We’d like to take a moment to talk about client-related blog post headline puns. We love ‘em. Can’t get enough of ‘em. Bullet Works, however, presented a bit of a problem:
Bullet Works Shoots Volusion, But Not in a Bad Way
Volusion Succumbs to Hail of Fire from Bullet Works
Bullet Works Hits Volusion Right Between the Eyes
… see what we mean?
Regardless, we just built a new store for The Bullet Works. Check it out…
Ever eager to stay up on all of the latest Interweb news and techniques, we dispatched a pair of Brand Labs representatives to San Francisco last week for the 2010 Search Engine Strategies conference.
These were not just any ol’ Brand Labs flunkies sent to soak up a free week of Rice-A-Roni and hemp t-shirts, but our Vice President, Dane Downer and Online Marketing Specialist, Jackie McClelland, on a mission to expand their already formidable knowledge of all things having to do with SEO. They’re shown here attending one of the many seminars and symposia that severely cut into their sightseeing while simultaneously confirming that we totally know what we’re doing.
If you’ve followed Brand Labs at all, it’s likely that you know that we’re Volusion merchants ourselves… and in case you didn’t know, our largest Volusion store is the official Red Hat Society Store. It’s the one that launched our business (back before it was officially associated with The Society) and it’s very near and dear to us. With all of that in mind, we’re doubly proud to announce that The Red Hat Society Store has just received a major facelift!
In order to be more accommodating to our audience, many of whom are advanced in years (but still fabulous) we’ve increased the site’s overall usability. With simpler (and larger) navigation and more prominent contact information (among other improvements), we’ve tweaked everything to ensure that our clients have the best possible user experience.
So, congratulations to us from us! Good job, us! Gosh, thanks, us. We couldn’t have done it without us.
Every shopping cart has default checkout process graphics (the “cart – checkout – receipt” icons at the top of the page during the checkout process) and there are literally bazillions of free icons available all over the interwebs for those who want to customize the process a little. However, there is a certain type of compulsive design nerd for whom that simply isn’t enough. For those poor souls, every element of every site must be designed from scratch. That compulsive attention to detail is exactly what we look for in a designer and our clients get to reap the benefits.
Take, for instance, the graphic you see above. Created for Flanigan Farms (purveyors of fruit and nuts), it isn’t anything you could ever hope to find on a stock icon site. Its non-literal interpretation of the order process is a lovely bit of storytelling and it’s exactly the kind of thing that makes a custom site so compelling.
While on the one hand, this post is most certainly an endorsement of (and advertisement for) our creative services, it’s also intended to point out that in the competitive eCommerce marketplace, you have to exploit every opportunity you have to reinforce your brand. In the end, when placed head to head with your competition, your brand is your strongest weapon. If people connect with you, they’re likelier to buy from you. Don’t squander any opportunity to distinguish yourself from the other guys.
Our founders spent some time at the recent Internet Retailers Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, and a good portion of that time was spent in the company of our bestest friends at Volusion. Here you’ll see Volusion’s video recap of the event and starting at about 1:22 you can see Dane and Kevin (from left to right) talking about the future of eCommerce. Their answer is pretty lengthy just because it would be rude to say, “The future of eCommerce is Brand Labs,” before throwing some gang signs and walking off camera (which was the original plan).
Do you have brick and mortar stores in addition to your Volusion store? Are you a manufacturer (with a Volusion site) who’d like to tell your customers where to find your products in the real world? Do you have no practical use for an interactive map, but you really, really want one anyway? Well guess what, buttercup… we’re prepared to hook you up!
We’ve been doing store locators for clients for some time, but every once in a while we feel compelled to remind you of the many, many ways we can alter your Volusion store to suit your particular needs. In this latest case, BulletProofDiesel.com came to us with an existing Volusion store, but no good way to tell their online clients where they could have their products installed locally. That’s where our Volusion store locator implementation came in. Now, anyone browsing their online store will be easily able to pinpoint a local vendor, helping to seal the conversion and creating a brand new satisfied customer. It’s just that easy.
Contact us if you’re interested in a store locator for your Volusion site! We’ll be happy to help.
Creating a logo for an eCommerce website is a very specific challenge for a number of reasons. To begin with, you’ll often be working with a client with little (or no) experience with designers, or even with the concept of design. That can lead to some pretty literal design work, but it can also free you from the constraints of traditional logo design in the sense that you don’t necessarily have to consider how the logo will look in one color, a half-inch across, printed on the barrel of a pen. It isn’t better or worse than “traditional” logo design… just different. When you know that the primary (and often singular) use of your logo design will be in the header of an eCommerce site, your priorities shift. It’s a different world.
That’s not to say that some good old traditional logo design skills aren’t called for. Take the logo at the top of the post, for instance. It would be right at home on the barrel of a pen (or on a t-shirt or billboard) but it also has all of the elements you expect in an eCommerce logo. First, it’s horizontal. That’s not a requirement, of course, but since vertical space is much more valuable than horizontal in web design, you’ll find that the lion’s share of eCommerce logos are wider than they are tall. (There are always exceptions…) Second, it’s a quick read, both literally and figuratively. Not only can you read the copy, but the color palette and the stylized blades of grass give you a pretty good idea of what you’ll find on the site. Finally, it’s not challenging. In a lot of “best of” logo lists, you’ll find that the ability to hide the intent of the logo so that the viewer has to figure it out is a highly prized characteristic. If one has to look at a logo for a minute to “get it” designers go crazy patting each other on the back for their mutual cleverness. We love that stuff, too, but much of it simply isn’t practical for eCommerce. (There are always exceptions…)
Continue reading and see the rest of the logos after the jump…
Today, we offer to you our first ever Brand Labs-created True Type font! And it’s totally FREE! Inspired by vintage theater marquees with their faceted, plastic letters, Wednesday Matinee Shadow is an all-caps display font that’s sure to drum up some nostalgia for bygone days spent in the cool dark of the mid-summer weekday matinee. Download it by hitting the link below and use it at will. Personal use, commercial use… whatever you like! It’s just one more way for us to say we love you and we’d like to take our relationship to the next level.
Last week, our founders (and senior corporate officers) Kevin Harman and Dane Downer, attended the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. In addition to representin’ for Brand Labs, they had the opportunity to meet with our friends at Volusion, including founder and president, Kevin Sproles (seen here chatting with Kevin and Dane).
Attendance for the conference was up significantly over last year and the prevailing tone was overwhelmingly optimistic, as eCommerce continues to assert its critical position in the world of consumer retail operations as a whole. The obvious buzzword (or buzzphrase, if you will) was mobile commerce, and as the first developers of a mobile Volusion platform, we weren’t surprised one little bit. Hit the jump to see a few pics of Brand Labs with all the party people…
This blog tends to talk quite a little bit about website design, simply because we like putting up pictures (pictures are pretty) and some of our other services are difficult or impossible to show visually. Well, that’s not going to stop us today…
We recently completed an iShop USA integration for Sorella Jewelry’s Volusion store (shown in the lower right corner of the screenshot). For those who don’t know, iShop USA is a remarkable service that allows any retailer to sell their products worldwide without having to concern themselves with all of the pesky details involved in such a transaction: customs paperwork, international shipping and returns, currency conversion… all part of the integration. It’s like a dream for online retailers, allowing you access to potential customers all over the world, with one little hitch – it doesn’t integrate natively with Volusion. We can fix that.
With our integration, your international clients will have a nearly seamless shopping experience and you won’t have to learn a thing about exporting, currency exchange or international shipping. With one move you can expand your potential client base from 300 million to 6 and a half billion. That’s billion with a “b“. So, if you’re interested in having about a gazillion more customers, it’s something to consider and we can help.
Also, it pays to remember that we can do pretty much anything you’d like to do with your Volusion store. Just ask…
We’d like to take a moment to talk about client-related blog post headline puns. We love ‘em. Can’t get enough of ‘em. Bullet Works, however, presented a bit of a problem:
Ever eager to stay up on all of the latest Interweb news and techniques, we dispatched a pair of Brand Labs representatives to San Francisco last week for the 
