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What's wrong with the website?

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Baby's Best

Hi UKBF people
I have been up and running with my new website for a few months now but I just don't seem to get anywhere with it. Traffic is as slow as a snale (I'm going through the 101 tips to improve your web presence at the moment) but the rate of return visitors is depressing.
Is it the look, the design, the layout, the content, is it too design-led for the kind of customers it would be suitable for? I'm selling natural and stylish baby products. The idea was to combine nature and style because most of the organic baby product websites are very "green" or "eco", if you know what I mean.

I would be really grateful for your honest opinion. Also, if you know anyone who would be more suitable to review my website (i.e. a parent) please ask him/her as well.

Thanks to you all! Can't wait for your replies.

Tinax
 
Having a quick look, one thing that does stand out can you make the text darker? It's very hard to read at present, seems as if I am trying to view it through a piece of paper.
 
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I would suggest the same. Since you have that white background I would go with a little darker font and header color just to make thing s stand out a little more. Nice content though.
 
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Very good point, Duane.
Thanks.
I have just sent an email to them to fix this.
 
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Most of the visitors come from search engines, google ppc

I'm taking note of your comments and will look into this.

I don't know how difficult it is to change the colour of the writing though but I'm sure we'll be able to fix this.
 
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Hiya -

You said that the majority of your traffic is coming from search engines and Google ppc. Have you done any keyword research to find out what phrases people are searching for?

At the moment the pages don't look to be optimised for any particular phrases. This is probably where I would start.
 
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If you can get hold of awstats or a similar webserver log analysers it would help. You can identify visitors, key-phrases, in-coming links and much much more.
 
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Just had a look at the site and to be honest firstviews don't say anything to me about stuff to buy or purchase. It comes across as more of an information / blog looking site.

You have far too much text above the fold. I'd suggest re-jigging it so you get products in front of people's eyes when they first land on the site. Trim down the size of the header to make room for the products, it's way too big for a site that is functional.

When I click on a product menu I'm confronted by text and have to scroll down to see the products. Perhaps get the text out of the way to a sidebar and get the products in the centre.

Also your inline text links aren't distinguished from the text itself. Get them styled to a bolder colour to stand out. Look at Sleep Time and the text Product Groups. you have links below that I can't see are links. Maybe the arrow signifies it but then scroll down and there's arrowed text that aren't links. Other links are underlined. Too confusing, don't make the punter hover and look at the status bar to see if it's a link.

HTH.
 
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That's fantastic. Thanks so much for taking the time and going through the website. I'll speak to the designers to sort it all out.

Chris, you have obviously taken some time to look at it. I agree that there may be too much text so I have to see how we can re-structure this. The fact that the links may be too confusing is definitely a point to look at!

It is a steep learning curve...
 
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This is where you could potentially get conflicting advice because in my opinion there is not too much text from a SEO perspective.

This is where you have to get a balance between getting targeted traffic to your site - preferably through organic listings, and keeping them there long enough for them to take a look around and buy something.

If you take my site for example, there is lots and lots of text in the form of articles. It is the articles that generate the traffic - lots of it from all different search engines and different phrases.

I always try to use a minimum of 500 words in my articles if not more - and then I try to break it down using sub headings and small paragraphs. Apparently humans do not "read" the text on a screen, they "recognise" it so it is important for it to be broken down into small paragraphs.

A difficult one, but personally, I would set up an area of the site where your articles and traffic generating pages are and keep the product pages cleaner.

Oh - and definitely make the text darker - I'm with the others on that one.

HTH
 
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That's really interesting because I actually have an articles section on the website! But I have always wondered whether you have to click too many times in order to get to each article. It may be too hidden?

I'll keep your tips about articles in mind. Never thought of it like that...Cheers!
 
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I like the general look of your site, fits in very well with what you are selling I feel.Colours are very soft.Text is a bit too much though.It just needs shrinking down a bit, and maybe add some extra articles.good luck:)
 
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Tina

Totally agree with all comments above but speaking as a parent of a 2 year and 7 year old there is not much choice. Our 2 year old wears jeans and t-shirts alot which are bought on the high street and really good prices. As he is at nursery 5 days a week we tend to opt for cheaper clothes where it does not matter if they get trashed. For weekends we do spend more so your prices would be fine for this but nothing really appeals. (saying that i have only had a very brief look so will have a longer look).

For a really well designed on line clothes shop take a look at www.modeonline.co.uk. Esy to use, can see a close up of the items etc.

Mark
www.entiremarketing.co.uk
 
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Again, thanks for your great help.

I'm onto it straight away. The modeonline link gave me some more ideas.

Cheers for all your comments!;)
 
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Hi Mark,

thanks for your constructive criticism. I understand that you wouldn't be interested in expensive organic clothing when your little one goes to nursery. This is something that I'm looking into at the moment. In the long run I want to make my own organic clothing for everyday use, so the idea is to offer cheap and simple baby/toddler clothing. See where I will be in a year's time. I'll keep you posted on that.

Tina
 
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Just had a look at your site,

the first thing i noticed i couldnt find where you set up an account?? Or sign in...after a while...found it (tiny) up in the corner on the right...?
Also it really doesnt look like a shopping site... you need something above the fold to entice customers to look further into the site... Let them know the site is for shopping? A nice bold heading, encouraging to buy from baby's best... maybe a slogan of some sort...along the lines of ''baby's best...the shop for natural and organic baby's products''
Include either a special offer?.. free shipping?..

do some sort of marketing campaign...introduce a newsletter, then you can capture emails??


anyway...good luck

denise
 
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Hi,

IMHO when the page loads it just looks dull, i don't think it hits you in the face. Doesn't excite me.
Children's clothing and accessories should be exciting, fun for the parent to buy so i would reflect that in your text colours and your box colours. The colour of the boxes are very dull. Dull does not trigger a certain part of your brain which then boosts you to continue browsing or even contemplate spending.
Have a USP in a very noticeable area, top is best as this is seen first, hit the customer in the face as well as a super deal.

Less writing as someone else mentioned, these days people don't want to read or can't so have pictures a bit of text some bullit points and BUY buttons everywhere.

Good luck to you.

Regards
Iain
 
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No, I'm not a Sing and Sign teacher but I fully support what they are doing. Went to their courses etc.

Iain, thanks for your honest opinion. I will have to look into this. The writing will definitely have to get changed but the colour scheme as such was supposed to reflect the theme "organic and natural".

Anyway, I really appreciate that you take the time for this!!!
 
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Well, they didn't have a problem to wholesale them to me. Next time I'll order they may say something if this is still a problem.
 
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Hi There,

I don't think you should be too worried that things are slow after just a couple of months. Websites can take years to fine tune and get right with advertising, marketing and the look and feel, navigation etc. Just keep at it :)

My first thoughts where simular to what has been said about the way the colours have been used. They seem slightly wishy washy and again the site didn't jump out as being a shopping site. I think you have gathered that by now as it seems like the main issues.

It's funny...I was lookng for a baby sling the other day as I have just had a baby boy. I came across your site but unfortunately didn't purchase from it :( I couldn't see the images properly and you couldn't click on them to enlarge the pics so it kind of put me off...I'm sorry!, but this just goes to show some customers behaviour whilst shopping online.

I find the product images are quite small and some poor quality. The price is lost within the copy and the 'Add to Cart' button doesn't leap out at me. These can have quite an effect on a site if done differently.

I would look at 'Bodens' website they have a new baby section and their product pages are always fantastic...but that's just my personal opinion :D

I hope that's helped, good luck with it.
 
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Yes, it all makes absolute sense to me. In fact, all your criticism forces me to step back from my website. For instance, I'm so used to the colours used that I wouldn't have thought this was such a problem although I was told this before. And you just confirm it.

I have to admit, we have spent years sorting this website out and in 2 days so many issues have sneaked up that I feel a bit down today...:(

But all's good. I have a big advertising programme going next month so I'll make sure the website will be much more user-friendly.

Thanks to you all! :)
 
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Ahhhhh....don't feel down, all businesses have there ups and downs. Just keep improving, improving, improving and you'll see the changes in time, the orders will then start to grow :D
 
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as above.

product pages - I couldn't easily find the price or the add to basket button.

They were below the first fold and they were hard to distinguish.

Alternative images - the actual images are not clickable, which causes annoyance, people like to click images.

Spelling mistakes like woolen on the woollen socks.

Great attempt at navigation but it actually fails to tell you exactly where you are when you are on a product page.

In the basket there is some sort of error which mean text is overlaid when viewing in IE (techies explain please)

In the basket there is no continue shopping button, or indeed empty basket button.

Your search is hard to find.

Overall, I just find it a bit hard work to browse, particularly the pale text This is enough to put off a lot people who prefer to do things the easy way.
 
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Don't feel down Babysbest - you are only at the start and tweaking a website is an ongoing job :)
I'm looking at it through Firefox. Personally I would like a stronger text colour - also the buttons on the left fade at the side which distracts me a bit.
I think I would like bigger images too of the clothing.

Just keep at it though, every little change you make will improve things...
 
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Couple of points, some may have been raised by the other folks:

1. Clearly show price bold, different colour to product text.
2. Show a "add item" to the basket (button), not text.
3. Very difficult to read, try to standardise on presentation of image, product text, price and Add button, particularly noticeable when viewing multiple products.
4. Have a look at each product page for maximising the keywords, which in turn to be the same as your URL, which should be the same as your Adwords advert etc etc
5. Try offering a 10% discount incentive on your Ads, works wonders!
6. Not checked your pricing, is it competitive, who wants 1 million visitors if nobody buys, so conversion rates must be looked at, not just traffic.

Hope you find the above useful.
 
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Hi,
I find the colour and size of the text a bit difficult on the eye and not easy to read, however I love your banners

Jackie
 
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SillyJokes, I'll thought we had sorted all issues with different browsers but I'll ask the designers to sort this out.

Rob, your comments are very useful, too. I have to look into them in more detail and may contact you, if that's alright?

Jackie, thanks for some positive feedback, too. I am on to getting the writing changed.

What would I do without you all? :rolleyes:
 
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OMG - I don't know how you are coping with all the advice you are getting but I have to add a word of caution here.

Apart from the fact that the text is a little pale I wouldn't go rushing into changing the look and feel.

Any feedback you have got from a usability aspect such as not being able to find the "register" area or something similar is worth looking at.

But please keep in mind your target audience before you make any design changes.

At the end of the day, I think I am right in saying you are providing organic baby clothes. Therefore I personally feel the muted colour scheme and the "contemporary" feel is exactly right.

Consider again who your target audience is possibly 30 - 40 year old mothers with good disposable income? Whoever your target audience is, these are the people you should ask for feedback regarding the "look and feel" of the website.

I really don't want you to get too disheartened!!
 
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I have to mention that color theme used is completely out, It does not give that appealing look. If I were you look at the big players in your line of business, how they have done their website.

Site is not properly optimized for search engines; there is lot to do !
Hope this help.

Thanks
 
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Hi Welshnoonoo and all other helpful members!
I won't change the whole look and design of the website because, as you say rightly, when we designed the website we looked at our target customers and what we are trying to achieve. But I have learned a lot from all the very helpful feedback here. So we focus on changing the colour of the writing, and the size of the pictures are in my opinion very important aspects. Some minor things like the register button etc. I'll look into as well. I found the idea of a shopping slogan very good. When looking at competitors, even successful ones, they don't always have a shopping slogan but I think it is a simple and very effective idea. So yes, I have learned an awful lot. But it is strange: you spend so much time looking at it when we built it and you think it's all perfect and yet...It's right to say that a website, like a brick and mortar shop grows over time...
 
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If you are thinking of redesigning the website, please have a look at the following shops, they are fully optimized to search engines
vinsada.com
digital-photo-gifts.co.uk
suzaniinterior.com

Dynamic sitemap connected to Google will index all new products every time it's added to the shop. There is lots more..

If you are interested please contact me, more info available at fotowork.co.uk and prices are very reasonable.

Thanks
 
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I have to mention that color theme used is completely out, It does not give that appealing look. If I were you look at the big players in your line of business, how they have done their website.

Site is not properly optimized for search engines; there is lot to do !
Hope this help.

Thanks
Click to expand...

nish said:
If you are thinking of redesigning the website, please have a look at the following shops, they are fully optimized to search engines
vinsada.com
digital-photo-gifts.co.uk
suzaniinterior.com

Dynamic sitemap connected to Google will index all new products every time it's added to the shop. There is lots more..

If you are interested please contact me, more info available at fotowork.co.uk and prices are very reasonable.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Sorry nish but thats blatant self promotion there, like your earlier posts, I think your criticism is wholly unjustified. The site has some fixable useability and colour issues which can I'm sure be fixed by the current webdesigner, other than that it is a stunning website and is very in keeping with the whole organic natural feel intended.

My personal comments are that like other suggested a slight shade change for the text/nav to make it easier to read and a little less fade out on the banners - which are gorgeous, especially the baby sleeping.

Product images could do with being bigger so that the products can be showed off to their full effect.

I think profile is a slightly odd name for what is actually your About Us page, and I think sticking to convention on that would be better as then customers would quickly find the more personable compelling part about why to buy from you.

A site map is a very good and useful feature as not only can customers find things quickly, but so can the lovely googlebots/spiders and you should submit a sitemap to google sitemaps as well.
 
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Baby's Best said:
Is it the look, the design, the layout, the content, is it too design-led for the kind of customers it would be suitable for?
Click to expand...
I think your site is too design-led at present, design as in looks/visuals, rather than design as in carefully thinking through a problem and designing an appropriate solution. Some websites can be looks-led, some funtion-led, some technology-led, some content-led, some SEO-led, which is fine but first and foremost they should be led by common sense, which means getting the balance right (don't focus too much on looks/form if it sacrifices function, e.g. being able to read the site).

With any ecommerce website you need to assess your market and see how you fit in. The baby products market is an extremely competitive one, just google for baby clothes and see how many different online shops you find. The more competitive and saturated a market, for small startup businesses the more you have to focus on a niche, and once you find your niche or niches, then capitalise on them.

If you think that organic, natural, eco friendly baby products is your niche then you really have to emphasise this in your website, especially if you want to attract people wanting this from the search engines in the first place, and keep them interested in your site once they arrive. I think that at present your main wording, category and product headings do not emphasise organic or eco/environmentally friendly, neither from a first glance view, nor from an SEO view (i.e. your site is not search engine optimised with an emphasis on organic, not in its home page, categories or products). If you think it is important to use organic cotton or have eco-friendly products emphasise why (upfront on your home page, in articles etc).

You might also have mixed messages on your website that are attracting visitors looking for products you do not supply. For instance organic generally is associated more with food than clothes, baby food is a popular search term, you have a Feeding category on your organic website, but you do not provide organic baby food. So make sure you are not attracting visitors looking for organic baby food, check your visitor stats to see why people are visiting your site.

Once you know why people are visiting your site, you also need to assume that they will look elsewhere too, so check your competitors in these areas.

Also put yourself in the place of visitors coming to your site for the first time, who have never heard of you before. Does your site give the visitor enough confidence in you to make a purchase? This is even more important in a very competitive market. There are ways you can improve on this. Make it easy for the visitors to find out who they are dealing with. Change 'Profile' to 'About Us'. Think about changing your anonymous PO box address to a real address and your anonymous 0845 number to a real geographic number. Provide your full company details.

Try to avoid using manufacturer's descriptions for products, especially when they are american descriptions using color instead of colour.

Looks-wise I would agree with the other posters that your text is difficult to read. You may think it is fine, if so check it on a number of different PCs and monitors (check it at your local internet cafe or library). Different monitors will have different brightness contrast settings so it may be the case that your settings are lower than on other PCs, and therefore the problem isn't so obvious on your particular PC. There are also some inconsistent navigation elements which might put some users off, for instance the add to cart links are not obvious, and the subcategory navigation is a little confusing.

On IE6 the basket is displayed under the menus on the left, not to the right of the menus.
 
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you've had tonnes and tonnes of advice, some of which may be slightly tainted but I think the vast majority of it is really helpful stuff.

As a mother of a 4 and 7 year old who sells online but with no cross over with your products, I'd say the following:

1. Its so hard to get it right. Please don't give up or get despondent, just accept that websites are never actually finished and you'll be forever messing with it.

2. I looked at the site and at first glance i assumed it was information based rather than ecommerce based. does your designer have a lot of experience at ecommerce? if he's high end arty website orientated then he may have to work to get the this really different sort of website right.

3. most of your product images are below the crease. as such, your particularly visually orientated customers will flounder. you need to show them what you have got both with words and with images. so many people are image orientated. if you use google analytics there is a really interesting option which shows you the overlay of the page and where people have clicked. this will shock you as it did us. the majority of people click pictures.


4. someone who thought he was clever once wrote to me out of the blue and said "Congratulations your home page succeeds in telling me nothing about what you actually do / sell. Is this intentional?" Now of course he was just impressed with himself and his ability to write emails, but it did make me realise that although you / I know exactly what we do, other people don't. I didn't get a sense of what exactly you did / sold. when someone above mentioned slings, i was surprised as i hadn't expected that you did them i had ASSUMED clothes and toys. People will assume. :rolleyes:

I wish you a lot of luck and for your good humour under criticism to continue. Taking constructive criticism is so hard and its easier to say "yes but". I have to kick myself with this!


Sarah
 
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Hi Sarah, Paul and Boho
Wow! So much information there!!! Yes, it's true. It's hard to take criticism especially when you've put all your heart into this project. But I want to move forward and I have to get this business working so I'm prepared to look at all points raised by you.
Thanks so much for spending time on the website and your long answers, for being critical and honest. I have already contacted my designers to sort this out. I have to admit, I don't think they are very e-commerce experienced but I'm sure we just learn together.
I will let you know when the website is changed. Just in case you are interested.
Tina
 
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