Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`m just starting up a new website for a (tiny) business I`ve been running for a few years, and I`d love critiques. I`m trying to strike a balance between a gallery style page and sales, knowing that I get most of my sales from shows. I designed it myself on dreamweaver and did all the graphics myself, so if you have any suggestions for how to improve those, its easy to change. I`d love any feedback, the good, the bad, the ugly. Thanks!

http://www.rcubedjewelry.com

First of all, don`t start the front page out with "about us".
Your front page should be your showcase of what`s in it for me, not a page about you.
See copywriting for more info.

Secondly, you need some higher-quality product images with proper lighting. Go look at product displays at similar sites, such as this jeweler who did our wedding rings. The products are shiny, well lit, and beautiful.

Thanks for the feedback. I`ve tweaked the copy on the front page based on that site, I hadn`t considered that before. I`ve also renamed the page "Home." The product images are definitely an issue, but not one I can address all that quickly - that`s going to take money I don`t currently have, but it`s absolutely a future priority. Thanks so much for taking your time out, and if you could quickly look back and see if the changes help, that would be great.   

Hi Bekka :-) Welcome to the forums...

The two things I noticed initially, are mostly aesthetic. You could use some left and right marginal whitespace in all your writing. It seems cramped, pushing up against the borders of the content areas.

Additionally, you should get rid of the table borders around your images. They end up making the pictures look ragged. With the images themselves, try to size them all so they`re the same height and width. Varying sizes for thumbnails doesn`t look all that great.

What I`d expected when I clicked on "Gallery" was a thumbnail gallery. For what I think might be a nicer presentation, you could take an "example" of each product line, then place the thumbnail image of that example---one for each category, so six in all----in a vertical column. Give a short description of the category, then make the images a link to get you into that area.

It would replicate the same menu items along the left, but just make things more visually interactive.

Beyond that, I didn`t easily see any way to buy something from your site. That`s kind of important, right? :-) You could have a tab for "Purchase" or "Order" or however you do this. Somewhere in there, you likely would want a "Contact Us" link of some sort too, I`d think.

Thanks Craig! I`ve spent the last six hours fixing everything you talked about, good advice. If I were better with templates this wouldn`t be so darn difficult, but that`s how you learn, right? At this point it`s not worth it to me to invest in an automated cart ordering system, so I`ve combined ordering information with a new contact page. If you wouldn`t mind taking a quick second look to see if things look better to you, I`d really appreciate it. Either way, thanks so much for taking the time.

Oh...Definitely better!! Yes, it could use some tweaks, but this is a lot more like a typical site. The reason for being somewhat typical or traditional, is that it helps customers (viewers) feel comfortable quickly, and not get distracted by oddness. You want them focused on your product, not the walls and carpeting, in other words.

You might want to take a look at PrestoSell. We`re using them, and it`s been really easy, and has helped customers gain a bit more credibility, until we get to where we build our own shopping cart. :-) Their tech support is great, and we`ve had no troubles at all with the site since we started using it...back last July `07.

If your sales volume is low, the monthly fees for 3rd party carts and a merchant account can exceed your profit.  I have been using PayPal for the past few years because there is no monthly fee, and I my product sales (DVD`s of performances) are not regular.  Some month I don`t sell any, and others I sell a few hundred.

Yes, the PayPal fees are slightly higher than a Merchant Account, but I only pay when PayPal processes a sale.

Steve




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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

We use only Paypal, and the PrestoSell order form is $9.95/month, not very high. In that form, you have the choice to make it an invoice only, with no links for payment, or to limit payment only through PayPal, or to allow merchant cards. We get the best of both worlds, with semi-automated ordering, a flat (low) monthly fee, and we only pay for payments we actually receive.

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