Design critique on my new site...

[tyler_durden]

I'm looking for some critique on my new site at www.illuminous-times.com. I know I have a few more pictures to take, and I need some pictures of actual candles on the main page(i'm working on the holiday ones right now for those pictures).

I'm planning on launching a google Adwords advertisement on Wednesday or Thursday(thanksgiving), but am worried about my ROI. I need at least 1% of click-throughs to purchase something to break even it looks like. I highly doubt anyone in here has any info on candle sites and ROI on PPC campaigns, but if anyone does i'd greatly appreciate some info. Otherwise just critiquing the site would be great.

[dinom]

Tyler-Durden

I take it your main keyword is candles?

Why not just optimise your site it's not avery competitive term after all. Seems a waste of money to use a PPC campagin.

I know you probably want quick results for Xmass so you will have to go with adwords for now ,but I would def optimise any how.

[MsSearch]

I would make some of your text links within the body content stand out more...make them look like text links. Even though someof them say 'click here' it doesn't grab my eye as a link...

the title I would shorten to:
Natural Wax Candles in Jars, Pillars, and Votives - Illuminous Times Candles
--gets rid of a lot of unecessary words....(our, are, highly,...). A title should be written like a title not a description.

I would also add more content about candles to the home page....add some content on what cnadles can be used for, about candles in general, etc...

...cute site...and festive for the holidays :cheers:

[scottiecl]

How much business do you want? A little covert marketing angle...

If you are willing to spend some money on a giveaway, you can get a ton of customers.

Go to mycoupons.com and register for their shopping boards. Under LWIF (Look What I Found) post a free votive giveaway or some other sample scents or something like that. Those women will swamp your server with requests. Even better, make the offer on a page that does not link back to your site (a landing page) and tell them in your post that it is a "secret offer" for newsletter subscribers.

Drew Candle did a free sample thing a while back and I did sign up for their free votive (which they never sent) and now they e-mail me monthly. If they had actually sent the sample, I might have bought their candles!

You have to either offer a free something or really reduced cost to get their attention but they will buy. Maybe a Buy a Candle for a friend, get a free gift for yourself kind of thing.

On design, I think it is cute! Well-organized. However, I wouldn't buy from a company without seeing their products so get those pictures up there before you start promoting. I might also expect to see things more candle-related, luminous, illuminiated, etc.

When you have time, think about what sells candles. Does cute sell candles? Most candle things go for the romantic, sensory, pamper-yourself images.

How are they using your candles? To freshen up the scent in a kitchen? A bathroom? To set the mood in a bedroom or bath? To celebrate a special occasion? To add warmth on a cold day?

If you can create an image that a customer wants to identify with, they are far more likely to purchase. Your site seems to say "fun", "family", and "cute" right now. If that's what you are going for, add some images that reinforce that, like candles on the mantel or at the family dinner table.

Best of Luck!

[tyler_durden]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by highly competive, but there are many pages that come up with the term candles. If you didn't see it, i'm not listed in google, etc. at all (pr of 0). So I believe PPC is the only way to get some sales this holiday season online. I am optimizing my site for the future, but it obviously won't help me for the holiday season. Here are some things i've got done in the last 2 weeks...

#1. I have 38 incoming links to my site now from other candle and gift sites
#2. Just got listed in DMOZ last week(woohoo!)
#3. My site has been crawled by looksmart and fastsearch over the last few days...

I'm kind of needing some income from this business venture of mine soon! Other than friends and family, I haven't had any sales and that won't change until it gets up on SE's or a PPC campaign. My fiancee still thinks it's a bad idea starting this business, and thinks the idea will flop and the website itself is poorly laid out. I still have a lot of faith in it, knowing it will be a slow start...

[glengara]

Some pretty wacky scents too!
Are these 'niche' or common in the States?

[tyler_durden]

thanks for those tidbits Scottiecl. I will definitely have to keep those in mind finishing the site!

[Blue]

Hi tyler_durden,

I have a few suggestions.

Your navbar text doesn't have enough contrast for my old eyes, making it hard to read the text links. I would try a more contrasting color for the text, or a less dark shade of red for the navbar.

I too think you should make your text links in the body underlined, or at least give them a background shade. They don't look like links at all and force the viewer to roll the mouse over every other piece of text wondering what will be a link and what isn't.

Other than that, and the lack of pictures, tell your fiance to relax because your site looks fine and will do well when your optimizing kicks in, I'm sure.

:D