I was watching television today and saw a commercial that puzzled me.

In the commercial there were people singing, walking through the park, and involved in other every day activities. But after the thirty seconds was up, I had absolutely NO clue what they were trying to sell. In fact, I didn’t even know the company name. All I knew is that they had paid for a commercial that had absolutely zero impact on me.

My wife was sitting with me and I asked her what she thought of it. Her take on it was similar to mine. She also had no clue what they were selling, why, or if they were offering anything at all. She did comment that the people looked really happy though.

So I started thinking about how this applies to website presentation.

How many times have you gone to a url only to find it impossible to locate what you want? For example, have you ever wanted to BUY something, only to find a website filled with nonsense and no real clue how to purchase what they have to offer?

What is the purpose of a site like this? Now sure, the odds are they are doing well in the engines because you found them without much hassle. But what good is a site that ranks well but can’t actually sell your product or services? Think about that for a minute. You can have the very best retail location in any city in America and fail. If you have a great location but fail to sell your products or services, you’ll be closing the doors as soon as your startup budget runs out.

And this happens to many websites. Many companies take their wares online. Some capture really good rankings in the search engines. But some of these sites are not designed to sell at all. They have lots of pretty images that have nothing to do with your products. They have impossible navigation and hidden shopping carts.

Why???

It’s insane to build a site and then hide your products from your users? You need to present your products simply and clearly. Let your users buy your products quickly and easily. Show them a clear path to BUY…

The bottom line is this.

If you have a product or service, be sure that it is easy to purchase said product or service from ANY page within your site. Now that doesn’t mean you should have a buy it now link on every page. But there should be clear navigation throughout your site so that your users (CUSTOMERS) can get to your cart and buy whatever it is you have to offer.

Make sure your navigation is consistent!

Another pet peeve I have is when I go to a site and the navigation constantly moves from page to page. I don’t want to have to participate in a scavenger hunt to get to your cart or back to your main page. For cripes sake, put your navigation in the same place on all of your pages. Make it simple for me to get where I’m going.

Customers come to your site because they are interested in purchasing the products or services you offer. When designing your e-commerce site, please keep it in the front of your mind that THEY are the reason you are building the site. They are who you are aiming to please.

If you need help designing and developing your E-Commerce Website, please don’t hesitate to call us.

Chuck Crawford
559-761-0910