I am just waiting for my kitchen to be inspected (all of the paperwork is in). I am trying to finalize my website so I can start advertising as soon as I pass (how is that for optimism). Anyway, I really want to be charging the correct prices and want my website to be very user friendly. Will you all please look at my site and give me advice on what I can change (prices and look and feel) and what you like. I really do want honest opinions. I am not just saying that. I promise! Any and all feedback is welcome. Thank you all so much. What would I do without my CC family. Here is the site: www.CharitableCookies.com
Sure! First, some background information would be helpful.
What are the going rates in your area?
Who is your target clientelle?
What are you offering that can't be found elsewhere in your area? That's usually a good thing to focus on when trying to sell anything, what they can get only from you.
These questions will help determine pricing, but also what the feel of the website should be. You don't want to look high priced if you're selling at $1/serving, and you don't want to have a Dollar General style if you're charging top dollar. Does that make sense?
Also, is this a shop, or from home? Does your website reflect the feel of where you will meet customers for tastings or order pickup? Every part of the advertising should be in unity with the feel of the environment, so people know what to expect.
Also, I hope you have a good set of books. You are going to have to prove your donations. All of the receipts may count as your business income, and the 'donations' would be taken from your personal income taxes.
Hopefully, you have a good accountant. There may be legal hoops for collection charitable donations.
I thought about that (the 0-25 part) Actually, my husband brought that up. I am going to change that. JoAnnB, I was thinking of doing the donations in the clients name and sending them the receipt. How do you think that would affect things? Could I just count the amount minus the donation for my books? I really want to give back to this world.
I also meant to mention that I am doing this out of my home and really the only advertising I will be doing, at first, is word of mouth.
Maybe you could make the donation a percentage of their order like 5 or 10% of the total order.
Your home page needs to pop more. I like the colors you used, but I don't get a sense of what your cakes are about. If the home page doesn't keep me interested, I'll not click on a thumbnail. JMO, I would like to see a bit more color and larger thumbnails so that I can really get a feel for what you're capable of doing. On several of the cakes, even when you click on a thumbnail it doesn't make the cake large enough for me to really see it (graduation cake comes to mind. ADORABLE cake, but I want to see it bigger).
On the Welcome to... change the font. Make it larger, make it bold. On my screen, it looks like dark grey.
You have one page to get me interested and keep me. You have to put what you have into that one page.
Maybe you could make the donation a percentage of their order like 5 or 10% of the total order.
This advice sounds good. For example, a $26 order with a $10 donation is close to 40% of the sale price going toward a donation. But a $51 sale generates a $15 donation which is about 30%. On your chart, the bigger the sale, the smaller the donation, if you look at percentages. And 40% of a sale going toward a donation is pretty huge! When I've seen companies do something like this, they might state "$1 of every sale goes toward ......." and customers think that is pretty good.
And I've no idea how this next question works, so that's why I'm asking: If you make a donation to something in my name, who gets the credit for it, you or me? Who gets the tax deduction for it, you or me? This would be a good CPA question .... what has he/she said about this structure and how it benefits or penalizes you tax-wise?
I am assuming the customer gets the credit since it is his/her money. I am just the middle man. I will ask the accountant though. I see what you mean about the donations getting smaller in percentages as I go up.
Baby page - "The below items great..." you need the word "are". I'd kill the white frames. In future photos, I'd try to not get any tables, etc. There is a way to change the backgrounds on the computer - but I'm not that savy. I'd also put a watermark on your stuff so that the pic can't be lifted by some booger head.
Cooke bouquet page - "We will custom..." line needs to be rephrased. "
On your contact page - include more than just email.
I will try to make the pictures bigger. I may be at the mercy of my template that I am using. It is something that has been bugging me to. If you click on the picture a second time, it gets bigger, but who is going to know to do that.
I don't think you are junking on my site at all. I have been looking at this thing for weeks now and really needed fresh eyes to look at it.
I don't think you are junking on my site at all. I have been looking at this thing for weeks now and really needed fresh eyes to look at it.
I called my tax consultant, and you may want to re-think the donation thing. It would be better to separate it from your sales. Just say you will make regular donations to specific charities. Maybe you could post updates on your charities and the recent donations. Be keep your customers/sales out of this.
You are asking for an IRS audit if you try this. Unless you form a corporation and separate the donations, ALL the money you collect would be income, then you could claim the donations on your personal return. I think that would be a mess.
It is good to want to give back, but mixing it with a small business is just begging for IRS attention. In my 'real job' as an accountant, I have worked with people in hot water with the IRS. Believe me, they do NOT have sense of humor, or charitable attitudes.
msmanning2, you have a totally awesome idea and I'm going to share the web address with friends. Cookies and charity-- how sweet! 
I also browsed another website that has cookies and everyone can check them out and their prices 
http://www.cookiesbydesign.com/
Hi
great start - few things need to be changed as mentioned, but what I didn't see was where you are located... city - state?? that should be on your home page as well.
I'm still working on my as well, and will also be getting CC members to give me there honest opinion as well. I know everyone is only trying to help us when giving all the honest feedback so that we can be successful.
Good Luck and Congratulations!!
Well that is really discouraging about the accounting part. Why should it be so hard for someone to want to be charitable? I am literally in tears over this. All I want to do is combine my passion, which is baking, and give back to the community.
I got some great advice from another cc member about looking into a non-profit organization as well. I am going to research that and call the IRS on Monday about donations. I am determined to make this work! It just has to.
I found your site really easy to get around. Having prices displayed is a great idea. When I see prices advertised and I think they're reasonable, that is the first place I'll call.
Wishing you all the best for your venture!!
Easy to get around. but the only reason why I know where you are is because I have the same area code 
I would at least put your city our even your county would work!
Prices seem about right for the area.
I like the colors but, I agree the first page does not really pop or get me that excited. Maybe a big picture of your best work and not all the small pictures.
I am going to try not to worry about the charity part today and work on making my website look better based on all of your replies. Thank you so much!
I am using the aplus.net service. They are just plain generic templates. It doesn't give me a lot of choices for my site. It is going to have to be my beginner site to get things going, then I can spend a little more $$ on a better looking site.
for those of you that have websites, what do you use that may help me make the site more appealing?
I am so excited! My idea can work, and legally too. I just spend about 20 minutes on the phone with the IRS. I was starting to get discouraged that my idea of taking a portion of the customers payment to the charity of their choice in their name wouldn't work. The IRS said that as long as I keep detailed good records and only claim the amount of money I make (minus the donations) I would be fine. I am sooo happy to hear this news. They said basically I need to treat the donations as a rebate on the sale and make sure to send the customer a receipt of their donation (that was made in their name) to them. Now if they would only call me to make an appointment to get my kitchen inspected...I am off to take everyone's advice on making my website better. THANK you to everyone for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated.
I am in the process of creating a website and I signed up for Yahoo's hosting service. I think I spend about $11 a month or so and I get e-mail (my [email protected]) and a website builder. It seems pretty unlimited in its use - though this is the first time I've done this!
~Chelle
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