Much needed help on sales marketing for website

[vicky1975]

Hi Everyone,

I would love to hear from you if you have any fab sales or marketing techniques for my website. I am getting loads of visitors, but no one seems to be buying anything.
I have tried via ebay and yet still no sales. I would love to hear from anyone who has changed their website or got any surefire ways to encourage buyers to spend their money on my craft kits.

Any advice most welcome

Vicky

[skullandcrossbuns]

I would definitely recommend getting some pictures of the completed projects on the home/products/workshops pages as you don't really know what you are buying or signing up for, as I don't think all of the images in the gallery match the products you offer. No-one will buy if they can't see what they are buying

Also the images you have on the home page banner, are they relevant to what you do offer for sale? I would also get a clearer image of you logo on the homepage rather than a photograph of your business card

[KullakitaCards]

I agree with the points made by skullandcrossbuns. There were also some very good points about your website on a previous thread. Maybe considering some of the changes might help you get some sales?

Good luck!

Emma.

[Leahlewi]

Hi

I've just had a look and I agree with the comments made also.
You have to think about what makes you buy. Also, when you search on google and find a website, what makes you click in past the first page to take a look around.
I think your home page is really important. Some really good images on the home page would probably make a difference.
Also, I think y ou wold notice a difference if you put some images next to the items in the craft kits section.
Some pictures of workshops you have carried out might be nice (as long as you get the parents permissions so put the pictures on your site of course.
Basically, it's already been said but a lot more visuals.

Good luck

Leah

[vicky1975]

Thanks

Thank you so much for your comments. I will definately change my logo and i think you are right with the visuals. I must admit, i needs something.

Thanks Again

Vicky

[wendy]

Just had a good look round Vicky, and here are my thoughts.

You've got a nice business idea. Definitely add photos in the right places. I was waiting for product photos to load on your craft kits page, I just thought my computer was slow. There's no way I would buy something without at least a photo and preferably also a detailed description of what is included.

I did click on your gallery page, something I may not have done as a customer, and learned what a Happy Harry kit was - too late, and too far away from the add to cart button. I still wasn't sure how much the child had to do, how long it would keep him occupied for, what age group it might be aimed at, exactly what was included, what the packaging was like (important if it is for a gift), etc.

Language: Instead of focusing on you (I sell my craft kits at events..) try focusing on the customer (you can buy craft kits for your children at events..)

About page: The most important bit is the business, and info about this should come before info about you.

Free events - great, but slot them into your workshops page as well. Someone who is unsure about booking a workshop may well want to come and see you first before they buy.

Workshops: 1-2 hours, 5-20 kids, from £50. Does that mean 5 kids, 1 hour is £50? That would be how I'd read it, and I would perceive that as expensive. If that's your rate, ok, but if not, and you could do 20 kids, 2 hours for £50, your wording needs to be changed. Maybe "2-hour workshops for up to 20 kids"?

Testimonials: please take this page down until you can list some without begging for feedback! It draws attention to the fact you have none yet. That page could put off someone who was wavering.

Research shows that more people make contact from a website when they only have to fill in a contact form rather than send an email - maybe this would be worth thinking about for initial contact for a workshop. On my gifts website, I've now got a contact form for bespoke order requests and party plan requests as well as general contact. Yes, people use them. I can't say whether they'd have contacted me by email if I didn't have them. I do get more contact via forms than emails though.

Have you thought about having a blog? You can promote different items and services on a blog very effectively.

Phew!! Sorry, I don't want it to sound critical, but you have a great business idea which needs to be shown properly to people if it's going to work. I know my list is a bit long, but a lot of what I've suggested should be fairly easy to remedy.

I hope it helps

[ejralph]

Everyone else is so right.

You need pictures. It's that simple. Without them, it just doesn't look like you are serious, or just that your website isn't finished and open for business yet.

Good, enticing pictures are the absolute foundation for selling anything online. So you need to make that your number one priority.

Because every visitor that comes to your site now will just walk on out the door again and be unlikely to return - you need to capitalise on every visitor and make them want to stay and look at more. And pictures is the way to do that.

You have been given some fantastic advice in this thread and the previous one - but everyone is agreed that images is what you need to do next I think.

Only then can you even start to think about how your website is doing, because even with great pictures selling is not always easy. But its definitely the next step for your site now I think.

For your kits, people will want to see what they get in the kit and also what they can make from it. Not always easy to get that across in an image of course. On my site, I sell glitter collections, so my images show the glitter itself that comes in the kit and also a selection of jewellery made using the glitters.


In the write up for the product, I detail the kit and clearly what is included and also explain that the jewellery items are just for display.

maybe you could put together similar types of photos for your website? If you are not able to take the photos yourself, maybe put a request online and see if anyone will help you out to get yourself some images like that made up. Because without them, I really don't think any amount of marketing help or advice will help you get sales. A picture paints a thousand words and all that!

Good luck and do let us know when you get the pictures up. Your kits sound delicious and I know I would be interested as I am sure many others are. But not without seeing them as well as reading about them.

Emma

[Bath-Bomb.Com]

I'd agree with everything everyone else has said...and, to be honest, you might benefit from having someone rewrite some of your copy as there are a lot of spelling and grammatical errors.

You definitely need some good clear pictures and I find the yellow navigation bar really difficult to read...

It's also unclear to me what a £1.20 kit contains and if that is per child so I agree that you need to make this clear..pictures with schematics are a good idea...

If the website, in general, is user friendly and gives all the information a viewer needs then your visitors will stay and browse - you can get a sense of what's going on with visitors by looking at your web stats - are they visiting the first page and instantly leaving? Are they adding you to their favourites? are they filling in the contact form? make a list of what sort of activity you're generating and then try and experience the site as someone might on their first visit...

It might be worth having a look at other sites that sell similar products - my bath-bomb.com site sells craft kits - have a look at the differences between yours and mine and any others you can find...Not suggesting mine's exemplary but 70% of visitors add me to their favourites and I get a lot of very good feedback on the usability of the site and the information on the kits etc...

At the moment - and I have to be brutally honest - your site doesn't give a professional image of your business but the good news is that, if you are getting lots of visitors, you must have a product/service that interests people...so keep working at it and keep asking for feedback on the forum...

Just one last question - you conduct workshops in your own home - as a mum I would be wondering about your qualifications for working with children, whether your home has been inspected for health and safety and has it an up to date fire certificate; if you (and anyone else coming into contact with other peoples' children) have a current CRB check; Do you have first aid training if a child is injured and do you have the relevant insurance to cover personal injury claims...also do the mum's stay with the children or can they leave them with you....I'm honestly not sure many parents would be happy with this idea and it might be worth you seeing if you can hire a room in a Children's centre that, clearly, would have all those bases covered...

HTH

Jude

[vicky1975]

Thanks

Just read your new comments which i am most grateful for, even though some are rather too honest, but none the less, i appreciate your opinions.

I have already made a start in adding several visual graphics which i must admit, is needed to attract customers into purchasing my craft kits, which is where i think i am losing customers. I have already got some bookings for my craft workshops, which is a good start.

As for your comment on my home workshops, I have a current CRB check (which is stated on my website as well as public liability insurance) and parents can stay with their children if they want, to give the reassurance to parents/carers. I do not need to have a health & safety inspection (as I have checked with my local council dept)

Thank you once again for your comments and I hope i am on the right track to success

Vicky x

[TizzyDizzy]

Lots of great and valid advice for you here.

My only comment would be not to use red or blue font colours on your homepage. It just doesn't look very professional or appealing and little amaturish. Best top tip I can give when it comes to web design is 'keep it all consistent'. Nothing worse than visiting a website that has content that jumps around.

Don't be discouraged, I think with some work you could have a lovely wesbite.

[screech]

what payment system are you using?

[bodrighy]

Looking at your website you have a great product and I would imagine a lot of people would be glad to buy the kits and get involved in the workshops. Part of what everyone is trying to say is that statistics show that the average browser sppends a maximum of 10 seconds on a page and if it doesn't grab their attention will move on. Your first page needs to have more visuals and a lot less words. Few people will stop to read throug it all. I missed the menu at the top at the first go because of the colour scheme and as said the multi colour text is not usually very appealing. Most of wht you are saying can be said a bit at a time on the different pages as people click on to the parts they are interested in.

All the comments are helpful (not too helpful ) and are valid points. What you have is worth getting it right for as it is something that could have a lot of potential with both individuals and with groups like nurseries etc. Aim for a simple Home page with an easy to see menu taking the browser on to the parts they are interested in and then let them see what you are offering with images. For the kits use thumbnails that will open bigger pictures to vew the contents

Keep at it 'cos it's a good product and worth the effort

Pete

[lockettpots]

Hi Vicky

I've sent you an email using your Contact Form on your Contact Us webpage.

Johjn