In other words, we are judged by others based more on what we do and who we are perceived to be than what we say.  In sales and business, the way we are perceived will be a huge factor in determining the influence we have over him or her.

Click To Check Out Our Themes

A First Impression Is Everything

In the business world, everything counts when it comes to our image and appearance.  As the saying goes, we never get a second chance to make a first impression.  When we first meet a person, we make a judgment about them in less than four seconds, and our judgment is typically solidified in less than 30 seconds.  Once that 30 seconds is up, it is a real uphill battle to change that opinion.  It seems it would be a lot better to make a good impression in the first place!

According to a survey done by the American Personnel Consultants, more than half of employers looking to hire someone generally made their decision to hire a person within 30 seconds of the first meeting.

The same applies with our Ecommerce site.  The way we present ourselves and our site will determine how we are perceived and how much trust is placed in us and our site.  One of the key metrics used to determine the effectiveness of a site is the bounce rate.  If our site is sloppy and does not give a good first impression, we immediately lose credibility and no matter how good our products are, our bounce rate will be high because potential customers will leave and never come back. That’s lost revenue!

Click To Check Out Our Themes

Make a Positive Statement With Your Site

What this means for us is that the way our website looks is VERY important.  If it’s not helping us, it’s hurting us and needs to be fixed.  We generally assume that a business makes a statement about themselves with every part of their website appearance.

How do we make a statement with our Ecommerce site?  By making it ROCK!

It doesn’t mean we have to have an outlandish or crazy looking website.  In fact, quite to the contrary, we should make sure it looks amazingly simple so that it is easy to navigate and makes potential customers feel comfortable staying and shopping around.

Click To Check Out Our Themes

How to Immediately Put These Ideas into Action

To make the positive impression that we want, we must first resolve to take complete control over every detail of our website to make sure we look professional and trustworthy.  This includes the content, the layout, the color scheme, and even the description of our products.

Once we’ve done this, we need to research our target market and analyze the data on our site to make sure we are getting maximum value out of all of the space on our site.

To help you get a leg up on the competition and get a boost right out of the gate, check out one of our themes.  Our themes are proven to boost sales and to make a great first impression.

Click To Check Out Our Themes

Thoughts?

Do you think first impressions matter with your PrestaShop site?

What have you done on your site to make a good first impression?

Add a comment below to let us know your thoughts!

So many people make the mistake of choosing a design for their eCommerce site that looks slick but doesn’t give the customer a good experience.

The following are six tips for creating the best user experience and increase your conversions.  (something we at PrestaDesigner have gone to great lengths to include in our themes)

Click Here to Check Out Our Themes

Clear Product Descriptions

Each product description should be between 75 and 200 words.  In addition to the description, other ‘features’ should be available, such as size, weight, shipping, cost, and anything else relevant to that product.  When someone is buying online and can’t physically touch the product, they need enough details to get them comfortable enough with the product to purchase it.

High Quality Photos

As I just mentioned above, because a customer can’t physically touch the product they need enough detail to get them comfortable with the product.  If a photo is low quality and doesn’t have the ability to be enlarged without distortion, it may not give customers a clear idea of what they are buying.  If possible, photos should also be taken from multiple angles to remove any ambiguity.

Terms of Service, FAQs, Other Policies

Clearly describing and presenting photos of each product increases the chance that the customer will keep it and not complain or ask for a refund.  An additional way to add trust to yourself as a website is to clearly display FAQs, terms of service, and other policies and procedures that define how returns, shipping, estimated delivery schedules, and other issues are handled.  This also cuts down on customer inquiries, since they can find the information rather than having to request it from you.

Contact Information

Your eCommerce site should be set up so that a customer can find the contact information from any page.  Whether this is located in the header, footer, or somewhere else is up to you.  Just make sure it is easily accessible.  In addition, make sure your customer support system is set up to be highly responsive to customers so they feel like they will be taken care of if problems arise.

Strong Search Functionality

Make sure you have advanced search capabilities and/or filters on your site so that people can quickly find what they are looking for.  The longer a customer has to look around to find their desired product, the less likelihood they have of staying and purchasing something.

Call-to-Action Buttons

On every page, there should be some kind of call-to-action button.  Call-To-Action buttons give a direct request to the customer and includes things like “Buy Now”, “Order Here”, “View Now” and other similar directives.  These buttons should lead a customer to an action such as a form or a purchase and should be very clear as to what the result will be.  As I mention in my post about the best colors for website conversion, it is best to make the call-to-action button a consistent and stand-out color so it draws attention.

When a customer has to click too many times before getting to the product they want, they will most likely lose interest and leave the site and look elsewhere.  Make sure your site is setup so that a customer can reach his destination as quickly as possible.

PrestaDesigner Premium Themes

Here at PrestaDesigner we have included these principles when creating our themes.  Click on our Call-To-Action button below to browse through our themes and find one that fits you.

Click Here To Check Out Our Themes

Thoughts?

What tips you would add to this list?

On the surface, it seems that all hosting services take care of the databases and files for your site and therefore it shouldn’t matter.  Right?  Wrong!

What Matters In a Hosting Service

Over the past few years I’ve become an expert on this topic simply because I have installed more PrestaShop sites than I can count on a wide variety of different hosting services.

Most of us simply want a hosting service that is affordable, makes it easy to install PrestaShop and is reliable enough to keep the website up and running so that our customers have a good web experience on our site.  (There are obviously other factors as well, but these seem to be the most common)

That seems pretty straightforward, and yet I’ve worked with so many hosts that cannot do this.

Many times, a customer will ask me to install PrestaShop on their site – a task that can take as little as one minute when using BlueHost, HostGator, or A2Hosting – and it ends up taking hours because their hosting can’t meet the installation requirements for PrestaShop or has a lot of extra hoops to jump through (such as 1and1.com).

Below, I’ve listed my favorite three hosting services.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t other good hosting services out there, but I know that I can trust these hosting services to be VERY affordable and make my life easier.

BlueHost

BlueHost is an award-winning hosting service for both personal and small business.  They’ve been a partner of PrestaShop since PrestaShop was founded in 2007, so you know that they will work well together.

BlueHost uses SimpleScripts to easily install PrestaShop.  I’ve created a tutorial video showing how to install PrestaShop in 1 Minute using BlueHost.

Their hosting package is typically $6.95/mo USD, however by clicking through the affiliate link below you will get a 44% discount off of the monthly price and will be directed to the option that is best for PrestaShop users.

Click here to check out BlueHost

HostGator

While my preference is to go with BlueHost, HostGator also works well with PrestaShop.  They have a QuickInstall feature that helps you to install PrestaShop very quickly.   Their pricing model is different and has varying levels but you can get it as low as $4.95/mo USD.  HostGator is a good option if you need a Virtual Private Server for your site.

Click Here to check out HostGator

A2Hosting

Another partner with PrestaShop, A2Hosting offers a lot of the same features as HostGator and BlueHost.  They use Softaculous to quickly install PrestaShop, which so far has been my favorite simple install tool. They are priced at $3.95/mo USD.

Click Here to check out A2 Hosting

Transferring PrestaShop Hosting

I recently wrote a post with a tutorial video about how to quickly transfer your PrestaShop site from one host to another.  Check it out now!

What Are Your Thoughts?

Let me know your thoughts on hosting.  Who do you use and are you satisfied?

*Note: Some of these links are affiliate links.  It won’t cost you anything more by clicking these links, and it does help me out.  If you do choose to purchase one of these hosting services through my affiliate link, I thank you!

We must be CRAZY, because we are offering a 50% DISCOUNT on this theme through June 7!

To get this discount, use the promo code SPORTSBIKE50

For this same period of time (Through June 7), we are offering a 20% DISCOUNT on all of our other themes using the discount PRESTAD20

Hurry up and grab one of these themes before this offer runs out!

Use Promo Code PSDESIGNER5 to get the discount.

We recently partnered with one of the premier PrestaShop module creators – Presto-Changeo – to bring you some of the best modules available for your PrestaShop store.

These modules can help with your shipping needs, adding and manipulating attributes, auto-translating your PrestaShop site based on your customer’s location, and much more!

Click Here to check out their modules

Presto-Changeo offers the highest quality PrestaShop modules.  All of their modules have been developed internally by their team  and include dedicated support and a one-time FREE INSTALLATION.

Exclusively through our new partnership, we can offer all of you a discount on ALL of their modules – but only until May 31!

Click here to check out all the modules available through our website.  At checkout, use the code PSDESIGNER5 to get this discount.

Remember, this deal is only good until May 31, so don’t waste any time and go check them out now!

According to the chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, you need to get yourself ready for a lot more potential traffic.

Eric Schmidt’s new book – The New Digital Age – talks about the future of the Internet and that in the next 5 years 5 billion people will come online to join the 1 billion who are already online.

What does this mean for those of us with PrestaShop stores?  One word: HUGE OPPORTUNITY!

What’s the best way to take advantage of the coming growth in the Internet?   We suggest three things:

1. Pimp Up Your Website

Is your PrestaShop site looking old or outdated?  Does it have the professional look and feel that will attract customers and give them confidence to shop at your website?

We suggest you have a great looking website that can entice visitors to browse and buy. Try different templates to see which one has the best conversion rate.  You should also check out our post on choosing website colors that will lead to the highest conversions.

One of the advantages of the PrestaDesigner Membership Club is that you can change PrestaShop templates as often as you’d like and try new ones to see what fits you best.

2. Be A Good Host

It’s important to have a good hosting company that can handle an increase in traffic as more people get online. This ensures that the customer has a good web experience while on your site.

The good news is that there are a number of great hosts out there that are affordable, reliable and have great customer service.  Some are even equipped to install PrestaShop for you (See our video on the one-minute install).

There are also hosting services out there that are not great for PrestaShop and make installing and managing a PrestaShop store extra difficult.

We suggest the following hosting services.  By clicking on any of the links below, you will get our discounted rate with each of those hosting services.  You will also help us out:

• Bluehost (affiliate link)
• HostGator (affiliate link)
• A2 Hosting (affiliate link)

If you need help transferring your PrestaShop site to the new host, check out our video tutorial on how to transfer your PrestaShop site from one host to another.

3. Do Your Homework

We’re not referring to the kind of homework you used to do in school.  We’re talking about the, fun kind of homework and research that gives you ideas on how to analyze your business, where to take your business and how to grow.

Reading informative books spurs creativity and inspiration.  Since school is out and summer is just beginning, we’d like to suggest a brief summer reading list.

Suggested summer reading list:

• The Lean Startup
• The New Digital Age
• The 4 Hour Workweek

Your Thoughts?

What do you think the Internet will look like in 5 years?

What books are on your summer reading list that you think everyone could learn from?

There IS an answer to this question and it is found in the video below.

To browse our themes, click here or click on the big green button at the top of this page.

What Are Your Thoughts?

When you’re done watching this, please leave a quick comment below and let me know your thoughts on the subject of colors and their effects on sales conversions.

Transferring from one host to another is not the simplest task in the world, but this video walks you right through the whole process to make it as easy as possible.

Links from the video:

The following are affiliate links.  It won’t cost you any more and in some cases will actually save you money.  It will also help me out. 

1. BlueHost – Save 44% by clicking through this link
2. HostGator

Thoughts?  Comment? Questions?

We’d love to hear what you think of our tutorial.  Do you have some additional tips to share?  Please let us know!

We also have a lot of traffic and a decent amount of sales.  But why aren’t our sales as good as they could be?

I quickly realized that while we did have amazing products (another shameless plug), our marketing message wasn’t as good as it needed to be.  We had built the website – which is an important first step for anyone starting their online business.

However, it was only the first step.

A Quality Product By Itself Isn’t Enough

The next two steps are equally as important, and we had not given them the attention that we should have.  As we have continued to apply these two steps, our business has grown much more rapidly and we have had more success selling what we know to be a quality product.

What are these two steps?

1)    Market the website

2)    Analyze and improve the website

You can’t have one without the other. If I market and don’t analyze the results, I won’t know whether or not it’s working and won’t know what needs to be improved. At the same time, if I analyze my data without marketing it, it means I know what is happening but am not doing anything to improve it.

I was so focused on marketing, that I didn’t take the time to analyze the data and make sure my marketing message was what people wanted to hear and see.

What Should I Track?

Analyzing and improving your PrestaShop site is an ongoing, never-ending process and important enough that most businesses won’t thrive without it.

The thought of analyzing data can seem daunting and difficult, but Google Analytics and other analytic tools have taken a lot of the pain out of it – and most of them are free.  Below are some of the statistics you get when using these tools:

It’s vital to know who is visiting your PrestaShop site, where they come from, how long they stay and what they do when they are there.

I am still constantly analyzing the data for my site so that I can make it the best experience for the customer.

Am I Profitable?

When the smoke clears, the biggest question you should have is – how much does it cost to make a sale on your PrestaShop site?  You need to know if it is costing you more than you make on any sale.

That is why tracking goals are arguably the most important thing the analytic data will tell you.

A goal is a defined action you want to track, such as each time someone makes a purchase.

By setting up and tracking goals, you can know the cost of customer acquisition – in other words, how much it cost to make a sale.

If your product sells for $5 and it costs you $10 to get someone to buy it through your marketing, then you’re losing money.

Without goal tracking you might not realize you’re losing money and how much. Goal tracking can tell you if your marketing is working and where your sales are coming from.

Are They Not Entertained?

Time on Site, Bounce Rate and Pages per Visit are also important for your PrestaShop site because they’re indications of visitor engagement.

If there are a million visitors coming to your PrestaShop site, but they only stay for 2 seconds and visit 1 page before they leave (or bounce), something is wrong with your homepage and you’re not engaging visitors enough to make them want to stay and look around.

Much like a traditional store, you want people to stay and browse around. The longer they stay the greater the likelihood that they’ll buy something.  If you’re not selling anything on your site, like a news site or blog, you want visitors to stick around and read your content.

It’s Not You, It’s Me

Sometimes we get it stuck in our head that it isn’t our fault people aren’t buying or sticking around, and that it is just bad luck or some other excuse.

In order to improve, we have to admit to ourselves that the problem might actually be us and the way we have our website set up.  This allows us to open our minds to the possibility and need for change.

Changes can be as comprehensive as using a completely new template or as simple as making the website product pictures larger, moving better products to the top, or improving our marketing content.

For me and PrestaDesigner, especially when we first started we had to constantly change the marketing message, the page layout, the font, and a number of other things that were keeping us from being profitable.  Over time and testing we learned more and more what people wanted to see and hear and as a result we made huge strides with our business.

Testing, Testing, 1… 2… 3…

It’s not necessary to make the big changes and then hope for the best.  Methods such as A/B testing and Geolocation testing can help us figure things out without throwing down the big bucks.

A/B testing can be an effective way to test changes. A/B testing allows you to show different content to different visitors.

Geolocation testing may also help increase sales by showing different content based on a visitor’s geographic region.   For example, on a sporting goods website, a visitor from Colorado may be looking for skis while a visitor from California may be looking for surfboards.  This type of testing allows you to target your visitors precisely and show them products or content that is relevant to them.

Pinching Your Pennies

You don’t have to break the bank to test your site, and it is a great way to learn how to wisely spend your marketing money.

A fantastic tool for testing different ideas out on your site is KeywordCatcher.com, an open-source software product that aims to increase conversions.

Another great resource for learning how to analyze and improve your business is the popular book, “The Lean Startup”, which describes this process of continual improvement using this graph:

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

PrestaDesigner has already done a lot of testing on our pre-built PrestaShop themes.  While this doesn’t eliminate the need for you to analyze your site, by using a PrestaDesigner premium PrestaShop theme you can at least know that some of the legwork has been done for you and that it is optimized for SEO and for conversion to sales.

Check Out Our Themes

Thoughts?  Comment? Questions?

What tools or methods do you use to analyze your site?

Cheers,
Trajan