We have finally gotten to the nuts and bolts of the site - the actual content areas. The content areas of the site cover all your site's internal pages, from the product pages to the FAQs, and administrative pages. These pages will be the key to your site's success, and also your chance to bring your knowledge and passion of your product or service through to your customers.
Common Qualities of Content Pages
While all content pages are unique to a degree in their copy use of photographs, etc., they do all share some basic characteristics:
Important information above the fold. Just as with the home page, it is important to get the most important information on your content pages above the fold. This means you will need to really identify the most important content and you may need to be creative in getting all the important information in this rather small space.
For example, on a category page, I think it is important to show the most important sub categories above the fold - so users will know quickly what subcategory options are available. See Futon Covers Online Solid Category page as an example.
Similarly, on a product page I have found that it is often important, if possible, to get the pricing/ordering information (or at least visually show a pricing/ordering grid) in the first fold.
I learned this the hard way - my customers weren't finding my pricing/ordering information when I had it beneath the fold (See how Amazon does this for all its products). All too often, websites put a products text and graphics first, and then the pricing is below the fold and out of site. Don't make this mistake - people just don't necessarily know to scroll to find the pricing. So put it above the fold.
The one exception to this is if you are using a long form sales letter for a product. This is something that you don't generally do if you are selling a lot of products and are just using your site as an online catalog. But if you only sell a few products, or maybe just one main one like the Ergo carrier site, you should consider instead using the long sales letter copy approach.
Long form sales copy allows you to go into the details that serious customer are looking for, and this sort of in-depth approach is something that people really like in these information intensive sorts of products (where people have lots of questions they aren't finding answers to on other sites).
If you go this approach, it is often best to keep the pricing information till the end -- that is, till people have read over the sales copy and now understand the value of what you are offering. That is why for my product pages where I go into this sort of depth -- which I tend to do now on all my main product pages -- I put the pricing at the end, not the side.
Other important information that needs to be above the fold is a graphic of your product The graphic doesn't have to be the largest one possible - in fact, it can be linked to a larger graphic when it is important that customers be able to see the image in greater detail.
But is should be large enough to give users a good view of the product and get the basic visual information they are looking for. As for links above the fold, I try to limit these to encourage people to read the copy. The one exception that I've gone to lately is a link to the product reviews. These are so important, and can be the most compelling copy you have on the page, that I do now put a link to these along with showing the star rating for the product if I have this sort of review information for the product.
Compelling Copy. Easier said than done I know. Writing copy can be very difficult even for the pros. But don't let that discourage you. I really think that it is important for the business owner to write the copy for their website, so their personality and tone will permeate the site.
This is vital in giving the site it's "voice", and I know customers can feel the difference. A site with copy expressing the business owners personal views and insights is so much more valuable to users than one with cold sales copy that just reads like a catalog.
Each of us has a different style, and it is essential that you bring your personal style to your site - and there is no better way than writing the copy. So just take a whack at it and don't be intimidated. You can always hire someone to edit it - my wife edits my copy, thankfully, to make sure it stays within the bounds of good English composition.
Compelling copy can be quite different, depending on your style. As an example, my site Healthy Foundations has a very different feel from my clients site Futon Covers Online.
My site reflects my approach to sales; I don't really like to "sell" but instead just give information in as unbiased a manner as possible and let my customers choose.
My futon cover client has the opposite approach. He has a long background in sales, and loves coming up with flowery phrases and very sell oriented copy. But while these sites are both very different in tone, our customers really enjoy both of our sites.
So there is no one right way, the key I've found is for the copy to reflect your personality. It does need to do the basics well also: covers your customers basic questions on the product, go into good detail that shares your unique knowledge, and be fairly well written. But the key to successful small business copy is bringing your "voice" to your site, and you can do this most effectively if you will take the time to write your copy.
Bring Your Detailed Knowledge to Your site. One of the biggest mistakes I see is that people treat the web as a catalog. That means that most website's product pages consists simply of a products picture, a paragraph or two of copy, and then a buy button.
But the web isn't a catalog, and on the web it doesn't cost any more to put up a long page as a short one. And a catalog type product layout just doesn't give customers much value, and certainly doesn't leverage the strength of the web.
Which is that the web allows you to put up a great deal of information at a low cost. No other media allows you to put up this kind of detailed information at in such a cost effective manner.
And best of all, your users are not passive like they are in other media, but instead actively searching for just this kind of detailed information. So if you just put up a simple catalog page, you are missing the chance to deliver the deep type of content that many users are craving - especially those that are the most interested in buying.
I often hear from customers who print out every page from my website. They are that interested in getting good information. So don't just try to replicate the big boys here and put up a catalog type page for your products. A very detailed approach will distinguish you from your competitors, and give you a real edge over time.
Concentrate on Usability. I spend a great deal of time laying out my content pages to make sure that they are usable for my customers. Some of the basic ways I try to insure that pages are usable are:
keep the content areas in a readable column space (no wider than 525 - 575 pixels);
have a headline for every page that is clear, matches the navigation for the page, is right above the text area, and isn't underlined (so it doesn't look like a link);
make sure my graphics are clear, show the important detail of the product, and are reduced in size as much as possible to load quickly;
make sure the page is designed so that the text will load quickly while the graphics are taking time to come up (this requires that all graphics have their width and height defined in the page's coding);
all important additional areas of information are linked;
make link text organic - that is, stay away from "click here" and instead have links arise naturally from the text;
and provide the basic product information in a clear manner that a user can easily find.
One thing I don't always worry about, though, is whether a particular page is long and would require a user to scroll down. While I do try to keep scrolling to a minimum on the home page and on keep important information above the fold on a product page, I don't get concerned about the length of a page beyond this.
I've found that users really want information, and don't like to have it broken up into multiple pages just to reduce scrolling. The key is to make sure that long pages load their text quickly, so that users don't have to wait a long time.
If you do write a long page, though, you may want to break the text into usable chunks with a separate heading for each piece. This makes a long page more usable - a page broken up this way is easier to read and navigate than a page that is just one long, unbroken section of text.
Designing the My Favorite Baby Carrier Internal Pages
Let's see how I incorporated these design ideas into the My Favorite Baby Carrier Site (my wife did write all the copy):
Product Page:The ERGO carrier page is the main internal page. It gets the most traffic, and most customers who buy do so off this page.
My first goal was to make the headline as compelling as possible to our core audience. So I wrote one that focused on how hard it was to use other carriers -- a problem my wife believed was shared by many of her core customers -- with a sub headline showing how the Ergo solved these issues.
I experimented with other headlines giving our 90 day money back guarantee, but I ended up going with these since they engaged the visitor and the 90 day money back guarantee was something that wasn't important until they had decided to buy (which would be much further along in the sales process down the page).
I wanted to make sure I got at least one picture above the fold. Initially I chose the picture of the carrier used in the back position as the picture above the fold since this is the main way people will use the carrier. Later I went with smaller pics of using the carrier in front and in back since versatility was such an important sales feature of the Ergo and helped justify the higher price compared to other carriers that only worked in one position.
FAQ and Comparison Pages:
These are one of the important content sections of the site, and help to distinguish this site from its competitors that only had a few paragraphs of copy on their carriers. The FAQs and the Comparison Pages offer the kind of detailed information about the carrier that you just don't find on the usual catalog type website.
When we first talked about creating this site, we both felt that it was important to give people detailed information on both how the ERGO works and how it compares to other carriers. Baby carriers are a very personal type of item, and Mom's often spend a lot of time and energy trying to find a carrier that works. And it isn't uncommon for a Mom to try a bunch of carriers before finding one that works.
So we felt it was really important to have a good comparison page - and one that was as unbiased as possible so that it would give Mom's a good idea if the ERGO makes sense. This not only represented our business philosophy, but also helps to cut down on returns since it helps Mom's access if the ERGO might work for them.
I did put break up the different comparison pages out to separate pages. This made sense since they were all different content, and also will help in terms of search engine considerations. The different comparison pages then can be separately optimized for the different keywords that relate to the different types of carriers we are comparing to the ERGO (slings, baby bjorn, etc).
Since my wife wouldn't be taking phone calls directly, we wanted to make sure that the FAQs were detailed and would answer most questions customers would have about the product and basic sales and shipping information. But even if your site is going to take calls, it is always good to put up a detailed FAQ page addressing both product and customer service issues. People interested in ordering want to have their questions answered now, and having the information readily available in the FAQs may well be pivotal in closing a sale.
Accessories:
This page was designed like the main product page, with links in the space above the fold to more detailed information on the accessories lower on the page.
Products Pricing/Ordering:
I always try to include this page in addition to the products page. I just learned over time that people don't always find the ordering information on the product page, so it is a good idea to have this page to insure people find it. This page is basically a copy of the product and accessory pages. The text has been edited, and links provided for people to read more about the products they are interested in. Basically, this a page for people looking to order, so I keep the text minimal and make sure it is easy to find the pricing and ordering buttons.
Advantages of Buying from Us: It is a fair question - Why should I buy from you? And one many customers have, especially since they probably have never heard of your small business. The site itself should help address these issues - by looking professional, loading fast, giving a great user experience with a lot of useful content, etc. But I've found it useful to put up a page telling people explicitly the benefits of buying from this site. Those people clicking on this page are very interested, and this page gives you a chance to let them know up front why they should buy from you.
Links: I like links pages, and they do offer customers a real value as well as possibly helping with search engine placement. Links to your site may help your positioning, and often the only way to get a link is to give a link. This links page is just a beginning, and we will see if my wife will spend a good deal of time to get additional links.
Links are a somewhat controversial subject. Some argue that you should minimize any links off your site so you ensure that visitors stay. Others make the point that even the best sites only sell a few percent of their visitors, so a links page can add additional value to the 97% of users who aren't buying. Having a links page that is prominently linked on your site gives you a way of inducing other site's to link to you. And since the number of links to your site may well affect your placement on search engine results, it can be important to have a links page to ensure the greatest possible number of links back to your site.
I can't really say who is right in this debate. But my wife liked the idea of linking and so we are trying it on her site. If it works I'll let you know.
The About Us page is an important one for a small business since people often want to know who they are doing business with. I think it is important to keep these pages personal and give people a good feel for the person behind the website.
The Contact Us page gets a lot of traffic, and is very important because it is the main page interested customers will use to contact you with their questions or concerns. It is important that this page not only have the basic contact information (phone number and email), but also the business address information as well. People like to know that there is a real company behind a business, and this name and address information helps a great deal. As I've talked about earlier, I never put up my email address directly on this page (spammers cull these addresses) but instead use a piece of javascript that gives people the email address.
Warranty questions are common, so I've come to put up a page just on this that addresses the basic warranty questions.
And finally, people do have a lot of concerns about privacy and security on the web. This is especially true of customers thinking of buying on the internet. So it is important to have a page on Privacy and Security that really fleshes out your policies.
Lastly, Google looks for these pages as part of accessing the quality of your site which affects your SEO. So it is important for this reason to also have these basic pages on your site. And if you are offering some sort of web service, a Terms of Service page as well.
I hope this review of the pages of the My Favorite Baby Carrier site gave you an idea of the considerations that went into the design of each page. This completes our journey through basic design of Baby Carrier site. The final design step is to make sure our customers can buy.
