Is your website helping you to grow your brand?

I often want to check out new designers for fashion website for women over 40. The problem is, many of them are making it VERY hard for me to do so. Their websites are made to look edgy and modern, but in the process they have forgotten about usability, speed and search engines and the people who use those websites. One example is Dressedundressed, but there are many more websites like this.

What is the problem?

It often starts with the home page. It sometimes takes ages for the homepage to even show up. If I wasn’t so determined to learn about the designer I would have left the page many seconds ago. Google will have given up too and will not index the page either. Many of these pages still have flash pages and since Google can’t read those, your site will be difficult to find for any keyword apart from your brand name. Not to mention that many sites are now accessed through Ipads and smart phones which will not be able to see the content either.

If I get passed the homepage, I am often presented with unclear navigation. Sometimes I have to look for it and sometimes, as in this example, I have to click on the navigation, just to get another menu. Now, I am a very experienced computer user and I would have expected a roll out menu or something similar. I have now already clicked 2 times and have seen no images, no information on the designer and I’m only presented with another submenu.

When I click on the menu item I want to see (Spring Collection) a new window opens and nothing much happens. It’s another very heavy Flash page that needs to load.

Once I have had the patience to wait for that I’m only presented with a series of moving pictures that keeps repeating itself. Meanwhile I still don’t know anything about the designer or the clothes. I have to look for the navigation again, which this time is only a small button called menu. But alas, no about button, so I still can’t learn anything about the designer. At this stage I give up and leave the page.

Are you interested in getting new customers?

So I’m left wondering: is this designer interested in getting new buyers and new customers? I must say I don’t feel very welcome at all on this website. The graphics are certainly not beautiful enough to make any kind of impression. The photos of the collection itself are unclear. There is no information about the designer, the motivation behind the collection and no blog.

If you are interested in getting new buyers for your label, then make sure you do the following!

Here are just a few tips on getting a website that will help you grow your brand.

1. Get a website that is easily searchable and will get indexed by Google
2. Pay attention on navigation and usability
3. Make sure your website is easy to update so you will keep it current
4. Make your frontpage engaging and list your key information
5. You can still include beautiful images and graphics using html 5 and other user friendly methods
6. Add an online shop if you like to make it easy for customers to buy your products directly
7. Add a blog so you have constantly refreshed content and give potential buyers a behind the scenes look
8. Include social media engagement buttons

These are just a few of the things you can do to use the internet to your advantage. Using free software like WordPress will make it very affordable too. You may just find that it will generate a whole lot more interest in your brand!