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BritishCandyBars

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Sp32

Sp32

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2009
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Hi guys, I'd like to show you my website and I'd like to hear on what you had to say about it. Don't go pussy footing around on me, give me your honest opinion, remember I am targeting average home computer users, I am not targeting the keen eyed experienced webmaster niche.

The site is obviously about selling chocolate/candy/sweets etc and is supposed to look good but give the appearance of a strong company at the same time.

If you were a an average computer user looking to buy british chocolate would you leave my site or have a little browse first. Also please give me some comments on the prices and if you think they are reasonable or not. (I have tried making the prices as low as possible but to also succeed in conjunction with the post and packaging costs)

I would also like some feedback on SEO if that's possible, so if you have any experience on SEO (doesn't matter how much or how little) share your input.

Thank you for reading,

Code: 
http://www.britishcandybars.co.uk/
 
18 comments
It seems that you've done most of the things we talked about, good job. The only thing that's making the site look unprofessional are those small images, try to find bigger images, and maybe make them with rounded corners? You can achieve it easily with CSS.

Small description of the candy product on the Index, bigger font size, price in bold, that's about it.
 
I have resized the images on the index and I shall take a look at the code a bit later on to make the prices bold. I am unsure on how I would add a description for the items on the index as I don't think my coding skills would be able to achieve this. I am pretty sure when I find the code to make the price bold I'll also find the code of the font size and I'll make that bigger too. Thanks again.
 
Does this sound very strange?
Buy the product, take a unique picture with a note containing your website? Perhaps a strange idea, but I think it can affect people to think more positively about a purchase.

Anyhow, I do not think all the pictures you have now fit, mostly because of the white background of every shot. The white background does not fit in with the rest of the design.

The little magic favicon is gone and missing.

I'd hired someone to rate the products, maybe get more people to rate the products, or you can do it yourself. It also provides a little more confidence in a purchase.

Maybe you should consider a newer and fancier logo. A logo that can get all our attention. A logo that includes a candy bar. A logo that is really pretty.

I think it's good that you've taken the time to write a bit about the website, and posted some pictures of the stores near you. etc. This indicates the seriousness, and a buyer are always looking for such points to be safer.

I think maybe "add to cart" should have been given a new color. The orange and white color can be annoying to many eyes.
 
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I must confess I actually bookmarked this site the first time I saw it in your profile. :D

One thing that you perhaps would like to add is exact what payment options thats available and Im talking from a possible buyer/customer perspective as when I want to buy anything on the net I normaly always tend to see how can I pay and what will it actually cost in the end. The payment link is very visible but you could and perhaps should add icons/buttons for the payment options on that page.

Good work! (y)


/UpNorth
 
Thanks guys, I've taken both of your inputs and I've actually thought about the background to all the current images before not looking too tasteful and I didn't really like the amount of orange as well so when I get a decent amount of time I'll take a look into those, I can't afford to get images of all the chocolates in my house hold, well, I can but I don't really feel up to going to that extreme.

I also agree with the favicon and the logo being of poor standard to a shopping website. Much appreciated for the feedback @ MrSandvik

Thanks for your message UpNorth, I'm glad to see you bookmarked it and I couldn't agree more, I am going to add a little image on the home page with options such as visa/mastercard/paypal etc approved as the payment section isn't enough.

Thanks a lot for giving your inputs.
 
Website Looks Cool and Somewhat Professional But i hate those white images Background edit them with Your template colour other than, every things looks settled and impressive, Good Luck!!
 
Site is OK, but can't you just walk into any supermarket and buy these? Why spend $1 on shipping?

https://chevychasesupermarket.elsstore.com/brandstores/119-ziyad/categories/19161-after-eight-mints

US$4.59

Why would people pay you $5.50 + $1.10 = $ 6.60 and having to wait days or weeks?

And why not use 'brought' instead of 'brang'. Use colloquial English instead of urban terms.

- Change USD to British Pounds.
Click to expand...
Site is aimed on the US market (and so are the shipping costs), so no need to put in GBP.
 
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You still have a lot of work to do mate.

Jason said:
The only thing that's making the site look unprofessional are those small images, try to find bigger images, and maybe make them with rounded corners?
Click to expand...
That isnt the only thing making the site look unprofessional IMO.
Yes, it would be much better if you had bigger images, each of identical size and background. Take your own pictures of images - upload them with your logo watermarked in the corner/across the center of the image.

But, there is a whole load of things that can be improved to make the site look more professional. Firstly the theme, its very unprofresh - use a fixed width header, body and footer - much more professional on a ecommerce website. Secondly, get a logo (unique, possiably containing the UK/British flag) and matching favicon (looks very unprofresh atm). Use a well-defined layout on product pages - images (at least 3 per product) - info - description - bookmark/share links - reviews - max of 4 similar products.

These small things will put people off making purchases:
http://feed2.me/i/n5xbmx.png - whats going on here? too many oragne buttons - confusing.
http://feed2.me/i/6ugbb8.png - cluttered
http://feed2.me/i/ki82o4.png - cluttered
http://feed2.me/i/2iochz.png - categories + tags are the same, doesnt look good + no good for seo.

You gotta remember that people are dumb, shit like this confuses them. Make it look good and the money will roll in. You need to get a new theme IMO - one which is compact and looks like a chocolat bar with a milky header :)


Small things make a big difference - a difference of making $100/week to $1000 a week.



On the SEO side of things, theres a lot to improve too. I would love to go into it for you, but since I'm selling an SEO service it would be unfair to analyse your site for free, hope you understand. I think I've given you enough tips on the design aspect though - work on that.
 
l0calh0st said:
- Put product images (transparent) in boxes.
- Change USD to British Pounds.
- This menu could be better, other font or jQuery/css effects:
http://imgcrave.com/?v=DH2tN.png

All others looks okay :)
Click to expand...

I changed the theme so the white background doesn't look so visible and out of place, I have to keep it as USD as I am targeting Americans and the image returned a 404, thank you for your input l0calh0st :)

Shahrukh said:
Website Looks Cool and Somewhat Professional But i hate those white images Background edit them with Your template colour other than, every things looks settled and impressive, Good Luck!!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I have done this

sniffdog said:
Site is OK, but can't you just walk into any supermarket and buy these? Why spend $1 on shipping?

https://chevychasesupermarket.elsstore.com/brandstores/119-ziyad/categories/19161-after-eight-mints

US$4.59

Why would people pay you $5.50 + $1.10 = $ 6.60 and having to wait days or weeks?

And why not use 'brought' instead of 'brang'. Use colloquial English instead of urban terms.

Site is aimed on the US market (and so are the shipping costs), so no need to put in GBP.
Click to expand...

I obviously can't sell my products cheaper than local stores as it costs me to post the items, it costs me roughly £10 per kilogram to ship to united states, the website is meant to be more of a luxury to buy chocolate that you can't get locally, no matter what your country is, so that's the reason the prices are high, I'm not going to make myself lose money, I think I'll be earning around £2 per order based on orders of around 10 items. Also I don't understand where have I used 'brought' instead of bought, please show me, thank you for your input.

Anthonis said:
1$ shipping???? are you nuts??? 20 items 20$?? i rather buy in asda or tesco with free delivery :D:D:D
Click to expand...

Once again, of course I can't be local stores, the website is meant for a luxury to get chocolate from a different country that you can't get locally, and if you work out the postage costs from the UK to the USA you'll realise it isn't free.

Gavo said:
Make some sort of selection boxes with assorted goods, then you can pre-calculate the postage better.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea, I shall implement this, thank you.

NightMare said:
Cool site , i liked it
Click to expand...

Thanks buddy :)

SJshah said:
You still have a lot of work to do mate.

That isnt the only thing making the site look unprofessional IMO.
Yes, it would be much better if you had bigger images, each of identical size and background. Take your own pictures of images - upload them with your logo watermarked in the corner/across the center of the image.

But, there is a whole load of things that can be improved to make the site look more professional. Firstly the theme, its very unprofresh - use a fixed width header, body and footer - much more professional on a ecommerce website. Secondly, get a logo (unique, possiably containing the UK/British flag) and matching favicon (looks very unprofresh atm). Use a well-defined layout on product pages - images (at least 3 per product) - info - description - bookmark/share links - reviews - max of 4 similar products.

These small things will put people off making purchases:
http://feed2.me/i/n5xbmx.png - whats going on here? too many oragne buttons - confusing.
http://feed2.me/i/6ugbb8.png - cluttered
http://feed2.me/i/ki82o4.png - cluttered
http://feed2.me/i/2iochz.png - categories + tags are the same, doesnt look good + no good for seo.

You gotta remember that people are dumb, shit like this confuses them. Make it look good and the money will roll in. You need to get a new theme IMO - one which is compact and looks like a chocolat bar with a milky header :)

Small things make a big difference - a difference of making $100/week to $1000 a week.

On the SEO side of things, theres a lot to improve too. I would love to go into it for you, but since I'm selling an SEO service it would be unfair to analyse your site for free, hope you understand. I think I've given you enough tips on the design aspect though - work on that.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, I shall change the favicon to a british flag, I've changed the style back to a previous style, I'm considering removing the rating systems stars and just keeping reviews as the stars make the site look bad imo. I shall start photographing my own images once I have started earning money from the website as I don't want to go out and buy a bunch of chocolate bars that just stay dormant in my house as I don't really like eating chocolate that much, but I do agree this will be better for the appearance and quality of my website.

I shall do some more edits today, hopefully I'll be finished by the end of tonight, thanks
 
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I obviously can't sell my products cheaper than local stores as it costs me to post the items, it costs me roughly £10 per kilogram to ship to united states, the website is meant to be more of a luxury to buy chocolate that you can't get locally, no matter what your country is, so that's the reason the prices are high, I'm not going to make myself lose money, I think I'll be earning around £2 per order based on orders of around 10 items. Also I don't understand where have I used 'brought' instead of bought, please show me, thank you for your input.
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1) I do think these things are easily obtainable in the States. See the link to a small US grocery retailer. He sells it for US$4.59, instead of US$6.60 you ask for it.
2) I said that you used 'brang' instead of 'brought'. From About Us:
'Well we are a family in a small town in England called Northampton, we were all born in England and we wanted to help bring the family closer together by creating a business which we brang to the internet.'
 
Yes, things I sell will be available in the USA but maybe not Australia, or maybe not India, or maybe they are just there to increase backlinks, either way they don't have a negative impact on sales towards other items; unless someone left the shop after looking at a price of one item.

Also I see, cheers, I will change it to "that we brought"
 
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