I need to know what I have to improve upon. I have had over 1000 page views in the past few days & I have not made a sale. Even on a bad week, I should have made at least 1 sale! Only a few people have even put anything in their cart, but never made it to the checkout. Most people browse a few pages & leave.
Is it taking too long to load? Is it out of proportion? Too cluttered? Prices too high? What?
I've spent copious amounts of money on advertising with Google in the past couple of weeks (had over 800 hits alone just from Google) & I am just not sure where I am going wrong with this. I desperately need some input before I break the bank & have to shut it down. :?: :?: :?:
www.kindredcreations.com
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5 replies to this topic
#2
Posted 25 March 2003, 16:42
Firstly, your primary product is not immediately evident from your homepage. That's the landing page for the majority of your customers, so make it as simple and descriptive as possible.
I think your layout and color scheme are confusing your customers. While you've obviously spent a lot of time customizing the stock OSC layout, you've lost the all-important professionalism that is a must if you expect customers to trust you with their CC info.
Remember that your images make the sale. You can't expect anyone to buy your items if there's not an associated WOW factor when they look at your wares, or even worse, if they have to try to figure out what they're looking at. If there's money to invest and inventory on hand, put it into photography and your images.
My "studio" in all it's glory:
[img]http://www.tibetcollection.com/images/osc/studio.jpg[/img]
clamp lights are a few bucks, a cheap tripod, a table, some white paper, and an unused corner is all you need. The camera that I am using is only 2.1 megapixels, which you should be able to find for (relatively) next to nothing.
Install the Sm, Med, Lg Images contribution and use consistent sizes when you create your images. Maintain a constant ration for small images, just keep common widths for the larger ones: 100x100, 200xWhatever, 300xWhatever. Try to keep a consistent background color.
I've photographed some items myself, and we've had some done professionally. Either way, the importance of your product images can not be understated. The professional photography was done for an existing catalog, not specifically for the web.
Of course, a decent image editor is crucial. I use PhotoShop7.0.
Don't spend money on google yet. Concentrate on listing and ranking. Check out the many threads on search engine optimization and read everything on http://www.searchengineworld.com. I've managed 1,2,3rd place ranking for any number of items in my inventory.
Just clean things up a bit. The font you're using is fun, but don't over-do it. Maybe use it in your logo and infobox headers, but make the navigation tabs cleaner. Your background colors and images don't work very well together. Use them to define areas of the site.
The "cool menu" is cool, but not functional. The fade to subcats takes too long. It's there as a navigation tool; make it work like one.
I might browse through your site, but I doubt I would buy from it. The advantage of the Internet is that we can all have HOT, professional storefronts, and all it takes is a little time (or money).
Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss other ideas.
- Greg
I think your layout and color scheme are confusing your customers. While you've obviously spent a lot of time customizing the stock OSC layout, you've lost the all-important professionalism that is a must if you expect customers to trust you with their CC info.
Remember that your images make the sale. You can't expect anyone to buy your items if there's not an associated WOW factor when they look at your wares, or even worse, if they have to try to figure out what they're looking at. If there's money to invest and inventory on hand, put it into photography and your images.
My "studio" in all it's glory:
[img]http://www.tibetcollection.com/images/osc/studio.jpg[/img]
clamp lights are a few bucks, a cheap tripod, a table, some white paper, and an unused corner is all you need. The camera that I am using is only 2.1 megapixels, which you should be able to find for (relatively) next to nothing.
Install the Sm, Med, Lg Images contribution and use consistent sizes when you create your images. Maintain a constant ration for small images, just keep common widths for the larger ones: 100x100, 200xWhatever, 300xWhatever. Try to keep a consistent background color.
I've photographed some items myself, and we've had some done professionally. Either way, the importance of your product images can not be understated. The professional photography was done for an existing catalog, not specifically for the web.
Of course, a decent image editor is crucial. I use PhotoShop7.0.
Don't spend money on google yet. Concentrate on listing and ranking. Check out the many threads on search engine optimization and read everything on http://www.searchengineworld.com. I've managed 1,2,3rd place ranking for any number of items in my inventory.
Just clean things up a bit. The font you're using is fun, but don't over-do it. Maybe use it in your logo and infobox headers, but make the navigation tabs cleaner. Your background colors and images don't work very well together. Use them to define areas of the site.
The "cool menu" is cool, but not functional. The fade to subcats takes too long. It's there as a navigation tool; make it work like one.
I might browse through your site, but I doubt I would buy from it. The advantage of the Internet is that we can all have HOT, professional storefronts, and all it takes is a little time (or money).
Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss other ideas.
- Greg
#3
Posted 25 March 2003, 17:11
Use this tool to simulate the links that a spider will see when it visits your site:
http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/s.../sim_spider.cgi
You'll see that a SID is being appended. That could be bad. You REALLY don't want search engines listing your links with SIDs...
- G
http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/s.../sim_spider.cgi
You'll see that a SID is being appended. That could be bad. You REALLY don't want search engines listing your links with SIDs...
- G
#4
Posted 25 March 2003, 17:22
I agree with a lot of Greg's comments. The background colour doesn't really work & detracts from your product images. The images need to be a little larger - they are what will sell your products, after all.
I like the multi-coloured tabs.
Think about putting your 2nd paragraph of text below the products, or even leave it out altogether. Customers can be offered the options when they start to shop ~ before then they don't need to know about it & its taking up space in your shop window.
I found the site quite hard to navigate, so perhaps a description of what's in each category when you mouseover?
Had you thought of doing 'goodie bags' with a mix of items at a nice price? Perhaps smaller pieces of papers, a handfull of buttons, tags etc for people who don't want to buy a big bag?
Is it possible to round your prices? $1.31 looks penny-pinching, imho.
Suggested projects, with a list of whats needed & a pic of the result?
Basically I think you need images that will not just show what you sell, but also what your customers can buy. You need to create a 'have to have' feeling & you can only achieve that by planting ideas in their heads of what could be made.
I like the multi-coloured tabs.
Think about putting your 2nd paragraph of text below the products, or even leave it out altogether. Customers can be offered the options when they start to shop ~ before then they don't need to know about it & its taking up space in your shop window.I found the site quite hard to navigate, so perhaps a description of what's in each category when you mouseover?
Had you thought of doing 'goodie bags' with a mix of items at a nice price? Perhaps smaller pieces of papers, a handfull of buttons, tags etc for people who don't want to buy a big bag?
Is it possible to round your prices? $1.31 looks penny-pinching, imho.
Suggested projects, with a list of whats needed & a pic of the result?
Basically I think you need images that will not just show what you sell, but also what your customers can buy. You need to create a 'have to have' feeling & you can only achieve that by planting ideas in their heads of what could be made.
#5
Posted 25 March 2003, 19:42
Thanks for the ideas & perspectives. Greg I have to agree with you about the website losing the whole wow factor. Any suggestions on what to do to get it back to looking more professional? As far as look goes? (I really like your studio by the way)!
As for goodie bags, I am working on that along with other kits. I may just rethink the whole selling paper by the sheet & just sell it in packs. I think it will go better that way.
Also with the prices, I am in Canada and all prices are listed in Canadian currency. It's when it's converted to US dollars that the numbers get weird. I think I may take your suggestions though & go ahead & list my prices in US dollars because it seems as if that is where most of my market would come from anyway.
Thanks again & keep the comments coming!
As for goodie bags, I am working on that along with other kits. I may just rethink the whole selling paper by the sheet & just sell it in packs. I think it will go better that way.
Also with the prices, I am in Canada and all prices are listed in Canadian currency. It's when it's converted to US dollars that the numbers get weird. I think I may take your suggestions though & go ahead & list my prices in US dollars because it seems as if that is where most of my market would come from anyway.
Thanks again & keep the comments coming!
