Thread: important elements of a product based website

Do bios and dance resources really matter (in the links section) or would you rather just see a list of products with a shopping cart?

How long of a description is necessary? Do you like an additional page of information about the product or are you not interested in reading ..more interested in buying?

Originally Posted by jesennia

Do bios and dance resources really matter (in the links section) or would you rather just see a list of products with a shopping cart?

I like to know a little about the owner of the site, in addition to the location (even if it isn't a brick-and-mortar store) on the "About Us" page. If I find a site through an Internet search, having these kinds of details makes the business seem more reputable. Certainly businesses without them look more suspicious than ones that are up front about who owns them and where the merchandise will be shipped from.

I don't feel a need for extraneous links, and ignore things like teacher directories, web pages for the owner's favorite dancers, links to Shira, etc., when I see them on a vendor site. IMHO, you shouldn't have to depend on a merchandising site to learn basic information about the dance.

How long of a description is necessary? Do you like an additional page of information about the product or are you not interested in reading ..more interested in buying?

I want enough of a summary that I can tell whether I'm interested or not from the thumbnail description. If you want to have close ups or need a lot of text to describe an item, then it's fine to route over to a different page or a pop up. Too little information forces the customer to click on every link, and too much information on the main listing is overwhelming and tedious to sort through.

thank you !! useful tips!

In almost always read About Us pages...not sure if that is what you are considering a bio. I like separate pages for that.

Additional page for each item, only if it has more detail than the gallery or thumb view. I was on a site the other day that had more product details listed in the gallery than in the detail view.

I am also not to concerned with external links to dance resources because they are easy enough to find on my own.

...but I LOVE reading product descriptions and bios.

The descriptions at Dahlal are my favorite, though I think others would consider them a bit much.

this is VERY skeletal, I'm still playing with buttons links and images (as you can see it's a mess)

A'Kai Silks

I'm not wanting to keep the site strictly bellydance anymore since I am involved with local island resourcing too.

anyways, there are pages at the top, (the images will be in place soon) and each page will take you to a location such as the etsy store, or a bio/about me, or dancer resource (where to buy veil vids), and of course a Hawaii resource. I'd like to offer a 'silk info' page with basics but don't want to go overboard with 20 pages..I'd rather stay clean and be more product based with a small page for blabbing about stuff.

thanks for the feedback

ignore

I'm not sure what's happening with the menu. In its current form, it's jumping around and seems kind of confusing. You have "A'kai Silks Online Store" and then later on the list you have "Silk Dance Items" and "Silk Clothing and Scarves." Aren't they part of the online store? Would this lineup make more sense?

Online store (break down veils, skirts, sets, scarves, etc., inside this link)

Info about silk (care, your expertise, buying guide, etc.)

Hawaii travel resources (not sure what's your plan for this section...travel links? guide services?)

Info about the store or FAQ (your bio, customer issues, wholesale purchasing, etc.)

Customer testimonials? (If you don't want to go this route, I'd at least work in some text somewhere about why buying from you is a better idea than thinking you can just get a bunch of stuff from Dharma Trading Co. and figure it out yourself on the cheap. Part of what you're selling here is your expertise.)

yeah the silk and dance is far from done, in fact I had to make up pages, not necessarily ones I'm going to use, just to fill the squares and learn to put the images in..I haven't progressed as far to give the squares permanent names and destinations yet. :) it's a slowwwww process..today I didn't complete anything on it, that's why the other one serves as a temp. the temp may turn into a year hehe