Site Review Please

[Cosmetics4u]

We have had our site live for a few months now and we do not seem to be getting many orders and google positions are pretty low - Am new to the whole website thing and dont know anything about design etc - I was wondering if any of you geniuses out there could look at our site and give us some feedback, tips etc. We dont have a massive budget so any help on Website and Google tips would be much appreciated.



Thanks in Advance

Steve
Cosmetics4u

[NicolaUK]

I'd be put off by no T+Cs that I can see, ordering info, returns, mailing address etc. I recognise the number as Merthyr (I'm from there) but for a lot of people it takes a big leap to buy online and without those basic details in view they'll just walk away. There's an awful lot going on on that page too, another pet hate of mine.

[Rich Brady]

Steve,

What do your stats say? Is the problem that you're not getting any visitors, or that people are looking at your site and just not not buying?

I use Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools, as well as the info my host provides to collect this info...

[Cosmetics4u]

Bit of both get about 50 visitors a day according to google stats and get about 2 orders a week if we are lucky

[acompton]

You've got a good range of stock, which is a start.
The site seems to have an overall identity problem - I assumed from the URL that you sell cosmetics, but the real force seems to be in fancy dress.
The page header is unhelpful in terms of identity. Its a bit early for Halloween isn't it?
There is far too much on the front page. Masses of large font text, liberally sprinkled with keywords, which is hard to read.
The full-stop seems to be a stranger to this website.
There are a lot of basic spelling and punctuation mistakes.
Here's one: Give us a Try you wont be dissapointed
should be: Give us a try; you won't be disappointed.

I couldn't find any Ts & Cs either.

50 visits a day isn't bad for a new site - are you using any advertising or is that natural results?

[leehack]

The first thing that struck me was the repeated delivery costs on every single product, surely you can come up with a better solution than that? Transparency on delivery charged by all means, but don't bore the crap out of me telling me them on every single product. You also need to move towards SPP i feel for better SEO.

I don't think it's great that one of the first links on your site is to buy a rabbit vibrator and then there is children's cosmetics a bit further down. I instantly thought your site was another underwear, vibro and bondage site so i expect others will too and leave, especially if their little princess is sitting next to them mooching for some face paint for the the local nativity play.

I struggled to understand the theme of the site after these first few clicks, i really disliked the large text as though i am blind, the spamming of keywords is pointless and achieves nothing and overall it just looks like a bit of a homemade site by someone who is just plonking a site online and not really thinking about how, why or what they are doing.

[jont]

Very confusing in what you actually sell... the homepage is a real mis-match of text size (and poor text colours) and no call to action... there is no focus.

Other than keyword spamming what is the point of


We stock Cosmetics,Aftershave,Perfume,Hair Extensions,Hair Extension Accessories,Jewellery,Fancy Dress,False Nails,Hair Rollers,Body,Products,Body Sprays,Make-Up Accessories,Coversticks and Concealers,Eyebrow Pencils,Eyeliner Liquid,False Eyelashes,Bronzers,Hair Accessories,Foundation,Hair Brushes,Mascara,Nail Accessories,Scarves,Nail Polish,Nail Polish Remover,Pedicure,French Manicure and a whole lot more

Cosmetics by Almay, Revlon, Max Factor , Loreal , Rimmel , Body Collection ,Royal, Maybelline , Sally Hansen , Collection 2000 , w7 , Constance Carroll , Aftershave ,Perfume ,Human Hair Extensions ,Jewellery ,Fancy Dress , gifts , Hen Night , Stag Party Fancy Dress available at our online store at http://www.cosmetics4uonline.co.uk or at our store at St.Tydfil Indoor Market , St.Tydfil Square Shopping Centre,1-7 River Walk,Merthyr Tydfil,Mid Glam,S.Wales,CF47 8EN


on the home page? None of it is linked and is in prime space for selling and calling the customer in. That must be the longest homepage I have ever seen!!

The top level section list in the left hand column is far too long for people to scroll and find what they are after.

I did not go any further than the homepage as I don't think a lot of your users will either.

The adage "less is more" works wonders with webs sites. Cut out all the spamming, focus attention to the key areas and please drop the woeful text colours and font sizes.

[gabrielcrowe]

It would seem that your market is also a crowded one.

The sheer volume of items on the front page is offputting. Jont is right, less is, most definately more.

[leehack]

Hair rollers, wedding flowers and a rabbit vibrator all for sale, it's like taking a stroll through the Tuesday morning street market.

[Cosmetics4u]

Very Good - Keep um coming - So what should the layout look like ? Give me tips on top of the abuse

[gabrielcrowe]

Keep your layout in check with a static width centrally aligned template.

Its not so much the images and colours of a site, more that a site needs to be accessible. We do this by placing elements in places that people expect them.

You use a lot of white backgrounds, with a lot of harsh edged pictures. We see plenty of randomly splattered concepts, leading all over the place. This isnt keeping with traditional 'zones' for things.

try making a template that separates the zones:

- header
- main product zone
- cart
- search
- nav

create these zones, in common places (take a look at amazon, play and dabs for pointers) and you're laughing. Dont be afraid to copy the big boys. They have spend millions between them on site research, so that we can come along and take pointers.

also look at how these sites arrange their products. they have zones inside their zones. for example, play.com has its main product zone (on the front page) split into several sections, dvd, game, music etc. and in each one, a few related products.

This structure goes a long way in expressing linkages between items, and sections, and leaves the customer guessing less when it comes to finding items.

good luck feller,

[gabrielcrowe]

something about your typography.

when you want to make soemthing stand out, dont make it bigger, make other things slightly, smaller or even make them a lighter shade of whatever.

big fonts dominating a page looks awful, and is actually harder to read.

[Rich Brady]

What are the Keyword Searches for those 50 Hits your getting? Which products are selling?

If the orders are for Cosmetics and Makeup, which is what your Domian Name suggests I'd focus your Home Page on that.

Top Level Sections being:


Compact Mirrors
Body Products
Blusher
Etc


The maybe a Fancy Dress and Adult Sections, with their respective sub-sections beneath.

That way you are concentrating on items the majority of the traffic is looking for...

[Cosmetics4u]

Hi - Thanks for the feedback - We get a mixture of both orders for cosmetics and fancy dress - Do you think it is better to start over again as we link the e-commerce to our epos system - hence the fancy dress and cosmetics on one site as the epos for both shops is linked so one database.

Gabriel Thanks for the advice but as I am a novice the layout info went right over the head

Steve

[Rich Brady]

hence the fancy dress and cosmetics on one site

Steve I don't think it a problem to have them on the one site, providing the layout works.

Do you think that the majority of customers visiting will be looking for a "Gale Hayman Lip Lift 2.6g Limited Edition Case" at the same time as "KING ROBE AND CROWN LARGE"?

Would it be better if on the home page you had two main Section links, Cosmetics and Fancy Dress, then visitors can drill down through the area that best suits their wants/needs.

Also, I want to click on the Hallow'een banner and expect it to take me through to a whole section full of Vampire Teeth and Witches Hats. I do think that should be further down the page though, with your company name/logo in it's current location.

[acompton]

Give me tips on top of the abuse
This isn't abuse, its advice. Your site is not inviting. Fix the things that are being criticised here, and the performance will improve. Thats the biggest tip of all.
Ignore gabe's tech-speak for the moment and concentrate on the obvious:
- get rid of the large, colourful text. Keep your message simple, so visitors can quickly grasp what's on offer
- divide the site into major sections that invite people to dive in and browse. Put image links on the front page to those sections.
- keep the overall layout simple and consistent across the site. Start with a simple Actinic template.
- look at other website - see which ones you like and copy them.
- publish some Terms and Conditions

[leehack]

Do yourself a favour Steve and get some professional help IMO. Have a look on the actinic site at the designers listed, visit their sites, view their portfolios, contact their clients and find someone with whom you can knit well with. The web is littered with sites like yours, the difference between a thriving website and one like yours can often just be a couple of thousand pounds and getting in contact with the right person.

I know it's hard to take the leap of faith, i know it's even harder to accept that in just 12 months time a correct web design company could have turned you into a website turning over 40-50k, maybe even more who knows. One of the most frustrating parts of the web (as a designer) is seeing sites drifting along, looking pants and achieving very little, when all it would take is a few thousand pound and the right advice off the right person.

You wouldn't try a fit a £3,000 carpet in your house, you wouldn't try and install a gas pipe for a new fireplace, treat web design in the same vain.

[parklifeclothes]

I found your site very confusing as it comes across more of a fancy dress site than one selling cosmetics and the home page just went on and on. I would be tempted to either create 2 very seperate parts to your site or better still, 2 new sites as the customer buying cosmetics on your site won't be interested in the fancy dress and vice versa.

As Alan says "The site seems to have an overall identity problem - I assumed from the URL that you sell cosmetics, but the real force seems to be in fancy dress." if you continue to sell both on the one site you may have to work on your identity, this is one major problem for us too as when you try to put products together that have little or no connection you have to accept there is always going to be problems for visitors deciding what you are all about and this decision is made in a split second in many cases.