Selling Online #5 : Homework

This month’s issue is going to address the design of your site. Assuming that you followed last month’s advice and have hooked up with a competent, professional designer/developer, I’m going to go over a few important homework items that will make your time with your developer more productive.

The first thing you’re going to need to do is come up with a compelling web address, or URL (Uniform Resource Locater). This subject is the focus of entire chapters in books therefore this is just an overview. Your developer will help you choose the best URL, but it’s worthwhile to have a list of around 10 that you like and are available (check availability with any registrar listed with interNIC). Your company name should be in the domain name and it should be easy to remember and type, thus short is better than long. You’ll want to make sure that it is free of potential legal entanglements such as infringing on already established address or trademarks. Choosing something like www.eeeeeeebay.com would not be a good idea.

Next, if you have an established corporate identity or brand you need to collect it together so the designer has what they need to understand and present your visual identity on the site. That means good versions of your logo, the color and typeface specifications used in all corporate communications and so on. Your website is going to be the prevailing face of your dealership to the world, and it should match the established look and feel of your brand. If you don’t have an established and compelling visual brand identity, you may want to take a pause and use this as an opportunity to have one developed, and then migrate it back to your other communication channels (business cards, stationary, newsletters, etc.). It’s also very valuable to have a list of five or ten sites that you really like the look or layout of that can work as design inspirations. You’ll also want to do the opposite and come up with a list of sites that have a look you want to avoid. These two lists will really help the designer understand what you’re looking for visually.

You may come across ongoing discussions among internet development professionals about “ugly” vs. “pretty” and the correlation between a site’s successes. Some claim that extremely popular sites are successful precisely because they are “ugly.” Typical examples given include sites like eBay and craigslist. The argument is that the lack visual of polish or beauty makes people better relate with the site, thus making it more successful. The flip side is that recent research published in Nature shows that people form an impression of a site’s worth in as little as 50 milliseconds. I would say that you should lean toward the “pretty” side of things with your new site.

Next, you’re going to want to have a list of all the key features, functions, or abilities that you need your site to have. Obviously eCommerce, but what about: blogs for you or your employees (a topic that I’ll spend an entire issue on in the future), forums for your customers to participate in, or live chat so customers can interact with your sales staff while they are on your site? Building community is quickly turning into a huge driver of a website’s success. You should plan, and design for, these types of things from the start if they are important to you.

In closing I’ll offer some tips on the care and feeding of your developer. It’s your business, and your vision, but the developer has the technical, artistic, and web industry perspectives to help you transform your vision to a practical reality. More often than not, if there is a dispute over a design or functional element on the site (again, assuming you did a good job of choosing the developer in the first place) it will be in your best interest to defer to their expertise and experience. You must communicate your business needs and regularly monitor progress to make sure it’s going where you need it to go, but keep in mind that there’s a reason you don’t typically let your customers “help” your techs service their bike.

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