Website Makeover: SEO + Good Design

I have an e-commerce site that does pretty well, but I know it can do better. It's based on zencart, which has an ugly front-end design to start with. All of the design and SEO is done by me, an amateur with not much time. I've done my best , and I'm proud of the work, but I believe it's holding us back as a business.

I'd like to see some proposals from some established DP masters that have a vision for my website, and can show a portfolio of work that shows past successes. If you don't have a portfolio, please don't bother to reply.

My goal is to make the site look more professional, as well as add some SEO content. I'm willing to do some of the busy work for SEO, but I need guidance. I'm willing to consider all offers, but I need to see past work and performance.

My site is:
http://bit.ly/beOlk9

 

Perhaps this post should be in the Buy, Sell or Trade section?

 

OK. I was thinking that was for buying/selling websites only, but I see now that it also has a section for hiring work. Thanks.

 

Your site could do a lot better if you focused on Usability & Conversion Optimization. These work towards making your site more user-friendly. There is a ton of info out there on these best practices. Here's an example. When someone comes to your homepage, they should immediately see your Unique Value Proposition (why do business with you instead of a competitor). Your About Us page isn't about YOU. It's about your 2 commitments. People want to know who they're dealing with. People want to deal with people. If you go to the sites of your most successful competitors, they will have Unique Value Propositions and their About Us pages will have their pictures, backgrounds, etc. They will be about THEM. This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you can make your site a high CONVERTING site, then when you drive more traffic it will be much more profitable because of the percentage of visitors that will be converting to customers. If you are converting 1% or less of your visitors into customers, you need help. After looking at your site, my guess is, your conversion rate is under 1%.

 

Thank you for the reply CarlDia. My conversion ratio is actually at 2.5% total (3.5% organic, 1.9% paid). Besides the obvious frustration that my paid traffic is so low conversion, I would like to improve my overall conversion rate. Do you know what is "good" for an ecommerce site like this?

I will make plans to improve the About Us page with pics and a story. But what do you suggest for the unique value proposition?

 

You're welcome . . . happy to help. Your overall conversion rate is pretty good. You may want to look into professional help on your ppc (we don't do this, we're conversion folks). You should be getting $4 in sales, at least, for each $1 spent on ppc, or, as I said, consider professional help. The right expert in this area pays for themselves. If you want, we could send you a referral. The problem with most sites is that they set a "goal" for conversion, (like 3% or 4%) which is a mistake. The sophisticated e-commerce sites don't set a goal, they think of it as a process. 3% is only a data point on the way to 4%, etc. They never stop testing landing pages for best converting layout. That's why the big guys are now converting over 10%.

On Unique Value Proposition, here's a couple of examples: [URL="http://www.kickstartlocations.com] and [URL="http://www.teezenpleeze.com. Kickstart's are the 4 little blue boxes over the image. Teeze N Pleeze, (this is adult toys, so don't go there if you would be offended), is in the Why Buy From Us. Yours should incorporate the reasons why people should buy from you plus emphasize the unique designs, incredible detail, best sellers. In other words, come up with what is special about you, i.e., not a commodity. You may want to get a designer to help you with the layout once you decide on the text. That shouldn't cost much since it is a very limited task.

 

Thanks Carldia. I'm very interested in improving my conversion rates. Where do you recommend I go to find a service for this. I know that I had terrible conversion last year, changed my design comepletely and it got better. But I never changed it again because I didn't know how to do split testing, know nothing about design, and didn't want to take any chances of driving my conversion rate back down. I'd love to find someone that could do split testing and knowledgable in high conversion designs that could take me ot the next level.

Also, if you want to PM me some recomendation on PPC experts, that'd be great!

 

wow, it's inspiring me too... thanks...