Your Retail Store Website
One of our Facebook fans is a jewelry designer and vendor to many retail stores. She posted a comment about how shocked she was at the number of her retail clients and prospects who do not have a website.
Every successful store, every successful business, must have a website.
That’s right must. As in “not optional.” It’s as basic to your business as a sign on your storefront.
When I ask retailers why they don’t have a website I usually get an answer like “I’m working on it” or, “I’m looking for a site designer” or, “I’m halfway through but I can’t find the time to finish it” and sometimes even, “I just don’t know where to start.”
I get it. A retail store website can seem like an overwhelming task.
But your website doesn’t have to be big, or fancy, or expensive. It just has to exist.
Here are the 3 website pages we consider the MINIMUM for retail store owners:
‘Home’ page
Very simply, this is the page that tells visitors basic information about your retail store. It should include at a minimum:
- Your logo,
- Your store name in text,
- Your basic contact information,
- A short paragraph about what your store is,
- A photograph of your store would also be good but is not necessary.
Of course, there are lots more things you could do with your home page, but don’t get bogged down by that. Do the things listed above.
‘Our Merchandise’ page
On this page simply talk about what merchandise you carry. You might organize this page by department (mountain bikes, road bikes, accessories, gear, and clothing) or by vendor if that’s more important to your customers (Patagonia, Mountain Hardware, North Face, Kelty, Keen.)
Write a couple of sentences about each. Of course, just like on your homepage, some pictures that represent your products are good, but not required. Especially if taking the photos is going to keep you from launching your site!
You can name this page something other than ‘Our Merchandise.’ You might call it ‘BIKES’ or ‘What you’ll find at ‘ or ‘For Your Pampered Pets.’ But the idea is to explain specifically what kind of merchandise you carry.
‘About Us’ page
This page should tell a little bit about the history of your store and should have, at a minimum:
- Your name,
- Your picture,
- A short bio about you.
It’s even better if you can do that for all your permanent staff. This page should also have directions to your store.
Three additional MINIMUM website requirements:
Your basic store Information on EVERY page.
Yep, every single page and preferably in the top header (or at least viewable on the screen before any scrolling down.) This should include, in order of importance:
- Your phone number,
- Your store hours,
- Your complete address including state and zip code,
- Your email address.
In a perfect world, this information should be repeated in the bottom footer of every page, too. The number one reason people are visiting your site is to get your phone number or your hours. Make them easy to find.
A readable font type, color, and size.
Select a font that is very easy to read on the web, like Arial or Verdana. This web page is Arial. Select very dark type on very light backgrounds. This web page is black on white. Make sure the font size is big enough to read easily on a computer screen. What’s OK on a printed page may be too small on your website. This web page is 14pt. type.
A good domain name (also called URL.)
The best domain name for your site is the name of your store. So if your store name is Michigan Memories you’d want your domain name to be www.michiganmemories.com.
If your store name is already taken, try adding your city or your industry to your name. So if your store name is Mayflower (already taken by the giant moving company) try www.mayflower-evansville.com. Or www.mayflowergifts.com.
There you have it, a simple domain, 3 pages with just a little bit of readable text, a few pictures, and your logo.
You can do it.
Of course, there are lots of other wonderful things you could and should add to your site.
We have a whole kit about it in the Retail Mastery System.
