I created this site for my wife. Please take a look and tell me if...

14 years ago

You might be able to find affiliates if you offer a very nice %. I see you're selling glasses for $18+. Very spendy for a wine glass (especially since I break 1 per week!). How much are you prepared to offer affiliates in compensation?

What are your stats for the website? #'s of visitors, #'s of customers, #'s of return customers? These are things we can't ascertain from just looking at your website.

How are you communicating with customers?

You may not need affiliates if you start applying more of your IM basics. Capturing emails directly from the site, etc.

-Trigman

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thobbs31

14 years ago

Hi Trigman, and thanks for the reply. To answer some of your questions, the only marketing I did was AdWords. CTR was around 8%. The site was launched on 12/10. Since the time of launch there have been over 3000 unique visitors. As far as commission, I was thinking in the 40-50% range. All of the communication is automated through the shopping cart. I don't have stats for return customers yet as the site is too new. However, there is a shop in Florida that is now buying wholesale from us.

I realize the $18.95 seems a little high, but its lower than some of the others out there.

Thanks again for your thoughts and any other advice you can offer.

Tom

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TrigMan

14 years ago

Originally Posted by thobbs31

Hi Trigman, and thanks for the reply. To answer some of your questions, the only marketing I did was AdWords. CTR was around 8%. The site was launched on 12/10. Since the time of launch there have been over 3000 unique visitors. As far as commission, I was thinking in the 40-50% range. All of the communication is automated through the shopping cart. I don't have stats for return customers yet as the site is too new. However, there is a shop in Florida that is now buying wholesale from us.

I realize the $18.95 seems a little high, but its lower than some of the others out there.

Thanks again for your thoughts and any other advice you can offer.

Tom

Your number seem VERY respectable. 2 weeks in you're doing great. My only question to you is this; Can your wife keep up with the demand of painting these glasses if affiliates were to inundate you with orders?

Obviously you'd be able to subcontract some of that, but it's something to think about.

Thanks
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thobbs31

14 years ago

Originally Posted by TrigMan

Your number seem VERY respectable. 2 weeks in you're doing great. My only question to you is this; Can your wife keep up with the demand of painting these glasses if affiliates were to inundate you with orders?

Obviously you'd be able to subcontract some of that, but it's something to think about.

Trigman,

Yep, that's a bit of a concern. I've given it some thought and it might be a case where I limit the number of active affiliates at any given time. Also, as you stated, I could sub some of the work out. Of course, if I do that, I'll have to change up some of the wording on the site. Tabbi will still certainly touch every glass, but some of the painting may have to be done by others.

Thanks for the input.

Tom

Thanks

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richdirtygirl

14 years ago

Hi Tom,

I like it. Your wife does beautiful things!

ok, you are asking about how to improve it, hum?

the header and background need help. It is a $100 problem... if you are a bit challenged for it, just contract a pro to create a real logo, a nice related background and some banners altogether.

you are going to need the banners for your affiliates.

Laura

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butters 14 years ago

Looks cool but the title of your blog, your bit which says "welcome to tamiglass.com something something something." That is a hideous font, unreadable basically. Other then that I like it
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- thobbs31 14 years ago
  
  Thanks Laura and Butters. Yeah, the header is pretty bad for readability. It's a little blurry under Tabbiglass.com. Definitely needs some work. I'll look into having a real coder fix it, as suggested.
  
  Thanks!
  
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  monroepublishing 14 years ago
  
  Have you done anything to optimize the site for SEO. You should start a couple of blogs, write a couple of articles, and put your website link in your signature so you can get some qualitiy backlinks to it.
  
  Dave
  
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  thobbs31 14 years ago
  
  Dave,
  
  I've done the meta tags and all of the common stuff. Problem with the standard SEO stuff is the tags are the same for every product page = not good. But, I hear rumblings that the search engines are putting less emphasis on tags and more on raw stats and back-links these days.
  
  Tom
  
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  Tony Matos 14 years ago
  
  Hi there enjoy your site, I do agree about the header and also the side bars needs to be change, try also adding some articles about your industry but the designs of the glasses are great keep up the great work, take care.
  
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steve m

14 years ago

Originally Posted by richdirtygirl

Hi Tom,

I like it. Your wife does beautiful things!

ok, you are asking about how to improve it, hum?

the header and background need help. It is a $100 problem... if you are a bit challenged for it, just contract a pro to create a real logo, a nice related background and some banners altogether.

you are going to need the banners for your affiliates.

Laura

Tom,

I have to agree with RDG on this one. The background image makes my eyes go funny. I think though as soon as that has been sorted then it will be a much improved site.

Steve

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Glassjaw009

14 years ago

First of all, let me just say that the design on the site looks very good. It's clean, it's sharp and it looks professional. Secondly, I think you really have something here. If you're willing to give a clean 50% to affiliates, you may be able to steer some people away from Amazon and Commission junction over to your site. I know 50% is high, but look at it this way:

You'd have never made those sales if it weren't for the affiliates.

I wish you the best of luck in the future with the sight, though I don't think you'll need it. Cheers!

Thanks
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thobbs31

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Glassjaw009

First of all, let me just say that the design on the site looks very good. It's clean, it's sharp and it looks professional. Secondly, I think you really have something here. If you're willing to give a clean 50% to affiliates, you may be able to steer some people away from Amazon and Commission junction over to your site. I know 50% is high, but look at it this way:

You'd have never made those sales if it weren't for the affiliates.

I wish you the best of luck in the future with the sight, though I don't think you'll need it. Cheers!

Thanks Glassjaw! FYI, I'm not a coder and I struggled mightily with that site. Over a year to get it to where it is now. I agree with the payout to the affiliates. I've been there and I lost a lot more than I ever made. Hopefully, with a real tangible product, I will be able to attract some folks and if I pay them right they'll stick with us.

You really think I might have something here?

Thanks again,

Tom

Thanks
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thobbs31

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Steve Porcaro

18.95 seems more than fair since it is hand painted. However long does each one take to make?

Stay unique like this that will help you in the long run.

Add a custom order form, for upsells for custom jobs

Steve,

Yep, there is a custom glass on the site and she's painted A LOT of them over the last couple of weeks. Seahorses, boats, Santa on a motorcycle, you name it, she'll paint it. I actually just told her that I'm going to raise the price of the custom glasses.

As far as the others are concerned, she has a method that she uses. She can paint 5-6 an hour on some of them.

Thanks for your input!

Tom

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misterkailo

14 years ago

A nice, clean background would be better. White. Black. Anything but that brown and pink letters.

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thobbs31 14 years ago

Originally Posted by misterkailo

A nice, clean background would be better. White. Black. Anything but that brown and pink letters.

Ha ha! I know, right? But, my that's what she wanted. With all the "Tabbi" stuff, she is trying to create a brand. I think she should just let her work do that for her.

Thanks for your input.

Tom
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kevinw1

14 years ago

You're also currently seeing the Xmas traffic and sales spike, so don't be surprised if things look very different in January.

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thobbs31 14 years ago

Originally Posted by kevinw1

You're also currently seeing the Xmas traffic and sales spike, so don't be surprised if things look very different in January.

Kevin,

I agree completely. That's why I am now considering affiliates and wholesale/bulk. My hope is I can create enough volume that the site sustains itself outside of Christmas.

Thanks for you input!

Tom
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thobbs31

14 years ago

Bump. Just looking for some more feedback from the day crowd if they don't mind.

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WD Mino 14 years ago

Hi,

The following is just my opinion take it with a grain of salt and if you can benefit or use anything great I am by no means picking on you I applaud you for your efforts.

I visited your site. If you approached me to have anything to do with it I would have to decline it will not convert too many people .The firs thing i noticed is the header is blurry and not popping out at you it is the first thing people see .

Second the background needs to be made a bit darker use some white text over black about 35% opacity Or use a logo fade it out and position it so it looks professional or just use a plain background.

She is not going to brand herself in the right light if the site is blurry and kind of yechy looking put a video of her working on the middle section of the home page and post it on youtube. that will help do 2 things one is drive targeted traffic. 2 and most importantly it will brand her as The Tabbi Lady. she makes neat stuff. I am not sure this is the kind of business you wish to have affiliates for.

Approach some other sites that specialize in custom made glass and things maybe some stained glass companies as well anything to get your site linked with others you could do reciprocal linking with them offer them as a resource or whatever.

point is your going to be forking out at least 50% for a good affiliate and even up to 100% for a super affiliate i wouldn't bother just carry on change the site a bit and things should do wel. I can tell you from experience Glass Sells! I specialized in antiques for a couple years dealt with Corgi Toys Dinky Toys Carnival Glass depression Glass etc IT SELLS BIG.

I wish you all the best and much success

Merry Christmas to you

-WD
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- Ryan700 14 years ago
  
  I'll have to qualify myself as not being an expert but I am a shopper of the web sometimes and this is only my opinion.
  
  I agree with the people earlier about the banner. If it just said "Tabiglass" instead of "Welcome to Tabiglass.com" it would have been a slight improvement. You already have "Welcome to Tabiglass.com" in the header above the content - so it seems a little redundant there.
  
  The second line in the banner is unreadable because of the size of the script font you used.
  
  Also, if you put the payment options on the top on the right-hand side (where there is room) people would know right away that you take paypal which could be a big selling feature for you. The way it looks on the bottom it seems like it was put there as an afterthought.
  
  I don't want to go on but opening a Twitter account for Tabiglass might get some more traffic to your website. Just promote it without spamming every 30 seconds.
  
  <edit> BTW, I just tweeted this to my over 6000 followers and received 11 click-throughs to your web site thru SU.pr at http://www.su.pr/
  
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Susanrh

14 years ago

Hi, The site looks great and painted glass is really popular. I think a bit of description with each design would really sell the items a bit more (what the design is the colours what how it could be presented who it would be a good gift for) some people respond more to words even though you might think it's obvious from the pictures.

If and when sales drop off after the holiday season Tabbi could consider a series of 'How to reports' or an ebook teaching people how to paint on glass, with photos of Tabbi at work and personal instructions it would appeal to people who would like to have a go themselves. I don't think you would lose many glass sales but priced right the ebook could appeal to people unwilling to spend $18. And you could capture email addresses with a how to report or offer a 'Glass of the Month' and appeal to collectors.
If you can get the supplies at the right price you could sell the paints and equipment too?
Hope this helps
Susan

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Andie

14 years ago

Hi :-)

I'm far from the expert site analyst...so more of a 'buyer' mode i guess..but I do agree about the header, much too hard to read.
Also, if I was truly 'shopping' for them..while I can see they are pretty, the details on the glasses (even larger images) are hard to judge although I'm not sure if it is because the background is white so it all blends or it just isn't zoomed enough on the actual 'art' on the glasses -- I'm sure others could suggest a cure for that but I don't know what it is.
While I didn't go to each of them, the ones I looked at had no 'reviews' so if you have any customers who could put some in that would add weight for myself.

On another note - I cannot decide how I feel about the 'third' person feel of the site...just not sure I like that --kind of left wondering 'where is Tabbi?' -- maybe that is just weirdo me...

Andie
ps* --Very Merry Xmas to all !!

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thobbs31

14 years ago

Thank you all so much for the input. Looks like I've got some immediate work to do on the header. She is starting to get some reviews, so I'll make sure I enable them as they come in. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be a little more descript on each glass as well. Thanks again for all of the input!

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jimroddy 14 years ago

well itz looks pretty nice and ur header and side links looks ok to me, try to gain some seo factory for this site.
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- clint48 14 years ago
  
  Wow, $3,000 in two weeks, you don't need affiliates. If I was making that much all I would do would be add a few backlinks two to three times a week and make sure I had a way to get back in touch with each customer.
  
  Some affiliates may help with traffic and backlinks, but you are taking a chance that some of those affiliates could be spammers and get you in trouble with your hosting.
  
  Clint
  
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  Killer Joe 14 years ago
  
  Hi Tom,
  
  I'm not sure if she is painting these by hand or using other methods, but at this stage of the game (if you haven't already ) you may want to look into "Pad Printing" and "Silkscreening" as ways to boost output in production.
  
  If you really want to grow the business the genious is in the artwork, and not in the application to the glasses. Pad Printing and Silkscreening, while having an upfront cost, will speed the production dramatically cutting down on the hours needed to produce the product and giving her more time for the creative side.
  
  Just food for thought, and best of success on this endeavor.
  
  KJ
  
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  cma01 14 years ago
  
  Tom,
  
  Congratulations on such a great response on your wife's site!
  
  While I wouldn't complain about getting a 50% split for an affiliate, I think that is pretty high for a physical product. If you have the ability to offer that kind of margin, I would have different affiliate levels, with a staggered commission based on sales level. Maybe start at 10 to 15% for the casual affiliate and 50% for the power affiliate.
  
  As for the design, I have to agree with everyone else, the heading logo needs to be crisp. It looks like it has been scaled larger and is very blurry (unless you saved it out of a Microsoft program.)
  
  I'm not a huge fan of the tiled text background (just personal preference), but if you stick with it, I would clean up that graphic as well.
  
  I would include a picture of your wife painting the glass on the about page. When you buy hand made or hand designed, people like to see who is making it.
  
  I couldn't tell the cart you're using, although it looks like an OsC derivative, so I'm not sure how easy this will be to implement, but here are my suggestions.
  
  URL's: Most carts have an SEF url option or add on. From personal experience with my own clients, I can tell you that it is definitely worth implementing.
  
  Product Names: Include what the product is in the product title, which will then also be listed in your page url. For example, your three wise man glass: the title of the page is "3 Wise Men." Three Wise Men what? And this is what shows as the description in Google search . . .
  
  $18.95. Bestsellers. 2009 Christmas Collectible $34.95. Custom $18.95. 3 Wise Men $18.95. Hairdresser $18.95. Holly Berry $18.95. 3 Wise Men. 3 Wise Men ..
  
  You want the description to be the product description. If possible, add a modification that will allow you to set the keyword and description meta tags because right now neither are on your product pages.
  
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thobbs31

14 years ago

Thank you all for the opinions and suggestions. I'll get to work on implementing some of the things that have been pointed out. I really appreciate it.

KJ, I'm not familiar with pad printing. I know what silk screen is, though. You're right, at some point production may become an issue. However, right now, I think the appeal is the fact that she actually paints them. Obviously, if she continues to be successful and grows, we'll have to figure something out. I'll keep your suggestions in mind.

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NickArnold 14 years ago

Critique from a design point of view:

Lose the tiled background, it looks dated and unprofessional. In ECommerce an unprofessional looking site doesn't bring confidence. Just make it either a nice solid colour or a gradient from top fading into a solid colour.

The header needs work - save the image in higher quality or better yet just get a completely new header.

The inside of the container actually looks good - I like the layout of the products and the individual product pages. I'm sure this is probably pretty much the stock layout with Opencart - but it's good anyway. I would however have a little bit of a margin between the left modules (categories etc) / right modules (shopping cart) and edge of the container. It looks a little sloppy when they are touching.

Work on your title tag etc both for SEO and aesthetical purposes.

Hope this helps, a solid start but just these few things will make the site look 100% more professional.
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thobbs31

14 years ago

Thanks, Nick. Might take me a little time to get it all done because I'm not a coder, but I'll give it the old college try! Appreciate your thoughts.

Tom

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thobbs31

14 years ago

bump! Any other comments?

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I created this site for my wife. Please take a look and tell me if...

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