trying to start a business....help

mizzbiz

Okay, I don't wish to be mean about your website because it's great that you learned to code HTML. But the simple truth is that it won't do in this industry. I got married last year and I would never have bought from your site because it doesn't look professional. I think that you need something with pzaz in this industry. Your site looks like one I created for a degree project when the only software around was Frontpage and I was rubbish at HTML. These days people are using PHP, perl, java etc for much more modern, professional and well-designed look.

One of my family members produce and sell a luxury wedding item. They have been going since February and have lots of orders. Their website is simple but very, very professional.

What I suggest is going back to basics. Make a limited selection of very high qaulity boxes - not an any old idea will do style of creation. Get a proper website with a real shopping cart and make it look like a luxury site. Here is an example of a super idea, choose your box, choose your filling etc.. Then the product can be as simple or as luxury as people want to pay for. http://www.myboxofdelights.co.uk/

This is a very competitive market and you must stand out for quality, reliability and uniqueness. Have lots of information on your site about how it works, who you are etc.

Also, get your boxes on Ebay. If you sell them by the 100's you should make enough to cover the fees and make a decent profit. It's also a massive market for budget weddings - I bought a fair bit of stuff from ebay for our wedding.

soolin

This is not a market I know anything about, but a quick look on ebay suggests that your prices are at the very top of the market and in a recession the 'extras' might be th efirst thing to go.

For instance for a bride on a budge paying over £1 per box might be over expensive and they might choose something cheaper like these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25-Handmade-Stylish-Personalised-Wedding-Favour-Boxes-/200607237257?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Celebrations_Occasions_ET&hash=item2eb51f8489

which work out at less than 46 p each including delivery

In fact I hadn't relaised how cheap tiny little boxes are and whilst I have no weddings planned have actually just ordered some plainer ones from a different seller as I think they will be ideal for one of my businesses as I was buying a different sort of box elsewhere.

pleasedelete

I think the box of delights website is awful. Won't load well onto an iPad or iPhone. Odd pictures and school child font.

Each to their own

steve1980

pleasedelete wrote: »

I think the box of delights website is awful. Won't load well onto an iPad or iPhone. Odd pictures and school child font.

Each to their own

That's because the site uses flash which won't show on Apple products.

grintricha

have you thought about trying to sell through aggregator sites such as etsy or folksy?

you could approach someone like not on the high street also

Can you also find out more about the 50 views on the directory (where did they come from etc.)

You also do not seem to be using google analytics to monitor your site usage, this would give you a bit more info about the traffic coming to your site and what searches they are finding you from.

On the adwords are you using negative keywords also? I've found them useful in previous jobs.

just some random thoughts, not sure how useful they are

Richard

jexygirl

I think that price and unique are the key elements here - I do agree that the build a box thing is a good idea, but badly executed on that site!

In the current climate, so many people are looking at ways to save money, and tbh, when organising a wedding, are looking to cut costs - I would be thinking "thats alot of money to spend on something that they are only going to throw away, what would be useful instead".

We have alot of weddings here, and one couple bought whisky miniatures for the guys and vodka ones for the ladies as favours, & tied a bow around it - I thought it was a great idea!. They tried to find somewhere that did personalised ones and couldn't, so I got some sticky labels free from vistaprint and gave them to them, they steamed the old ones off, and replaced them with personalised ones - could you not offer the same service? It is something that people like, its a talking point, and different. You say the market is saturated, and it is, with the same thing, and despite your work being really nice, it isn't different or unique - its a box - as the other links prove, there are lots of options on them.

Don't lose heart, but fight back with new and inventive ideas - and as Horace would / will say NETWORK with anyone and everyone you can within the industry, use the other suggestions of footwork meet and greet everyone you can. You can still use your skills, do something you enjoy, and still make a profit, as long as you are also offering something different to the others.

Jex

Horace

I admit that I haven't looked at your site. I was in the wedding industry for 2 years and ditched it in favour of more lucrative projects - being a wedding planner just wasnt working for me because brides don't want to be paying £8-10 an hour for someone to organise their wedding from start to finish...the market was also saturated with planners who are willing to work for £4 an hour.

If you are selling luxury items then you need your site to reflect that, also ditch the free/cheap business cards from Vistaprint - they give people the wrong impression.... you want something that oozes quality to match your product. Get yourself a wordpress site too - you can blog with it and update it yourself and add pictures - don't use Flash either - google hates Flash Do your own SEO work - it takes time but it is worth it. Google adwords can be expensive and you can end up throwing money down the drain - I am on the first page of Google and didn't pay for Google Adwords, I am lucky to have a client who does SEO for a living so he spent an entire weekend working on my site getting it all done and up there. I am now doing my own SEO work which is time consuming but worth it and it is only my time that is being used not money going down the drain.

Consider having some professional photographs taken of your work too as these can make all the difference. At least with a wordpress site, you can blog and share knowledge with a simple how to make a wine glass charm (or whatever) people love free stuff and are more likely to hang around on your site.

I also make wedding favours (now I call them table decorations because I target a different market), and get all my materials from Italian Options who are based in Burton upon Trent and they only sell to the trade. I know that they sell ribbons that can be printed with the couples names etc.

Make sure that you are not paying over the odds for stands at wedding fairs because it can end up costing you more than the returns you get (if you get any returns). Look at other markets such as Christenings, parties etc. onsider promoting at craft fairs, use Etsy as opposed to Ebay.

Do lots of research what are other people charging? Start networking with people - arrange meetings with wedding planners etc. Get yourself a page on Facebook (lots of planners, photographers etc hang around on there) - there are also groups on FB including an MSE Weddings one. Get yourself onto Twitter (I must follow about 20 or so industry-related twits). Use LinkedIn (this is like facebook for adults) - have a basic account on there, get connected with people, join industry related groups on there so that you can share knowledge and get ideas from people all over the world.

Make yourself stand out from the crowd, have a unique selling point (why should people buy from you as opposed to going somewhere else?) if you are selling luxury items then your website, business cards etc all must reflect that. Don't base your company brand on an istock photograph either because that photo can be used by others and it dilutes your message - again have a unique design. Look for graphic designers to help you with this - I have just used one for my new venture and he charged me £250 plus VAT and produced 37 designs for me to choose from - some designers charge £350 plus VAT or more and give you less - 4-6 designs if you are lucky.

HTH

gythalodge

I'd take a slightly different view on market saturation to some other posters. I set up a wedding stationery company and cleared a profit within 2 months. Although invitations might be seen as a little more core than favours, I don't think you can assume that favours won't be bought.

What I would suggest is that you need to be ranking high through organic google searches rather than from adwords (which is very costly and really only to be used in a relied-upon sense when you are just starting out) and also not to be aiming at a local market. If you're willing to ship, look at ranking high for search-terms which are nationally used.

I do agree that the website could use a little work. The products look to be very high quality, but the front-page is far too text-based (I would be put off by the lack of immediate images) and a little too cute, I think. As a previous poster has mentioned, go for professional at all costs. Brides in particular are buying a lifestyle in their wedding choices.

With my business, I did have the advantage of having done a lot of SEO in previous work, but it's nothing you can't research. As a result of using it intelligently, and having asked advice from some seasoned pros, we now have 16 page 1 google rankings for some major search terms and our website is viewed at least 100 times per day. If you need any advice on this, please shout. I can certainly point you in the right direction. :-)

All that said, I have worked stupid hours to get to this stage, far more than a full time job, so maybe that's something else to consider. Doing it as a sideline is hard. I know particularly crazy hardworking people who have, but for me, kid plus business was plenty, thanks!

Good luck with it all, anyway. It's great to see you creating your own business and actually going for it. A lot of people talk about it but go not further.

dnalsrammaj

paulofessex wrote: »

Have you visted your local Florists / Hotels to introduce your service. Also I'm wondering if some of your products are suitable for displaying/selling in local shops or even florists on a sale or return basis. You would basically visit the shop, place your display and products give the store a list of the price your looking for each item sold along with a RRP for them.

Also is your products / service ideal for party plan, it may mean you have to make a large amount of stock etc.

Unfortunately hotels will NEVER recommend services, i used to be involved with a wedding entertainment and media company (DJs, singers, video etc) and we wasted many a month and lots of expensive brochures trying to get them to approve of us!

Many hotels will have one person who they use and have done for donkeys years because they know they are reliable. Other hotels will have no links with service providers just so that it doesn't come back to haunt them should that service provider not prove to be as good as promised!

To stand out in an oversaturated market you need to be completely unique. You could be the cheapest, the most expensive, the most colourful, the most outrageous (thinking of my gypsy wedding!)... Bare in mind that your marketing should reflect your price range... IE. If your going to sell favours at £30 each you should be buying the nicest brochures your printers can offer and paying a premium web designer.

dnalsrammaj

and like GYTHALODGE i also found that google adwords is not very effective. I paid £100 a month to a google ad words specialist and ended up being top result for about every key word i could think of relating to my product... Yet my google analytics told me that the people who found me through google natural listings were staying on my page longer and turned out to be the ones who were enquiring.

I think maybe people are becoming immune to the adverts down the side of google becuase they are quite often not what you are looking for.