Any ideas on how to get customers to buy my products online?
I have sent out brochures to local retailers, done craft shows, and given business cards to prospecitve customers...

I have had my website for a year and have had very little, very little....luck with making sales from it. I also don't have much luck with people registering on the site. There are 15-20 new visitors a day, and I have had over 1000 hits this month alone, with only 2 new registrations.

I think it is easy to navigate, and my prices are comparable.

Please feel free to check it out and any feed back would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,
Patty
Hidden Beauty Gifts
Explore the beauty within...
www.hiddenbeautygifts.ifp3.com

Hi Patty:

Maybe its just my browser but your website wasn't working for me. I had to switch browsers to see your website-- this is bad..... How many people do you think are going to do that?

Also, why do you have a welcome page and them people have to enter your website? Personally, I think that is utterly useless because you're already forcing your customers to do more work. They should get to your website and right away have some ideas of what you're selling not have to click on additional links to find items to buy. Also, you have this box within your website that has text -- why isn't it just in a regular html page? Do you really think people are going to scroll down to read what you have? Probably not... I also see that you're offering a free glass charm - that should be highlighted or bolded or a different color so that it stands out.

Why is your domain name hiddenbeautygifts.ifp3.com and not just hiddenbeautygifts.com. Having a sub-domain, rather than a regular domain, is going to hurt you with search engines.

Finally, where is your content? Pictures are not enough.. you need text....

Hope this feedback helps :)

Best of luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patty:
You absolutely need a top level domain.
I kinda have a hard time reading all the text.

A signup form for a newsletter needs to be right on the home page and easy to see.

I'm glad you started seeking help on forums-- I'm sure it's tough to stomach some of what you hear but take it to heart and respond how you can.

Hi Patty. You have some beautiful products and amazing photos. I like the bottle tops and the b/w Niagra Falls picture especially.

While I didn't have trouble viewing your site in my browser(firefox), it did take almost a minute to load and the different pages I went to also were slow to load. As a web designer I recommend that your Home page be a static page, it won't take time to load for most users.

Also the page doesn't convey your message. Instead of the empty blue sky, I suggest adding some product pictures, a logo would be great.
Also get rid of the menu drop down button and have those buttons all visible on the home page.

I also second the previous comment about visitors having to scroll through the text box with your info and making the "Free Gift" more noticeable on the main page.

After you fix the site, try some free and low cost online marketing. I have compiled some advice for marketing online on my womens resources site. It's all free information that I have learned in the past 3 years.
http://www.freewebs.com/investinwomen/theinternetguru.htm

Leah Oviedo
Mercado del Mundo

Hi Patty,

Congratulations on deciding to do business online. There is lots of potential for you online, but with a quick glance at your site however, you have a few critical issues that need to be addressed before your business can grow. I will list one here:

Critical issue #1: You need to do business under your own domain name:

Incorrect: http://www.hiddenbeautygifts.ifp3.com

Correct: http://www.hiddenbeautygifts.com (if it is available)

I also highly recommend that you visit www.phardy.com and do the following:

1 - Scroll half-way down the page and on the left hand side, fill out the small form.

2 - Check your email account for further instructions.

3 - Follow those instructions and pay very close attention to the information you will receive via email. It has helped LOTS of business double, triple and even quadruple their chances of generating the revenue they want. The information is 100% complementary. No strings attached.

4 - Check out the rest of the site.

Any questions? Let me know.

Regards,

Pat Hardy
P Hardy Technologies, Inc.
When Retail Profits Count.
50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. #400 Uniondale, NY 11553
1-800-896-4022 / 516-342-4825

Thank you so much for your tips. I did take off the enter page and highlight the "free glass charm" in a different color. As far as the domain ifp3 that is the site I go through for hosting and site building. I am in the process of building a new website but not being "site building savy" it is taking me some time... Again, I thank you for your advice!

Patty
Hidden Beauty Gifts
Explore the beauty within....
www.hiddenbeautygifts.ifp3.com :-)

The first thing I would do is get rid of the intro. When someone clicks you your link they want to go direct to the page, they don't care about your fluff.

Next the pop up box, get rid of it too. Make it a part of your home page. And your visitors should be able to click products and links to navigate without having to look for a drop down.


Ocha

website: http://www.infoesource.com

blog: http://www.infoesource.com/blogindex

Follow Me On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/OchaNix

Patty, the site looks great I like the picture of the wine topper and glass charms.

Leah Oviedo
http://stylinsites.com

Thanks, I have been working on making it more "user" friendly the last couple of weeks!! Still alot of traffic, but no sales!! Step by step I guess!! Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated!!!
Patty

Hi Patty,

What is your traffic telling you? What are your shoppers doing on your website?

Regards,

Pat Hardy
P Hardy Technologies, Inc.
When Retail Profits Count.
50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. #400 Uniondale, NY 11553
1-800-896-4022 / 516-342-4825
www.phardy.com

Hi Pat,
Thanks for your response to my question, I am at a loss right now.
Here are a few of the stats for my site...
The last 50 visits:
55% Direct Traffic to the site (my referral/recruitment)
35% Reffering Sites
10% Search Engines
Average 8 pages per visit, however 16% exit from the home page
75% are new visitors to the site

For the month of February I had 1535 hits on the site (pages visited/images viewed)

So basically, people are looking, a few are pricing product, but no one is buying...
I have compared my prices to others and they are comparable if not priced below the others.

Any ideas, thoughts?
Patty ~Hidden Beauty Gifts

One thing you didn't tell us, where are your "visitors" abandoning the visit?

Many of my hits don't end in "sales" because my visitors are on my site looking for specific recipes or information.

Another reason you might want to look at is how easy it is to navigate your "shopping cart" is your call to action obvoius? Is it easy for a "new visitor" to purchase the "call to action" and is your call to action a sale or signing up to your newsletter, blog or whatever?

Also, take a look at the referring sites. That will tell you what is sending visitors to your site.

Finally, you might want to try an exit poll, if they are visiting an average 8 pages per visit, you might want to find out why those 1000 people are leaving without "buying" anything.

Just some thoughts.

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

Looking at statistics, people are browsing all of the galories on my site, but are not checking the prices or going to the shopping cart portion. I don't see one specific spot they are exiting from.

My "call to action" is a free glass charm for signing up for my free newsletter...as for referring sites 57% is direct, 35% referring, and 7% search engines.

I will look into the exit poll, I am also looking into changing servers to get rid of the ifp3...
Thanks for the new ideas...I'll keep trying, anything can help!!

Patty

Explore the beauty within...
www.hiddenbeautygifts.ifp3.com

Hi Patty,

Did you change your domain name so that it reflects the name of your business like I mentioned in my very first post?

By the way, last Monday, we gave away a lot of good stuff on how to increase online sales. If you're interested, visit www.phardy.com, and on the left-hand side of the page, enter your name and email address and check your inbox. I'll make sure that'll send you more information in the future.


- Pat
P Hardy Tech.
www.phardy.com
800-896-4022

Hi Pat,
I have not yet changed my domain name. I am looking into building another site, but ifp3 is very easy for me to navigate when I'm putting new products in my line or have to change anything... I'm nervous to switch to one I don't know...but it is in the works!

I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks for the info and I'll be sure to check out phardy.com!
Patty

Hi Patty,

IFP3 may be easy for you to navigate when putting new products on your line or when you have to change anything but the questions you need to ask yourself are:

Why am I doing this?

Am I doing this simply to entertain myself or do I want to make a profit?

You cannot run a profitable online business without doing business under your own domain name. Unless IFP3 allows you to run your business under your own domain name, you will find it extremely difficult to sustain your business. Consumers shop online with businesses they trust. By not running operations under your own domain name, you are detracting shoppers from doing business with you.

If I were you and ready to move towards profitability, I would either work with IFP3 to move the site to my own domain name (ie - patty.com) or concentrate 100% of my time working on a new site that operates under my own domain name.

Regards,

Pat Hardy
P Hardy Technologies, Inc.
When Retail Profits Count.
50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. #400 Uniondale, NY 11553
1-800-896-4022 / 516-342-4825
Interested in doubling sales & profits this year? Visit: www.phardy.com for more info.

I viewed your site and you definitly have some nice products. With all of the suggestions of our members the changes you make will help increase your traffic. It takes time to build traffic to a web site. Have you tried ppc? I would implement numerous traffic methods.

No message

It might be a good idea to display your products as they look when they are being used. Show a couple of the tops on really pretty bottles, show the charms on wine or champagne glasses that are filled 3/4 of the way, sitting next to a pretty place setting or some candles. Most people do not have a good imagination...you must give them a picture of how awesome your product looks while it is being used.
How about making the charms a little larger and using them as napkin rings? this way you product can be part of the table decoration or setting.
If you do this, really set the stage, a neutral or fuzzy background with the focus on the bottle or glass. Play with different lighting too...make sure your product sparkles.

Debbie Borges

owner, "Can't Resist"

Feel free to list your items when I open up my website here soon.

For more information go to the following link:

https://www.businessownersideacafe.com/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=106&topic_id=1408&mesg_id=1408&page=