Day 1 Assignment, Bootcamp #4 - Review "Delightful Suds"

[iCraft Admin]

Hello Bootcampers,

How are you all doing today? Hope you are ready for the hard work today  

So here is how we are going to structure this Bootcamp (which is #4 btw)
There will be 2 parts to it - first 2 weeks we'll work reviewing all stores and fixing whatever needs to be fixed (there is no point promoting pages that have problems!), then we'll spend 2 weeks learning how to promote stores and work with each of you individually giving you tips on whatever needs to be done to improve traffic to your pages. Each of you will be helping each other with all tasks.

All forum members can follow Bootcamp posts and hopefully also learn a few tips on how to improve their stores. However, only those who are signed up for this Bootcamp can post comments or ask questions in the Bootcamp threads.

So here is the task for today.
We are all going to take a closer look at one of the stores. I'll pick the first store in the list.
Delightful Suds
Please review this store from buyers' perspective and post your comments on what you think should be improved.

Here is what we want to evaluate:
(I am making this list of questions generic, so we could re-use them on all stores):

• Your first impressions
• Store Title & Description.
  Is it clear why these products are special and why you'd want to buy them? Is there enough copy to describe variety of products in this store?
• Target Keywords.
  Are the keywords currently used in the copy accurately describe all items? What keywords you'd use to describe products in this store?
• Store Policies.
  Do you have any issues with any of the stores policies? Is it clear if you can return products to the seller?  
• Product Photos.
  Are they good quality photos? Can you see what you are buying in a detail?
• Product Titles & Descriptions.
  Are all Product Titles unique? Is there enough copy describing each product? Do you understand why those products are special? What method or technique did the seller use to make them? Who most likely would appreciate them and why? What occasion are they for?
• Product Prices & Shipping.
  Are they too high? too low?
• Any other comments you have

Please post your comments below. We'll review all comments and summarize what needs to be done at the end of the day. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the next store in the list and so on, until we review all six stores.

[Silver Workshop]

What a beautiful store! Very colourful with detailed descriptions.

The only thing I could think of is maybe having some more detailed product names. For example, for the Doggy Shampoo Bar, maybe have the word soap in there too (I'm not sure if someone would look up dog soap or dog shampoo). In the case of the Siberian Pine Soap, because it's high in vitamin E, maybe you could include that in the title and tags. I could see someone being interested in soaps that have lots of vitamin E so highlighting that in title and tags might help.  Or for your Tropical Paradise Soap, maybe include things like "mild soap" in the tags or include ingredients like "coconut oil" in the keywords or title since you mention it in the description and it seems to be a main ingredient.

That's all I can see for now, very nice store! I'm already learning lots!

[Jewelry by Kat]

The name of the store is clear on what is for sale, cute and catchy too. The pictures are clear and artfully displayed with the real article along with the soap. The descriptions are informative and tells how it helps. Return policy is very clear.   A couple of key words to add like flip flop and bath and beauty. Maybe offer another sample pack.  When compared to other soap sites, shipping seems a little high. This is a great store, showing me where I am weak.  I can not get a pure white background in my pictures and hope you will share. Your store seems put together very well......Kat

[Red Rock Designs]

I absolutely love, love, LOVE the name of this store!  It gives you a clear idea of what the products are,  it’s playful and most importantly it’s memorable.  (I think about changing the name of my store because I’m inspired by this name!)  The description of the store and products are also very good.  It provides ingredients and what the products can do for you…as a customer I want to know how this product benefits me. 

Target keywords: In the store description, repeating words like ‘natural ingredients’, ‘nature’ & ‘essential’ gets the point across.…good job.  For the individual soap titles, like “Sunny Meadow Soap” I’m not sure what you mean, other than it’s yellow (Sunny)…but Meadow? I think of wheat and flowers as ingredients.  It’s not until I open the post do I see “this soap creates a very pretty scent that will have you thinking of walking in the sunny meadow on a summer day.”  I think leaving this description is fine, because it gives the customer a visual of what they will feel like when they use it, but the title can be changed to something like “Canola oil with Vitamin E Soap” or maybe “Healing olive oil with Vitamin E Soap”.  Most of the other postings do contain ingredients in the title, which is good because I know what these ingredients smell like so I’ll have a good idea of what the soap smells like.  Another thing is, I’m glad you have the word Soap in all of the titles, because just looking at the photos, I see bars of fudge!  And your photos are excellent by the way.

Shipping: as a vendor I know the trouble with shipping costs, and I’ve bought soap from this shop, so I didn’t really think about the shipping costs during my own purchase.  As a regular, non-vendor customer, the shipping costs seem a little higher than other stores on this site, and is higher than the actual soap.  The photos are a little misleading with the price. There should be a note somewhere that it’s $5.00 PER BAR…the photos give the impression that the cost is $5.00 per amount shown in the photo (4 or 5 bars).  Which, I know, sounds ridiculous to us as vendors, but as a customer who is just browsing through a site, I think I’m getting a deal.  Because you’re selling what’s shown in the photo, ALL product shown in the photo.

Otherwise, it’s a great store, very well put together, descriptions are great, photos are excellent, selling a unique product.
Bibi

[JaJeJems]

Your store makes a wonderful first impression from the buyers point of view.  I really like your banner and your Avatar is expressive - I would remember it even if I was looking for soap and I couldn't remember your business name.   I also like the name of your business.  I noticed that in some of your descriptions you mention suds which ties in nicely. Suds could lead a buyer to expect more other sudsy bath items and since you do list one bath salts item, I suspect that you are leaving the door open to expand your products to other natural bath products.

Your specialy descriptive sentence, however,  does not really convey what you want to say about your product. All soap is made with "essential ingredients" , that is whatever is essential to make it soap.  I don't think that essential ingredients is really what you meant to say. Your soap has unique ingredients (which you go on to describe very well in your exhibit description) that will make me want to buy it rather than commercial soap. They are unique because they are natural and have certain qualities. 

Exhibit Description
You have written a good description of your products.   You might want to add some keywords here that would let me know that your have a wide variety of products for different people, ages, and needs.
Watch out for typos!  I saw "mor" in your exhibit description and "posses" in your green tea soap description.  You might want to review your items again with this in mind.

Store Policies
Look clear to me.

Product Photos
Wish they were mine! (except I don't sell soap).  Your photos are lovely, clear and make the products look good.  I like the added objects that you have in each photo but you haven't been consistent in putting in objects that fit. e.g. 1/2 grapefruit fits well with grapefruit scented products but one of the lavender soaps has a leaf that looks like a rose leaf.  Since you have gone to the trouble why not be make them all fit?  It is a great idea so don't stop doing it! What about a vanilla bean with the Vanilla soap instead of a stone.

Product Titles and Descriptions
I think that you could expand your titles more to make me want to click on that picture and find out more about that soap.  Maybe a few extra words that would let me know why this particular soap could be just the one for me.  In your description you tell me this but I need to want to go further when I see the picture.  Just a few extra words would make me see why I should consider Vanilla Almond Delight (because its mildly fragrant).
I think that your descriptions are good.

Prices and Shipping
You need to clarify that the prices are per bar.   I might get confused when I see a picture of 3 bars for $5.00 and one bar for $2.50 and not realize that in both cases the price is per bar. I notice that you state the size of the bar in your description so that might give me a clue as to why one is cheaper, however, that only works if a buyer looks at several product descriptions.  I think that needs to be very clear.  I don't know it this has been an issue for you or not but I noticed it right away. I noticed another company states that in the product title. $x.xx per 100 gm bar.  I think that your prices are competitive for the type of soap that you are offering.

I understand that shipping is expensive and I have found that regular post from Canada to US is reasonable but slooooow but expediated post is expensive.  Giving people the option of expediated post however is a good idea.  I am not sure how you work that out with iCraft.
I looked at some other people selling similar products to yours and I think that your rates are competitive and better than some.  I noticed that you have a special at present for free shipping if you purchase a certain amount.  I would be interested to know how you do with that.  When I shop online I like that option and I think that I sometimes buy more items because I would rather have another book, for example, than pay the shipping!

My last comment - well done!

[iCraft Admin]

Silver Workshop, great suggestions!
You are so right about adding terms that differentiate each product and highlight their uniqueness.

Kat & Bibi mentioned high shipping costs. Does anyone else think so?

Red Rock Designs, yes, having a catchy and memorable name is very important. And good comment on Price per Item. Yes, there is a chance that customers will assume that they are buying all items shown on the picture at the price mentioned. So specifying somewhere in the description that your price is only for one item is a good idea in this case.

JaJeJems, I like your suggestion on adding a few Keywords (like "mildly fragrant") that convey uniqueness of each soap in the Product Title. Product Titles is what users see in Google Search Results. There are no pictures. So Product Titles have to capture buyers' attention and pick their curiosity. You want them to click on your link, so it has to provide enough information for them to want to learn more.

JaJeJems, it's not hard to add expedited rate. Just add those amounts to your Shipping Profiles.
Also, where did you see products with Free Shipping? I haven't found one.

I'll provide my comments & a summary after everyone else will post theirs.

[JaJeJems]

Hi again
I didn't think Delightful Suds shipping charges were high,actually lower than some others that I  saw.  Regarding the free shipping I was referring to her exhibit announcement that offers free shipping on orders over $65.

[iCraft Admin]

Ahhh...  now i see it. "Currently, we also offer free shipping in Ajax, Pickering & Whitby on all orders of $40 or more".
This is somewhat misleading, as our system is not setup for this discount, so buyers will be charged shipping.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Well, this is tough for me!  Marta had asked for some feedback from me through iCraft ask a question before Bootcamp was announced.  I'll repeat some of those things here for the benefit of others, even though she may have addressed them by now.

First, I want to address the shipping.  I had noticed the free shipping at the end of the shop description and I thought it was a selling point and very much an announcment thing.  I advised her to put it in the shop announcement.  (Now, I also see that the shop description says > $40, but the shop announcment says $65.  You might want to check the discrepancy and only have the announcement in one place so they don't get out of sync in the future.)  Personally, I think things like sales and deals belong in the shop announcement at the top.

While iCraft is not able to discount the shipping, the seller can refund it through paypal.  It does mean the buyer has to have the funds to pay it first and then wait to get it back.  Marta, you should probably add this clarification to your shipping policy.

Your first impressions
I like the shop.  I think the pictures and the banner are professional looking.  There's also a nice, full, front page so it feels like there is a good amount of variety to hold my interest for a bit.  It's a great first impression.

Store Title & Description.
I had advised to rearrange the description to get "100% natural handcrafted soap" closer to the beginning.  Originally, the first sentence was "Welcome to Delightful Suds".  I prefer to see your product put out there in the very first sentence  (and I think it's better for replacement engines).  From a buyer's point of view, I might have several stores open in tabs in my browser to comparison shop.  Or, if I'm gift shopping, a whole bunch of different stores open in consideration for one person.  So, anything that reminds me quickly what you sell is a good thing when I'm jumping all through my open tabs.

Target Keywords
In the shop description, you say: "Our soaps will not dry out your skin like the typical commercial bars..."  Why even refer to the commercial bars?  In terms of replacement engines, what if someone types:
Handmade Soap OR Natural Soap NOT Commercial

Would your shop be kicked out of the replacement because it does have the word commercial?  (iCraft, can you answer that?)

Why not rephrase in a positive, feel good way?  I mean, rephrase from the POV of how YOUR soaps make the buyer feel (hydrated = positive) instead of how commercial soaps make the buyer feel (dry = negative).  Try this:
"Our soaps will hydrate and nourish your skin to leave it feeling silky, moisturized and well conditioned."

Speak only in terms of goodness, wherever possible.  I have trouble with this, but I'm convinced thinking positively is what has helped my grandmother surpass age 90!  She's a gem.  I want to be a gem too.  We should all want to!

Store Policies
Just the clarification re: having to pay shipping and then get it refunded if they meet the free shipping criteria.

Product Photos
I like your photos.  They are good to me.  I agree with using "props" that reinforce the soap scent.  Good idea, that.  Only thing, I agree about the quantity of product in the photo might be misleading (discussed later as well).

Product Titles & Descriptions
If I had a dog, I would use "dog shampoo" as a replacement term, more than I would dog soap, but that doesn't mean everyone will.  You have both soap and shampoo in your tags now, so I think that covers it well enough.

Some of your descriptions seem to repeat the title as the first line: Baby Turtle Soaps, and Green Tea & Herbs Soap, for examples.  I think you should get right in to the description.

For the turtles: For the title, I would not replacement for "turtle soap".  I might replacement for "turtle shaped handmade soap".

Consider "Handmade (or Handcrafted) Soap Turtles - Set of 5"  That way, the words "handmade soap" appear together for a stronger phrase.  Or, you could use, "Handmade Soap Five Turtle Shapes"

In this green tea listing:
https://icraftgifts.com/handmade/34003/green-tea-and-herbs-soap.php

I agree that the number of bars depicted, while very lovely and striking, is confusing.  There is a note that each bar weighs 100gm.  Does that mean I am getting all of those bars at 100gm each or ONE 100gm bar?

For description, I would encourage you to repeat the keywords.
You say: "This soap is also packed with vitamin E and has smoothing properties...."
But this is far enough in to the copy that you can repeat the keyword phrase.  Try this: "This handmade soap is also packed with vitamin E and has smoothing properties..."

My comment for products overall: Aren't there different soaps for different skin areas?  Like, foot scrubs versus facial soaps?  I'd like to know which of your soaps you would recommend for facial soap?  As a consumer, my general assumption is that ALL soap is BODY soap.  I do see you have one listing for "facial soap for oily skin".  That is GREAT for a keyword title. Aha!  Maybe you need a collection category for those specialties.  That facial soap should be in a facial cleanser category or something.

I agree with others that having "Soap" in all the titles is very good.  The other words should be descriptive by either the scent or the ingredient.  I see things like "glycerin, shea butter, fizzy bath, loofah, clay".  These are all REALLY good keywords for titles.  If you can't put that, then put the scent.  I see "lemongrass, green tea, lavendar, mint, pine".  These are REALLY good too.  I agree with others, "Sunny Meadow".... not so good.  Not universally or readily understood.

Product Prices & Shipping
I like this in your shipping policy:
Please note that Canada Post shipping charges are expensive for one item. However, you will save on shipping by ordering multiple items since any additional items are only $0.50 each.

However, I think you can phrase it more postively.  Instead of highlighting how ridiculously expensive Canada Post is (because your buyer may not know that and may not believe you or even care), try something like this:
Save on shipping!  Each additional Delightful Suds item that you add to your cart in the same transaction adds only $0.50 to your total shipping charges.  Bundle and save!

I think the prices are fine.  In fact, I've looked at buying but I've had trouble determining the difference between your yellow green tea soap and the green tea infusion one.  (And I'm too lazy to send an ask a question but I was going to get off my butt and do it closer to Christmas lol.)

[Fairy Cardmaker]

iCraft, I used the buttons for bold to organize my response and to emphasize some stuff but I don't see it in the posted reply.

There were "b"s in square brackets and "/b"s in square brackets around the words.  Does anyone else see the bold?  Maybe it's my browser?

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Fairy Cardmaker,
We fixed the problem with formatting.

[iCraft Admin]

Great job everyone! A lot of good suggestions and recommendations for improvement.  

So here is what I would focus on, Delightful Suds:

•   Store Title & Description
I think everyone provided really valuable feedback. Yes, it’s good from SEO perspective to start store description with the most important keywords – good for users and replacement engines. Whatever you place in the first sentence of your store description will be also visible on SERPs (Google replacement result pages).

I’d also add more copy and really get into describing uniqueness of various products. Think of store description, as a marketing copy. After reading it, people should want to buy your products. Why I am saying you should add more copy is because replacement engines LOVE copy. The more copy you have on your store page and the more descriptive and full of keywords it is the better. It’s hard to optimize every single product page for replacement engines, but your store page is that one page where I’d put a lot more effort into crafting keyword-rich copy. This is a general suggestion for everyone, so I’ll probably be repeating it a lot.

•   Target Keywords
There were a lot of good keyword suggestions. I copied all Keyword ideas mentioned today: Handmade Soap, Natural Soap, dog shampoo, dog soap, turtle soap, turtle shaped handmade soap, vitamin E, Handmade Soap Five Turtle Shapes, facial soap for oily skin, glycerin, shea butter, fizzy bath, loofah, clay, lemongrass, green tea, lavender, mint, pine, mildly fragrant soap, essential ingredients, Canola oil with Vitamin E Soap, Healing olive oil with Vitamin E Soap

Then I checked a few on Google to see which Keywords have good replacement volume.
So here are some good keywords for you to incorporate into your listings:

Vitamin E soap - 1,000 global monthly replacementes
Natural soap - 60,500 global monthly replacementes
Natural handmade soap - 3,600 global monthly replacementes
Natural hand soap - 3,600 global monthly replacementes
Organic soap - 33,100 global monthly replacementes
Facial soap - 27,100 global monthly replacementes   
Natural facial soap - 320 global monthly replacementes   
Natural face wash -  5,400 global monthly replacementes
Soap natural ingredients – 590 global monthly replacementes   
Shea butter soap - 8,100 global monthly replacementes   
Dog shampoo - 90,500 global monthly replacementes   
Natural dog shampoo - 2,400 global monthly replacementes
Dog soap - 8,100 global monthly replacementes
Natural dog soap - 140 global monthly replacementes

Here are the general rules for page optimization:
Pick 1-2 key phrases that you want to optimize your page for. Repeat at least twice those phrases – once in the Title and once in your description. Remember I suggested adding more copy to your store page? The more copy you have on the page, the more keyword repetitions it allows, or at least it allows you safely to repeat it 2-3 times, without looking like you are stuffing page with keywords.

So here is how you can use those keywords on practice.

I’d choose "Natural handmade soap" with 3,600 global monthly replacementes, as your primary Key Phrase to optimize your store copy for. Since nobody is replacementing for “Essential Ingredients Soap” or “Soap with Essential Ingredients”, I’d drop this line completely.
Your “Specialty” field would then read like this: “Natural Handmade Soap, Natural Ingredients”. (We use it to create page Title, so it’s important what you place there). Then I’d repeat “Natural Handmade Soap” once again in the first sentence of your store description and repeat “Natural Ingredients” somewhere in the copy too. Also, add “Natural Soap(s)” and “Handmade Soap(s)” a couple times too.

Because Natural & Organic are synonyms, I’d use term “Organic Soap(s)” in the copy too.

All this work is actually called on-page optimization and it has to be done on as many of your pages as possible.
What I wrote above is just for your main store page. You can go through the same thought process and choose carefully a few Keywords for each product listing and start re-writing your product Titles and your Product Descriptions incorporating those Keywords into it. We will be reviewing your pages and helping you with suggestions. So if you have any questions, just ask!

I’d focus at first on just a few key pages -  Store page and 3-5 main product pages that are different from each other, so you could use different sets of keywords to optimize your pages for. Over time you can optimize all your pages this way, but for the purpose of this Bootcamp, we need just 3-5 pages that are well optimized.

Here is a good post explaining How to Choose Keywords and Use Google Keyword Tool and How Perfectly Optimized Pages look like.   

It's important not just repeat same phrase over and over - mix things up! Main thing is you repeat your Key Phrase at least twice on the page and start your Title with the same Key Phrase.

Fairy Cardmaker, No, mention of “Commercial Soap” will not prevent you from ranking high for “Handmade Soap”. However, Fairy Cardmaker has a good point about writing copy that invokes positive feelings in people. I’d use the line she  suggested.

•   I also think using "props" that reinforce the soap scent is a great idea.

•   Price & quantity of products in the photo need to be clarified in product description.

•   Offering Discounted Shipping is a good selling point, but it needs to be explained in more detail and should be mentioned in Shipping Policy as well,  as Fairy Cardmaker suggested. Users shouldn’t be wondering how they’ll be able to get that discount or get disappointed when they see that we still charge them shipping at the checkout.

Delightful Suds, please start implementing these recommendations. Feel free to ask for help and let us know if you have any questions. All Bootcampers are here to help! 

[Delightful Suds]

The name of the store is clear on what is for sale, cute and catchy too. The pictures are clear and artfully displayed with the real article along with the soap. The descriptions are informative and tells how it helps. Return policy is very clear.   A couple of key words to add like flip flop and bath and beauty. Maybe offer another sample pack.  When compared to other soap sites, shipping seems a little high. This is a great store, showing me where I am weak.  I can not get a pure white background in my pictures and hope you will share. Your store seems put together very well......Kat

Hi Kat, thank you for the nice comments. I've struggled with the white background for a long time myself and learned that lighting is the most important thing! I usually put my items on a large white bristol board under a window (preferably in sunlight). Recently I also made my own "lightbox" which helps, this is especially helpful in jewellery! You can look it up on youtube for how to make it or you can buy one on eBay.

[Delightful Suds]

Ahhh...  now i see it. "Currently, we also offer free shipping in Ajax, Pickering & Whitby on all orders of $40 or more".
This is somewhat misleading, as our system is not setup for this discount, so buyers will be charged shipping.

For this one, I was planning to refund the shipping if it's in the area, but I will add that in so that it's clear. Thanks!

[Delightful Suds]

Everyone, thank you very much for all these wonderful suggestions! I'm glad you guys like the name of my shop because I was actually wondering about that one  . Obviously, I sill have lots of room to improve, so this is all very helpful. I didn't realize I was misleading about that quantity, thanks for pointing that out! I will work on making things in general more clear. THANK YOU ALL!!!