Product layout

which way is better?

[Barb45d]

I have a question about how a website should have its products laid out. Let's presume you are selling widgets of basically the same type but slightly different (ie- one line of blue widgets but some are shiny, some are fuzzy, some are furry, etc. and one line of purple widgets with the same characteristics).

Should the lay out be:

1) One page with all the blue widgets and another with all the purple widgets.

2) One page for all the shiny widgets and you get to choose purple or blue, and another for the fuzzy widgets, etc...

3) One big page with all the widgets on it and links to move you to where you want to go?

Or is there another alternative that I am missing?

Which way is best for the customer to sort through?

THANKS!
Barb

[Robino]

I would go for option #2.

Let them configure the options when they select the product type. Kind of like car manufacturer sites. You select the model and then choose your interior, color, wheels, etc.

I would try to make it as easy as possible. Try to do it all on one page if possible. Don't make them go through multiple steps and pages.

Welcome to WebmasterWorld Barb45d!

[millie]

Different people have different agendas when they use a web site. Some will be mad about purple and only purple will do, and some will be crazy about furry things so they will want to take that route through the site.

We try to give both types of people the options they wish to see straight off. Then you start to see which route most people are taking, and learn a bit about their habits, and you can alter the emphasis and create calls to action and incentives as appropriate. This way you end up with an eventual web site that is moulded to your users' behaviour.

So IMHO the answer to your question is to use your main page to channel your site users so you're presenting options 1 and 2 to them depending on whether they are an option 1 kind of a person or an option 2 kind of a person.

Option 3 doesn't sound too appealing, depending on the number of products you have, but you could use a site map to help humans and SEs.

Hope this helps

[Receptional]

I'll go for option 1 every time - with easy navigation between the two.

Many pages means two things:

1) The user can't miss what he is supposed to be looking at (surprisingly common) and
2) Your site becomes larger - and big is better in my book - for search engine marketing. For example, you can big on "Small purple ones" AND "small shiny ones" and send users to the right page, but one page with lots might get your adword or overture listing disapproved due to incorrect content.