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My Website Needs Help

ECJ68ECJ68 subscriber Posts: 3
edited July 2007 in Website Critique
I am a jewelry designer for a home/online based Jewelry Store.  My website was built from the ground up by me.  I have tried to make nice clear pictures from my scanner and I feel the prices are in the right range.
What the problem is:  I have had 2 sales in 6 months.  Unacceptable to me.  I have tried flyers, email, promotions, free shipping, $400.00 a month adwords, nothing is working!
The only business I get is home shows and craft fairs.
I do want to add Video Classes.  But I just don`t know if that will help or not.  People would have to pay and then can  view the class.
I don`t know where the error is or if I am the error for not doing something right.
I feel that I do spend money to try to make a go of it and get nothing in return.
I would appreciate it if I could get a critic of my pics, prices, ideas, general website feedback and any possible solutions.
My site is: 
http://www.elegantcustomjewelers.com</A>
Many Thanks
 
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    newwardnewward subscriber Posts: 0
    First thing I noticed is the duplicate category names on the left.
    Can you be more specific?  Does Yahoo allow for "sub-categories"
    I set up a jewelry site for a client - she divides her merchandise into
    Classic
    Pearl
    Silver
    Vintage
    then has necklaces, bracelets, sets, rings, earrings under each of those.  
    The more descriptive you can be with the stones you are using the better as well.  Let the user click on the title, then have a really fabulous description for them to read - you need to "entice" more.
    How is traffic?  Are you getting visitors and they are just not buying?  Or are you not getting visitors at all?
     
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    ECJ68ECJ68 subscriber Posts: 3
    < =text/>_popupControl();
    There are days that I get under 10 visits and there are days when I get good hits, up to 90 or so a day. I have to say that the most common is around 15 hits a day.
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    ECJ68ECJ68 subscriber Posts: 3
    < =text/>_popupControl();
    I forgot to mention when I was paying almost $400.00 for Adwords, I had over 100 a day...but no bites
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    VideographyVideography subscriber Posts: 401 Silver Level Member
    Way too many buttons on the left side, some irrelevant to jewelry.  It`s not a website to sell jewelry, it`s a challenging maze of too many selections.  Your customers aren`t going to stay on this page very long.All caps is shouting.  It`s rude and very unprofessional in any marketing material and it is hard to read.Get professional help.  I mean for the photos.  The images do your work no justice.  You could put some photos into the flow of your pitch on the home page and then just one button to go to a products page.And turn off the cap lock - that alone probably discourages half the visitors to the site.  (It looks like spam).
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    newwardnewward subscriber Posts: 0
    OK - you definitally need to adjust the left menu -
    There isn`t much appealing on the home page to really grab the visitor - and make them want to buy.... get the photos with something more appealing... my client uses knick knacks to drap the necklaces over... we did have some professional photo work done.
    There`s a lot of room for improvement here - but all is not lost
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    VideographyVideography subscriber Posts: 401 Silver Level Member
    I had to add:"IF YOU DON`T FIND WHAT YOU WANT, CALL US OR EMAIL US WITH WHAT YOU WANT AND WE CAN FIND IT, MAKE IT OR EVEN DESIGN IT!!"You need someone to proofread and edit your writing.  This sentence is really much more complex than it needs to be.  First, don`t use negative language in a marketing piece.  Next, keep it simple and don`t restate the obvious.Try this: "Custom Jewelry - We`ll find it, make it or design it.  Tell us what you need."Also, customers don`t "want" to buy stuff, you have to respond to their needs.Steve
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    ECJ68ECJ68 subscriber Posts: 3
    Thanks Steve.  I appreciate any help and comments.  I will change that asap. 
    Thanks again.

    < =text/>_popupControl();
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    ECJ68ECJ68 subscriber Posts: 3

    < =text/>_popupControl();
    Do you really feel that is enough?  Don`t you think people may look for bracelets, necklaces etc. before they look for pearl, vintage etc.??
    I agree about the caps, I do agree there are too many buttons, but  I just don`t know if I can break down the buttons into Classic Pearl vintage and silver.
    Any other ideas?
    ???
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    newwardnewward subscriber Posts: 0
    Craig (above) has a great idea!  Lay it all out... so yu can "see" it then come up with a structure on the site that makes sense.   There are lots of ways you can divide up the merchandise...
    You really need to make your opening page pop, get rid of the all caps and get some fabulous photos of your work there. 
    Think about these questions too:
    1 - Why should I buy from you as opposed to someone else ?
    2 - Do you offer refunds, exchanges, what methods of CC payment do you take?
    The visitor has to know you are there for them.  Build trust.  Perhaps a page (on the backend for those interested) that speaks to how you come up with jewelry ideas, or your "philosophy"... Offer the visitor something they may not find else where.
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    ECJ68ECJ68 subscriber Posts: 3
    Well, I have made some Major Changes.  Color, Context and more.  I have only changed the top few. 
    Please let me know if I am on the right track.
    Appreciate it Greatly!
    http://www.elegantcustomjewelers.com</A>
     
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    VideographyVideography subscriber Posts: 401 Silver Level Member
    You are getting much closer.  You still have three "Bracelets" and two "Necklaces" buttons on the left nav area.  Very confusing.Now, let`s look at the copy:The first two lines can be reduced to: "Elegant Custom Jewelers is the place for a wide variety of Pearls, Swarovski Crystals, Gemstone and so much more."You can drop the " fine, elegant and unique Jewelry" because that`s what your images should imply, so it should be redundant.I am not sure what this line says: "Custom Ordering is one of our great features. We match the Jewelry for You."  Maybe I am missing something, but it tells me nothing.The tone of this line bothers me.  First it`s passive and second, "affordable" is relative.  "Our staff can help you pick out that perfect gift for that perfect someone at an affordable price."To many "or"s, poor grammar: "Can`t find it? We will find it or make it or design it!"Duh!"We accept all major credit cards and Paypal."This should never be on the front page.  I doubt that anyone would read this and say "I have to buy something because they take PayPal!"  It`s incidental information that does not sell your product.You really need better photos.  Some of them have the shadow on top which makes them look upside-down.  Some of the larger items are out of focus, and they ALL lack color depth.  I suspect that bright colors are one of the significant attributes of the product, and your scanner images just don`t do you any favors.Steve
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    VideographyVideography subscriber Posts: 401 Silver Level Member
    Reason it`s important is that for the moment, our site ONLY takes
    PayPal. Why? Because it costs too much to accept other credit cards, or
    checks.....
    But since ECJ intends to go through them all for resizing, that would
    be the time to also brighten them up and fix the colors.

    Why not take credit cards through PayPal?On the images, ECJ said that they used a desktop scanner to make the images, so the color depth is probably 8-bit, pretty thin for photographs.Steve
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    VideographyVideography subscriber Posts: 401 Silver Level Member

    Regarding scanned images, it doesn`t matter. Photo-editing in Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop would take care of it right quick.

    But it won`t fix the focus and shadow problems.The quality of the jewelry is her biggest asset and she really needs professional product photos to show it off.  No amount of copy can say more than a good photo.Steve
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    ECJ68ECJ68 subscriber Posts: 3

    < =text/>_popupControl();
    First, I would like to thank Craig for his constant help with this.
    To Steve, I am not a professional photographer as you are.
    I just do my best to scan the pictures.  My "title" is Designer. 
    The pictures was something I was not even interested in fixing at this time.  I had bigger fishes to fry with other items on my site.
    I built this site myself. A newbie to say the least.
    If I had the money for a Photo Light Box or a professional photographer, don`t you think I would have a professional build my site??
    I was asking for help, not for someone to push his own agenda.
    Thanks, but no thanks.
     
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    WeblineWebline subscriber Posts: 13 Bronze Level Member
    From a coding aspect....Your main pageTitle: ELEGANT CUSTOM JEWELERS .... try something like   "ElegantCustomJewelers.com - Handmade Jewelry, Bracelets, broaches"  ..... you get the idea. Your home page should have your domain name and a few keywords. You also have way too many keywords in your metas for this page, narrow it down to maybe a dozen of the most relevant for your site. And there is no meta description.All other pages should have unique titles related to the content of the page with keywords included. You should try to only focus on a few overall keywords on each page. One word page titles don`t help, make it a keyword rich title, and place your domain name into it as well if it won`t make the title overly long. You also are lacking meta tags in your product pages; some people feel they are not as useful as they used to be, but put them in there anyway.ALL links should have title tags in them, and ALL images should have ALT tags. I see H3 tags, but no H1 or H2 tags. More textual content on your main page is a must.Your page also says it is XHTML 1.0 Strict .... it isn`t, with 21 errors in the W3C validator .... probably more the Yahoo programs fault than anything.
    Webline2007-7-9 14:11:41
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