NetSpeak

Just got back from the Internet Retailer conference. Not like other shows where your getting sold by every vendor that comes. (we are guilty of that also).

This was loaded with practical, useful workshops interlaced with interactive one-on-one meetings, along with a smattering of workshop-specific vendors.

I went with a one of our customers, Scott Ramspott,

founder of the parent    EshopsDirect.com Company. YourHost.com is engaging to completely revamp the sites over the next few months, after we complete the new endeavor, which is a related site selling unique, high end Teak Furniture.

Scott’s company is in Iowa, yeah it’s cold there so this was a great time in Florida and his team is driven to provide the best customer product and experience, which is inline with YourHost.com’s ethics.

Scott has 20+ years in the patio fireplace and hearth business, has defined his market and made relationships to bring products that will offset the seasonal cycles.

Meeting your customer in a one on one setting is one of the best thing you to better understand each other, allowing for better trust and understanding during and after the ecommerce web site process.

The show opened his eyes to the multiple of elements and processes that go into making a great site and partner.

We did meet the Bold Chat team, specifically Shea and the tech team, and we enjoyed a in-depth discussion on how we can incorporate this tool for Live Chat. Bold Chat allows the vendor to make changes and modifications without engaging the developer each time.

They are just on the edge of an Iphone app and they use HTML instead of Java, which means it will not break in the browser like some other chat tools do.

HardRock Cafe and Best Buy were one of the most impressive company that was there. HardRock displayed some of the most cutting-edge memorabilia tools with user and community interaction coming very soon.

When developing a web site, especially Ecommerce, you need to be cautious to the degree of cutting-edge you become as you can loose the late adopters leave dollars on the table.

Stay tuned, we will be reviewing some of the things I learned. Of course, most of our development team already knows what I learned but they cannot tell you from the basic owner or marketing person.  So, we come back  to the office with our “Pom Poms” in hand, realizing that you definitely need to be cautious and responsible when pushing technology to your customers.

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On The Road, Partners Ecommerce, Internet Retailer 2010, PCI, SEO, Web Design

With the expansion of the Internet, consumers all over the world can now have access to your business. They can now shop or learn more about your services from the safety and comfort of their own homes. There is only one problem, now consumers have access to all of your competitors as well. Products that people used to go to the a store to buy can now purchase products online with little effort. How can you stand out from the herd? Through well thought-out and intuitive web design.

Whether you are trying to get a visitor to your site to make a purchase or to call you, presentation is key. How would you present yourself on a first date, or perhaps a job interview? A homepage to your companies website is no different. The way you present your company will be how people view your company. A lot of care and consideration needs to go into the appearance and functionality of your site.

Do you already have a site up? Has it been up for many years? Just like in fashion certain styles of websites design themes will go in and out of style. It never hurts to update your look from time to time.

Function over style .
The way you may personally feel about this may vary depending on the nature of your company. A cutting edge technology firm will most likely want to have a website that mirrors their company model. For most of us simplicity is best. How does the navigation on your page look? More importantly how easy is it to use? Is it consistent throughout the website? In shopping online I have personally been to websites that were not easy to get through, and more often then not I can get the same product elsewhere. Not only will a well designed and easy to use site keep your customers interest but, it will also be much more search engine friendly.

Browsers:
Opera, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari. Which browser do you prefer? I personally am a fan of Firefox. Have you tested your site to see how it looks in different browsers? It’s always good to have a third party check things out in this regard. Keep in mind that most people around the world still use Internet Explore and that of all the browsers I.E. seemed to be the hardest one to please.

If you would like to know more about how to streamline your internet presence feel free contact me or any other professional designer. Good luck and Godspeed.

Web Design ecommere, SEO, tested, traffic, Web Design