So with input from some fellow DP members, I have optimized my sister's web site be be more e-commerce focused. Also, I've had her busy submitting to directories like crazy, and we've had a decent jump in traffic. However, there's been a decline in sales month over month. My initial feel is that because these are a novelty item (victorian nightgowns) people are most likely to buy around holiday time. Also I'm thinking that people's holiday bills are now catching up to them, and they're spending less frivolously right now. Anyhow, here's the new site: www.thistledown.on.ca here's the old which performed better the last few months: www.thistledown.on.ca/archivefeb2406 and by the way, I should mention that we dominate the Google rankings, like spots 1, 2, and 3 for many of the search terms
As far as my industry goes, we have a significant pickup in February, and it is pretty steady until just before the holiday season and then it dives. Assuming that your ranking have not been negatively affected by this recent update, it could be a seasonal thing, a site re-design. There is a number of factors that could attribute to it. Looking at the two site designs, I would find it hard to believe that the second site converts less than the first, for several reasons. I would look at other factors: What search terms are visitors using to get to the site, where are they leaving from, how long and what navigation paths do they take once they get on the site. You need to see if there is some point in the buying process that is causing your visitors to leave. Also, research your competitors products and prices. If you are selling your products for $100 and every competitor has reduced their prices to $50 for the same product, you are definitely going to loose customers. Also, what is that floating bar in the middle of the page. Its definitely a bit annoying.
On the topic of usability, I would redirect the user immediately to the shopping cart once they add something to it, and not give the user the popup. People hate popups, and you shouldn't use them when they aren't expecting it. Most shopping carts don't have a popup when you add something to it, and this could be a major cause of visitor loss. Never Mind About the floating bar, that was something else... You should get the book, Dont Make Me Think by Steve Krug. It is a straight forward book about web usability. After reading it and working over a few websites, I saw an instant improvement in user conversion.
Certainly could be a seasonal product - holidays and gifts etc. Did your sister sell this time last year? One minor thing I noticed - when I clicked the Nightgowns tab, I sat and waited. And waited. Took me a while to notice that I had already moved to the next page - the Nightgowns page is so similar to the home page that I thought I was still on the home page. Might be minor but my initial thought was that there weren't any more products. Overall it looks much nicer than the old site but on the old site, I could at least see that there is more variety.
I've made the change regarding the javascript notification, I'll now send users immediately to the cart upon ordering. I'll check with her about last March's sales