We are starting this blog off with a bang by doing a give away.
We are happy to have been in business for a little over a year now. We started in August of 2008 and have been going strong since then. There have been some changes in the site and since I’ve been in Grad school I have not been adding much to the site the last few months. We are now expecting an addition to the family and he is due at the end of Jan. 2010. After that I will be working full time only on the site and nothing else so we will update our products. Looking forward to cloth diaper this child from the very beginning. My oldest son didn’t start in cloth. We started with disposables and then went to cloth at 2 months and just fell in love with it. I knew that I had to start my own business and used my maternity pay to start out. It was a great decision and I have never regretted it.
We are doing this pre holiday giveaway to show my customers and newcomers how thankful we are for them and their interest.
First prize will be 2 Happy Heiny Print diapers (I will let the person pick from what I have in stock since these are sized)
Second prize will be 1 happy hempy insert in the size of choice
Third prize will be 1 small wet bag to keep in diaper bag.
To win these prizes you will need to leave a comment about our sales site. I need some helpful feedback to help make it better. Let me know if you would rather use the site if you could pay directly with a credit card on the site instead of through paypal and, well, if you just think something is missing in our inventory or on the site. All feedback is good feedback. I will choose by throwing the names into a hat and choosing one for each prize. The drawing will be on the 21st and I will need peoples addresses there soon after so that I can ship these prizes before the 24th of December.
If you live out of the country you will have to pay for shipping but all orders in the USA will be shipped for free.
Our next giveaway will be after the baby is born and will be to celebrate his birth. Hope you keep posted.
For you that are shopping, get 10% off of your purchase by using the code: newblog
This discount code will be good till the 21st of Dec.
Thank you for your participation!
Olof
I think your site is great. Love that you have baby wearing things as well. Nice woolies! I would prefer the option of direct paying with a credit card over paypal.
I like that on your site you have a wishlist and that you have a compare items area. I find that to be helpful. I think that Paypal is a fine option as opposed to paying directly with credit card, you know paypal is secure so it’s safe. I also like that you have baby wearing and a for mama section!
I love using Paypal—that’s not a problem for me at all. The layout of your sales site is nice and easy to navigate, which is a huge plus.
Overall, I think the site is excellent. Is ‘Hemp’ in it’s own section because it is a common ‘go to’ fabric for cloth diapers? So, speaking as someone still getting to know cloth diapers for my first child next year, your own article/opinions would be interesting and useful for the newbie. Something as simple as “In my experience, X is better when on the go, Y and Z are the easiest to wash, X and Y are easiest to put on.” I realize there is a lot of manufacturing info on the diapers, but it gets a little blurry after a bit!
Very nice looking layout and color scheme! Easy to navigate too.
That is what this blog will be for. I will use it to start writing about what I think about the products and what my experience is. I’m all about Hemp and it is a must for those heavy wetters at night. Happy Hempys with a fleece lining seems to be the best because it keeps baby dry and you can add to them because of the open pocket.
Pick me! PIck me !! I’ve been cloth diapering my son for about 2 years now and plan on Cding my daughter when she arrives!!!
To qualify you need to actually make a comment about the sales site. So please recomment with some sort of feedback.
In no particular order:
~ I prefer using paypal
~ Your logo is cute and different
~ While visually pleasing, I find the overall layout of buttons on your main page a little confusing. For example, I didn’t notice the toolbar across the top banner until I’d looked at the page for a while, scrolling up and down. I really like having a prominent “new to cloth diapering” faq button but right in the center and brighter than anything else might not be best. Placement of cart, product comparison, and community polls over on the righthand side is good, and I like the idea of having a sample of new products on the main page, perhaps they could be corralled with a border around them? I like the “search the entire store” toolbar.
~ Having “wishlist” and “compare” buttons that are just as easy as “add to cart” is wonderful.
~ What does “blue squares” mean? Is that a colorsort term? (lefthand bar shopping options, below category and price sort).
~ Your basics and prefold kits are a great idea.
~I like the assortment of products.
~ Good luck!
I like the site; it’s attractive and well organized. I like that things that might fall into more than one category can be found under all the places one might look for them. I should note that my browser (Firefox 3.5.6) didn’t like your menus at first for some reason, but when I changed tabs and went back it was fine.
Not a bad site, well organised, and I like the drop down menus.
It would be good to be able to pay wtih a CC directly, but pp is not a deterant to purchasing for me.
The woolies are great, but a bit of inof about them and detailed sizing (waist, rise, inseam) would be great. I do like the sizing by age as well though, that is great for those who dont do measurements, or are buying for the first time or for a gift.
Forgot to mention that I am techquilter on Rav, and THANK YOU for shipping internationally!
Ideally I’d like to see more stuff for Mama – that section felt under-stocked. More pad options, perhaps, and more postpartum care items in general. Otherwise I think it looks great!
The top nav bar is a little small, but only a little. Also the order didn’t work in my mind well. Seems to be alphabetical but I’d arrange it by focus. Seems like Diapers should be first followed by covers then accessories. Overall I like the layout and your products!
I think Paypal is more convenient than getting my credit card out of my purse and typing in the number. Besides, my paypal account is hooked up to my CC anyhow. Do people have the option of using Pay Pal accounts that are hooked up to checking accounts at your store? Because I know many people in the States do this and I would think that would be quite the popular option (In Canada I think hooking PP up to your checking account is more difficult, or costs money, or something like that…)
I love the layout of your site. It’s very easy to navigate. It looks professional. I would add a “shipping information” link from the front page (if there is one I didn’t see it) because there are a whole lot of Canadian and extra continental Mamas out there who shop online for dipes. It’d be nice to know what shipping options are available before getting to the final checkout.
Your inventory is quite decent and you seem to have a lot of accessories as well. As a cloth shopper, I often lament that most CD sites only sell a few brands of dipes and then they all seem to accessorize. Your selection is quite good, but it would be nice to see more variety in dipes. (Perhaps some drybees fitteds, Motherease, Bella Bottoms, etc…I’m not sure who sells to sellers and who only sells their own. ) While I would love to see more inventory, I realize that this just adds more cost and risk to the seller so I admit I’m being picky.
One last note, I do love the name of your store and I adore the banner/background at the top of the page. I’ve seen so many cutesy store names like “GiggleBubbleGumButt” (example only, not a real store that I know of) and your store name is memorable and charming without being silly.
A well organized and visually appealing site. I know a few people have mentioned that they prefer PayPal, but just to be a little different, other payment options would be beneficial for your international shoppers. As a Canadian, I find the exchange rate through PayPal to be quite high, so it’s good to have a few other choices.
Also, just a silly side note: In your packages, the HH and prefold kit both say they start from $0.00. If it’s only one price, I would put that price for both the “from” and “to”. E.g. HH are from $30 to $30. Less misleading that way.
I like the site, I think it is great. For me, I like the convenience of never having to worry about my credit card number so I always opt for using paypal as an option.
- I wish you carried some one size fitted diapers, that is what we are using right now.
- I didn’t know about the wonder wrap so I learned something by visiting (and that I want to try them!)
- Perhaps a kit more geared toward fitted or a “create your own” would be nice for people just starting out?
- I have to disagree about the banner at the top that someone mentioned, I like the placement of that and prefer it to the ones down the side (a matter of personal preference I guess!)
I think it is a great site, and I agree the logo is really cute.
The site looks great. I personally like to pay directly with a credit card instead of going through pay pal, enough that it might influence my decision to buy with you. If I want something bad enough, I will use paypal, but not for something I can get on another website and be able to use my credit card. I hate saying that, but I thought you would want to know. I love your site though!
I think the site looks good. Logo and layout are nice. I prefer PayPal myself, but I like to direct friends and family to sites I like and most of them aren’t comfortable with PayPal, so a CC option would be nice.
I definitely think a “new to cloth diapering” section with your own articles would be helpful. Maybe a few packages put together as starters.
Great site though and good luck!
Overall I find the site easy to navigate. However, I do not find anything extrememly eye catching…Please don’t get me wrong but isn’t “eye catching” what you want especially for an online site when trying to draw customers and sales. I feels like it is too much of a premade web page that you plugged your inventory into. IDK…just me…I have had a web page for a personal photography business of my own and so I know there are many selections out there when creating a web page…I also know budget is a huge figuring factor. Although from my experience Flashy does catch an eye!
I do like that you have divided up some of your inventory. EX: wool, hemp, diapers, etc. Especially the tabs for wool and hemp. This makes the ease of shopping for certain items more go to when a customer knows what they are looking for. I would recommend adding a “Sale” tab. As a bargain shopper myself, this is the one area I do always find myself checking out.
I also like that you have added the nice feature to compare items. Very few sites (stores) offer this nice feature and I feel for a first time cloth diaper shopper this could be very beneficial before making the big purchases of all you think you need to use cloth.
I also commend you for putting yourself and webpage out there for consideration…it is hard to hear what others have to say sometimes…but I believe it can be very beneficial if taken constructively and not personally.
I’m pregnant with my first, and still trying to figure out the cloth diaper options so I don’t know much about the selection you offer. But everything is laid out in a clear way and it’s easy to find the type of item you are looking for.
It doesn’t bother me to have to pay with paypal. If the option was there, I would probably pay with a credit card instead (I’m not really sure why), but using paypal wouldn’t stop me from buying.
I like all the options & I’m glad you’ve started a blog, this is awesome! I like the paypal option & would still purchase if it was by credit card payment too. Altough, I think for some people paypal is much easier because you don’t have to hunt for your card, etc. because it’s already directly linked- busy mama’s need convenience!
) Thanks for all you do!
I like your site, although I’d refer to have more than 9 items per page as the default. I also liked the compare feature. PayPal is fine with me.
Site looks good. I much prefer paypal. As someone who is currently shopping for diapers for the first time I have this advice. In the end I will purchase from the site that has provided me with the most guidance and advice about starting out with cds. I also like some of the more complete starter packages that are available from other sites.
Just my $.02
WIshing you all the best with your new business
Auntien on ravelry
Nicole,
You might enjoy my new post on my blog that I posted today. It´s about starting your stash in a economical manner.
It looks like a very nice shop. I’ve bookmarked it for future shopping.
-Paypal doesn’t bother me.
-It would be nice to be able to shop by brand: have a drop down menu and click Thirsties to see all their wipes, dipes, etc.
-Would love a sale section
-Love the New to Cloth articles
I think the site is set up quite well. One thing I would like to see is a price range on the kits rather than $0.00 as the “price” which is a little miss leading. The other option would be to way “Price: Varies” to let the customer know that they will have to explore further to find out the price.
I don’t mind using paypal, but I understand some people might want to have other options, which can also be nice.
One last thought… I can’t seem to find a link to the blog on your site, and if the blog is supposed to have all the explanatory articles about different products, it would be really helpful to have it clearly linked. Maybe I’m just missing it, but if I am missing it, I’m sure others are too.
That’s all for now, good luck with the business!
The “bones” of the site are great, but the aesthetics seem harsh at first impression. I would want to see more pastels and bright colors and less black lettering and dark green on the masthead. Good luck!
Nice site. Great to know it exists. I will be new to cloth diapers in June 2010!
BTW LOVE the Mai Tais! Will definitely plan on adding that to the wish list. I prefer PayPal. See you on Ravelry!
I like the overall look and functionality of the site, but here are my suggestions:
1. The wetbag description doesn’t mention material, closure, etc. The more info the better! Same comment on the Mai Teis.
2. The compare function is great, but hardly helpful when it just reiterates what is on each items’ page. If there were categories like- price, sizes, fabric, color choices, inserts included, inserts/boosters recommended, cleaning, drying time, etc. that would be very helpful and put you far above other sites in my opinion.
3. I really enjoyed reading about the history, etymology, and modern types of cloth diapers, although the One Size section had a lot of repeats and really did not make any sense of pocket diapers to me. (I did use pockets for my 1st, but I wouldn’t have understood it from that description if I were a newbie.)
4. I’ve never heard of the Wonder Wraps covers before and are intrigued by them, but the photos don’t really give a good view of how they work or how they’re constructed. Same comment on the Thirsties All-in-One pockets.
5. I really like that you have a New To Cloth section which has information about the cost, benefits and care. You could probably expand on the benefits in terms of health issues ie rash, practical issues ie less blowouts or leaks and include in the care info about not using rash creams with certain fabrics, etc.
6. A link from the site to the blog and more personal experience or reviews for the items in their descriptions.
You’ve got a lot of great things on your site, just some tweaking would make it better. Good luck!
I like your site but I do think it is a bit silly and misleading to say things like “SALE!” and “Special Price!” when the discount on these items is only .05 – .50. Sale? For some of these items, that’s not even .5% off.
Also on this page:
http://www.clothdiaperhut.com/packages.html the first three items appear to have a $0 price. You should probably fix the way that appears. Other than that, I think things look good.
I find the pricing, particularly in the packages, to be a little strange. It’s actually a deterrent to see something listed as $0 and then find out when you click a little further that it’s really $56.
I also noticed quite a few spelling and grammar mistakes. These kinds of things are fine in your blog, since it’s meant to be more informal, but if I was the owner of BabyHawk, for example, and came to your site to find you selling Mai Tai’s instead of Mei Tai’s, I’d probably be a little upset.
Winners have been posted http://www.clothdiaperhut.com/blog/