Check out my new website.

[jackbenimble]

Hi Everyone! I finally have my website up and going. I think it looks really good. I know I'll keep updating it and making it better so please go to it and check it out and give me your thoughts. Thanks so much! I couldn't have gotten here without all the help from the people on this site answering my questions.

[EccoLights]

Wow it looks great! Congrats on your site =) Now if only we could get ours up and going LOL =)

[mommyof4]

Looks great!!!!! I love the name

[mrsadler05]

Love, love, love it!! Great job!!

[Candybee]

You site looks nice and inviting.

I have a couple of suggestions to make. I noticed that the main pic for your lavender gm soap was a bar lavender colored soap. That would be confusing to me as a customer when I receive a white bar of soap. I'd change out the lavender soap pic to one with sprigs of lavender instead.

Your candles seem a bit high. $15 for a 10 oz jar. I sell at 10 oz jar for around $8-10. Maybe your customers are different but around here you would never be able to sell them at that price. I would check around your area to be sure you have priced out your candles competively.

[IwantItgreen]

On the bottom of the page you have misspelled "candle safety" (saftey)

I've been making candle for only a year so I don't have a website yet. It is hard to do?

Also, Please don't think I'm criticizing, but I'm just wondering where you found your info that "Paraffin wax candles are known to have 11 toxins that are thrown into the air while burning."

I'm just wondering if that is advertising hype or if it is an actual fact. Do soy candles NOT throw toxins while burning? Like I said, I'm just wondering and not trying to criticize. Consider it food for thought if nothing else.

[Maggie]

Not trying to be a biotch but......

You are saying your soy candles are 100% natural. And then I see you have a scent called Baking In The Kitchen. If you are using fragrance oils and not essential oils...I would not feel comfortable advertising them as 100 natural. Dye free and 100% Soy wax would be okay but not when using fragrance oils. Like I said...not trying be a biotch but people/customers that know all natural products would question you.

For example...when I first started selling my candles I was using paraffin and of course fragrance oils. This was before soy wax became popular. I was having an open house and invited a lady that I used to work with at a greenhouse. She called me and asked if I was using essential oils...and when I told her no she said she would not be coming because she only burned candles that the chandler used essential oils. She was really in to herbs and natural healing so she WOULD be someone that would question the 100% natural statement.

Your sight looks really great though...and good luck.

[Georgia]

It does look nice.

Along with the soy vs. paraffin, I take exception to your candles being 100% natural....with fragrance oil? Seems to me they would only be 91 to 94% natural (depending on your fragrance load).

And soy candles don't have special wicks that don't contain lead. Lead wicks have been banned in the US since 2003. I've never used a lead wick in any candle I have ever made - soy, paraffin or blend.

[jackbenimble]

Thanks guys for all the comments. Please keep them coming. I definitely will take you comments into consideration and fix some of the spots on my website.

[adillenal]

On your main page for soap you talk about making it from start to finish and then when I click on a fragrance and go to another page I find out the soap is M&P. I find that misleading. The rhetoric sounded more like CP or HP goat milk soap. M&P soap in my area does not sell for $6.50 for a 4 oz bar. That is on the high side. If you can get that in your area - go for it.

[Faerywren]

You site looks nice and inviting.

I have a couple of suggestions to make. I noticed that the main pic for your lavender gm soap was a bar lavender colored soap. That would be confusing to me as a customer when I receive a white bar of soap. I'd change out the lavender soap pic to one with sprigs of lavender instead.

Your candles seem a bit high. $15 for a 10 oz jar. I sell at 10 oz jar for around $8-10. Maybe your customers are different but around here you would never be able to sell them at that price. I would check around your area to be sure you have priced out your candles competively.

Ditto on the prices. Maybe your market can support it. but $6.50 for melt and pour soap seems a bit high. I sell huge CP bars of soap (5-6oz) for $5 and still get "the look" from some customers. You know, the "$5 for a bar of soap?" look.

[safetysue]

Maybe it's just me but I don't list my phone number on my website. Maybe yours is actually a business phone where mine is my home phone.

[Candybee]

Maybe the home ph is the biz phone. Anyway its a good idea to have a phone number listing on your website as many people including myself would not trust or shop on one that did not have email, address, and phone numbers listed. I want to know I can contact someone by phone if needed and if I don't see one I move on.

[jackbenimble]

Wow! Everyone so far has been incredibly rude with exception of a few. You don't know my situation and circumstances. I think it's easy to critisize someone on a forum but I actually have

feelings and some of the things that have been said were hurtful to me. I was under the impression that everything I stated was truthful. I didn't know the candle and soap police were going to bitch about every little detail. As far as my prices go I can't sell my products for any less at this stage of the game. Maybe one day I can lower my prices. I'm learning through all of this and I just wanted to share an acomplishment with folks that share the same intrests. I see now I came to the wrong place. If you want people to rip you apart this is the place to come.

[mrsadler05]

Wow! Everyone so far has been incredibly rude with exception of a few. You don't know my situation and circumstances. I think it's easy to critisize someone on a forum but I actually have

feelings and some of the things that have been said were hurtful to me. I was under the impression that everything I stated was truthful. I didn't know the candle and soap police were going to bitch about every little detail. As far as my prices go I can't sell my products for any less at this stage of the game. Maybe one day I can lower my prices. I'm learning through all of this and I just wanted to share an acomplishment with folks that share the same intrests. I see now I came to the wrong place. If you want people to rip you apart this is the place to come.

I still think your website is one of the nicest I have seen. I can tell you have put a lot of pride and effort into the detail and, for me, that speaks volumes about the detail you put into your products.

I agree there have been some harsh comments. Maybe they didn't intend to come across so rudely, but that is the way I interpreted them as well.

I completely understand about your pricing dilema. No one knows whether or not you are working out of your home, hence low overhead, or if you have to rent a retail space or workshop which would drive anyone's costs up. We haven't even discussed the ridiculous shipping fees yet.

I have over $1000 invested so far and I just started making and testing candles in October. I haven't even ventured into B/B yet and I am an esthetician (skin care goddess) by trade. Just thinking of how much I will invest if I get into that side of things send shudders down my spine.

Keep up the good work. Your site and products are absolutely beautiful. I may even place an order once I read up on goats milk.

[adillenal]

I disagree about harsh comments.

When asking for advice on a forum where there are many experienced people, please do not expect fifty responses that say how pretty your site is. You asked for feedback. I personally do not see any rude comments. More like truthful feedback.

If you are able to sell your product in your area for the prices that you have listed, I congratulate you. For my area, they are high. For M&P soap, over $2.00 a bar higher.

With the zillions of websites out there selling product, oftentimes the only online sales will come from repeat customers that have purchased from you locally or have received your product as gifts.

Good luck with your business and over time you will become a little less sensitive to constructive criticism and will learn to analyze and weigh the prossibilities that they may just be on the right track. It is always hard to hear that what you worked so hard on producing may not be as perfect as originally thought.

[pleasureridgecandles]

You have a very nice website. Good luck with your business and I applaud you on having the courage to post it for comments, whether they be positive or negative. I refrain from doing anything like that here b/c of some of the things I have read searching through the posts since I joined. Some of the posts I have seen on this board have been imo well rude. Good luck and I hope that you can put the constructive critism to good use.

[Bernadette]

In this case, I don't think anyone was trying to be rude, just frank, which is what was asked for. You will find if you stick with this, that over time, you to will make comments that aren't sugar coated, and are your opinions. Once you're making products regularly, you get to the "nuts & bolts" much quicker than when you first started.

That said, take the comments on your prices with a grain of salt. I sell online and my prices are higher than similiar items, but still I sell enough to have this be a 7 day a week business. Remember, online you're reaching people all over the country if not all over the world. So what will not sell in one market does in another. You'll potentially reach lots of different markets. However, when I went to your site, all I saw was fragrance oil pictures for both your soap and candles. You really need to have pictures of the candles and soaps you sell on the site, so people can see what they will be getting, especially if you're selling for more than other sites, or you'll never sell anything. Customers can't smell your products or burn them, so you have to have the best pictures possible to entice them to buy. Good luck to you.:smiley2:

[Candybee]

Please don't take the critique as critism. Everyone here who has posted their new website goes thru a similar process. I think you will find that most people here just want to help. All of us with websites know how frustrating and time consuming it can be to get it just right.

I really don't think that anyone here has posted anything intentionally mean and I certainly did not see anything rude or offensive. You asked for critique and thats what was given. Honest, forthright, critique of your website and products. Its a tough process because you have put your heart and soul into it. Some great suggestions were given and I'm sure when you step back and think about it you might see it too.

Pricing, marketing, presentation, etc. can have a very profound effect on whether your biz becomes successful. A little bit of luck doesn't hurt either. So just take the suggestions and use them or not as how you see fit. Your site is very nice and most people here agree. I think all you need are a few changes and tweaking before you publish it.

[deena]

It is easy to be upset when you are requesting suggestions and opnions on something you have obviously spent much time and effort on.

I agree though, I do not see anyones comments as being rude. If you ask for comments people are being helpful and truthful on how they view, interpret and see things. Take the good with the bad and at least consider other peoples suggestions.

You said you had learnt much from this forum, you should have therefore thought you may not like some opnions which may be forthcoming.

[HeavenScentU]

It looks good, but if you ask for feedback expect the good with the bad. Good luck to you.

[Scented]

I've sat on my fingers long enough. There hasn't been one rude post till this one, because I can't seem to find a way for several days now on how to be nice about it, so this is as good as it appears it will get.

This particular page disgusts me:

http://www.jackbenimblecandles.com/Soy-vs-Paraffin_ep_43-1.html

This particular site you should probably familiarize yourself with ... and yes, this probably comes off as rude, but you are among chandlers and some of us are not peddling toxins, cancer etc. and we're not promoting our products as being natural when they contain synthetics such as fragrance oils ... we've been in the business a long time. We've researched and tried new things and some of us have managed to weather the false information that started being shoveled onto the market with Mia Bella, now Scentsy and who knows who will be next.

It's old, tiring, boring etc. so please understand that you can find anything bad on the internet and who knows anything about the source from which it sprang. Same can be said about the good as well, but for Pete's sake (God and mine also) get a well-rounded look at the picture, facts, arguments etc.

I just wish you didn't feel the need to vault your product by putting down others who may use paraffin ... believe me, IF IT CAUSED CANCER the gov't wouldn't let anyone sell it much less offer it ... and I'll not mention that there is a search feature here that you can go through posts about soy and paraffin, because the debate is long and old but filled with tremendous information and probably links to places you've been that some how convinced you other people sell poison and death in pretty packages with a wick. Unfortunately when the soy product came onto the market, others needed to twist the facts (as a lot of advertising can do) to make it appear that when you were burning paraffin you were essentially lighting not only a cancer stick but a petroleum plant that is black and greasy and nasty and will cling to your skin when set on fire.

So please, drop your page of soy vs. paraffin from your site and take more time to educate yourself on things. We all have to do that and mostly just to counter the continual spread of BS that isn't likely to ever stop because someone isn't willing to further his or her education. Not everyone here knows everything, regardless how they come off, but cut the industry some slack would you?

The National Candle Association is one of the largest voices of the industry ... and a site quite worth perusing.

You can start here: http://www.candles.org/researchstudies.html

You can learn more about the various waxes here: http://www.candles.org/elements_wax.html

You can just start from the home page here: http://www.candles.org/

[Candybee]

Amen!

[deena]

Oh dear, I just read the link to your site, that Scented posted. I cannot believe you wrote that you didn't get burnt from soy candles???????????

Ok, so you are going to be offended too by my comment. How on earth can you not be burnt by a whole shelf load of burning candles dropping on you?

If I was looking at your site and read that comment, I would view it in one of two ways, an intellegent person would realise that not to be burnt is rubbish. A vunerable person who believes everything they read, would purchase in this false believe. In this climate you might just have a massive law suite heading your way.

Food for thought about this page, I would hope!

[debscent]

I think your site is visually pleasing, but your facts are wrong. I find some grammatical errors that should be fixed. If you are going to have a business, be prepared for people to sing your praises AND to not think your product is as good as you do. It's business, not personal.

I also think your votives need to have a repour, as well as your tarts to provide a flat surface, and would help qualify your pricing. Those little extra steps will keep your product as appealing (visually) as your website.

Good luck with your endeavor.