citroen999 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 the OP should invest in ebay, amazon, shopify etc.. and build slowly these sites guarantee traffic and all the hard work is done regards design, SEO etc.. its all down to the customer wanting your product... they are also "easy in easy out" with no contract tie ins I have looked into websites and too often they are way too expensive for a small business to invest in so i stick with ebay, i am setting amazon up in the new year and having a trial on shopify.. yes i know all about the fees but when i see how many usa, australian, european customers i get per month i know for a fact that no website will do that, unless i spend £1000's on it.. and then still no guarantees websites for small businesses can be a mine field, very hit and miss as they are on a small budget and i would guess the amount of buisiness gained from it is low. The more well known sites and branded sites will obviously do well. ref the address issue, its probbaly a home run business and they dont want customers turning up at all times of the day, we had that problem, not good when you are just putting chips and egg out for tea message to the Kats Claws: dont get downhearted about the website, if you want any advice on ebay etc pm .. will be glad to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indizine Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I haven't had chips and egg for years and years!! Yes a lot of people sell loads on ebay....but don't want to pay the fees and so eventually want their own website store. But you're paying ebay because they have invested millions and millions to get it where it is. People want their own web store and to sell loads, but not prepared to invest in either the website or the SEO and general web marketing that is needed to grab even a small share of the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citroen999 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I haven't had chips and egg for years and years!! Yes a lot of people sell loads on ebay....but don't want to pay the fees and so eventually want their own website store. But you're paying ebay because they have invested millions and millions to get it where it is. People want their own web store and to sell loads, but not prepared to invest in either the website or the SEO and general web marketing that is needed to grab even a small share of the market. thats what i am saying... if your not prepared to invest in a site take another route. i like paying ebay, better than a high street shop with all the risks, costs and tie-ins etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citroen999 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 also another problem with the site.. just been googling and trying to find it via various words, printed silver, hand crafted silver, sheffield etc.. finds nothing .. so the chances of customers is nil unless they know the company and know what to google.. prob needs SEO but that costs 2nd thing... the domain... too long and complicated. 3rd thing - prints charming?? implies printed ie canvas, poster etc.. its imprinted silver not printed silver.. my advice put the site on hold until funds are there to develop it., and get on ebay etc to increase turnover.. once that is stable you can then look at other options Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indizine Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 It isn't correctly optimised (if there has been any attempt at onsite SEO) but this could soon be rectified. But yes after that, the offsite SEO will cost the OP either their own time in learning and applying, or paying someone to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love2print Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I'm guessing your comment about web traffic was mean't for me, Sandra? When I said Google Analytics I mean't to check for the bounce rate, to see if people are leaving straight away. Yes, a good website should bring in more enquires than a poorly designed one. But you can't always explain that to everyone. I once did a website free of charge for someone. It wasn't by choice as my husband said I would do it for nowt for one of his friends – the cheek! I was sent a link to several websites that they liked one being Jaguars. Yes, I'm sure Jaguar asked a friend of a friend to design their website for free! Totally agree with you about a cheap looking website and expensive products. It makes me not trust someone, if they are selling a luxury product why can't they afford a decent website? Makes me think it might be a scam. Not that I'm saying that Kats_Claws website is a scam, to make things clear. I have to say, citroen999, that I think the names works – hand prints/imprints – prints charming. But everyone sees things differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indizine Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 No not at you Love2, all aimed at ccit's responses and for the OP (and anyone else reading) to take note off, should they wish to, that is! Hey,it wouldn't be the first time i've been accused on here of having mental health issues for raising concerns of flaws on a website:roll::loopy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kats_Claws Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 Wow! Didn't expect this many responses. Firstly thank you to everyone for your replies. Now to answer your questions... The site has cost me a great deal of money... Into 4 figures... And before you all start having hissyfits, I know this is probably a naive thing to have agreed to but it was a family friends business and I understood they would be doing a site worth many hundreds more than that and I was getting a good deal... You live and learn. Secondly the domain.... I set up my business with no silversmithing training and no idea what issues a longer website may bring. This was the domain I bought and the one I have printed on all my literature. I also own 6 other domains ( which are pointed to this site in a hope of helping with SEO) one of which is prints-charming.co.uk - much better and I don't know why I didn't think of looking for this when I first set up my website but again - it's all about learning. My lack of responses - simply had a busy few days and hadn't been back on line. Had no idea about all these replies. One thing I would like to dissagree with is about my business name - I LOVE my business name and have never had anything but comments about how good it is and I think you have looked into the whole meaning of printing a little too much. It is imPRINT jewellery where I make a stamp and Push it into the silver. And I make CHARMS so I think PRINTs CHARMing is quite good. The jewellery uses handPRINTS, footPRINTS, fingerPRINTS, pawPRINTS... so needen't necesserily be referring to the method of printing, but more WHAT is being imprinted... Besides that's not got anything to do with the website and I didn't ask for opinions on the name. Sorry to sound touchy but the business name never has been and never will be an issue. How do you know they are silver.... As someone else said, silver under 7.78g doesn't need to be hallmarked by law. This helps me keep costs down for now. I do intend to get a sponsors mark as soon as I can and get all the items hallmarked. The only problem is that this will add not costs (if I can help it), but time on to the creation of the items. I am on my phone so can't remember any more comments so ill have another read and post some more comments shortly Thanks again everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kats_Claws Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 The phone number and email address... Simply, I just don't use my land line and didn't even think about putting it in there. I may look into getting it forwarded to my mobile and then I won't have to worry about not picking up calls. Business address- yes it is run from my home and I don't want people just turning up at any time of the day. I happily arrange appointments for people and am happy to provide the address, but don't want anyone thinking its somewhere they can visit like a shop. If I put something like 'my studio is based at my home in Sheffield, if you would like to visit so I can take prints, please contact me for an appointment' would that be better? The email address - again when I was sorting my own website etc I didn't have a clue how to get an @printscharming...... Email address so that had to do. If I'm honest I never thought my business would take off like it has. And now I feel like I am trying to catch up with my 'technology' side of things. I'd love to have matching domain and email but again, don't know how to go about it. I picked a @live account as I could access it from my iPhone easily and I didn't know how to get a professional looking one so made do. I have built this business up from nothing. Had no training in silversmithing, stamp making, websites, SEO etc - I have had to learn it all myself in the 3 months prior to starting the business and the 20 months since. I'm not a thick person, I'm very switched on and business minded. I want my business to succeed and constructive criticism is great, please just make sure it's not tipping over into being derogatory about my work. My work IS high quality and I put hours into each and every item I make. There is no machinery used to make the actual charm, they are even polished completely by hand (bye bye to my own fingerprints at this rate! As for the brief I gave the company, it was 'elegant' and 'easy to navigate' there was other things too but I can't remember. I selected the colour scheme, so I have no idea what the comment about all the other sites are about. There are some individual comments I want to reply to so I will do this on the computer tomorrow Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 You were brave and thoroughly decent to come back and comment. After the pages of critism (valid or not) I'm not sure I could. Certainly wouldn't put mine up One point though, I think putting a landline and address is a legal requirement. it is for a ltd company - ill check on sole traders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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