Hello! Just briefly dropping to let you know that one of my favorite clients, Floozy are running a competition to win a Harvey’s seatbelt handbag. I have one and love it! Its a good size, its indestructible and O so sexy. All you have to do is drop by the blog and comment on why you would like one… mmmm thats not the hard huh? I would comment.. but i have one already and think other people deserve it more.. so comment! Let me know if you win!

There has been alot of thought and research going into my business and where it is going lately. How I want it to grow and change, and what other things I may want to throw into the mix. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I am excited by the possibilities I am stewing over.

I discovered an author in my research called Seth Godin. He is hugely popular (does “purple cow” sound familiar?) but I hadn’t really read any of his books until now. My favorite by a long shot is Meatball Sunday.  The main message I got from him is this stuff here:

• -Be authentic and tell your story,
• -Be passionate about what you do,
• -Take advantage of the changing world of technology and create new products and services inspired by those changes.

So what does this mean? Well I have managed to add my much missed and preferred wire framing step into my design process. Which has been fun and not to mention it works. I forget less of what should be in the design and problems we might face usually pops up in the drawing stage and gets sorted in the drawing stage rather than once the site is all made up. Loving it! I am also hard out learning about the new moves in google analytics, online marketing and best practice Wordpress template construction. The SEO world is also fast morphing, keeping up with that too.

Check out my slightly neglected but now slowly getting refreshed Amazon bookshop for the Seth Godin books I have read and highly recommend. I am chewing through the rest in our local library and will add them if I think them the biz!

What I loved about Trader Joes, not only could you feel and look at the products, but they also offered extra info to help you care for your product.

Today I have a ‘bee in my bonnet’. After browsing a shop with some awesome designs in it. I would maybe buy, but I’m not sure. Its a fashion accessory item and I just can’t tell by the beautiful photo what size it is. Is it big and bold? Light and delicate? Perhaps a Medium? I can happily wear medium or light but I know my fingers look odd with a huge ring. I like them on others though, just not me.

Inspired by this I have decided to write down the list usually given to clients if they are struggling with writing content for their online shops.

What you absolutely must have in your shops content:

1. Individual  Product Content: Make sure your product descriptions have the facts; whats its made out of, how big it is, what it smells like, what it can be combo’d with… whatever suits. Answer every question you think they may have about it (think about yr own online shopping experience, what questions have you had in the past?). This is your sales pitch baby. But don’t over do it! You don’t want people to feel they have to read an epic to get the info they want. When formatting bullet pointing the never goes a-miss, information like:
   • -colour
   • -size
   • -materials the product is made out of
     
2. Clear Photos of your product. On a background that is enhancing your product, not detracting from it. If you can give a visual idea of scale this is a good thing.
3. Content tone gives your shop “atmosphere”, if its fun and funky, you can try injecting personality into your content.
4. Country of origin: Being in NZ we may try to not make this quite so obvious due to post delays. However what happens when someone halfway across the world expects their product in the post within the week. A whole world of pain baby. Emails, upset complaints, worries… all of that reflects on your shop and how you run it.
5. Shipping countries and costs where possible. Returns policy, your terms and conditions, no-one may ever read them, but they assure people you are legit by their existence.
6. Payment Information: How people can pay for your product, is it paypal? Credit card? Bank Transfer, all of the above? Have this obvious on the site somewhere thats not just the checkout.
7. Info about you! People love a story, give it to them! Make them love the fact your not a major corporation or multi national brand but a great small biz or independent seller.
8. Language/Lingo: Use your customers language, avoid industry terms and stay clear of ‘jargon’. Unless that is your target customer.
9. Menus and Categorisation: Section your goods out in a nice obvious manner. Look at how successful people do it and if not replicate, let it guide you.

So the facts are over I have a link to give you for further reading. Etsy - Don’t be put off by all the crafting, thinking it does not apply to you (if your not a crafter) there is a wealth of knowledge here.

-An article on writing item descriptions.

-Their sellers handbook

I also have a lot to say on the marketing front – stay tuned!