Ecommerce web site design by The Wee Guy

ecommerce

For a living, I build ecommerce websites and run ecommerce businesses for clients. I mainly use Goodbarry ecommerce platform; now acquired by Adobe.

I am qualified as a traditional marketer having worked for large fmcg brands like Reebok, Dunlop and ntl and I would have the Google Adwords Professional qualification if I ever got round to sitting the exam.

This section provides you with everything you need to know about starting an ecommerce website or migrating from your existing solution.

Step 1 : How much will it cost ? »»

Step 2 : What you need before you get started ? »»

Step 3 : Your product stock file and photography »»

Step 4 : How are you going to ship products to customers ? »»

Step 5 : What will your ecommerce web site look like ? »»

Step 6 : How will people shop and buy at your shop ? »»

Step 7 : Building the ecommerce site »»

Step 8 : How orders are processed and how you get your money »»

Step 9 : Testing it and making it go live »»

Step 10 : How you get orders and customer details »»

Step 11: Getting people to the shop »»

To view some examples of ecommerce web sites I have designed, built and managed, you can view the portfolio here

86% of hairdressers and beauty web sites don't offer an online appointment facility

The 4th question I asked in my hairdressing and beauty web site survey was:

Can the visitors book an appointment from the website?

Most appointment or booking systems are clunky and take the user away from the owner's website

Download Hairdresser and beauty business web site survey.pdf (1135.0K)

brrrr mix

 

Made to warm you up; though a few tracks that'll give you shivers.

Tracklisting

1. Tiesto - Bright Morningstar
2. Mike Koglin vs POS - Autumn
3. Activa - Transmission
4. Tiesto - Adagio for Strings
5. FKN featuring Jahala - This is the Only Time (Smart Apes Mix)
6. Novastar - Because (Ferry Corsten Remix)
7. Rank 1 - LED There be Light (Wippenberg Remix)
8. Tiesto vs Tomcraft - Lethal Loneliness (Row Mashup)
9. Tiesto - Feel it (Feel it on the Floor Dub Mix)
10.Ernesto vs Bastian - Thrill
11.Buro - Controller
12.Albert Vorne - Formentera What (Gareth Emery Remix)

Download File. Right Click, then save as.

Download 091109.mp3 (106347.3K)

Mix Length
75mins : 37 seconds

Source
Beatport; except the mashup, shhh !

Image Source:
Taken from Elements of Life Concert in Arnhem, 02 June 2007. And yes, I was there.

85% of hairdressers and beauty web site don't sell from their web site

Here is question number 3 from my survey about hairdressers and beauty related web sites.

Can a visitor purchase online from the company?

Here's one of the best examples of a hairdresser selling products online:

Download Hairdresser and beauty business web site survey.pdf (1135.0K)

So that's what he's being doing !

77% of hairdresser and beauty web sites don't offer some form of voucher

Question number 2 from my survey of hairdresser and beauty web sites.

Does the company offer any form of voucher?

An example of one business that does do it quite well:

Download Hairdresser and beauty business web site survey.pdf (1135.0K)

51% of hairdresser and beauty web site don't have a phone number clearly visible on the home page

Question number one from my hairdressing and beauty web site survey.

Is the Telephone Number clearly visible on the home page?

For example:

Download Hairdresser and beauty business web site survey.pdf (1135.0K)

Our hairdressing and beauty web site survey said .....

After listening to Mr Earl Nightingale again I felt like I wasn't adding enough value to this blog. So I picked an industry and topic that was top of mind; hairdressing and beauty.

Nearly twenty years ago I started my first job in marketing research with a company called Dunlop Slazenger. I was working in their golf division and my role was to analyse sales and marketing data, commission market research and surveys and interprete the research for the rest of the marketing team.

So onto the hairdressing and beauty industry, I wanted to find out 7 things about their web sites and online business.

Here are the 7 questions I asked after analysing 100 hairdressing and beauty web sites in Scotland.

Is the Telephone Number clearly visible on the home page?
Does the company offer any form of voucher?
Can a visitor purchase online from the company?
Can the visitors book an appointment from the website?
Has the website been updated in the last month ?
Is there a contact form which sends the form details to the company ?
Is there any sign of social media (blog, twitter, facebook, rss) on the website?

I am going to be posting the results to one question every day for the next week and then I'll upload and provide the full survey report at the end of the week.

No Matter What

"Once we clued into the fact that life is finite, the thought of losing it didn't scare us anymore. The end comes no matter what, the only thing that matters is how do you wanna go out, on your feet or on your knees? I bring that lesson to this job. I act, knowing that someday this job will end, no matter what. You should do the same."

The Kingdom

November's Double Bill Mix - Born to Dance | Born to Trance

This month is a two part mix. Called Born to Dance and Born to Trance. This first mix, well it's just dirty and sexy and was just an excuse to include the epic Lucky Strike by Mat Zo.

The mix totally sets you up for part twoKings of Leon - Sex on Fire
Alex Gopher - Handguns - Dada Life Remix
Temper Traps - Sweet Disposition - Axwell Remix
Red Hot Chili Pepper - My Othersise - Benny Benassi Remix
Tiesto - Feel it - Tiesto's Feel it on the Floor Dub Mix
U2 - Beautiful Day - Mat Zo Remix
Empire of the Sun - We are the People - Wawa Remix
Calvin Harris - Flashback - Eric Prydz Remix
Radiohead - Street Spirit - Funkagenda Remix
Avicii vs Beastie Boys - Till to Get Ill (Avicii Bootleg)
The Prodigy - Everybody in the Place (Deadmau5 Mix)
Stockholm Syndrome - 1985
Mat Zo - Lucky Strike

Here's the link to download Born to Dance:

Download born to dance.mp3 (107503.9K)

Now onto part two. Born to Trance.

This one has brewing for a while now. As Tijs goes off on his electro, housey, mainstream stance with his new album, I have decided to revisit the classic trance tunes of the last 10 years.

Ok, the James Doman opening track isn't really from the 1990's but it has that 90's feel about and it's a fantastic opener. I added Passion from Gat Decor as Paul Van Dyk played this in his recent Essential Mix. Sparkles from Tiesto wasn't a song that I was into the 90's but revisited his back catalogue last year and this just defines all that Dutch trance that came out in the late 90's.
The Age of Love is a mashup with Wandue Project's King of My Castle which resurfaced last year. It was Jam and Spoon that got my into trance in my lonely Pontefract days back in 1992 and the Age of Love was just one of this hypnotic tunes they remixed.

I know Encore Une Fois is very mainstream verging on corny but hey, I'm not a trance snob.
U Got 2 Know by Capella. Well this version is actually the Dub Guru Carlos Extended Mix but I loved the original; all those Capella and 2 Unlimited tunes from the early 90's. BBE's Seven Days and One Week is another one of those classic; you'll know the tune when you hear it.

Then I drift off into lighter more dreamy trance. I actually first heard Affinity by the Thrillseekers at Tiesto's 02 concert in Feb 08. The tune just really stuck in my head for ages it's become a firm favourite of mine whatever mix I put together.

Are you listening Tijs, get back to your roots. Nyana is pure classic Tiesto 9 to 10 minute epic tunes. This may not be a 1990's tunes but is pure trance class.

I shift back into a more mainstream version of Ayla which melts into their Into the Light before the epic Richard Durand remix of The Art of Trance's Madagascar - that 90 second intro is insane !

That's followed by the tribal sounding "Smack My Bitch Up" - whilst this is a 90's Prodigy tune, it's very much a 2007 version from Richard Durand which i first heard at Tiesto's Arnhem gig in 2007- played at 4am this was insane.

Then to close. The classic Urban Train from Tiesto. The version with the children's choir from 2004 is way better in a live concert context but this version is perfect as the penultimate track which is mixed into Sarah McLachlan epic vocals on Delerium's Silence; if you know your trance you know this is an epic In Search of Sunrise Remix to close with.

Wind back the years, enjoy.

James Doman - Everything's gonna be alright
Gat Decor - Passion
Wamdue Project vs Age of Love - King of My Castle
Sash ! - Encore Une Fois
Tiesto - Sparkles (Airscape Remix)
Capella -U Got 2 Know
BBE - 7 Days and One Week (Ferry Corsten Mix)
The Thrillseekers - Affinity
Tiesto - Nyana
Ayla - Ayla Part 2
Ayla - Into the light
Art of Trance - Madagascar (Richard Durand Remix)
The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up (Richard Durand Remix)
Tiesto - Urban Train
Delerium - Silence (Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise Remix)

Here's the link to download Born to Trance: Download born to trance.mp3 (112313.1K)

Smart permission marketing from Little Boots

So, you are flicking through the tv channels, kind of bored, winding down before you head off into slumberland.

You flick to BBC2 and Never Mind the Buzzcocks catches your eye. You wonder who the singer on one of time teams is.

You hear the presenter mention her name is Little Boots. So you google her and come to her website.

You aren't really too sure if you know or like her music. On her home page she offers you a free MP3 mixtape in exchange for your email address.

That's a fair exchange you think to yourself.

You pop in your email address and receive the link and email to download the MP3 file.

This is the start of a permission marketing relationship.

Now the marketers of Little Boots, their job is to educate me all about her music, gigs, merchandise, events over a period of time. Get me to introduce her to my friends and other people I know into her music. 

This is how she will build a large fan base open to her stuff and buying her stuff. It will take time, a little step week by week, month by month.

It's smart marketing, it's a great start.

For another example of permission marketing, visit this example I built.

If you are burning your way through traffic and spending on google adwords and not getting sales, maybe, just maybe, people aren't quite ready to buy yet or you haven't educated them enough on your stuff.

Come back here in 30 days time and speak to me if these guys have provided you with enough education on designing flyers and collateral to get the best possible business response to your campaigns.

To read up on Permission Marketing, download Seth's first 3 chapters from his book.

ps: my favourite tune so far from Little Boots is "Every Little EarthQuake"