!! Total Electronic Cigarettes (TC) -- Competition -- Great prize for your ideas !!

[Sandrita]

Competition Time

Thanks for the great response by all of you who entered our last competition!!

Here we go again !!

Most importantly.....Prize:

Super wicked 5000 mAh Power Pack suitable to charge 'your' e-cig many times over using the built-in USB port. Similarly the Power Pack is the perfect accessory for people on the go as it will also charge most portable devices such as all iPods, iPhones, Blackberry's, Digital cameras, even bluetooth headsets plus many more devices with the various universal adaptors included. Similar products will soon be available on our website and available wholesale.

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To enter simply:

Visit the Total Electronic Cigarettes website <---- Click there

and

post constructive comments below on how to improve and promote it.

Thats it !!
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Enter as many times as you like !! Whenever you like, and keep tuned as this thread might be a great source of information!

Constructive criticism is welcome, as well as simple and effective ways to improve and promote our site. This could include links, simple suggestions such as better cleaner photos, adding more of our accessories or suggesting alternatives to Google Adwords.........what else?? You tell me

Selection of winner:

The TC team will select five of the most simple/interesting or effective comments and their author's name will be placed in a hat. At the end of the month one lucky random customer coming into our sales office will be asked to draw the winners name!! and our prize sent direct to their home!!...or.....YOUR home ?!!!

Background of this competition:

Total Cigarettes (TC) was established in 2009 with a focus on supplying stores in Gibraltar with premium quality products. We are now in most pharmacies, the airport and even Morrisons which is great........although now, we would like to focus on improving our website, and increasing our distribution network by finding more partners and agents worldwide to work with.......and it all starts with our website.........and..........YOU...........and your suggestions !!

Huge thanks for your time and.......Good luck to all of you!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sandrita
For Total Electronic Cigarettes Ltd

Finally congratulations again to '''MUSICEQLSLIFE21''' in the USA who won our last competition.

 

[tyleris12]

I think your contests are one of the best ways to promote your site, along with great sales at times. I did notice you do not have any US prices listed, is there a way for you to add this for US customers? Site looks good tho and I will go back and spend some more time looking when I get home from work.

Thanks for the great new contest!!

 

[keelalagirl55]

One of the first things I have noticed with your site is that there is no reference as to what model e-cig you sell. One of the biggest complaints I have seen on ECF about many vendors is that people have no idea what kind of kit they are getting...306, 4081, 510, kr808d-1 or d-2......etc. Consumers want to know exactly what they are getting and what options are available for them.

 

[wfarrar33]

Show more of the girl in the sand

 

[firhill]

Reference on most, if not every page(s), that what you are offering is a "Healthier Alernative To Smoking" and is in no way intended to be an aid to stop smoking.

 

[StotheK]

as someone said, these contests are a great start

Since you appear to be in the Euro market, some things may work differently there, but off the top of my head, I'd say put some more effort on the social side of things.

Twitter - get on there, be active, don't just post links to your site, but interact with others, post helpful information etc.

Facebook - you have a link to a facebook page, but it doesn't actually seem to be active. Same deal as twitter.

This site and other forums, again be an active participant where feasible (I know it's a little tricker as a registered supplier here)

Blog - you have a blog that hasn't been updated since Feb. Update it frequently if possible. This will keep your site fresh and may help you to start placing better in searches

Finally, consider doing an affiliate program if possible (and again I don't know how the Euro market runs), but if you do, try and keep tabs on the quality of your partners, nothing sullies your image faster than spammy affiliate links

Others have chimed in on your offerings I think, so I won't say much there, other than you might want to think about ways to differentiate yourself from the hundreds of online vendors selling very similar products.

 

[Sandrita]

Thanks Firhill,

We do not intend to promote our product as 'a Healthier Alternative to Smoking' although we do promote it as a 'Smarter Alternative to Smoking' and we realize it is not a cessation device and should not be marketed that way. I have done a quick review and am unable to find all the references you mention although did realize our moto includes this reference from 20 months ago. Thank you for your comment and please be fully aware we will do a thorough review thanks to your comment. Much appreciated Firhill!!

All very useful comments! Thanks!

 

[Sandrita]

Fantastic to be getting this feedback, wonderful!!

We take the business very seriously and would like to differentiate ourselves from the ' hundreds of online ' sellers of e-cigs.

In fact, we have visited all of the factories we work with and out source our products to. Back when we started after attending a Tradefair in Hong Kong and visiting one of the factories under consideration in nearby Shenzhen (China) we were quite shocked by the condition of the toilets. no soap...NO SOAP. Needless to say, we did not go on to work with them, although some of their products worked very well.

On a separate topic, the TC Pro and the TC Classic are original DSE 510 and DSE 901 units (SLB). Again we have visited this factory in order to inspect the working conditions, confirm additional quality control procedures as well as inspect the hygienic aspects of the factory, including a toilet inspection!

We take every effort to maintain the highest standards although clearly need to spend much more time maintaining our website.

Please keep the comments coming. All very useful!!!

Thanks again!!!

TC Team

 

[Bardolf Blaze]

Some tutorials for new users would be great. How to clean. How to refill. General maintenance.

 

[Ceegary]

I don't like your slogan of "Put the social back into smoking" and suggest it be changed. Firstly vaping is not smoking, it's an alternative. Other than vape-meets it's not as social as smoking and won't be until there are a lot more vapors. There are many more good reasons to consider vaping versus smoking without sending up red flags with health claims etc.

 

[StotheK]

I'd run with that. If you have a close working relationship with the industry, start putting out articles about how these things are made and industry innovations etc

Not to point out the obvious but the market you're going after with the models you sell, you have a lot of tough competition with ginormous marketing budgets Establishing yourselves as an authority would probably not hurt.

Fantastic to be getting this feedback, wonderful!!

We take the business very seriously and would like to differentiate ourselves from the ' hundreds of online ' sellers of e-cigs.

In fact, we have visited all of the factories we work with and out source our products to. Back when we started after attending a Tradefair in Hong Kong and visiting one of the factories under consideration in nearby Shenzhen (China) we were quite shocked by the condition of the toilets. no soap...NO SOAP. Needless to say, we did not go on to work with them, although some of their products worked very well.

On a separate topic, the TC Pro and the TC Classic are original DSE 510 and DSE 901 units (SLB). Again we have visited this factory in order to inspect the working conditions, confirm additional quality control procedures as well as inspect the hygienic aspects of the factory, including a toilet inspection!

We take every effort to maintain the highest standards although clearly need to spend much more time maintaining our website.

Please keep the comments coming. All very useful!!!

Thanks again!!!

TC Team

 

[Ceegary]

I checked your keywords and Google actually only shows two.."Totally Wicked" and "smokingeverywhere.com". If you'd like to capture part of the market that searches for e-cig info online using search engines such as Google & Bing, you'd need to optomize generic search terms such as e-cig, electronic cigarette, smoking alternative, etc. For people searching for info rather than being referred, in they type in their search and your site doesn't come up on the first page it's like having a store in the middle of the desert with no roads leading to it. You can consider Search Engine Optomization for European markets.

 

[Ceegary]

If you're running specials on juice as you are, I would do it for a period only. Otherwise it looks like a marketing gimmick where you say the price is higher but you have it permanently marked down. If you plan on restocking flavors that you're out of, instead of saying "sold out", say "out of stock".

 

[MASTER0FDAMPF]

For those wondering, the same kits are sold as XhaleO2 here in the USA. They appear to be the same make/model but rebranded (and from what I see, a MUCH better price).

They are definately a decent kit and I was surpised how long the tiny battery lasts and they do produce a good vapor.

I would second the notion of localization for the US market (or a conversion tool link). I definately agree with not using the word "Smoking" when refering to vaping or using a vaporization device.

possibly "Making Vaping a social experience".

Finding it on goole was a pain (as well as bing and ask jeeves). Add more meta tags:
Vape, vapor, vaping, vaping supplies, vapor supplies, cartridges, e-cig, electronic cig, e-liquid, ejuice, atomizer, vaporizer, Propylene Glycol, Vegetable glycerine, nicotine, nic, VG, PG, charger, e-cig case, replacement cartridges, carts, refill liquid, starter kit, e-cig kit, ecig kit...

That should get you started on the tagging.

 

[wfarrar33]

did i mention showing more of the girl in the sand?

 

[Ever1ast]

Sandrita - Your shopping cart process needs reworked badly. If you want to make it easy for people to shop from your site I'd start there.
a) Some items, like the kits, you have an "add to cart" button. But when I pressed it, it takes me to another page with more product description and another "add to cart" button. There's 2 problems with this. 1-If I hit add to cart the first time I may just assume my ordered product is in there when it's not. And 2- In an age where Amazon has perfected "1-Click Ordering", who wants to bother with a shopping cart you have to fight with to get your items.
b) Other items like the e-juice - from your home menu I clicked Total E-juice. It takes me to a page with a small picture of a bottle and a short description. I clicked "add to cart". That took me to yet another page with several flavors of juice (Again..nothing has been added to the cart). On the page with the flavor descriptions you only have one add to cart button. How do I know which flavor I'm ordering out of the 10 listed? And when I do attempt to use that button, instead of adding something to my cart it takes me to a blank page that says "Your cart is empty...Continue shopping" Very confusing

Overall I'd say your first order of business should be to get your shopping cart and online ordering system streamlined and working efficiently before you do anything else. Hope that helps.

 

[Sandrita]

I checked your keywords and Google actually only shows two.."Totally Wicked" and "smokingeverywhere.com". If you'd like to capture part of the market that searches for e-cig info online using search engines such as Google & Bing, you'd need to optomize generic search terms such as e-cig, electronic cigarette, smoking alternative, etc. For people searching for info rather than being referred, in they type in their search and your site doesn't come up on the first page it's like having a store in the middle of the desert with no roads leading to it. You can consider Search Engine Optomization for European markets.

Again, great comments everyone!! I will admit I am quite puzzled regarding the above comments as we have recently hired a heavy duty SEO company for their services. I will need to look into this more closely and ???.

Some great comments about the USA as well. For the moment we don't ship to the USA as we are not competitive with shipping costs and shipping time...although having said that...we would happily start working on smaller shipments if there are any agents out there looking to effectively 'vape free' with a few additional sales. Similarly if there is a big player interested in distribution........we have spent the last 2 years working towards this! and for wfarrar33, yes, there are more photos on our facebook page ;P, in fact we have over 150 decent photos but not all legs.

Great information everyone! I will admit I was a bit concerned that comments would be very basic and depressing. All have been very intelligent, constructive and we will admit that the ECF group are quite a special group of people!! Special good that is!

TC Team

 

[webbcm127]

not trying to be rude but your site seems to be lacking in the personal department and i personally feel as if its kinda boring, alot of the ecig sites have some cool graffics or videos and what not, if i was to change your site id look into sharpining up the looks and adding somthing weather on the home page or not a hey this is who we are and were here for you type of thing, im not familliar with the pricing in the UK but simple conversions to dollars(in my head) seem as if some of your prices are quite steep, it might be the going rate in the UK and if so please desregard haha, hope this is somthing you get to add to your list, have a great day!-) and thanks for the contest

 

[RippleInStillWater]

I think it would be nice to have a monetary conversion button for US customers, I have seen that on a few websites when I have ordered from overseas. It sure as heck makes it easier to figure out!!!

 

[RippleInStillWater]

Oh yeah, I also think having an igetcha (Scott) review on the opening page (or Prof. Beard or other respected Brit reviewer) is always beneficial!!!