advice needed

[paulinecrafty]

hi guys, i've set up a craft supplies website and i'd like as many opinions about it as possible. although i'm getting a few hits every day i've never made a single sale. what i'd like is for everyone to take a look and give me your opinions on whats wrong with the site....is it the price, items, layout etc etc. or is it just that i'll just have to wait until i get more traffic. i'm unable to put the site name here as i've not posted enough just yet but the site address can be seen in my profile.

thanks very much

pauline

[mjbelkin]

You say you get a few hits everyday, but to be honest they could just be the Google bots, and other search engines.

When I first opened the beadshop I'd been selling on eBay for o couple of years, so firstly I emailled all my past eBay customers (with an "I'll only contact you like this once"). I also use Google Adwords - don't know how effective it is, as I don't use a tracker to see where my customers come from (silly me) - keep a few 'essentials' listed on eBay and have the shop listed in my About Me page, and advertise in relevant web directories and magazines.

The trick is to sell something relatively unique, or that no one else in the UK sells, that people will want, and international sellers won't ship overseas. For me, its the EZ necklace and bracelet sizers.

[michelleC]

Not sure if its just me being a bit Dim, but i carn't see a link???

[mjbelkin]

Not sure if its just me being a bit Dim, but i carn't see a link???

You have to go into Pauline's profile to grab it

[heavenlygirl]

Hi pauline, just had a look at your website. it looks very nice and uncluttered which is what i like. I think to make sales you need a lot more variety of products. Its a dog eat dog world trying to sell cardmaking stuff on the internet as there are so many already. We have had an online shop for about 9 months now and we are still finding it difficult to get it right. we are revamping our website very soon to try and increase sales as we are not happy with our current one.

Good Luck.

Heather

[paulinecrafty]

new website

hi
thanks very much for the feedback and taking time to look at my site. i've also been thinking t hat i dont have enough products on it and hope to be adding more very soon. i'll just have to keep advertising everywhere i can. i'm trying to do craft fayres and putting up posters in relevant places.

[Tip Top]

I like it!
Just one thing - the fonts are a little big - can you make them any smaller as then you'll get more items in view instead of scrolling down the page

What about a special offer on the home page? Maybe free postage and packing on orders over £5?

Good luck with expanding your range!

[Tip Top]

Just had another thought!

You could buy some advertising space on the right hand side of this forum, or there is an auction each Friday (ends at noon) for one of the squares (I have one! )
I'm getting at least 60 hits a day and if people like what they see, they'll add you to their favourites.

There is a seperate thread for it further down on a different section - I've just not yet worked out how to do links!

[Bowed Over]

Hi Pauline,

Had a look at your site, it is lovely really easty to navigate.

Can't give you much advise on getting sales through the site. I have been quite busy recently but I think it is down to linking, repeat customers and word of mouth.

Not much help I know, I think you need to constantly add new things and update your site or the bots will think your site is unused and rank you low.

Cheers.

Lisa

[paulinecrafty]

my website

thanks folks, i'll have a look at the auction for a square on here who knows i might get lucky. i've checked out my stats for the site and the info it gives me says that i definately get a few people looking at the site not just the google bots so that something i suppose. all i gotta do now is entice them to buy. i have taken your advice and offered an enticement so who knows, i'll just keep at it and keep fingers crossed.

[EMEvans]

Hi, i've just had a look at your site and i can't fault it. I also have a craft supplies website and have found my sales are few and far between and my first sale came 6 months after 'opening' my website.

I think that all you need is more products. Hopefully you'll get some sales soon.

All the best.

[cheetahten]

I just looked at your site.

You have a nice site. Try adding more meat to ya page titles. For example in ya Flowers Page on the Title: Instead of just "Flowers"
Change it to "Frabric, Paper Flower"
Or to Frabric, Paper Flower - Crafty Bits Supplies"

I see you are using a H1 heading tag. Customize it to reflect the Page.

Search Engines Give Weight to H1 tags, Plus You want each index page to have a different description.

And Most Important...I see you have no links coming to you
in google, yahoo or msn.

Try to exchange links with other craft RELATED sites. Research that site before exchanging. Read up on PageRank. Also look up SEO tips in google.
Thing to keep in mind is quality of link coming to your site, not quantity.


Hope I was of help.
Rudy