Increasing Sales

[Kelly Cards]

I set up a website in February and so far only recieved one sale. I've used methods such as social networking, twitter, linking and business cards. Unfortunatly I cannot use SEO tactics as the website was set up using Mr Site.

Any ideas how to increase my sales on my handmade greeting cards on Kelly Card Designs?

 

[seoandy]

my advice is to find other outlets for your products, maybe not these im aout to mention but maybe they will spur a thought in your mind.

Ebay, Amazon & Pixamainia

Or maybe another option is to take your cards to stpres whom can maybe trial run your products - people like asda, the card factory and clintons can do this if you really have something different. Clintons and TCF are always looking for new suppliers of cards and you could get a nice order out of them.

failing that go on the dragons den and ask theo for some money he owns the calendar club

 

[Sam Boogie]

Hey Kelly, I've not even got my store going yet so well done!

I had a look at your site and here are my thoughts for what its worth...

Personally, buying something online is a bit of a pain in the bum and I would be very unlikely to buy something as small as a card online unless it was something VERY different from whats available in the shops nearby. Your cards are lovely and clearly beautifully put together but from my perspective they dont look that different from what I could buy in the shops near me and are also similarly priced.

If your cards truly are different from what I can buy in a shop then perhaps you need some more detailed photos showing me how they're different so I can see this before it gets to me.

However, my advice would be to shove your prices right up (say £5 - £8 a card) and produce some truly different designs that you just cant buy in a shop. Basically, you are in a position to make them in ways that the mass producers cant, thats what differentiates your product and thats what people would be willing to put in some extra effort (and cash) for.

Like I said, just my 2 cents

All the best

Sam : )

 

[Jeff FV]

Hi Kelly

As you are discovering, selling cards online aint easy! There is a huge shift from offline to online shopping, but people are still unlikely to buy the odd card online. I think trying e-bay is a good idea, also explore MISI, Etsy & Folksy - the people rummaging around these sites are looking for handmade items and are quite possibly more likely to find you through these sites than stumbling on your own site.

We are still under 2 years old as a card (or any!) company, but I have realised that our market is selling to trade - i.e. to retailers: gift & card shops etc, - as this is where people still buy their cards. Unfortunately, you will struggle to 'scale' your products, as they are hand made, to be able to supply retailers in the volumes they require.

One area you could perhaps explore further is your wedding invites/stationery - you could design a bespoke card for your clients, like the one on your site, using colours to match their wedding theme, and have it printed in the number they want. This way, although the print run will be small, it will still be big enough to bring the printing costs down a little, coupled with people being prepared to pay a premium for personalised wedding stationery.

Its a tough business as there are a lot of us out here! Hope the above hasn't demoralised you & best of luck!

Jeff

 

[EH7]

Your only options (if you plan on making money) is Amazon and Ebay, websites without SEO are doomed to fail.

However, my advice would be to shove your prices right up (say £5 - £8 a card) and produce some truly different designs that you just cant buy in a shop. Basically, you are in a position to make them in ways that the mass producers cant, thats what differentiates your product and thats what people would be willing to put in some extra effort (and cash) for.

High Prices = No Sales, simple as.

 

[Sam Boogie]

High Prices = No Sales, simple as.

Maybe I wasn't being clear, I didnt mean push the price up for the existing cards, which I agree wouldnt work. I meant producing cards of a higher value which are priced accordingly rather than trying to compete in both style and price with the mass produced offerings.

I was in a shop only today which had normal postcards @ 30p and handmade postcards @ £1.50. If they give me the same value I'll choose the cheaper one but if the handmade ones are that special I will happily pay a premium for them.

 

If you can't use SEO on your site you may as well close it now. How can you have a website and now do anything in terms on SEO?

Close your current site down and pay for someone who knows what they are doing to build you a proper e-commerce shop.

I have honestly never heard of this Mrsite - sounds like a complete joke!

 

[AndyP]

Michelle is correct. If you can't perform any SEO then you are on to a loser from the start. However, the reality is that of course you can perform SEO....there may be certain restrictions on you set by the s/w such as unfriendly URL's maybe (?) but you most certainly will have control over your content. So, as with all things web, speak to your visitors and not search engines and work to improve your site content/product descriptions etc. Include keywords, sell, sell, sell....make sure that you give loads of calls to action, make your checkout process as easy as possible......and give your potential customers as many reasons to trust you as possible. You are asking your customers to part with money and give "you" their card details as well.....they need to feel confident about you to do that. Be professional, ensure that there are no spelling errors, have "process" for everything (and ensure that you tell your visitors about them)

 

[pickaweb]

If you can´t do seo on your site start a fresh new website. Without being able to apply basic seo there is no future for your site.

 

[RedEvo]

You can do off site SEO but I can only see one link to your site using Yahoo SiteExplorer. No trust, no links, no domain age = no search traffic = no sales.

Even with trust, links and domain age it's a tough market.

d

 

[Roline]

Now you need to let more people know your website. You can promote your website in some social bookmarks,blogs,forums, of course you'd be friendly. Well,this is just one aspect, you also can adopt some other methods. Good luck to you.

 

[Chris Fickling Design]

I've built 3 UK based ecommerce sites for greetings cards companies. 2 of the sites sell full ranges of paper goods and sell several thousand items per year. The latest site I've done is only just beginning to take off after a year - this was also originally built using Mr Site (not by me) - but I dropped that straight away - IMHO it's only any good for personal sites.

The main thing - you are going to have to build a strong brand online and offline - really strong.

You will need as much quality 'product' as you can possibly create - assuming it is your own artwork? You will need to invest 3k+ on a customer-friendly website. By customer-friendly - I mean the viewing and checkout process should not give any excuse to the customer for not buying!

You need analytics - absolutely essential to set goals and let the analytics tell you what's going wrong / going right.

People do buy single cards online - don't let anybody tell you they don't! But it's also good to sell your cards in packs and attractive collections. Find your unique selling point and exploit it.

All just my opinion of course!

 

[mattlast005]

Well I would recommend moving away from Mr Site. But in the mean time have you considered PPC marketing. I know there's a lot of fear in the marketplace about how expensive this can be and that is more than often than not when people decide to do it themselves rather than seeking professionals. But its great to get those wins, start building up your revenue and then re-invest into your long term web marketing strategy via both SEO and Social Media Marketing.

 

[FionaBusiness]

Hi Kelly. I really like your cards but I can hardly see them! I think you should take basic, front on photographs instead of the cards being shot at an angle. And a second, close up shot of the design would be good too.

And no one in their right mind would buy any card for £8 unless is transformed into a gift as well.

 

[crossdaz]

If you can't use SEO on your site you may as well close it now. How can you have a website and now do anything in terms on SEO?

Close your current site down and pay for someone who knows what they are doing to build you a proper e-commerce shop.

I don't really think this is a helpful comment.?
If the OP comes back (and I wouldn't blame her if she didn't) I'll offer some help.

 

I don't really think this is a helpful comment.?

Quite simply - yes.

 

[crossdaz]

Quite simply - yes.

It was a rhetorical question.

 

I don't really think this is a helpful comment.?
If the OP comes back (and I wouldn't blame her if she didn't) I'll offer some help.

I am offering her help. Probably the best advice she will recieve to be honest. Why tell her all these social networking sites when we all know (well at least I hope we do) that trying to sell stuff through a site that canot be SEO optimised is like flogging a dead horse.

 

[crossdaz]

I am offering her help. Probably the best advice she will recieve to be honest. Why tell her all these social networking sites when we all know (well at least I hope we do) that trying to sell stuff through a site that canot be SEO optimised is like flogging a dead horse.

People have to start somewhere Michelle and not everyone has the same advantages. Yes, the site has a long way to go and using something like mrsite is a disadvantage but not the end of the world.

You might be surprised how many people mange to earn a living by not employing web designers and crappy seo consultants?
You might aslo be be surprised how many people don't make a living by doing the exact opposite.

I know you are a twitter user Michelle which is why I'm making allowances for you but let's try and bit friendlier towards people who are asking for help?

 

[Jeff FV]

I am offering her help. Probably the best advice she will recieve to be honest. Why tell her all these social networking sites when we all know (well at least I hope we do) that trying to sell stuff through a site that canot be SEO optimised is like flogging a dead horse.

I don't want to get in to a 'my advice is best' debate, but I am about to suggest that that my advice below will probably be the best advice the OP will receive! I know that may sound arrogant, but it is based on the premise that we are in the same business as the OP and were in the position she is in (kitchen table start up) about 2 years ago.

Selling cards online is not easy - chrisandy mentions that he has built successful e-commerce sites for greetings cards companies, and he has, I've checked! But these are for the likes of Emma Ball, who are already well established players in the card - and related products - market. The OP will have to sell a lot of cards at £2 a pop to start to recoup the costs of hiring a web designer, SEO consultant etc

Selling through Etsy, Folksy, MISI and even ebay etc. is a much better route for her as, although she will be a small fish in a big pond, people visit these sites looking to buy hand made goods - going alone she'd be having to SEO her site up against these giants, it just aint going to happen. We sell to the retail customer through Not on the High Street and we harness the SEO & marketing power that they put into this site.

I still think that SEO is not so important for selling cards. However, social media marketing has proved to be a huge hit with us. Our products are very visual and desirable, people like to read about them and see pictures of them. Using our blog, Twitter and Facebook Fan Page we have built a real following that has translated into sales.

Its horses for courses. SEO, I think, works well for some companies/trades - say accountants or plumbers where people may Google something like 'accountant Swindon' or 'Plumber TA18 7EF' as you can be fairly specific about what people might search for, but these people will struggle to define and make a social media presence - really, who wants to read an accountants blog (with apologies to all the acountants who blog on here!) However, searching for 'birthday cards', even 'handmade birthday cards' is far too generic, but as I said above, you can use social media marketing in this trade to good effect.

oops - looks like I've rambled on a bit! Hope the OP is still reading, and I'd be happy to help some more if I can (feel free to PM me if you wish.)

Jeff

 

[oldeagleeye]

In going on about SEO and marketing the web site are most of you not overlooking one simple fact think that as been hinted at several times.

I repeat hinted. That is not giving good advice - it is just pussy footing around. The fact is that Kelly's product range is simply not good enough. In fact it is incredibly boring and no amount of SEO is going to increase sales so the only claim to fame her web site will have is having the biggest bounce rate on the Internet.

Before you go anywhere then you really do have to look at your product range and you can start with the card used itself. Even that is bog standard cheap. Go up market for just a few pence more and it means that you can promote yourself too on the web site using words like "Green - Recycled and better still 'Stunning white linen'.

2) Design. If you can honestly tell me Kelly the design on the sample below is all about being creative I would give up now if I were you. Design is of course subjective but personally I think that the public are fed up to the eye teeth of childlike drawings of Christmas trees or Lowrie stick people playing ringaring of roses being marketed as ' original' or 'exclusive'. I don't have all the answer guys by any means but with so many graphics out there a bog standard football on bog standard cardboard certainly don't hack it for me.

3) Why oh why is everything C6 on most greeting card sites

Marketing. Everyone want's an on-line store don't they. Why because they can sit on their backside all day long and doing nothing and yet the money is in the bank next morning anyway.

Seriously. There is more to life and business however than the Net and the opportunities for hand crafted greeting cards enormous if you can show them off to a buyer to full effect.

Silk bows or perhaps even a slice of a Champaign cork stuck on the front of a wedding card cost just pennies. They can do great things with thermographing there days.

Sorry Kelly but I think that you still have a learning curve in front of you if you want to wear the banners 'exclusive or hand crafted and please don't take that personally or think that I being unkind. I am not. Giving positive and constructive advice means telling it as it is. No playing footsie under the table.
And finally. You might want to nip into the post office too Kelly. A first class stamp costs
41p. You want to charge £1 a card. I think the public would think that a rip off.

Robert


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This is what you really need to be looking at doing.

Yes the cards are expensive but they are gifts in themselves, I have bought them on several occasions.

http://www.gibsondoyle.co.uk/

THIS is what bespoke cards/handmade cards are all about. Not the image above.

 

[oldeagleeye]

As you say Michelle. The cards are a gift in themselves particuarly if we don't know what to buy as a personal gift and just include a borering albeit in most cases welcome cheque nand I hate doing that.

Greeting cards are all about the thought that goes into them as it seems that Kelly's don't even have any wording inside. Sorry to say it again but they are just cheap blanks on her web site with a bog standard graphic's on the front cover.That are not hand crafted greetings cards then.

And finally thank you for posting that link Michelle. I will order from that site myself. At under a tenner those cards are a bargain.

Rob

 

[Billmccallum]

I set up a website in February and so far only recieved one sale. I've used methods such as social networking, twitter, linking and business cards. Unfortunatly I cannot use SEO tactics as the website was set up using Mr Site.

Any ideas how to increase my sales on my handmade greeting cards on Kelly Card Designs?

Clicked on the five links on your home page...all links led to http://www.kellycarddesigns.co.uk/page12.htm a "get well card".

Finally found the "fathers Day" section and to be brutal, the designs were not good...a green box with a black & white football on it...

A look at some other categories seemed to indicate that all the designs are basically the same, a coloured box with a little detail inside, no message!

I have bought hand made cards in the past and don't mind payng £5+, but they need to be imaginative and offer something thats not available in the big chain shops for 99p.

All in all a pretty poor shopping experience...sorry for being so blunt, but best to be honest....

best wishes

Bill

EDIT Just clicked on the contact me link on the "about me" page... it too goes to the above link.

 

[Kelly Cards]

Thank you all for the comments some are very helpful and other's I think are just plain nasty and made me feel rather dis-heartened.

I am doing this as a hobby at the moment so I haven't been able to give the site as much time as I would have liked to, I do take on board some designs are not up to scatch ie Father's Day cards which is why i'm selling off 1/2 price, but I am at the moment coming up with hand drawn designs to give a personal touch and show the creative side to me. I do sell my cards offline and they have been recieved very well.

I do not write anything in the cards as personally I hate all the mushy lines that come with shop bought cards I guess it is the matter of taste. As with the website suggested to me that I should make cards like them well I find they are too much and very busy - it's not my style and i'm not going to copy. I think you need to look at some of the smaller card sites before you make judgements.

In reply to the comment about postage yes a standard stamp maybe 41p but I have the cost of the bubble envelope or wrapping and sometimes depending on the size I have to use larger stamps at 66p and the cards are cheap compared to the amount of time I have spent on them.

I am doing this as a hobby and simply just wanted advice on the website I will definatly take on board all comments. Thank You

 

[Chris Fickling Design]

Selling cards online is not easy - chrisandy mentions that he has built successful e-commerce sites for greetings cards companies, and he has, I've checked! But these are for the likes of Emma Ball, who are already well established players in the card - and related products - market. The OP will have to sell a lot of cards at £2 a pop to start to recoup the costs of hiring a web designer, SEO consultant etc

Jeff - I just wanted to clarify in a most cordial way that when I started working with the likes of Emma Ball they were not well established - In fact Emma was selling stencilled plant pots not cards. Whilst I can take absolutely no responsibility for her success, she was probably in a similar position (to OP) when I first started working with her. I also made the point that the work has to be done offline as well as online to establish a really strong brand.

I like the cards that I've seen on the website that is the question of this thread and if I was to build a site to sell these cards my first priority would be to ensure that there was no technical or aesthetic reason why a customer would not buy a card from the site - I'm not always successful in achieving that, as it's not easy but I do my best. So OP don't be disheartened - give it some welly and enjoy your hobby!

 

[oldeagleeye]

You may not like my or Bills comments & advice in our posts Kelly but if you take what we said and take in the other info provided by members you should see one simple message staring you in the face.

Cheap unimaginative designs on cheap card don't hack it and frankly you can get better than yours in Pound Town 10 in a pack for £1 quid.

There is however a big market for truly creative work and people are prepared to pay at leaat £5 a pop because they think that is a reasonable starting point. For truly bespoke designs you can virtually name your own price.

Remember. The cards often accompany a present that may cost £100's if not £1,000's.

Now you have 2 choices Kelly. You can either sit at home and keep on churning out boring work that don't sell using the excuse of it's only a hobby - or you can push any creative talent that you have to the limit and get really excited about what you can achieve and that is just for starters.

The rewards even though they may be substantial and indeed necessary to earn a living come secondary to most graphic artists and crafters. That is until they remember that they too like to buy into design. An Aston Martin Cabriolet perhaps which is often described as the most beautiful car in the world.

Personally I like the VW Beetle which was actually designed by the renowned car designer Dr. Ferdinand Porche but then again I am an old hippy at heart.

Good luck.

Rob

 

[deniser]

Old Eagle Eye is absolutely right, however brutal his advice may sound.

You need to compare your cards with other cards out there.

Whilst not everyone will like all designs (I personally don't like the Gibson Doyle cards), look at this card at £3.25:

http://www.gillyshandmadecards.co.uk/cards/baby/baby_boy.html

compared to this card at £3.50:

http://www.kellycarddesigns.co.uk/page4.htm

You can see that so much more work has gone into the first card.

 

[Kelly Cards]

I have taken all comments on board thank you, the card I use is not cheap as you are saying.

My Tall card range especially the screaming baby cards have had a lot of time and effort - I drew the baby and used felt and foam for the body and head and i'm rather proud of this design. I don't think my designs should be compared to others as I said before it is a matter of taste.

Over the next few weeks you will see some changes so please do keep coming back to the site as I do want to succeed.

Thanks

 

[oldeagleeye]

OH Dear Kelly I am so - so sorry that you pointed out that particular card. The baby looks like a Golliwog which is frankly insulting to the black comminity and why Robinsons Jams were compelled to dump a similar black face design as the company logo.

Stop being so stuborn and defensive then girl and take the advice on board that has been given you. Get a range of new designs and put a bit more artiistic effort into them.

 

[Naughty Vend]

Thank you all for the comments some are very helpful and other's I think are just plain nasty and made me feel rather dis-heartened.

I am doing this as a hobby at the moment so I haven't been able to give the site as much time as I would have liked to, I do take on board some designs are not up to scatch ie Father's Day cards which is why i'm selling off 1/2 price, but I am at the moment coming up with hand drawn designs to give a personal touch and show the creative side to me. I do sell my cards offline and they have been recieved very well.

I do not write anything in the cards as personally I hate all the mushy lines that come with shop bought cards I guess it is the matter of taste. As with the website suggested to me that I should make cards like them well I find they are too much and very busy - it's not my style and i'm not going to copy. I think you need to look at some of the smaller card sites before you make judgements.

In reply to the comment about postage yes a standard stamp maybe 41p but I have the cost of the bubble envelope or wrapping and sometimes depending on the size I have to use larger stamps at 66p and the cards are cheap compared to the amount of time I have spent on them.

I am doing this as a hobby and simply just wanted advice on the website I will definatly take on board all comments. Thank You

You are entitled to your opinion Kelly and perhaps you may be either 100% right or have found a niche, but you do need to step down off that box and flip that chip if you want to find the right "mix" for your business by being able to listen to customers... the comments on these forums are all from potential customers.

Think about this carefully, on the surface I think that your biggest problem is looking back at you in the mirror.

 

[Chris Fickling Design]

OH Dear Kelly I am so - so sorry that you pointed out that particular card. The baby looks like a Golliwog which is frankly insulting to the black comminity and why Robinsons Jams were compelled to dump a similar black face design as the company logo.

Stop being so stuborn and defensive then girl and take the advice on board that has been given you. Get a range of new designs and put a bit more artiistic effort into them.

I don't want to get embroiled in this but are you looking at the same thing I'm looking at? It's obviously a pink baby and nothing like a golliwog! Never thought I'd hear my self using that phrase on a thread

 

[oldeagleeye]

Chris is th pic below with the black face and big red lips not a Golliwog. Well it dammn well is in my book and the 'pink' baby is the same. Why use a black face anyway. I think the OP has some major probelm here that purely bnusinees advice couldn't deal with or does our Kelly think that black babies just look sweet or cute.
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[Chris Fickling Design]

It's not a black face. That is the baby's wide open mouth and the red is his tongue - not lips. I could be wrong, I often am. But I'm sure this is the silliest discussion I've ever had in a wonderfully innocent way.

 

[AndyP]

LOL...oh my goodness...what is this? Mad Tuesday? Its a baby's wide open mouth for goodness sake...the red bits are his tonsils....he's crying or yelling or gurgling or doing whatever babies do!

 

[Matt1959]

falling off my chair laughing here. OEE have you lost your specs this morning!!

l

 

[Billmccallum]

Chris is th pic below with the black face and big red lips not a Golliwog. Well it dammn well is in my book and the 'pink' baby is the same. Why use a black face anyway. I think the OP has some major probelm here that purely bnusinees advice couldn't deal with or does our Kelly think that black babies just look sweet or cute.
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I have to disagree, the black is a gaping mouth, not a black face.

 

[Kelly Cards]

OMG how insulting are you

 

[FiFi Fashions]

FWIW Kelly I think the baby card is very cute and is clearly NOT what OEE thinks it is LOL

 

[ROY JONES]

falling off my chair laughing here. OEE have you lost your specs this morning!!

l

Me to,i do think he is right on the general sale of upmarketing the cards,but the black baby??