Any Web site ideas ?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Ruscus

Ruscus

New Member
Mar 29, 2007
80
32
0
Snodland
www.estellesflorist.co.uk
State / Prov
England
I would be interested in you thoughts on any improvements I can make to our online shop.
We are in the process of having a new logo and style for the whole business. So while I am changing this on the site any new ideas could be added.
The site has been up & running for about 6 years and has had a google page ranking of 3 for the past few years .( just checked it has now dropped to 2 for some reason )
We do quite well with Google searches but don't manage to convert them all to online orders. Having said that a lot say when they phone the shop that they have come from our web site.



www.estellesflorist.co.uk


Thanks Kevin
 
Kevin,
After looking over the site, I can see how you've done pretty well with the search engines, as you have a lot of textual content with good keywords and etc. As for the recent drop, part of the reason may just be other competitors working harder on their sites to get up in the rankings.
One general item I found to be inconvenient is odd placement of your products to order, a visitor to your site that views your page typically will have to scroll down to even see the products featured on your home page. Plus, to be honest, the site design shows its age, and looks a little like a "spam" site. Visitors decide within just a few seconds of whether or not they will stay on your site to browse, so you need to capture their attention immediately, and be visually pleasing. Also, the site colors are a little harsh, having the strong red and black sections are good for getting the attention of the user, but its probably not appealing to them.
Have you looked at your visitor stats for the site, how long they are on the site, what page(s) they view and etc? This information can explain a lot about how your site visitors "feel" about the site. If they come to your home page, then immediately leave, then you aren't appealing to them...
On your comment that many phone orders mention they come from the site, that may have to do with the product placement, having product categories easily visible to the user on every page might help.
Hope this helps....
 
First, Brent's comments are well thought out, and you will get much value from heeding them

Shown below are some thoughts based on our shop being in the same situation as yours until a couple of years ago when we got IBP/ARELIS optimization software. (No I don't get a commission from them. Evaluation SW is Free online.)

(And yes, I know that many SEO experts decry this approach. But it worked for us!)

A very important issue is for you to determine what key word(s) are most likely to be important to your prospective customers. For example, when I Google.uk for "Florist in Snodland KenT" your site is #5. Googling (is that really a word?) for "Florist in Kent) did not find you on page 1.

I ran an IBP/ARELIS report on your site and am attaching it.

From experience, many customer love to look at your site, and then call you to ask what else you have. You then get to spend a half-hour describing the contents of your store!

So.. I believe it is a good idea to give your customer a good reason to order online. We offer an online discount. Other (online only) approaches are certainly possible.

This approach has dramatically cut down on web customers calling us. They order online instead, and our staffing has been reduced as a result. (More Profits!)

I hope this helps!

Bill
 

Attachments

  • Estelle's.pdf
    176 KB · Views: 13
One small thing that jumped out at me - lose the coupon code.

They're counter productive - I know for myself when I encounter one I feel "left out", go look for one and end up never returning to the first site. I guarantee you're losing some conversions because of it.

If you feel the need to use it - rename it something like "referral number".
 
Kevin,

I'll give a hearty "ditto" to everything Brent said.

I've only got a second or two at the moment, but here's a couple thoughts:
1) Title tag: Your title doesn't reflect what customers will be searching for. Consider revising it.
2) Unique content: The links down the left side really look like what you'd see on a spam site. The pages they lead to are clones of each other with only the city name changed. Try and mix up the content for each page, and clean up the title tags.
3) The add-on items on the right side are inconvenient and likely to be missed.
4) Shop info: Get the shop name and info out of an image. They should be text, as search engine's can't read images.
5) Meta description: Don't say "[SIZE=-1]Full details on our web Site" It's out of place. Use that space to say something to entice a customer to click on your site.

A redesign of the layout and colour scheme would be strongly recommended.

A well-performing florist ecommerce site should expect around 75% of customers to order through the site, not on the phone. Some folks will have special requests, and some will have trust issues ... but the majority are happy to order if you can get them to what they want in a couple clicks, while building confidence in your company.

Ryan
[/SIZE]
 
bloomz said:
One small thing that jumped out at me - lose the coupon code.

They're counter productive - I know for myself when I encounter one I feel "left out", go look for one and end up never returning to the first site. I guarantee you're losing some conversions because of it.

If you feel the need to use it - rename it something like "referral number".
Click to expand...

I never looked at it that way, may need to re-think that one, thx bloomz, however, we have a lot of coupon codes out there with fsn, locate, other directories,etc, and it helps us track where the int order is coming from, but maybe we should re-name it referral code....:drunk:
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
As Bill mentioned, I hate automated SEO reports. It's not that they are necessarily wrong all the time, but they definitely give a false sense of security and direction. It's like giving the patient a rudimentary x-ray machine and the 1947 edition of an anatomy 101 textbook. Without an educated doctor to interpret the information the patient is likely to be emboldened into making poor decisions while performing their own surgery.

Ryan
 
Well thank you very much for all your comments so far. The power of FlowerChat.

Now let me pick up on some points, I won't go into all my details since other members in this area may be reading this thread.

Brent said Plus, to be honest, the site design shows its age, and looks a little like a "spam" site Ryan said A redesign of the layout and colour scheme would be strongly recommended
I have tried to keep away from using flash in my site So can you give me some examples of what you would call a modern site design . Which of the many member sites on your side of the pond would you suggest I learn from.

As for time on site the home page time on page is about 1.59 with a bounce of 51%

Bill thanks for the report 45 pages will take sometime to read, but looks interesting.

Bloomz The coupon code we have only used a few times I did try with some of our funeral director pages giving a 10%off code , had a few orders . but will look to change the name.

Ryan... Unique content: The links down the left side really look like what you'd see on a spam site. The pages they lead to are clones of each other with only the city name changed. Try and mix up the content for each page, and clean up the title tags.

The reason for these pages is the county of Kent to us is a large area most of which is not covered by our local delivery. it would take 1 hour or so to drive from one side to the other. This is little England not the big States. So the area we wish to target is around 50 locations this is what the location pages do for us. most people will ask from flowers to XXXXXXX location, so each place has its own page and gets pick up by google fro that location. So if you don't like using separate pages for each town , do you think that 50 places could be highlighted on the home page ? and work.


3) The add-on items on the right side are inconvenient and likely to be missed.
So where would you put them ?

4) Shop info: Get the shop name and info out of an image. They should be text, as search engine's can't read images.
Point taken will change when new logo comes.

5) Meta description: Don't say "Full details on our web Site" It's out of place. Use that space to say something to entice a customer to click on your site.
yes will change
 
Ruscus said:
Brent said Plus, to be honest, the site design shows its age, and looks a little like a "spam" site Ryan said A redesign of the layout and colour scheme would be strongly recommended
I have tried to keep away from using flash in my site So can you give me some examples of what you would call a modern site design . Which of the many member sites on your side of the pond would you suggest I learn from.

As for time on site the home page time on page is about 1.59 with a bounce of 51%

Ryan... Unique content: The links down the left side really look like what you'd see on a spam site. The pages they lead to are clones of each other with only the city name changed. Try and mix up the content for each page, and clean up the title tags.

The reason for these pages is the county of Kent to us is a large area most of which is not covered by our local delivery. it would take 1 hour or so to drive from one side to the other. This is little England not the big States. So the area we wish to target is around 50 locations this is what the location pages do for us. most people will ask from flowers to XXXXXXX location, so each place has its own page and gets pick up by google fro that location. So if you don't like using separate pages for each town , do you think that 50 places could be highlighted on the home page ? and work.

3) The add-on items on the right side are inconvenient and likely to be missed.
So where would you put them ?
Click to expand...


Modern site design:
Personally I like things like tasteful gradients, rounded edges (studies show they are more appealing to female customers), elements that give the illusion of depth or texture.

http://www.elishafoundation.org/
http://www.answersingenesis.org/
http://www.linkworth.com/ (Not a fan of the service at all, but the site design is nice)
http://www.seobook.com/


Is that 1 minute 59 seconds average time on your homepage? That's rather high - it likely means people are confused about what to do, or just give up. The bounce rate of 51% is high as well - I like to see them under 30% for most sites.

I get the dilemma of having 50 areas to serve - my family's shop is in a similar situation. I don't object to having the 50 dooryway pages, but if you want them to perform you'll have to change up the content so each one is different. Also, I wouldn't link to all of them from the home page, just to an Areas Served page that in turn links to the separate areas.

Make the add-ons a separate step in the purchase process. Choose the item, choose the add-on, checkout.


Ryan
 
A well-performing florist ecommerce site should expect around 75% of customers to order through the site, not on the phone. Some folks will have special requests, and some will have trust issues ... but the majority are happy to order if you can get them to what they want in a couple clicks, while building confidence in your company.
Click to expand...

Takt the 75% with a grain of salt. I'm not so sure that applies to florists, our experience, and that of nearly everyone I talk to, has the percentages flipped. Close to 7 out of 10 orders from our website are called in.
 
Lately that has been our observation too. They'll call while looking at our site (basic as it is) and one of the first things they ask "are you a real florist in Millinocket?", then we discuss their wants and likes.
 
RJD said:
Takt the 75% with a grain of salt. I'm not so sure that applies to florists, our experience, and that of nearly everyone I talk to, has the percentages flipped. Close to 7 out of 10 orders from our website are called in.
Click to expand...
RJD,

I was talking about flower sites. If 3:1 are calling from the site it means they aren't finding what they are looking for. Track the topics and questions, do some testing, try some changes. It's quite doable to get the ratio more in line with where it should be.

Ryan
 
I disagree.

Infinite said:
RJD,

I was talking about flower sites. If 3:1 are calling from the site it means they aren't finding what they are looking for. Track the topics and questions, do some testing, try some changes. It's quite doable to get the ratio more in line with where it should be.

Ryan
Click to expand...
I respectfully have to disagree on this. I think alot of has to do with lots of factors, including demographics of your town (size, age, etc.).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
clay said:
I respectfully have to disagree on this. I think alot of has to do with lots of factors, including demographics of your town (size, age, etc.).
Click to expand...
That's ok - you're allowed :)

Ryan
 
5 to 1 ratio or more....

we have about a 5 to 1 ratio phone calls vs internet orders(mostly new customers), IMO a lot of people still would just rather call and talk to a human being...they still don't feel comfortable ordering online....I myself still call a lot of places rather than ordering online ...

...or they have had bad experience ordering with a flower og online and just want to talk to a real florist in person! So, they find us online and call us, first thing they usually say is, Im on your web site and I would like to order (item#ex)....

I agree with what you are saying Ryan, just think that every shop has a different approach to what works for them.....if you do a very high volume, I agree that you would rather have them just do it online...rather than phone it in...
 
master J said:
we have about a 5 to 1 ratio phone calls vs internet orders(mostly new customers), IMO a lot of people still would just rather call and talk to a human being...they still don't feel comfortable ordering online....I myself still call a lot of places rather than ordering online ...

...or they have had bad experience ordering with a flower og online and just want to talk to a real florist in person! So, they find us online and call us, first thing they usually say is, Im on your web site and I would like to order (item#ex)....

I agree with what you are saying Ryan, just think that every shop has a different approach to what works for them.....if you do a very high volume, I agree that you would rather have them just do it online...rather than phone it in...
Click to expand...

Yes that seems to be the way our customers use us. Last year 22% of the phone calls taken in our shop said they had found our number on our web site, or as you said I am looking at item xxx on your web site.
Another 3% of calls said they found us via google so that must be our google local details.
I can get on the first page of google for most of our delivery locations but the problem comes with the national florists 100-200 miles away that make out to be a Local Florist then send via post/courier/relay. They always seem to be above us in the lists. even for our home town/village where we are the only florist they beat us to middle page ranking.

RJD & Ryan thank for the site links , have looked at a few pages so far and can see they look better than my efforts
 
I think I'm with Ryan on this call vs online ordering deal. I used to get over 65-70% online - that has dropped a bit now there are so many nice sites out there, down to around 60%.

I really have long said I think you're fooling yourself if you think your site is driving lots of customers to call you. I'm sure there is something wrong with my site that my percentages have dropped and am working on that now.

The faction of people (big numbers) that will only order online are simply shopping somewhere else and the ones you're "polling" are the 30% that did bother to call you, not 100% of your potential customers. But guess what? 100% of that 30% prefer to use the phone for whatever various excuse I mean reason.

You don't even want to know the big boyz numbers - they just make me ill.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back