Introduction

Note: Some links here lead to pages than ask you to buy my stuff. You don’t have too unless you want to. I put this note in for politeness sake.

I need a review of my main site and the advertising I'm sending out. I am selling posters, prints, greeting cards, post cards, note cards, tote bags, aprons, mousepads, calendars and occasion cards made from pictures taken in northeastern New Mexico. The web site is Vistas of Northeastern New Mexico.

The pictures range from baby bunnies to storms and sunsets. All items can be customized via the Zazzle customization interface.

I make a 10% royalty on all sales. Zazzle handles the manufacturing, shipping, billing and customer service.

The basic selling points are:

1. Wide range of products and images. There are 500+ products to buy.
2. All products can be customized
3. All images are high-quality
4. Prices are competitive

My business consists of two parts; The Zazzle site (StormShooter - Zazzle Contributor Gallery) and an HTML E-mail ad sent via a double-opt in E-mailer (OPT-IN TARGETED EMAILING).

First Attempt At Selling

My first attempt at selling was not good. I sent out 600,000 e-mails targeted at buyers of gifts in the USA. I used this HTML E-mail ad (click to view) with the three randomly assigned subject lines "Gifts From Northeastern New Mexico", "Vistas of Northeastern New Mexico" and "Custom Gifts From Northeastern New Mexico".

According the e-mailer, I got a open rate of 4.72% and 1582 click-thrus (2.64% click thru rate) from the E-mail. The Zazzle web site counter gave 2600 hits as a result of the e-mail campaign, for a response rate of 0.43%. This happens because the E-mailer sends the ad to not only to individuals, but web sites that accept advertising.

However, I got no sales. This angered me, so I decided to do something about it.

What I Did About It

On the Zazzle site, I looked and found that:

1. There were several paragraphs of text giving shopping instructions. This text was hiding the images I'd put in the HTML E-mail ad. So I deleted that text and replaced it with links (that open a new page) to both shopping instructions and a quick index to site products. There much less text now.
   
   Now when you go to the Zazzle site, you see on the lower part of the screen the three images (or parts of) in the HTML E-mail (at a 1024 by 768 resolution). And seeing parts of the images, in my opinion, induces the prospect to scroll down.
2. There were no extortations to buy anywhere. I but requests to buy in the proper places.

Looking back, the above changes to the Zazzle site are fairly obvious. If you want to comment on that, please do. I'll listen to any suggestions.

The part that is really stumping me is the HTML E-mail ad. I only got a 2.64% click thru rate and no sales. I want to do better.

Please review this ad (click here) and tell me what I need to do. Comments, rewrites and any suggestions are welcome. Please post everything to the forum so that all can benefit. If you don't think I need to change the HTML ad (or anything else), please say why.

Thank you for your help.

Hi. Great photos. I was out that way a couple of years ago - loved it!

The products are OK, but I'd like to recommend that you put in some lines of text so that the customer can warm up to you. You need to identify with him or her before you list all your products and encourage them to buy.

Use something like, "Living out here in beautiful New Mexico allows me to view the beauty of the outdoors everyday. I just can't get enough of it. Every time my friends come to visit me from out east, they always want to get pictures to remember their short visit.

"I've taken some pictures to share with them and I want to share this beauty that I see every day with all of my visitors. Here are some of my best pictures - designed for your everyday use."

"You can get these pictures on your favorite products that I offer and show them to your friends and family so they can enjoy this beauty, too. If you want, you can also add your own message..."

I think this idea will help if you tune it some as needed.

Another way to get ideas is to look at your competitors' Web sites and see what they are doing that works.

I have revised the site according to comments from people who responded to this thread. Please go to StormShooter - Zazzle Contributor Gallery

Thank you for your help.

Just going to say, Project PayDay works. I have made some money, now some of my friends are making money doing it. Its easy to use once you get started filling out the offers. But you must stay organized. I kept trying to poke holes in this program myself and just couldn't do it. Sign up for free.(well once you coplete an offer, I chose to apply for a new credit card so it was free).. anyway everyone needs to atleast try it out and see what the fuss is about. Maybe we can work together once you get signed up? Be prepared for what you see! Project Payday - Realistic Extra Income for the Average Joe

Try linking up with Rhino Seo. You can see comparisons against your competitors, track leads, and compare the keywords your using for effectiveness. You can also check all of that information on your competitors. That might help you out a little and its a free service offered by Rhinoseo.
Here is the link: Web Analytics | Rhino SEO | Competitor Comparison Tools

Hi AdRaptor,

The advertising you are doing is not the most effective in the world. Usually the quality of leads you get with this type of advertising is crap and over advertised to.

Change your approach!

Use article marketing, bloggin and social marketing. The results will definitely follow.

If I may suggest, you can work a little more on your site. It can look a little more appealing with those beautiful pictures. Agree with houcemtrigun, advertising can get people visit you once, but if they dont find it appealing they wont come back you know.