Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Keep in mind that the typical small business experience is that they don`t even break even during the first *year!* You`ve been online a few weeks. Granted, to not get a single order is significant, but certainly not panic time. :-)

One thing I noticed is that there`s nothing to tell me what the site is about and why I should "linger" there. I`m a huge advocate of taking the real-world shopping experience and translating it to the online world.

In a brick-and-mortar (b&m) store, you have a physical and sensory experience. You have people to ask if you need help, answer questions, and show you things. You can pick up and feel products, try them on, and ask more questions. There`s a whole world of sensory contact.

Then there`s the secondary intuition and feel of a store. It`s the overall impression you get of how friendly it is, comfortable, fun, and other such intangible concepts. ALL of that is missing from most e-commerce sites. Does it matter?

People still aren`t all that comfortable giving out financial information on the Web. Before they do, they want a sense of how professional is the store, AND (I think) they want a sense of who they`re dealing with.

In my opinion, right now your store is just another ho-hum kids clothing store. There are thousands, if not millions of them online, and hundreds more in Mall America. Everything looks the same, has the same products, works the same, and other than price, means nothing. How to fix that?

Why did you decide to sell these products? What caused you to leap with inspiration and say THIS is what you want to sell?

You`ve got the "Why Blue Planet" page, but I`d take an abstract, and put it on the front page. Look at your writing, and inject some personality into the site. :-) Make it interesting and different. Right now, the content on that page is so dry and scientific....it`s just not something about *kids* y`know?

What`s you`re Unique Selling Position (USP)? How are you at all different from those millions of other clothing stores? Let people know. They should have a reason to shop in YOUR store, not just drop their money at whatever location they happen to find a product.

In the "Love your Planet," there isn`t any "irrefutable" evidence that the industrial revolution has harmed the entire planet. I get where you`re trying to go, but hyperbolic rhetoric is a sure way to turn of any conservatives. And like it or not, conservatives often have more money than liberals. You may want to tone down the environmental gushing a bit.

If you want to rant about "Earth-friendly environmental stewardship," (whatever that means) start a blog. You can then direct people to your store with links, and that`ll help your inter-linking, which will help your search-engine presence.

I`d also have the "shop by brand" and some sort of "browse our store," with their own heading. Right now they`re under "More Fun Stuff," but browsing isn`t "stuff."

I did a search for "tents" and found 1 item. Doesn`t that seem a bit slim for an outdoor site? Then I searched for "sleeping bag." Why do I have to check "title" and/or "description?" Anyway, I found doubles and quadruples of each item. I think maybe take another look at your "Search" applet, and see if you can get a better one.

All in all, it`s not a bad site, it just needs differentiation. And some personality. :-) And that`s relatively easy to fix, just by putting in some judicious content here and there, particularly on the home page.