I have a new website marketing gifts and gourmet food. I want to have a site that is enticing and visitors will make that first purchase. I'm confident that once the purchase is made that they will be coming back for more. Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Nancy
http://www.GiftsJubilee.com

Here's what I discovered as I checked out your site:
--It has a friendly, homestyle feel to the site, like a casual gormet shop! The font is the perfect style, easily readable, and it's a nice bright background, giving the feel of a well lit, and tidy kitchen.
--This site isn't a good place for me to go, being on a diet again! Why do I have a craving for some strawberry dip on cookie dough? Thankfully, at least the cookie dough is in candle form only. LOL
--One of the things that drives me nuts when shopping online is that I either can't get a better look at the product, or there isn't a detailed description of the product. I really like that when I click onto an item, it takes me to a page that shows a better picture of the item AND tells me the details of the item! Thank you!
--I love the way you organized the different items and that you can find the same thing in different areas. Good marketing ploy, and really helpful for a shopper!
--I noticed a few grammatical errors and typos, the type that when you read over your content over and over again, you just don't notice after a while. You might want to go through the text again, or have someone with fresh eyes go through it for you.
--There are several dots on the right hand side of the picture of the Cranberry Orange Muffin mix on your starting page that just makes me wonder what happened. (Might be a fall out of working on my own web site though, and maybe a casual surfer wouldn't notice. LOL)
--If your gift boxes aren't mass produced, how are they produced? I like the idea that they aren't mass produced, but, as a consumer, I'd also like to know they aren't homemade either. Maybe "specially made" or something like that?!
--The photos are beautifully done. I love the props like the sunflowers next to the sunflower scented candle and the delicious cookies near the cookie dough scented candle. (Still craving cookie dough here, can you tell? LOL)
--This probably doesn't apply to most church goers and most pastors, however, you might offend some people by suggesting "beer" bread for their pastor.
--As one with several food allergies, I don't know if it's a good idea to have your substitute policy enacted without notification. I think you might lose customers, if they wanted Auntie Peg to get Sweet Pepper jam and, instead, she gets an Everything Topper, and she's allergic to Poppy Seeds! (This is obviously from a consumers point of view, not a web designers. LOL)
--A form to contact you, instead of it automatically starting up Outlook Express, is my personal preference as one who has rarely ever had an IP that used Outlook Express! Thank you!
--Your search form works very well too!

To answer your question, yes, I think it would be a place where you would get customers coming and returning. It looks like a great place to go for party ideas and gifts for hard to shop for relatives and friends. Overall, I think you did a great job! Kudos!

Lynn

Thanks Lynn for your review!

I'm also not too satisfied with the front page wording. I've been thinking about how to change it. You can click on the smaller pictures to get a larger view and more description about the product. The Beer bread actually doesn't require beer to make. I actually use Sierra Mist which gives it a sweeter taste and my customers love it! I'm glad you left my site hungary. Thats a good sign. A lot of my products are diet friendly and I can provide serving stats for those who are interested. Most of the seasonings have no salt, additives. preservatives or fat. It's great for those on a diet and want to "spice" up their menu. Everything is naturally dried. I probably should put that on my front page. The cookie dough candles are one of the best sellers. Also, the cinnomon roll. I had a customer buy one of them and their husband kept on blowing out the candle because it made him hungary! LOL!
The substitution clause is just there as a "just in case scenerio". We actually don't have a problem and if a product is out of stock we contact the customer personally and talk to them about an alternative or back order. We just don't advertise the back order option. We definately wouldn't substitute a jam for a seasoning.

So you noticed my dots! I actually put them there because the pictures wouldn't come out right with the text. It was driving me nuts! So, I put the dots there to position it right. Maybe, I need to look at it some more.

The gift boxes are mass produced but hand assembled. I like your idea how to reword it. Thanks!

I still have some work to do with the site. I am still brainstorming what to do with the photo gallary if I use it. Maybe pictures of some custom gift boxes?

Thanks so much for your input!

To your success!
Nanners
http://www.GiftsJubilee.com

I made some wording changes to the front page. Does it look ok? Please let me know your suggestions. I will recipricate.

Thanks!

I started to review your website and then saw that it was done using oscommerce without giving credit to the great people who wrote the shopping cart.

When I saw that credit was not being given to them, I changed my mind.

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Review my shop?

I'm confused by what you mean? http://www.giftsjubilee.com is my website and I don't have a shopping cart there. Our family Favorites is the company I work with and that is their website. The shopping cart is on the Our Family Favorites website. You are right about no recognition on the shopping cart program. Where would someone put that?

Love the site.

I wasn't trying to be rude in last post, although it may look that way now that I read it again. I apologize.

I just get upset when I see other people using a free shopping cart (open source) that people have literally spent years working on, and do not give them the required recognition.

It is a great cart with great features and the GREAT people who wrote deserve to be recognized. (and it is part of the agreement when downloading the software.)

If you are being charged for the cart, the people running it are getting it free, and so could you....

With that all said, you have great products, and should do well in the specialty food arena.

Best of luck!

Dave

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Review my shop?

No offense Dave. I completely understand where you are coming from. You actually brought up a good point and I going to bring it up to our corporate office. No, I'm not being charged for the shopping cart. In fact, I only pay $10.00 a month (billed quarterly) to be an active consultant. Thats including website and consultant benefits. Not a bad deal.