Store Critique Please

[Hofkissed]

Hi iCraft Users,

First, thanks for taking a peek at this post and then helping a gal out. I'm always looking to improve and promote to my business and when I read something here about asking for a store critique, I thought it was a good idea.

So... what do you think of my store? I'm looking for all good and bad points relating to my descriptions, pictures, prices, product, etc.

I greatly appreciated your thoughts and advice!

Have a great day,

~Steph, Hofkissed

[Red Rock Designs]

Steph, my first thought is that you don't need any help.  96 sales in just over a year with only 3400 page views....that's very impressive and I'm a little intrigued and confused on how you achieved that.  Great job!

But since you are looking for ideas to tweak...I would suggest adding to your page profile, maybe include info like how you got started, what types of paper you use, where you make your products, inspirations for designs, and even a little bit about yourself – kids, pets, other hobbies.

Photos are good, I like that the main photos are close ups, maybe tweak the lighting so it’s a bit brighter.  No need to re-take photos, just adjust the colour/brightness in your photo program.

Shipping policy is good and clear. Categories are used well.  Excellent work overall!
Bibi

[Hofkissed]

Hi Bibi,

Thanks for the feedback! I do have a couple of very good customers that buy from me throughout the year (have been with me since the beginning, long before iCraft). I've only gotten one or two "newbies" since listing my product on here which is why I wondered about my site, pricing, etc. I'm trying my hardest to attract new customers... but from what I've been reading, so is everyone else!

I appreciate you taking the time. I'll look into expanding on my page profile and such.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Hi HofKissed.  You are already doing very well!

I agree, the pictures could be brightened in a picture program.

If you look down the left side of your store, you will see "Store Collections", which you created and then "Holidays/Occasions" which are created when you list your product.  Do you notice the duplication?  Probably not very effective, and possibly confusing to shoppers.

Also, the two lists are inconsistent.  See how you have 8 Mother's Day Cards in Collections but only 4 in Holidays/Occasions?  In your product listings, you can put more than one holiday/occasion if something matches more than one.  I would use that to categorize your card shop instead of Collections.

I would use collections for more specific specialties or occasions that aren't in the list (like say, Teacher Appreciation - not sure if that is on the listing category drop down list).  Other "specialties" might be techniques or styles or design elements that people might replacement for like:
- embossed
- glitter
- stitched
- quilted
- bulky
- Celtic inspired
- Asian inspired

That kind of thing.

As for your store announcement, you need to choose some keywords and put them within the first 2 sentences because replacement engines (and sometimes people) only read a preview.  For example here are your first three sentences:
"I was never satisfied with store-bought cards. Still aren't! It's probably close to 20 years ago now that I started crafting my own... but I won't dare show you what those looked like!"

I'm pretty sure you do not want the words "store bought cards" so close to the beginning of your announcement.  Why not turn it around?  Instead of saying you never liked store bought cards, say that you love custom made cards (or whatever you go with for your keyword phrase).  Further in the body of the announcement, then, you could mention how unsatisfactory store bought is.  I just wouldn't throw it out there at the beginning.

Here is iCraft's bootcamp on keywords:
https://icraftgifts.com/forum/1572/day-9-assignment-bootcamp-4-review-keywords/1/

You can learn some great stuff in there and see real examples of product re-writes!

Anyway, I'm jealous of your success, but I also see you have bucketloads more listings than me!