Some advice about website, please?

[Seaview1]

Hello to everyone,
I am new on here and have just set up a website using EKM powershop. (it has been running about 5 months)
I am not a very techy person which is why i chose EKM, but i would like some advice on ways to build up the website, get more people looking and of course more sales!
I have experience with ebay, and am currently running 2 very succesful Ebay shops, but the whole website thing is very new to me!!
The URL of the site is in my profile and i would appreciate any advice good or bad (i can take criticism, as long as it helps improve my sales in the long run!!)
The site does appear on google but what else do i need to be thinking about?
Thanks in advance
Elisa

[maria102]

Hi Elisa
Whats the URL, I cant see it?
Kind Regards
Maria

[Seaview1]

www viewpointdirect co uk

[Seaview1]

anyone, please??

[boho]

Hi Elisa
For me there are a few issues that I find off putting, the oversized purple text and overall text & navigation colours I find hard on the eyes. Unfortunately the style of font and purple text makes the site look quite amateur and I really really don't like red as a navigation font - plus this can cause issues for people with certain visual problems.

The featured item boxes on the home page all have differing amounts of pink in the border I assume this is maybe as a result of differentials in the thumbnail sizes perhaps, but it gives it an uneven effect and again adds to that self-made feel.

The logo doesn't appear to be high resolution on my monitor and is slightly blurry, and the same with the smaller avatar style logo with the outline of a lady so these would be best being recreated professionally to give a more polished look - or else recreated in a higher resolution (300 pixels/cm is usually good).

The only other factor is the product images themselves which could do with being better quality, higher resolution and set against a consistent background also checking spelling of product descriptions as I came across http://www.viewpointdirect.co.uk/essemtails-neutralising-sponges-pack-of-6-97-p.asp and also this in capitals when the other products are not http://www.viewpointdirect.co.uk/kodo-scissor--tool-holderbag-126-p.asp.

Other methods for improving the site overall and also your ranking would be to add aspects which customers find appealing such as articles relating to hairdressing, beauty products etc, things such as 'customers who bought this also bought...' so that you cross sell products, product reviews, customer testimonials and also some links to relevant and related sites.

For me currently the site is too 1 dimensional, it's pretty much 1 page, theres nothing much to it which makes me feel particularly drawn to the site or the products. Ekm (not my favourite hosted solution by a long way) do have a lot of other more attractive templates, so choosing something with more oomph to it would certainly help.

Apologies for being so negative

[Sally@CC]

Hi Elisa

I agree with Boho the red and purple just doesn't work, it is very off putting and looks like a fly by night site.

Also I only clicked on one product, hair straighteners. I accept it is good to have a price range to suit every pocket but can you really buy Vidal Sassoon ceramic hair straighteners for £4.95? Sorry but a product like that in the range shouts something not right to me. If that is the right price I would drop it from your range as I wouldn't buy from you if I had a feeling of something not right and that is what it suggests to me.

Only my opinion of course and you may sell a gazillion, which would show what I know. :)

Sally

[RedEvo]

The look of ecom sites is very important in my opinion. I wouldn't want to punch my cc details into your site. I'd get that sorted as a priority otherwise it may be the case that any effort and money expended on driving traffic to your site may be in vain.

d

[Spiderden]

Hi Elisa

You need to work on your incoming links as you have very few. A lot more text per page to feed the search engines would help you greatly.

There's many things that can be done to your site to make it more attractive to the search engines, such as better use of your <title> and <H#> tags. You could also get someone to move most of the CSS to an external file to decrease the size of your pages.

If you look through some of the posts on this forum about SEO and web design, you'll pick up plenty of tips.

[maria102]

Hi Elisa

You did mention that you weren't particularly a techie, so maybe it would be worthwhile having your site designed professionally - I'm not sure how they work, but it may be worth the outlay if you can then maintain it yourself. I also think that what RedEvo said is correct, most people are wary of inputting their credit card details into a site, but even more so if it doesn't really look that slick - despite the fact that a cowboy company could set up with a professional looking site, it's people's perceptions that count.

If you really don't have the money to employ a company, the key to a professional looking website that's easy to put together is less is more, simple fonts and colours with uniformity.....in my humble opinion that is..

Kind Regards

Maria

[RedEvo]

If you really don't have the money to employ a company, the key to a professional looking website that's easy to put together is less is more, simple fonts and colours with uniformity.....in my humble opinion that is..

Maria is on the money in my opinion.

d

[boho]

Hi Elisa

You did mention that you weren't particularly a techie, so maybe it would be worthwhile having your site designed professionally - I'm not sure how they work, but it may be worth the outlay if you can then maintain it yourself. I also think that what RedEvo said is correct, most people are wary of inputting their credit card details into a site, but even more so if it doesn't really look that slick - despite the fact that a cowboy company could set up with a professional looking site, it's people's perceptions that count.

If you really don't have the money to employ a company, the key to a professional looking website that's easy to put together is less is more, simple fonts and colours with uniformity.....in my humble opinion that is..

Kind Regards

Maria
For a non techie I would say that a hosted solution is the best way forward, which is what Ekm provide, although they don't provide the tailored or personalised service that other hosted providers do. Also if you're not particularly fussed about staying with Ekm Elisa then you could look at another forum member on here Internet Retailer (http://www.internetretailer.biz) (where all my sites are held and also a number of other forum members on here as well) as you would instantly have a more professional looking design and they could help you with logo design and personalising your website etc.

[sirearl]

Your single most important thing is to get a high ranking on the search engines,all else is waffle.

Earl

[Seaview1]

Hi,
Thankyou all for the advice, i haven't had chance to put any of it into practice yet, but everything said was very valuable advice and i will be looking at the site and revising it very soon.
We are not really in a position to get it done professionally at the moment, although that will be an option in the future.
We are having some sales from the site, but at present only about 4-5 a week.
No i am not really techie at all but do try to learn things if i can, i am very new to websites as have only previously been trading on Ebay.
I am not really that fussed about staying with EKM, only thing i'm concerned about is moving all the listings over and the time involved in doing so.
Thanks again for the advice, i will have a go at changing the site now and re-post when done so.
How would i go about getting a logo professionally produced as the one currently in use is home made by me and as Boho stated the quality is not very good.
Elisa

[boho]

I am not really that fussed about staying with EKM, only thing i'm concerned about is moving all the listings over and the time involved in doing so.
Thanks again for the advice, i will have a go at changing the site now and re-post when done so.
How would i go about getting a logo professionally produced as the one currently in use is home made by me and as Boho stated the quality is not very good.


Hiya

If you wanted to move away from EKM then Internet Retailer are able to upload your products that are currently on your site onto your new one with them, so that wouldn't be a problem. They also do some great logo design if you go onto their buy a shop page and scroll down to the bottom you can see some examples of theirs plus the price - but you get a text logo completely free with your shop anyway http://www.internetretailer.biz/partner/qs_quikshop_wizard.aspx.

Your logo style is fine it's only the definition though that the problem, although of course a professional logo will always look great, but if you created it yourself then creating it again but just ensuring that you set the definition to 300 pixels per cm will improve things, and then save as a jpg.

Also you could post for a logo design on the tender section of the forum, there are quite a few designers on here, I've seen a few friends who have used Mark at Eagle and his work has always been superb.

[Seaview1]

Ok, i am updating the site as we speak.
It still has a bit more to be done and after listening to your advice i have made quite a lot of changes, and hopefully now i'm on the way to a better site!
Let me know what you think, please?

[glenb]

Hi Elisa

I agree with the consensus of opinion thus far. A couple of other points:

Putting some special offers on the home page would be a good draw.
Perhaps have something very succinct that descibes your Unique Selling Point - to set you apart from the rest.
Completely agree about the photography, the pictures of the product did put me off.
Also, you've probably left it off on purpose, but a phone number instills confidence. We run a small sideline ecommerce company and rarely get calls, but the number has increased sales.

I've used a website tool called WidgetSprocket (www.widgetsprocket.com (http://www.widgetsprocket.com)) and it's easy to set up a site and the products etc. I know the guy who's built it and if you'd like the details, PM me.

Cheers
Glen

Glen Blow
GoResponse
Award Winning Call Centre & Telephone Answering Solutions
t: 0800 043 0443
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http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/images/misc/progress.gif

[Seaview1]

Hi,
There is a phone number on the contact us page of the site, but that is probably not very easy to find, maybe an idea to add it on the home page.
We have no problem with phone sales, in fact in our other business about 50% of our sales are from phone leads.
I have done some pretty big changes in the last few hours, the colour scheme and the layout has completley changed.
How do you suggest that i imporove the pictures of the products, i know i could get them done professionally but we are on a low budget at the moment so thats an expense we are trying to avoid.
I figure that i can't just take pics from other sites because of copyright etc, but can i get stock photos from anywhere?
All advice is gratefully recieved, but with not a lot of technical knowledge this is quite a challenge for me, and sometimes i feel as though i may have bitten off more than i can chew!!
regards
Elisa

[glenb]

Hi

Didn't see the number on the contact us - but having it on the homepage immediate instills confidence.

I'm not a photographer but I used to do videos many moons ago - I took stills against a solid white background with good lighting and it came out ok. Give that a try?

Cheers
Glen

Glen Blow
GoResponse
Award Winning Call Centre & Telephone Answering Solutions
t: 0800 043 0443
b: www.goresponse.co.uk/call_centre_blog.php (http://www.goresponse.co.uk/call_centre_blog.php)
w: www.goresponse.co.uk (http://www.goresponse.co.uk/)

[Seaview1]

Thanks glen,
We did use a white background and our camera is pretty good, so not sure, maybe need to crop them a bit better. I'll have a go when i'm there next, which probably won't be till wednesday.
I'll have a play and see if i can do any better.
Thanks for the advice though
Regards
Elisa

[Sally@CC]

Hi Elisa

Much improved in my opinion, I would definately have a mooch about now.

Good luck with it and let us know if sales increase.

Sally

[Seaview1]

Thankyou so much Sally, great to hear that my efforts have been worthwhile, still a way to go though i reckon.
I think it will be a work in progress for the time being, but i guess that it always will be as products change and such.
I will keep everyone up dated!
Regards
Elisa

[Sally@CC]

I don't think you have that far to go Elisa, you sell to trade so it needs to be simple to find what you want and not too commercial. I think you have achieved that, it looks like a trade catalogue (I mean that as a compliment).

Forgive me but the logo isn't speaking to me, it looks out of proportion.

[Pelenna]

I've only just had a look at the site, but the general layout looks okay to me. I've found on EKM that the thumbnail resizing looks best if you use images sized at 300 x 300 pixels, but that may just be me! The other thing I noticed was that there seems to be wasted space in the header, you could maybe put special offers up there, or a concise sentence on what the site is selling?