Make Your Web Site An Online Showroom

There are a number of goals decorators should have when building or updating their website. According to Mark Venit, president, Apparel Graphics Institute, Ocean Pines, Md., a leading marketing consultant, “A web presence needs to be perceived as helpful and organized to enable customers and prospects to have as easy an experience as possible in finding items they are interested in (and perhaps things they weren’t looking for when they arrived).”

“It also should help them get a handle on pricing and their options for spending more or less, and making a judgment about whether to do business with your company,” he adds.

One way of accomplishing these goals is to show off your technologies and facilities. “Make sure photos capture the people doing the work, not just the machines running,” advises Venit. “When possible, let your staff do the talking about their roles.”

Even if you don’t offer a decorating process in-house, make sure it is represented along with appropriate information about how it’s done and its quality.

Videos are a very effective tool that is now frequently used to show visitors work areas, the showroom, software, and products.  “You don’t need to do anything fancy,” notes Venit, “most of the ‘home-grown’ videos I’ve seen do the job.”

One of the biggest advantages to investing time in your website is it shortens the buying process. Customers can visit 24/7 and get real-time answers to questions. “Your website, properly executed, saves your customers and prospects time and your company money. When customers are ready to call to ascertain final figures and details and place their order, they’ve gotten most of their questions out of the way. All this translates to a better prepared, more knowledgeable buyer who spends less time on the phone and issues faster purchase orders.”

Information for this blog was taken from “The Business of T-Shirts” by Mark L. Venit. For more information, visit http://www.stahls.com/business-of-tshirts-book.