Is Your e-Store Prepared for Summer Shoppers?

My Web Writers

Are you marketing and merchandising your website for this summer’s sales potential? According to Internet Retailer, the U.S. Commerce Department said that U.S. online sales totaled $225.5 billion in 2012, up 15.8% from $194.7 billion in 2011.  With the exception of sales in categories not commonly bought online—

Internet Retailer estimates that e-commerce accounted for 7.6% of total retail sales during the year, up from 6.8% a year earlier. Commerce Department estimates are based on a quarterly survey of more than 11,000 U.S. merchants.

It’s no wonder that such a large marketing emphasis is placed on preparing shopping web sites for each new season and sale.  Every effort counts.   As the weather finally heats up for the summer, many e-stores have rolled out their new merchandise and revamped their web sites. All businesses, regardless of size or industry, can learn from other creative and competitive websites. Let’s take a look at three examples of big name brands and how they’re poised to sell more this summer:

 

1.  Target.com

Target is known for its chic and trendy styles and its unique in-store shopping experience. Target pays special attention to creating this same vibe in its e-store. The web site design is simple, clean and incorporates the signature Target red color to promote brand recognition. Though this main design remains the same year-round, the homepage content is customized to the upcoming holidays and season. Going on right now is a sale on patio furniture and family swimwear.  Aside from the featured sales, Target has changed the photos to represent each of its main shopping categories to be summer-themed. For example the “Women’s” category shows a summery dress and the “Sports and Outdoors” category is represented with an above ground pool. These images, though subtle, entice shoppers to click and browse in areas they may have had no original interest in shopping.

What you can learn: The takeaway from Target’s summer-poised marketing is that images are powerful. If you are trying to sell seasonal items, then every image should be carefully chosen to remind shoppers of all the things they enjoy about that season. Even if they weren’t originally in the market for a pool, customers will be intrigued to click on images that pique their interests.

Target.com’s weakness is its lack of content.  It’s missing tips or suggestions to help customers visualize how to use its products.

Target.com is ready to go for the summer, though the “d” in “deals” should be capitalized and the exclamation point should be dropped. Oops. Can you spot the other capitalization errors?

2. Petsmart.com

Petsmart’s images are ready for summer.  The web site’s main sliding banner greets customers with various pictures of dogs running outside on sunny days. The other still images on the homepage are also of animals in outdoor settings. Moving beyond the homepage, the main items featured are geared toward use in the summer. For example, the dog section has leashes, harnesses and bike trailers aimed at outdoor lovers on the go.

What you can learn: While it’s only April, Petsmart has already positioned its web site with the most summer-related items first.   Like end-caps in physical stores, identify your store’s most desirable and in-demand products and place them at the forefront of the e-store.

Petsmart needs to add seasonal content.  Currently, its homepage bottom content is duplicated on several category pages, which isn’t great for search or for customers.  Petsmart.com could address pet owners’ most frequently asked questions about each category in those spaces.  It’s missing opportunities to educate new animal owners about the pros and cons of buying fencing, habitat accessories, and other pet supplies.

 

Even though it’s a cold spring in many parts of the United States, Petsmart.com helps consumers visualize summer outside with Fifi and Fido.

3. Gap.com

Gap is a brand that adapts to every new season. The colors and styles of their clothes act as decorations for the web site and can change the whole tone from summer to winter.  Clothing stores start advertising their new lines nearly a season in advance. Today, Gap.com is vibrant, bright and cheery with summer apparel.  Even the background graphic on the web site has been changed to read “Be Bright” in art-deco style lettering. From shorts and capri’s to sundresses and tank tops, one would think it’s already August at Gap.com.

Gap.com employs a clever trick with some images. Notice the blue highlight of “uniform shorts.” This phrase looks like a hyperlink. It’s not, but when clicked, the image is linked to the corresponding shorts store. Also, on this page, Gap transitions from spring to summer through use of a jacket with shorts and words that close out spring, while promoting summer.

What you can learn: Not all e-stores and web sites can be as adaptable to changing for each season as Gap, but if you are – utilize it! Tailor your font, graphics, background and colors to represent each season. Summer products seem to “pop” so much more when accompanied by other summer colors on the site and when your products look good, they sell.

However, the Gap is content light.  Sentences are placed over images like memes; but, there are very few words in text above or below page folds.  The Gap performs fairly well in search, but it’s likely that online conversions would improve with carefully-crafted content that adds value to the customers’ shopping experiences.

Overall, the common theme among these e-stores is to move your seasonal and most desirable products to the front. Incorporate the colors of the seasons, but stay true to your brand.  Place seasonal items on your homepage and tailor your images and content toward creating vibes that put shoppers in the mood for summer.

Don’t forget those whose experiences are enhanced beyond the layout, art, and images by the words they read.  Store content should educate the consumer, complement images, and describe the feel of the season.

Is your e-store prepared for summer shoppers?

~Stephanie & Jean

Other MWW Articles:

National Websites without Physical Stores Struggle to Rank

Guidelines for Writing E-Tail Category Content

Five Ways to Prepare Your E-Store for the Holidays

Nab These Call-to-Action Verbs

Seven Helpful Apps for Writers

by My Web Writers

Everything it takes to be a writer is literally at your fingertips with mobile apps. Apps can be used to research, brainstorm, write, edit, read, many other things. It doesn’t matter if you’re a blogger, journalist, novelist, content writer, or someone who just likes to write for fun, we’ve found seven helpful apps for writers.

Writer

Quick! You have a great idea and need to jot it down immediately, before you forget. The Writer app is a simple app that allows you to keep track of your thoughts and ideas as you have them. It’s almost like carrying stickie notes on your phone. Writers know how quickly ideas can come, and they can just as quickly escape the mind. Writer is a great app to reach for when a great idea strikes, and even better, it’s free.

WordPress

If you’re not blogging… oh who are we kidding? Of course you’re blogging! Whether you’re using a blog as a journal, to jot down ideas, to share your opinions, or even if you just visit WordPress to read what others are writing, you know how important WordPress is. Use the app to do your own writings, check your blog stats and to read what others are writing.

Dictionary.com

Writers may think they know how to spell every word in the English language, but let’s face it, even the best writers can have trouble remembering how to spell certain words. Having a dictionary handy as an app is a great idea for all writers. Dictionary.com also provides a thesaurus. Imagine tons of synonyms at your fingertips while you write!

Quora

“Know more,” is the saying for this app. Use the powerful tool to do quick research, even with voice-enabled search. Quora is a question-answer app where multiple people can give insights on various topics. Use their insights to find the answers you’re looking for, or consider writing some answers of your own to help out others.

Pocket

Think about it. Who couldn’t use an extra pocket? This pocket, however, is on your phone or tablet. Pocket allows you to store articles, photos and more for later use. Keep all sorts of things you find on the internet for inspiration in one place… your Pocket!

Mindjet Maps

So many ideas, so difficult to organize! Your English teachers were on to something when they had you map out your essays and stories. Mindjet Maps helps you visually organize information. Organize your writing project with topics and subtopics. This is one of our favorite brainstorming apps.

Google Drive

If you’re a writer, it’s likely that you’re working on more than one project at a time. Google Drive, which now includes Google Docs, helps you keep all your files in one place. Access them and share them at any time with ease. You can even work on your projects offline, when an internet connection isn’t available.

There are hundreds of apps available that can make life easier if you’re a writer.  Do your research and see which apps work best for you. They can certainly make your life easier!  ~Natalie

Quotes from 10 Writers about Web Writing

by My Web Writers

There are many quotes out there about writing. Great words spoken or written by Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain and more are all over plaques and posters, but the art of web writing is young.  Still, some of the pros have made impactful statements about the world of web writing.

Quotes from 10 Writers about Web Writing:

“Good writing doesn’t just happen—at least not very often. Good writing is planned.” John B. Karls and Ronald Szymansky The Writer’s Handbook, 2^nd Edition

“Having the right content in place, keeping it up-to-date, and removing content that is no longer relevant or timely ensures that the user community will find what they need.” JoAnn T. Hackos Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery

“Good web text has a lot in common with good print text. It’s plain, concise, concrete and ‘transparent’: even on a personal site the text shouldn’t draw attention to itself, only to its subject.” Crawford Kilian Writing for the Web

“Together, we see the need for an overarching content strategy that coordinates written, video, and visual content pieces with social media that fully engage audiences and add to the knowledge graph.” Christina Zila Director of Communications, Textbroker

“The Web is like the Trojan Horse of information overload. It promised information nirvana and delivered overload hell.” Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton Content Critical

“As a rule of thumb, content should account for at least half of a page’s design, and preferably closer to 80 percent.” Jakob Nielsen, Designing Web Usability

“The more you know about your visitors, the better you can write for them.” Johnathon and Lisa Price Hot Text: Web Writing that Works

“If you’ve started a blog, and have it linked on your homepage, and you haven’t updated it for a few months, there’s a simple solution: take it down. You wouldn’t leave a half-finished display in your shop: why do it online?”  Jack Adams, copywriter

“Participating in the industry is not only a great way to network and build your personal brand, but it also exposes you to new ideas. Collaborate with industry peers on side projects. Attend conferences and meet-ups. Write and comment on articles. Do whatever you can to make a name for yourself and soak up as much knowledge as possible.” Adria Saracino, Head of Outreach, Distilled

“Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left.” Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think

~Natalie

Merchandising to Writing — Build Better E-Store Category Pages

By My Web Writers

Internet stores are open to anyone who wants to be a business owner, but not everyone knows how to effectively  merchandise products.

Consider these five merchandising tips to create a solid e-store with well-organized products and content.

• Visit physical locations of retailers.  If you’re able to see and understand a space’s layout, you’ll have a better chance of organizing your e-store in a way that is appealing, informative, and in-sync with the physical space.  Also look at other e-stores.  Researching competitor pricing and product picks will help you to shrewdly build your e-store’s category pages.

• When you begin the organization process, clarity is essential.  Keep your pages and categories clear and concise, not only for SEO purposes, but also so that site visitors are able to easily find specific items without relying on your site’s search tool.  How far you break down categories depends on the store’s range of products and which keywords you’re trying to capture.  If products are clothing-related, categorize them into men’s, women’s, juniors, toddlers, and babies.  Then, drill down into sub-categories such as tall, plus, petite, girls, boys, 12- 18 mos., 2T, newborn, and so on.

• Organize each page’s display by size, price, color, or another common filter for your particular customers. Typically, if you organize by price, you’ll want to list products in order from most expensive to least expensive to promote bigger revenue items.  If you choose to organize by color, do so in the order of the rainbow or in the reverse order of the rainbow.  Many stores organize their pages with the best selling items up top, followed by the most expensive items, and then the least expensive, slow-moving items.

• Replace out of stock items, dead inventory, and seasonal products with fresh products and top sellers.  By all means, move the best selling products to the top of your e-store and offer a deal of the day to move old inventory.  Continually monitor your store to keep it up-to-date.  Invite customers to write product reviews.  Attract new customers through the recommendations of your loyal customers.  Add product suggestions with help from IGoDigital.com.

• Refresh product and category content on a regular basis for both search engine rankings and the interests of your repeat customers.  If you provide fresh content, customers will come back to read it and they’ll share it with others.  No one wants to read the same, corny phrase or click on out-dated links on their sixth visit to your site.  If writing was never your area of strength or if you lack time, office space, or human resources, outsource category and product content to content providers like My Web Writers.

If you’ve worked in a retail store, your foundation will help you organize an Internet store.  Detailed merchandising can be the difference between e-tail success and failure.

~Holly and Jean

Tips for the Savvy, Retailer Writer

by My Web Writers

As a professional, business copywriter, strive to improve yourself.  Stay sharp and become an asset to your clients.  You’ll find that creating content is especially rewarding if you’re disciplined, focused, and willing to go the extra mile.  Consider the following tips to go beyond functional copy writing.  Become an effective, Internet retailer.

Join Writers Groups & Forums to Learn and Mingle

Connect with others in content, publishing, social media, and marketing.  Peers and mentors can offer insights that broaden your knowledge.  According to Nicole Williams, a Connection Director at Linkedin, who created an Infographic on Women and Mentoring in the US.:

 It may not surprise you, but LinkedIn’s latest study found (in a survey of nearly 1,000 female professionals in the U.S.) that 82 percent of women agree that having a mentor is important.  But what will knock your socks off is that considering the competitive employment landscape, and the universal belief that mentorship is a critical component to career success, 19 percent (that’s nearly one out of every five women) have NEVER had a mentor.

Writers’ conferences and workshops hone skills and provide professional insight.  Sometimes starting out in niche markets and getting to know small groups is the best way to nurture the writer.  If you’re serious about writing, but just starting, consider joining TWV2.  Experienced writers like Cec Murphey, who ghost wrote 90 Minutes in Heaven, guide writers through discussions about writer’s block, use of words, and editing.  A savvy product writer knows the basics of good writing before he or she moves on to marketing.

Check out the directory of forums to join at Big Boards.  You’ll also find valuable insights from writers’ groups on LinkedIn.  Some popular groups include:

•  Content Marketing Group
• eMarketing Association Network
• Future Social Media
• SEO for the Blogger
• The Blog Zone
• Women Bloggers Professionals
• The Social Media Marketing Group
• B2B Lead Generation and Content Marketing

Listen and learn from other professionals in your industry.

Practice Merchandising

Learn your client’s business and merchandise products or stores.

• Ask which products or stores are important to highlight.
• Ask about the latest sales, specials, and coupons.
• Know the particulars that will matter to customers- product size, weight, colors, sizes, etc ,and address those areas in your content.
• Ask yourself, which stores customers will want to see while they’re visiting and link to those pages.
• IGoDigital offers personalized product suggestions that complement written content.  Their software is used by top brands.
• Software from Monetate targets certain customer segments.  Write personalized content to each of those segments.

If you ever worked entry-level retail, remember the concept of bringing products forward on the shelf to look more presentable.  Maybe you arranged displays or groomed manikins?  Your words need to do the same on each web page.  If you have access to arranging the products, bring the best sellers to the top and eliminate out-of-stock products or sift them to the bottom.  Know product or service benefits and accentuate them.

Engage Customers through Social Media

Don’t just write site content and leave.  Utilize social media to further engage your audience.

• Tweet new blog posts or web pages.
• Point the traffic from Google Plus and Facebook to your refreshed content.
• Write parallel content and add it to Pinterest captions.
• Publish a question with a link to your post on LinkedIn.

When walking in exhibition halls, excited sales people often step out from behind their booths to greet perspective customers.  Consider social media to be your vehicle for stepping out of Internet stores to greet prospective visitors.

Be a Business Professional

Develop common sense as it relates to your customers and their businesses.  Learn taboos or personal preferences.  Double-check phrases and links for appropriateness.  While your customer may share that his primary audience is men, he may not want you to say that in your content.  Out-of-date, misspelled, sexist, or insensitive content can ruin an otherwise decent web page.  Ask yourself if your wording will sell more or less of the client’s products or services.

If you’re lucky enough to write content for a living, follow a few common sense business rules to stay in business.

•  Honor phone and in-person meeting times.
• Return phone calls and email inquiries.  Communicate with promptness and honesty.
• Know your worth.  Are you a meticulous writer who delivers A+ content or do you often miss the mark, which requires an editor’s eye?
• Know your competition.  How do they justify their costs?
• Be reasonable when negotiating contracts and most businesses will be reasonable in return.
• Don’t commit to a project that you can’t complete.  Backing out, after time was invested in you, leaves a bad taste associated with your name.
• Deliver content on time.  Businesses run on deadlines.  Be one of the many writers who deliver results on time.
• Stay on top of the necessary I-9, insurance, contract, and invoice paperwork.
• Help other writers and give back to the community.

As you etail for your clients, consider scaling your efforts with the help of other writers.  Short or long-term projects go faster when several good workers assist.  Think big.  Join forums, learn how to merchandise with your words, engage customers through social media, and be professional.

Copyright My Web Writers 2012

~Jean