Throughout the month of November we will be running our “SMB blog series.” While SMB traditionally refers to “Small/Medium Business,” here at Volusion it has come to mean something else: “Small Made Big.” This month we will be sharing resources, tips, stats, and inspirations to help you turn your small ecommerce endeavor into something greater- something BIG!

You don’t need to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to have a great looking web design! Here are some examples of Volusion stores with great looking designs to inspire and motivate your own web design dreams:

• AimeeJ



• AndreaLucilleDesigns


(more…)

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Because September and October are historically times when many people open their first business, this week is dedicated to topics surrounding starting your own business. While this is not an end-all-be-all list of steps you must take, they’ll help you get a solid head start on your new business venture. Thank you for joining us on this journey!

Obviously, any online business owner is going to want a design for their website that will hit one out of the park, but when you’re just starting out you may not have a full understanding of exactly what you need (not to mention the funds to achieve it). So, which design elements are absolutely essential? The absolute most basic piece you will need is a well crafted logo.

Think about it in terms of a physical retail location- would you walk through an unmarked door off of the street to do your shopping? Probably not. Your online store needs a logo to tell your customers who you are as a company.

Here are five things to think about when designing your logo: (more…)

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Online job post boards are full of Volusion clients trying to find qualified freelancers or foreign companies to complete work on their storefronts, but what are the risks of outsourcing your Volusion projects on these types of boards? This question has been a hot topic in our forums lately. Current Volusion customers weighed in on their experiences outsourcing everything from coding and third party integrations, to design and SEO. The feedback they gave made it overwhelmingly clear that services such as these are, as the old adage goes, “buyer beware.”

Complaints from our Forum Users

These are the top complaints our customers had regarding their experiences with outsourcing their Volusion projects to freelancers or foreign companies:

1. Language barriers made communication difficult
2. Project took longer than expected/quoted
3. Client fell prey to a scam
4. Too much time was consumed by excessive or redundant communications
5. Work was of poor quality
6. Client’s local market was not well understood
7. Business Logic was flawed/client’s business model was not understood

Quotes from our Forum Users

“I was supposed to have a project done months ago that was outsourced and they are giving me the run-around on it, which means I’m going to have to pay even more money and find someone local to complete it as I just don’t have time to do it myself.” -htdepot (more…)

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More and more people are getting iPhones these days, causing Apple’s browser market share to increase steadily. In the last quarter of 2008 Apple’s iPhone even outsold RIM’s Blackberry. Whether it is the 15,000+ available applications or the accelerometer that detects how the phone is oriented in a user’s hand, people cannot seem to get enough of the iPhone. That is also evidenced in the fact that iPhone users on average spend more time online compared to other users of handheld devices. The only problem with using an iPhone to browse the Internet is that websites often appear too small. Craig Grannell, journalist for .Net Magazine, explains “By default, websites appear in pint-sized versions, with text generally being illegible and links being practically impossible to target.”*

With iPhone sales on the rise and iPhone users spending more time than traditional users online, many companies are trying to take advantage of this craze by marketing their sites specifically to iPhone users. Essentially, there are two options: create an iPhone optimized site or an iPhone specific site. No matter which one you choose, if you decide to market your site to iPhone users there are some essentials that you will need to include.

Essentials for an iPhone Friendly Site:

1. Boil down your website to only the most important content (making sure not get rid of vital links). Also remember that users may not be willing to drag the page around on their phone to find the information they are looking for so position the most important information toward the top.
2. Enable brand recognition by keeping your company logo featured prominently at the top of the website. Your logo should be the first thing a user sees on their iPhone screen when they open your website.
3. Do not waste space on the “traditional navigation” of a website if you can lay out your site in a linear manner. iPhone users would prefer clicking through a series of links to get to the information they want rather than dragging the page around minimizing and maximizing it to use a navigation bar.
4. Ensure click areas are large. Keep in mind users are not using a mouse, they are using fingertips (which are obviously much larger). If the click area itself is not very large allow room for sloppy clicking by making sure that there are not other click areas nearby.
5. Increase font sizes to 20px (which is good for horizontal orientation) or 30px (which is better for vertical orientation). If you do not have the room to increase the font size this much, make sure that you leave proper spacing and use easy to read text colors to help viewers use the website.
6. Optimize screen width. An iPhone will have a 480px maximum screen width so in order to use that to its fullest avoid using columns or images that move or break the flow of blocks of text.
7. iPhone users are not necessarily Mac users so don’t “over Mac” your design or message
8. Have a link back to your regular website incase users prefer it.

Maybe you are not convinced yet that creating an iPhone version of your website is worth the time and effort; but .Net Magazine reminds us that this exercise can benefit your traditional website as well. As Craig Grannell points out, “The fact that a good mobile site really makes you focus on what’s important - clarity, simple layouts, important information, clean design – can only help when you come to work on websites back in the land of ‘normal’ web browsers.”*

-Kate Pierce ecommerce Specialist

*Grannell, Craig. “/mobile/optimise your site for iPhones.” .Net Magazine. Issue 184 Jan 2009. Pages 72-74.

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What demographics come to mind when you think “Internet Users?” Most likely you think of kids, teenagers, young professionals, tech savvy geeks, and middle aged people. But do 65-74 year olds come to mind as well? Recent studies show that more than half of Americans aged 65-69 are online and 45% of those aged 70-74 are online as well. I know what you’re thinking… The thought of my Grandmother using a computer is bizarre to me as well. I mean my Grandmother left the answering machine we bought her in a box for years because she said it was too technical and she couldn’t figure it out. But the truth is, many older consumers are taking to the Internet these days. Obviously there are different degrees of Internet use. I do not suspect that many people aged 65-74 are on Twitter and Facebook and blogging, but they likely are using email, making travel arrangements, and shopping online. As eMarketer headlines, “Safe Assumption: Teens are online. Unsafe: Retirees aren’t.”

So How Do You Capitalize on This New Trend?

1. Design Your Site for All Ages (Where Applicable)
   Making a website that is easy for seniors to use as well as younger clientele will go a long way in converting visitors in this age bracket into customers. Here are some helpful tips when looking to design your site for older Internet users:
   • Make sure you are using program text so that users can zoom in to make the text bigger if needed.
   • Minimize “busyness” and distracting uses of color.
   • Use a button with a call to action (like “Click here for more”) instead of a standard link to avoid any confusion between what is a link and what is regular text.
   • Reduce the number of clicks it takes to get around the site- have a clear navigation and avoid pop-outs and drop down menus.
   • Keep the purchasing process as easy as possible- not making customers navigate away from your website to complete check-out.
2. Sell Products TO Them
   If your business sells products for older people to use sell to them specifically as well as to younger people that may be shopping for them. For instance instead of selling home medical products like walkers and canes just to adults with elderly parents or home care providers with elderly clients, also sell directly to the senior citizens with lines like “Need an easier way to get around your house?” You may find that targeting the older folks will increase the number of conversions with younger visitors as well. (Think about it, if your Father or Grandfather would buy a product for themselves, wouldn’t you feel comfortable buying it for them as well?)

Right now senior citizens are online more than ever, but their presence is not particularly obvious yet. Position your website to take advantage of this growing trend and down the road you may find that it was a very lucrative decision.

Ready to start an online store with Volusion? Try it free!

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

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