mgsmith33 started this topic @ 14:59 on 30/11/2004
Hi All,
I started my business of selling and hiring topiary plants - www.toptopiary.co.uk back in the summer and have just had an online shop added to the website. The shop is an off the shelf package that was recommended by my web developer. I suppose it’s on the basic side but it's very easy to use (adding items etc). You can get to it from a link off my home page at current and I suppose it’s just like a new website.
I plan to revamp the link (bit tacky), my home page to have more of an impact and add more photos to the gallery shortly but I thought I'd throw myself to the lions and see what some of you think.
Can't say I have been inundated with orders since last week but it’s not exactly the season for outdoors. I did feel there could be some ideas for Xmas presents with a difference but not had a lot orders. I advertise on 'Google Adwords' so am getting visibility and would say I get say approx 20-30 clicks a day.
Any obvious traps I have fallen into or glaring errors I have made or am just being impatient?
Opinions and constructive criticism appreciated.
Thanks
Jason
RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
mgsmith33 | 01/12/2004 01:07 PM
Not sure why but this post was locked after I posted it - looks to be OK now.
If any of you had any comments you can add them now.
Thanks to Jon & Wayne for comments via email.
Rgds Jason
RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
c2webdesign | 01/12/2004 01:35 PM
Hi Jason,
I quite liked the site, nice and crisp. the navigation is easy to use, so your visitors will not get lost, and contact details are easy to find.
The only critisms are where the logo for the online shop are displayed. I personally didn't think they were too apparent and I could possibly have missed it when searching through. I think you are right to add more gallery photos on the home page (although the image used is good) with a 'View Items' button that would take you direct to the online shop. Or another option is to add the online shop link to the main navigation bar meaning anyone will find it easier.
Also you may want to consider placing one or testimonials on the home page, your home page is your store front and having good recommendations and comments there intices visitors to explore the rest of the site.
You say you have 20-30 visitors a day so far, are they from search engines, other websites or off line advertising? I did a little investiagting and Topiary is searched on, according to Overture, approx. 30 times a day from the UK. I'm not sure whether Google offers better number of searches a day, but I did see that although your site appears on Google, it does not show on the first few pages for Topiary UK. You may want to consider optimising your site for your chosen keywords to at least get some visitors through here, without needing the paid for advertising.
To increase your position on search engines try and find some other theme releated websites or directories to exchange links or even better just to add yours (Google add more weight to Page Rank for this - especially a related subject). Google didn't show any other websites linking to yours, and this is one major key element in obtaining better search engine placements and the visitors that go with it.
There are lots of other things to try, especially for better search engine placements, ways to research competitiors etc so if you need any more help please contact me through my website
Hope this helps and best of luck
Regards,
Dean
C2 Web Design
http://www.c2webdesign.co.uk
RE: RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
Jonny | 01/12/2004 01:49 PM
Looks really nice - as Dean says it's clean, crisp, easy to navigate and uncluttered.
Also - I don't think your shop button is too bad at all to be honest!
Couple of suggestions, I know it's early days but I'd fill out the shelves in your store asap. Stay up all night uploading your images and descriptions if you have to. And get a few more product images on the front page or your store (not the website - I think that looks great as it is)
Also - I'd like to see not just the plants but several categories rammed with products related. Couple of suggestions off the top of my head:
- "topiary books" section (a lot of book distributors will drop ship for you so you just need to put the images up - no risk)
- a "topiary care" category with pruning shears, fertilisers etc,
- a "gift" section wher eyou can send voucehers of a topiary to a friend for their b'day (or maybe in time for xmas??)
- "fancy plant pots"
- "grow your own" kits with the frames, seeds, instructions all in a pack
etc etc.
UPDATE - sorry - just went back on your site and found shears! ha ha
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RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
spaceuk | 01/12/2004 05:09 PM
The Site looks pretty impressive for an out of the box site, but the online shop link should be at the top of the page because after all you are selling something, and maybe you should try and integrate the site instead of putting a redirect to a site with another name for your online shop, but like i said it does look good for a basic site
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Jimmy
RE: RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
mgsmith33 | 01/12/2004 07:00 PM
Hi All,
Thanks very much for the feedback, much appreciated. At least by your comments I'm not way off the mark.
Jonny, yes, we are planning on other lines. Pots, feeds, starter packs etc etc. Just a question of seeing how one season (Spring/Summer) goes really. We only really got up and running half-way through the summer and now probably need to wait and see how it goes from early spring onwards. Plus, obviously want to increase range of topiary in due course. Left it a little late to try and hit the xmas market in a big way
Dean, agree with you about the search engines. My web developer seems to think its a bit a 'black art' these days and has said he's working on it - but too be honest its taking a lot longer to get up there than I thought. Thats one reason I started Ad-words, to at least get some visibility buts it's pretty expensive. Perhaps I'll contact you and see whats best. I'm not really sure where my hits are coming from except that Ad-words tells you how many clicks you get a day, so I suppose it must be from the sponsored link.
Jimmy, the link to the shop is only at the top of the home page. Agree, could easily put the tacky icon on all pages.
Thanks all anyway, I'll keep you posted of progress - need someone to talk to now and again, as we all know, starting your own business can be isolating....
Cheers
Jason
RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
Sweet Baby | 01/12/2004 11:08 PM
Hi Jason,
Both parts of the site look good and very professional. They don,t seem disjointed like some site and shopping areas. What package did you use for the shopping part as I am looking for something similar.
Sweet Baby
RE: RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
mgsmith33 | 02/12/2004 04:46 PM
Hi Sweet Baby,
Thanks for the comments. The shop is PD Shop Pro I believe. Very easy to use and just about sufficient for what I need at the moment.
Sure one of the web guys on here can recommend it or perhaps suggest alternatives.
Good luck setting yours up.
Rgds, Jason
RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
corbypete | 02/12/2004 08:23 PM
Hi there,
I'd say you're almost there but I can see how people would lose interest quite quickly (ie. within the critical 10 second 'Do i like this site' time period).
Firstly I totally missed the link to your shop, I thought it was just another tacky banner so ignored it. I then browsed the rest of the site (still not at the store yet!) and found lots of lovely pics of plants but still no idea how much they were or what the site was really about... I thought you did landscape consultancy, as the only info I could see was your contact details at the bottom If I was looking for plants I would have left by now.
I eventually went back to the first page again, a little confused, and saw the link again at the top, and waited to make a judgement on what it was... AH theres the shop!
I get to the shop and its totally different to the previous style of site... not good.
I also could see just 4 or 5 products, is that all you do? Oh wait... ok I've found some categories (I think) at the bottom.... yep I get it now.
Ok, so I hope I've not offended you but that was my thought process, which was too long. Id go for revamping the actual store, cut down on the size of the first site/pages and try to make the site as one, not two different looking sites. The first 1/3 of your site and 1/3 of myscreen needs condensing somewhat, its not a lot of info in a lot of space, I'd put the shop entrance in the middle, lower down too.
Apart from that prices look ok, and the general workings are fine.
Hope this rather critical opinion helps!
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E-Nexus.co.uk
This is only the beginning...
RE: RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
mgsmith33 | 03/12/2004 11:21 AM
Hi Corbypete,
No offence taken at all. Appreciate you spending the time. Your comment of 'Apart from that prices look ok'....made me smile. Good to hear something negative to keep me on my toes.
Have already got plans to change the home page to tell people more about what we sell/do -online shop, hire etc. Am a little limited on what I can do with the shop at the moment as its a package but will perhaps try to make it clearer that the shop items can be found under 'catergories'
Cheers
Jason
RE: RE: Opinions required on website and online shop.
quatos | 08/12/2004 11:10 AM
Dear Jason,
I agree with many of the posts on here in regards to navigation and most parts of your layout... I notice however that you are missing some of the major factors that will get you high in the serps for the key search engines. I have been practicing ethical SEO techniques for many years now and have seen many sites that have a good concept, but are not marketed correctly.
As one of the previous posts suggested, linking with on topic sites would be a good start, but if you want to really start seeing results especially at this time of the year, PM me and Ill guide you to some excellent resources.
I also have an interesting marketing program that is free and is in no way "black hat or spammy"...as your site has been built in asp (php is fine too) then it could work for you. It will take you much higher in the serps in a matter of a week or so, just in time for Christmas....let me know if you are interested..
Cheers and good luck with the site.
Quatos
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quatos
www.quatos.com
