Manufacturing Website

Web 5S - Foundation for Lean Web

11/06/2009 by Jack Burnett

TwinEngines' Web 5S - our methodology for organizing, cleaning, developing and sustaining a productive web presence; one that works hard for you 24/7 365 days of the year.  Web 5S speaks to the website design, information architecture, content and calls to action in your web presence; both your website and web portal.

• Sort: First step of removing the clutter inhibiting visitors from finding your website and from taking the next step that you desire
• Set In Order: Organize and arrange information so people easily find it; implement analytics for the web Kaizen loop
• Shine: Create a professional, trustworthy appearance that includes a crisp, clean presentation of your company with a focus on the little, simple things that make a big difference
• Standardize: Establish a consistency of information architecture including icons and colors
• Sustain: Empower employees to update content and establish commitment to fresh, relevant and unique information

We recognize that there is no 'one way' to Lean Web, and your business is different from any other.  TwinEngines helps you identify the low hanging fruit, and the proper techniques and methods that are the right fit and best value for your company.

TwinEngines offers a free website consulting service tailored to removing clutter in your website design, finding efficiencies, and creating a roadmap for continual improvement.  Call us today for your free Website Value Stream Mapping consultation.

Top 5 Things to Make your Website Lean

10/22/2009 by Jack Burnett

Web Value Stream Management

TwinEngines specializes in helping manufacturers and businesses with manufacturing value chains operate more efficiently and increase profits.  When it comes to a company's web presence for marketing and selling online, we extend lean principles and value stream management to 5 key areas in manufacturing websites.

1. Website Value Proposition - Visitor Conversion

• Purchase managers, engineers and your prospects easily find your website
• Your website makes a good first impression conveying a professional, trustworthy company
• Visitors to your website take the action that you want them to take

2. Content Management System

• Eliminate waste inherent when your web/hosting supplier has to update your content
• Respond quickly to the marketplace and competition
• Simplify website management duties

3. CRM Integration

• Streamline your sales, service and support operations by connecting your website to CRM systems such as SalesLogix, Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics
• Consolidate website leads and get them to your sales team efficiently
• Measure customer conversions and campaigns for continual improvement

4. Product Catalog

• Seamlessly integrate your product catalog and generate leads for your internal sales team
• Make it is easy for buyers and engineers to find what they need and contact you
• Consolidate CAD drawings, how-to videos and specification sheets

5. eCommerce Integration

• Centralize order processing by integrating your secure shopping cart to your financial and ERP systems such as MAS, Visual, QuickBooks and Microsoft Navision and GP
• Provide shipping costs and real-time inventory when customers place orders, simplifying fulfillment and warehouse management tasks
• Manage product/sku information in one place eliminating duplicate data entry

Whether your website targets dealers, distributors and wholesalers or your website allows consumers to purchase your products, TwinEngines can help to simplify, consolidate and eliminate waste for an effective web presence.  Your website should work smoothly for your customers, and it should work efficiently for you, too.

TwinEngines offers a free website consulting service tailored to finding efficiencies, identifying solutions and creating a roadmap for continual improvement. 

Call us today for your free Website Value Stream Mapping consultation.

Manufacturing eCommerce Website Top Ten Tips

8/06/2009 by Jack Burnett

I help manufacturers extend their sales to the web, and I help companies participating in the manufacturing value chain to establish eCommerce with consumers (B2C) and with other businesses (B2B).  One of the most important keys to success for a manufacturing eCommerce website is the technology platform that has the the functionality, flexibility and scalability to grow with your business. B2B and B2C eCommerce websites require the latest technology features for companies to provide a positive shopping experience that leads visitors from a web search to a purchase.  One that also gives you the tools to fulfill orders and collect payments easily.

TwinEngines uses the MediaChase eCommerce framework to provide the functionality required in an eBusiness.  Our developers can configure and customize MediaChase quickly and cost-effectively for each product catalog and eCommerce store.  This includes the back-office administration website to manage the web pages and SEO content, the product catalog, orders, shipping, credit card payments and customers.  In fact, the entire eCommerce business can be managed with the MediaChase platform.

So MediaChase is a great technical foundation to grow an eBusiness; now here are my top ten tips for manufacturers considering an Internet sales channel for products, parts and accessories:

1. Don't over-commit to maintaining all the content and SEO on your eCommerce site. Realize that if you can spend your time more effectively running and promoting the business, then it makes sense to turn to your web development partner to help you manage content and SEO.
2. Use a professional to create the product photos or obtain them from the OEM, if applicable. The photographer should create photo versions for both traditional marketing materials and the web. 
3. Associate the parts and accessories with the finished goods to make it easy to find replacement parts and encourage additional items to purchase.  Displaying a CAD drawing with an exploded parts view makes it easier for visitors to make a purchase.
4. Describe your products so shoppers can't resist buying them. Talk about the benefits, and consider a copywriter to make your products irresistible.
5. Your website home page should communicate clearly so your customers understand instantly what are your products and the benefits of buying from your company.  Include links directly to the product catalog and featured products that can be added to the shopping cart.
6. Devote resources to search engine marketing from the beginning.  When you are building the website, that's the time to begin planning keywords, content and link building.  If people cannot find you when they search, then you will not sell your products to them.
7. The look and feel of the website and the ease people can navigate to find the information they need to make a purchase is very important.  If people feel that they cannot trust you due to a cheap looking website with broken links, then they will find your competitor to make a purchase.
8. Allow customers, dealers and wholesalers to create an account where they can update personal information, track orders and warranties.  Also allow customers to place orders without requiring them to set up an account; setting up an account to place an order will drive some customers away.
9. Communicate shipping costs and methods for an order early in the check out process.
10. Include manuals and brochure documentation easily accessible for each product or product family.

TwinEngines is an Atlanta manufacturing technology company that has extensive experience in building and designing eCommerce websites for companies participating in the manufacturing value chain.  We are experts in integrating your eCommerce website to your financial and fulfillment sysytems.  We can improve your Search Engine Optimization, and help you implement Google Search technology and search at your site.

Manufacturing Websites Tips

7/27/2009 by Jack Burnett

Any business participating in a manufacturing value chain may have, what I consider, a manufacturing website to market their products and services.  The manufacturing website usually targets business to business communications and collaboration between suppliers, wholesalers, dealers and other enterprises in the supply chain.  A manufacturing website may also be a B2C eCommerce website, where the business is selling its products directory to consumers, in addition to other sales channels.

I discuss tips about eCommerce websites in other discussions. Here, I focus on the B2B manufacturing website and effective tips on a succesful web presence.  As a manufacturing eBusiness consultant I start with the business goals and objectives of the company and their manufacturing website. A website can be a valuable asset to manufacturers, but the organization has to define the goals and measure success against those goals for an effective web presence.  At TwinEngines, we work with many manufacturers to achieve their web presence goals, utilizing web analytics and CRM to measure and monitor activity.

With goals and objectives defined, here are some tips for manufacturing websites to be successful:

1. Know the people visiting your website.  For manufacturers, purchasing agents and engineers visit to find your products and quickly determine how your specifications and figures compare to their needs.  If they have a rewarding experience on your website and find their information quickly, then chances are you will achieve your web presence goals.
2. Straight-forward design without flash that makes it easy for people to find what they are looking for.  Straight-forward does not mean cheap looking, it means a proefessional look with consistent content elements and navigation across each page of the website.  Your visitor does not need a flash advertisement or fancy graphics.
3. Prominently display a call-to-action on the home page and key landing pages in the website.  The call-to-action may be to complete a request for quote/information form; to enter their contact information and receive your newsletter, catalog or whitepaper; or to simply call your phone number to talk to a sales engineer.
4. Optimize each page for search engines.  Studies show that over two-thirds of companies trying to find new products and services use a search engine, most likely Google.  Use your industry words and terminology for people to read on the web page, plus for the search engines to find in the meta information.
5. Display your product catalog and list of services.  Remember your audience, and show the key facts, images and videos that will lead them to engage with your company. A web content management system is ideal to keep product information up to date.

These are just five tips for the web presence of a manufacturing or industrial business working with dealers, wholesalers and other manufacturers in the supply chain.  I welcome the opportunity to discuss more tips and your web presence here, through our Contact Us email or by phone at 404-522-4262.

PayPal Payflow Pro Upgrade for eCommerce Websites

7/22/2009 by Jack Burnett

PayPal, the owner of the PayFlow Pro Gateway - a popular credit card payment gateway for eCommerce websites - has announced a new update to their standard software for custom shopping cart applications.

TwinEngines creates manufacturing websites, industrial websites and content managed websites for small businesses.  Our expertise includes the Payflow Pro credit card payment gateway as well as the Authorize.Net gateway. The new PayPal PayFlow Pro Gateway interface is live now, and the old gatway software will be shut down on September 1, 2009.

Our eCommerce website platform is a configurable system, where TwinEngines staff easily change configuration settings and developers extend capabilities for unique eBusiness applications.  Our developers created a patch update for existing eCommerce websites that upgrades the gateway plug-in, and included the new plug-in as part of our baseline eCommerce platform for all future updates.

From PayPal:
"We've added new security features to our Payflow gateway service that will make your payment processing even safer. Because of these new features, you must update the Payflow code that's integrated into your web site. All merchants should update to Payflow Pro Software Development Kit (SDK) version 4.3 or higher, or use our direct HTTPS Interface."

If you are a manufacturer, distributor or an eBusiness and operate a eCommerce website that accepts credit card payments using the Payflow Pro credit card gateway, then you will need to update the gateway connection before September 1, 2009.  After that date, your eCommerce website will no longer be able to process credit card transactions.

Do You Need to Fire Your Website?

6/03/2009 by Jack Burnett

Your eCommerce website or your manufacturing or industrial website can be your most productive and loyal employee, working 24/7 365 days a year.  However, your website may be like that employee shoppers can never find in the store or who loses sales because he dresses sloppy and comes across as untrustworthy.

Can I find Your Website (Search Engine Optimization)?

Search statistics show that around 2/3 of companies trying to find new products and services use the web to find suppliers. They most likely search Google to find those new suppliers.  In addition, over 80% of shoppers use the web to compare products, with many leading to an online purchase, phone call orders or visits to your store.

Evaulate your website with these 2 quick search engine optimization indicators:
1. When you Google your company name, does it come up at the top or near the top of the list?
2. When you search online for the products or services that you offer, are you listed?

If the answers are no, then those people searching are not becomming your new customers, because they cannot find you.  It's a level playing field on the search engines.  Google doesn't list companies in terms of revenue or size; Google likes your website because it has relevant, fresh and useful information for people.

What is My First Impression When I Do Find Your Website (Website Design)?

Your website design may be the determining factor whether a person decides to even stay long enough to read about your company and products. I read that a study, published in the Behaviour and Information Technology journal, found  that the brain makes decisions in a twentieth of a second of viewing a web page.  If people think a website looks good, then the positive vibes will spread to other areas, like the content.
The researches also believe that the first impression will persist because of the "halo effect".  Since people like to be right, they continue to use websites that made a good first impression, confirming that their initial decision was a good one.

I'll leave the psychology to the scientists.  I do know that when I see a cheap-looking website or one with broken links and out-of-date information, I am not confident that the company is one I can trust.  I wonder if the company is well managed and professional. And I realized today, that sometimes I decide to leave the website back to the Google listings in less than a second.

Before you decide to fire your website, you need to evaulate your website and the competition, comparing website design, functionality and search engine optimization. Bring in a trusted advisor to get an objective evaluation. TwinEngines offers no-cost website evaluations for small and mid-market companies who participate in the manufacturing value chain.  If you don't call us, then call somebody.  Each day you could be losing sales opportunities because people can't find your website or have a bad first impression.