Where's the beef?

[ellenmillion]

I'm more than a little disappointed in the lack of sales this month. October has traditionally been a high-sales month, and I've done a bunch of updates, introduced some fantastic new artists, done a touch of advertising, offered several sales, and ... well, not so much in the way of results. *frown*

No marked decrease in hits, lots of 'your site is so cool, I wish I had money!' comments, some people added themselves to the updates lists, but actual sales seem to have stalled out. I've checked the shopping cart, it's a little slow *shakes fist at CCNow*, but not what I would consider detrimentally so, and it appears to function correctly. Certainly my site has sped up significantly since switching servers and categories. I even seem to have a 'name' now, and unexpectedly trip across people mentioning my site and recommending me (though usually it's in a 'I've heard of' rather than an 'I've tried' sort of way...).

No one has ordered the halloween special, no one has taken advantage of the free shipping to extra addresses. No one has bought /any/ of the new work I've posted this month. 85% of my orders since August have been print service orders. Maybe more.

I feel so apologetic towards my artists, and keep wondering what I'm doing wrong. Does the economy really stink that badly? Have I screwed something up? Is the site difficult to browse or too slow to load? Is the presentation unattractive in some way? Were the two whopping days of downtime in August /that/ damaging? Have I neglected to offer the proper burnt sacrifices?

*sighs*

I realize you probably can't answer any of those questions (that's /my/ job, after all, and believe me, I'm working on it), but any ideas on improvement in general would be most welcome.

I do have high hopes for the Nov 2 bazaar I'll be doing. My display methods improve by great leaps every year, and I've always done well selling in person. We'll see if these folks have money this year. I think the ornaments will move well and catch eyes. I'll have to post pictures later.

Note: I considered posting this friends-only, but really, I don't find this confidential-worthy. Keeping secrets is too 'Enron' for me.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Is the site difficult to browse or too slow to load? Is the presentation unattractive in some way?

These being the only two questions I can actually answer: no. I donno. Maybe it's the economy...

[renatus.livejournal.com]

I think the economy really does suck that bad.

For instance - my home state, Oregon, has a posted unemployment rate of over 8%. This is just the people on unemployment - huge numbers of folks have already run out of benefits. The actual rate is more like 12%.

It hit home for me not when I was laid off, but when my employers threatened all the employees with a 'you don't like that you aren't getting raises, just try to find a job elsewhere' - and got away with it.

Spending is down everywhere, and the least little upturn is making economists jump for joy.

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

Then there's the people who never qualified for unemployment benefits in the first place and so have never been on the list of officially unemployed at all. Like me, for example. :P Haven't had a job (I get $30 a month doing webwork, but $360 a year isn't a job, that's a... hobby, or something) in 2 and a half years, but the last one I had I only had for 8 months at part time before moving across the country, and I didn't qualify for benefits. I've never qualified for them. Have no idea exactly how one goes about that, really. :P Full time job for longer than a 6-month period? Heh.

I can't speak for the washed or unwashed masses, but being down here in sunny Oregon as well, I can tell ya that the economy does suck. I've gotten kind of a double whammy- my SO and I bought a house which doubled our housing costs per month, but our income remained the same. Our budget for anything that's non-essential went down to pretty close to nil. I have these lists of prioritized "things I'd like to buy when I have money", but things like groceries, water, sewer, electric, garbage, electricians, plumbers, and car repairs keep coming along first. Sigh. We splurge every now and then, but it's on social events with our friends, or super-cheap stuff at places like SCRAP or Goodwill or something. Whee.

[pers1stence.livejournal.com]

I gotta say, having spent half the year as part of the unemployed masses....The economy does pretty much suck, and while last time I heard a number the national unemployment rate was around 6.2%, that figure doesn't reflect the people who have given up looking or the people who have run out of benefits or who otherwise have slipped through the statistical net. And people with jobs seem to be being a bit more cautious about WHAT they buy. Now that I'm employed, I'm spending a bit more, but mostly I'm paying off debt and trying not to spend too much on fun stuff. And those who haven't been laid off seem to be trying to set aside a little something in case *they* get laid off.....