New website, did it all myself

[ca_soap]

Well like most everyone else, it started as a hobby, became a passion and evolved into a business. Well I did some research then took that big step and set up my website. Lot went much easier than I ever imagined. Of course I am still trying to learn tricks with search engine optimization and I am still ironing out some wrinkles but it is a start. Any thoughts or opinions are certainly welcome. Here is the link

http://www.bathhousebasics.com

 

[My Mountain Soaps]

looks good to me! you may want to tell people the difference between your basic soap, and basic unscented soap- the two titles are a bit confusing. beautiful soap by the way!

 

[cmzaha]

Your website looks good, but I would have to ask why I would pay the same for the basic unscented versus the unscented (that includes shea) I understand your name including basic, but I would definetly lose the "basic" in all the descriptions. I find people like to feel they are buying something special not basic. Just a thought...Good luck to you

 

[CaraCara]

Well done! I like the layout and love the name. One thing I did not see was how many ounces the bars are estimated to be.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Love the look and feel.

I would take away the "glad you found us" as it implies that you're hard to find.

Also agree with the comments on the naming/pricing - if the unscented basic is the same price as the scented basic and the non-basic scented is the same price as the basic scented, then how can they be different recipes with the same costs? It might well be the case, but you need to make it more apparent in the naming or change your prices to reflect the differences, even if it's "fiddy cent"s

 

[AtraGarden]

Great looking website. Congrats. I have got couple of domains and I am thinking about building it myself as well.

 

[pamielynn]

You have very nice, clear pictures. Good job! That's my hardest part. I like it!

 

[Obsidian]

Looks good, I like the over all feel. Maybe instead of basic unscented and unscented you could have unscented and luxury unscented. That mays your bars with the shea and castor sound much more appealing.

I would also put up a terms and conditions page with info about terms, shipping and any return policies. Maybe a testimonial page once you've made a couple sales.

I love the fact you use lard. I also use it and have been wondering what to say about on my site and now I have some ideas. Good luck with your sales, you do have lovely soaps.

 

[Ancel]

Nice job! Love the name, really like the simplicity of your labels, like your fonts, like it all. Good luck! Agree that a shippings page with policies would be a nice addition, plus testimonials.

 

[ca_soap]

Thanks for the compliments, thoughts and insight, we will be tweaking a few things based off the comments thus far.

Obsidian, I love the properties that lard brings to soap. It seems in our modern culture so many go out of their way to try to find alternatives because they don't want to use that nasty four letter word, Lard. The majority of websites I have viewed have people pushing animal free products and there is nothing wrong with that if that is your thing, but there are still many people out there that know and want the properties of a good old bar of soap made the old fashioned way with lard. I live in an area where it is still very accepted and my customers absolutely love it. I am able to get it at a very good price from a local meat processor and it is much better lard than the stuff you get off the shelves at your grocery store. I gave a couple bars to my doctor just a couple days ago, she was looking at the ingredients and noticed they had lard in them, she immediately said she can't wait to use them because of how it conditions the skin.

 

[Saponista]

I love lard soap and always make it for myself or friends, lard gives such a lovely creamy white lather. You can't really buy it from artisan soap makers in the uk though, or at least I haven't seen it. I think people choose to make vegetarian soap so they won't lose potential customers.

 

[cmzaha]

I also make a lot of lard soap and it is always my favorite soap, but I live in a state with a lot of vegans so I make both. I do not like to miss any area of the market

 

[paillo]

I really like your site too, clean, easy to read, nice art. Agree with another reviewer that it would be helpful to include how many ounces your bars weigh. And, unfortunately, oxides used for soap coloring are technically not natural, as they've been manufactured since the 1970s for safety reasons (e.g. toxic metals in naturally-occurring oxides). They duplicate the real deal, but personally I'd skip the 'natural' description. This is a can of worms, and others may disagree

 

[Twiggy]

Wow, very nice and pleasant to be on it! Not to mention beautiful soaps!

And I must admit, and for a vegan creature is hard to do, lard soaps look really nice...

 

[ca_soap]

Paillo, thank you for pointing that out, I couldn't agree more and it was not worded that way intentionally but more of a oversight. I believe I have corrected that concern.