| Nov. 17 2008 at 1:29 PM |
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Right now this is the first version of my site. I really dont want to put much money into it until I get more sales. What minimal things should I do that wont break the bank? Is it neccessary to get a logo to look more professional? Do you like how its organized, the shopping cart, etc?
Thanks
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| Nov. 17 2008 at 2:34 PM |
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Wow - I can't believe how expensive baseball caps have gotten!
I would say one suggestion is to have better photos - they all seem too dark to me.
Could you maybe get some pictures of some "cool" people wearing some of your hats? Or maybe some sports stars?
Eric
http://www.EngineersCanSell.com
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| Nov. 17 2008 at 3:24 PM |
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Great ideas...I should probably edit the pics and get people sporting the caps.
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| Nov. 17 2008 at 4:05 PM |
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added a video for now :)
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| Nov. 17 2008 at 5:13 PM |
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As far as your layout, there is a lot of wasted space at the top .... maybe use a larger font and more text ..... the more textual content, the better for search engines and rankings ..... Ideally, create a text area next to the video to keep the text in one general area, not wrapping around the video and wasting so much space.
Your about page .... sorry, but it really doesn't say anything about you, your company, why you are better than the next guy selling caps, why I should trust your company, etc. You not only need to sell your products, you need to sell your company as well. Tell me something to gain trust in your business and I'm more likely to buy something.
In wanting to show off your product, why only 3 on the main page? Show 6, 10, 12 .... I'm here to see caps, and get an idea of what you have right away, so throw a nice mixture of them right up front ....
The main thing, though, is price .... it looks like the average cost is @ $30.00 a cap .... throw in the shipping cost and we're talking almost $40.00 .... now, what exactly am I getting for that money? All your descriptions are somewhat generic, and pretty much the same from what I saw ( I didn't look at all of them ) .... so yeah, I'm getting a cap for that money, but so what? i can get one at K-Mart or WalMart or somewhere else for a lot less, and actually see what I'm getting .... what are yours made of? What are your guarantees? How high of a quality is there? Basically I have no clue what I'm getting from you.
The video .... to be honest, I have no idea what was being said/sung, so I can't tell what the purpose of it really is.
Edited by: Webline - Nov. 17 2008 at 5:14 PMM Hall
MichianaWebline
EmployIndiana.com
International Society of Curmudgeons
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| Nov. 17 2008 at 11:00 PM |
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I'll echo Webline's thoughts, particularly on the video. No clue what
that's about, other than something involving rap-something. If your
target market is urban youth, do they have the $40 plus online access
for e-commerce? Do they have the transactional capability to buy caps
online?
That big bar of whitespace is just that...empty space.
One thing you've mentioned would be a logo. I think if you do it right,
particularly given the company name, you could create a "person"
icon...a "character" around which to build your whole business. "Talk
with the Cap Junkie," or something along those lines.
The Catch-22 is that it takes money to make an attractive store, online
or off, and bring in customers. But it takes customers to bring in the
money to make an attractive store. That's why startup
capital....investment capital...is such a problem for so many new
businesses.
If all you have is a very limited amount of money and you're going to
bootstrap, then I'm thinking the key things are: Logo, shopping cart,
photographs, descriptions. Those all should be very professional, very
clear, interesting, and obvious.
With good "mail-order" desrciptions, the overall page content on each
page can be less than stellar. But it should still be interesting. So
you'll want some sort of access to or deal with a photography person
and a copywriter.
Craig Landes
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Defining the undefinable. "There are 10 kinds of people in the world---those who understand binary numbers and those who don't." - Unknown
International Society of Curmudgeons
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| Nov. 18 2008 at 1:04 PM |
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Great points Webline. Within a week I'll get something better up with many of your suggestions. And Yes Craig I do agree, I should invest more money into this startup if I want to bring in customers. With the video I was trying to make it interesting and a little funny. The guy is singing about caps in particular new era caps and its evident by just looking at the video and not neccessarily having to understand it. The target market is urban/hip hop/skater males and yes they do have the resources and money to buy the caps. The New Era brand baseball hats are premium just like an expensive pair of jeans. Again I will make changes in the next week for sure. Thanks for all of you guys help.
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| Nov. 18 2008 at 2:51 PM |
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Take a look at other sites that sell the same types of products .... look at their descriptions, company information, what they are using to get attention and create sales .... is essence, what is their pitch to their target market? .... I'm not saying copy everything they do, but get a feel what they do to be successful ....
M Hall
MichianaWebline
EmployIndiana.com
International Society of Curmudgeons
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