| Jul. 07 2008 at 4:33 PM |
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gratitudewave wrote: Thanks for the feedback we do have visitors going to these pages and they are on the site for about 5 minutes per visit.
Actually 5 minutes is not bad. That means they are probably perusing all the different items.
My opinion, fwiw: I agree with others who say the site is a little busy and could use more product information. Maybe fewer bars across the top and from left to right. That having been said, selling this kind of thing online is difficult because you can't let customers touch and feel the product. So that will always be a struggle.
Why would someone buy something from you? I think a potential angle to work is the "gift" angle -- I could see buying something like this as a gift for a female family member. That might be something to push more on the front page and to consider if you go with a PPC campaign.-ph.ind
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| Jul. 08 2008 at 12:16 PM |
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Waves I strongly suggest you add a toll free number to your website making it easy for your customers to call you. Many people prefer to speak with someone - plus it makes you look bigger and more established. Get a 30-day Free trial of a toll free number from RingCentral (www.ringcentral.com). It forward to your home or cell phone and includes voicemail and fax. You can even adjust the hours that you want your calls to come through and otherwise send them to voicemail. You get a record of all incoming calls for easy call back. Enjoy :)
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| Jul. 08 2008 at 12:19 PM |
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| Jul. 08 2008 at 12:52 PM |
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If there's music playing on the site (and it's not a musician's or related site), I split so I didn't last long enough to judge it and I couldn't find an off button. I intend NO offense but its worked out to be a good litmus test with regard to functionality, navigation and programming in general.
I wrote a two part series on website design for fashion designers. Some of it may apply to you. Take what you can use and leave the rest. I wish you the best with your venture!
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/mt/archives/designers_website_design.html
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/mt/archives/designers_website_design_pt2.html
~Nurture people, not products~
http://www.fashion-incubator.com
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| Jul. 08 2008 at 1:05 PM |
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You have some clarity issues. Are you a designer with a vision or a company with a vision? Jewelry is seen as 'company made/sold' versus fine jewelry 'company made/sold versus artisan made/hand-crafted carry different expectations. I think that is why one of the pieces of feedback involved pricing issue...
Silver is seen as inexpensive, thanks to the cookie cutter jewelry available at wal-mart, for example. As a designer, your focus needs to be more on hand-crafted, though American made is positive here. I suspect it's also connected to the matter of positioning.
As an artisan jeweler who hand-crafts jewlry, I see your jewelry as well photographed (a professional would do better to pull the shine out if you have it...if the surface is dulled purposefully, that mention would be good. Black and silver only look perfect in person...photographically they are a tricky combination. (our photos are horribly inchoherent...done swiftly and doing our jewelry a disservice, which is why we're having a professional come in and do them end of month, so to me, your photos are well done for average shots.) I also see the prices and they look reasonable. Though as I said, I craft artisan jewelry and my prices are based on that. Mold-made non-artisan jewelry runs much less for not-well-known designers. The website look appears less artisan-oriented and more like a production oriented website.
Kim
Kim Paluch
kim_paluch@new.rr.com
Of the Earth Artisans
http://of-the-earth-artisans.blogspot.com
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| Jul. 08 2008 at 1:46 PM |
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Despite the numerous issues to take care of, your problem may just be limited traffic. To really understand your traffic, how many visitors do you receive on an average day? If it varies too much to say, you probably don't have enough traffic. You should see consistent numbers, with differences on the weekend depending on your market type.
Secondly, as another person already pointed out, the overall bounce rate is important to understand. Your site may be very niche (or skewed) and maybe 10% stay for an hour, where almost 90% stay for less than a minute. It's important to analyze your traffic reports to tune your website to be better. This is where experts could come in to show you where you're site is 'missing the hit'. Otherwise there can always be that little piece of information you don't realize that is affecting sales.
Regards
Colin Winter
Small Business Website Management and Marketing
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| Jul. 08 2008 at 2:44 PM |
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Thank you everyone for your feedback we are looking to re structure our site and appreciate all your input
http://www.wavesofgratitude.com
My Email Email
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| Jul. 09 2008 at 10:09 AM |
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Your products are beautiful, however I had to really focus on them to see that. The "branches of hope" is gorgeous-- but I had to really look close to see the pink pearl. I thought clicking on it would give me an up close view-- but it did not.
You need to make it effortless for your visitors to appreciate the beauty of your items.
I suggest--
1. Remove all of the distracting links on the left. Certainly you are proud of your newspress--but I would think your main goal is to sell product. Move those links to your Newspress and sigining up for your blog to the bottom of your page perhaps. Use the extra room for BIGGER photos.
2. Pictures need to be cropped, bigger and brighter. I would also consider a brighter color for the background... white? The black doesn't work for your site. I looked at how some other jewelry stores are featuring silver -- most seem to use white. See Zales silver jewelry. You are selling a concept -- gratitude and hope-- that should be bright and happy.... reflect that with your images and page layout.
3. The tagline you have at the top "Jewlery to Inspire" would be a great opportunity to brighten up your site. I would have a graphic artist create something bigger, brighter, and colorful (perhaps incorporating waves) --something that invokes whimsy.
4. You have a lot of dead white space at the top next to your logo. Could you add some color here? Perhaps credit card logos, or shipping services logos?
Regards.
Edited by: rookaps - Jul. 09 2008 at 10:19 AMCharlotte Terry
RooKaps -- USB Replacement Caps
http://www.RooKaps.com
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