What do you think? feed back appreciated

[billybrag]

Hi all,

 

i launched my site about 6 months ago and got some good feedback in here, but my sales are only ok and i was wondering if i could have your thoughts again?

 

i have made a lot! of changes functionally and quite a few to the appearance.

 

what do you think may be putting peple off buying?

 

im getting 80-100 uniques a day but the sales in comparison are crap, it cant really be the prices as we are very competitive?

 

anyway, all thoughts are appreciated

 

Mike

 

Sharps book Co.

[FalseDawn]

My thoughts would be "what do you offer that the bigger names like amazon et al don't?"

Look at your direct competitors and try to get some ideas.

You should enable people to buy without creating an account - the stock osc way of creating an account, then clicking through 3 or 4 screens to make a purchase is ridiculously tedious and will probably put a lot of people off.

The PWA contribution is a fudge, but probably better than nothing.

Your colours are a bit drab to be honest.

Install a SEO URL contribution to help your SE ranking.

[barefoot_boo]

Hiya Mike,

 

Tbh, and please don't take this the wrong way, but it looks a bit unfinished (cosmetically). Several little niggles that individually aren't that important, but when added together are enough to make me think 'hmm, these people don't pay close attention to detail - can I trust them to handle my order correctly?'. That may sound harsh, but its what would put me off buying from you. FWIW, my main 'niggles' are as follows:

 

Breadcrumb mouseover is white (unreadable)

Buttons (don't think the colour works and they've got white corners)

Main text font on index.php doesn't match rest of site

The bottom half of the page looks very 'un-designed' (no real structure)

Hyperlink mouseover colours aren't consistant

Border colours aren't consistant

Category images squashed

 

If you don't want to go to the hassle of setting up PWA, I think you should at least make the change described here: http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31021&st=0

 

cheers

boo

[secretuser]

Unfinished or not, your website is nicer than mine.

 

However, I can point out a few things.

 

1) Your author scroll box is no-good. I need a way to grab a bar and instantly scroll it down. Right now I have to click the down and wait and wait and wait for them to scrool.

 

2) You need to do something about those google ads on your site, including getting rid of them entirely if you are not able to eliminate competitor ads. Why do you want to earn a few pennys to send all your customers to your competitors. Did you know your advertisements are for abesbooks.com, faithbooks.org and bookembooks.com. THIS IS REALLY BAD. In fact all the google ads are for competitors.

[billybrag]

Thanks all for your comments, they are really appreciated

 

i have actioned quite a few poits that were raised.

 

its always good to have fresh eyes look over things,

 

Thanks secret user for the compliment.

 

I do hear what you are saying about what do i offer over the big boys and all i can say really is that we can offer better books alot of the time. We are not in the new book selling business so every second hand book is judged on its merits. so some of Amazons books will be cheaper and likewise with us.

 

To answer your question i feel that we can offer a much more friendly service than amazon, again especially in that most of amazons second hand books are from independant retailers.

 

The Author scroll box has been a real nightmare for me and it has got to the point where im close to removing it. I have been trying for a number of months to get it so that it does not select when clicked to alow a user to scroll easier. This is very much something i am working on.

 

I have decided to get rid of the adsense adverts as suggested too

 

thanks for the comments all and i look forward to more

 

 

thanks again

Mike

[FalseDawn]

Why not change the author box to a simple drop-down? Not many people will realise that you can actually fast-scroll the list by dragging your mouse outside the frame - it's really not very user-friendly!

Also, rather than using a javascript refresh when an author is selected, a "go" button would be better.

 

Consider making the "header" area of your store a different color - it all just seems to merge together as is, and looks too simplistic.

 

Why not implement a "bestsellers" or "clearance" type feature on your home page - it seems too heavily text-weighted (especially with your long category list)

 

Or maybe even a "most popular category", to try to steer (or help) visitors browse

[Guest]

maybe a change of font type in the center areas for products. I really like the layout and the white background breaks up the yellow. :thumbsup:

[billybrag]

Thanks for the comments guys,

 

anything else which people think?

 

brutal honesty is the only thing that can help me move forward.

 

 

 

maybe a change of font type in the center areas for products. I really like the layout and the white background breaks up the yellow.  :thumbsup:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

thanks webhostau :)

[boxtel]

Thanks for the comments guys,

 

anything else which people think?

 

brutal honesty is the only thing that can help me move forward.

thanks webhostau :)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

like it,

 

 

buttons need that extra .......

 

in cart shipping options, why can I select a country when subsequently nothing changes ? and why is Taiwan not in your country list ?

 

Oh, just saw it, make the re-calculate a button, I did not see it at first.

 

if you have site news or any news, make it more prominent, don't just put it far away in the footer.

[billybrag]

like it,

buttons need that extra .......

 

in cart shipping options, why can I select a country when subsequently nothing changes ? and why is Taiwan not in your country list ?

 

Oh, just saw it, make the re-calculate a button, I did not see it at first.

 

if you have site news or any news, make it more prominent, don't just put it far away in the footer.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the comments boxtel

 

 

all the countries that are in the list are the countries that we ship to.

 

im looking for a good way of doing the news and im curently searching for a suitable rss feed that i can use

 

 

Mike

[billybrag]

Any more comments are appreciated,

 

 

is paypal holding me back? do i need a cc processor that doesnt need membership?

[xtreeq]

Went from the homepage to the sign in page (clicked on the sign in button on the right column) and got this error notice:

Error: No match for E-Mail Address and/or Password.

But... when I clicked on the "log yourself in" link from the home page didn't get that error.

Just a little something. :rolleyes:

 

Xtreeq

[xtreeq]

Couldn't find a phone number, could be good to add one since it gives a good feeling to the customer, they think that there's somebody behind the site.

 

Xtreeq

[billybrag]

Went from the homepage to the sign in page (clicked on the sign in button on the right column) and got this error notice:

Error: No match for E-Mail Address and/or Password.

But... when I clicked on the "log yourself in" link from the home page didn't get that error.

Just a little something.  :rolleyes:

 

Xtreeq

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

thats just because you didnt enter a uname or password :)

[UnrivaledPC]

The site is simple, but I think it should be. That auctions mod you have is really tight. I also like the authors box you have. I would put your concentration into marketing your product and maybe making your site look a little different. Maybe display the item that is ending next in your ebay box is an idea.

 

Get rid of all that text on your main page. That space is the most expensive marketing real estate on your site. Show a couple books that have are sellers or authors that are sellers. Put your mission statement/about text somewhere else and sell sell sell.

[billybrag]

The site is simple, but I think it should be. That auctions mod you have is really tight. I also like the authors box you have. I would put your concentration into marketing your product and maybe making your site look a little different. Maybe display the item that is ending next in your ebay box is an idea.

 

Get rid of all that text on your main page.  That space is the most expensive marketing real estate on your site. Show a couple books that have are sellers or authors that are sellers. Put your mission statement/about text somewhere else and sell sell sell.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

thanks for the comments, im currently working on a more visually appeal;ing front page, that is more practical and hopefully will sell more books.

 

Any more thoughts are appreciated.

 

thanks all who have looked so far - its a resl help to get honest opinions.

 

Mike