Post 3 of our ongoing case study - Project Tee Compressed

In our last Tee Compressed post, we discussed deciding what to sell and what domain names we will use for our new online e-commerce business. In this post, we will get into some design considerations and begin designing our logo and color palate.

As with any new business venture, it’s a balancing act of time and resources and this project has been no exception. We have not been as aggressive at rolling out the site as we had hoped, but in truth this is proving to probably be even more realistic then ever to the timeline of a new e-commerce business. Many people begin the planning of a new website while still working a full-time job or while still maintaining the primary source of business revenue, such as a retail store etc. So being pressed for time and keeping focused and on target is a real world dilemma to account for.

Our next task is to get our graphic designers rolling on new logo ideas. The logo needs to be stand alone but also match the theme and overall branding of our future site and marketing materials. Coming up with a logo can sometimes be the best experience or the worst. It can be fun if you do your homework, necessary research and take the right steps when thinking of ideas. First step is to think of your target audience and think of elements that inspire them. Also, think of all the ways that the new business mark can be reproduced (can it be reproduced in black and white, embroidered, or decorated with the seasons and still maintain its identity). One of the directions we anticipate going is to target the extreme sports industry since there seems to be a gap in the compressed shirt market for the urban culture. Before starting in Photoshop we first did some snooping for a font we liked, adjusted the spacing, printed it and pulled out the coloring pencils. You can see a sketched result below.

This is to get our creativity flowing. We are certain to go through many many versions of our logo before deciding on a final design.

The next step is on to the website construction! This is where our real thinking begins. Before we start with the design concepts we must first come up with the website “blue print” or “navigational” outline. You can do the design concepts first but creating a “site map” initially will give us a better idea of how creative we can become with the site flow and how deep the site will be (in regards to content). Last thing you want to do is come up with a rockin’ good design that doesn’t have any space for all the navigation you need. While we think of the perfect site map we make sure to check out the online competition. It’s very helpful to see what others are doing to get an idea of what you think works and what doesn’t. For our site map we also look at our target market to get a feel of their lifestyle and cool terms for our navigation (ex. instead or “contact us” we might use “get a hold of us” etc). Also, while digging around we keep tabs on design styles we can keep in mind when we reach the design phase of our site. We look for consistencies and the things that are popular such as: colors, patterns, photography, product description, ease of navigation, etc. We take all of this information and come up with our tee compress site map. Below is a format we like to follow when outlining site maps (click for a larger version).

In our next post we will tackle the design process in more detail and begin to flush out the actual site mockup, a non-functioning image of the site homepage.

Before we end though, let’s run the numbers to date:

• We made our first blog post on March 11, 2008, but we actually conceived of the idea before that, so we can estimate time elapsed to this point at approximately 9 weeks.
• We purchased 5 domain names at about $9 each for a total of $45.
• We have our new hosting account setup as well. Since this is going to be an e-commerce site, we chose to go with a hosting company that also provided MIVA Merchant, our preferred shopping cart system for development. Hosting fees run at about $39.95 per month.
• Our designers have been running with the ball and so the time clock is ticking on accrued design time and industry research. For this we are at about 5 hours.
• Total time - design, hosting setup, domain research & purchase, & team meetings: about 8 hours.
• Total cost to date: 8 hrs x standard $65 per hour rate = $520 + $45 domains + $79.90 hosting/mo = approx. $644.90.

We recently began filming and editing on the next demo video for the latest Bumbleride baby stroller, the Indie Twin. Filming was done at our Encinitas, CA office. The video should be completed in a few weeks.

Here are a few photos we took just for fun using our iPhone. (click the image for full slideshow)

Post 2 of our ongoing case study - Project Tee Compressed

Most startup businesses probably already have the answer to our next question but for the sake of our case study, we need to decide - What product are we going to offer in our new online e-commerce store? Surprisingly, we didn’t need to think too long or too hard about this one before we came up with our answer. Usually, however, when considering your options, you should do considerable research before making a decision. Sifting through the thousands of product options, we could have gone with more popular products but usually that translates to heavy competition and thousands of websites already selling your product. Electronics for example, is almost impossible to compete in because the market is just too saturated with high volume sellers and keeping competitive pricing means slim profit margins. Ideally, you want to consider niche products that have a wide shopping audience but not much competition. Making a list of your favorite things or hobbies can be helpful. Selling what you love doesn’t always mean it’s a good business idea, but it’s a good place to start. It’s difficult to find that one product that nobody else is selling but doing your own research and investigation usually pays off. A key ingredient is making sure you can actually source your product at a price that allows you to resell it at a profit.

For a number of reasons that we will dig into later, what we decided on as our product is the innovative promotional product called the compressed t-shirt - "compressed tee". We believe this is a great product idea that has a lot of potential if marketed in the right way.

The next step is deciding on a name. The direction we took was to keep it close to the product we are selling. We followed our own advice and went with an easy name to understand rather than acronyms, numbers, or something too long. In coming up with a short-list of names, we had to make sure the correct combination of domain names were also still available. This is an important step everyone should consider before choosing their business name. Before getting too attached to a clever name, you have to make sure the domain name, and all variations of it, are still available. You don’t want to invest in branding a company name and not have your website reflect that investment. If you get too far down the road with the wrong domain name, you will quickly regret it. Most online shoppers today will hear a name and try for that exact URL. Your domain name will also play an important part in your search engine rankings so it should be relevant to your product. Try to avoid acronyms or clever misspellings, unless you also own the correct spelling to catch traffic from both sources. It’s important to really put some thought into your domain name, it’s going to be the retail face of your business for years to come. While getting the .net or .info or .biz domain name extensions isn’t that critical, getting the singular and plural versions is important. Ask yourself what people will hear when speaking your domain name. Is it easy to say without having to spell it out and are there dashes or hyphens. For our compressed t-shirt store, we decided on TeeCompressed.com - along with tcompressed.com and TeeCompress.com. We also grabbed a few "inspirational" names in case we want to experiment down the road - teeshrink.com and compresstee.com.

Domains are inexpensive so it pays to buy several variations of your name. The last thing you want is a competitor on your heels with a name too similar to your name who is stealing away your customers.

In our next post we will roll up our sleeves and talk about designing our official store logo and begin mapping out our online store.