Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello, we have been online since 1996. Yes, there were web sites back then! This is our fourth generation web site. . We do everything here in house so changes can be made quickly. Sometimes, when you work on a web site for so long and every day you loose site of all the little details. We`re always open to any suggestions/criticisms/opinions...etc anyone may have for our site


You can visit the site here, FactoryDirectCraft.com
Please don`t hold anything back and give us your honest opinion. However, please also be detailed about what you don`t like so we can strive to fix it.
Thank you in advance We appreciate your help

Hi there :-) Welcome to the community.

I went to your site, and was struck right away with how professional it looks. Really well done! It loads fast, looks sharp, has a fine color theme, and is easy to read.

That being said, there`s nothing personal there, and nothing that got me interested right away. I looked at the About Us page, and wondered if you couldn`t just put a little bit of introductory text on the home page?

It really is a very nice site. I just wonder how it competes with all the other nice sites, y`know? I get tons of mail-order catalogs, partly because I like them, and mostly because I buy things through the mail (and online).

Every catalog has some sort of nice description that may be clever, may not be more than just a blurb. But there`s at least a description and an attempt to make a connection with me, the reader.

Thanks for taking the time to write and critique the site. The about us page was actually something we were working on.
Your comments will spur us on to do it sooner not later.

Any other ideas? Not sure which direction to go with a blurb?

It`s not so much a direction, it`s that more and more we`re seeing and hearing about "personal interaction" being a key part of a Web site. In other words, as people get more used to online shopping, they want more than a passive site.

Think of two shopping experiences in a brick-and-mortar environment. In the one, there`s a store with a front door. You walk in and see a whole lot of merchandise but no people. In the other, you walk in and see all the merchandise, but someone greets you with a smile, asks if you could use some help, and lets you know they`re available if you have questions.

The first is a passive store, the second is active.

Ok, changed the about me page trying to give it more of a warm homey feel.
Still not crazy about that page though. Seems like it needs something more. Looks somewhat amateur to me

But I guess, I am still lost as to how to welcome the customers to the home page. We have talked about live help. Used it quite awhile back. However, since we have limited office hours and were not there 24/7 we felt that the operator not being there looked bad. Especially,  for our overseas customers.

Thanks again for your help

I went and looked at Amazon. To me, they`re a benchmark site always doing things right. Then I looked again at your site, and here`s a thought:

Amazon uses their Kindle ad as a welcome. It`s as if they`re saying, "Welcome to Amazon, where we sell books. Check this out! We`ve got the coolest electronic reader! Oprah got one, and here`s her comments. Isn`t that cool? Hey, if you come on into the site, you`ll see all kinds of other cool stuff!"

You could do that. Take a featured product that`s in the middle of your price range. Write copy that not only summarizes the product, but creates the emotional "feel" you want in your customers. It gets people in the mood, so to speak, not only for your type of products, but also to shop.

Would that help?

Take a look. We have changed the home page. What do you think? Feel Warmer and more inviting? Other suggestions?. We love the ideas.....keeps us motivated

Oh yah, I like that! :-D 
What`d be cool would be over the next few weeks if you could update this post and let us know if your numbers have gone up? By that, are your visitors spending more time on your site, and are your conversions to sales going up.

All in all, though, this is way better. :-)

Keep you posted on our analytics..... Lets just hope it helps conversions

We change the home page every week to 10 days. So, we are already working on more
like the box set for the next designs. All with that  "warm & homey" feel

Other ideas?

Keep you posted on our analytics..... Lets just hope it helps conversions

We change the home page every week to 10 days. So, we are already working on more
like the box set for the next designs. All with that  "warm & homey" feel

Other ideas?