Tag Archives: small business

5 Hot Ecommerce Trends to Watch

11 Jul

by Curt Finch

http://mashable.com/2012/07/10/ecommerce-trends/

The number of consumers making purchases online continues to increase. This year, American online retail sales are projected to reach $224.2 billion. It is the new wave of commerce and, depending on the industry, ecommerce represents either an opportunity for big profit or a death knell for the brick-and-mortar business. The landscape is changing, and businesses must adapt to survive. What follows are five ecommerce trends that illustrate the direction that online shopping is headed, as well as some insight and strategies that will allow businesses and consumers to better navigate the uncertain seas of web-based retail.

1. Unusual or Commoditized Products

The success of Etsy and self-promoted artists who sell their work online can be attributed to the fact that it is difficult to find similar work anywhere else. These products compete on individuality and aesthetics more than price. In fact, attempting to compete on price is generally not recommended, considering the time and skills necessary to create individual works. Far more important is establishing a brand and reputation for quality that will, in turn, drive demand.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are commoditized items, such as consumer electronics, mainstream tools and other equipment. Individuals generally will have less success selling commoditized items online, even though they are some of the most popular online purchases; consumers prefer major retailers like Amazon when buying these items online. However, some individuals or small businesses have found success through affiliations with major retailers. Lifeproof, a line of waterproof and shock-resistant iPhone cases, aligned itself with Best Buy for this very reason, and it was able to penetrate the mainstream audience, whereas before it was simply a niche product.

2. Third-Party Ecommerce Site Providers

To meet the need of creating a functional and attractive ecommerce site, third-party ecommerce providers offer the simplicity of site setup and maintenance on their end to entice businesses. Currently, the two most popular ecommerce site providers are Volusion and Shopify. Volusion does not charge transaction fees on items sold; instead, it offers a simple, tiered monthly plan. Volusion also provides a site coach for its “Gold Level” members and a 14-day free trial.

Shopify charges a transaction fee for all but its “Unlimited” memberships, but allows for sales through Amazon, and offers SSL certification at no additional fee. Shopify is predicting that its merchant clients are on track to double their combined sales this year compared to last year.

It would take an article in itself to fully compare the benefits of these (and other popular ecommerce site providers), but suffice it to say they both offer options for businesses that do not wish to manage the technical aspects of their ecommerce storefront.

3. The “Mom and Pop” Effect

The traditional “mom and pop” stores of yesteryear grow more rare as stiff competition from chain stores increases. However, in the digital realm, the smaller, personalized stores can — and do — have success. Chris Andrasick, CEO of Tacit Knowledge, believes that the mom-and-pop advantage extends beyond customer loyalty, and that there is in fact a logistical advantage, as well. Andrasick says, “Smaller stores aren’t saddled with anachronistic organizational structures that segment a business by channel, such as store, catalog or digital.”

There are even a few companies catering to the moms and pops of the web, giving them the tools to compete with the big guys. SumAll is one such company, providing data analytics to small- to medium-sized online businesses. The metrics from SumAll show online retailers the real-time metrics that are having the biggest impact on their bottom line.

4. Remarketing

Static marketing is dead, and businesses of any size have to be creative to cut through the clutter. For ecommerce, a new technique is “remarketing” — using multiple touches to generate continued interest in the product. If you’ve ever noticed that ads appearing on pages you visit online are extremely reflective of your interests, you’ve experienced remarketing. “When a potential customer visits a website and then leaves without making a purchase, companies can ‘follow’ them on the Internet,” says Melissa Chelist, owner of Storkgifts, an online children’s store. “Ads and offers will appear on other pages the potential customer is viewing.”

The danger with this type of marketing is the penchant for users to become annoyed due to the “creepy” nature of ads following them around. However, if they were on the fence about an item, the ads can sway the consumer to make the purchase.

5. Mobile

Mobile devices are fast becoming the preferred method of accessing the web. According to Think Mobile with Google:

  • 81% of smartphone users access the Internet on their mobile devices.
  • 59% use the Internet on their phones while waiting.

For this reason, ecommerce sites that are mobile optimized, or that have a streamlined mobile application, will get more sales. Punit Shah of My Trio Rings, an ecommerce jewelry provider, reiterates this point: “Interestingly enough, a lot of our customers have easier access to the Internet from their smartphones than from a computer. Even more intriguing is that the average transaction price from mobile sales is 12% higher than on desktop computer-based sales.”

However, there is a “dark side” for physical stores when it comes to mobile devices. Harry Hirschman, VP of marketing and business development of ecommerce solution provider Vendio, says, “The biggest challenge for brick-and-mortar stores is the growth of ‘showrooming.’ For example, Target lost some suppliers because they were not receiving favorable pricing in the stores. Customers would go to Target, check out the price and then use their mobile device to see if they could find cheaper prices online.” However, this is yet another example of the benefit of a strong mobile presence, particularly if a business is able to compete on both price and value.

Ecommerce will continue to advance and evolve, and many of these trends may shift or become obsolete. One thing that remains constant is the need to build a loyal following by competing on value and providing quality customer service. Staying on top of ecommerce trends will give businesses a distinct advantage when it comes to interacting and communicating with customers.

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Professional Development Series this Wednesday at 9am

12 Mar

Just a reminder, our next Professional Development series networking breakfast and seminar is THIS Wednesday at 9 a.m. at The Eisen Agency. Register at www.TheEisenAgency.com/PDS. This month’s topic: More and Better Publicity for Yourself, Your Business and Your Brand.

Hope to see you there!!

 

 

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17 Pinterest stats to show your boss or client

23 Feb

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10905.aspx

By Arik Hanson | Posted: February 22, 2012

In December, I wrote a post that asked 15 “power users” of Pinterest their thoughts about the emerging platform. At the time, Pinterest was still a niche social network.

In just two months, Pinterest has blown up and will likely be the “it” social network of 2012. Communications consultant Shel Holtz recently confirmed there are now more than 50 million blog posts referencing or featuring Pinterest. Amazing.

Pinterest is also driving serious traffic for some major brands. It is now driving more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace combined.

All of this attention usually brings questions—from your peers, from your boss, from your boss’ boss. So, it helps to have some Pinterest stats ready to share at the drop of a hat. When your boss comes calling—and if Pinterest continues to grow at this rate, someone will ask soon— you can share these 18 stats:

1. Pinterest is retaining and engaging users as much as two to three times as efficiently as Twitter was at a similar time in history. (via RJMetrics)

2. Etsy is the top site in terms of “source domains.” (Source domains are the sites that content on Pinterest links to externally.) Google is second, followed by Flickr, Tumblr, and WeHeartit.com (via RJMetrics)

3. Pinterest accounts for 3.6 percent of referral traffic, while Twitter just barely edged ahead of the newcomer, accounting for 3.61 percent of referral traffic. In July 2011, Pinterest accounted for just 0.17 percent of referral traffic, proving the site’s blockbuster growth. (via PR Daily)

4. Pinterest has 10.4 million registered users (and growing). (via AppData)

5. According to AppData and Facebook, 97 percent of Pinterest users are women.

6. American users of the social network spend an average of one hour and 17 minutes on the site, well ahead of Twitter (36 minutes), LinkedIn (17 minutes), and Google+ (six minutes). (via AllTwitter)

7. Top corporate Pinterest boards: Real Simple (34,517 followers), HGTV (17,824 followers), Nordstrom (9,886 followers), West Elm (11,547 followers), ModCloth (11,813 followers), Whole Foods (14,217 followers), Better Homes and Gardens (15,127 followers), Kate Spade (16,371 followers), Etsy (53,784 followers).

8. Estimated unique visitors to Pinterest.com increased by 429 percent from September to December 2011. (via Monetate)

9. According to comScore (via TechCrunch), the average Pinterest user spends 98 minutes per month on the site, compared to 2.5 hours on Tumblr, and seven hours on Facebook.

10. Daily Pinterest users have increased by more than 145 percent since the beginning of 2012. (via Mashable)

11. More than one-fifth of Facebook-connected users are on Pinterest daily (which represents more than 2,000,000 members). (via Mashable)

12. Top areas of the country for Pinterest users: East South Central (Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee) and West North Central (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota).

13. The biggest demographic for Pinterest: Women ages 25 to 34. (via Ignite)

14. Only 25 percent of Pinterest users have earned a bachelors or higher degree and the majority live off a household income of $25,000 to $75,000. (via Ignite)

15. In the U.K., the majority of Pinterest users are male (56 percent male vs. 44 percent female). (via Ragan.com)

16. Top interests on Pinterest in the U.S.: crafts, gifts, hobbies/leisure, interior design, fashion designers/collections. (via Ragan.com)

17. Top interests on Pinterest in the U.K.: venture capital, blogging resources, crafts, Web stats/analytics, SEO/marketing. (via Ragan.com)

Arik Hanson is principal of ACH Communications. A version of this post originally appeared on Communications Conversations.

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4 essential steps after you launch a product

17 Feb

By Beth Monaghan

Apple has dazzled business-to-consumer and business-to-business technology companies alike with its product launches.

Steve Jobs made the product launch one part art, one part theater, and one part buzz—and it worked. Apple even pulled off a successful iPad launch over Easter weekend in 2010, a known dead zone in the PR world for launch timing.

However, unless you are a member of the very small Apple/Google/Facebook/Amazon club, the big-bang product launch as marker for future success is quickly being written into the history books. Often, the product launch in and of itself is not news. What comes afterward is the fuel that drives user interest, and therefore media interest. The launch is simply the first step in a long journey to broad adoption that rarely, if ever, happens on launch day.

Consider Pinterest.

Unless you’ve been living on a remote island without access to the Internet, you have heard of it. In fact, it’s been the predominant topic in my Twitter stream for the past two weeks. But did you know that Pinterest launched in closed beta in March 2010? And that it had one piece of media coverage (in the Gather Celebs News Channel), for the entire year? It was the same story for most of 2011 as well.

Then, in August, Harry McCracken at Time magazine named Pinterest as one of the “50 Best Websites of 2011.” That same month, Pinterest’s iPhone app launched. These two events seem to have kicked off a mild media interest in Pinterest—a Google news search turned up roughly 40 articles between July and November 2011.

In December 2011, more than a year and a half after its initial launch, Pinterest found its watershed moment. Still an invitation-only site, Pinterest was the lucky beneficiary of a report from Hitwise. The VentureBeat story on this news noted that:

“…Pinterest saw 31,788,893 total visits in November, according to Hitwise data shared with VentureBeat. Better still, that figure puts the site ahead of Google+ (31,748,905) and Tumblr (25,716,031) in terms of total web visitors.”
Also in December, Pinterest won the “New Startup of 2011” Crunchie award.

What happened next? In January 2012, Pinterest catapulted into the minds of consumers everywhere, seemingly overnight, with 2,200 Google news results in that month, and so far in February, they are at 2,260 (as of 2/11 at 8:55 a.m.).

The interesting thing about Pinterest is that it does not appear to be trying to get media attention. Could they have received more media coverage in 2010 and 2011 prior to December? Absolutely. Perhaps their watershed moment could have come more quickly, but we will never know. The point is that the watershed was not the product launch. Far from it.

A successful product launch is merely the first step in a long journey to broad adoption. You might get great media coverage on your launch, and you might not. The odds are more likely that your product launch will not be a major newsmaker.

Instead, you must use it as a launching pad for a lot of hard work that creates regular awareness, both on the product side and the communications side. So what comes after the launch?

Making the product better. It must be addictive. Media coverage and social chatter alone can only bring people to your offering. You must give them a reason to come back, and a reason to share it.

Points of interest. Tell your audience what is interesting. Do you have some interesting data coming out of your offering? Do you have some interesting users? Humanize the story and show why it’s different and interesting.

Third-party validation. Other leaders must validate what you are doing. It’s not enough that you think it’s cool—Pinterest’s inclusion in the January Facebook app announcement is a great example of how to let someone else (someone with authority) say you are cool.

Demonstrate traction. This is the hardest piece, of course. To demonstrate traction, you must have traction. Hitting 100k visitors is not interesting; 1 million is getting boring for the press, too. So what to do? Create a benchmark in your space. You might not be the next Pinterest, but you might be the leader in your space with the most traffic, users, etc. Numbers only mean something when you can provide a point of reference, so do the work for the press and show them why your numbers matter.

Now, you just have to keep beating the drum until you reach the watershed moment.

Beth Monaghan is a principal and co-founder of InkHouse Media + Marketing. You can follow her on Twitter at @bamonaghan. A version of this story first appeared on the InkHouse blog.

 http://www.prdaily.com/marketing/Articles/10838.aspx

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Save the Date!

30 Jan

Next Wednesday is the February installment of the Professional Development Series: Everything you need to know about using video in your marketing. 

WHEN:        Wed, Feb 8 at 9 a.m.

WHERE:     515 Monmouth St. Suite 302
                        Newport, KY 41071

Register at www.TheEisenAgency.com/PDS.

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How to Pick the Right Name for Your Business

25 Jan

By: Nellie Akalp

http://mashable.com/2012/01/16/business-name-how-to/

Abstract or dead simple? Clever irony? Cute and playful? There are endless paths to take when brainstorming your new business name. But for many small business owners and entrepreneurs, the naming process is fraught with uncertainty and doubt.

Yet, the stakes couldn’t be higher. A business begins with a name — the cornerstone of company identity that shapes branding, company tone and first impressions. Whether you’ll be name-brainstorming yourself or have hired a branding firm, here are a few tips to help you pick the right name for your new business.

1. Set the tone. Your business name sets the tone for all that follows. Think about what’s important to you and your business. What’s the first thing you want a customer to think in regard to your business? For example, a young company breaking into the financial advising field may be more concerned about credibility, and thus forgo the edgy, attention-grabbing name. Your own tone can be playful or academic, edgy or professional. Just make sure it reflects what your business is and what you want it to be in the future.

2. Simple is strong. A powerful name is easy to spell, pronounce and remember. After all, what good is word-of-mouth if your customer tells a friend, “You really should look up my caterer for your next event. I think their name begins with an A…”

If you need to explain a business name, you’ve failed to make an impact. One creative marketing consultant selected a variant of the name Agora for her business, loving the connection to the ancient Greek word agora, meaning marketplace. She quickly abandoned the name when a colleague’s first reaction was “I get it. Sometimes I feel agoraphobic when I’ve got a big project too.”

3. Do not use initials! We all know the business landscape has an affinity for acronyms, but try to avoid using initials for your company name. A random collection of letters doesn’t inspire an emotional connection. And you can run into legal and branding headaches by juggling two different business names (the initials and the name spelled out).

4. Opt for a descriptive name. A descriptive name helps frame your company better than a generic one. For example, consider Speedy Electronics vs. Speedy, Inc. Adding this qualifier instantly tells potential customers what your business is all about.

5. Don’t box yourself in. While descriptive is good, you don’t want your name to be too descriptive, in case you end up expanding your offerings down the road. Imagine if Target still went by its original name, Dayton Dry Goods Company. You need to consider where your brand is today, as well as where you want to go in the future.

6. Watch out for language pitfalls. A word in English may have a negative meaning in another language or culture. And enthusiastic business owners can be blind to awkward puns and double entendres. The best way to avoid creating an embarrassing or damaging brand situation is to test your name on your target audiences; they may see something you missed.

7. Give any new name time to sink in. It can take some time for a new name to feel right, and you may need to use your name for several months before it starts to feel natural. This is particularly true when a name is off the beaten path, which is often the case for some the industry’s most memorable and impactful names. Just imagine the initial reaction to the name “Google.”

Along these lines, a strong brand or product can overcome a potentially ill-conceived name. When Apple first unveiled its tablet, I was skeptical of the choice in name. I was far from alone. Yet fast forward a few years and the word “iPad” is a natural part of my daily vernacular (and I never think of feminine hygiene).

8. Don’t finalize too soon. The most important lesson is not to get too attached to any one name during the brainstorming process. When inspiration strikes, it’s all too tempting to start envisioning your company logo, web design, signage, business cards, etc. But you’ve got to make sure that perfect name is legally available for you to use — no one wants to be on the wrong end of a trademark dispute.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59

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5 Ways Brands Can Use Pinterest to Boost Consumer Engagement

12 Jan

By: Constance Aguilar

The surprise smash-hit social networking site of 2011 wasn’t Twitter, Tumblr or Google+. In fact, it was a site that, even today, is still an invite-only social network. The Palo Alto site Pinterest has skyrocketed into the top ten most visited social networks of the past year and continues to gain traction and popularity.

The image-based platform is a simple enough concept: Users create and name Boards anything they like (Places I’d Like to Visit, Pretty Dresses, My Cookie Creations, etc.) and post relevant photos on corresponding Boards, while categorizing Boards under one of the 32 general Pinterest categories. Users follow one another based on interests, and photos are displayed in a pin board-type feed that is simple, yet visually stunning.

But how can brands and companies utilize this platform to their advantage? Here are five ways to jump on the Pinterest bandwagon to reach an already established female audience and a rising male audience.

1. Contests

Brands and companies can connect and build buzz among their audiences by hosting various types of contests on Pinterest. Contests can range from creating the “Best Board” to a earning the most Repins. Users could post photos of the best outfits they put together or of sculptures built from products bought at a specific store. Similar to photo contests on Facebook or Twitter, Pinterest offers a way for brands to build visually stunning interaction between themselves and their patrons.

2. New Product Approval

When launching a new product, whether a new dress, dinner dish or cellphone, companies want to determine initial reactions to the product’s look and feel. Because of Pinterest’s commenting ability, it’s an ideal platform on which to introduce a new product and gather firsthand opinions. Because Pinterest’s popularity hasn’t reached the caliber of Facebook, brand managers can easily organize, analyze and determine sentiment from the results. As users Repin a photo, brand managers can gather more intelligence, and ultimately decide whether their companies should move forward with mass production. Think of it as a social media focus group.

3. Showcase Brand Personality

For companies that don’t necessarily have product lines to show off, the social networks allows photos to communicate a brand’s personality. For instance, a mayoral candidate could have a Pinterest Board of photos that features his philanthropic outreach and community relations. A magazines can post past and present photos that showcase places it has sent journalists, events it has covered, etc. Each Pin allows for a description and a link to the original story. Therefore, any company can quickly connect an audience with its story, mission and future plans, all via photo Pin.

4. Display Various Sectors of a Company

Larger operations can use Pinterest to nicely organize areas of focus and relay them to the public. For instance, an integrated marketing agency may host several individually themed Boards. One Board showcases photos of its public relations efforts, while a design department Board displays logos and web pages it has created, and a final Board hosts photos of employees in action. These types of organized displays would also allow other businesses to view similar work, effective strategies and innovative teams, making Pinterest a strong B2B community.

5. Creative Communication Between Brands and Customers

Using Pinterest, brands can create Pins and Boards that feature customers’ product interpretations, and then showcase them for entire audiences. This way customers can further relate to products, and brands have a way to thank to their supporters by integrating them into their communities. For example, a clothing company Pins a photo of a shopper in one of its outfits, and writes caption “Brandy A. paired this floral dress with our black lace stockings and brown leather boots to create the perfect fall ensemble.” Brandy feels special because the brand recognized her involvement and creativity, and thus is inspired to return, and the company creates content that keeps fans constantly involved.

Pinterest holds immense potential for brands to interact with their audiences and to visually entice current and potential customers. Using the power of image, companies can create buzz around products, display more in-depth aspects of their businesses, and ultimately create more personal and visually pleasing social experiences for their audiences.

http://mashable.com/2012/01/10/pinterest-business-consumer-engagement/

Constance Aguilar is a social media strategist and account manager at Abbi Public Relations, where she oversees client strategy on social media channels, through traditional media relations and event production. You can follow her on Twitter @ConnieAguilar and read her blog posts at abbipublicrelations.wordpress.com.

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Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business Owners

3 Jan

http://mashable.com/2011/12/23/small-business-new-years-resolutions/

by Nellie Akalp 16

As humans, we’re continually looking to improve and advance. Whether it’s trying to eat better, to quit smoking once and for all, to spend less money, or to spend more time with family and friends, we formally or informally create our own goals — optimistic that we’ll stick to them this year.

In this light, I’ve assembled my top 10 New Year’s resolutions for the small business owner.

1. Go small. You want customers to support the concept of small business, right? This means you should adopt a small business mindset at your own business too. Analyze your current vendors and service providers for opportunities to “downsize.” If you find any opportunities to support a small business instead, whether virtual or brick and mortar, aim to switch at least one vendor or supplier.

2. Go mobile. By 2015, more U.S. Internet users will access the web through mobile devices than through PCs. On average, 15% of all searches on Google today are from a mobile device. How well are you catering to this mobile population? Make 2012 the year you optimize your search marketing, email marketing and website to focus on this growing mobile community.

3. Go local. These mobile users are constantly interacting with things and places that physically surround them. Microsoft reported that 53% of mobile searches on Bing have a local intent. The online world has become an essential place for businesses to connect with their local community. Make sure your business has a local listing on key search engines: Google Places, Bing maps, and Yahoo maps.

4. Learn how to delegate and do more of it. When you’re just starting out and times are tough, it’s natural to tighten the purse strings. However, consider what you could gain by handing over certain tasks to contractors, virtual assistants or full-time employees. By relinquishing control of administrative tasks or company blog updates, you’ll free up time for what’s ultimately going to keep you in business: bringing in revenue.

5. Invest in one new customer touch point. Whether it’s blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, mobile coupons or QR codes, new ways to connect with customers seem to pop up daily. As a small business owner, you don’t have to excel in every new technology or network that comes along, but you should try to be wherever your customers are. Ask your current customers where/how they’d like to connect with you, then spend some time in 2012 to make it happen.

6. Refresh your website. In the race to master new social media tools, don’t overlook your own website. After all, social media efforts like Twitter campaigns end up driving traffic somewhere, right? It doesn’t make any sense to build a beautiful and savvy Facebook presence that funnels people to a boring, inaccurate, and out-of-date website. Keep it current and engaging!

7. Protect your assets with an LLC or corporation. While legal fine print may not be the most glamorous part of your business, forming an LLC or corporation can be critical to your business and personal financial health. These business structures protect your personal assets from any company liabilities. That is, if your business is sued or has bad debt, your personal property may be shielded from legal repercussions. Keep in mind that creditor judgments can last a total of 22 years, so you’re protecting not just what you own today, but whatever assets you’ll gain in the future.

8. Get your books ready for tax time early. Are you notorious for waiting until the last minute to organize and file your taxes? Do you find yourself wading through emails, or scrounging through your car to find stray business receipts? Don’t wait until April to start on your 2011 tax forms. Start fresh in 2012 by organizing your books from day one (even if that means outsourcing your accounting).

9. Social network in the real world. Whether the plumber recommends a carpenter or the web designer recommends a copywriter, business is driven by referrals and connections. In 2012, put some effort into networking by signing up for an industry conference or seeking out a local meetup group. These are invaluable ways to develop relationships and share advice with fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners.

10. Put time for you on the calendar. As an entrepreneur, remember that you’re solely responsible for your own motivation, productivity and well-being. There’s no boss to pat you on the back or give you a raise. It’s up to you to keep yourself motivated and inspired. In 2012 be sure to reward yourself for specific milestones like a big client win, meeting a tough deadline, or working “overtime” for multiple nights on end.

Sticking to 10 resolutions is a lofty goal for anyone. Follow the tips that ring true for your situation, and adjust as needed. Do you have other resolutions for your business in 2012?

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When a Small Retailer Shoots Itself in the Foot with a Weak Web Site

21 Dec
Website Advice for Small Business Owners
 
By GABRIEL SHAOOLIAN
 
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/when-a-small-retailer-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-with-a-weak-web-site/?ref=smallbusiness
 
Susan and Steve Karasanti: "This was an awesome experience."
Marilynn K. Yee/The New York TimesSusan and Steve Karasanti: “This was an awesome experience.”

 

Last week, my post asked whether a small retailer can compete online with the big boys.

The answer to that question is yes, but only if the small retailer creates an online presence that differentiates itself from the competition. The site has to have a great design, and it has to have the structure and navigation to make the purchasing process simple and intuitive.

The retailer we looked at, Little Dudes and Divas, sells clothes and accessories for babies and toddlers, as well as accessories for the parents of babies and toddlers. The readers of this column clearly want to see Little Dudes and Divas — and its owners Steve and Susan Karasanti — beat its bigger competitors, but they generally felt that the site has too many issues to do so.

For example, the readers were nearly unanimous in their view that the site is too cluttered. “Wow, what a mess,” Micah Choquette wrote. “You have so many things trying to get my attention, it’s actually impossible to pay much attention to anything. I’d trim the home page down to probably 20 percent of what they have on there now: focus on specials, brand names and strip your testimonials down to one with a link to the others. Featured products should probably be condensed to four or five, not 20.”

Or as Manwich in Connecticut put it: “Your site suffers from too much selection, where shoppers can look at page after page of items. There is a missed opportunity here to make some decisions for the customer, be taste makers and put a heavier focus on a smaller selection of items, which can give the impression of a truly hand-picked selection.”

Clutter can make it difficult to compete with more sophisticated sites. Because Little Dudes and Divas hopes to sell high quality, hard to find brands, this is a big deal. As Friend in New England put it, “I don’t like the site because they’re selling high-end products but the visual appearance of the store is bargain basement. If I’m buying expensive products I expect the Web site to have sophisticated graphic design with attractive, thoughtfully chosen colors and fonts. I went to the Coach Web site to compare and that site is gorgeous! The pages look like a fashion magazine in style and layout, and the bags look like works of art.”

Many of those who commented expressed support for the Karasantis and indicated that they would prefer to support a small business. In this case, through, the small business may not be making a strong enough case for itself.

“Why would you buy from this site instead of one of their bigger competitors?” asked Morgan S. of Atlanta. “I probably wouldn’t. This site doesn’t tell me that they are super customer-focused. This site communicates that they are just another mass retailer. What makes them special? What makes me want to a) buy from them and b) come back?”

Steve Karasanti Responds

Mr. Karasanti was remarkably gracious in his response to the commenters’ tough love. “This was definitely an eye-opening experience,” he said. “The comments were well thought out and very informative.”

He admitted to being surprised by the overall impression that the site is too cluttered and visually unappealing. “I thought we did a good job on the redesign, but I guess we fell short,” he said. “It seems that most of your readers agree that less is more when it comes to shopping online.”

He said he planned to take immediate action to fix the site. “We will start by cleaning up the home page and focusing on a clean and visually pleasing design with less clutter,” he said. “We will do more to convey the message about our customer service. We will try to showcase our story on the site so customers know more about who we are and what we do.”

As readers of this column know, not every site we have reviewed has been so receptive to the reader comments (for example, there’s this review). But Mr. Karasanti has fully embraced the comments and the suggestions. “This was an awesome experience,” he said. “I’ve learned so much from your readers. I would recommend this to anyone who owns a Web site and wants to improve on it. I hope that other business owners can benefit from the comments about our site. I know I did! I would like to thank everyone who took the time to write these comments about our site. We are excited to see how these changes will make a difference in our business. Thank you for the opportunity.”

My Take

I think the comments about clutter are absolutely right. I look at this site and see a lot of stuff, but I don’t know what kind of stuff. When you use a term like featured products, you are telling your visitors that you have taken the time to select products that you think they will be interested in. But when your home page is crammed with featured products, and there is no clear organization of those products, you are going to confuse and frustrate your visitors.

As a result, there is a gap between what the Karasantis say they want the site to be and what I see on the site. They tell me that their business is about offering exceptional customer service and great brands that you won’t find on other sites. But why aren’t they delivering that message on the home page in a bold, clear way? They are competing with some awfully big stores that have built up a huge amount of consumer trust. To beat the big boys, you have to provide something they can’t. If you have better customer service than the big stores, emphasize it. If you have products they don’t offer, emphasize it.

When I dig into the site, I see they do have good products and they do offer strong service, including a lowest price guarantee and free shipping for orders over $50. And that’s all fine, but very few visitors are going to take the time to dig that deeply. You have to make your value proposition clear.

Take a look at the difference between this site and Diapers.com. See how clean and inviting the home page is. The design is warm, the value proposition is clear, and the navigation is intuitive, with major categories on top and useful filters on the left. Now look at the page that competes most directly with Little Dudes and Divas, the “Clothing & Shoes” page:

Instead of bombarding you with dozens of products, this site highlights seasonal clothes and makes it simple to find exactly what you’re looking for. There is no clutter. If you were going to buy from one of these two sites, which one would you choose?

Little Dudes and Divas is a small business run by people who know their business and have great products and service. But they have done themselves a disservice. Look at how many of the commenters told the Karasantis that they need to invest in a redesign. I agree.

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Get PR for your small business

13 Dec

 Advice from the pros at MarketingZone.com

Written by: Derrith Lambka

Learn how to get PR public relations coverage.  Learn what you can do to get the press, media and bloggers to write about and cover your small business, company, products and services.   Sending a press release doesn’t work so well anymore.  There are lots of great services that tell you when reporters are researching and writing stories so instead of you pitching to them, you are instead responding to the equivalent of “qualified PR leads”.

Get PR 

Join the conversation!  What’s working for you to get PR?

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