climbing, walking and cycling in the UK, recent deals with Italian, German and US publishers has significantly extended the reach of its literature, while overseas agents are happily selling UK guidebooks on their behalf. This summarised by Vertebrate Publishing’s winning the best international guidebook award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book festival 2011 for their Peak District Bouldering Guidebook.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Posted in E-Commerce, Website Design, Website Management | No Comments »

Traffic Traffic everywhere….

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

But not a sale in sight !!!

Many clients are often impressed by the level of traffic that their website is receiving. It’s a very similar principal to walking down the high street and seeing  a busy shop. “Wow they must be raking it in”. Well the shop may be busy but how long is the queue at the cash tills? In a nutshell, people may be attracted to go in the front door, but are they buying goods?

The website is no different in this respect; high numbers of visitors do not equate to a high number of sales. So what are some the key barriers which stop your visitors making a purchase?

Navigation – can I find the product I want?

Price – not just the product price, think about the addition of VAT as well as any delivery charges which may be added during the checkout process. How much has that added to the customer’s inital outlay?

Poor Images – would you buy a product if you can’t see it?

Poor Descriptions – I want to know all this product can do for me and if you don’t tell me, Ill go somewhere else. However if you give me too much information which is badly organised, it will be too much to take in and I will go somewhere else. A fine balance – yet a very necessary one.

Stop Asking me Questions – if I have to fill out form after form just to buy a single item, chances are that I will be put off. Imagine just wanting to buy a pint of milk from the supermarket on Christmas Eve with queues stretching as far as the eye can see – just not fun

Attracting the wrong type of customer – if you don’t deliver abroad, the thousands of daily visitors from the USA are just leaving disappointed.

Non existent offers or promotions – make sure all you offer information is up to date. If you have a promotional code offering 20% off, don’t make the customer jump through hoops to get it – or worse find out that it no longer exists

All this information is easily managed via a website statistics package such as Google Analytics. This is free and can be easily installed within in your website by your web developer.

Using tools like these can help you identify areas of the website which require improvement as well as the sections which are working. Do your research before making knee jerk changes to the pages on your website. It’s your website, it’s your business – make sure it’s doing everything for you.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, Strategy, Uncategorized, Website Design, Website Management | No Comments »

We’ve been a bit quiet – but for good reasons

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Well we have on the blog writing side of things, but that is mainly down to the workload we are experiencing – a nice problem to have. So what have we been up to?

Well, we have been developing the new Rab® website which is due to launch in the near future. Developing a user friendly content management system along with a unique intuitive design to showcase the technical products within the Rab® range has been an involving project.

Working with Muse Developments, we have moved their existing website into our content management system VCMS and provided them with some key new functionality to help manage the website.

We are working on a website for a new company called Steep Edge, which is an e-commerce site for selling adventure films. Everything from Abseiling to Wingsuits will be available to rent or buy from the website which will be launching in early March.

We are also pleased to welcome our new developer who will be starting on 14th February to help move the Web Design and Development from Vertebrate Graphics to a new level in 2011 and beyond… more news on that soon.

We have partnered up with Vertical Response to provide an email marketing system to all our clients. This is being tested at the moment but will soon be available to all clients.

So as you can read – busy times and long may they continue !!!!

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, Media, Strategy, Uncategorized, Website Design, Website Management | No Comments »

Selecting a web partner

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

It can be a difficult choice when looking at who to use to design and develop your new website. Do you go to a freelance developer, do you pick a local company or pick one from Google. Some people can get blinded by the promises that some unscrupulous marketeers can make “I’ll get you to the top of Google”, “We’ll double your sales” etc etc. Many agencies and freelancers can and do successfully undertake this but for every success story, there is often a story of frustration and pain. This is often caused by a promise of big results for very little money.

By spending very little on your website, it is likely you may encounter one or more of the following common frustrations:

  • Very little control over the content on your website. Remember it is YOUR website and at the very least you should have some sort of content management system to update the pages
  • Your website is built on template which has been used on many other websites before. Your website should look unique and whilst we are not trying to re-invent the wheel, we can at least make you stand out in a crowded marketplace
  • Badly constructed or inaccessible code. This is often not seen by the client and whilst the client gets a website for their money, poor code can add extra time to further developments, undermine the website stability and ultimately affect the visibility of the website to search engines.
  • Minimal testing has been undertaken and whilst the client must take some responsibility when signing off the website, any agency worth their salt will guide the client through the key visitor journeys so they can be confident the website is fully tested. Don’t let customer complaints be your first key that something is wrong.

I meet many people through the networking circuit who ask me to have a look at their website and I am happy to provide a FREE consultation service to highlight any issues the site may have as well as provide a strategic approach to marketing the website.

The main barrier to rectifying these sites is often budget – “I’ve spent £1000 on this website and it should just work” is regularly said to me. I cannot fault the logic – however a little bit of knowledge can be a valuable thing so here are 5 tips which can aid your decision in which web design company to work with.

Meet with them

get a feel for the characters who will be looking after your business on the web. It is essential that they understand your business and your goals. If you feel that this is not the case then walk away.

Check out their experience

don’t just look at their website, look at their clients websites, click around them, can you do all the things you would expect to do?

Get a watertight specification

any website should have a functional specification document which will explain how your website will work and the functionality which will be available to the visitor and the administrator. Would you cook something without first reading the recipe?

Compare and contrast

don’t be afraid to speak with more than one company and shop around for what prices and ideas are available to you. Be realistic with your budget and see what you can afford.

It should be explained in plain English

if you are baffled by the jargon used, don’t be afraid to ask. If it still doesn’t make sense ask again. If it cannot be explained to you in terms you understand, why is it being suggested to you.

If you would like to find out more information about how Vertebrate Graphics can help with your website, please contact Owen Evans on 0114 267 9277

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Posted in Brand, Customer Service, E-Commerce, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media, Uncategorized, Website Design, Website Management | 18 Comments »

« Older Entries