How can I increase the conversion rate?

I'm working on www.thebeadchest.com, and the conversion rate is not quite up to par. The rate for Google organic referrals is about 0.5%. Any advice?

Your site has been on line for about 4 years and you are on the first page for a Google search for 'african beads' so I ask how many visitors are you getting for your key words. If you are getting a ton of visitors than you do have a conversion problem. I added Green heart beads to the shopping cart and the page took over 20 seconds to load. I tried to calculate shipping at checkout and I quit after 45 seconds as the page tried to re-load so it appears you have a server issue. I might have hit the server at a bad time but at 5 AM eastern time I doubt it.

Are you sure you are speaking the language of your customers? I know a TON of people who want beads for this or that, but very few of them know specific names for the types of beads. I suggest adding a sidebar that allows people to search for beads based on color or material rather than the specific name.

Are you using Google analytics? I suggest you do so you can see how your traffic is behaving and setup goals and benchmarks.