Some serious feedback and criticism

[overstreet1983]

Hi all,

I recently found this forum and like what I've been reading so far. My business partner and I recently launched SwordWares.com back in October, and I'd like some serious feedback and some advice on how to increase traffic.

I've been submitting to free directories, delving into an online sword community, making use of myspace, and will have a magazine with 10,000 copies circulated advertising the site for a year (quarterly) beginning in February.

Our traffic started coming pretty fast, but I haven't made many sales yet. Is this normal? We currently get around 50-70 unique visitors per day depending on whether we're using adwords.

I've never run an ecommerce site before, so I'm not sure if we're on the right track or not. Any feedback?

Matt

[The Old Sarge]

When I Google your entire list of keywords, I get 11 results. None of them yours. The PR for your home page is 0 (not so good) but you're indexed very well with Google, which is good. My guess is that you'll just have to give your site time. IMO, it's not at all unusual to have lots of visitors and few sales when you're in such a specialized niche.

[overstreet1983]

Yeah, the PR0 is very unfortunate. I use websiteoutlook.com quite a bit to check my backlinks, but it seems every other time I update, it glitches out. One time it'll say I have 83 backlinks, the next it'll say I have 0 -- when I know I have more than that. Also, I'm hearing that Google won't be updating their page ranks until May 28th .. and at that point, it will have been more than 320 days since their last update which is kind of weird. So, hopefully then, I'll get a decent page rank assigned. I recently changed my title, maybe thats why my keywords aren't showing up properly? Also, I noticed that in both yahoo and google if you put in "professional swords" I have a couple spots out of the top 10 search results. Thanks for the response.

Matt

[brokensaber]

Some issues. You need to make your image folder ssl friendly. Use https in the link to images in your application. People get the non secure pop up which can generally scare them off your site.

Some CSS issues - Adjust the width and height to 100% each besides a fixed pixel size. This will make it more browser and monitor friendly.

Layout - You should put your introduction on top for 2 reasons. SEO and the fact you dont want to throw your products in their face like a fish monger. Use rich text and a short description of your products.

Also you might consider doing this

Pick up a new distributor and add more products.

Time period Garments, eating/drinking utilities, Bows, Time specific litterature either historical or poetry. Music instaments, etc. Never forget the ladies.

Build a community - Add news like tournaments and reinactments. Movies to watch. Articles such as swordsmithing etc. Add a forums. Movie clips of tournaments. Make it a fun site.

[BasicECommerce]

As a big fan of bladed weapons, I must provide my insight.

Layout - You should put your introduction on top for 2 reasons. SEO and the fact you dont want to throw your products in their face like a fish monger. Use rich text and a short description of your products.

Sorry, but I have to disagree. The whole point of your site is to push products and make a sale. Like you said, you are getting traffic. The engines are finding you. There is nothing more important than pushing product because that is why you have the business.

Your layout, aside from a bit distracting, is very nice and very clean. I would suggest having your side borders a solid color. This draws the focus more towards the products and the navigation.

Also, Get rid of the flashing text throughout. It is distracting from the information on the page.

Also you might consider doing this

Pick up a new distributor and add more products.

Again, I would hesitate to do this. Having a niche where you can easily call yourself an expert is great for e-Commerce. Spreading yourself into these other categories is nice at the surface level, but it detracts from the core customer and forces you to lose credibility. Visitors will think "I am looking for knives/swords. Not Period Clothing or Medieval music."

Finally, I would restructure your navigation. You have nice information in the Top Nav, but it gets lost because you have too many other forms. No need to have the Affiliates, Authentication, or Shopping Cart sections in the left nav. They clutter it up and are rather useless (This is not info that the average visitor cares about. Install/Review analytics for verification).

I would combine the Top Nav and Left Nav (Product Index). I actually did not see the Top Nav until I was struggling to find a way back to Home - by the way, you should make your logo image a link to Home.

There are a lot of other ways to improve the layout and navigation of your site. But, for now, I'll end it here and we'll see what others say. PM if you get curious.

-BEC

[brokensaber]

Google indexes content, not tables. It is smart practice to introduce your site to your visitors. Not to scare them off.

Second part of my post - Adding more products as I mentioned is smart also. It is called cross selling and goes along with the niche.

[BasicECommerce]

Google indexes content, not tables. It is smart practice to introduce your site to your visitors. Not to scare them off.

I am not arguing the SEO practice of content. I am stating that, as an e-Commerce site, the focus should be promoting products not content. (Besides, Matt already stated that he's getting the traffic, its just not converting. This is a common result of SEO casting too broad of a net.)

Chances are, we will never agree. So, let's leave it to the visitors via analytics. I suggest installing Google's analytics and running an A/B test of the homepage. Create 2 or 3 versions. Then, review the data and see what gets better visitor performance.

-BEC

[overstreet1983]

Thanks for the tips, both of you. I started to implement some of the ideas that brokensaber mentioned, and I'm just reading what BasicEcommerce had to say about the site.

I strongly agree with BasicEcommerce on the line of products. When I started the site off, I actually started with renaissance clothing, swords, archery equipment ... everything. But, I got the advice basicEcommerce gave me a LONG time ago. There's a saying that goes something like "sell leotards to left handed lesbians." I don't remember exactly what the saying was, but basically, this is the internet, you have access to thousands and thousands of buyers. There's no need to spread thin. You have to look at it like a game of "Risk".

BasicEcommerce, what do you suggest I put in the left hand nav instead of the authentication box and affiliate box and such (and, if I get rid of them, where should they go)? Just curious.

[BasicECommerce]

what do you suggest I put in the left hand nav instead of the authentication box and affiliate box and such (and, if I get rid of them, where should they go)?

Quick Breakdown:
Your Cart section - (First, change to 'My Cart' - the personalization goes a long way) Move that to the right and put it on top. That is the most common place for the shopping cart info.
Authentication - Not sure what this is. Is it a customer account login? If so, I would try to merge this with the Your Cart section. If not, I'd get rid of it as it is not obvious what it is.
Affiliates - Get rid of it. This doesnt help your customers. Find affiliates on the affiliate networks (like Commission Junction). If you feel you must have it, include it in your 'Help' section.

Top Nav:
The two different forms of navigation cause one to not get used. If you have an Analytics program (which you should - Google Analytics is free), review the visitor information and see which navigation they are using - Top or Left Nav.

I am assuming visitors will be using the Left Nav more than the Top Nav. So, include 'Martial Arts', 'Fencing', 'Stage Combat', & 'Enthusiasts' in your left nav. Merge it with the 'Product Index' box. The rest of the information is already included in your 'Help' box and if the visitor is curious about that information, they will know where to find it as it is commonly towards the bottom.

Hope this helps.
-BEC