Wizmo Magic

[Hade]

I've finally developed my site to a point where I think it's ready to show you all.

I'd like plenty of constructive criticism. Please don't hold back!

 

I've installed the following contributions, plus made some of my own.

 

Admin Customer Password Changer

Auto-Thumbnailer

Credit-Class Gift Voucher (not working propely.)

CSS Category Menu

Customer Testimonials

Download Controller

Fixed Width Site (CSS)

Infobox Skins Manager

Order Editor

Paypal IPN

Referrer Tracker

Sales Reports

SEO Assistant

 

I'd just like to thank everyone in the osCommerce community for this amazing product. Open Source rules!

 

http://www.WizmoMagic.co.uk

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Added Link

[Andrew Yuen]

Your header does not convey what your site is about. I would include a logo and maybe some graphics. I do like the testimonial bubble and the videos included on the product_info pages. The categories infobox contents do not match the rest of the site. I think that the grey/darkgray background rollover is unnecessary. Other then that I recommend adding a SSL certificate.

[Victor Wise]

Hi Hayden,

 

I agree that you need to make your logo more magic oriented. Why not include the graphic of a snazzy card flourish, or even a magic wand?

 

On your homepage, you advertise your generous offer of free shipping for orders over 15 quid – this is the worst place to put this information. I would recommend moving this information to the view cart contents page where it can have more of an impact.

 

On some of your product pages, the price is listed at the top while the ‘add to cart’ button is at the bottom. You should always put the price near the add to cart button, especially since your products are dirt cheap.

 

I think it would be worth while changing the way your products are categorized. Take this landing page http://wizmomagic.co.uk/catalog/product_in...?products_id=48

Few people know what a coin matrix is, and it appears that about 343 people searched for ‘coin matrix’ last month in the search engines. This leaves you something like 30 UK shoppers a month making this category fairly worthless.

 

However, about 80,000 people type in ‘David Blaine’ and 13,000 type in ‘street magic’ every month. Why not attach the keywords ‘street magic’ and ‘David Blaine’ into the header of a landing page that sells all the tricks made popular by David Blaine. I wouldn’t include the videos on these landing page, but instead would put a snapshot with a concise description of each trick. I would also put them in order from easiest to most difficult.

 

Here is another thought, though I am not sure of the legal implications: why not include actual pictures of David Blaine doing the tricks or his actual videos on your landing pages? Just make sure to say he is a ‘great magician of prodigal talent’ and one of the ‘best in the world’. ( For the non-magicians out there: While David Blaine is a great performer, his skill level in sleight of hand is that of a beginner. Most magicians are much more talented then him; yet, remain nobodies since they are not as good performers. Actually, it is fairly hilarious to see him being slandered by 14 year old kids – especially since these young magicians are usually far superior to him in sleight of hand).

 

Anyways, you might be able to get away with including videos clips or photos of David Blaine if you promoted him and called him a master. He needs all the good praise he can get, especially from magicians such as you. Also, laymen want to think that they can be a master magician like David Blaine. Funny thing is, with some of the tricks you sell, they can be as good as him with only a few minutes of practice.

 

For your esoteric magic tricks – you definitely need to include videos. Take the invisible deck trick. No one is going to buy that trick unless they a) have seen it performed and know that it was a trick deck and were told its name B) destroyed their old invisible deck.

A video is a must – make it as short as possible. The invisible deck is an amazingly powerful trick – a lot of people would buy it just to find out its secret. On a side note, is the brainwave deck still being sold?

 

Have you considered selling some out of copy write books, such as ‘expert at the card table’ or ‘royal road to card magic’. If you have the time, you might want to devote a portion of your website on to the study of sleight of hand instead of just selling cheap gaffs. You could even perform some of these tricks on video, and include it in the landing page for these books. Pair a Michael Ammar video on coin magic with a book on the subject – then film yourself doing some sleight of hand trick that is taught in both the book and video. Some people are actually interested in learning some real sleight of hand which you should encourage. Personally, I feel that people who explore sleight of hand are more likely to have a sustained interest in the Magical arts.

 

One more comment: I recommend raising your price on some of the products. Remember, people are not just buying a gaff (magic prop) from you - they are buying a magic secret. Increase your prices. If you want to be generous, offer a second deck for free. Or you could give away other cheap bonus products. For example, if someone buys an invisible deck, you could include a tiny vial of slick ace formula so they could make a few decks of their own.

 

For the checkout – I recommend allowing people the option to checkout without being required to create an account. You also need an SSL certificate. I would also recommend getting rid of the coupon code for reasons explained here.

 

I understand that paypal is more accepted in the UK than the States; but still, I would recommend including another payment option (I am probably just saying this though since I hate paypal). However, if you plan to sell to America, you definitely need to start accepting credit cards. Paypal doesn’t work as well in the USA as it does in Europe.

 

I hope you found my criticism constructive and are not insulted by its bluntness. Also, being a magician myself, I couldn’t help but to express some of my own opinions which you may or may not agree with.

 

Good luck with your business endeavors! I hope you do well.

[Hade]

Thank you both very much, that's exactly what I was looking for!

Victor, thank you for the great detail you went.

I am indeed moving into the non-gimmick, sleight-based market very soon, I have just placed an order with my supplier.

 

The reason my prices are low is that I also sell on eBay (where competition is fierce) and many of my website customers come from there (via a link in my listings to the demo). As soon as I have a greater product range and my other promotion methods dominate, I can start to increase my prices.

 

Yes, brainwave decks are still around! they will be added to my product range soon.

 

Why not attach the keywords ‘street magic’ and ‘David Blaine’ into the header of a landing page

With the David blaine idea, are you saying I should have a Blaine category? and by into the header do you mean the page title, or the content or both?

Do you recommend the Ultimate SEO URLs contribution? any other contribs you think I should have?

 

Thank you both again for your excellent feedback!

[Victor Wise]

Hi Hayden,

 

What I am suggesting is that you create a landing page which will target customers who type in: ‘Blaine’, ‘David Blaine’, and ‘street magic’. Design the landing page specifically for Google adwords, this way, you can immediately benefit from the increased traffic.

 

Do yourself a favor first though and make sure you understand the information on these two pages:

http://www.articlecube.com/Article/Google-...ing-Pages/28212

 

http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/361...age-design.html

 

 

For your three keywords, create an adwords ad that says something like:

 

Learn Street Magic

Dazzle Spectators With The Same

Street Magic David Blaine Uses

www.wizmomagic.co.uk

 

(Note: Capitalizing the first letter of every word will increase your CTR)

 

Then make a landing page that will satisfy Google’s quality score guidelines.

 

Here is an example of a decent landing page I wrote very quickly and on the fly.

 

Learn The Professional Street Magic of David Blaine

 

Dazzle your friends with the same exact street magic David Blaine uses. World class professional magicians rely on these same tricks so you are guaranteed to leave people in awe.

 

These magical illusions are designed ingeniously, meaning, you don’t need to put in a lot of practice time. In fact, some of these tricks can be learned with in just a couple minutes; yet they would fool a professional magician not aware of the secret.

 

Product 1 snapshot

Average learning time: 5 minutes

 

Product 2 snapshot

Average learning time: 15 minutes

 

Etc.

 

 

When someone clicks on one of the products, I recommend you put them on the already existing landing page with the video, such as http://wizmomagic.co.uk/catalog/product_in...;products_id=35

 

 

Also on the landing page: I recommend putting very tiny ‘add to cart buttons’ below each snap shot and have a hyperlink and the picture link to the landing page. This of course is to improve your quality score.

 

 

About the example landing page I did for you above: I designed it to accommodate your three keywords and recommend you only use one ad. I did not feel it necessary to create separate landing pages for ‘David Blaine’ and for ‘street magic’

 

Good luck!

[Victor Wise]

I just realized that I never illustrated the fonts and colors in my above example. This is the same page, but it is easier on the eye.

 

 

 

 

Learn Street Magic

Dazzle Spectators With The Same

Street Magic David Blaine Uses

www.wizmomagic.co.uk

 

(Note: Capitalizing the first letter of every word will increase your CTR)

 

Then make a landing page that will satisfy Google’s quality score guidelines.

 

Here is an example of a decent landing page I wrote very quickly and on the fly.

 

 

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Learn The Professional Street Magic of David Blaine

 

Dazzle your friends with the same exact street magic David Blaine uses. World class professional magicians rely on these same tricks so you are guaranteed to leave people in awe.

 

These magical illusions are designed ingeniously, meaning, you don’t need to put in a lot of practice time. In fact, some of these tricks can be learned with in just a couple minutes; yet they would fool a professional magician not aware of the secret.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Product 1 snapshot

Average learning time: 5 minutes

 

 

Product 2 snapshot

Average learning time: 15 minutes

[Hade]

Excellent, plenty of helpful hints there, thank you very much indeed.

I've added a magical touch to the logo and the categories menu.

 

I've also moved the 'free postage' image to the checkout and added the product prices nearer the 'add to cart' button.

I'll implement the other changes next week.

I've been wondering whether an SSL certificate is worth the £75/year just for the tiny padlock symbol, I didn't think many people checked for it when buying online, but I've seen many people say it's essential so I think I'll get one.

I'm launching an electronic survey soon to gain a better understanding of magicians buying habits so that will answer a few questions.

 

Thanks again Victor for your top-class help!

Hayden