# Essentials for print ecommerce sites



## printkeg (Jan 6, 2011)

Hi everyone,

I saw this section about ecommerce and site design and felt that my input may be useful. The past two years we transitioned our print company from a brick and mortar shop to an online shop. Almost 100% of our customers order through our website now, and the following are pages/items I felt were essential for our print website success.

*1. Policies Page* - This protects you and ensures the customer understands what he/she is allowed to do. Also include acceptable art guidelines, shipping policies, returns etc.

*2. A Guarantee* - Every site should have some type of guarantee that protects the customer. We have a 100% guarantee and we back it up. Its a pain to print items that we thought were okay or return someone's money, but in the end, we are building trust. Also, most reputable online companies do this.

*3. Privacy policy* - Make sure this is somewhere on your footer. The customer needs to know in writing that you not selling or sharing their information. If you are, then you should let them know why. 

*4. Site Map *- This is great for search engines, but better for clients who need to find what they are looking for.

*5. Company Pages* - Go all out on this. Include addresses, phone numbers, maps, images. Whatever it takes for a new customer to feel better about trying you for the first time. Testimonials are a plus. 

*6. This site is secure* - You need to say this somewhere on your site and link to anything that supports this. People need to know your site is secure. Be sure your SSL certificate is up-to-date and you are using https prefix for checking out pages. If you are using a shopping cart template, this is already done for you. Also, show what credit cards you accept on the footer of your website or at least on your cart page.

*7. Call to action* - On our home page we may show many of our products, but in the end we added a huge "Get Started" button in the middle. This clearly shows where any customer can start the process.

*8. Samples *- For goodness sake take some pictures or videos of what you guys have printed and show them off in a nice gallery. Pictures really do say a thousand words. Don't just throw clip art all over your website. 

*9. Support pages* - You need to make sure FAQ's, art specifications, templates and everything else is only one or two clicks away at all times. 

*10. Social Additions* - Include a blog and be active on it. Be sure to offer an e-letter signup. If you are not on many social networks, at least participate on Twitter and Facebook. We participate in many more. It is a social cyberworld now, so get started if you haven't already! Social networks and blogging will allow your personality to shine through and help you connect with new and current customers. Reviews are awesome too, but keep them transparent.


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## designnbuy (Jan 1, 2010)

Providing live chat service is also a great way to increase sell.. if a visitor has any query related to product, process or anything then online stores can paovide instant solution and make their customers shopping more comfortable.


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## decatur (Dec 5, 2007)

Just found your post. Very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to share. I'm trying to go all online.


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## livingagain75 (Sep 18, 2009)

Thanks for the thorough and well thought out tips. 

Bill


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## MiEmb (Jan 29, 2011)

Excellent advice, thanks for taking the time to do it. Do you have a design yourself page? - assuming you are in screen printing? thanks!


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## dwntwn49 (Jan 27, 2010)

Has business grown since going ecommerce? If so, any marketing tips? Thanks in advance!


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