Be Brutally Honest! Please.....

[discountpumps]

Hi
I have done my website and I know its not the best out there but its "ok"...
Now can you click on my site and tell me why you would not buy from me?

I sell pumps for rainwater tanks etc and I am the cheapest in Australia but I am not selling any......

I can only think of a few reasons that might be why I am not selling. I am getting clicks but no sales at all. (these are only my thoughts)

1. Site too slow?
2. Site too hard to navigate?
3. Site looks crap?
4. You dont have c/cards - only paypal to accept credit cards, even though you do cash on delivery too.?
5. You dont have a phone number to contact easily, only email?

Please dont just look at my answers. Please have a look for me and tell me why you wouldnt buy from me? Or if you would, then say that too please.
You wont hurt my feelings either way - just want some constructive critisism.
http://www.rainwatertankpumps.com.au/

Cheers
MT

[dferguson]

You have only been going a short while - When starting a new online business not making sales is normal - unless your spending a lot on advertising that is.

Your site looks 'ok' - but its not great. A professional theme would IMHO go a long way.

[discountpumps]

Thanks David.
(my first ezimerchant site and i modded the template as it didnt work with biug resolution so I think I did "ok" for my first effort but I know its not great :))
I am talking to practical webs about a template but they were saying something about it might fit or might not. Still talking to them.

I am advertising on adwords but im getting clicks but no sales so I cant work it out...

Maybe people are thinking and have bookmarked me?

Any other pointers at all?
Cheers
MT

[discountpumps]

Oh and other thought was the mean people doing well with my keywords that are established probably get all their mates to click each day on my site etc and its only a few clicks a day and its a lot of money...

Maybe I am too suspicous?
lol
Cheers
MT

[dferguson]

Click Fraud does happen.. I suppose thou, you have to be aware that just because you get 50 visitors, certaintly does not mean you will get a sale. Most people will browse around... Some might bookmark your site for later reference - and if your lucky they will come back and buy.

Sites take time to get going -6 to 12 months minimum is what we tell our clients.. It takes time for word of mouth, and advertising to take effect.

Your products are also not somthing that someone will buy on impulse - They need to be researched purchases.

[Ocean storm tackle 1]

MT,
When i first started with my new sites i only got about 1 sale a month. now i get a few every day and some quite goods ones too. Patience i guess is the key. make sure they can contact you easilly as I often get many phone calls. some people like to call for more info or assurance that you are a company that they can contact easilly if there is a problem.

If you want to increase sales further all i can further suggest is if your not already trying it.. use clix galore affiliate marketing. this has been absolutely outstanding for my success! you can start out for free with a bronze package to get the feel .. personally i am a clix galore gold member as this works best for me and well worth it. if you are on clix or are going to give it a shot try and get super affiliates such as shopsafe or BCL to sign up to your program. For further results I also use catalogue marketing with them now available on ezimerchant data feeds. if you dont use clix galore you can sign up with them on their banners half way down a page on my site athttp://www.fishingtackleshop.com.au/webcontent19.htm or you can go directly to their site.

hope this all helps in making you some more sales.

[Ocean storm tackle 1]

MT, forgot to mention in the last post
I am also personally just about to launch a brand new online shopping directory website
http://www.online-shop.com.au
in the next few weeks. if you are on clix galore or sign up you can email me and i will give you a listing somewhere on the new website.

[fansleeves]

Hey mate this sounds like a good idea. Could you have a look at my site also and suggest whether it would suit this online directory?

www.fansleeves.com

[Ocean storm tackle 1]

Ok this is how the online directory will work. All listings will be subject to our approval and we will reserve the right to either accept or decline any application to advertise on our directory website.

Fees at this stage I am looking to charge about $120.00 per listing which will include a title listing, short description listing, banner if available, and upto 3 links directly to your website this fee will be for one year.

Alternatively if you are a merchant on clix galore listings will be free if you are accepted into our site. The reason the listing is free is we will be paid a comission per sale if we make a sale from our directory site (or per click if you are on a cost per click program). However if a clix merchant website is accepted it may not be permanant if we decide your affiliate program is not performing or the comissions are extremilly poor.

As far as premium positions are concerned we will more so be favouring the sites that have signed up to clix galore as a merchant through one of my website links on pages such as http://www.fishingtackleshop.com.au/webcontent19.htm. The reason for this is we get paid comission from clix galore if you join up this way and are continiously paid a bonus comission from clix galore based on performance. so ofcourse it would make sense for me to plug these websites at a higer premium position.

When the new website (online-shop.com.au) is launched (which i am hopeing will be within 1-2 weeks) I will make a further post to let you and every one else interested know that the site is active.

[Wall Of Fame]

...Seems to be too much text not enough basic picture and "follow the arrows" type stuff.

When first opening your site, I immediately clicked on the "rainwater tank pumps" tab on the left (No, I didn't bother scrolling down). It took me to a page with lots of text. It looked to difficult so I clicked on the next tab to see if it would "tell me what you are all about". Pretty much the same thing - more pictures but still lots of text. I click a few more times and got bored.

To me it looked like too much information. I have found that people are stupid or just plain lazy (like I was trying to be with your site). Unless people get the whole picture of what you're about within 10 -20 seconds of entering your site - they will leave. People aren't that big on scrolling or clicking through heaps of pages either.

There needs to be a little amount of clicks as possible to get to buying part. For example it took me 5 clicks to get to http://www.rainwatertankpumps.com.au/category31_1.htm It should probably only take 1 or 2. If you rearranged your site so the link above was first, then it opened up to all the other information you have, that may be better. Especailly if people know what they are looking for - they don't want to sift around to find it.

In general though, the ideas and vision you have are great - I think help from Mel @ Practical Webs would make the world of difference. Build your site like a pyramid - start with a little bit of info and if they want more they can get it.

Cheers

[discountpumps]

Thanks
It is hard with mine as there are so many categories as people want a brand and if I listed them al together there would be hundreds on one page etc.
Also, manual pumps or automatic I have to seperate.
I understand what you are saying though and will try to simplify.
Cheers
Mick
http://www.rainwatertankpumps.com.au/category42_1.htm

[adrianlacy]

i guys, i had a look at your site and also tried to find it listed on google with some simple searches.
a few points - my opinion - way too much irrelevant data (in relation to what you are selling) on EVERY page relating to cheap pricing, etc. Very cluttered.
Too little targetting of individual and bulk products on each page. you have very good description data relating to each product, however none of this is going to help direct traffic to you.- its simply good info for buyers ONCE they find you. i find that repetition (and i know many will say that repeating too often results in lower ranking, but not so for me) make every page count. make every bit of text count - all relevant keywords need to be everywhere - in the category, description, name, title, everywhere
i searched 'rainwater tank', and 'rainwater tank pump' - te first didn't feature on first page, the 2nd was low down - both should be top ranks if the home page is reconfigured.
many would say my site is way over the top in description in the brief descriptions, but i duplicate brief and detailed and i guarantee this is noticed by google - we have top position rankings for nearly all our products, including hundreds of top 10 at google.com (not .au) against our main competitors in the USA. It takes much time to achieve these results without any paid advertising, etc (which we refuse to take part in)
my suggestion - redo the home page as a trial - FILL it with rainwater, tank, pump info and data, brand names, types - full of keywords your buyer will type in - make little reference to pricing guarantees at the top so relevant data is on the page without scrolling
check out your competition (including us ! we sort of are for some product!) and see how they design and what their ranks are.
regularly alter your site - google loves to see changes - keeps your site current with them - add product, change descriptions, add info, etc
Once again - my 2 bobs worth that i utilise on my site ....... and it works. good luck to you, and any others trying to lift rankings (and therefore traffic, therefore sales)