Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

HI

We`ve launched our website selling baby gifts and gift boxes in the UK. Sales are good and the business is growing as expected. All we want to know is an honest opinion of the website and if anyone has any suggestions about content, photography or design then please feel free to be a honest as you like.

Cheers in advance

Daisy the ZooKeeper

-------------------------

www.daisyzoo.com - Baby gifts and baby gift boxes delivered anywhere in the UK

Hi, Daisy!

I`m not sure why, but I keep getting a `can`t find www.daisyzoo.com` or `page not available`.  Is the site down for maintenance?

Tracy

The web site looks good.
How is the Search Engine Optimization?
Have you sold items online yet?

 

-------------------------

Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

uhhhh.  There`s nothing there


-------------------------

Hi Daisy,
Love the website, I had trouble earlier logging on to it but
obviously that problem has been fixed. I have forwarded your
site to all my relatives that still live in the UK, so hopefully more
busines will be coming your way!! Good luck and I will be
checking out your site`s products for some baby ideas for my
line of "Baby Love" Hope you don`t mind!
Cheers

-------------------------

Sarah Founder www.sarahsperfectgift.com Gift giving made easy

Nice Web site! My only gripe is the font is too small for my tired old eyes. :-) But it`s easy to navigate, easy to understand, and looks very professional. See if you can work on the search-engine optimization, marketing, and getting out the word of mouth. Also, maybe you can link to other places?

One idea I`ve seen that seems very helpful, is to put up an auction on eBay, with one running all the time (although you may not want to bother with an eBay store), then put a link to your Web site in the auction. EBay allows that, I think? and it`d get you more exposure.

Have you tried working out a deal with local hospitals, placing some of your items in the gift shops? From another post, I learned there`s a growing business with "personal concierge" people, much like personal assistants. If you have them in your area, or contact them online, you would be an excellent resource for them, when a client suddenly has to send a fast gift to someone important who`s just had a baby.

Something to consider would be modelling after "1-800-flowers.com" where you can put in www.flowers.com, and it`ll redirect to the main Web site. If you can afford it, maybe grab a domain like "www.babygifts.com" or something totally obvious. Then redirect people to your main site.

The reason I thought of them is they`re well-known for offering the capability to "drop-ship" flowers anywhere, with the click of a mouse. Why not highlight the same on your site? "Oh jeez...my client`s wife just had a kid...I should send a gift...like..instantly!" :-)

You could have it as a really obvious button: "Send a Baby Gift" and connect with FedEx or UPS, or whatever. Again, just look at the 1800 Flowers site to see how they`re doing it.

It`s not that expensive to advertise on talk radio, (or even cable TV). Around important flower days, there are 15- and 30-second spots to remind people of 1-800-Flowers (dot com). Do you have an 800 order number for phone orders? As a promotion, you can type in the name of the host on who`s show you heard the ad, for a 10% discount.

Oh...I gotta `nuther idea! (Thank goodness for the Edit button!). I remember this from the old Babies `R` Us chain: A baby shower registry, like for bridal registries. An expectant mom is likely to get a shower, and she probably could really use certain things, but often has no way to tell anyone what it is she`s short on. Why not put something like this into the site?

Also, there could be a way to broadcast email the tasteful message that "Jane Smith has invited you to a baby shower," and allow Jane to put in the date and stuff (or maybe her friend who`s running the show). This wouldn`t be "spam," but would allow you to get your name out there. Even if not everyone bought a gift through the registry, it would allow other people to grow your mailing list for you. A thought, anyway....:-)

I`d have to agree with the font size issue - from your style sheet it looks like you`re using a 10pt font, which is going to be difficult for many to deal with.  Simply boosting that to 12pt could make a huge difference.

Beyond that obvious issue, I like the overall design of the site, it`s appealing, with a clear navigation stream.  One usability issue (again with the fonts) - there are too many font colors being employed, and they`re not being used consistently - i.e. you use the orange font for both headings and body text, and the former are not links, while the latter are. You`re making me guess which text links through to something, which generally isn`t a good idea (especially if you`re employing non-standard font colors for linked text).

I`m not clear why everyone is getting after you for SEO, it looks to me like you`ve taken some good steps in this area for on-page optimization, I haven`t really delved into off-site factors - one question I had was about the huge amount of text links at the bottom of your main page.  Beyond being so cumbersome, if that`s intended for SEO purposes, you`re probably going to see limited benefit from that; better off having good sub-pages that clearly link through to all of your items, which you basically have.

One last point - small pet peeve of mine - your logo doesn`t link back to your home page!


-------------------------

chuck fuller

Agree with Chuck on his comments.  Font size is something that we play with alot, and something that my designer and I argue about often.  Seems that designers LOVE small fonts .  You`re OK leaving the 10pt fonts in the menu, as they seem to fit the width best at that size.  I would rework the top of the content section to feature your products as soon as possible above the fold.  You have excellent product pictures.  I think the introduction/welcome text is not needed, and just adds to the clutter on the home page. You have a lot going on there.

Once you get consistant traffic, I`m a big fan of a/b testing for a site like yours.  See what your traffic and conversions are like for the site as is for a week or two, then change it around for another week or two.  Study whether the new layout did better or worse, or if a hybrid of the two would work best.


-------------------------

Steve James Fresh Yields- a new media firm, providing ecommerce solutions, redesign consulting, web design, email campaign management, and internet marketing.

I also have to agree with Chuck. You establish a pattern on the left hand side by having links in oragne font. Then when I go into a product category the headers are the same font size and also orange - I expected to be able to click on the headers and have it take me somewhere.

Not sure but I was also perplexed by the `More Info` buttons. If I click on an image I expect to see a larger picture of the product. If I click on `More Info` I expected to see more on the product - not the larger picture. I was in the bib area so I`m not sure if all products are like this but I did feel somewhat mislead by the `more info` button.

Otherwise I love the site - the colors are bold and fun, the layout (other than font size) is straightforward, and their is definately a level of polish there. Love to see what you have in store with this site.


-------------------------

Creative Principal - Vox Pop Design http://voxpopdesign.com (801) 953-3805

I like your site and agree with all that was said so far.

One way to get your name out there is by viral marketing. You could close deals with a company (or companies) that create baby greeting cards (new baby, baby birthday, funny baby cards, etc) and have such cards available on your site. A customer could then write something and email to a friend. In the card you would  be marketing your own company and, as a bonus, the company that gave you the virtual cards.

Good luck,

Andre Costa


-------------------------

Andre Costa DaCosta Chocolates, LLC www.DaCostaChocolates.com