Building Web Pages
We will cover each part of the web page, it's importance and why we designed it the way we did. Again we will be using Patiostore.com as our example. If you have chosen to use E-commerce package, a lot of the areas discussed here will be pre-formatted for you. The points made here will still apply when you construct your doorway pages for use when promoting your web site to the Internet's search engines. Doorway pages are one of the keys to your success. At patiostore.com all pages are designed to be doorway pages.
Keep in mind that there is no right or wrong way to build a web site. There is only what works and what does not. Please experiment with new ideas, but do it from a basis of what works, the web site patiostore.com that we use as our example works, it gets orders and makes a profit. Start with the ideas and thoughts presented here or on other successful web sites and change things only when what ever you want to do can answer the following questions with a firm yes. Will what I want to do help me to get the customer to buy when they come to my web site?
Your E-commerce software will automatically create link tables and navigation for your site based on the product categories you set up. Keep in mind we have purchased some add ons software scripts and modified the layout to get the look we wanted from the os commerce platform that we use.
Your Home Page
The home page is your customer's first impression of your web store. This page is were the customer will learn to navigate your web site, the simpler and the more intuitive it is to use, the better. You want the customer to be thinking about what they came to buy, not how to use your site. You do not want the customer distracted from the main purpose of spend money with you.
When you save your home page (the first page of your web site) name it (save as) index in the same folder as all your web site's pages, graphics and images. An Internet search engine's spider visits your web site it will assume that "index" is the first page of your web site.
The Page Header
At the the top of each page we use patiostore.com's name header (logo graphic). This name header lets the visitor know where they are and reinforces the name in the mind. You can visit http://www.patiostore.com/store1.html to view the examples, keep in mind that you are visiting a real store and orders will be processed
Save your header as a .jpeg or .gif file in your web sites main file folder. We called our file "site logo". So that the web pages will have a consistent appearance we used the same background color for the header and for the web page. The header on this page is the same.
Page Name
Next comes the page name. It should be simple and state what page the customer is on. We placed the page name inside a two column table, "Patio Store" with a sub title of "your on line patio furniture store" Below that is a brief statement. "Quality patio furniture by name brand manufactures. Great prices, exceptional customer service". This is added for those search engines that read text as part of their procedures in selecting which pages to rank. To the right of the page name is a place for specials. Specials consist of a .gif file, it is a banner ad linked to a specials page. This is changed monthly. Our customers tell us they like this simple, direct method of naming a page so that they know what page they have landed on without waiting for everything to load. It also helps when you are walking a customer through your web site over the phone.
Information pages
Information pages are grouped together and are most often located at the bottom of pages.
Review the pages patiostore.com use for ideas on what to include on your site.
Ordering
Note that the customer can tell the site offers a shopping cart, there are two links on the pages for shopping cart. The stores phone numbers is easy to find and the contact us gives them another method. Make it easy for your customer to buy.
Navigation
The sites users can shop the site by searching, left side links, top links, product category links, and a drop down list by manufactures name. The goal is six clicks or less to a relevant product.
Product Categories Links and Photos.
Next come the product Categories. We use small pictures (thumb nails) with word captions (links) below the picture. These are placed into tables to control the page's layout and appearance when viewed in a web browser. (Your software may use other methods of page layout control).
People (shoppers) are visually stimulated and they will quickly scan the pictures first, and then read the text. In school we all learned to read left to right, top to bottom. We use this learned behavior to our advantage by laying out the categories in a checkerboard pattern. The customer can quickly scan the rows to find what they came looking for. This works well to feature seasonal items or specials, as you can move the pictures and links to different parts of the page based on what you want the viewer to see first at different times of the year.
We saved the pictures as .jpeg files at 100 pixels wide so that three or four would fit across the page. Remember that the KEY to success is to make it easy for the customer to get were they want to be quickly. When the customer clicks on a link they go to a product page or to a product category that breaks the category down to individual items or groups of items.
On our patiostore home page the categories are by brand name or major product groups. The next page the customer goes to breaks those groups or brand names down to smaller groups or to individual items.
Most customers will head straight for the category pictures and links, finding what they want; they click off to a product page, ignoring everything else on the page. All of our product category pages are done this way.
Site Links
Below the category links and thumbnails are the links to the rest of the web site. (We are changing to style sheets and the links may now be on the left side of each page) These links are also duplicated on the web site's index page. Think of the index page (home) like an index in the front of a book, this is a page showing all the pages on the web site and links to them.
With E-commerce software packages the links are created automatically.
Because we have several web sites we also include have links to our other stores, your web site might have links to other web sites you are swapping links with. We link only to our own web sites as that fits in with our goal of getting customers to order from us.
Copyright and Addresses
I do not like looking for information on how to "contact us" on most web sites. That information should be readily available on every page. Why spend hours building pages and promoting a web site to make contacting the owners difficult? Yet web site, after web site does just that. Drop to the bottom of this web page or any of patiostore.com's web pages, how to contact us information is at the bottom of every page.
The following is an example of our copyright information. By putting this information into a table or saved as a graphic include, so that updating it and duplicating it on every page is easy.
Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, Horizon Building Systems Inc. PO Box 14454 San Antonio, TX 78214 All Trade marks, dress and styles used here are the property of the respective manufactures and are used only to represent their products. All rights and copyrights are retained by the respective manufacture. We cannot be responsible for typographical errors or incorrect information.
Specials
Specials or banners offering special purchase deals are included on patiostore.com web site pages. We never have more then two special offers on a page at a time. Ads tend to distract from the main purpose of the page and you want the customer to stay focused on what hey came to buy.
META tags
META tags are the words and phrases by which a person finds your web site. It is a little more complicated then that, but that is the general idea. The software that you use to build web pages should have a place to enter the META tags or it may create them automaticaly. If you cannot find the information on entering META tags in your software's manual, call the company for help. You can also look at the other web sites (in source mode) to see how they entered their META tags. More about this at web site promotion.
Return Merchandise policy
Return Merchandise policy can be on the policy page or at the bottom of the main page. Most web sites place this on a shipping information page or policy pages. http://www.Patiostore.com does both. Go to our web sites and look at our policy and shipping policy pages for complete text.
Return merchandise policy:
We let customers return merchandise in un opened and in re saleable condition. each item is decided on based on the manufactures return policy. We do not mind breaking even on a customer but they should be responsible for shipping cost. and any re stocking fee that e are charged by our suppliers. Be clear on what you will do and at what cost to avoid problems.
The more information you provide customers the fewer returns. Our returns are less then one half of one percent.
Sample text; Items in new, original unopened packaging, may be returned at your expense with prior written approval. Subject to a 20% re-stocking fee plus the actual cost of shipping the item to you. You must request returns within 10 days of receipt.
Review Your Work & Copy
Your Home Page will need all of the following.
1. Header (logo).
7. Links to special pages.
2. Title area and Sale information.
8. Special banner ads if any.
3. Main site navigation.
9. Discounts offered if any.
4. Text area (welcome & instructions) optional.
10. Copyright & how to contact you.
5. Category Photos that represent what is on the pages to follow.
11. Links to order form to shopping cart.
6. Category page names and links under photos.
12. META tags entered.
Next
Struggling through the home page will teach you what you need for everything that follows. It really does get easier after this first page is done. Ignore all the other pages until you get the products on the pages. Policies, shipping, order form etc. all can be done later. If the information on what you sell is out there, the customers can call their orders in until you get everything finished. The main thing to do is get the products pages built and out there on the web then promote the pages. It will take time for the search engines to get to indexing your pages and adding them to their database and you can use that time to finish up the details. Your next page is a Product Pages
"Get started, work at it each day, you will soon be done, procrastinate and you will get none"
Jim Glasgow