Launching my Website!

[Spikeroo]

Ok, So I've been working on my website EmpireWorks.net. Feel free to visit. I am currently in the "Still building Process" but I want some feedback, so I can make my site the best it can be. I Have started the whole thing about a week ago, and I think I've done pretty good so far. I buy my items from a whole seller, so People buy from me, I buy from them, they ship to my customers, everyone's happy. I chose phone accessories because people are buying cases and breaking them everyday. I started a little business repairing iPhones awhile ago, so i know how to repair them, eventually I want to put a repair section on my site, but I think I need a little more reviews and feedback on the site itself for more trust and people to back me up on my service. I also realize that their are alot of people starting their own Repair business, do you think I could make more strictly doing wholesale to small business like that? and could I could turn this into a Fastlane business?


Please leave your feedback, don't be to harsh, but I can take constructive criticism. Thanks a bunch guys!

 

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[sal]

You need to put some sort of banner or even products on the first page when you visit EmpireWorks.net.. first glance looks a bit dull..
Also consider changing the "Welcome to Empire Works" font, also seems a bit plain.
Good luck!

 

[axlmaus]

Hey! Good layout so far, and it has great potential.

My first impression leaves me with a couple of things I would do:
-personalize! Logo, background, etc.

-have pictures and products on the first page. When a customer arrives at your page, you have a few seconds to buy his/her interest in browsing your page, so trigger their hunger for cool products right off the bat.

-If you have only worked on the page for a week or so, you are of course very early in the process. I worked on my webshop for three months before I felt it was ready for launch (I'm a perfectionist, I know). Keep at it, have patience, and try to see every aspect of your page from a customers point of view - would you buy at your own store? If not, why not? etc.

-more products. And try to focus on the most important products first. For example, at least where I live, very few people use iphone 3 any more, so it's more fruitful to focus on products for the 4/4s model. You see?


By the way, your business model is called dropshipping. In this day and age it's a widely used concept, I'm using it myself. Great for starting out, low risk, low cost, etc.

 

[Spikeroo]

Ok, Good you know about drop shipping, I didnt know if everyone refereed to it as that. My question for axlmaus, is shipping. How do you put your Drop Shippers shipping methods on your site? Where I buy my products, their shipping is based on Weight, and amount of products in the order, thats what I'm stuck on as of now, as for the Logo and such, I'm getting to, I just want to take on one project at a time. If you don't mind me asking, is your business a fast lane business?

 

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[axlmaus]

Yes, take one thing at a time. As for a logo, go to dafont.com to find a cool font, and make your logo that way, for a start. There are plenty of fonts there free for commercial use.

As for shipping, I calculate the shipping cost pr product into the product price, and just have "free shipping".
It's by far the easiest way for me, at least on the platform I use for my shop.

My business is not yet in the fastlane, I just opened the store less than a month ago.
But my projections are that when I have 30 sales a day, I will profit about $175 000 a year with only maybe 30 mins to an hour work a day.
With 50 sales a day, I will profit $315 000 a year with maybe 1-2 hours of work a day.

For me, that would be an amazing start.
I'm also in this for another reason, I need to learn to do ecommerce and trading with chinese vendors etc, because I have an invention to put into production at a later stage.

 

[mayana]

I agree that the homepage needs some TLC - it's your first shot at attracting your customer. Having some products there would be a really good idea (like categories, perhaps, with picture icons - just to make it more visually appealing).

I'd like to add that I really like the layout of the rest of the website - it looks pretty sharp!

 

[PatrickP]

Immediately upon going to your site I thought it was a pop up when I don't have the latest updates from Adobe. Same colors and feel to me.

I don't know if that is good or bad.

 

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[number1]

Hi,

Firstly congratulations on building your website. My initial impressions is that the homepage needs a lot more attention. Needs to be much stronger conveying on what your business does and how it benefits the consumer. You need a strong headline, sub heading, powerful image, strong call to action, bullet points, some testimonials, all this needs to be kept above the fold.

That's where I would start

 

[clarkster009]

Hey, I noticed you are using Big Commerce. I am also using them. One of the easiest ways to add some "flash" to your front page is to turn on the Featured Products on the main page, and/or Recently Added Products. See if you can follow this article: Why isn't my featured products panel showing up? if you would like that. Another way is to add a photo slider. This is a bit more difficult, but not impossible. This is the one I prefer: https://support.bigcommerce.com/questions/1591/How+do+I+add+a+nivo+jQuery+slider+to+my+store?. You can also change the theme fairly easily, if you do not like the default scheme. As far as the logo, instead of having it say "Welcome To Empire Works", I would just have the store name "Empire Works". Your product photos look good. Keep at it!

If you want to check out my site, it is Performance Rush - Your Source For Automotive Racing & Performance Parts.

 

[JasonR]

The phone accessory market - very saturated. Why did you choose to enter this market? It's going to be tough to compete!

 

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[DustinG]

Yes, take one thing at a time. As for a logo, go to dafont.com to find a cool font, and make your logo that way, for a start. There are plenty of fonts there free for commercial use.

As for shipping, I calculate the shipping cost pr product into the product price, and just have "free shipping".
It's by far the easiest way for me, at least on the platform I use for my shop.

My business is not yet in the fastlane, I just opened the store less than a month ago.
But my projections are that when I have 30 sales a day, I will profit about $175 000 a year with only maybe 30 mins to an hour work a day.
With 50 sales a day, I will profit $315 000 a year with maybe 1-2 hours of work a day.

For me, that would be an amazing start.
I'm also in this for another reason, I need to learn to do ecommerce and trading with chinese vendors etc, because I have an invention to put into production at a later stage.

How much will you have to spend to get 30-50 sales a day? How will your site be different than every other site selling phone accessories, including Amazon?

 

[Spikeroo]

The phone accessory market - very saturated. Why did you choose to enter this market? It's going to be tough to compete!

Its the Only thing I could do atm, Idk any other Dropship Products i could do.

 

[Spikeroo]

Hey, I noticed you are using Big Commerce. I am also using them. One of the easiest ways to add some "flash" to your front page is to turn on the Featured Products on the main page, and/or Recently Added Products. See if you can follow this article: Why isn't my featured products panel showing up? if you would like that. Another way is to add a photo slider. This is a bit more difficult, but not impossible. This is the one I prefer: https://support.bigcommerce.com/questions/1591/How+do+I+add+a+nivo+jQuery+slider+to+my+store?. You can also change the theme fairly easily, if you do not like the default scheme. As far as the logo, instead of having it say "Welcome To Empire Works", I would just have the store name "Empire Works". Your product photos look good. Keep at it!

If you want to check out my site, it is Performance Rush - Your Source For Automotive Racing & Performance Parts.

Awesome site man, Are you doing dropship as well?

 

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[cliqflip]

Bigger and shorter text on the home page - I want to know what you do and how it can help me fast not read the whole paragraph