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A Third List of Gadwall Web Commandmentsby Jim Frazier It seems like every time I complete one list of commandments, I get more suggestions, or I spot more annoying Web sites myself. There are fewer this time, so maybe I'm getting close to the end. 1. If you've got an ecommerce site, or if you're just providing information to your visitors, make it as easy as possible for them to get the information they need. If they're going to want specs, make it easy to find them. If they're going to want to know the price, give it to them. Don't be coy. 2. One of the cardinal rules that I learned in Sales 101 is to make it as easy as possible for the customer to buy. Are you abiding by that law on your ecommerce site? Or are you erecting barriers to your customers' seamless and glitch-free purchase? Buy something from your site. Now buy something from the most popular ecommerce site on the Internet (whatever that happens to be at the time you're reading this). Now, who would you prefer to buy from, theirs or yours? 3. Make sure that your site can be updated with new information without getting your technical staff involved. Whether you're adding a new inventory item, a new article or product specification, your Web designer should have built the site to be easily updated by your regular staff. There is absolutely no reason, other than poor design, to have an expensive technical resource involved when all you want to do is change a price on one of your sale items. 4. One of the benefits of the Web is that you can reach a world-wide audience. It's therefore helpful for your visitors to know what time it is at your location. Provide information about your time zone (and the offset from GMT) and your hours of operation. You may also want to provide a map to your offices. You can see how we've handled it by visiting our "about us" page at http://www.gadwall.com/aboutus.html. The Web gives you the ability to provide vast amounts of information about your company or organization easily, cheaply and quickly to anyone with access to the Web. That is a powerful capability, and you should be exploiting it. However, you must always remember that the objective is not to exercise your creativity. The goal is to give your prospects, customers and visitors the information they need to do business with you. Make it an easy and pleasant experience for them.
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