HELP WITH NEW ECOMMERCE SITE

Kind of hard to help if we can't see the site. Just write it as mydomain dot com. Then we can find it and comment for you.

One problem I would have buying from that site is that there is no information about shipping. It doesn't tell me how my items will be shipped, when they will be shipped, or even how much shipping will cost!

Most people won't put in their credit card number unless they know exactly how much they are going to be charged.

I used Google maps, and although I couldn't find you, it seems to me that you possibly have a physical shop in a shopping mall?

If you do, add some photos of the shop and directions for finding you. That tells web visitors that you are a "real" shop and will give them confidence.

Also - how are your visitors finding you? If they are finding you via search engines, what search terms are they using? As in - are they coming to buy?

Edit: Also get yourself a Google Places page, so that when I look for you I can find you on the map and read about you.

What's with that domain name???

Out of interest, how much $$$ have you invested towards this so far?

With regard to the quoted post above, since you're 'selling,' I would recommend you to use 'buying keywords' all over the content of your website. If you know how to use Google Keywords Tool, that shouldn't be a concern. Otherwise, you may visit the Warriors For Hire section.

decor4less dot com.
shop.decor4less dot com.

It would be better if you consult with any SEO company. Because it may happen if your site have any technical problem. If not then they would use some others off page seo tactics. It would definitely generate more traffic to your site.

Ok. I am working on that. Please give more feedback on site. Thank you.

For a home decor site, i gotta say... it doesn't seem "inviting" to me at all. Also, you should consider posting this in the new section "ecommerce and dropshipping" on this forum.

Ok let me have a stab at this.

On the right hand side add a widget with your actual place of business, this make people know you are an actual store. I see it in the footer no one is going to look there.

Also, on the right you should have a form for users to enter an email for a special offer, say get a 10% off coupon now for your first order.

People will fill this out and use it. Plus you get the email for future offers you may have in the future.

You have that register at the top but that is a horrible call to action placement. I need to see it needs to jump out at me.


$300 for SEO, depends on what they are doing I will not get into that. What I will get into is Social Media presence. Your site is perfect for Pinterest, unique items and things like that. If you want some help setting that up then let me know.

Also you need a facebook page and it needs to be in the right side. A few hints on the page so you look good to customers head on over to fiverr and pay one of the like suppliers to give the pages likes a boost. Nothing to over the top.

Those are just off the top of my head. With a site like this I would not expect a lot of conversions or traffic. You just have to grind it out. I would also like I said look more into Pinterest to drive sales that would be your goldmine.

I agree with Pinterest being a great way to get some traffic with your pics. The topic is perfect for Pinterest.

Check out the new section of the forum. It is specifically for ecommerce questions
Building eCommerce Sites - Wholesale, Drop Shipping

John is right! You need to brand things well and these come with a nice looking design and content. Let your visitors feel safe while they buy Write a blog spread the word on social media. Also the buyers should be able to select the Sizes. You dont just write them, but make them choose

Hey Knowledgepa, I am also in the same boat. Our website valuemart dot co dot in is also getting traffic but could not making any sales. BTW this is a online supermarket in india. Traffic with no sales is worth nothing for an ecommerce site. Any suggestion from the warriors on how to convert the traffic into sales.

check your usability, or try to buy something in your store from a customer position- this way everything will be clear

I'll provide my honest input and I hope it doesn't come across as harsh, but hopefully provides you some useful information and more sales.


1- If e-commerce store is your main project for this domain, then you should display your shopping catalog on your main domain and not as a sub-domain.

2- As others have suggested above, you could use a better (and more brandable) domain name.

3- Your shopping cart is "G*O D**A*D*D**Y- Quick Shopping Cart", which is not necessarily a proven-winner in the e-commerce space. There's "plenty" of more shopping cart choices, much better than the G*O D**A*D*D**Y- Quick Shopping Cart, more SEO friendly, and easier to operate. That's one thing you should look into, especially if you are serious about sales and conversions (as you should be).

4- Hopefully you created your store from a CSV data-upload (and not manual product creation) which makes it easier to move to a better and more professional looking shopping cart. More importantly, hopefully your present shopping cart (G*O D**A*D*D**Y- Quick Shopping cart) provides a CSV export of your store which will help you upgrade your store to a better shopping cart software (should you choose to do so).


5- Your store although not unpleasent to the eye, does not inspire a lot of shopping-confidence and certainly does not seem professionally designed.


6- You are using SSL on your store which is a great thing. Kudos to you for that. At the same time, since your product line also includes big, bulkier items, you should have a real-time shipping calculator on the shopping cart page (right before checkout). Customers like to know their final totals before heading towards a checkout page. With the type of products you are carrying, shipping costs become very important and are a game-changer.

7- Make sure your item-weights are accurate so you can calculate precise shipping costs. I cannot emphasize more how the whole shipping costs game can make or break your business.


8- Your choice of product line is certainly competitive (which is not always a bad thing), but also understand that you are competing directly against the likes of Amazon and major home decor stores. You should have a plan/idea-set in place as to why you think potential customers would give up all the perks, savings, discounts, rewards-points etc offered by your larger competitors to shop at your store (unless you are carrying an exclusive product line). Your product line / industry type is a big factor in your store success. It must be chosen wisely.

9- If you really want a quick bump in sales, maybe you can try these couple of things. Get a toll-free number and post it somewhere where its very visible, possibly in the header part (like most reliable retailers). Be prepared to man your toll-free number and I bet you'll make some sales answering questions from your visitors. Secondly try SnapEngage or a similar live chat solution. You'll be surprised at the bump in sales you can experience from that especially for a product line like yours in which customers do have a lot of questions.

10- I'd recommend using Google adwords (especially if you have some experience with it). If you don't have experience with adwords, play really slow. If done right, adwords will most definitely help.

11- Identify some competitors who carry products similar to yours. Go to a site like spyfu.com or similar and get a list of your competitors' best converting keywords. Try getting keyword and campaign ideas from what's already working for your competitors.

12- If you have experience with adwords or do eventually get into adwords marketing, make sure you do adwords remarketing campaigns. It's hard to emphasize enough what a treasure-trove these remarketing campaigns are.

13- As for SEO, many able folks on this forum provide services that are reasonable but cost much less than $300. Without knowing what your SEO package includes (and the actual services delivered), it's hard to say for sure if you may be paying a bit much.

14- For the type of products you carry, a lot depends on aesthetic look and feel of your website. It has to come across as a gorgeous, highly professional looking, and inviting website. Though your current effort is a good one (especially if you just started out), I think you may ultimately have to switch shopping carts (to one that is not only robust but offers great templates for product-line such as yours).

15- Images sell products, especially the type of products you carry. Make sure to include hi-res multiple images of products. You'll see an immediate bump in sales if you use more than one image and if your images are professional, hi-res, and appealing.

16- Above few points are a good start, though there's a lot more that goes into and can be said about building a successful e-commerce store.


Wishing you success with your project.

Some very good advice there. I would also get my products into Google Shopping and other such product databases.
Google shoping info:
Shopping ? Google

Sounds to me you have the problem that everyone of us at some stage had..generating consistent traffic that converts. Look to build your email list with whatever method you can find (there are lots in WF), and once you have a stream of traffic, look at your landing page and sales conversion. I would worry about this later. Traffic to your site, is first priority.

Many warriors may have already given you excellent tips but I'm gonna share you mine on what works out for me and for my clients.

1. layout -- From a customer viewpoint, your ecommerce site doesn't look visually appealing. Perhaps, it's due to the dark, mysterious color,
boring fonts, graphics, and of course the absence of an attention-grabbing logo and brand. If you need help on this area, I can certainly discuss this to you in details.

2. Social Media - get into this ASAP. Put some social media buttons on your site such as for Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Pinterest. There's been hype for Pinterest lately, although it's a relatively just a new social networking site. It let's you upload photos from your website and gives excellent amount of traffic. It works really well for those ecommerce sites with good photos of your products.

3. Copywriting - Your writing is not bad although it needs a lot of boost and some call to action to invite your customers to buy. But still, keep your language simple so as not to intimidate the customers. Add more meaningful product description, the specs, etc. If you have really beautiful pictures, graphic layout, SEO and texts to match it, then you should be on the right track.

4. Contact Information - Make your e-commerce more interactive by also adding your email address. Visitors would want to buy any products from an interactive site.

5. When your business and customer list grows, invest on optimizing your site for mobile as well. Think of how your prospective customers can have an equally good experience buying from your store through their smartphones. It shouldn't take them too long (especially for viewing heavy files) to view or search for the product.

Ok. I am not going to give up. I'm sure you have been where I am. I have redone website and hope that it is more inviting. I am also using all of your suggestions in the process. Please look at updated site:
decor4less dot com. Thank you.

If you want to focus on getting sales from your traffic, match your keywords to the product landing page. Tailor your keywords to include the exact manufacturers description and deliver them to that product page on your website. They are more likely to buy from you if they are taken to what they were looking for without having to click through differnt pages on your site to find it.

You are also more likely to rank (serps) for the longer tail keywords relating to the product or manufacturers description. For example you sell "sandalwood naturals spa basket" I would try to rank this page with the keyword "sandalwood naturals spa basket" or if there is not enough traffic "sandalwood naturals" rather then the keyword "body lotion" or "bath cream"

Good luck

30 to 40 visitors daily isn't really enough to start worrying about not making sales. I'd say if your getting 1,000 visitors a day then I'd start worrying.

Just give it time. Just wondering why not go with opencart or magento? It would look much more professional?

For anyone needing a link to the site it's
http://decor4less.com/

Chad

Maybe you can work to improve your google ranking. Ir's going to be hard though..

I think the google shopping thing will help too. Or maybe make a youtube video. Google loves Youtube videos since they own youtube.

Please advise if the website looks good enough or if I should use wordpress.

Thank you.

decor4less dot com

Personally I'd move your site over to wordpress.

I'm actually rolling out a home decor site with a few local artisans in Savannah GA who make wood furniture and things ( I see your based out of Columbus, GA)

For home decor, in my opinion, the website needs to look very appealing since your dealing a certain demographic which puts a strong ephasis on style. So I think layout is important. You also need to have some sort of sorting function for your products. Hammocks, cabinets, and mugs should not all be grouped together on the same page.

I also would be skeptical about the SEO company, as many of these companies don't really perform.

First things first, delete that top banner.

It prevents people from immediately seeing the product, which is what you want and need.

When I first visit your site, I just see your site like a forum not a e-commerce site. You should give a clear view, attractive categories for visitor navigate to your products. Not just show it all on your homepage.

Your landing page and webpage are absolutely vital to your business' success! This is essentially your storefront online and how you present it and reach out to your targeted demographic is contingent upon successful sales.

I can help you with SEO and everything else your business needs to achieve your goals! There are a lot of companies out there that say they can help you without proving their worth and they end up scamming your money. Trust me this has happened to me years ago and I have learned and beat the system.

You can reach me on Skype at PatHartoonian and we can discuss further the details of your business so we can make it grow!