E-commerce vs brochure website... BIG dilemma!! HELP!!

[sassyphi]

Ok... so I said I could design an e-commerce website when in reality I’ve only designed online corporate brochure... call it an ego thing!!

My dilemma is that I don’t know how to APPROACH the site architecture of a sales website. I am not worried about the technical backend stuff as another company handles that.

Do you have all maximum information on your homepage so that the user does not have to go far when looking for his information? (which means clutter and limited images for design)

OR

Do you hit them with a POW WOW design on your homepage as it is your store front, and then guide them to the sale? And how do you do that? (which means slow loading images and less search engine results)

What school of thought do you follow? Am I totally on the wrong path? Where can I found good reliable resources about this?

You can check out what we’ve done so far (which is wrong) www.coolect.com however we are working on another prototype which is featuresPrototype

 

[Rajo]

why can't we do both?
( GOOD DESIGN & CONTENT) :?
i think for a client the design is important if it's not about money
but
if it's an ecommerce site it's about how fast (number of clicks) the client get 2 the thing want 2 buy and how many information available 4 it :sold:
A fair design and good content make good ecommerce site
but a great design with fair content doesn't
thank you

 

[sassyphi]

Good point. I was given a very helpful link on that

http://www.welie.com/patterns/showPattern.php?patternID=commerce

It's a bit harder for us because we only have ONE product. So we have to make sure the site is not empty but also not cluttered with junk.

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks!!

 

[Frozendice]

User Interface is the most important thing on a ecomerce site. You want to have it where navigation is intuitive. This doesn't mean you can't make it look fancy but jsut make sure ANYONE could navigate the site. Then after you have the idea in mind grab a shoping cart script or a Content managment system with a shoping cart module, change the design part of it. And put some ssl on it.

 

[sassyphi]

I think THAT is what I am struggling with. What is the best way to layout the website.

Top nav vs Side nav? Remember, I only have ONE product! But more importantly, how do you layout the HOMEPAGE! Fancy with little navigation? or put it all out there with a chance that the user may get overwhelmed with info? Hum...

As for the backend, I'm not worried. We are attaching ourselves to another company that handles all that stuff (e-sellerate).

Thanks for the tip. Good food for thought

 

[mantramalhotra]

"if it's an ecommerce site it's about how fast (number of clicks) the client get 2 the thing want 2 buy and how many information available 4 it"

I agree withy Rajo

Design is important but content is King.
Content is necessary for SEO and to get business. On the homepage only, customer shd get a fair amt. of information, but not in a clutter way.


- Mantra
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http://www.freelancegraphicdesignerindia.com