Gymworld’s early prosperity is likely to be down to a number of different factors. The website’s high search engine placement has been achieved by a combination of an SEO friendly build and a dynamic content update strategy.

Installing the Magento ecommerce system has allowed for a great many features that allowed Gymworld to search engine optimise their website. We developed a custom module that enabled specific news articles to be displayed on each category and on the homepage.

These are then continually updated to provide an excellent source of dynamic content that’s heavily relevant to whichever product line the articles feature – something that Google rewards generously.

Ensuring these articles contain relevant and researched keywords using the Google KeyWord Tool also helps improve search engine results.

We’ve also installed a custom Magento module which allows the client to hand pick products to display on the homepage and for each category – again providing as easy way to keep the content of each page fresh.

Type ‘gym equipment’ into Google and Gymworld appears at position 2 on page 1 of the organic search engine results. Top this off with the client’s Google AdWord campaign featured above and it makes for a very competitive advantage.

A customised Magento order process has also played a large part in this early Gymworld success. Gymworld features a complex modified Magento shipping system that includes numerous suppliers, some of which deliver directly to the customer, whilst others use distributors. All these different shipping options have different costs associated with them.

We’ve modified the Magento shipping system so that checkout orders are split for each supplier to give the customer different shipping options and costs for each.

This has helped make for a very flexible order process that appears to have benefited both customers in terms of order transparency/usability and the client in terms of order management.

We are at present creating a custom gift card Magento module for Gymworld, that lets customers use gift cards for different companies as a loyalty scheme in order to reward returning custom. We’re also working on a finance module that allows customers to obtain a loan before making a purchase.

And so the development continues, and we hope, so will the success. For information on Magento development or custom modifications, please get in contact via The Pixel’s contact form or give us a call on 0800 043 1040.

We’ve re-launched the Fun4Kids website with a brand new design, navigation and administration system to help accommodate the ever increasing sales demand from the buying public. We’ve taken the branding of the last website and created a brand new design to complement and expand upon that success.

The new website features a new blue and red colour scheme, featuring playful outdoor graphics such as clouds, kites and stars and a whole new host of promotional features and sections to grab users’ attention.

Included are 3 featured products from each of the main categories so customers can get a highlighted glimpse of the best Fun4Kids has to offer.

Also included is a brand new ‘Top Brands’ section that links to Fun4Kids’ most successful and favourite manufacturers such as Razor and Cortez, so customers can view their full range of products.

One of the most significant additions to the site is the introduction of a rewards point system. Customers will now be able to collect reward points every time they make a purchase, leave a review, or sign-up for the newsletter.

The number of points rewarded depends on the amount of money spent or the action taken. Customers will be able to use their reward points to obtain discounts on further purchases – rewarding frequent users and returning customers.

A brand new buying guide section has also been included, covering Scooters, Trampolines, Bicycles, Ride-ons and Bouncy Castles. The guides include handy information about Fun4Kids’ various products to aid in their decision making.

These guides are accessible everywhere, including on the product pages where they appear as pop-up windows so users needn’t surf away from the product they are currently viewing.

The new navigation menu on Fun4Kids has been divided into 6 umbrella categories:  Home, Bikes & Ride-ons, Garden & Sport, Scooters, Accessories & Spares and Special Offers. This new system is designed to help make the menu more concise, faster to navigate and more relevant to the user.

Fun4Kids is now using the Magento Enterprise Edition online ecommerce system. Previously they were using Magento Community Edition – a free to use, open source system that handles orders, stock, content management and more.

The success of this platform has led to Fun4Kids requesting an upgrade to the Magento Enterprise Edition, which offers greater depth of customisation and a whole new host of features that will help expand their potential for growth.

The Magento Enterprise Edition has enabled Fun4Kids to utilise the following facilities: Reward Points System – points are awarded based on a wide range of transactions and customer actions to enhance user experience and increase customer loyalty; Highly Tuned Page Performance – new performance optimisations with full page caching significantly reduces page load times to increase conversions.

These are just 2 of the features now available to Fun4Kids via the Magento Enterprise Edition, and there are countless other features we will no doubt be implementing in the future to further aid their progress.

So there we have it, the measures The Pixel think we help turn one very successful website into an even more successful website with the facilities to expand long into the future. Have a look at the current leading outdoor toy website Fun4Kids and let us know what you think – we’re always keen to hear of anyway we can improve what we do.

If you’d like to know more about what The Pixel can do for you or your company, whether it be design, content or programming, please get in contact via The Pixel contact form or telephone free on 0800 043 1040 and we’ll be happy to help.

This snazzy little app lets the great movie going public scroll through the 2010 Oscar nominations in all the leading categories, view trailers and even vote thumbs-up or down for their favourite films. Who needs an awards committee?

Folks can then link directly to the purchase screen of each film to buy straight away, or if it’s still hot out of the projector, they can be emailed with a notification of the film’s release date.

Not wasting any opportunity to butter-up the discerning Play.com movie consuming crowd, there’s also a Movies You May Be Interested In section that lists other titles by similar directors, actors and subject.

A Top 5 Customer Rated Movies facility also allows Play.com customers to decide which movies are the real stars of this year’s Oscar show, and which ones were merely poorly dressed extras without any lines.

It’s a great way of tapping into the movie excitement of the moment and capitalising on great publicity. If you thought ‘Avatar’ should have won best picture or that ‘The Hurt Locker’ was aptly named purely because of how it felt to watch, then have your say on the Play.com Movie Awards Widget.

Here at The Pixel we’ve made a range of widget applications for Play.com, helping to create a new way for internet customers to shop, experience and enjoy their purchasing. Other examples include our Clothing Widget Application and a large range of e-Catalogues.

If you’d like any further information on what The Pixel can do for you, widgets and all, please don’t hesitate to contact us via The Pixel contact form or call free on 0800 043 1040 for a bit of a chat.

It’s global – It doesn’t matter if your customers are in Outer Mongolia or inner Macclesfield, your mail-out will reach them for exactly the same cost, in exactly the same condition, and in roughly the same amount of time.

It’s cheaper – Designing and sending an email campaign can be up to 80% cheaper than with a traditional mail campaign, removing costly printing and mailing costs.

It’s interactive – Email campaigns can link to videos, music and even games to grab the attention of your prospective customer.

It’s personal – Clever personalisation of emails using shopping habits and recipient specific details can help to build a rapport with customers that’s simply not cost effective or practical to do with traditional mailing.

Click-throughs – Accurately measure click-through rates to know exactly if what you have sent  has actually worked – near impossible with paper marketing.

Conversion rates – How a person has arrived at your website and what they’ve bought can be analysed to determine the rate in which your marketing campaigns are turning browsers into buyers.

Accuracy – More accurate methods of targeting can be used, based on real-time buying and spending habits of your customers, unlike outdated traditional mailing lists that are often too long in creation to strike while the iron’s hot.

Opt-in or out – Emails can contain opt-in and opt-out options which helps shortlist your prospects to those that are genuinely interested. This is not only useful for sales conversions but also in forming a trusted public image.

Speedy response – The time it takes a customer to respond to an email is the time it takes to read an email and click a mouse, which most customers will do on the day of sending.

So there we have it. Have you got your email marketing campaign up and running yet? Click the following link for more examples of our email marketing campaigns, or the link after to read more on our email marketing services.

T’was just last year when we all noticed Magento dramatically multiply by the ecommerce dozen, with scores of websites converting to the ecommerce application.

Being curious beings, we at The Pixel set-to with fathoming why this was so. Have no illusions my friends, we know the fabulous reasons why a squire would choose Magento as his honourable ecommerce steed – for it has been said in words of no uncertainly right here: What is Magento?.

But what tickled our fancy most, was finding out if there was just one noteworthy reason that so many websites wish to be transformed. We scoured our own inquires and the internet to conclude that the premier reason was Magento’s ability to help businesses grow faster than dung leaves a stable boy’s shovel.

Think about it for flobs sake! To have all Magento’s features built from scratch, to fit an in-house CMS would cost a million gold sovereigns even if you bartered for an hour!

Bespoke systems are tailored specifically to clients’ requirements – yes we know the advantages, so don’t think we don’t! But place upon your mind that Magento is open source and can be fully customised to the extent of any in-house system, and your reasons for wanting your own individual CMS suddenly become very slim indeed now don’t they?

By increasing  functionality with search engine friendly URLs, Google Analytics integration, batch product updates, sales reports – oh my goodness the list is longer than my mutton chops – without having to fork out huge bags of pennies, your store and sales can grow faster than a piglet squirms from the arms of a butcher.

Ladies, gentlemen, orcs and other – Magento appears to be the chosen platform for growth in 2010. Pray tell your engagements for the new year? May I suggest it be to contact us via our Magento Development Quote Form, call or send all pigeons to the usual address: The Pixel Towers, fifth window on the right.

Why such a high conversion rate? Well our Clothing Widget lets you choose clothes from Play.com’s fabulous range, add them to your virtual wardrobe and then arrange them creatively on a mannequin to see what stylish outfit you’ve selected.

This type of facility allows users to combine different garments much like they would in a changing room in a shop. This in turn helps give the high street shops a run for their money, removing the need to leave the house – thus leading to a lot of people clicking ‘Buy’.

The flashy interface is created using…Flash, and the database using PHP. The main problem we faced when creating such a dynamic system is that all Play.com stock levels and prices are constantly changing based on what users are buying.

Our Clothing Widget automatically connects to the website to constantly update prices and stock, so all the items being browsed are available and display up-to-date prices.

So it really is as good as hitting the high street, and some might say (me) even better as you don’t have to waste time trawling the shops gagging for an overly priced latte.

If you like what you’ve read and think your company might benefit from our services, widgets or not, please take a look at our services pages on the right or just give us a shout from our contact page.

The service will be affordable to both small and large businesses, whether new to the internet or established traders, and will feature the vast array of facilities present in the Magento ecommerce platform.

These include: CMS for easy webpage updates, search engine friendly URLs, customer accounts, control of multiple websites from one panel and printed packing slips. For more features take a look here.

With an already established track record of ecommerce success, we’re aiming to bring our development and internet marketing skills to a wider market.

We know how easy it can be to setup an ecommerce store but then not have the knowledge or experience to help that business grow. That’s why many web stores fail: by not optimising correctly or understanding where they need to invest.

Our Magento service combines the fantastic ecommerce application with our own skills and experience, so our clients are not left to tackle the internet on their own.

Please take a look at our website: http://www.thepixel.com/magento/. Here you’ll find all you need to know about Magento and what we can offer.

Yes that’s 230%.  Yes that’s not bad. Why are we telling you all this? Well, that’s because it was about a year ago that The Pixel jumped on board with Fun4Kids to attempt to expand the business’ online presence, and with it, the business.

So why the massive growth in just one year? Well there are no doubt many reasons; the fact that Fun4Kids was already prospering as we joined will no doubt be one of them. But there are more measurable ways of understanding this success.

The Fun4Kids website has dramatically changed in the course of the last 12 months in terms of design, content and marketing.

Visually Fun4Kids has moved from a very basic, functional design to a more dynamic, graphically appealing theme that’s been produced specially to appeal to its core audience. Homepage banners and promotions have also played a large part in converting visits into sales.

The content of the website initially featured limited product descriptions and manufacturer provided text. This has been replaced with bespoke text written specifically per product, tailored to engage those that are reading and highlight the information most relevant to them. All content on the site has also been written to maximise SEO potential to improve search engine results.

Marketing wise, with our help Fun4Kids have invested wisely in Google AdWords that have been carefully selected to return the maximum benefit in terms of rankings and capturing those most important – people looking to buy.

Our email marketing campaigns, also targeted carefully per customer, have been successful in capturing readers with vibrant visuals and entertaining text to obtain click-throughs that not only drive customers to the site, but also convert that traffic into sales.

So all in all, it’s been a very successful year for our client Fun4Kids – and as a result, for us at The Pixel too. For more information on what we can do for your company, visit our Web Design, Copywriting, Email Marketing and Google AdWords services pages.

One of the main reasons for the increase in sales may well be the unique copy written per new product. Previously, as is the case with most ecommerce businesses, manufacturer provided text was used for each product listing.

Now then, if this same manufacturer text also featured on other websites around the web (and let’s be honest, it probably did) it would have dramatically reduced the chances of Google ranking that product listing highly on its search page.

With unique copy per product and the correct Meta data, the products on Fun4Kids have risen to giddy heights. Simply type in ‘rocket e10 scooter’ (one of the year’s best selling scooters) into Google* to find that Fun4Kids ranks 3rd just behind two Amazon listings – which isn’t bad going.

Another reason for the increase in sales is likely to be the style of copy written, tailored specifically for the clients of the website. With fun and quirky copy that also highlights the main selling points of each product, customers get a more engaging experience and are more inclined to click ‘Buy’.

For more information on our copywriting services, please see our Copywriting Services page.

*Information correct at date of publishing: 20/10/09

Suddenly, even if you’re a total web novice or a gigantic net know-all, our Magento service casts a spell over the gracious shopping application Magento to turn it into anything you desire.

We do it all! We design the pages, host the site, and even write the words, and then, spread the word around the great world web using clever SEO sorcery. So not only will you have a wondrous site with majestic imagery, able to conjure-up money via a secure payment system, but people will also find your site and buy things from you! Shhh…now then, please!

You lucky minions can even choose how many pennies you wish to part with, from packages such as the novice ‘Starter’ to the awe-inspiring ‘Supreme’. Please use such powers wisely…click here for more.