Design Mistakes an eBay Store Should Avoid Making
There are two ways of doing something. One is the right, and the other is wrong. Using the right approach leads to better and beautiful results while the incorrect method results in loss of time, effort and energy plus materials in some cases.
While sometimes, the only way to learn is by doing something, at other times it is possible to learn from someone who has done it previously and has accumulated some experience. That would help avoid the same pitfalls he has faced and gain time. That time can be used effectively to learn something else!
Inexperience can, however, lead to mistakes that are unavoidable. If we take the time and use our intuition a few times, we can avoid the most costly mistakes.
Organizations follow best practices to ensure they are on the right track when planning a project.
Ebay stores allow people to sell their ware online. Selling an item online may be easy, but when making a living out of selling items online, the ballgame is a different one altogether.
Clichés need not be avoided for their commonality. It is indeed true that people buy with their eyes. How else do you decide which dress looks good?
Knowing what attracts a customer to a certain store and draws him away from another require study. Various aspects and not just the design elements come into play in drawing customers to an eBay site and getting them to buy from you. While some of those are beyond the control of the designer, others can very well be taken care of.
Do avoid:
1. A Giant Header: If the buyer has to scroll down way below to get to the line items, it wouldn’t be a good experience for them.
Do:
Keep the header to 250 pixels high at maximum.
Do include:
2. Categories: If you are selling more than 1000 items and they are different, the inclusion of a “Category” field is a must. There can be up to 300 categories and down to three levels.
Do make:
3. The logo a link: Poor website design will disagree. The top left logo should always be a link. It is like common sense in web designing.
Do Include:
4. Description: Even those that use a custom header, have space to fill out the description area. This description is used in the header, the store’s search page and also in the meta description.
Do avoid:
5. Using CAPS LOCK: In general, using Caps lock is equivalent to shouting. Who are we shouting at? It doesn’t help the user read better in most cases. It may help the creator, however. Use Caps only where and when necessary. Visually too, it is irritating.
Do ask:
6. For the design when hiring someone to design the website for you. Even though you may not be related to designing in any way, you surely have browsed through stores of other people and have seen how their’s look. There could be shops that caught your fancy. Note down those elements in ordinary English if required. Share them with the designer and see what they have to say.
You should be able to have a look at the store with the content in it. The look and feel of the shop should give you an idea if things are going in the right direction. Avoid:
7. Homepage Blindness: Some stores have a wonderful homepage with all the desired elements, but they seem to forget about the rest of the pages! A case of sure-shot Homepage blindness. Better avoided.
Avoid:
8. Stores that do nothing: Some people have opened stores only to have forgotten about them. No categories, no description, no logo, no categorization. Simply a stark white page with lots of space to loiter about doing nothing. Is that what we want the buyer to do? Really?
Use:
9. Custom Pages: eBay has up to 15 custom pages. Use them.
When designing,
10. Have the main logo with a link: Not having a link for the user to get back to the home page can be disadvantageous. Usually, a user clicks on the top left corner where the logo exists. Include the link for him to get back. That is how you would have navigated too.
Below are some ideas to help keep you on track when getting the site in order.
Remember you are trying to build a brand with your store. Some product sites need a specific design whereas others can do with something more generic.
After the design is taken care of, content should be created that goes well with it. Use of keywords that result in a number of visits, a proper description of the product and well-clicked photographs are essential in creating the eBay site that works.
People use intuition to design and create ideas. If you believe, you could do with a different something, go ahead. Experiment with the design ideas. Use templates that are available for free and see how things go. Alternately, one can also purchase the services of an experienced eBay designer such as sixty4ebayshopdesign.com.
While the aesthetics should be looked into in detail too, since a great looking site is always welcome and people stay longer in those, designers should avoid the temptation to cram as much information and elements as possible into the available space.
Allow for some whitespace for the buyers mind to wander about.
From the list of available store designers, go with the one who has the requisite experience to handle the kind of design you want. The complexity or simplicity should also make a difference in the decision factor. A store owner will not want to pay a hefty sum for a relatively simple design if that is what his site needs.
But in essence, the eBay store should not make mistakes like the ones mentioned above. If you are in need of advice, approach the design experts and ask. The effort will be totally worth it.
While sometimes, the only way to learn is by doing something, at other times it is possible to learn from someone who has done it previously and has accumulated some experience. That would help avoid the same pitfalls he has faced and gain time. That time can be used effectively to learn something else!
Inexperience can, however, lead to mistakes that are unavoidable. If we take the time and use our intuition a few times, we can avoid the most costly mistakes.
Organizations follow best practices to ensure they are on the right track when planning a project.
Ebay stores allow people to sell their ware online. Selling an item online may be easy, but when making a living out of selling items online, the ballgame is a different one altogether.
Clichés need not be avoided for their commonality. It is indeed true that people buy with their eyes. How else do you decide which dress looks good?
Knowing what attracts a customer to a certain store and draws him away from another require study. Various aspects and not just the design elements come into play in drawing customers to an eBay site and getting them to buy from you. While some of those are beyond the control of the designer, others can very well be taken care of.
Do avoid:
1. A Giant Header: If the buyer has to scroll down way below to get to the line items, it wouldn’t be a good experience for them.
Do:
Keep the header to 250 pixels high at maximum.
Do include:
2. Categories: If you are selling more than 1000 items and they are different, the inclusion of a “Category” field is a must. There can be up to 300 categories and down to three levels.
Do make:
3. The logo a link: Poor website design will disagree. The top left logo should always be a link. It is like common sense in web designing.
Do Include:
4. Description: Even those that use a custom header, have space to fill out the description area. This description is used in the header, the store’s search page and also in the meta description.
Do avoid:
5. Using CAPS LOCK: In general, using Caps lock is equivalent to shouting. Who are we shouting at? It doesn’t help the user read better in most cases. It may help the creator, however. Use Caps only where and when necessary. Visually too, it is irritating.
Do ask:
6. For the design when hiring someone to design the website for you. Even though you may not be related to designing in any way, you surely have browsed through stores of other people and have seen how their’s look. There could be shops that caught your fancy. Note down those elements in ordinary English if required. Share them with the designer and see what they have to say.
You should be able to have a look at the store with the content in it. The look and feel of the shop should give you an idea if things are going in the right direction. Avoid:
7. Homepage Blindness: Some stores have a wonderful homepage with all the desired elements, but they seem to forget about the rest of the pages! A case of sure-shot Homepage blindness. Better avoided.
Avoid:
8. Stores that do nothing: Some people have opened stores only to have forgotten about them. No categories, no description, no logo, no categorization. Simply a stark white page with lots of space to loiter about doing nothing. Is that what we want the buyer to do? Really?
Use:
9. Custom Pages: eBay has up to 15 custom pages. Use them.
When designing,
10. Have the main logo with a link: Not having a link for the user to get back to the home page can be disadvantageous. Usually, a user clicks on the top left corner where the logo exists. Include the link for him to get back. That is how you would have navigated too.
Below are some ideas to help keep you on track when getting the site in order.
Remember you are trying to build a brand with your store. Some product sites need a specific design whereas others can do with something more generic.
After the design is taken care of, content should be created that goes well with it. Use of keywords that result in a number of visits, a proper description of the product and well-clicked photographs are essential in creating the eBay site that works.
People use intuition to design and create ideas. If you believe, you could do with a different something, go ahead. Experiment with the design ideas. Use templates that are available for free and see how things go. Alternately, one can also purchase the services of an experienced eBay designer such as sixty4ebayshopdesign.com.
While the aesthetics should be looked into in detail too, since a great looking site is always welcome and people stay longer in those, designers should avoid the temptation to cram as much information and elements as possible into the available space.
Allow for some whitespace for the buyers mind to wander about.
From the list of available store designers, go with the one who has the requisite experience to handle the kind of design you want. The complexity or simplicity should also make a difference in the decision factor. A store owner will not want to pay a hefty sum for a relatively simple design if that is what his site needs.
But in essence, the eBay store should not make mistakes like the ones mentioned above. If you are in need of advice, approach the design experts and ask. The effort will be totally worth it.