The Armour Archive

Ok - firstly many thanks to those that responded with feedback on my prior attempts.

Please visit the new website - http://www.thewarriorsgateway.co.uk
And then the "GO TO THE SHOP" link to the brand new shop.

Fresh feedback appreciated.
Purchases appreciated even more

Okay, I've had a bit of feedback from another forum. I've addressed some of the issues (harsh colours for instance)

Feedback from people on this forum (where I feel more comfortable) would be welcome.

For instance, currently I'm on the free plan. It has limitations and also sidebar ads. Is this distracting? I'm a little loathe to upgrade until I see some evidence of success - a sale or two for instance, lol.

The sidebar ads are a little distracting since they were for unrelated ebay items when I looked ( barbie dolls were showing up ).

For something start-up and free (which is the best cost-savings device ever!) I would say you have a nice start.

If you need someone to do a crisper, cleaner header graphic please let me know.

I concept, design and develop websites for a living - so Id be more than willing to help a fellow armor junkie out!

As a designer I'm not sold on blue text on a blue background and the interface is cluttered - not much you can do about that though.

pricing seems fair and your product photos are nice and clear which is good.

Thanks for comments so far.
The ads are annoying I guess.
Colours I can address - I'll do it now.

Edit - colours changed

If there's any way you can increase the size of the Navigation sidebar, that'd help. I had to hunt for a bit to get find them.

Bob

Thanks Bob.
Currently I don't seem to be able to resize it.
Changed the font so it may be a bit clearer.

Now with spiffy new banner, courtesy of the talented lufu !

Nice forged metal work.

The page looks busy with side bars and stuff.
Perhaps center your text to set it off from the clutter of advertisements.
But what do I know... I only look at the pages.
However... I did stay at the Holiday Inn last night.

Cheers Hal!

Ok - thread title changed to reflect question.

I know it's a short time, but it's been about a week since I set this up and there's been 461 unique visitors to the site.
Not a nibble, not one sale and not even any questions.

What am I doing wrong? Prices? Products? Lack of patience?

Word of mouth is the main method reenactors use to sell, so even as you get rolling- your rep is bieng established. You might want to try testimonials and/or pics of folks with your gear. Might help to jumpstart things.

It just takes a bit to get moving- but once everyone starts "pimpin' yer gear", things will start moving. Sometimes moving too quickly~

Robert

Well, I've been selling on ebay for at least 5 years. Sadly you can't promote you're own shop on ebay ads - go figure. What with ebays fees and really slow trade at the moment, I thought it may be time to spread my wings again.
For some reason, even with the manin website, it's never really generated any business.
Guess I'm doing it wrong.

I think, (my own experience here~) that everyone is worried about the finances. More people I know are making all of thier own stuff, i figure it's just a sign of the times. You have neat stuff; go further- like maybe ETSY.com, or a yahoo store. They give great customization options, and limited ads, which you can choose the location of.

Mind you, I haven't been an on-line seller for a while (about 18 months +/-). Too busy with the various gigs I go to and custom orders; thinking of starting again, however.

Finally- I couldn't get any images to show up at the Gateway shop. Is it really slow, or are they hidin' 'em?

Well, I'd have bought something, except for two problems:

1. For whatever reason, your site loads painfully slowly on my computer. Is anyone else having this problem?

2. My tax return doesn't come back for another couple weeks.

Other than that, I like what I see. The products look great, but the page loads way too slow.

Yep - I've noticed that before - can be very slow sometimes. Will have to address that somehow. Different provider perhaps. Will have to look at Etsy again and others.

Also, could a mod maybe move this to OT? I'm not sure it really counts as a Classified anymore.

Hi.

An individual spends on average 5 seconds per web page. If you have to look around to find the links, they get aggravated and aggravated people don't buy things. A little box with "Navigation" written on top is really poor navigation. It's too small and too inconspicuous. You gotta be in their face with this, that's why they came to the website.

Personally I don't like the white background, looking at a white background is like looking at a monitor-sized light bulb. On the other hand, you know who uses a white background? http://google.com.
So it's really a matter of preference. But for your theme (Warrior's Gateway) I think darker colors would be better. Most other armories use darker colors as well. It's just more medieval.

I can see why the main website isn't generating business either. One of the most important things in sales is your store front. Think of your website as your store front. It has to be appealing.

Look at this website. This is what I consider a nice, working website.
http://whitemountainarmoury.com/

The information is all there, the look is appealing and it's easy to use. Yours is kinda a collection of oversized pics and some text splashed in between.

That banner on top is really annoying. You should consider getting payed hosting, it's 5$ a month and you get everything you need.

There is no rule as to how many unique visitors it takes to get one sale. It is a very important figure for web shops (amazon for example) and a lot of money is spent on improving it, but there is no "average" or anything like that.

You might also look into search engine optimization. And like someone mentioned, there might be a bandwagon effect on armor.

Okay - haven't sorted out hosting yet but have made changes to the main site - http://www.thewarriorsgateway.com . New colours etc., cleaner, neater. Rather than link to the store front I've put links direct to product categories. How's it looking now?

Mike, the new format looks pretty good. For a small shop it works. I think you may go through a process of adding that storefront image and inviting folks in (maybe a picture of one or two of your spiffier works on the front so people have an "oooh" factor may work. This may take time. If I can suggest, keep some notes somewhere on your ideas and, when you are ready, make a set of changes.

There was a little delay in moving into the product areas, though it wasn't hideously bad.


I have you bookmarked and when I am in the market I will definitely check back to shop.

Pax - Janos

Cheers chaps.
Still assessing hosting optionsand the store provider.

I never got to a checkout. I clicked the checkout, and nothing.
I used
cAfee and explorer, and did not allow any unsecure information to be shown.

Hope this helps.

Arngrim wrote:I never got to a checkout. I clicked the checkout, and nothing.
I used
cAfee and explorer, and did not allow any unsecure information to be shown.

Hope this helps.

That's wierd. Had my first customer last night and the purchase went through fine
Now I am confused and vexed. If this dratted store is going to stimmy customers that's no good!

Hi Mike,

It seems like links from forums are your primary traffic channels? If so, I would strongly suggest cleaning up your AA sig. At time of my commenting, your sig is:
--
WWBBD?
(What would Brian Blessed do?)
http://www.smarterwaytomakemoney.com/De ... m=253591MG
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orcsmith
http://www.youtube.com/Orcsmith
http://www.thewarriorsgateway.com/

There's too many 'calls to action' there. Your shop (as I found out by clicking every link) is the last one on the list, and your first link looks like a pyramid scheme, was totally unrelated to yourself, your re-enactment or your business and made me cranky to have clicked it.

I also didn't really get what your shop sold, except by clicking around the sections of the site. I'm guessing the nature of the business will fluctuate, but it might help to tell people what they should come to you to buy.

Might I suggest something along the lines of:
--
<a href="http://www.thewarriorsgateway.com/">Warrior's Gateway Online Store</a> - Fine horn goods and cloak pins

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/orcsmith">My photos on Flickr</a> / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/Orcsmith">My videos on Youtube</a>

If I'd have seen that sig, I'd instantly know what I should click, why I should click it, and what your store sells, so that even if I don't bother to click, if someone asks me later about horn goods or cloak pins I can still say "I think there's a guy on the archive..."

Good point!
Thanks.
(Actually, the first link is a lottery syndicate group to give better odds on winning, )

BUMP _ Because the title and first post have changed.
Also, should this be moved to OT?

Mike Garrett (Orc) wrote:BUMP _ Because the title and first post have changed.
Also, should this be moved to OT?

The webpage "www.thewarriorsgateway.co.uk" cannot be found
DNS error occurred. Server cannot be found. The link may be broken.

IT IS BACK UP NOW. You must have been making a change to it.

It is looking MUCH better now. I might suggest a gallery section that show pics of your past work so that people can see the entire range of your products and not just what you currently have for sale.

GunnarUlfson wrote:

Mike Garrett (Orc) wrote:BUMP _ Because the title and first post have changed.
Also, should this be moved to OT?

The webpage "www.thewarriorsgateway.co.uk" cannot be found
DNS error occurred. Server cannot be found. The link may be broken.

Please try it again - I decided to forgo the "header" page and redirect from the url directly to the shop.
SHould function now.

GunnarUlfson wrote: I might suggest a gallery section that show pics of your past work so that people can see the entire range of your products and not just what you currently have for sale.

Working on that. Should be up in a few days to a week.

LOVE the logo!

lufu wrote:LOVE the logo!

Yeah - neat isn't it?
Now...who was it that made it for me...?

('twas the good Lufu, of course!)