Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I launched my start-up (local custom furniture e-commerce) about 3 weeks ago:

www.remifurniture.com

Slowly building traffic, getting good analitycs results; very low bounce rates, good amount of time spent on site. But I'm getting zero sales. I know that it's a butique business with high prices so I shouldn't expect lots of sales.  But I want to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward before I spend more money on advertising.

I did all of the web content my self on top of a cms/cart framework built by a web developer. But now I think I need someone to come in and polish things off.  Can someone reccomend a conversion optimization specialist?  Someone that won't try and talk me into a total site redisign?

Thank

I just finished building a TV console, it was quite the undertaking for sure... I used walnut planks(8/4 for the top piece) and a little walnut ply for interior sidewalls, ect... i'm only mentioning this to say that I know first hand how much time goes into a nice piece of furniture.

THAT ASIDE... there's NO WAY the normal folk are going to spend $5,500 on a desk...

SO, that leaves the folk who are a bit more well off, the kind who can afford expensive furniture. I'm asking myself, if I were that person would I be searching through Google looking for desks... probably not, I'd probably have an interior decorator do it for me.

I think you should be targeting your marketing/advertising towards upscale/exclusive interior decorators, they are the ones who will be buying on behalf of the well off.

I could be completely wrong, but, that's my take at least...

There are a lot of companies out there who provide this service. A couple years ago I worked with a firm called Sitetuners.com in San Diego. If you've ever heard of the book Landing Page Optimization, it is written by a guy named Tim Ash who runs the company. I remember the cost being pretty reasonable.

Check out Conversion Rate Experts.  I haven't worked with them, but I've heard good things.

I agree with jamison on maybe targeting interior decorators instead of direct to consumer.

I liken your market to the same market for the brand Herman Miller.  Maybe you can take notes from the way they market their products and get more ideas.

As far as what to add to your website, maybe you can add more interactive features, such as an email capture form and videos.  Videos can demonstrate how Remi makes his furniture.  Maybe have him or you talking about select pieces and how they are made.

If most of your business is local, you can do a little pr to get him or you on a few local news shows.

--Daphne