Surviving being an online roaster

[Jahva]

Hi all, I hope things are well. I recently was able to be established online with my small (for now) roasting company. What I'm experiencing is a bit of trouble getting anyone to actually make an online purchase. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice, or if anyone has every experienced the same thing. Do most of you sell within your city besides being online? Thank you so much for your help, I greatly appreciate it. I never see fellow coffee roasters as "competition" I feel like we're all in it together!

Take care,
Jahva

 

[topher]

Jahva...I just checked out your site...I am not sure if I am missing something but as I looked around it seemed that you only offer 7 coffees? Out of the seven coffees they where all flavored. Are you roasting your own? Are you going to offer more of a variety? You might sell more if you had more to offer. Oh well good luck.

 

[JavaQueen]

Jahva,

May I make a few suggestions? Please take these as constructive suggestions

Your home page needs to be more exciting. It doesn't have the most professional look about it. Photos of your products would be nice.

All of your pages look different. Personally - I like to see at least the same style on each page, it gives your site uniformity, rather than having a different look for each page.

Also - I would agree with topher that you need more than the 7 flavors. If you are only going to have 7 - they should just be origin coffees and not flavored.

Lastly - you have no code on your page that search engines will index properly. Do a google search on 'meta tags' to find out what you need to add to your pages to help you get higher in search engines (assuming you have already submitted). And - once you do that, resubmit again.

HTH!

 

[Jahva]

thanks

thank you all for your advice-- I've needed the help. My site just open two weeks ago, and I'm still learning the process. I greatly appreciate the direction.

Blessings,
Jahva

 

[topher]

are you roasting your own coffee? You might want to re-take the picture on your roasts and flavor page...the beans are nto uniformed and I saw a broken one....also they are scorchec...if you are going to put pics of the coffee out there make em your best. Oh well good luck and keep us posted. :wink:

 

[Jahva]

coffee

yeah, I am roasting my own-- you're right the beans on that page aren't uniform, that was a very old picture, but I thought the artistic effect of multi-colored beans was pretty, so I kept it. I wish I had the money to offer more kinds of coffee and beans from different countries, but I am operating on such a shoe-string budget it's a miracle that I'm even still going. I'll be able to as I expand. Right now I do have a Vietnames dark roast besides the flavors. I really like these Vietnames beans, and so far everyone who's had my coffee loves them too. I'm like you though and myself prefer straight coffee, but as far as the customers in my town, they seem to go crazy over flavors. Ah well, eh? Thank you once again for the help.

 

[pan_man]

jahva- hello. just want to chime in here. as topher says, photos of your beans is key. you need to be able to display to certain customers variety and expertise. coffee is a very sensory commodity- you can't give them the smell, you have to give them the image.
at the end of the day your packaging and uniqueness is equally as important as the beans when you start out. at this point i don't really see a logo, theme, direction, or an visual impact. you can get away with a fairly bare site if your beans and packaging are top notch. you mention in your profile that you enjoy art- i would capitalize on this knowledge. if you know designers, trade coffee for design work if you can. even the best roast is hard to sell in a plain paper bag. you need something to grab the customer online- they can't taste you coffee (or see it yet) until they pull out their card- you need to entice them. something original, 'catchy', and sincere is needed. i know a little about art and design, and would be happy to help you here...