Hi Dave,

I took a scan through your site. While you have good content the look of the site and the way topics are addressed lack "commercial appeal". What I mean by that is, topics should excite and wow visitors to want to read on and read more. A few tips to consider;

1) Look at other Jewlry sites that have retail stores and an online presence, especially big names. Even though you may be selling religious jewelery, motivations for buying a meaningful keepsake will still be the same with your products as other jewelry keepsakes. Don't get stuck in the trap of "but I'm different".

2) Your home page, 1st half, way too much text. People love to skim and a compelling impression needs to be made in 3 seconds. That much text should be inside a section on the site or at the bottom of the page. Strong headlines, good images, lifestyle images of people with the products will do more to raise curiousity and interest to go deeper if you stir the imagination.

3) Ask yourself why people are buying your products. It appears you provide good relevant information on the jewelry but if you can't get to the heart of why people are buying you'll fall flat on having a great content site, not an online retail shop. I would suggest people buy because of deep religious piety, 'talisman' or protection/benefits the jewelery offers and many more reasons.

4) Get sexy. When looking at your home page products the price is the main point that jumps out. You have a great product and price may be the 2nd or last consideration. Add a few fascinating words on the jewelry, too much space is wasted on a large font saying "click here on image for more details". Chop that down to "Details" and talk about the jewelry.

For example "Gold Ring Rosary" could be, "A special first communion momento and endearing keepsake. Details"

Reply by Andrew Ballenthin, a freelance marketing consultant specializing in branding and growing business through advertising. andrew@solsolutions.ca.