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Web Strategies for Small Business: Making the Most of Your Web Site A briefing for: Public Procurement Forum 2004 December 6th, 2004

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Page 1: Carpenter Supplycon

Web Strategies for Small Business: Making the Most of Your Web Site

A briefing for:

Public Procurement Forum 2004December 6th, 2004

Page 2: Carpenter Supplycon

Order of Presentation• Setting the Stage: Projected Growth & the Role of

Multi-Channel Marketing

• Home Page Recommendations

• Basic Design, Content & the Online Store

• Case Studies: 2 Gourmet Food Retailers

• Resources: Articles & Books

• Education Opportunities through VECTEC • Questions??

Page 3: Carpenter Supplycon

Projected Growth of Online Retail Sales• 2004 Percentage of Total Sales - 4%• 2008 Percentage of Total Sales - 6%

Source: Jupiter Research 2004

Online Influence of Off-line Purchasing Also Increasing

• 2004 - 18% of offline sales influenced by online sales• 2008 - 29% of offline sales influenced by online sales

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0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Online Sales Category Growth 2002-2008

On

lin

e C

han

nel

Sh

are

2008

Compound Annual Growth 2003-2008

Source: Jupiter Internet Shopping Model

PCs

Software

JewelryToys

Video Games

Books

FlowersVideos

Event Tx

Footwear Cons. Elec

Apparel Other

Lg Appl

MusicPeripherals

Sport GdsOffice Prod

GroceryArt/coll

Garden SupplySpec. GiftsMovie Tx

Furniture

P. Care

Auto Parts

OTC Drugs

Med Sply

Home Imp.

HousewaresNeutra

Plateau Growth Steady Growth Steep Growth

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Multi-Channel Marketing is the Key• Single channel retail outlets are going the

way of the buggy whip - extinct!

Close to 45 percent of store retailersare now using three channels to market theirproducts and are finding these customers are also the most profitable.

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Capturing the customer begins with your home page

Does your home page . . . –Communicate what your company does

–Explain the value your site offers over its competition

–Provide good navigation to your company’s major products & services

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• Company Name/Logo

Home Page Recommendations

–Placement: upper left corner

–Size: modest (80 x 68 pixels)

–Company tagline: brief less than 10 words explaining what your company does

–Complexity of products may warrant additional information below the header

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• Entrance to My Account

– Needs to be in prominent location, usability experts recommend upper right hand corner of site.

Home Page Recommendations

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• Search Input Box

Home Page Recommendations

–Generally located within or below the banner–Input box should contain a minimum of 25 characters

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• Primary Navigation

Home Page Recommendations

–Best placement: Below the company logo in left-hand navigation column or within center of site above the fold.

–Items to include: Online Store, About Us, & Contact Us.–Resist urge to list all of your products on the home page, instead group them into meaningful categories

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• Featured Products

– Placed in center section

of site.

Home Page Recommendations

– Best practices: feature 2-3 products including product description, price, and direct link to shopping cart.

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• Footer

– Found at bottom of page

Home Page Recommendations

– Includes: brief contact info, copyright and privacy info.– Privacy policy is essential if gathering customer info or you engage in email communications with the customer.

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• Pop-up Windows

– Can be particularly frustrating on the home page and often on other pages as well, use sparingly.– A good question to ask --- “Is this relevant to the majority of my customers?”

Home Page Recommendations

Page 14: Carpenter Supplycon

Basic Design, Content & the Online Store

Let’s start with basic design . . .

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Basic Design• Consistency is paramount

– Major navigation, search, online store entrance, shopping cart info, etc. need to be in same place throughout site

• Emphasize what is important and place it appropriately–Make it bigger, bolder, etc.

• De-clutter –Be wary of:

•Extraneous graphics•Too much copy•Too many ads•Multiple navigation paths to same items

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Basic Design• Color use and choice

– Think carefully about your primary color - color choice may vary depending on the personality of the company

– Limit to no more than 5-6 total on a page– High contrast works better (especially

important for older customers)

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Basic Design• Color use and choice

– Color wheel can assist you in selecting complementary colors (opposite each other on wheel)– To indicate relationships, choose colors that are near to each other

Select complementary colors

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Basic Design - Other Color Variations

This color scheme uses three colors: any hue and the two adjacent to its complement. (example: red, yellow-green, and blue-green)

This scheme also uses three colors. They are evenly spaced from each other. (example: red, yellow, and blue)

Split complementary

Triadic

Page 19: Carpenter Supplycon

Basic Design - Other Color Variations

This color scheme uses two pairs of complements. (example: yellow and violet, blue and orange)

This scheme uses four colors: a triad and a complement to one of the hues. (example: red, yellow, blue and violet)

This scheme uses four colors evenly spaced on the color wheel. A primary, secondary and two tertiary colors are used. (example: red, green, yellow-orange, and blue-violet)

Alternate complement

Tetrad

Double complement

Page 20: Carpenter Supplycon

Basic Design• Linking

– Be specific - use linkable keywords, but keep them brief, so the customer will know what to expect

– Use color to distinguish visited (blue) and

unvisited (black) links.– Use roll-overs and other visual cues to let

shoppers know a graphic is an active link

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Content• Copy “Scanability”

– Use short paragraphs for text copy

– Use concise headings and subheadings

– Use bulleted lists instead of paragraphs where possible

• Content pages– The online store has moved beyond product

selling and promotion - product education is

just as important now.

– Look for ways you can include value-added pages

Page 22: Carpenter Supplycon

The Online Store• Subcategory page

– Include name and small photo for 5-10 of top subcategories, i.e.

• Product detail page– Image of each product– Next to each image include a description of the

product including color, size, weight, etc.– Include price and any hidden charges

(extra shipping and handling)

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The Online Store• Does your shopping cart require registration

before browsing - this can irritate potential first-time customers

• Don’t force the customer to go to the shopping cart or checkout page each time they add an item to the cart - this adds an unnecessary step for those shopping for multiple items

• Shopping carts running totals that include shipping and handling are more customer friendly

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The Online Store• Be sure to include total cart contents,

quantities and prices at the checkout counter

• Check counter is additional opportunity to provide complementary products to the customer

Page 25: Carpenter Supplycon

Case Study: Empire Machinery

Page 26: Carpenter Supplycon

• Primary Products: Industrial supply company includes power tools, pipe, grinding wheels and abrasive products.

• Locations Norfolk, Hampton,

Richmond, Northern Virginia and North Carolina

• Primary Customers: Northrop Grumman Newport News, Norshipco, Seimens, Ford Motor Company and International Paper.

• Annual revenue: $24 Million

• 105 Employees

Page 27: Carpenter Supplycon

Suggestions for improvement:• De-clutter header area containing primary navigation items, banner ad and registered customer, new customer links• Add input box for search feature• Move link to Shopping cart above the product categories in left hand nav• Add company tagline to help first-time customers know they’ve come to the right place• Featured products take up a lot of real estate - reduce size and combine logos with title of product• Product cats are clearly defined

Page 28: Carpenter Supplycon

Suggestions for improvement (continued):• Too many logos across the bottom of the page - move featured manufacturers to a new right hand column• Footer issues: Copyright is out of date, add phone number, and link to privacy policy.• Add more white space throughout.

Page 29: Carpenter Supplycon

Online Store: Suggestions for Improvement• Overall, categories are laid out well and succint.• Good use of crumbs• Subcategory links need to look more like links - underline and in blue• Visual FAQ might be helpful

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Online Store - Suggestions for Improvement• With fewer categories might display subcategories in one or two columns - try to be consistent across subcategories if possible.• Again - ensure links appear as links• Visual FAQ might be helpful

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This page is done very well - provides a good description,tells whether item is in stock, includes price and flows directly to shopping cart.

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Case Study: Whitley’s Peanuts

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• Primary Products: Boiled Peanuts, Raw Peanuts, Honey Roasted Peanuts, Gift Packs and Corporate Gifts.

• Locations 2 retail shops in Williamsburg and

Gloucester along with shipping and processing facility in Gloucester.

• Primary Customers: Consumer and business driven.

Page 34: Carpenter Supplycon

Previous Home PageWhitley’s Site Re-Design

• Clean up header area• Move newsletter input box away from search input box• Develop tag line to better position Whitley’s against competitors• Move primary navigation above fold line• Group similar items into fewer subcategories• Include more space for featured items• Move logos off bottom of home page

Page 35: Carpenter Supplycon

New Home Page

Page 36: Carpenter Supplycon

Whitley’s New Home Page Continued

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Previous Shopping Cart EntranceWhitley’s Re-Design

• Increase consistency between new home page and product pages - header, navigation, search, etc.• Make shopping cart more customer friendly - remove need to register before ordering• Make copy more concise and smaller images on subcategory page.

Page 38: Carpenter Supplycon

New Shopping Cart Entrance

Note the clear separation between “Shop” and “Information”navigation items.

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New subcategory page

Note new “You Might Also Enjoy” feature

Page 40: Carpenter Supplycon

Resources: Articles Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020512.html

Top 5 Most Important Web Usability Issues http://webdesign.about.com/cs/usability/tp/aatpwebusable.htm

Website Usability Tips - Homepage Usability Tips http://www.alteredimpressions.com/Usability101/Homepage_Usability_Issues_01.htm

Page 41: Carpenter Supplycon

Resources: Books Homepage Usability – 50 Websites Deconstructed by

Jakob Nielsen & Marie Tahir – ISBN: 073571102

Customer Centered Design – A New Approach to Web Usability by Kreta Chandler and Karen Hyatt - ISBN: 0130479624

Shaping Web Usability: Interaction Design in Context by Albert N. Badre - ISBN: 0201729938

The Unusually Useful Web Book by June Cohen – ISBN: 0735712069

Page 42: Carpenter Supplycon

Additional Supplier Resources• Small Business Administration - www.sba.gov

Includes resources within the Small Business Development Centers• Federal Business Opportunities - www.fedbizopps.gov

Single government point of entry for federal gov’t procurement• Acquisition Network for Federal Government - www.arnet.gov• FAR and DFAR, DFAR supplements, NASA, DOE regs -

www.farsite.hill.af.mil• Defense Fed Acq Regs Supplement - www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dfars• Defense Acquisition University - www.dau.mil

DoD contractors can enroll in classes as well as various self paced modules• Northrop Grumman OASIS - http://oasis.northgrum.com

Online Automated Supplier Information System

Page 43: Carpenter Supplycon

Education Programs• E-Commerce Short Courses

– Dreamweaver MX 2004 - Dec. 14 & 15

First day covers basic fundamentals and demonstrates why tool is powerful. Second day includes templates, behaviors, style sheets, layers, library items and more.

– Several additional classes planned for Spring including Contribute, Illustrator for the Web and Pay Per Click Marketing.

Page 44: Carpenter Supplycon

Research Programs• PenSoft E-Business Resource Center

www.vectec.org/researchcenter

– Offers more than 1,000 timely articles and statistics for Virginia’s small to medium-size businesses regarding e-commerce, Internet marketing, security, law and other subjects.

– EC glossary– Searchable database– Free resource for businesses as well as secondary and

higher education faculty

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Directory Submissions and Link BuildingGeneralKey PhrasesPay Per Click Site OptimizationStrategies

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Research Programs (cont.)

• Center for Technical Data & Information (CTDI)www.vectec.org/ctdi– Virginia’s Business, Technical and Scientific Research

Center – CTDI fills critical research needs for Virginia companies

including detailed information on competitors, potential customers, products and suppliers, etc.

– Special rural research program available to companies within Southwest Virginia, Eastern Shore, Northern Neck and Southside Virginia. For details, see: http://www.vectec.org/ctdi/ctdi_verizondetails.html

Page 49: Carpenter Supplycon

Sample Question

Our company needs information on medical service providers in Virginia with revenues greater than $2.5M. Where can we get that information?

We retrieved exactly what they were looking for in just two hours through Hoovers D & B In-depth.

Page 50: Carpenter Supplycon

QUESTIONS??

Michelle Carpenter

[email protected]

Phone: 757-594-7092