The Shapeways Blog: 3D Printing News & Innovation
Shapeways Blog
Monday, March 5. 2012
Time to Take a Look at Your Shapeways Shop
The galleries on Shapeways are being populated with some truly amazing products, bringing in thousands of potential customers every day who are looking for unique designs just like yours. We are working really hard to make sure when people buy your products, they get the best possible quality 3D prints with amazing customer service, but we need your help!
Potential customers should be greeted with beautiful images and clear descriptions to ensure visitors to Shapeways become your customers.
Thinking like a marketer
Take a look at your shop and product pages from an outside perspective, and what do you see? Is your shop filled with well photographed products with relevant descriptions? Do you have a logo and banner in the correct aspect ratio along with a description of who you are?
Here’s a quick checklist to help you critique your shop .
- Have you filled out a Description so people can search and understand what your shop is about?
- The Extended Description gives you the opportunity to enter a little more detail about you and your shop. You can also use this to share your Twitter and Facebook accounts so they have the chance to stay up to date with your latest designs.
- Do you have a Shop Banner at 880 x 125 px, and does it relate to your 'brand'?
- Do you have a Shop Avatar at 640 x 476 px, as this helps people find you in the Shops Gallery?
- Does your shop have enough content to need Sections to make it easier for people to navigate your shop?
- Have you selected a Shop Category to help people to find your shop?
- Do you have Google Analytics enabled so you can track your success?
Products that tell stories
You have designed an amazing product and have your 3D prints in your hand. Now it’s time to take a quick look at your product pages to ensure they represent your designs in the best possible light. The three most important elements are: photographs, descriptions and photographs.
Here’s a checklist to make sure your product page does your design justice:
- Photograph your designs. This is one of the single most important elements to grab people’s attention. You need three clear, well-lit photographs to capture your design. If it is not properly documented, it does not exist. Having great photos increases the chances of being featured on the Shapeways blog, home page and emails, which can dramatically increase traffic and sales.
- Make the title work for you. Search engines use around the first 60 characters to help people find what they are looking for, so make sure your title describes your product so they can be found in a search query.
- Describe your product. Your description gives you the opportunity to tell the product story, give it context and look at your product from an outsider’s perspective. Does the description tell you everything you need to know about the product?
- Materials. Have you limited the material selection to those that are relevant to your product? If you are designing jewelry, it may be worth limiting the materials to precious metals and stainless steel, where Minecraft avatars should be limited to a suitable material likefull color only. This makes it easier for the buyer to choose the right material and reduces confusion and disappointment.
- Keywords. Have you selected relevant keywords to help people find your product? Choosing three categories will help people browsing the Shapeways galleries find your products and bring them into your Shapeways Shop.
Comments
We will soon be addressing the rating system for products along with tags and favorites.
Cheers
- some simple formatting means (or WIKI style syntax) in the description window
- allow mass changes for description areas.
(I've stopped doing this since the current interface allows no fast and easy editing of this area)
