An effective use of a web site to sell a retail product

As I mention in Rocket video, the kids and I have been doing a fair amount with rockets lately. David is interested in this rocket, which has a small lo-res video camera built into the nose cone. That got me wondering what else is out there in the world of rocket video.

Going to Google, I typed "rocket video" in as my search term. I didn't really find what I wanted on the left-hand side of the page. But on the right-hand side, the top AdWords ad was for a place called BoosterVision.com.


This is the AdWords ad that I saw for BoosterVision.com

BoosterVision is a retail site that is doing a good job of using AdWords ads and content to boost sales. The site is a little sloppy in places, but overall it is heading in the right direction.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived at the home page is the Videos link. Since BoosterVision.com is advertising a video camera, it makes sense that it would have videos. However, you would be surprised how rare this is. Video is an incredibly powerful tool on web sites, especially retail web sites. Clicking on the video page brings you to a place with two dozen videos showing you typical rocket flights.

Another nice feature is the Installation page. This shows you several different ways to easily mount the camera on your rocket, making it much easier to imagine doing this project with my son.

It's easy to get to the features for the camera. It's easy to order. Overall, this is a good use of a web site to sell a specialty retail product. You can see that there is no "black magic" involved -- simply help the user visualize how he/she would actually use the product using photographs, text and video.

One thing I would change if this were my site -- I would put a picture of "the product" and/or "an application of the product" at the top of the home page, rather than the montage that they are using. Another thing I would fix is the sloppiness.

Let me say again that if you are selling a specialty retail product, video can be a very powerful tool. Here is a product that is as cheesy as can be, yet the video does a good job of selling it: www.therobomaid.com. Think about different things that you could do with video on your own web site.