Care to review my new site?

[thentavius]

I had an ecommerce retail site up and running that sold role playing game and board game supplies for about 4 years. It was doing pretty well, as some of you might remember--and it paid the bills for several years before taking a downturn (we hit a plateau and could never get beyond it; our competitors basically offered more things than we could).

So--a year ago, I shut everything down and went to work outside the house, and also resumed my writing / editing freelance work and art--all while working on a new business model, new line of products, and new approach.

Now--I've got a new ecommerce site up and running and I'm feeling worried. I got so used to our other site getting orders every day and getting lots of hits, that I'm wondering what the heck is wrong with this one. I opened it on Saturday the 7th, so I know I'm being really hasty about assuming anything.

I'd like you guys to take a look at it: http://www.plasticpumpkin.com

I still have hundreds more products and designs to add--potentially thousands, but this was a solid enough start for me to open the doors.

I'm using the Yahoo! Stores system this time around (I wasted way too many hours on oscommerce last time), so I know it's not as attractive as it could be. I'll eventually replace the Yahoo templated look with a custom look, probably.

That's way too much exposition. Sorry about that.

[cranky_hippie]

Ok. Quick first impression based only on one thing - which is my knowledge of selling tee shirts:

If your tees are pre-shrunk (and I hope they are), you need to say so. That is generally the very first thing tee shirt buyers look for.

Second thing (and I hate to say this): if you could do any color but white, you would be better off. It isn't that white won't sell, but many people just will not buy a white tee, especially women. I found that ash gray was the best color to use when going with just one color.

[cranky_hippie]

One more quickie 

On your home page, you have two letters reversed.

Antive American Morning Singer

[sneakymagenta]

#1 There's no template or navigation on the FAQ pages

#2

For example, Yahoo's template doesn't allow shoppers to add multiple items to a cart at one time — they have to click back and forth between pages to fill the cart

http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions...hp/3594511

I don't like that.

#3 Move the view cart menu link higher on the page.

[rho]

thentavius, I'm a great fan of putting the products up front, too many sites want potential costomers to read a book before they get to the goods. You've done a really good job w/ your presentation. It would be nice if the thumbnails were slightly larger.

In addition to cranky_hippie's observations, at the top, you might consider a couple of small changes:
====

search box

T-shirts, mousepads, bags, totes, wall scrolls, and collectibles for fans of humor, fantasy, and art.

Order $100.00 from Plastic Pumpkin Designs and receive FREE SHIPPING Today!

====

I'd change the "Always" to "Today" is to give a sense of urgency, a reason to buy right now. Also, your banner doesn't have alt and/or title attributes in the img src. It's a great place to add the actual text of your banner. Spider food.

I would rework the footer text a bit to pack in more keywords. Although META keywords are very rarely used by spiders anymore, it wouldn't hurt if more of the keywords from your METAs appeared in the ad copy.

====

Original:
Plastic Pumpkin Designs offers fun & humorous tees, wearables, bags, pouches, checkbook covers, and numerous other goodies. We'll be adding more items every day, so be sure to check back often!

Modification ideas:
Plastic Pumpkin Designs offers funny, fantasy and art t-shirts and accessories. Our expanding inventory includes humorous tees, bags, totes, pouches, checkbook covers. Express yourself with unique, wearable art. Stock up today and take advantage of FREE SHIPPING for all qualified orders!

====

Tees and t-shirts is intentional spider food.

Great stuff, thentavius! I hope you have trouble keeping the shelves stocked!!

[stardust]

1.  I checked out your 16th century mail armor tee, and the link to larger pic was dead.  Did NOT try them all.

2.  Ditto on the white tees change of color -- if you can offer other colors.

3.  Ditto on the larger thumbs needed.

4.  I like Rho's more exciting intro.  Good suggestions!

5.  Your Captain Kidd pic has your ebay ID on it? ...

[thentavius]

Ok. Quick first impression based only on one thing - which is my knowledge of selling tee shirts:

If your tees are pre-shrunk (and I hope they are), you need to say so. That is generally the very first thing tee shirt buyers look for.

Excellent point. I'll add that to all the items. Thanks! (they are, by the way). :-)

Second thing (and I hate to say this): if you could do any color but white, you would be better off. It isn't that white won't sell, but many people just will not buy a white tee, especially women. I found that ash gray was the best color to use when going with just one color.

Indeed. I'm actually preparing black, ash, gold, and a whole slew of other colors. I just have the white ones up for now.

That's a good point, actually. Very good point.

I wonder if I should add the tee color choices on the same page as the white, or do a separate page for each with its different color?

[landofsmiles]

First of all, I always wondered why more Tulipers don't post their websites here. Are we afraid of being sabotaged by people who don't agree with our views expressed on these boards? Just curious.

Okay, now about your site..

I'm a big fan of good looking models. The sexier the better. I would hire a couple to model your shirts.

The designs are mostly what will set you apart from other sellers, so they have to be front and center in a big way. The thumbnails are way too small. It takes two clicks to get to the biggest shot. Some people might not even be clicking the second time because they might not consider that an option. Even the biggest pictures you have aren't big enough, in my opinion.

Colored shirts are a must. Many people won't buy white or pay a reasonable price for it.

I used to be in the t-shirt business (airbrush and silkscreen) but it's quite a bit more competitive now than it used to be. There's a certain ambiance required to sell in a competitive market. I think that your site needs more of an edge to it. I can't exactly put my finger on it but everything, from the fonts to the logo, needs to make more of a statement. You need to identify who your potential customers are and gear it toward them. I don't think that the current look of your site matches your demographic.

Those are a few of my immediate observations. I hope that you find them constructive.

**Not trying to sidetrack or hijack the thread, but back when I was in the business, before the internet, lead-based paints were still the prevelant ink being used. We were in a place with poor ventilation and we all ended up very ill. One person was hospitalized. We were only able to print half our inventory of blank shirts because everyone was dropping like flies.

Anyway, this was in Hawaii and I flew to Los Angeles with the shirts to peddle them there. I sold them all and deposited the money. When I got back to Hawaii, my partner had stolen all the money from the account, as well as the rest of the shirts. He ended up in prison, on an unrelated offense, and hung himself in his cell.

I've had quite a few businesses since then. Some of them have had happier endings.

[thentavius]

#1 There's no template or navigation on the FAQ pages

I use an off-site helpdesk for the FAQ pages--so I was kind of stuck with their format. I wonder if there's a way to add the nav to the helpdesk layouit? I will look into that for sure, because that's a really good point (and it's obvious that the nav should be on all pages).

#2 Quote
For example, Yahoo's template doesn't allow shoppers to add multiple items to a cart at one time — they have to click back and forth between pages to fill the cart

I agree. It sucks. There may be an adjustment I can make on the backend. If not, I'm going to have to find a way to resolve this. It could get really lame if someone wanted to order 12 of one design. Blehhh. I'm going to work on this.

#3 Move the view cart menu link higher on the page.

The bottom part of the menu seems locked in place--so I'll add an additional link to the cart higher up manually, and I'll also add a link on the main home page, possibly also in the footer. That ought to help.

Thank you for your valuable insight!

[thentavius]

Rho, fantastic suggestions. I'll work on that now. Brilliant.

Can I use this?

Plastic Pumpkin Designs offers funny, fantasy and art t-shirts and accessories. Our expanding inventory includes humorous tees, bags, totes, pouches, checkbook covers. Express yourself with unique, wearable art. Stock up today and take advantage of FREE SHIPPING for all qualified orders!

Cranky hippie--I'll catch that type-o, too.

Stardust, I'll check that broken image and I'll do a spot check on more of them. I changed the main directory a while back, which broke some of the images. Derrrrr.  :

There are a couple of images which still have my eBay ID on them, from when I used to sell them on eBay. I need to go through and eventually replace all of them. I'll try and keep a running list and replace them at once.

Multiple tee colors are indeed on the way. I'll also be offering womens' tee styles, tank tops, sweatshirts, hoodies, etc. Just slowly adding stuff.

I'll also have more funny shirts, more art shirts, more images in different categories, and more philosophy shirts/items.