# Increasing online sales



## aab1 (May 5, 2014)

*Increasing online website sales*

I started my SaltSoaps.com business at the beginning of last summer, sales have been very low, around 0-50$/month but seem to be slowly increasing.

I recently moved and was busy with another business I run but now I'm starting to focus on the soap business more to try to increase sales. I just listed several "new" soaps that have actually been cured for well over 6 months but I was too busy with other things to list them until now. I'm not happy with he new photos so I will be taking them again and updating the older photos so they all have the same background and soap orientation.

I've also added a new 20% discount timer which increased sales significantly on another website I run so I'm hoping it helps with my soap website too. I will also be listing my soaps on eBay, Etsy and Amazon once I have photos I'm happy with. I haven't yet made back half of what I invested in the business but I'm sure it will eventually make a profit.

From now on I plan on making each batch/scent in these 3 shapes: small bars for low cost shipping, large bars for long lasting soaps, and flowers for those that want a fancy shape. Do you think it's a good idea to make each batch in 3 shapes? I make mostly the small bars as they sell by far the best since I can ship them for a fraction of the cost.

I also realize it probably wasn't the best idea to sell only salt soaps so I am shifting to having around 70% regular soaps and 30% salt soaps as well as finding a new website name.

What else could I do to increase traffic to my website as well as the conversion rate which has been around 0.10%?

Thanks


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## FGOriold (May 6, 2014)

I would definitely try to improve the pics and have more offerings.  You are limiting yourself with just salt soaps, but if that is the niche you are looking to focus on, then you need more choices and not just by size.

Your homepage is very wordy and hard on the eyes.  Maybe a nice landing page with categories/sections to better navigate the site.


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## aab1 (May 6, 2014)

I'm not happy with the pics at all either, I will be taking them again until I get better results.

As I posted in another thread, I'm thinking of making 63 different soaps (21 recipes in 3 shapes each) in amounts from 4 to 16 of each which will let me see what sells the best and from then I'll narrow down my selection to the best sellers.

My website does have many filtering options on the left to narrow down the selection, what do you recommend I change on the website?

Thank you


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## Ebony-soap (May 6, 2014)

If you want to improve you small business, I suggest reading Crafting a Successful Small Business as it has a lot a great ideas on how to improve you business on a budget


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## seven (May 21, 2014)

my online sales are also slow, coz you know what, often ppl chose to order via whatsapp/text after they browse in my website, lol. i sell only locally, not internationally. my sales come mostly offline, but still, having a website is a must. i also advertise in local forums, in their marketplace section. free advertising.

i looked at your website. i quite like the filtering options, but do you think it's necessary? considering i only have to scroll once to get to the bottom of the page. if you are planning on adding more products, than it's a whole different story. i'm gonna be quite blunt, your website looks a bit out dated. the fonts, placing of texts/titles, didn't look very inviting to be honest. now, i'm no designer myself, that's why i rely on free templates my shopping cart gave me. your website is easy to navigate though, which i like. 

photos... very clear, but could be improved. maybe have a same white background for all of them to be more uniform? 

i think it's good to specialized on something (salt soaps in your case)


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## aab1 (May 24, 2014)

seven said:


> my online sales are also slow, coz you know what, often ppl chose to order via whatsapp/text after they browse in my website, lol. i sell only locally, not internationally. my sales come mostly offline, but still, having a website is a must. i also advertise in local forums, in their marketplace section. free advertising.
> 
> i looked at your website. i quite like the filtering options, but do you think it's necessary? considering i only have to scroll once to get to the bottom of the page. if you are planning on adding more products, than it's a whole different story. i'm gonna be quite blunt, your website looks a bit out dated. the fonts, placing of texts/titles, didn't look very inviting to be honest. now, i'm no designer myself, that's why i rely on free templates my shopping cart gave me. your website is easy to navigate though, which i like.
> 
> ...



I recently listed several soaps I had made last year on my website, eBay and Etsy and already sold over 20 in just a few weeks (almost all on eBay). I think the main problem was that I only had soaps that don't sell well remaining and when I listed the new ones sales picked up.

What sort of local forums do you advertise in?

My website is very low on stock since I hadn't made soaps for several months, I'm getting back into making soaps and plan to have about 20 different recipes made in 1 to 3 different shapes, meaning I could end up with up to 60 products which is why I have the filtering options. I actually programmed the entire website/shopping system myself because I wanted complete control on how it operates, but I'm obviously not very good at web design. Once the business is running better I'll probably pay someone to update the design while keeping it working with the shopping system I programmed.

The reason the photos don't have all the same background are because I decided to stop using the background recently, I'm slowly selling the ones that have the old background and removing them as I run out of stock. For the soaps I will re-make I'll retake the photos with the same white background.

Thanks


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