I recently talked with a friend (we used to work together here at Tachyon) who now works with what I would call a “traditional design firm.” Although not a designer here, he was deeply involved in and a strong advocate of our user-centered process.

During our conversation he mentioned to me that his current employer really needed to do more in terms of “usability stuff.” I was totally shocked that this firm, with a strong client list and national reputation, would not rely on user-centric strategies as an essential component of their methodology.

We insist on making usability a routine part of our process, making our clients happy by giving them a site they can be proud of. I often have to explain to new clients that a good website is more than just “pretty.” Good, usable websites provide a rich user experience and (most importantly) allow customers to get what they want, when they want it.

I asked my friend why his employer didn’t focus on user-centered design. He told me that their clients simply don’t want to pay for testing or research. It’s an interesting problem, but I also think it’s completely solvable. The key is giving the client proof that investing a little extra money for user testing will ensure solid ROI.

We all know you get what you pay for. So if you cut corners to save money now, you’ll likely end up having more work to do later, which means you will also be spending more money later. We won’t do a project without including research in our development process.

We help our clients realize the importance of practicing usability strategies early in the project and testing throughout development as a way to avoid much larger costs down the road to fix a problem on a finished project. Then our clients understand the long-term value we provide by looking at the entire lifespan and budget of a project.

We weren’t always this enlightened, though. When we committed to usability practices as an integral part of our core process we had to face our fears. Of course we worried that we couldn’t convince some of our clients to stick around when it may feel like our fees were increasing. We have been growing ever since we explained our rationale and adopted a process that develops a superior product. Our clients are staying with us and we’re helping them grow too. If you ask them if user testing and research is worth it, they might cite more site traffic, better SEO results, and increased product purchases when they say, “YES!”

Read more about our Success Stories.

Eenie-meenie-minie-mo isn’t going to cut it when it comes to selecting an ecommerce platform for your business. Life and business are about balancing trade-offs—the same is true for choosing your ecommerce platform. Every platform has pros and cons, and typically many of each, making the decision that much more difficult and time consuming.

Lucky for you, we’ve been around the block a few times when it comes to selecting a platform and we’ve put together a few of the most important things to consider.

1. Make sure it can grow with you.
   Scalability is very important. No one can predict the future, but you still know that change happens and you need to plan for it. It is likely that as your business grows so will your ecommerce needs—handling more traffic, conducting more transactions, and adding more products are something every company wants to do. Save money now by implementing a platform that has the capability to expand with you, rather than being forced to start over from scratch. 

2. Make sure it’s user friendly (or that you can manipulate the design to make it user friendly).
   Usability is the key to success on any website, and there’s no exception here. We all hate that feeling of being lost or like we just can’t find the page we’re looking for on a website. In technical terms it’s called self-efficacy. As humans, we tend to blame ourselves for not being savvy enough to find the info we’re looking for, but in reality it’s not our problem, it’s a design problem.
   
   You’ll kill two birds with one stone if you ensure that it’s user friendly for you, too! Is it easy to update and change content, photos, etc? No one has time to struggle with a complex system to correct a typo or to call tech support and sit on hold all day. Select a platform that will allow you to change content as frequently as you want to. 

3. Make sure it supports active merchandising campaigns.
   Customers are more savvy than ever. If you expect to sell to them, you’ll need to be able to figure out who they are, how they buy, and present products they are likely to buy and in the way they want to see them. Make sure your ecommerce platform is sophisticated enough to allow you to merchandise.
   
   
4. Make sure you can track your progress.
   If you just built an expensive (but worth the money!) ecommerce site and put it out into the world, you’ll clearly want to keep track of how effective it is. Choose a platform that can help you monitor the metrics that matter most to you, giving you strong feedback on how users are using your site and what you should think about improving.

Like I said, though, there are many things to consider and it’s ultimately up to you to decide which things you’re will to trade-off for. Your best bet is to get some assistance from an expert. Comment on this post or give us a call if you need help getting started.

A few other posts to read on selecting a platform: Spark Plugging and Digital Web Magazine.

By Marion Lewis

If you haven’t read “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell—or even if you have—you should put it at the top of your summer reading list. Yes, it’s ten years old, but the content is still relevant.

In a culture that’s hyper in tune with anything that has to do with change (thanks to the last Presidential campaign), Gladwell’s words explain the things happening around us. Think of life as an epidemic—a few people get something and spread it on to the rest of us. Now think about some of the major “epidemics.” There’s the literacy epidemic, sparked by Sesame Street and carried on with Blue’s Clues; there’s the smoking epidemic, sparked by the intrinsic “stickiness” of cigarettes and the rebellious attitude that comes along with it; and perhaps some newer epidemics include facebook/the social media revolution and Apple.

Gladwell describes three types of “special” people in the world. There are connectors, like Paul Revere, who have a unique gift of being able to bring people together pure and simply because they are that person who knows everyone. Then there are mavens, or someone like your technology obsessed brother-in-law. Mavens crave information and want the best-of-the-best, but they also want most of all to share their knowledge and help someone else. Finally, there are salesmen. This tiny group of people has the ability to convince you of something that you may not even believe; they are true people people who can read anyone like a book. Any of these types of people have the ability to start a word-of-mouth epidemic, especially when these three are working together.

The book is subtitled “How Little Things Make a Big Difference” and Gladwell means exactly that. You might remember the story of a toy company with a fuzzy red doll that laughed when you touched its belly. Tickle Me Elmo was shown on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” a few months before Christmas and within days the shelves were empty and consumers were begging for more. The small act of sending this toy out to get free publicity—from a connector/maven hybrid—made Tyco-Preschool tip as the maker of the must-have Christmas toy.

The trick to making a product tip, or reaching the “critical mass,” is to find those connectors, mavens, and salesmen and observe them. What do they do? What are they interested in? Use them to help build the future must-have anything. It’s nearly visionary the way that some people can see the trend coming long before it reaches mainstream culture.

A new way of thinking about life, business, and your product is only 280 pages away!

Also read Gladwell’s thoughts at http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html.

Our President, Jeanette Thomas, was asked to be a panelist at E-magnify’s “Recession to Renaissance” symposium. E-magnify is a federally funded organization based at Seton Hill University that promotes and supports women entrepreneurs. Six women from the greater Pittsburgh area participated on the panel and shared what it’s like to be a business owner and how they are coping with the current economic situation. I asked Jeanette about her experience on the panel:

What do you hope that other women and business owners learned from the panel?

I hope they learned that they are not alone. Often you may feel that you are the only person dealing with business problems, but you really aren’t. It’s so incredibly important to have a great support system—people you can bounce ideas off of and talk through problems. There is a very large and very strong group of women entrepreneurs in the Greater Pittsburgh area. I also hope the attendees learned that part of being a successful entrepreneur is having the persistence to overcome mistakes and the perserverance to reach success.

What did you learn from the other panelists/experience?

I found out that there are many more great women entrepreneurs around the region than I thought. It was also very interesting to hear how much social networking is changing everyone’s business—not just ours! Customers and fans love feeling like they are involved with the company—knowing that their comments are heard and their stories are shared.

What’s the best part of being a business owner?

There are so many! I get to have a vision and work toward my goals and see it become fulfilled. It is personally satisfying to have other people in the company look toward me for advice and guidance.

The hardest?

Truthfully, it’s making the tough decisions. Especially in a tough economy, we have no choice but to cut costs to survive. This often hurts relationships that I’ve worked hard to build and it’s difficult to know that my decisions often affect other people.

What’s your best advice for companies struggling with the current economic situation?

Do only what you do best. Focus on where you excel and eliminate things that are not your strongest. Just take it one day at a time and keep working hard.

You can watch the full video and learn more about E-magnify on their website. Also check out the Women Presidents’ Organization, it’s a great group that provides support and networking for women business owners.

Read more about women who have a lot of power in the business world: FORTUNE’s 2009 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

I’m Marion Lewis, CEO of Tachyon Solutions, based in Wexford, PA, just outside of Pittsburgh. We’re experts in web design, ecommerce and online marketing —anything from usability testing to SEO and SEM to mobile strategies. Visit our portfolio to see what we do.

Twice a week you can expect to find interesting news and trends in ecommerce, online marketing, interactive design, and anything else that affects the way you do business online. Jeanette Thomas, President; our designers; and other experts at Tachyon will post here as well.

We’re starting t-blog because we realized that we have been talking the talk, but not walking the walk. We assist many of our clients in planning and adopting a social media strategy, but we weren’t executing ours very well! Sure, we have facebook and Twitter accounts, but we haven’t been actively leveraging them.

t-blog is part of a brand new social media strategy designed to enhance how we communicate and showcase the impact that social media can make on other metrics.

Our integrated approach features three platforms:

1. t-blog, an info-blog featuring industry news,

2. facebook, social networking focused on sharing news and other interesting items, and

3. Twitter, strengthening the relationship between our followers (and across all platforms) by posting daily.

I hope you enjoy t-blog and that you learn something from it. Please leave comments or questions, as well as suggestions for topics that you’d like to learn more about. Feel free to share t-blog with anyone who might be interested.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and friend us on facebook!

Need something to tide you over until the next blog? Check out this blog article “Debunking Six Social Media Myths.”