As a marketer I naturally dismiss the concept of something “selling itself”. I have seen ads that claim this car, or this furniture sells itself, which is ironic since I saw that on an advertisement. I personally don’t believe anything sells itself. Even if you sell the best widgets that do amazing things and costs practically nothing, you’re going to have to tell people why they need it. I remind all of my ecommerce clients that NOTHING sells itself.

I remember when I hired a professional designer to re-design my outdoor furniture website. I was so excited because this was the first time that I was the client, and I was getting a professional website! I couldn’t wait to see how the new site performed. I was confident that with a fresh new look and sleek design, I was going to be rich!

Well, needless to say the site did not do as well as expected. I had developed a nice relationship with the designer so I called her about once a week and asked her what she thought I should do. Every week she told me the same darn thing, and it took a while for it to sink in. So, even though I learned this lesson years ago, I thought perhaps a few small merchants out there my benefit from the experience.

So what did she say?

Sell you products! Write in-depth, compelling copy about your products. List features, but more importantly, list benefits. Appeal to your visitor’s emotional need for the product. I had made the false assumption that my products sold themselves because I had a shiny new website with nice pictures.

Remember, nothing sells itself.

This character is currently being used by Northcedar.com, an ecommerce site that sells outdoor furniture. In speaking with the owner I got the whole story about how he came to be, and increase business for this small company.

“We were looking to re-brand the site and add some life to it, literally. I contacted a graphic designer from craigslist.com and got a great deal on his services, I think I paid about $120. He drew the character above, and I knew it was the perfect brand image for my prospective customers. I added the character to the header of the website and immediately noticed results! Sales averages seemed to increase on a weekly basis. I really can’t explain why”.

I have spoken to several of my clients about adding some “life” to their ecommerce sites. I can’t guarantee the same results, but I know people tend to respond to characters. You have to admit this guy looks, honest, trustworthy, and like an all-arouind swell dude. Why wouldn’t you buy from him?

I would encourage you to take a look at your website and see if your branding would allow for some “life”. A character just may be what you need.

As a marketer I do NOT mean to undermine the importance of good copy on your site. It’s true, good copy can sell, but so can images. Pictures spark an emotional response in people, and since most purchases are emotional, this is a good thing! If you look at all of the major retailers online you will find good, clean, professional photography.

I have worked with several clients who had a tough time with pictures for their site. In some cases the vendor that sold them their products did not have good images in the first place, and since most of my client’s businesses use drop shippers as their primary supplier, this was a big problem. I encouraged many of them to talk with their suppliers and try to get them to take better pictures. Also, some were able to purchase the products as demo models, and take their own quality images.

One of my clients was selling real estate in Costa Rica. He had spent two weeks on the construction site of this new development project and had shot hundreds of pictures. When he sent me the disks of images I was surprised to find very little I could use. I was in a jam because the client wasn’t going back to Costa Rica for months, and the site needed to be done! Furthermore, he was going to be unwilling to spend hundreds of dollars on stock photography when he had just sent me hundreds of pictures he took (that he thought were good). The solution: I turned to IStockPhoto, which provides tons of stock photography for $1 each! It turned out this was the perfect solution. I found tons of images of Costa Rica, and was able to make the site look much nicer. Above is one of the images from the site.