Purely Poultry owner looking for advice

[purelypoultry]

Hi I all!

I am looking for your advice on my website, my business, and anything that I can improve on. I want to be able to serve you and wondering what I could do to improve that. I appreciate any advice.

I would like to add that I am not looking for any comments about the bible passages on my site. I consider my website a ministry and they will not be taken off and I will not be taking them off. It is for those people that object to it that I put them there.

 

[miss_jayne]

Quote:
Hey Tyler!

i think your site is easy to navigate and organized. i have been there many a time and always find the info i need.

personally i think your response time is excellent and your open, honest personality is a benefit too.

btw...i need some purple, lavender & coral blue guineas!

 

[purelypoultry]

I am thinking about adding a shopping cart so that you can order chicks on the website. I am thinking about zencart.

 

[miss_jayne]

that would be great! customers on a different time schedule or late night shoppers would be able to order easily.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Photos help sell me on birds.
A small thumbnail beside each description helps newbies decide if it looks like something they want to see in their yard on on the farm.

And any personal testimonies that you can get from clients is a wonderful tool. Not always what people read but to know that you have a client base makes a site more personable.

I wanted to see Langshans on your site but notice you haven't any. Not a big deal as I am not in a hurry to order any but that is the breed that will be new for me in the future.
Keep up the good work. Anyone working for the Lord is "A" okay in my book!

 

[purelypoultry]

I am wondering if anyone on here had any experience with zencart or x cart. I am trying to chose between them.

 

[herechickchick]

Quote:
I agree. I think this is one thing that will set you apart from other hatcheries. Photos of YOUR breeding stock next to the costs of the chicks. People respond to photos. I also think if you gave each breed its own page (you may be able to do this with the shopping cart system) with a brief history of the breed or its qualities would be nice for novices. Satisfied customer comments about each breed as you get them would be nice on the breed page.

One thing to think about and this is strictly business. You may turn away some buyers with the bible verses. Not everyone is christian and as we have seen many times on BYC religion is a very touchy subject and I would hate for you to not gain loyal customers because they do not follow the same religious beliefs as you. It does not bother me but I guarantee you it will bother some. As a business owner myself I personally think the 2 should never intermingle unless you are in the business of religion. Just something to think about.

I think your site is very honest in regards to what you offer and that in my opinion is very important. However until I saw this post I had not heard of you so if you are not advertising you might want to and if you are you might want to re-investigate your ads and see if anything can be improved upon.

I do not have any experience with E-commerce so I cant help you on the shopping carts.

Good Luck

ETA: Dang Typos

 

[CovenantCreek]

Photos are a biggie. Not only to help sell the birds, but also to "lighten" up the feel of the site. Personally, I prefer actual photos than those artistic renderings used by most hatcheries.

Adding Zen Cart would definitely be a plus. I've been working with it for a friend's site and have found it fairly easy to work with (however, I'm using an add on template that has a couple of things I haven't figured out how to change yet). I haven't tried X Cart yet.

 

[CloggingChicken]

I have worked with a variety of customers that use all kinds of online carts, including X cart and Zen cart. I think that you can probably google the name and support/review to get an idea of the usage. Typically my customers have chosen their cart because they had something just stand out in the description of it's ability.
There are some other carts out there for less. Here's a site that can provide some insight for you-http://shopping-cart-review.toptenreviews.com/x-cart-pro-review.html .The column on the left under shopping cart reviews 2009 has a comparison of the top 20 carts that they have done.
Pictures of the birds would be a great seller for the site as some people, such as myself are new to the world of Chickens.

Hope this helps you out.

 

[Kim_NC]

Quote:
I do web development. My husband & I run a successful food business online (from our small farm), and have many clients who are successful selling online with other product lines. BUT before I go on let me say - I do not come here to talk about web development or promote those services. That said...your question interested me ...

I've never heard of zencart or x cart - I looked at both after reading your post. My suggestion would be to set-up with with Mal's ecommerce. The service is actually free - $9/month if you want to use Authorize.net credit card processing along with it. Authorize.net is one of the biggest and most recognized online card processors. Of course, they charge a processing fee - but it's typical of any credit card processor. You can export your order info into Excel/CVS and even Quick Books Pro using Mal's e.

Even with my labor added, the cost to clients is only $400, one time cost. Of course, if you do it yourself you would avoid that cost entirely. Mal's e commmerce makes their money by using the free cart system as a demo of their custom cart solutions. Authorize.net makes their money on the card processing fees.

Here are a couple client websites I've set up using them. :

The Patriot Foundation - Scholarship funds for surviving children of deceased Afghanistan/Iraq soldiers

SP Equine - Equine veterinary services, online payment

Gentlemen's Corner - fine men's clothing with flair

I've got other clients using custom built shopping cart solutions. That may be more money than you'd want to spend now. But here's a link where you can see other client websites if it interests you...or for fun/curiosity:

EyerStation, Inc - client portfolio page of my development business

Best wishes with your online endeavors!

Edited to correct a link