Once again, I want to thank you all for your observations and suggestions.
I checked load times, and they are long. I should be able to address that in a redesign, which will help. DrTandem, you might be right that the majority of time is actually spent waiting for the page to load.
The owner would like the website to target hobbiasts and amateurs. She would also like to include some video tutorials, in effect implementing some of your suggestions. This would also boost the educational value-added of the website, as well as advertising her jewelry-making workshops.
I haven't looked at trade mags, but I will. Thanks for the suggestion.
Gisela, I wasn't trying to be secretive about the actual website. I omitted a link to it because I really wanted people to think about the design elements only that effect stickiness, not the content issue. Here is the website -
THEeBeadStore.com offers quality jewelry making supplies and classses. It is highly impersonal (there is no About page) and offers absolutely no value-added content. But these are issues of content, not design per se.
I will look into other website stats products. Thanks for the rtek2000.com lead. One bothersome thing about AWStats for this website is that there are no stats on specific pages - I guess this is typical for PHP website..??
memaggiem, thanks for the ideas. I think all of these would work well and really add to the value visitors feel they get from the website. I like the contest and voting idea as a way to start building a community feeling among the visitors.
E-platform, I like the steps you laid out and it makes good sense to follow them. I incorporate them in my plan for redesign - many thanks.
Thanks to all for the comments so far, and additional ones if you want to visit the website --
THEeBeadStore.com offers quality jewelry making supplies and classses.
...Duane