Dynamics ShoppingCart - open and is ready for business.

Thinking of selling online?   eCommerce packages are a rich and varied bunch but in our experience, they all seem to fall down in one way or another.  Maybe they are held on just one PC making updating hard, or the shipping and payment settings are too complicated, or you need to know HTML and graphics to work it, or most common - they just look awful!  I mean who designs these things? 

Today's Internet users, and particularly online shoppers, are now a very demanding and fickle bunch.  They are also educated in things like operational security and shipping,  and have often experienced far more online shops than the shop-owners themselves! But eCommerce is critical, and a few are doing it right. But they seems to have mega-budgets don't they? So the key issue really becomes 'does a normal and realistic budget mean you have to compromise to the point you can't really compete?'  Well frankly, it did until recently.

A new breed of Shopping Cart needed to pop up. One that required no HTML knowledge and had features built in, like:

• fantastic design capabilities and templates
• modern technology like RSS feeds & User Reviews
• highly SEO friendly construction
• absolute necessities like automatic Froogle (Google Shopping) feeds
• easy promotion, banner and Gift certificate creation
• easy Payment integration
• multiple shipping that's easy to get right
• great imagery options
• automatic invoicing and packing slips
• easy back-ups
• full automated Returns system
• amazing business intelligence reporting and stats
• easy integration of eMail marketing and knowledge bases

And perhaps - to add a most stunning and user-friendly feature perhaps - a full Drag & Drop design interface?! OK, so does this super-duper solution even exist?

Yes! and it's right here.  We call is Dynamics ShoppingCart - and it's pretty damn awesome. Written specifically for purpose, it puts you in total control.  Log in from anywhere, control everything. It's very realistically priced, and you can literally be selling online in a few days with a class-leading eCommerce store - competing with the best of them.  Have a look at the eCommerce page on our website, and see an example by clicking the main banner pic. Also, see our critical Top Tips for Selling Online - it's free!

Does your website pass the test?

Five seconds. That’s how long the vast majority of surfers take to decide whether your website has what they are looking for. Some may take a little longer, as much as ten seconds, before deciding!   It is VITAL therefore that your website has the magic ingredient to stop surfers in their tracks.

The most common mistake made in website design & development, is to build a site that meets your needs.  Sound unbelievable? Well there’s more... Even the majority of ‘professional’ web creators or Agencies will create websites that primarily follow the business owner’s instructions, and even ideas. This is a key reason why websites fail to deliver as expected, and here’s why…

First & foremost, a website must satisfy the immediate needs of the surfer. Not to labour the point, but this is crucial so I’ll say it again; the immediate needs of the surfer. 

But instead, what happens is that by following the direction of a company owner or entrepreneur, more often than not the website satisfies THEIR immediate needs. But they are not the ones that will be using or buying from the website. The website becomes something they would like to portray about themselves or their business, rather than what their customers are actually looking for. Make sense?   As you can imagine, this is particularly dangerous for eCommerce sites. If the customers can’t find – or are not convinced they will find – your products, how will they ever buy them?

Quick Usability Test

A usability test is the only test that really matters. Your website could be full of priceless information or products at irresistible terms, but if it fails this test; most of your surfers will never bother to look or find it!  If you want to know if your website passes a usability test, follow these guidelines.

Step 1: Basic Focus Group
Ask several people who fit your target market or key demographic, to be your focus group. People love to critique so this should not be difficult!  (Preferably not employees and as impartial as possible.)

Step 2: Give your Surfers a Specific Goal
Let's say you sell generic mobile phone accessories. The goal you give them might be "Find information relevant to your mobile phone."

Step 3: Show & Tell
Show your website’s homepage for five seconds, and then ask your focus group to try to remember everything they saw.

Step 4: Write it Down
Once you've removed the homepage, ask your testers to write down everything they remembered about the page.

Step 5: Find Out if you Passed!
Ask a few relevant questions to see whether your homepage allowed them to find what they were looking for. For example,

"What kind of mobile phone accessories does my site offer?" or "Did you think your phone would be catered for?"

Make detailed notes on responses throughout this process. If any of your subjects are NOT able to recall the most important elements on your page, ADJUST YOUR LAYOUT AND MESSAGE then re-test.   This small group is likely to reflect what most surfers will experience on entering your website, so test and tweak until your central message is clear.

Surfers have needs. Remember - almost no-one arrives at your website by accident. But they'll stop at your website only when they are convinced you can help them, and they'll often decide whether you satisfy their needs within this first five seconds. The more you stop in their tracks, the more you can sell to.

Of course the rest of your website must then deliver on its promises and maximise its chances of conversion, but that’s another session. First, they have to stop at your website and not someone else’s…so this test may literally transform your online success.

Obviously, this article applies to existing webistes. The real key is to get it right as part of the creative design process, and not to let personal preferences stand in the way of effective layout, relevant content and powerful navigation. 

Video works wonders! Stand out from your competition...

Video is a magnetic and compelling media - and has universal audience appeal.  Who wouldn't rather watch a broadcast rather than just listen, or have it laid out in paper and slides?

And as far as Corporate Video effectiveness goes, message or content-retention from video is near 80%, compared to around 20-30% from static or slide-based media.   We're all used to TV - and we remember far more of what we see on video, so corporate video is a superbly effective media for companies to take advantage of.

And once you have added a video production in your armoury, you can use it on DVD, Website, at events, on TV, emails and much more - increasing your exposure and certainly your company's profile.

Dynamics Media offer professional production services to make that happen quickly, and cost-effectively. See our show-reel by clicking below.. 

By chance or opportunity, Dynamics Media happens to be located smack between Milton Keynes and Northampton.  

This presents challenges in underlining our presence and authority, as we have to ensure we're represented in both of these large business-areas.  In our SEO for example, do we lead with web design milton keynes, or web design northampton? Most companies go with a main category, then their home town, which we can't really do ('web design on the A5 between MK and Towcester?' - doesn't really work as a key-phrase!).

Fortunately, 90% of our work is referral - and having successfully completed well-over 100 commercial websites and online projects, we seem to have made the impression we wanted. Our work can also be seen in England, Portugal, New York & France as well, so conquering our local area was never going to be a enormous challenge!  But what makes us number one?

The web is a great leveller of things, and that cuts both ways.  As much as competent and large companies succeed in making themselves look like one-man-bands, home-based design businesses can look like large agencies when representing themselves on the Web.  And of course, technically they should have the advantage of indulgence!  But when you look under the surface, the processes (we remain the only fully accredited ISO9001 design agency), the people, the premises, the back-catalogue, the heritage, the skill-sets, the testimonials, the client-bank - you can quickly separate the real-deal from the up and comings! 

But I'm convinced what makes us so successful, is our approach.  We are a full service marketing agency, which delivers via graphic design, web design, advertising, print design, video, tabloid - whatever it takes.  That means a web project is approached from a strategic marketing success view-point, not a 'lets make this look whizz bang' view-point.  We make things WORK: as in make money, or attract calls, or encourage positive action other than 'ooh, that looks cool'.  

When our clients give us fees, we assume they want them back - and more - in the form of increased clients, or market share or responses etc.. but in some measurable increase in success. That's what we commit to, that's what we do.  We're in it together, and we have the proven general, industry and professional knowledge to deliver. And that's what makes us number one!