Posts Tagged ‘hair industry ecommerce sites’

Project Spotlight: Some of our Hair Websites

Sunday, August 5th, 2012

Fulfilling the design and marketing needs of our customers has always been our top priority. In addition to offering top quality hair packaging design services to our customers through hairpackaging.com, we also provide e-commerce and website design and development solutions through our sister company, 8 Consulting. Here is just some of our recent web work for four of our hair business customers:

Unique Hair Extensions | www.uniquehairextensions.com

Unique Hair Extensions e-commerce Website for Hair

Unique Hair Extensions e-commerce Website for Hair

In addition to print work (including logos, product packaging, catalogs, business cards and a lot more), we were also hired by Unique Hair Extensions to establish an amazing online presence for them.

For the Unique Hair Extensions website, we created an elaborate flash animation that lets their customers flip through their many hair extensions and wigs products. We also created separate ordering for Unique’s retail, wholesale and distributor clients. Wholesalers and distributors can upload their retail certificates in digital format using the provided upload utility.

On the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) front, we worked closely with Unique to develop an effective marketing strategy. Besides the search-engine sensitive structure of the site and its content, an article manager allows Unique to easily upload additional content and articles to their website. Combined with an affordable monthly advertising plan, we helped Unique significantly boost their search engine visibility across all the major search engines like Google and Yahoo.

Other features include:

  • Fully accessible product catalog that includes 3 pricing levels and can be easily updated.
  • Shipping and payments in real-time with up charge for shipping so Unique makes money on each shipment.
  • Verification for addresses using UPS online tools (shipments are also connected to UPS and allow tracking information to be emailed).
  • Content management system to enable client to edit, add, remove content on site.
  • Streaming video tutorials

Check out the Unique Hair Extensions website to see all of these great features in action!

eHairAnnex | www.ehairannex.com

e hair annex e-commerce website

e hair annex e-commerce website.

eHairAnnex wanted a sleek and glamorous look for their website. Using a beautiful and streamlined silver and purple theme, we built a website that looks as good as it is technically effective. For eHairAnnex, we also developed an affiliate program, a map showing their many different distributors and a rewards program. The rewards program functions similarly to a ‘frequent flyer’ type program and customers can claim benefits for the points they have earned. All these additions make for a tighter and more valuable relationship between eHairAnnex, their customers and their distributors.

The website we developed for eHairAnnex also includes:

  • Wholesale and retail pricing levels
  • Articles manager
  • Content management system to edit/add/remove pages and content/images/products
  • Logo design

Check out all these great features and more on the eHairAnnex website.

Kybele Virgin Hair | www.kybelevirginhair.com

Kybele Virgin Hair e-commerce website for hair extensions and beauty products

Kybele Virgin Hair e-commerce website for hair extensions and beauty products

 

We designed the Kybele Virgin Hair website to have a strong and sexy black and pink look. The black creates connotations of hair and the pink directly targets Kybele’s female customer base. On the development side, we created a sophisticated referral/affiliate program for Kybele that lets their visitors refer friends and earn commissions. It is not only beneficial for the customers but also helps generate strong word of mouth and personal recommendations for Kybele. To increase Kybele’s brand visibility, we developed a WordPress blog that contributes greatly to Search Engine Optimization.

Our work for Kybele also includes:

  • Content management system to edit/add/remove pages and content/images/products
  • Logo, business cards and packaging design and printing

Check out the Kybele website to see what else we cooked up for them!

Tres Belle Hair | www.tresbellehair.com

Tres Belle Website WordPress Hair Site

Tres Belle Website WordPress Hair Site

Tres Belle Hair wanted us to design a website that was simple, modern and open. We responded with a minimalistic yet powerful black navigation bar, gorgeous high resolution images featured prominently in a slider and a strong development core. A simple WordPress content management system and blogging tool lets Tres Belle Hair easily edit and update content and images.

Our services for Tres Belle Hair also include:

  • Logo, business cards and packaging design and printing

Feel free to flip through the Tres Belle Hair website to see our hard work on display.

If you want us to work our magic and dedication on the website for your hair business as well, contact us right now!

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Choosing between a Static and Dynamic Website

Sunday, April 15th, 2012

Now that you’ve decided to make a website for your business, you are ready to take the next big decision: the scope. How thorough or detailed your website is going to be? What features and functionality do you want it to provide? Will it also be an e-commerce solution? Questions like these and many others will need to be answered in the planning stage to ensure that your website is created exactly according to your requirements, functions smoothly and fulfills its purpose.

A major decision in website creation is choosing between a static and dynamic website. These two don’t have to be mutually exclusive- you could have static as well as dynamic sections or pages within the same website. But on the whole, websites can usually be categorized as either ‘static’ or ‘dynamic’. What these words essentially mean for your website is that a static website is one that is developed using just html and is WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get): whatever you develop in html is exactly what will appear to the end user without any functions like individual customization or interactivity.  A dynamic website, on the other hand, is one that is developed with server-side languages (such as PHP, ASP, Coldfusion etc). These scripts draw content from your website’s internal database- or content management system- and display it based on the end user’s actions. This allows for a ‘dynamic’ experience for your visitors who can interact with your website- whether it’s through forms, blog postings, message boards, an online store or personalized user accounts etc. This is a sharp contrast from content on a static website which is just displayed to the user and they can’t ‘play around with it’.

The best option for your website could be either static or dynamic- and even a mixture of both. But what it really depends on is your requirements and constraints. If your website will be used for just providing information (for instance, you just want to have pages that tell a little about yourself, display a bunch of images and provide contact information), a static website is probably the right choice for you. Static websites also usually cost less and provide you with flexibility to change up the design on every page of your website. On the down side, you’ll always need to update the website’s development code to make changes, extensions or updates. And that might require you to call upon your developer, time and time again.

If you want to enable user interaction for your site (especially if you want to have an e-commerce component) and make it a dynamic experience, you may need to pay a bit more for a dynamic website. However, a dynamic website is generally far more engaging and useful for your visitors and you can usually easily make updates and changes yourself by simply using your browser. You could add additional product categories and items without the need to changing existing code or creating more pages. You could post news and updates by just clicking the ‘post’ button. Moreover, your users could personalize your website according to their preferences. The possibilities of a dynamic website are endless.

Both static and dynamic websites serve certain purposes and either could be a complete solution for your needs. Take the time to discuss what will be the right choice for you with your designer.

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Designs for Print vs. the Web

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Many design companies like HairPackaging.com offer design services for the print as well as the web. To most people, a graphic merely represents a graphic whether it’s used on a website or printed out as a poster. But, actually, a lot more goes down behind the scenes before a graphic can be optimally used for either medium. Here are some key differences between designs for print and those for the web:

  1. 1. RESOLUTION

While digital printing is now reducing the problems caused by resolution, it has long been one of the key differences between designs created for the two mediums. Virtually all web graphics are created at 72 ppi (pixels per inch) – which is sufficient for optimal display across most varieties of browsers, operating systems and computers. However, the printing process require graphics to have a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) which basically means that the graphic has to be several times larger in its digital form than it is when it’s finally printed.

  1. 2. FONTS AND TYPOGRAPHY

With print designs, you can go crazy with your typeface. You can use whatever font you want to and it’s completely possible for your printed result to look exactly the way you designed it on your computer. However, font choices are much more limited for website designs. Because text appearance is handled by the browser at the user’s end, you need to use a font in your website design that your user’s browser can display. This restricts your font selection to a small list of standard choices that deprive you of the creative choices you get with print design. If you absolutely must display YOUR creative font on the web, the text will need to be exported as a graphic or produced through a paid service like Typekit.

  1. 3. OVERALL APPEARANCE AND SIZE

Similar to the fonts dilemma, designs for the web are highly dependent on the conditions at the end user’s end. Depending on the user’s browser, operating system, screen resolution and computer etc, you web design might end up looking nothing like you want it to. Your best bet is to test your web designs across as many popular platforms and settings as possible and hope it doesn’t get ‘lost in translation’. With print design, you can take WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) pretty much for granted. However, you have to keep certain things in mind. The kind of paper your design will be printed on, the limited range of user-friendly sizes it can utilize and the color palette it has access to are all important considerations for print design.

To ensure your designs, whether they are for print for the web, are fully optimized and effective, you should hire the services of a professional design company like HairPackaging.com.

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How to sell your hair products online

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Thinking about taking your hair business to the ‘world wide web’? Done the right way, this decision will help you grow your business immensely by introducing it to a wider audience. However, there are several things you need to consider before you take this important step. Here are a few useful tips to help your move to the Internet as smooth and profitable as possible!

  1. 1. YOUR WEBSITE AND ONLINE STORE

The first step for most hair product companies is to develop your own website. Your website is like another office for your business except it’s located in cyber space. In creating your website, you need to come up with web design and content that complements your hair product in the best possible way. A well-designed site that provides all necessary information about your product and your company is the bare minimum these days. And because your website will also be used to sell the hair products online- and not just promote them- you will need a reliable and effective e-commerce solution. Your online store will need to have a secure payment system and be properly structured and maintained to ensure efficiency and safety. You might also want to run a blog on your website to post related articles and updates.

  1. 2. SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

These days, your hair business needs to have presence on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to be able to reach out to maximum customers and remain competitive. In fact, most start-ups do away with the necessity of having their own website altogether by having prominent presence on social media websites. Your company’s Facebook and Twitter pages will help you in easily promoting your hair product (by giving out all necessary information and updates), generating interest, gathering ‘followers’ and affiliates, and receiving feedback. Clearly you don’t want to miss out on such a huge chunk of your customers when they spend so much of their time ‘tweeting’!

  1. 3. SEO AND OTHER PROMOTIONS

It is not enough to just create your website and Facebook page and start waiting for the customers to come in. You must now promote your product online. You can do so by employing SEO techniques (email/article marketing etc) as well as by being an active participant in your industry’s latest happenings. Stay connected with other players in the hair industry, keep with the latest news pertaining to your product category (such as ‘hair shows’) and be on the alert for the latest internet opportunities you can exploit to your benefit. You can also promote your hair product in popular message boards (especially the ones that are about hair and beauty products), product and business directories and sponsor ads on websites and search engines frequented by your target customers.

The Internet is a great platform to sell your hair products on. With the right amount of work, your hair business will soon have a successful e-presence!

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What SEO can do for your Hair Product Site(s)

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

You’ve probably heard a lot about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) from internet marketing beginners as well as successful professionals. But while every one likes to name drop this acronym, you’re probably still not sure as to exactly what it is or how it can help your hair product business.

To understand SEO on a basic level, imagine a scenario where you’ve got a great hair product- whether its wigs, headbands or extensions etc- that people would be willing to pay for but you’re unable to sell it. Why? Because of the simple fact that no one’s aware of your product. You could make a great website for your hair product and if it does not get ‘traffic’ (internet marketing lingo for visitors), your hair product, regardless of how good it is, will fail to bring in the sales.

SEO helps you avoid the aforementioned fate by making your hair product website more visible to search engines and, consequently, to your target customers. SEO experts do this by creating and tailoring the written and technical content on your site in a way that best relates to your targeted keywords. This could include a range of services that include everything from keyword optimization to article and email marketing. The objective is to make your website a top result for your product category. So, for instance, if what you are selling is wigs and extensions, the  ‘search engine optimization’ process will be one that makes sure your website pops up in Google results when users search for ‘wigs’, ‘extensions’ and ‘hair products’ etc.

A common misconception about SEO is that it’s just ‘keyword stuffing’- which is actually a bad SEO practice that merely entails saturating your website’s content with as many of your targeted keywords, and as many times, as possible. In fact, such practices are now more detrimental than they are beneficial as search engines these days are smart enough to distinguish actual quality content from stuffed rubbish. And if your website uses bad SEO practices, it might get blacklisted by search engines and user directories even if the hair product you’re selling is actually high quality.

Good SEO practices are more about creating and presenting content that is relevant, interesting, useful and persuasive to your targeted customers. With the right SEO techniques, your website will go up in search engine rankings, develop its own following through the ‘domino’ effect and generate good word of mouth- all the while raising sales and creating new customers.

In summation, SEO can do wonders for your website and your product’s profitability. Just make sure you go about it in the right and effective way. As always, when in doubt, hire a professional!

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How we became web designing experts for the hair industry

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Recently, we had the opportunity to work on several hair-product websites. Our clients sell a vast range of hair products- everything from wigs, weaves, synthetic extensions and human hair to shampoos, relaxers and other beauty products. Correctly identifying the importance of a web presence and the benefits of e-commerce, our clients wanted us to create high quality websites for them that could not only help them attract more customers but also enable them for effectively and efficiently selling their products online. To that end, we started working on perfectly customized websites for each one of clients. Here are some interesting details on three of our biggest success stories:

WWW.HAIRWEAVON.COM

HairWeavon proclaims itself as a provider of quality hair extensions for black women. As our client, they wanted us to build a website that could complement this claim through a compelling design, prominent placement of their products and strengths and a customer-centric focus. To accomplish that objective, we included a blog on the website. Now the HairWeavon staff is easily able to post updates about new hair products, offerings and other information with a few simple clicks. We also included a nifty currency and language converter for the HairWeavon store to assist international customers. Thanks to such features, customers are not only instantly notified of the newest HairWeavon products but are able to browse through the products with the convenience of their own language and currency. The result? Sales at HairWeavon have reached a new high!

WWW.UNIQUEHAIREXTENSIONS.COM

For Unique Hair Extensions, we truly went beyond basic web design. Like with HairWeavon, we created an online store for Unique Hair Extensions but, keeping in mind our particular client’s customer base, we also included options for wholesale/distributor and retail sales.  Our client at Unique Hair Extensions also appreciated the built-in article manager we incorporated in to the website. And to top it off, we created an impressive flash animation, featuring Unique Hair Extensions’ top products, and displayed it prominently on the website.  It was a lot of hard work but it was totally worth it when we experienced the final result and secured ourselves yet another satisfied client.

WWW.KOBOHAIREXTENSIONS.COM

Our web design for Kobo Hair Extensions features an elegant understated look and a streamlined structure. The content on the Kobo website is neatly organized in several visible categories and visitors can easily click through to the section that interests them the most.  Since Kobo Hair Extensions deals in a variety of hair products, we wanted to make sure we covered all of its offerings and created a website that could truly be the one stop shop for customers of hair products.

Be sure to visit our clients’ websites discussed above and let us know what you think. And if you want us to design your own hair product site, feel free to contact us at any time.

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