Need Feedback

[Guest]

I'm having trouble getting people to my sight...and getting people to purchase from my site. I know it's not the prices...they are reasonable and much the same as other sites. Any suggestions on how I can improve my site??

Crafty Gift Creations

 

Thanks! <_<

[Chance]

Your site is not even finished yet. Why would you make your store live and expect to get sales if you have not even changed the default index text (that, incidentally, tells you how to change the default index text)?

[Guest]

Your site is not even finished yet.  Why would you make your store live and expect to get sales if you have not even changed the default index text (that, incidentally, tells you how to change the default index text)?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you happened to look at it when I lost my index page and had to upload the default text. If you look at it again, you'll see it is finished. I had to use backup to upload my index page again.

[wheeloftime]

I think you happened to look at it when I lost my index page and had to upload the default text. If you look at it again, you'll see it is finished. I had to use backup to upload my index page again.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You probably have a lot of competitors and 2 months for a shop just starting is not that long if you think people first must be able to find you which can take a while. Maybe some special promotions can just tickle some customers enough to start buying and you should think about getting SSL as I miss an SSL secured part of the site for login and checkout which might turn people of. Also for many shops like ie yours and mine the mandatory registering part seems a big hurdle and I would recommend to add at least a contribution like Purchase Without Account (PWA).

[niknakgroup]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=na...creations%2Ecom - that shows you only have 4 pages indexed in google, and 2 of those are error pages. Until the engines can find you and rank you, you will only have a very limited source of traffic to your site. Until you have that traffic, you wont be able to convert it into customers.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=...ftcreations.com - that shows you currently have 10 sites that link to you. these links are absolutely vital as they are the only way a search engine can find you naturally. Build a solid link campaign, and submit your site to as many free directories (free as in they dont require a link back either) as possible. I noticed you are a member of a link scheme (logo in your footer). At this stage in your store, I would very strongly advise AGAINST this particular method. There are link building methods you may want to explore, but the one you currently use will do you no benefit as you are only linking a spart of an affiliate network, without any links back.

 

Now, onto your site itself. Your text based logo is very nice, but takes ages to load. Slow page loads will put people off of browsing your store. The header area also takes up nearly a third of my screen (which is set at 1068x800) - many users are still on a smaller setting than this. You want the main content of your site to hit your customers between the eyes the second they arrive. Whilst you logo is very appealing to the eye and attractive, it does not help you to sell any products.

 

Small point on your payment info within shipping & payment -

We gladly accept check or money order, PayPal and Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express through PayPal.

- paypal through paypal? Your conditions of use page is actually a blank links page - you may want to fix this. I would advise some kind of thumbnail contrib as your category pages can take a lifetime to show any images, and it may also pay you to look for a buttonset in the contribs area which is more complimentary to your nice lilac theme. The blue just doesn't quite look right.

 

Hope that helps.

[Guest]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=na...creations%2Ecom - that shows you only have 4 pages indexed in google, and 2 of those are error pages. Until the engines can find you and rank you, you will only have a very limited source of traffic to your site. Until you have that traffic, you wont be able to convert it into customers.

 

I don't know why there are error pages. How can I fix that? I am currently trying to get my host to help me with googlesitemap.xml - I uploaded it to my site but don't really know what to do next.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=...ftcreations.com - that shows you currently have 10 sites that link to you. these links are absolutely vital as they are the only way a search engine can find you naturally. Build a solid link campaign, and submit your site to as many free directories (free as in they dont require a link back either) as possible. I noticed you are a member of a link scheme (logo in your footer). At this stage in your store, I would very strongly advise AGAINST this particular method. There are link building methods you may want to explore, but the one you currently use will do you no benefit as you are only linking a spart of an affiliate network, without any links back.

 

So I shouldn't use linkshare?? I do want to add links...just still trying to figure it out. My host is not very helpful...I'm learning to do a lot of this stuff myself, which is difficult and time consuming for me.

 

Now, onto your site itself. Your text based logo is very nice, but takes ages to load. Slow page loads will put people off of browsing your store. The header area also takes up nearly a third of my screen (which is set at 1068x800) - many users are still on a smaller setting than this. You want the main content of your site to hit your customers between the eyes the second they arrive. Whilst you logo is very appealing to the eye and attractive, it does not help you to sell any products.

 

How can I make the header smaller? I know the site takes awhile to load, but don't know how to change that.

 

Small point on your payment info within shipping & payment -  - paypal through paypal? Your conditions of use page is actually a blank links page - you may want to fix this. I would advise some kind of thumbnail contrib as your category pages can take a lifetime to show any images, and it may also pay you to look for a buttonset in the contribs area which is more complimentary to your nice lilac theme. The blue just doesn't quite look right.

 

Hope that helps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Can you explain thumbnail contrib? And buttonset contrib?

I'm trying to change the conditions of use page to a resources page (links) but I can't figure out how to do it. As I said, my host is not very useful at all. Any more suggestions. This has been very helpful.

[Guest]

You probably have a lot of competitors and 2 months for a shop just starting is not that long if you think people first must be able to find you which can take a while. Maybe some special promotions can just tickle some customers enough to start buying and you should think about getting SSL as I miss an SSL secured part of the site for login and checkout which might turn people of. Also for many shops like ie yours and mine the mandatory registering part seems a big hurdle and I would recommend to add at least a contribution like Purchase Without Account (PWA).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I am definitely going to get SSL but just not sure how to go about it. I am looking into Thawte...are there any cheaper ones? And do I need my hosts help for this? If so, it will take at least a month...

Then I intend to sign on with a merchant. How do I do a PWA contrib? I am new to this and have some trouble with stuff.

Thanks for the feedback. It's been helpful.

[wheeloftime]

I am definitely going to get SSL but just not sure how to go about it. I am looking into Thawte...are there any cheaper ones? And do I need my hosts help for this? If so, it will take at least a month...

Then I intend to sign on with a merchant. How do I do a PWA contrib? I am new to this and have some trouble with stuff.

Thanks for the feedback. It's been helpful.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I went for a comodo SSL certificate, much cheaper and about the same browser coverage. If your host's panel allows you should be able to install a certificate yourself otherwise a good host will surely assist you with it for free.

PWA is one of the many contributions to find within the contribution section and this specific one you will find here

[niknakgroup]

I don't know why there are error pages. How can I fix that? I am currently trying to get my host to help me with googlesitemap.xml - I uploaded it to my site but don't really know what to do next.

Take a look at http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=154082&hl= - if the answer hasnt already been posted, putting your questions in there will get you a quick response.

So I shouldn't use linkshare?? I do want to add links...just still trying to figure it out. My host is not very helpful...I'm learning to do a lot of this stuff myself, which is difficult and time consuming for me.

hum, pm me if you want some help with links. I cant post my answer in the public forums, but if you are interested, please give me a yell. I didnt say you cant use linkshare, I just would advise against it with a brand new store, which you are trying to get established. All this does is take the search engines AWAy from your site when all your emphasis should be on getting them in and keeping them in as long as possible.

 

How can I make the header smaller? I know the site takes awhile to load, but don't know how to change that.

Can you explain thumbnail contrib? And buttonset contrib?

I'm trying to change the conditions of use page to a resources page (links) but I can't figure out how to do it. As I said, my host is not very useful at all. Any more suggestions. This has been very helpful.

Contribs - see the contribution link from the community dropdown at the top of this page. there are thousands of extras you can add into your osc store which will make it individual and give you extra abilities. http://www.oscommerce.com/community?contri...er&category=all will show you a couple of thumbnailer contribs, and http://www.oscommerce.com/community?contri...tons&category=9 - lots of buttons! making the header smaller is a matter of manipulating the images from your header and making them smaller. And if your host is not up to much, change. Having said that, a webhost shouldnt really be doing your web design for you, unless that was part of the agreed package - sorry, may just be youre going to have to tackle learning the code! But remember there is a huge, active forum here ready to help, and most of your questions will have been answered already - use the forum search before you post to save yourself a lot of time!

[kirchenbauer]

Your site is very attractive-looking.

 

I had the same problem when I saw the Google Site Map Generator,

so I looked for a program that could do it.

 

I found a free one from VIGOS. It was fairly easy to use and worked

great. The map is generated, you save it, and you submit it to Google.

 

Free VIGOS GSitemap

 

Also, you really need to get to work on submitting your site. It takes

a couple of months for it to really show up in Google. Look for a listing

of directories to submit to.

 

I used this directory to

find places to submit my site to, but there are a ton of resources out there.

My advice - don't use anything that promises to automatically submit your

site to the search engines. You will end up being completely removed from

the search engines that don't allow this.

 

Good luck,

Sherry

[dandelion]

My store has been live since Sept 2 and we've only received one order - it takes time I'm sure to figure this stuff out!

 

Have you listed in the open directory project? dmoz.org

 

Have you submitted your catalog to froogle? I just did this and I hope it helps.

 

You should add a site map to help with indexing of all your pages.

 

Everyone's telling me to use google ad words - probably will leading up to Christmas.

 

Your site looks nice - good luck.