We get hits on our website but not enough converstions

Pam

We`ve had our magazine website up for a while now.  We have traffic, but I`m disappointed in the conversions to sales.  Our main target is the fashion industry, from students to apparel buyers to CEOs.  We`ve added over a thousand other magazines covering every topic over the last year or so.
We are doing direct mail pieces and I have both Google and MSN ads.  I just updated our meta tags for keywords.
What are your thoughts and suggestions? I think that I am in to this so deep that I can`t see the forest for the trees -- time for some other eyes to take a look!
www.somanymags.com</A> is our website.  Pam2007-7-23 13:5:54

Pam

Yes, sometimes the publishers may offer a lower price if you go directly to their website.  You would have to go to each publisher`s website to check the price for every magazine you were interested in ordering, which could be a long process.   We`re offering them all at one site, saving the buyer the time and hassle of going to a multitude of different websites.  Plus, the buyer can see a variety of similar publications, maybe one that is more appealing to them. 
If you check some of the magazine comparison sites, we are usually competitive with other independent magazine sites.   

Videography

Yes, sometimes the publishers may offer a lower price if you go directly to their website.  You would have to go to each publisher`s website to check the price for every magazine you were interested in ordering, which could be a long process.FYI - Most of the magazines I subscribe to have sent letters warning that any subscriptions or renewals made through a third-party subscription service will not be honored.

Pam

That is interesting and I will discuss this with our suppliers.  We, along with the other magazine agents, are authorized by the publishers to sell new, and in most cases, renewal subscriptions.  Never have we had a publisher decline a subscription, or a renewal subscription where we were authorized to sell renewals. 
I can see that there are some challenges to overcome.Is there anything with the website that you would change, correct, modify, etc? 

Pam

It`s a similar concept.  I`ve gone through their site and we have more magazines.  They have some prices that are better than ours; we have some prices that are better than theirs.  Our website is more segregated than theirs; for example, they have 19 different magazine categories while we list over 40.  This makes it easier to find the magazine that you want, as well as some others that are similar.When you order from them, they invoice you for the subscription but it also enters you into their system for all the promotional e-mail and such.  We do  not e-mail our customers unless their is a direct need to do so, such as a problem with their payment.  We can invoice for the subscription, or you can charge the subscription to your credit card (for miles or reward points) and we have payment by PayPal. 

Videography

Is there anything with the website that you would change, correct, modify, etc?  Yes - get rid of that damned text crawl.If your flash banner is supposed to be quick links - none of them work.The sans-serif font you picked for the text of your message is difficult to read, and much of it is in the passive voice. If you didn`t `get` Craig`s question, I`ll ask again:  How are you different from dozens of similar sites?Steve