True Ghost Stories Site Seeks Reviews and Advice

[Truegho]

I have a True Ghost Stories site at www.trueghoststories.co.uk

I am very frustrated about this site, as despite the wealth of material I have been adding to it, and despite the fact that it is now attracting around 170 visitors per day, I just cannot make any sales of the ghost books and dvds I am offering, via Amazon links, on the site. Huh, and I thought the paranormal was a popular subject!

Can somebody please review the site and offer their opinions as to why the ghost products aren't attracting any custom.

Thanks,
The Webmaster
www.trueghoststories.co.uk

[Fatimah]

Hi Truegho,

What is the dating and friendship ads doing on your ghost site? Kind of odd. The ads takes away your supposed to be "an eerie website".

How about not having to scroll horizontally to view the whole site?

Why not check out other bookstores? I heard the Amazon cookie last a very short period and usually people don't buy on their first visit and you lose.

I don't know about you or the rest but the background color (black) on white font does not look too good to my eyes.

FM

[Truegho]

Hi Fatimah,

Thanks for your review of my True Ghost Stories site. Much appreciated. To answer your question why I placed the dating links on the site, I did so for the simple reason that I was not getting any sales of the ghost books and dvds, and thought that I would try a dating link in the hope that out of the hundreds of people viewing the site every day, I might get a few that could be interested in friendship. Obviously, having checked my affiliate figures, it seems that this is not the case.

You know, this site really has annoyed and frustrated me no end. I mean, the site has really risedn now in the Yahoo and Google search list, and even though I am getting all these people viewing the site daily, they just WILL NOT buy those Amazon products!

I didn't know that the Amazon cookie expires after a short period of time. In view of this, do you think that possibly I HAVE made a few more sales, only the cookie has not shown them?

Finally, as regards the colour background of my site, I chose white text on black to keep in with the tradition of virtually all ghost sites, as these colours give it the atmosphere. I could not imagine erecting a ghost site with garish colours like red and blue!

Thanks again for the tips.
Truegho

[pops]

Hi Truegho,

I checked out your site and I like it pretty well, but I noticed something.
At first, I was a little put off by the fact that I could not access any of the ghost stories that are linked on your left column unless I was a paid member. However, I noticed that if I clicked on a 'book' or 'DVD' link I got right to the correct page. This, at least the way I took it, was telling me that I was certainly welcome to order something, but I was not welcome to read any of your content unless I paid for it. Quite frankly, it kind of peeved me.
That being said, let me tell you something you may not be aware of.
On your home page, in the text, there is a link to the Whaley House story just as there is on the left column. If I click that link in your text, I am welcomed as a paid member and I now have access to the stories.
Was this your plan? Or just an oversite?
Anyway, that's my two cents. Hope it helps.
Cliff

[Truegho]

Hi pops,

Thank you for reviewing my site www.trueghoststories.co.uk. You raised some good points.

Apologies for the rather awkward state of my site at present, but honestly, I have been literally tearing my hair out trying to make money from this site. I put up the Paypal sub form as I have been having such dire luck with the Amazon products (thousands of visitors since last March, but hardly any sales!). I don't have a good password protection script at present - and besides, they are so damned awkward and fiddly to configure - that I had to resort to this means of payment as a temporary function.

Re. the Amazon cookies, somebody said to me on the Amazon boards that they only last for 24 hours, and that a lot of visitors may have disable cookies in their browsers, hence my lack of sales figures. What do you think of this?

I am beginning to regret now ever setting up a ghost site, as even though shows like Most Haunted and Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns are so popular at present, it seems that people just will NOT buy ghost items online.

Cheers,
Alan
www.trueghoststories.co.uk

[callie47]

Hi Alan

I'm at your site now as I'm typing this... observations
The Whaley House - Clicked on first picture... "Not Found" error page
The other two pics are OK... Go through your site and check your links to make sure they're hooked up

The headings on each page of your stories is a different colour... some of which are really unsightly and hard on the eyes. Pick one colour theme for the whole site and stick with it... it will look a little more professional.

On your home page your "Products" heading is in neon green as is the Page Heading. Change the "Products" font colour to yellow, the same as your links.

Also on you homepage, if you like the neon green outlined look of that heading, use the same font style on every page for the Ghost Stories headings, Otherwise stick with the White... Maybe you could do the same kind of funky outline thing with the white.

Also, the first 3 stories have the heading in White... bring your black background right up to the top of the page as you've done with the rest of the stories. Every page should be uniform in appearance.

Take that garish looking friendfinder Ad off your home page and do it quickly.... Like right NOW! While I was reading down the page I was getting kind of into the topic, and then that Ad hit me over the head. I lost interest in your site. I clicked around a bit to check out your other pages... but only because I was reviewing... if I had been a normal visitor I would probably have left. The Ad changed my focus... lost my interest - I was looking for Ghost content, not dating.

If I had not read the previous posts, I wouldn't have even KNOWN there was a right hand column. I just scrolled DOWN... I don't even look for a bottom scroll bar unless there is a bit of the right column showing in my browser window - which there isn't on your site. Adjust your page widths to 100% so the WHOLE page is viewable in the browser window.

The Ads in the right column for DVD's... you need to put some space between them... I can't tell where one ends and the other begins. The Ads on the bottom of the page are good.

One final suggestion... Put your Ghost Stories links ABOVE your Products. People are looking for information... NOT products. If you give them the information first you'll gain their trust. Then they'll look at buying the products. Get Lots and Lots of good ghost stories on that site, from around the world. Like Rosalind says... Content is King. If you've read any of those books you advertise on your site... Have a Book review section on your site and give honest reviews and then heartily recommend those you loved.

Hope this helps!

http://www.FlowersandRomance.com
(my newest site)

[Truegho]

Hi there,

Thanks for your review of my Ghost Stories site. You made some interesting points, and some very good ones too, and I shall certainly be acting on your advice.

Thanks again,
Alan
www.trueghoststories.co.uk

[callie47]

My pleasure entirely!