Other Web Pages
You need not re-create the wheel. Look at other web sites selling similar items and copy what they are doing until you gain some experience. We will cover the following other web pages and you can start by looking at actual examples from the patiostore.com web site.
Policy Page
Order Forms
Shipping Polices
Helpful Pages
Special Offers
Registration
Policy Page
Your company policy pages advise and reassure your customers. Few customers will bother to visit this page, but when they do they expect you to have it. Polices that you can refer the customers to when you have a disagreement with them will come in handy. This page may also help you should you have a disputed credit card charge back.
The following is our recommendations of what to include on a policy page. You might want to visit a few web sites and see what they are doing also. Duplicate one of your web pages so that the look is the same and the top and bottom sections of the page will be done. Your software may have a method to handle this type of non interactive web page.
1. Include a main navigation area that lets the customer link back to your web sites main pages. Home page, order form, etc.
6. Sales Tax liability Statement.
2. Terms of sale section.
7. Warranty statements & procedures.
3. Freight and or shipping policies.
8. Trade mark statement.
4. Damaged goods policy & instructions.
9. Privacy statement.
5. Return goods policy and procedures.
10.Copyright statement.
When you write policies that effect your customers follow the rule of fairness to all parties. Ask yourself, if a reasonable person would agree with this policy? Ask yourself, if you would shop at a store with this policy? No mater what your policy states, it is best to bend over backwards to assist a customer. When you get that unreasonable customer, refer them to the policy page and ask them to call back in an hour or two. The time delay is to let them calm down, you will be more successful in dealing with them after they calm down and you have a chance to reflect on the problem.
Order FormsÂ
Your order form will need to be E-mailed back to you when the customer hits the submit button. E-mail confirmation will need to be automatically be sent to the customer advising them that the order was received. Contact your ISP for help with the necessary CGI scripting that will send the completed forms to you and an acknowledgment to the customer.
Some software programs hold the orders in the data base until you down load them. Other programs allow you to process the orders in real time and charge the customer right away.
In order for your customer's credit card number to be sent securely over the Internet, you will need your web site hosted on a secure server. Your ISP will handle this for you. You will also need an encryption service such as Verisign to handle the transaction. Your credit card company will insist on this also. There are several companies offering the service, see the appendix for a list. If you plan on offering, on line, real time, credit card processing, your credit card company will instruct you on what to do.
For an order form layout to follow look at patiostore.com's order form or check the layouts used by other companies on the web. Your order form should contain the following information and fields. Fields are places for a customer to enter information onto a web page; your web site construction software will have a way to add fields to web form pages.
1. The normal header for your web pages.
2. The page name. "ORDER FORM"
3. Discount information or sale dates if any.
4. Instructions if needed.
5. Customer name & address fields.
6. Credit Card information fields.
7. Product order information fields.
8. Price Information fields.
9. Instruction to you fields.
10. The normal footer for your web pages.
Shipping PolicesÂ
You can include shipping policies on your policy pages, or have a separate page for them. I prefer a separate page. I find that shoppers will visit this page more often then a policy page and I see no reason to make them wade through the other information. The policy used at patiostore.com is rather complete and long, if you follow our layout you could eliminate anything that does not apply to your business model. We also send an abbreviated hard copy of this policy to the customers when their order is confirmed. It advises the customer on how to receive a shipment and what to expect if something goes wrong.
Helpful Pages
Some pages on web sites are designed to be helpful to the public with the hopes that people who get the free information will shop at their store. The more people you can get to view your site and bookmark your pages the better. Below are a few of the helpful pages we offer. Make some of these free-information pages that pertain to the products you offer. You can add this type of pages after you have launched your web site.
Examples:
http://www.patiostore.com/deck6.html
Free Deck Plan For Above Ground Pools
http://www.patiostore.com/poolmath.html
How Much Water Is In My Pool
http://www.patiostore.com/pool9.htm
Pool Maintenance Problem Solver
RegistrationÂ
We have a contest registration form on our web site to capture those people who wish to be on our mailing list. We send out special offers every month. A very few of our web site's visitors actually register. If you choose to use a registration page on your retail web site, make it voluntary. If you use your customer list for a mail out, make it easy for the customer to opt out and get off the mailing list.
Special Offers
Monthly, weekly or special purchase sales are great ways to increasing your sales volume. At patiostore.com we use a monthly special that can be found at the top of most every web page. We also do a monthly mail outs (e-mail) to our customer list. This is normally a special offer on selected items. Our third special consist of an on going clearance department, used to clear out returns off-season goods and over stocks. And lastly we do special buys and offer an item at a lower price then normal. We usually feature this in banner ads on the related web pages.
Our goal is to make the customer feel we are a high quality business that provides good service and offers good deals for our customers.
Next
Get started! The main focus is to get some pages built that contain products that you sell and get them out on the web. Then start the promotion process, it takes time and you can work on all the non-product pages while you wait. Site promotion is next.
Other Web Pages
You need not re-create the wheel. Look at other web sites selling similar items and copy what they are doing until you gain some experience. We will cover the following other web pages and you can start by looking at actual examples from the patiostore.com web site.
Policy Page
Order Forms
Shipping Polices
Helpful Pages
Special Offers
Registration
Policy Page
Your company policy pages advise and reassure your customers. Few customers will bother to visit this page, but when they do they expect you to have it. Polices that you can refer the customers to when you have a disagreement with them will come in handy. This page may also help you should you have a disputed credit card charge back.
The following is our recommendations of what to include on a policy page. You might want to visit a few web sites and see what they are doing also. Duplicate one of your web pages so that the look is the same and the top and bottom sections of the page will be done. Your software may have a method to handle this type of non interactive web page.
1. Include a main navigation area that lets the customer link back to your web sites main pages. Home page, order form, etc.
6. Sales Tax liability Statement.
2. Terms of sale section.
7. Warranty statements & procedures.
3. Freight and or shipping policies.
8. Trade mark statement.
4. Damaged goods policy & instructions.
9. Privacy statement.
5. Return goods policy and procedures.
10.Copyright statement.
When you write policies that effect your customers follow the rule of fairness to all parties. Ask yourself, if a reasonable person would agree with this policy? Ask yourself, if you would shop at a store with this policy. What ever your policy says, it is best to bend over backwards to assist a customer. When you get that unreasonable customer, refer them to the policy page and ask them to call back after lunch, or you will call them in about two hours. The time delay is to let them calm down, you will be more successful in dealing with them after they calm down and you have a chance to reflect on the problem.
Order FormsÂ
Your order form will need to be E-mailed back to you when the customer hits the submit button. E-mail confirmation will need to be automatically be sent to the customer advising them that the order was received. Contact your ISP for help with the necessary CGI scripting that will send the completed forms to you and an acknowledgment to the customer.
Some software programs hold the orders in the data base until you down load them. Other programs allow you to process the orders in real time and charge the customer right away.
In order for your customer's credit card number to be sent securely over the Internet, you will need your web site hosted on a secure server. Your ISP will handle this for you. You will also need an encryption service such as Verisign to handle the transaction. Your credit card company will insist on this also. There are several companies offering the service, see the appendix for a list. If you plan on offering, on line, real time, credit card processing, your credit card company will instruct you on what to do.
For an order form layout to follow look at patiostore.com's order form or check the layouts used by other companies on the web. Your order form should contain the following information and fields. Fields are places for a customer to enter information onto a web page; your web site construction software will have a way to add fields to web form pages.
1. The normal header for your web pages.
2. The page name. "ORDER FORM"
3. Discount information or sale dates if any.
4. Instructions if needed.
5. Customer name & address fields.
6. Credit Card information fields.
7. Product order information fields.
8. Price Information fields.
9. Instruction to you fields.
10. The normal footer for your web pages.
Shipping PolicesÂ
You can include shipping policies on your policy pages, or have a separate page for them. I prefer a separate page. I find that shoppers will visit this page more often then a policy page and I see no reason to make them wade through the other information. The policy used at patiostore.com is rather complete and long, if you follow our layout you could eliminate anything that does not apply to your business model. We also send an abbreviated hard copy of this policy to the customers when their order is confirmed. It advises the customer on how to receive a shipment and what to expect if something goes wrong.
Helpful Pages
Some pages on web sites are designed to be helpful to the public with the hopes that people who get the free information will shop at their store. The more people you can get to view your site and bookmark your pages the better. Below are a few of the helpful pages we offer. Make some of these free-information pages that pertain to the products you offer. You can add this type of pages after you have launched your web site.
Examples:
http://www.patiostore.com/deck6.html
Free Deck Plan For Above Ground Pools
http://www.patiostore.com/poolmath.html
How Much Water Is In My Pool
http://www.patiostore.com/pool9.htm
Pool Maintenance Problem Solver
RegistrationÂ
We have a contest registration form on our web site to capture those people who wish to be on our mailing list. We send out special offers every month. A very few of our web site's visitors actually register. If you choose to use a registration page on your retail web site, make it voluntary. If you use your customer list for a mail out, make it easy for the customer to opt out and get off the mailing list.
Special Offers
Monthly, weekly or special purchase sales are great ways to increasing your sales volume. At patiostore.com we use a monthly special that can be found at the top of most every web page. We also do a monthly mail outs (e-mail) to our customer list. This is normally a special offer on selected items. Our third special consist of an on going clearance department, used to clear out returns off-season goods and over stocks. And lastly we do special buys and offer an item at a lower price then normal. We usually feature this in banner ads on the related web pages.
Our goal is to make the customer feel we are a high quality business that provides good service and offers good deals for our customers.
Next
Get started! The main focus is to get some pages built that contain products that you sell and get them out on the web. Then start the promotion process, it takes time and you can work on all the non-product pages while you wait. Site promotion is next.