Hello! I'm a regular, but I've name changed.

[Fragrantfancies2010]

So, to confirm I'm a regular.
River of Sweetcorn
Poo Cube
Shitting Elf, and..
..My favourite MN lines, "..No, I'm Angela Henandez" and "Oh my God, your minge!"

I've had to name change because I've just placed an ad in the classified section. Apologies if its not good etiquette to broadcast the fact I've placed an ad, but I'm really excited and I have paid

So if you'd be so kind as to spare a minute and have a little nosey at the site. It's advertising our new line of incense. Perhaps come back and tell me what you think?

All the writing on the website, including the fragrance descriptions were done by me. I've been here long enough to know how some of you are sticklers for correct grammar and perfect English, so if you have any constructive criticism I'd love to hear it. I'm not ashamed to be the first to put my hand up and admit I'm not the most eloquent of writers, and I'm not in the least bit academic, unlike some of you lot. ( it's the main reason why I stay away from the heavy discussions, as I struggle to to write in words, what I have in my head!) but we couldn't afford to get a professional to do the job, so it fell to me to do it instead. So please be gentle!

I hope that our products really catch your eye. Our aim is to make our products as fresh and as contemporary as we can, and really be different to other makers of incense.

The website has a link to my DH's eBay page (SAYSELL), but I have one myself, not linked on the website. He already said that any money made through my page, (fragrantfancies2010) I keep. Any money he makes I also keep, it'll be lovely if you bear that in mind, and order from my page, please please please? :)

Lastly, DH's eBay page is very basic. Please don't feel suspicious over it. It will get all spruced up and looking lovely as soon as he can work with the same designer who worked on the website, which will be as soon as is possible. It still works fine, and he's already sold incense to customers since placing his listing a couple of days ago. Mine is more put together though.

So tell me what you think, it'd be interesting to hear what you have to say.
Thank you!

(sorry again if I shouldn't have started this thread, but I'm just really excited to have the website up and running at last. If it causes too many problems, I'll have this thread removed I promise)

Thanks again.

Website - the links at the bottom of the page don't take you anywhere. Links at the top work ok. About us page has too much corporate bull on for my taste.

Otherwise, looks good.

i'm a big incense user but wouldn't buy blended or whatever you'd call the 'scents' you are selling but pure ones.

site looks nice - but yes there are some rogue commas around.

I also noticed the commas and look forward to their removal. I associate incense with school girls, hippies, and weed smokers but I notice that most of the stockists in Manchester where I live are Asian shops. Is it something traditionally used in the Asian community?

Please keep the advice coming, it is really really needed.
I'll be back on later tonight, or early morning, as I've got sticks to package and label! I'm behind already. :)
Thanks again.

Hi there
We'll move this thread to freelancers and self employed
Thanks
M towers

Hi, the site looks great!

Just a couple of things....

It is not "ingenuAtive" it is "ingenuitive"

Not sure why this stuck out but in the list of Retailers you use "Opening Times" except for the Blue Star which has "Opening hours". I know that that is incredibly picky but I noticed it so...

In Golden Brown's description the last sentence doesn't make sense?
"Golden Brown is reminiscent of warm evenings indoors, on a cold winter's evening" or am I reading it wrong??

In Decipher Noir's should the first line be "confidEntly" instead of "confidAntly"? And there should be a comma after "charming" at the end

Utopia- is it "truely" or "truly"? I think there is some debate! Also "confidantly" again, as above.

When I click on "Afroasiatic Amber" I get Utopias description again.

In Hearts and Roses there's no need for the apostrophe in "musk's". "Fore front" is all one word.

Sorry it's long it's a bit of a hobby of mine. Truly I think the site looks great and the descriptions have my mouth watering! The only tiny criticism I would have is that there is possibly too much of being "innovative" and the like on the "About Us" blurb.

I'll get my coat...

Links at bottom don't work properly

To clarify my earlier post -

Towards the top of your home page there is a navigation bar which has links to the various sections of your website.

When I look at the website, this appears as a blank white bar - so I can't see that there are sections there. If I hover my cursor over the bar, the individual section headings appear.

When you build a website it's a good idea to test it in various different browsers and at different screen resolutions, as pages can display differently depending on what browser you use. I looked at it in Internet Explorer 7, which is a bit old but is still fairly widely used.

I just checked it in Firefox and Google Chrome, and it was fine - there's a purple bar with white text, so it looks like an issue in Internet Explorer. You might want to test it in later versions of IE - if this is a problem in all versions of IE, it's quite an important fix.

The links at the bottom of the homepage worked OK for me.

Hello I'm back. :)

I re read the thread for all the advice. Again thank you to those who have brought the spelling to attention, the commers, the faulty links etc it has all been noted. DH has expressed his gratitude also for the tips, and it's good to get outside unbiased opinions.

The links at the bottom of the page have been fixed now.

Pippi...yes, the majority of the shops that wholesale from us are Asian-yfied. Most are Islamic shops as well. Apart from incense being used by New Agers, Hippys, etc, incense has been widely used within eastern cultures, and Islamic cultures, for centuries. The Chinese use it in their spiritiual temples, as do other far eastern countries like Tibet, Cambodia, phillipenes etc, in buddist temples then you have incense widely used in asain countries, prodominantly around hindu and sikh shrines and temples, and within markets, and then islamically, incense and bukhoor is heavily used, as it is a favourable practice I believe. So these kind of shops were very eager to stock our products as their is a heavy demand for incense within these communities.

Posie, interestingly enough, we are now beginning to branch down to Glastonbury, Cornwall, Kent, Devon etc, and the shop your friend has is exactly the kind of shop we want our incense to be in. We went to Kent the other week and dropped some samples off to shops in Canterbury and whitstable herne bay etc, so we are hoping to hear back from the owners in the new year.

Actually, continuing on from the kind of people who buy our incense. Me and DH deliberately designed the packaging, the logo, the website etc, to be contemporary and modern. I don't know if anyone has noticed this? We didn't want to just limit ourselves to one group of customers, and as one poster said up thread, incense is usually ( depending on which circles you socialise in) associated with new Agers and weed smokers. We wanted to appeal to a wider range of people, and that's why the design is rather neutral, modern and fresh.

We do stock many types of fragrances that are considered to be Traditional, and as such it is these that are the most popular sold in the Asian and Islamic shops. Such as Egyptian musk, black stone, premium velvet, utopia etc. They go really well with the Asian community especially, but arent of course just limited to asian customers, as they are popular with non asians as well. Other fragrances like White musk, 1921 (smells very similar to Chanel number 5) Japanese water ( very similar to issey miyake signature scent ), complete femininty ( similar to j'adore) are very modern fragrances, that go down well with people who want something really vibrant and very unlike any incense they've come across before. White musk and coco mango are family favourites, and seem to go down well with everyone. So because of the different types of scents stocked, we want to appeal to all kinds of people, wether traditionally/cultural influenced, to hippy and new age, to modern contemporary. We hope the packaging reflects this.

Namechangerbat.. DH said he posted your item this morning, and he put a couple of other samples in with your order. Please message me if you are able, to tell me what you think, good or bad. :)

Shaky.. Thank you so much for your input. The Afro Amber/ utopia mix up was fixed last night because you pointed it out. The spellings have been noted, and give it a few months and all will be corrected. Are you a proof reader?

And lastly, I mentioned to DH that a few posters want more info regarding who we are. We do have an About us page, but I'm guessing it's too basic?
He said he's working on his Facebook page, and what he'll do is put up more info and pictures etc on that, and link it to the website.

Thanks again everyone for the tips. I'm hoping eventually some of you will buy our incense! Everyone who has bought from us have come back to say how long lasting the scent is, and how nice it makes the house smell, Im really eager for MNetters to try them, and for the feedback. And if it's anything like the constructive advice given here, I'm sure you'll have something worthy to say. And as we wrote on the website, we are always working to improve our products, so are always eager to hear what customers have to say and apply it.

Hi

I wouldn't say the About You page is basic, just a bit heavy on extolling the virtues of the product and light on info about the two of you?

Glad you found the tips helpful. I'm not a proof reader, though I sometimes think I should be, I get asked quite a bit to check things. I absolutely love doing it though!

All the very best in your venture, I'm sure it will be a success.

Mine has arrived!!!

I only ordered one lot - youve sent me two, and a little bottle of a sample fragrance.

Red thirst smells lovely

Oh I LOVE IT!! As does DP

Thanks for answering my question regarding the cultural useage of incense. I did notice the modern looking branding and it has encouraged me to try some.

I don't like 'paradisiac' at all, it sounds really clunky. Personally I'd stick to the islands of paradise.

Hopefully I'll be back to buy some after January's payday.

I'm going to order some more - the modern ones you have just mentioned

Your packaging is very good! I had to take a carving knife to it

Ordered more

Hello again :)

Shakey - Thank you. I hope the all the effort put in will not go to waste too.

Namechangerbat - Hurrah! We are absolutely thrilled (and not to mentioned relieved) that you are a satisfied customer. I told DP what you said about the packaging and he laughed! He does tend to be over enthusiastic and heavy handed with most things, just because he likes to make sure!

DP was busy setting up his Facebook account last night, and posted an offer on the sticks that will run until (I think) 16th January. The offer is buy 5 packs of incense, get 2 packs of your choosing for free.
Namechangerbat, you have now bought 3 packs. If you wanted to, you could buy another two (doesn't have to be right away if you don't want to), which would make up the 5, and you can choose two more packs which you'll have for free. Tis up to you. Just message me before or just after you order to tell me your choice of the 2 free packs, so it will be sent in your order all at the same time.
Your new order probably won't reach you until Tuesday/Wednesday time because of the New Year and Bank holiday.
If you cant quite decide on which incense you would like to order next time, then I can help you - or anyone - by telling you which ones are the best if you're after something sweet and fruity, which are heavy, which are oriental spiced, or smell fresh and citrusy etc, according to what you fancy.

We hope the incense you've just bought will be as nice for you as the Red Thirst.

Just bought some!!
It's = it is.... Should be its....
Not sure if someone has already said that!
Looking forward to my purchase arriving... I went for Red Thirst too!

Youjusthaventearnedityetbaby - Oh wonderful! What I said in the above post will apply to you as well, in that your item wont reach you until Tuesday/Wednesday because of the New Year Bank Holiday. I hope this is OK with you?

Did you choose Red Thirst because Namechangerbat said it's nice?

If it helps you and anyone else, I'll copy and paste the info on the Top 10 selling Incense below in a bit. DH complies a list every 4 weeks or so, so he can keep a tab on what is selling well.

Be back on later. :)

Right, I have just bought one packet of Red Thirst to try. Do I have to have some kind of receptacle to burn it in?

OK. So the Top 10 Incense list (copied from DH Facebook page):

Straight in at 10: CocoMango
Up one place at 9: Japanese Water
Down one place at 8: Sweet Sensation
Dropping down one from 6 for the first time at 7 is Bullion
Up two places at 6: Hearts & Roses
Still at 5 for the third time is Afroasiatic Amber
Still holding at 4: Black Stone
Down one place from 2 at 3: Mirage
Back up to 2 from 3: White Musk
And again for the third time running at the number 1 hot spot is Egyptian Musk.

Here is the link to the facebook page DH set up.

Hello PippiLongBottom.

The incense holder is being designed and made right now, by the same designer who has designed and made our incense and perfume stands. The holder will be a simple design and modern looking, but its not ready yet. Perhaps in a fortnight a batch will be made.

What I do (and my Mum, Nan etc) is after lighting the incense I stick it upright in a plant pot. The ash just falls to the earth, which is damp anyway, and the hot end is away from any leaves/plant so cannot be a risk. You might have a better way of doing though until you get the proper thing.

A lot of Red Thirst selling! I'm assuming its because Namechangerbat has said it is lovely.

As I mentioned before I can recommend to you all fragrances based on your particular tastes if it'd help anyone to choose. I know its difficult to decide which scent you'd like as the names are just words on a screen, until you know for yourself what they all smell like, but if you like particaurly rich and woody scents for example, then I'd be able to (hopefully) point you to the right incense. Remember we also do Coco Mango and White Musk, which are particularly well known fragrances, so are safe choices if you are unsure. My mum told me that the White Musk is a very vibrant floral, really profound. She burnt one stick before she left the house to go into town, and when she came back later in the afternoon, she could still smell the White Musk through all of downstairs, even though it was just one stick that was burnt. The Coco Mango, she said, is like "WHAM! Coco Mango!" I know what she means!

Don't forget the buy 5 packs get 2 free offer. It runs until the 16th January.

I don't have plant pots or vases or anything like that. We're fairly extremely minimal. I might have to wait until you've got the pot thingy ready, I'm not dragging my fat arse to Afflecks Palace

Fragrant - I love spicy smells, woody smells too. Something like cinnamon and allspice but with a subtle woody note.

What would you recomend? I love the sound of the Egyptian one but not too sure if that's what I'm after.