Announcement

**Duncan Rounding** · 01-Nov-2006, 01:34 PM

Have you identified your competition? Can you give us something to compare your site against?

**jont** · 01-Nov-2006, 01:40 PM

If I was buying lamps for a shop / warehouse etc I would have no idea where to start, what types I needed .. "survivor", "liteway", "Titan" and all meaningless to me and its a case of clicking around in the hope of finding something suitable.

It may be worth creating a new section with a product range identifier breaking the lighting down into "categories of use" rather than by brand / type so users can find a range of items that is required to solve a specific purpose of use.

**mythandmagic** · 01-Nov-2006, 01:53 PM

Theres not really any particular one site....

As we have differennt ranges...

ie, industrial and commercial lighting - horticultural lighting - aquatic lighting.
ignore the reverse osmosis as thats just tagged onto the bottom and not fussed if we dont sell any.

so take for example the industrial lighting, there no site that does all what we do, as we sell a large range, i can only think of any floodlighting website. or IP65 lighting.

So i spose we have lots of competition...
Aquatic lighting websites
Horticultural/hydroponics websites
industrial and commercial lighting websites

I know im only skirting the edges of being any kind of website designer, so im looking for all the help i can get really.

I can only read so much a day

Kez

**mythandmagic** · 01-Nov-2006, 01:58 PM

The survivor, titan etc..

There just the names on the homepage which is rarely accessed.

When you enter the page as the visitors do, its now called fluorescent lighting ie...240v single emergency fluoescent lighting.

There are tech specs and description/uses on the bottom of the pages.

I would call it this on the left side links, but it was too long and looked out of place

This goes for a lot of the ranges.

Kez

**jont** · 01-Nov-2006, 02:21 PM

Originally posted by mythandmagic

When you enter the page as the visitors do, its now called fluorescent lighting - I would call it this on the left side links, but it was too long and looked out of place

I entered the site and then looked at the LHS navigation to find other items - this is where I looked not the store top

Originally posted by mythandmagic

There are tech specs and description/uses on the bottom of the pages.

There is a great deal of wealth against most (if not all) items but this is against each product - trying to find the right product in the first place without having to click and read the bottom of each page is another issue.

Just my observations from an outsider point of view as a user not familiar with the product range or site structure.

Jont

**Duncan Rounding** · 01-Nov-2006, 02:34 PM

Some of my personal thoughts...

I see some technical info about some of the products but very little about why I should buy from you. On your homepage you have just a few words that don't stand out on the page. As you say most visitors don't enter via the homepage and thus never even see that.

I think you need to add some umph - something graphical to liven up the site to make it look a bit more dynamic perhaps. The site itself is good and very functional but if you added some striking graphics in the sidebars it could take on a whole new feel.

Take a look at these I found quickly, these are the types of sites I think you might be up against:
http://www.castlegateelectrics.co.uk...hp?cPath=21_51
http://www.homelightingcompany.co.uk...ge-spotlights/
http://www.magentalighting.com/info_...code=399&tag=8
http://www.lightingworld.co.uk/content.php/31020370
http://www.thelightingsuperstore.co....asp?catcode=28
http://www.all-lit-up.co.uk/ALU_Products

Maybe you can get some ideas from them.

**jxm28788** · 01-Nov-2006, 02:36 PM

Originally posted by mythandmagic

However sales are still grim.

Our prices are competitive and of good quality, even next day delivery and 2 year warranty..

We have roughly 500-600 visitors per week, which i would think should convert into a few orders at least.

The question is though - How targetted are the visitors? Are you drawing them in with highly specific search terms and targeted ads, or are you just going for broad keywords and ambigous ads?

If you are getting targetted customers but they're not buying then it's either your website, prices, or product range. But it could be that the people you are getting are looking for something else - If I search for 'lighting' because a want a new lamp for my living room then I'm simply not going to buy from you no matter how good your site is because it's totally the wrong product range...

If no-one is buying you *could* try an exit pop-up questionaire with a simple question "why didn't you buy anything?" and a few simple answers "too expensive", "was looking for something different", "could find info I needed" etc. most people will close without answering but if you make it really simple you might get some clue as too where the problem is...

**george** · 01-Nov-2006, 02:37 PM

First of all I'd say your page titles need a major shake up. Your store index page is simply "Lighting Products". Without too much hassle you could change that to Lighting Products - Boss Lighting for a full range of light equipment for your home, garage and workplace.

Secondly I'd try to make the sections a bit more `sectioned`. Whats that mean? (lol) Well, maybe sections for indoor, outdoor (garage/shed/garden), industrial, etc. You know your customers better than anyone but I think that most peeps would only want one type at a time so give them less to choose from rather than having them seeing the entire range at once.
Meaning that if they click on outdoor, then its only outdoor options that appear on the next section. Perhaps make better use of images as subsection options too.

The Smart theme can be tuned up in a few ways but we've never had a higher pagerank in Google than 4 after previously having a 5 for months. Still trying to figure out what it is that Google don't like with the Smart theme. If anything.

The dual currency is a good topic for discussion. We've a LOT of customers in Europe and have thought about adding a second currency as well but I think it makes the checkout area just too busy, especially if you separate the VAT as well. Just a thought, peeps just want to order that lamp and get it paid for and back to work asap. Anything that holds them up could result in that X in the r/h top corner getting clicked on.

Are you listed on Froogle? Its free...

**Mike Hughes** · 01-Nov-2006, 02:43 PM

It's quite important at this stage to try and see how far people are getting with their purchases.

- Are they adding things to the cart?
- Are they starting checkout?
- How far are they getting before abandoning the cart/

You can get a lot of this information by adding some invisible images to your cart and checkout pages and then looking at your stats logs every now and then. If you use a different and relevant image name for the cart and each checkout page then it becomes quite easy to see where any problems lie.

Mike

PS. People want to have an idea of what postage will cost before they'll commit to buying (i.e. start putting things in the cart). At the very least detail what your shippings charges are for different weights in your terms and conditions page.

**pinbrook** · 01-Nov-2006, 02:46 PM

forget about looking at the website from a designers point of view and look at it from the view of a customer who knows nothing about lighting.

ask your granny to find a light for her greenhouse and she if she suceeds.

**RuralWeb** · 01-Nov-2006, 06:06 PM

forget about looking at the website from a designers point of view

jo is spot on here - build the site for the customer NOT you or your designer.

**mythandmagic** · 01-Nov-2006, 06:27 PM

Thanks guys..

I'm putting a few of them changes in place now..... i.e name of lighting in sidebars and shipping charges....

How do i put a graphic into the sidebars??

I know the site looks kinda boring an dull, but no idea what and how to give a bit more umph.??

Any ideas will be most welcome.

Also, I would say most of the visitors coming to our site know what they are looking for. I can see this from the keywords etc.

There are 3 types of lighting for 3 types of customers
industrial/commercial are looking for floodlighting
aquatics lighting for people with fishtanks
and horticultural lighting for people who grow plants

within the catagories there are various choices and power etc.

maybe im looking at this all wrong?

**Duncan Rounding** · 01-Nov-2006, 07:02 PM

Originally posted by mythandmagic

...There are 3 types of lighting for 3 types of customers
industrial/commercial are looking for floodlighting
aquatics lighting for people with fishtanks
and horticultural lighting for people who grow plants...

Then perhaps that's what your main sections/navigation need to reflect (not just from your homepage graphics, but right across the site):
Floodlighting
Fishtank Lighting
Plant Growing Lighting

**mythandmagic** · 01-Nov-2006, 07:15 PM

I agree....

but ive put the top sections on the left

horticultural lighting
products
"
"

Flood and fluorescent
products
"
"

Aquatic lighting
products
"
"

its also on the centre of the homepage....

How else can i do it ?????

Kes

Announcement

Can anyone see faults?????

Can anyone see faults?????

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment