# Review our day-old site: sackwear.com



## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

We made it real simple. www.sackwear.com

It's a day old, we've had lots of hits. Any advice on how to convert to sales?

Any feedback appreciated. Thanks


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

Looks very similar to Busted Tees -- this isn't really a bad thing. Busted Tees has some great designs and you do too; the layout and shirts are similar enough for me to relate the two but you've definately got some original stuff I've never seen before. The website works good and looks good. I think the Alt text is pushing for search engine rankings a bit much personally, but most people don't care about Alt text very much. 

I did find one minor bug -- Clicking on the 'Geology Rocks' banner doesn't redirect to that product; it only goes to a page listing a few other random products (http://www.sackwear.com/product_info.php?products_id=29)

My favorites would be Bikini Atoll and Amish Country Choppers. One thing that might be scaring away customers is the $20 per shirt price tag; you might consider dropping that to $18 or so to be a little more in the average range. I can't really think of much else - impressive overall, well done.

If you feel like it you can look over mine as well, I've got my own thread going for it.


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## Adam (Mar 21, 2005)

Alt is good. They are only the names of the t-shirts and without accompanying text beneath it serve its purpose. 

General Tips for Increasing Conversion Rates:

Mostly is focussed around the shopping cart. Making sure questions are answered quickly like; shipping costs, returns, contact info, phone number, where do you ship to etc.

If you have a telephone number put it on every page a good place is at the top. A 0800 number is good. 

Make the shipping costs obvious without having to checkout. Links from the cart help, ones that don't take them away from the cart are better - doesn't lower the conversion rate that way. "Free shipping" is an obvious increase in conversion, add that to pages if you can offer that.

Return policy. Make this quickly identifiable in the cart and else where on the site. 

Make it evident that the cart checkout process is secure. SSL. 

Limited steps in the checkout process. 3 steps are good, fewer better. 

Don't make the customer have to sign up to checkout. Always allow checkout without having to sign up, if you have that option. Also don't make that an extra step in the process. Put it on the same page as the checkout.

Believe it or not, colours, placement of text, positioning of buttons can all affect conversion. Just playing with these and analysing the changes can have an affect on conversion. Action buttons are much needed in a cart. Make them obvious as the next step. buttongenerator.com is awesome for this.

Put anchors on your Order FAQ page and make separate links to the content. e.g.
information.php?info_id=5#returnpolicy
information.php?info_id=5#shippingcost
Then add those separate links to your cart. Return Policy | Shipping 

"We ship worldwide" is also good. 

Make the customer aware that the product is "In Stock" in the cart and let them know when it will ship. 

That's a few tips. You seem to have the information there you just need to make the links and that will definitely up your conversion rates. 

Another thing, knowledge is power. Make sure you know what people are looking at on your site, where they go, when they leave. Keep an eye on how many people add things to cart and checkout. That is how you will see if your conversion rate goes up or down. Good session tracking software is needed for this. 

P.S. Your site is awesome


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

Adam said:


> Alt is good. They are only the names of the t-shirts and without accompanying text beneath it serve its purpose.


Look at the Alt text for the header ad on the main page and the links across the top =)


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## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

Thanks for the feedback guys. We've incorporated your suggestions.

We finally have deep stock on just about all the shirts. First ad runs in Rolling Stone in two weeks, with discount code. 

Fingers crossed...


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## jdr8271 (Jun 16, 2005)

How much does an ad in rolling stone cost? I remember a while back someone called me from rolling stone trying to get me to put an ad in. It was $3000 to put in a fake testimonial. Just curious how much a regular ad costs?


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## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

That price is about right. BTW, I've started a thread on magazine ads in the selling t-shirts section of the forum.


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## Bougie (Jul 12, 2005)

sackwear.com said:


> It's a day old, we've had lots of hits.


How many hits? How did you get a lot of hits on just the first day?


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## sackwear.com (Jul 2, 2005)

At the time the hits were mostly from friends, and friends of friends. 

Maybe everyone has experienced this: your site goes up, your buddies check it out, then the hits nosedive, then the hits go back up with real customers who are looking for shirts.


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## Ptees.com (Jul 7, 2005)

sackwear.com said:


> At the time the hits were mostly from friends, and friends of friends.
> 
> Maybe everyone has experienced this: your site goes up, your buddies check it out, then the hits nosedive, then the hits go back up with real customers who are looking for shirts.


That's what happened with our site last week. We are starting to see an resurgence of traffic from word of mouth, though. Also, through our advertising, we got a TON of hits, but very limited conversion. We retooled for a few days, and hopefully this will help.

I think you guys are taking a nicely different approach to shirts than Bustedtees, so you should be successful. Please let us know how the Rolling Stone ad works out!


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

I know I'm bringing back an old thread. I just wanted to follow up and see if your ad ever went through. Also, how is business? It looks like the blog hasn't been updated. Just wondering your opinions on your business. What did you do right or wrong? Are you still selling?


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