catalog software

What Kind of Catalogue Design Software do you Need?

May 5, 2016 / / 0 Comments

The online presence that a company has is a huge part of bringing in business in the modern world. An impressive online catalogue to show off your products is important if you want to turn chance visitors to your site into customers and maximise revenue through the greatest number of sales. But what kind of catalogue design software does a company need in order to create an engaging, interactive catalogue, and what kind of expertise is needed to use that catalogue software effectively?

Types of Online Catalogue

There are multiple types of online catalogue. The first and most basic is simply made from images and texts on a page of our website. However, this is a relatively time-consuming and potentially expensive way to create what is ultimately not one of the most engaging types of catalogue. A PDF catalogue is similarly user friendly and can be created more easily and affordably and can also be useful for printed catalogue production, though it does mean customers need to use their browser’s PDF plugin – which adds loading times and may not work on all devices. For many businesses, the best choice is an interactive flip book. This will most likely be created as PDF first – which is useful to have considering its versatility and widespread compatibility – but can be converted into a visually interesting, engaging, fully animated digital flip book easily and affordably using specialist types of catalogue design software.

Creating a Layout

Should you decide to stick with making your catalogue a regular, text-and-images HTML webpage, this would be done by your web designer using all the same software. As such, it is most likely either a job for outsourcing or one for which you already have the right software packages because you handle your web design in-house. Design for PDF documents can be completed easily and cost-effectively either in-house or externally using a range of software packages. Even Microsoft Word allows PDF creation, though a specialist desktop publishing package will get better results. The design and layout stage for a virtual flip book can also be done in PDF format initially. If you already have a catalogue in PDF form, as many businesses will, then you already have the design phase for your flip book completed.

Turning it Into an Interactive Flip book

If you want to truly impress and engage your customers with an interactive flip book that mimics the functionality of a printed catalogue, then you will still need to turn your initial PDF catalogue design into the functional flip book. Considering that this involves interactivity and animation for turning pages, this might seem like it should be both the most difficult and most expensive step. In fact, it is probably the easiest and is by no means costly, because specialist catalogue design software tools exist that do this almost entirely automatically. You simply select your PDF source document, customise a few simple settings, and the program will output a completed and fully-functional interactive flip book catalogue.

catalogue design software

Online Catalogue Creators: Just for Product Catalogues?

May 5, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Online catalogue creator software allows you to easily put together a sleek digital catalogue complete with page-turning animation and interactive flip book functionality. It is a great way to showcase a range of products, but is that all it is good for? There are a number of other ways you can use an online catalogue maker tool to show off the things your business has to offer, and this can be no less effective than it is when showing off a selection of physical products.

A Range of Services

If your business provides services as opposed to physical products, this does not necessarily mean it can’t benefit from putting together a catalogue. A catalogue of services can do much the same job as a catalogue of products – listing what is available, whilst illustrating it with images and generally showcasing it in the best possible light in order to attract customers and drive sales. Just as with a product catalogue, an interactive, animated flip book can be easily put together from a standard PDF using an online catalogue creator tool, and will be a great way to impress your customers and to ensure that your products and your company as a whole come across in the most positive light possible.

A Portfolio of Work

Many professionals, especially those in the creative and marketing sectors, have portfolios on their website showing off some of their previous work. It is a way to prove their capabilities, show exactly what they can do, and also provide a more visual and engaging element to their sales strategy. In a sense, the examples of their past designs and previous projects that they showcase are their products – or at least examples of the kind of “products” they can produce. As with any other products, arranging this portfolio like a catalogue and using a catalogue maker to create an interactive flip book is a much better and more appealing way to show them off than using a flat, static PDF document.

Online Magazines

Interactive catalogue makers can even be repurposed very effectively for things that are not catalogues at all. Many other kinds of document that would otherwise be presented in PDF format can also be made more engaging, more attractive, and more impressive by turning them into an interactive flip book complete with fully animated page-turning. Online magazines are a prime example. Just like with catalogues, putting an e-magazine through catalogue creator software to turn it into an interactive flip book imitates the look and behaviour of its traditional counterpart as well as increasing engagement by adding new visual elements. Magazines have a particular advantage in this area, because printed magazines are still viewed by many as having more prestige than online publications. Evoking the look of a paper magazine helps to associate yourself with those images and create a feel similar to that of traditional publications, which further helps to ensure that you are viewed positively by your audience.

Online Catalogue Software

Three Reasons to Use Online Catalogue Software

May 3, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Online catalogues can be a useful way to increase engagement with your products, showcase them in the most attractive possible way, and, ultimately, maximise sales. Here are three important reasons you should consider using online catalogue software to create a virtual flipbook to show off your products.

It Impresses Your Customers

Using a catalogue maker, it is easy to create an interactive, animated online catalogue that your customers will love. The animation, the novelty, and the interactive element will make the catalogue very engaging and visually interesting, and will come across to most your your customers as impressive and high-tech. Many will probably assume that your business had to put a lot more money and effort into creating it than you really did, and this will build trust by painting a picture of a business that is both successful and willing to go to great lengths in bringing its catalogue to potential customers. This is therefore one of the best ways to showcase your products and a highly effective way to ensure that they are presented to customers in the best possible light and with the best potential for sales.

It is Clear and Engaging

Using catalogue maker software to put your products into a virtual flipbook may be flashy, but it is much more than just an impressive gimmick. It also provides a clear and effective way for you to showcase your catalogue. The way your products and the relevant information are displayed will be no less clear or user-friendly than in the source document used to create the flipbook – usually a PDF document. Browsing through multiple pages, on the other hand, is much easier to do than with a plain document, and it is much easier for customers to pay close attention to each page and ensure they don’t miss anything they are looking for or might like to buy. This combined with the visual interest created by the animation provides your customers with a clear, engaging and user-friendly way to browse your products.

It is Easy and Cost-effective

Though your customers will probably assume otherwise, creating a high-quality virtual flipbook using online catalogue software is a fast, easy, and cost-effective process. Any PDF document is suitable for conversion, so if you have a PDF catalogue of your products at present then you already have a suitable source document prepared. As for converting this into a digital flipbook complete with page animations, the catalogue maker program will do the bulk of the hard work automatically. As such, there is little time, effort, or cost involved with creating a virtual online catalogue, yet there is potentially a lot of benefit to be drawn from it. This is a very attractive return on investment compared to many other marketing, design, and user engagement strategies, and makes for a very accessible and obtainable way to increase sales by displaying your products more attractively to your customers.

 

Online Flip Book Catalogue

Creating an Online Flip Book Catalogue

May 3, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Using an online catalogue creator to turn your catalogue into a virtual flip book can be a great way to show off your products and to maximise their appeal. However, a lot of businesses are put off by a simple lack of understanding – either of the flip book creation process or of using a virtual catalogue in general. With the use of a specialist flip book catalogue software package, the creation process is much easier than you might think and the benefits can be significant.

What is a Virtual Flip Book?

A virtual flipbook is a kind of online catalogue that simulates the look and functionality of a traditional, paper catalogue. Those who decide to take a look through the catalogue will be presented with one page or, more likely, one spread at a time. By clicking in a certain part of the page – or potentially using a gesture if they are on a touch screen device – they can flick forwards and backwards through pages just as they would with a regular catalogue. This will be accompanied by a full animation to illustrate the page being flipped. It looks just like having a physical book catalogue within their screen.

This is a nice effect, but also has a number of specific benefits. It is something a bit different from the approach that most websites take to catalogue documents, helping you to stand out from the competition. It is an effect that makes your website more impressive, and will probably seem high-tech and flashy to a lot of your visitors. It also often serves as a more comfortable and intuitive way to flip through a catalogue document than scrolling through a PDF, while offering a sense of familiarity through its resemblance to traditional paper catalogues.

Using an Online Flip Book Catalogue Creator

Some companies understand the principles and use of online catalogues well enough, but do not understand how it is created. The idea of putting together a fully-animated virtual book seems imposing and likely to be expensive, and this puts them off considering the idea for their own business.

However, using a specialist online catalogue creator, the process of creating a digital catalogue is neither difficult nor cost-prohibitive. On the contrary, the virtual flip book catalogue software will be able to do most of the hard work for you. All you need is an input file in the form of a PDF catalogue document – something many businesses will have anyway, and which can be produced affordably if you do not already have it. Then, the online catalogue creator tool will take that input file and turn it automatically into a fully-functional, fully animated virtual flip book catalogue that is ready for use. The catalogue creation software itself is easy to use, with an intuitive and simple user interface. The whole process of creating a flip book from a PDF is quick, easy, and cost-effective enough for even the most modest of startups, yet the results are good enough for the largest and most well-established of businesses.

Virtual Catalogue Maker

A Quick Guide to Virtual Catalogue Makers

May 3, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Virtual catalogues with animated flip book functionality can be a useful tool for online businesses. But what is a catalogue, and how involved is the process of using an online catalogue maker to create one? Understanding these things is key to deciding whether your business could benefit from implementing a virtual flip book catalogue and deciding whether to create one.

What are Virtual Catalogue Makers?

A virtual catalogue maker is, quite simply, a software tool for making a digital catalogue. It will turn your existing online catalogue from an ordinary static document into a more engaging, interactive flip book. This is an online simulation of a traditional, paper catalogue booklet, allowing users to flick through page-by-page complete with page-turning animation. It operates entirely within their normal internet browser window, and requires no specialist software – only common media plugins.

What do you Need?

All you really need to create an online catalogue is a source document in PDF format, the catalogue software tool, and of course a computer to run it on. As PDF is such a common document format, it is quite likely your existing catalogue is in this format and ready for conversion. If you already have a catalogue which is not a PDF, many other document formats can be easily and directly converted into a PDF. If you do not have an existing catalogue or it is not suitable for direct, easy conversion, PDF catalogue design is a widely-available and affordable service and, due to the widespread use of this format, is probably the best choice whether you plan to create an interactive flip book version or not.

What Does the Process Involve?

Once you have your source document and your online catalogue maker, there is really not much to the conversion process. The online catalogue creator will take the design from the source document, and carry out the conversion into a fully-functional, animated digital flip book largely automatically. The interface is clear and user-friendly and the options are straightforward, so you do not need to have any specialist knowledge or high-level design expertise to create a functional and impressive virtual catalogue.

What are the Benefits?

The main benefit of using an online catalogue creator is that the resulting document is more engaging and visually interesting to the user than scrolling through a PDF document, and is also more impressive from a technological standpoint. This provides an experience that will display your products in a better light and help to build a better, stronger relationship between your business and its customers. Providing the best possible experience to those who visit your website and creating the best possible image of your business and of its products is an important way to increase sales and therefore boost revenue, as it better captures the interest of potential customers, makes your products look more appealing, and makes customers more willing to do business with your company.

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