Chimerique Jewellery Design [Archive]

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sparklyscotty

21st April 2005, 12:17

Hi folks! I am a new small business, and started officially trading in the UK in February. I design and sell jewellery, specialising in wedding designs and commissions. I have a lot of business experience in various fields, which helps me but also hinders me by making me feel like I should do EVERYTHING in the business instead of delegating, which led me here.
Right now, I feel a bit swamped by everything, and having had a lot of success on other online forums for a variety of things I thought I would join here.
I look forward to meeting new, like minded people.
Regards,
-Angel-
www.chimerique.co.uk :lol:

Alpha

21st April 2005, 12:25

Hi Angel and welcome.

The very first principle is that you will only really develop your business when you are able to work ON the business not in it.

This means that you need to delegate work so you can be free to grow the business not the other way round as you seem to be thinking at the moment (You cannot physically do everything and have knowledge of everything!!)

Nuff said :D

kyber

21st April 2005, 12:31

Hi Angel,

Welcome to the forum.

You have designed some wonderful jewellery. (Care to link to us (http://lamdesign.co.uk/links/index.php)?).

If you do not mind, may I point out a couple of small problems with your website? Firstly, a growing number of people use Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/start/) rather than Internet Explorer (more modern, more secure, more speed) but when I bring up your site I have to scroll horizontally a lot which is not the case in Explorer). Firefox is more standards compiant than Internet explorer. Also, when you move the cursor over the text of some of the menu items (e.g. Elements Gallery) the text changes to bold, line wraps and pushes the other images down the page - it would be better to change the text in a way that does not cause it to change size (or protect the rest of the page from these changes).

Stuart

sparklyscotty

21st April 2005, 14:59

Thanks for your replies. I am desparate to delegate, but don't know what, or who to! (Or how to pay someone, come to that.) I have been trying to find a sales rep who will work on a commission basis, but finding someone with the right skills and dedication is a challenge.
As far as the website goes, I can only groan internally. I have changed it a million times and am never satisfied. I completely agree with the menu issues, and that is first on my list to change. I am also working on making the site more browser freindly. My main problem is that with such a huge catalogue of designs, changing the site takes forever.
Thanks again for your input - it is always valuable to hear other opinions.
-ANgel-

Webstuff

21st April 2005, 15:00

A follow up to one of kybers' posts: A doctype declaration will make your website look the same in all browsers, then you can begin editing it to get it to look the way you want. Try adding this as your first line;

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">

Also, welcome to the forums!

In reply to alphas post

(You cannot physically do everything and have knowledge of everything!!)

Why not? :P

Webstuff

21st April 2005, 15:07

You could apply all site changes at once if you changed to a dynamic website (ie; php). If you want any advice, thats what we're here for.

sparklyscotty

21st April 2005, 15:23

Ah hah! I have heard of this newfangled php thing. :) I am in a weird position at the moment because I offer a VERY limited webdesign service to other small businesses that just need the five page, simple layout, static website, yet I CAN'T do my own! :(
I have tried to outsource it's design and maintenance, but I have been quoted thousands of pounds, which my bank account just can't take. So I am still hammering away at it.
Thank you for your input. Believe me, once I have enough money, it will be the FIRST thing I delegate! :roll:
-Angel-

Webstuff

21st April 2005, 15:31

SparklyScotty, I've been doing PHP for a long time, since well before the days of the c-plus-plus'isms (ignore me people), and might be able to help you out for a cheaper price, or for an alternative method of payment.

10 Yetis

21st April 2005, 17:09

Welcome along... glad to see you have been able to get friendly advice straight away.

I like your site, i like your gifts, I like the colour pale blue... in fact, it is probably the most popular colour shirt that I wear.

Ozzy

21st April 2005, 19:00

..... or for an alternative method of payment.

Err? ;)

Anyway, welcome to the forums Angel. It seems you have already been introduced to the helpful advice here, so I'm just saying Hi :)

SillyJokes

21st April 2005, 19:36

Here are a few things more for you to do with your site I'm afraid. This site is an asset to you but could be pulling it's weight a lot more. I'm afraid dispatie all the love and care you have lavished on it, it is failing in a lot of really important areas.

Your logo should be a link to the home page but it is broken.

Your 'contact me' link on your ordering page is also broken.

Your contact page does not provide enough information to conform with the distance selling act. You need to provide a proper address and phone number - this will instill more confidence in people - a PO Box is better than nothing but really you need a proper address. A mobile phone number is not acceptable as a retail contact.

You have spelt 'occasion' incorrectly.

Almost unbelievably there are no prices on the product pages - and no product descriptions - Angel - what are you thinking of? You simply have to give all the information a customer can think of asking about. Don't give them a reason to give up and go away.

To instill further confidence add some personal testimonials and praise letters. I'm sure you have some.

You've got no clear returns policy or terms and conditions.

I did it so long ago I got the help of Which Webtrader to help me set up all this stuff but that is now defunct. Can anyone else suggest where Angel can get all the info she needs on setting up a distance selling site properly?

You must get the trust of your buyers and get this site selling more effectively because you have a lot of competition in the jewellery market. You are working so hard but so a certain degree you energies are not being put to the best use on this site.

I'm sorry to be brutal - I'm getting a rep for it, but you need to know that things can be improved on the site - it should lead to far more sales. If you are paying a lot in advertising you are literally throwing 75% of that money away because your site won't convert the visitors to sales.

SillyJokes

21st April 2005, 19:41

To Do list which I suggest you do as a matter of urgency:

Reduce outgoings on advertising til you get the site right

Fix all those broken links - easy

Get your contact details, terms and conditions, returns policy etc sorted -

Get prices and product descriptions on the site asap - crucial - you will see conversions shoot up

Testimonials - instill confidence

Webstuff

21st April 2005, 20:35

Rob Holmes

21st April 2005, 20:39

ozzy, you're not funny :P I sometimes develope websites in return for a portion of income, advertising, or something similar. If I didn't need the money, I'd just script for fun (no, really, its fun).

This could become another thread.

What are the wackiest things you've swapped a website for?

I'm not sure I dare say mine.

And just so my post is 'vaguely' on topic - I say delegate !

Rob

Webstuff

22nd April 2005, 08:52

2 multi-packs of skittles (one of them was the hedgerow fruits one, or whatever they call it). Well, it was for a charity...

Rob Holmes

22nd April 2005, 08:57

Last year I swapped 4 websites for central heating in my house :)

One of the websites went on to win the heating company a £50,000 job so we were both very happy.

Rob