Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello,
I started www.ostrichgoods.com about 8 months ago and have started to enjoy limited success with the site.  During X-Mas of 2006 business really picked up and continued into the middle of January.  However, I have not recieved an order for several days, despite having troubleshot the site for speed, account issues, etc.  I realize that X-Mas definetly causes a bump in retail activity but I have been aggressively marketing the site since mid December.  This includes SEO with content, meta data, link exchange, PPC, and directory submission.  I feel that I have improved the site dramatically since X-Mas through tweaking thumbnail sizes, using on the fly thumbnailing, clearer category headings, an all products page, and thorough product descriptions.
     I`m not sure if my hard work has not paid of yet and I`m waiting for google and other search engines to catch up or if what I`ve done is in vain.  Can someone please spend some time at my site and give me decent feedback about page loading times, usability/navigation, visual impact, product/copy informaiton, and overall impression?
     The site is a retail storefront for selling ostrich leather products such as ostrich wallets, ostrich boots, and ostrich belts.  If you want to leave feedback about the products themselves and what you think that would be great too.
     Thanks for taking the time to help me out,

Zach


NOTE:  I have noticed already that someone has brought up how the product may be considered inhumane.  Thanks for your concern, it shows you are a good person.  And thanks for taking the time to research further ;).  Some people may think that ostrich leather is a cruel enterprise, however, how about regular leather and any other animal products, ie meat and dairy??  Ostriches would probably be extinct if it were not for the ostrich leather, ostrich meat, and ostrich feather industry.  Incidentally, 99% of an ostrich is utilized.  Also, the birds used for my products are ranched raised in conditions that would be considered free range.  Please don`t let a knee jerk reaction keep you from reviewing my site.  Thanks!


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"We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of the dreams."

 

This is a critique by way of a first time customer`s experience of your site:

First: I suggest making a heading of Ostrich Conservation.

Then, do away with the first word of your categories, which is `Ostrich`.

Let `Boots For Men`, and `Wallets and Clips`, `Handbags`, Etc. stand alone.

My first thought was "poor bird, they`re just slaughtering you for their goodies aren`t they?"

Hope this helps.

Re: your Note: Yes, it was just a humorous reaction seeing the word Ostrich over and over. I think a conservation link would be good for the site. I did look around and I like the site and the products.

Interesting product. First time to see this. I really like the site, it loaded well. Maybe it is just a slower than usual sales week. Sounds like you are doing what you can w/online marketing. How about targeting existing customers?

Erin

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

I have to agree with Frndchps I would do away with Ostrich at the beginning of every category. The site loads fast and all systems seem to be a go as far as check out etc.. I have a few suggestions though I would reduce the wording down a bit on the front page, it is good to give out some information about your company and products, but it is a bit much. What I mean is when I first visited your site I really did not know I could buy anything till I scrolled down. Also don`t load up to much on keywords you will kill your Google ranking. You right now have a PR of 0 so improvements can be made. The color scheme and layout is nice. If it was my site I would probably change the header image. I know it is a picture of Ostrich Leather but it is a bit intimidating. Maybe replace it with a few pictures of your products or something similar, or even fashion related. Maybe even with your product image and descriptions you might want to use a live model to show your customers how good your product really will look when they wear, or use the items.

I agree with the last post about front page. One BIG looooong paragraph
is very daunting to a prospective buyer. Do people have time to read
something like that if they`re interested in a unique wallet or belt?

And yeah, that`s not a very welcoming image across the top. If someone
is unfamiliar with the look of ostrich leather, which I was, it comes across
like diseased skin from a dermatology study, even though it says "ostrich"
all over! Showing a smaller thumb to showcase the texture is a good idea
though, like the wallet special on the side.

Why do you call it "Seek Ostrich Goods" when the URL is just
ostrichgoods.com? If someone is at your site, then they are already
seeking. I would lose the "seek".

I wouldn`t worry about the people who get upset about ostrich health and welfare. They`re not your customers, and you`re dealing with the same issues as anyone else selling nature`s products. Alligator farms are a good example, and since these people aren`t at all your customers, just ignore it.

On the listing of products to the left of the main page, you definitely don`t need to start every one of them with "Ostrich" something. That`s self-evident from the title of the site.

I also tend to dislike this whole style of using what ought to be a menu area, to list the exact quantity of each product. Who cares? If I click on a product, I expect to see the description and cost, and only if it`s IN or OUT OF stock. If it`s out of stock for long periods, remove it from the store until it`s in stock. But unless you routinely sell to people who want to buy multiple quantities, why is this information useful to me?

Interesting to me is a debate we had about which was better: to go all the way across a screen, or to limit the page to 900-1000 pixels wide. Now, having gone back and forth, I`m looking at your site on my 19" LCD panel. It`s just too wide. (I`d actually thought I preferred the full-width design.)

I had a hard time "getting into" the text content because it just stretched past my easy vision. I don`t want to work that hard. Add to it the dark background and semi-bright lettering, and it was too hard to read.

That being said, I really doubt that your lack of sales in January means anything other than it`s January. :-) Before you can make any sort of rational analysis of your sales, you`re going to have to be in business one full calendar year. More important, I think, is to decide what`s the intrinsic value of your product line.

If you have a fundamental value, then the only reason the time of the year would matter is that people tend to spend extra money around Christmas, and less money afterward. But a good product works year-round, it`s only the amount of sales that changes. And you won`t know that until you run a full cycle.

We`re having a similar situation, where we had a bump at Christmas, and nadda over the past few weeks. Does that mean the word is out and people hate us personally? Is there a "cabal" or "conspiracy" out there to shut down the signal flag banner business? :-) Of course not.

Ostrich leather has been around a long time. It`s a quality product, looks good. lasts, and so forth. Despite the politically correct nonsense we`re having to grind through these days, a huge number of people do understand how leather works, why it`s a product, and that ostriches don`t live forever. I`d say it has nothing to do at all with the sales numbers.

One other comment: I don`t much care, as a first time guest, about setting up an account. I`d rather peruse the site. If I buy something, THEN I`ll consider setting up an account for future purchases. But to see that as the very first title and lead-in of the home page just bugs me.

I`d tend to market this product as a luxury item. Ostrich leather is different. It`s classy. It`s unusual. It speaks of money, adventure, and elegance. To have the site promoting a "gimme" in the account-setup that quickly just doesn`t feel right. It`d be like walking into Tiffany`s, then having the salesperson rush over and ask me to fill out a customer mailing list card before I`ve even looked at anything. Y`know?

     Awesome, awesome, feedback!  Thanks everyone so far.  I have already made some changes by dropping the lengthy intro, adding a page on the humane treatment of ostriches, double asserting that we sell ostrich leather products, and changed the banner image.
      I still haven`t decided if I`m going to drop ostrich from the menu headings becuase I`m trying to find a balance between what people like and what search engines like.  I know it isn`t as pleasing to look at as plain category headings, ie. "Boots For Men", but I`ve read it helps with SEO.  Maybe I`m trying to overoptimize??
     Also, thanks Craig for bringing up the create account issue.  I`ve been trying to figure out how to remove that for awhile.  I need to search through the oscommerce contributions.  One doesn`t have to create an account to browse the store but the lead in for the intro definetly causes one to think it is necessary to create an account.  I will remove it.
    Thanks again everyone, I hope more people take the time to review it!

Zach

UPDATE:  Ok, so I removed the login from the top of the page and I also removed the numbers from next to the categories.  It was actually the # of products in that category, not the #  in stock, but I agree that it is confusing.


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"We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of the dreams."

You`ll have better success if you put human beans ahead of search engines, in terms of how the site looks and feels. Remember, a search engine is blind and can`t think, so it reads every word on the page. But a human being has a feel for aesthetics, logic, metaphors, imagery, and so forth.

If you keep the "Ostrich" in front of every menu item only because it seemingly helps you with search engines, then ask yourself this. "How much money did a search engine pay last month when it ordered some boots from me?" :-) I`ll wager....zero dollars.

SEO is a fine thing, but when it becomes the end-all, be-all of a site, it`s almost always because the site owners lack originality, creativity, and inspiration. Good content will have LOTS of room to insert and repeat key phrases, without appearing to be totally repetitive and meaningless. Y`know?

Note too, that if you have the repeating "ostrich" now in your main paragraph, AND the repeating menu words, you`re walking into the territory of being listed as "spam" by the search engines. I`d suggest you take a look at some of the posts and topics under the SEO headings, here on the SuN forums. There`s been some really excellent stuff written.

I`m finding myself bothered by the "Seek" in the title. I get that you want it in the domain name, and that`s fine. Don`t worry about changing it there, it`s alright. But I`m not sure it works in the content itself.

Consider that you`ve got this:

The problem is that "to seek" is a verb, and causes some peculiar confusion in the reader`s mind. Why can`t you just say,
Note that you shouldn`t capitalize Ostrich Leather as it isn`t a trademarked brand name or a proper noun. Also note that you can place the keyphrase words in a different order, as long as they`re separated only by disposable articles.

In other words, rewrite your home-page content to be actually interesting and informative to a human being, with a secondary consideration to SEO. Not the other way around. If you treat your customers as secondary to the search engines, you`ll antagonize those of us who have emotions. Our search engine compadres have no emotions. :-D

Craig has made some great points about customers versus search
engines. With that in mind, I have one to add about redundancy.

You don`t need to say "Please Choose From One of the Many Ostrich
Leather Product Categories to the Left". When people see a list of links
with the word "Categories" above it, they know to choose one of their
liking.

However, I like the second part of that two-sentence paragraph (which is
now one sentence) about pointing out that the items below are recently
added. But once again, watch your funky capitalization of words in the
middle of sentences. It`s difficult to read.

Overall the site looks waaaaay better than when I first saw it days ago.
Hoorah!

I agree with Steve...the site is starting to look much better now.

Here`s the sentence in question, as you have it:
Here`s how it should be:
Note the colon, not a period at the end. Also, is "Ostrich Leather" a registered brand trademark? If not, then it shouldn`t continually be capitalized.

Sometimes people think that capitalizing every word in a sentence makes for added emphasis. It doesn`t, it just makes it look like amateur writing. I`d suggest dropping the habit or technique. After all, the site is about class and elegance, right? :-)