Part 2: Creating Descriptive Product Pages

Late last year, we began part 1 of a 3 part series on how to increase your online sales. In part 1 we covered barriers to increasing conversion rates which included 14 different reasons why customers may choose not to purchase a product online. This time, we'll focus specifically on creating descriptive product pages and the elements that have been proven to increase online sales.

Usually one of two ways. 1) Checking/testing on a regular basis or 2) when customers start to complain. The latter is not the ideal time. By then, who knows how much money you've lost. Remember, most customers won't take the time to report the problems they have at your website. Usually they just leave and buy from your competition.

Below are a few things that you should do on a regular basis to keep your online store generating revenue.

We get numerous calls each week from online retailers who ask us what they can do to boost their sales or ask why their sales are lagging. They tell us that they just aren't getting the sales they want and think something must be wrong. Perhaps they are just too close to the problem to "see the forest through the trees" so to speak. This is all too common. Although we are completely happy to help solve these issues and increase sales, there are many things you can do yourself that will keep sales flowing.

Think Tank Designs was contacted by a client last night about a problem with their e-commerce website's shopping cart. They described their problem as best as they could but they were not seeing any problems on their end. They had been receiving numerous phone calls from frustrated customers who couldn't quite describe the problems they were having using the shopping cart. But all simply said they could not purchase a product from our client's website.

Despite our client's best efforts to replicate the problem in an attempt to diagnose what was going on they simply could not see what everyone was complaining about. But something had to be wrong or else the complaints wouldn't be coming in. So that's when they decided to call Think Tank Designs and specify a small budget for testing and fact finding. We listened to their concerns and went to work the following morning.

First, we must understand a few limiting factors before we move onto the details.

1) You can't control custom filters someone places on their inbox.
2) Spam filters change often and without notice. What was working last week might not work this week. Spam filters are constantly evolving to handle the latest offenses.

Even when people opt-in to receive your email newsletter, they can get caught in spam filters. But lucky for us, there are a number of things you can do to improve you chances of proper delivery.

Think you could be getting more business with your website but don't know how? You most likely need to optimize your website. Optimization doesn't have to be complex but it is an ongoing process. Simply put, try something new, evaluate the results, adjust your website accordingly.

Heath Meyette and Robin Lindblom of Think Tank Designs were awarded 5 Bronze Addy's on Friday March 9th at The Mission Inn in Riverside, CA. This was a perfect 5 for 5 as each website entered received it's own recognition.

When you go to find someone to create your website it can be very confusing. What do you look for? What questions should you ask? How do you ensure that you've found the right people to design your website? Here are a few questions that will help you find the right web designer for you.

Heath Meyette and Robin Lindblom of Think Tank Designs have been invited to act as Judges by the Inland Empire Ad Club for the 2012 Addy Awards.

Congratulations Think Tank Designs! Think Tank Designs has been chosen as one of CreativePublic.com's "Designers of the Month".

In working with clients I have found that it is very common that they do not keep their browser software up-to-date. What is a browser you ask? A browser is the software application you use to access the internet. This is different from a search engine. You use the browser to access the search engine as well as any other website online.

Over the past few years we've had many online retailers ask us if they should be selling the same products they sell on their ecommerce website on Amazon.com also. Some online retailers see the experience as positive, while many are starting to view it as Amazon taking advantage of online retailers.

Very seldom does a day go by that we do not get a phone call from a prospective client who asks us about website hosting. Although we have a trusted web host that we use for our clients we do not handle hosting in-house because it's not in the best interest of our client. Before you signup for hosting consider the following:

Approx 40% of online marketers are not happy with their site's conversion rates. That means that 60% of online marketers are either happy with their current conversion rate or they don't understand what this means. What is a conversion rate you ask? Your conversion rate is the rate at which you convert visitors into customers. This may include things like buying a product, filling out a request form, calling for more info or subscribing to your newsletter.