>>5770742
One thing that's always nice from a store's site is an up to date Calendar of events. Tournaments, open play sessions, card game drafts, etc. Stuff like that gets you guaranteed weekly hits and the more hits you get, the better chance you have of moving merch through the site.

Nice to see you again Naile.

First off, ease of use is key. I don't care if your site shits diamonds, I don't want a fucking buggy flash interface or anything. Clearly labeled categories, maybe even a site map. And don't just go with the descriptions provided by the supplier; the extra touch needed to describe things in your own words makes the transaction feel more trustworthy. Also, make sure shipping prices are easy to figure out, those are really annoying with online shopping.

>>5770773
I assume this Calendar of Events is for the singular purpose of illuminating players to what is happening in store? I'm trying to put up the website before the store.

Hmm. Are there other community events that I can pimp through my site?

Sell individual bits!

>>5770802
hmm. tournaments, sales, theme nights... once the store is up and the calender is filled out, be sure to have a method of proposing additions to it, if say a group of x players are looking for players or whatever. On that note, have a corkboard for that very purpose in the physical store too.

>>5770742
>>5770802
Where is this store located, might I ask? I plan on ordering from it on shear virtue of it being another example of /tg/ getting shit done.

I would have to say that >>5770802 and >>5770814 both hold excellent points.

Do you plan on doing things other than Tabletops? Eurogames and CCG's, for example?

>>5770859
Yup. I want to sell everything from Warhammer, to mats, to dice, to shirts, to my favorite books.

Unfortunately, the store doesn't exist yet. Nor will it for a while. This is a project in the making, and it looks to be a long road.

However, hypothetically the store will probably be in Costa Mesa, Orange County, California, America, Planet Earth, Western Arm of the Galaxy.

>>5770883
Which galaxy? You never know these days. I kid, I kid, But, looks like I may be able to drop by when it's finally up. Be sure to announce the opening loud and clear up here, mk?

I kinda like how thewarstore.com does everything. Discounts, online giftcards, updates on the products.
You can also try what miniwargaming.com does, and make a youtubes page / a forum to get your store more known.

>>5770902
Oh. You can be sure I will.

I'll make sure you ALL know of what I have done. Heh. Haha. HAHAHAHAA. Sorry, all this work and something's come loose.

>>5770911
Wow. This webpage has it all. It's PACKED. Look at this shit. Goddamn.

>>5770822

Mailing list, perhaps? So players can email other potential players while they're on the site. Make it nice and convenient.

While free shipping would be nice, I for one understand that you're a startup company and that would cut into your profit pretty deep, so don't feel you have to offer that. Especially considering I'm two states away and would definitely support you.

>>5770935
Well, initially I could offer cheap next day shipping. I work for FedEx. But I don't want them to freak out if my business expands and rescind my discount, I use it for personal reasons too.

>>5770935
Free shipping is a bit much to ask, but at least let us know how much we'll be paying to get our stuff. Don't forget to put the 'instore pickup' option there when you can, right by the shipping prices.

Host a forum and recommend it at every opportunity But you'll need clearly defined rules for the moderators to follow. Nothing kills the general opinion of a community like excessive administrative interference. (Which is to say, it's perfectly okay to give people a few days' suspension for "lol, shit twinkie", but issuing bans due to arbitrary reasons or saying negative things about the store is trouble.)

>>5770883
>Orange County, California
Ooh boy, good luck with that. It's hard enough just surviving in California given the prices of everything, but leasing business property and keeping it up to code... you'd better be fucking loaded.

If other locations are a possibility, I'd recommend setting up near a big city in Texas. Almost as good in terms of population, 1/10th the property values, and significantly less faggotry.

Damn. I can't see what my site would have to offer that these other guys don't already have besides a more local forum until I can get it linked up to the site.

I've got to think on this one some more.

>>5770742
Model your shop like a castle.

>>5770988
Other locations aren't really an option. All my family is here.

Yeah, living here is one hell of an expensive habit. I pay ~$700 to rent a room. Fortunately i'm an extremely good roommate, and my landlord likes me but he squeezes for every penny.

Get a professional website service to make a website, if you don't know how. It needs to look good, but it also needs to have low load time, and be easy to maneuver around. Try making flowcharts of links and pages, to plan it out.

Are there any direct or indirect competitors in your area? Take a look around their stores, and see what you can improve upon, what they don't have, etc.

At my FLGS, the owner buys defunct pizzas for a very low price, keeps them in a large freezer, and has a pizza-heater he purchased from a pizzeria that went out of business. You can buy a medium sized pizza for $3. And he heats it up for you. He also sells candy and pop, and misc. other stuff. The trick is to get it VERY CHEAPLY, and to price the product to move, not to make a huge profit. He rakes in about $100 a week from food sales. He also sells stuff that has been sitting for a while, and no one has expressed interest in, on you-tube.

>>5770814
THIS

>>5771022
Wow. That's... interesting. Old pizzas? Geez.

What about buying up cheap armies other players put on ebay, refurbishing them a bit and reselling them through my website on the cheap? Is that something you'd be interested in?

Oh shit, how did I forget.

FOOD! There are to ways to a fa/tg/uy's wallet, plastic mini's, and FOOD.

Have a "pick up" section of the site, so people can post when they intend to play D&D and if they're looking for additional players etc. So someone can look at your site and see if their free time coincides with someone's group.

More communication = more people.

>>5771031
Maybe a bitbox in the store? Buy other people's bitboxes based on weight or something. Charge a flat rate per bit to customers.

>>5771048
Heh. I could buy up MRE's from the local Army/Navy surplus and repackage them as Corpse Starch Rations. Just kidding.

Have something so players can post times when they're going to be in the store and with what games/army. It may encourage other people to go in if they know they can get a game.

>>5771044
Not OLD pizzas, Defunct pizzas. They have too few pepperonis, the load didn't pass quality control due to weight, etc., but the pizza itself is perfectly fine.

The pizza factory is less than a twenty minute drive away.

And the pizza-heater I mentioned cooks a single pizza at a time. So it's pretty efficient.

>>5770742

Simplicity. Nobody wants fancy flash shit. They want to be able to know what they are paying for.

Make sure you have a Payments page or somesuch that informs the user of exactly what forms of payment you will accept. Not a single fucking site has them, but three or four times I've just not bought somethign from online stores because I don't know whether or not I can pay for it how I want.

Make your shipping fees visible upfront. Have page about them. I want to be able to see how much the thign will actually cost me, not how much it won't. If people don't see shipping fees until you send them the invoice nobody will buy your shit. Instore pickup is good, but only if you are in a high-use area.

Navigability is essential. If I have to break into the fucking page's code to find what I need I won't buy it. Make sure every section is easy to see, and that nothing important is hidden at all.

Stock. If I can't tell whether you actually have it or you'll need to order it six months in advance I'm not paying for it.

Sales always work. Have sales on some popular items, and people will buy those, but then as often as not buy more things if extra shipping is not more expensive. Sales on new releases with high demand work better. All you need to do to control potential loss is control the stock counter online.

Fix your fuckups. If something goes wrong between you and the customer, do whatever you can to fix it. If someone never gets a twenty-buck model and you get fussy you'll not lose that money, but you will lose that customer, forever. However, if you go above and beyond the call of legal responsibility, and make it obvious in your communications that you really are trying as hard as you can to solve the problem, then they will come back. A good shopping experience earns you one more visit. A good fuckup-fixing experience earns you a permanent customer.

>>5771044
But them and use them as an instore army. LEt people who don't have things of their own paint them, play with them, etc. on the various themes nights and tournaments and painting jams you'll have. Have a price to sell them sure, but I'd say use them as a fixture of the store more than a product.

Why should people order from your webstore? You have to have a gimmick. As it is going to be part of your store, you want it to supplement it.

First off, a discount or free shipping (or both) is a must. How about starting it off easy and making it 5% off as the flat standard rate. More with coupons and sales.

How do we get them coming back?
1% payback. For every order they get 1% back. So 50 dollars spent equals 50 cents payback, but they can only use when they have collected as total of 1 dollar or more.

I don't think a forum is a must, but not a bad idea.

And in-store it should help to offer the same webstore discount, keeps local people from ordering too much online (as if you did i with free shipping) and gives your place an instant advantage over GW and other LGS as long as you keep well stocked

>>5771127
Instore credit is a good incentive, yeah. And be sure to put new news up on the website before you post in in the store, not by too long but just like, after the store closes or whatever.

Food check out if you are required have food handling licenses by government. Also check that you insurence will cover you in case you accidently poison someone

Second hand. By local armies and resell them on the net, dont sell them locally, you want the customers to buying new stuff off you. Not buying your second hand mini's

>>5771127
A very interesting idea. 1% back. It's on the list. I also kinda liked the idea of "points" from miniwargaming.com, but I felt it was a little confusing to individuals who don't spend a lot of time on the site.

Thanks on the no-flash feedback guys. I'll put out feelers and see if I know anyone who does website design professionally.

And just to clarify, bitz are the additional pieces for Warhammer models, right? They come in a seperate box? And you're saying you want me to break open the box and sell the pieces individually?

>>5771170
Ever box comes with extra bits. Its how you customize in 40K.

>>5771189
Ahhhh. Thanks, I'm not knee deep in the hobby like you guys but I'm probably going to be investing into it so I have a more intimate knowledge of my product. I'm currently a loremaster, not a gamemaster.

>>5771189
and by come with, I mean there are pieces you won't use when you build your guys.
For example, orks. You can either give then a pistol and an axe, or a bigger gun. You don't have anything else to attache the axe and pistol to if you use the bigger gun.

>>5771170
Some people work on a conversion and know JUST the piece they want, but don't want to spend 25 dollars for a space marine captain just so they can get his axe, so they either find someone with the bit or order from thewarstore.com. Having a box of bitz in-store and offering the whole catalogue online would be an instant advantage.

>>5771207
Again, just a reminder: At present we are discussing the website being up only.

Would you guys buy an armless, weaponless model?

>>5771197
You could probably do a buy-back on bits, for an extra few percent. So if they buy a box, assemble it either in store, or produce a recete (fuck spelling), they could get 3% instead of 1%?

>>5771222
Receipt

>>5771212
If I really needed it for a conversion and it was cheaper than the original model, definitely. Especially with space marines because a lot of people play them and they have expensive single models.

>>5771212
No.
But I WOULD buy the awesome gun or arm that I wanted, but didn't come with what I had.

>>5771170

Those are bitz and they are nice to sell, but don't do it yet, though you could sell off your bitzbox in store and make little mix bags for profit

http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/

That is one of my favorite webstores, both in site design and to buy stuff.

Easy to navigate, no horrid expanding menus (the ones where you move the mouse a bit too much and they all close). Simple.

The thing is you MUST have a discount on your webstore or some special important gimmick (free shipping). Otherwise why would anyone order from you?

There are webstores who charge me full retail and make me pay shipping. I never order from those.

Are you going to staff the store alone?

Also check your trade agreement about what GW's policy on online selling is, theres some conditions
eg you are not allowed to breakup thier box sets and sell bits if you have a trade agreement. so you cant break up the ABOR and sell the termies seperate

>>5771234
Currently I am staffing the webstore alone. Yes. However, I have an abundance of free time with a 6 hour gap in the middle of every day where I go to work.

>>5771170

That depends. You can run a bitz store, actually breaking open boxes and selling the components off a price list, or you can have a real bitz box, a huge box full of everything that didn't get used in a model made by someone in the store. The former is much more work but potentially wuite profitable. You can save yourself the pricing effort by copying directly the prices from one of the online bitzsellers, and people in your store will still buy from you because you're actually there.

An idea that is less profitable but much much more appealing to people in your store would be to have na Open Bitz Box. At your hobby table, which you should keep stocked with all the basics because it is a big fucking draw, there should be a container filled with all the bitz, the parts out of a box that you did not actually use. Every 40K player will amass vast numbers of these, and they quickly become an utterly invaluable treasure trove of incredibly useful things for every possible task, and they are extremely protective of them. The only offence more grave than the theft or destruction of a bitz box is theft of or damage to an entire squad or more.

>>5771236

True, which is why the buy back idea is good, but don't offer them on the webstore

>>5771255
Have an open bitz box that you keep putting things in. Any player making something cas use it, but if they do so, they must either pay a small fee like two dollars or something, or agree to put all the unused bitz from whatever they're working on in there at the end. If you charge, make it obvious that any money taken from there goes directly into buying more bitz for the box.

Make sure the rules are well-known. It is for projects you are working on in-store only. You may not take items from it home with you. You may not treausre-hunt, that is, use it purely so you can salvage some very rare bitz, stick them spastically on a model so you can claim you're using them, the ntake it home and snap them off to use. No Frankensteins without permission, that is, no rooting through the box to try and make models from scratch, although that would make a fucking awesome game for games days. Twenty minutes, a few bucks a head, free access to the box, and you've got to make the best model you can. Everyone gets to keep their monstrosity, winner gets some of the cash, the rest goes back in the box.

People will love this. If it works, you won't actually have to keep an eye on it as the players will damn well police it themselves. If you can make this work you will have a man on that table at least practically all your opening hours, and not only does that make your store look better and earn you sales from them, but it also means that kids buy more because they might get advice from the guy on the table.

>>5771260
Should I offer buyback from the webstore?

Okay, what about other products guys? I'm not just selling Warhammer stuff here. Do you guys want to see shirts with the store logo on them? What about mats, terrain, and other stuff?

>>5771255

You could do the give a penny, take a penny idea. You add bitz to the box and you get some back, but I think the buy back idea is nice and undercut the online stores. Think of them as way to bring people in (but don't let people take advantage of the box, however you decide to do it)

>>5771278
On that note, make sure you don't cross the streams on the site. I don't want to go looking for dice and then suddenly the FATAL book pops up.

>>5771278
Terrain, mats, books, ALL of that stuff is a MUST!
And for ALL the games you sell!

>>5771170


A bitz box is a bin full of your excess bits.

Say, a box comes with three sprues, and on these sprues are a total of 75 bits. You may only use 60 to make all the models, and the spares end up in your "bitz box."

People use these bitz boxes to customize minis, decorate bases and scenery, things like that.

>>5771278

Shirts with store logo on them give a professional air and keep staff from wearing beat up nerd shirts. Make several for you and staff and sell the extras to customers if they want it

>>5771278

If you can find someone or even a few people who'll do terrain, actual good quality terrain like you see on the White Dwarf pages, arrange for them to make terrain for you for you to sell it. It will be very expensive if it is any good, but people will buy it, because it is almost impossible for someone unexperienced to make something as good as the White Dwarf terrain and everyone wants it. You can either buy and resell, or act as ain intermediary between buyers and makers. Former is more profitable and more risky.

>>5771304
Don't cross the streams.

Don't look in trap. Got it.

>>5770742
State you're from /tg/ or you're /tg/'s new main store. They will flock.

>>5771335
I'm already /tg/'s new main store, thanks.

All kidding aside, I want to do this right which is why I've come to you guys. If I do it right, I won't have to say anything. You will be.

>>5771328
Make sure staff have a different shirt, you don't want impersonation shenanigans.

>>5771335
NO. Not directly of course. Just a stupid reference or something that doesn't require actual knowledge.

Also, don't make as big of a deal out of the bitz box as we are. make a store that works first.

>>5771350
Hell, your web page doesn't even exist yet, and your store is also MIA.
You've already knocked out my other bookmark of "Buy Gaming Shit".

You don't have to do it right.

>>5771333
What kind of cut would I take as an intermediary?

>>5771350

I would come over and buy stuff if I lived in CA (or nearby)

>>5771350
Eh, with me I want a store that
A: Wont rip me off
B: If it's broke, replace
C: Customer service is awesome
D: A nice arrangement of whatever they're selling.(Not one type of it and that's fucking it)

Perhaps you could run it like a real store? I know almost nothing of business and such but, could you like...Say I want a full set of dice for D&D that's black. You only carry red. Perhaps you could I dunno order some for said person or somethin'? I dunno if that's helpful or anythin'.

>>5771392
Oh, I didn't read the thread. I thought it was only an online store. Ignore last bit?

Anyone have a reccomendation for a professional website design? I don't know anyone I can exploit for cheap labor. My sister is insistent on a flash webpage, and my mother is already hooking me up with an ecommerce cart and a future Point of Sale system for the store.

Remember not to neglect /tg/ as a lot of your initial customers will likely be from here (How many people here have said they'd buy from you now?) and we all love hearing about how it's going. (I know I'm saving threads of yours that I see).

We all want you to succeed, don't give up! :)

>>5771410
That, my friend, is pretty easy.

Step 1: Find school with web design class
Step 2: Ask them to make website. In exchange, they finish their project
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Literal profit.

Then all you have to do is maintain it.

>>5771410
Slap her. (she's your sister, it's ok)
Flash pages are the scourge of the internet.

And on a slightly related note, are you particularly ethnic in any way? So much familial support isn't particularly common round here.

>>5771380

Not much, a small percentage. I'm not giving out ideas for profit because I don't know the margins on these sorts of things, especially not in another country. I'm going for ideas that draw in customers, because I know everythin that would make me go past five other stores to get to this one.

If you can figure out how to do it yourself it'd actually set you up well for the store. Make some really nice tables to play on and people will come here just to do that.

>>5771392
Actually, if you'd seen the other threads you'd know I'm in the process of putting the concept together. It's a long term endeavor. I admit freely that these /tg/ discussions are viral marketing but it keeps my morale high as I get a lot of positive feedback.

Other threads here:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/5718433
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/5756362

>>5771370
>>5771392

That goes without saying on the shirts, but a clean but informal look for the staff is ideal, maybe polo shorts? And keep it to simple colors, green, blue, red, black, you can't go wrong with those.

Bitzboxes are nice, but leave them alone for now, though giving away little bitzbag (from your own collection) as part of the opening would be a good idea.

Special orders are a must.

Did you read the RPG.net columns?

>>5771410
>>5771425
>>5771420

Flash websites are a scourge. You want clean, fast, simple and easy. Always make it easy for people to give you money.

>>5771425
You don't know my sister. I'm Irish, my grandmother was born in Balaghdareen, my mother was a resident alien until a year ago, and I was born here.

My sister is a blazin' redhead. Slapping her would be like unleashing the hounds of war. I wouldn't survive. None of us may survive. She nearly beat me senseless at the font on my logo today. I'm 6' 4" and 300 pounds and knocked me over like I was nothing. I've had college football kids BOUNCE OFF OF ME.

Yeah. I'm changing the font.

rolled 1 = 1

If you go with the bitz box thing, use one of those tool/fishing boxes with all those tiny compartments (pic is an example) and organize the bits so if someone wants use it they won't have to spend a lot of time fishing inside it. i.e. put heads of army x in one compartment, arms of army Y in another, put the heads of army Y and Z in the same compartment because they are interchangeable... etc.

>>5771436
Polo shorts would probably be best, maybe a small version of the logo on the breast. (that logo is ideal to put a nametag under, actually)

>>5771436
I've read several of the rpg.net columns, yes. More like browsing. I need to spend some more in depth time with those soon.

>>5771464

Then you're going to have to do something about her. If she is interfering to this extent now it is not goin to stop until you make her calm down. You need her to know that it is your store, your money, and your risk, and that if she wants to have a say then she can pony up the capital and buy in. Otherwise, you have to make her accept that good business practise is much more often about listening to experienced customers and successful owners than relatives.

>>5771464
Hehe, nice. Is that the new font, or the old font?

>>5771503
Haha. Both she and I know that. I was exaggerating a little. She actually had a really good recommendation for a new font. It looks more 'military'. I already have a solid medieval theme in the image and she suggested something more modern would make it look good. We are going to be working out some new versions soon. I trust and respect her opinion.

That would be nice to see.

You want a clean and bright store and be firm about BO problems, some sweating is bound to happen, but if people are not cleaning themselves, you don't want to drive out families by letting a couple "regulars" strut around (and they barely buy anything)

>>5771466
Alternatively, you might get a few of these and label the drawers according to system/army/unit/whatever.

Also, one last thing. If you want your store to have a real spirit about it, one thing that will always work is a Mascot. You need something awesome in the store that everyone thinks is great, and it also works in events. Whoever wins overall gets to keep the mascot for the rest of the day.

It works best if it is something you can carry, and a little worse but okay if it is something you can wear.

Putting a hobby spin on my combat engineer unit, make it a Maul, with hooped rims, and a metal cast of the store's logo on each face. That would be stylish. It would be expensive to have it done well, but you don't need it until you've already got a functioning community, and it adds a great deal of style to the store. It's a frill, but among the best you can get.

If you sell bitz for whatever reason, please, for the love of gods, do not sell ork powerklaws fore more than $2.

Bitz sites love to sell them at the awful price of $4+. I'd sooner build my own klaws out of sprews and styrene then pay ~$15 for three klaws that come in the $40 box of Ork Nobs.

I see the larger Stompa bitz sell for cheaper on ebay. :/

>>5771514
Old font. This is a hypothetical as to what the next version is going to look like.

>>5771591
A mascot is a great idea. But what direction to go? I'm avoiding cheesy as strongly as I can.

>>5771686
make it a /tg/ meme to flush out the 4channers.
Armless Abbadon, Cultist (or... maybe not)

FLAIR!
Ok I SWEAR TO GOD I'm kidding!

>>5771719
We're talking about the website here.

>>5771686

rookman ?

>>5771686

How does this look, the text will need a bit of moving and stretching

>>5771686
A tech-priest maybe?

>>5771728
That rook would make a great plushie, and in plastic form, it would make great local tourie trophies.

>>5771686
I preferred the old one, to be honest. And don't try to force a mascot, let that come with time as you grow a community. On that note, you can deal with people right? It's kinda essential for what you're planning.

>>5771728
>>5771732
Ooh, I like Ricky the Rook

>>5771736
Heh. That would be heretically awesome.

"Hi, I'm Tech Priest Naile. Would you like to join our Fortress Club? With every purchase you get 1% back on every purchase, and bring glory to the machine."

>>5771735
I'm not really for the font change, for it says "we do war" a bit too much, but that's for Naile to decide.

However, the change in the tower shape seems to be a greater mistake, for it is far less strong as a graphic sign

>>5771743
I can deal with people. My current job is very customer intensive, and they love me. I currently work FedEx part time, as a courier.

>>5771464 is greater than >>5771686 or >>5771735

>>5771735
eww, I don't like

>>5771757
Ah. 40kun, I was going to email you some updated images when I decided on a final font. We also want to add a little color to the image. I think red is a little overdone, but blue would be good.

>>5771749
Hihihihihi... That would be awesome.

>>5771757
For the greater mistake?

>>5771760
I'm sorry.

>>5771775
Sorry that I get paid very little for a job that gets me outside every day, lets me interact with all sorts of interesting people, keeps me relatively health, is challenging, not boring, and lets me entertain fantasies of rolling over everyone in my path whenever I wish?

Or just sorry that you didn't know about my job? :P

>>5771797
probably that you have to deal with people for a living.

Does this look better?

(And for the record, I do suck at image manipulation, this is just a 30 second mock up done with paint)

>>5771769
paradoxally, I'd advise a "scab red", for it would remind the cult mechanicus colours

>>5771809
Hey dude, don't sweat it. We got the logo locked up tight. Thanks for the suggestions though. How about some color schemes for the website? I'm not color blind, but I'm fashion-impaired.

>>5771808
Bingo!

>>5771797
Although that does sound nice...

>>5771826
I kinda like the vertical color stripes. I don't know about the horizontal ones. What if they "wrapped" with the wall section? That's what that little V shaped area is at the far left of the image.

>>5771826
>>5771850
If my vote counts, I like the one second closest to the bottom, on the left.

>>5771826
My opinion probably doesn't matter, but I like the second from the bottom row, (viewer's) right the most.

>>5771868
Your vote always counts, sir Anonymous. I too was enjoying that one. But lets see if we can improve it, eh?

>>5771924
Hmmmmm. I counter your stack with...

>>5771885
Heh! Fukken saved dude.

>>5771954
I think the two lines kill each other's graphic energy.

God, I've always thought I was a machine cultist too : I graph-babble...

>>5771826

Very lower right. Sorry Naile, but the mixed font on >>5771954 throws me for a loop. Although the perpendicular red does look nice.

>>5771967
Yeah. I was thinking that suddenly there's too much going on in the image. I think I like the line more than the stripe. It underscores "Fortresss".

I'm not much of a mechanic, but I consider myself to be something of a technophile. I'm always buying the latest gadget and dry humping it as soon as I get it out of the box. Kidding about that last part.

>>5771980
what do you think about the last two rows ?

>>5771998
I dunno if I like the last two rows on >>5771924 but >>5771826 look real good. You were right about scab red. Think I might stick with the black and white for shirts though.

Final Destination?

>>5771924
I'm going to call preference on the Blue stripes simply because of vibrancy. For all that the red says "THIS PLACE IS SERIOUS BUSINESS OKAY" it also screams construction company and hence you may not be attracting your target audience.

Also, I'm sure its been covered but in case not, display window with a competently painted battle scene is a MUST if you want to attract people through the shopfront. I don't visit my local GW often but their display battle is enough to make me window shop anytime I pass within a mile of it. They change it probably only once every 6 months but its always amazingly well painted, and sometimes they even do stuff like have a missile barrage hanging in midair on strings with dyed cotton trailing behind them to represent the smoke. Also, the construction of said battle scene could be a source of bitz without opening boxes solely to get the bitz.

>>5771410

I work in internet marketing as a consultant for the biggest specialist SEO firm in Europe. If I can just offer you one piece of advice for building your website -

DO NOT BUILD YOUR WEBSITE IN FLASH. I cannot emphasise that enough. Build it in (x)HTML. Style it purely with CSS. Have friendly URLs.

I'm supposed to be working, so I won't go into details, but building an e-commerce site in Flash is literally the 100% worst thing you can do to gimp your business before it has even started.

It affects every single facet of your online marketing in a massively negative fashion. Your PPC quality score will never improve. You will never compete in the search rankings compared to HTML sites. You will never have individual URLs. Your traffic will be much lower than that of a well optimised site.

Don't do it. Just don't. Smack your sister round the fucking face. Research it if you want, but take some free advice from someone who does it as a job 6 days a week and normally charges £120 an hour for his time.

>>5772040
Oh wow I screwed that up. Fixed!

I was talking about >>5771924

I widened the line under "Fortress"

What about a slightly darker blue? Think the blue needs to be bright?

>>5772068
Hmm. I don't know if that's working for me.

>>5772082
here goes...

Once again, I strongly advise : do NOT use both vertical and horizontal lines.

>>5772127
So noted.

hey tech priest,

I was thinking about what you were saying about murals and whatnot, and had a thought. i didn't get to read the whole thread, so if this was said, i agree :D

why not look for some sort of graffiti artist to do a mural for you? have a look around, post little fliers or something around schools, univerisities whatever saying what you need. your bound to get a response.

ask to see their piecebooks (any good graffiti artist will have one) and see if their style will suit what they are doing. if it doesn't, ask him/her if they know anyothers that would be able to do what you want. they are a pretty tight knit crowd and someone is bound to know someone who can fulfill your needs.

rolled 4 = 4

Meh, my creative juices just aren't flowing today.

Must be low on COKE

>>5772144
That's a great point. I saw a really well painted mural with the artist's name and number on it the other day near my desired store area. I'll have to check it out.

Good tip.

Okay you lot. I'm heading to bed now. I'll be back tomorrow, don't know if I'll post another FLGS based thread but hopefully my website will begin to be put together by the end of the day. I assure you all I will keep posting on a regular basis. Keep yourselves chill.

>>5772155
Do I integrate this pattern in our researches ?

I would highly highly highly recommend using one of the designs that keeps font consistent throughout, whether you go with the script one or the blocky one. Switching them up is really jarring.

OP, if you're still here

It would be great if you accepted international orders at a viable price.

Much like www.thebookdepository.co.uk does it, offers free delivery.

It might take a lot of time (usually 7-8 days) for the product to get to the customer's hands but, when you're shopping internationally, you're going for a better price first. Delivery time does not count that much, as long as you ship them promptly so it's beyond you.

>Website
www.thinkgeek.com has a nice clean design.

Gah I can't seem to stop my namefaggotry showing up in the post but whatever. I think I prefered the blue simply because of its saturation and brightness. Its just a small, conservative portion of the logo to make people go "Wait, this is printed in COLOUR?". Also it is highly likely that your store will be painted in a very low saturation colour, for maximum eyecatching saturation gradient you should probably have a small snatch of saturated colour in your otherwise very formal looking logo.

Primary red would probably float my boat as well. Although certainly I would not be going so far as to suggest green, or yellow would be a good idea. Orange... might cut it.

>>5772169
The logo isn't finished yet, so the font are going to change until we are sure

>>5772168

It's not a bad idea. Use the diagonally slashed castle instead though. It needs some professionalizing.

>>5772046

Seriously, OP. Don't derp about logo designs. Pay attention to this.

>>5772176
colours ?

>>5772191
The advise about website is very correct.
Though you shouldn't frown upon logo research

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/5770742/

Shit is archived, y'all.

>>5772197

I really like the light blue. The orange would also work, maybe something with more brown in it.

>>5772197
I am... actually surprised by how good some of those (Mid-green particularly) look. Although the blue from earlier is way better than the sky blue there, and I actually wanted to see what a primary red would look like as opposed to the maroon we have going on currently.

>>5772242
maroon ? It's dark red...

Anyway, have some funky colours, for shits and giggles

Can someone fix the point of the arrow? I need to go eat

>>5772450
fixed, plus two propositions

How about making the "inner colored line thing" have an arrowhead as well? Will make one with my mad mspaint skillz in a moment....

>>5772545

I guess to shortlist I prefer colours in the order
Ultramarine
Blood Red
Orange
Mid Green

If it IS a saturated colour I'm all for the vertical stripe, but with a darker colour like the dark red I think the horizontal is needed.

Oh god most of these logos are terrible. I'm saying that as someone who does this shit for a living. These look like "My First Logo" level stuff.

we can dick around with color all night, but what if instead of using a color, you use that band as a kind of 'mask' or negative space that gets filled in by another image, depending on what part of the site you're on. its just a simple detail, maybe a line of HTML code for a different image file on a different page of the site, or its a gif that rotates the images.

To illustrate my point, here's an old Rogue Trader ork inside the color band of your logo.

Can you see him?

Sure, probably not very well, but its a little detail that will make your site look sophisticated.

>>5772519
That red streak at the upper left one looks amazing.

>>5772545here
>>5772574
Thanks. I was thinking the head being a bit more "in"... kinda like this.

>>5772642
>masked photo logo
>rotating logo GIF
>sophisticated
This is why you don't ask /tg/ for design related shit guys.

>>5772624
Then contribute and show us what you got. Won't get paid for it of course.

Thanks for fixing my version, sir

Also, why do you keep on leaving the F without a base? Doesnt it look better if it's actually IN the tower?

Anyway, is op even here anymore :V

Have frequent sales. Everyone likes sales ans special events.

>>5772624
I too does this kind of thing as a living, although I'm not a designer, I'm still an arty faggot.

And yeah, why don't you give a hand instead of bitching ?

>>5772699
hive mind :O

>>5772687
>Won't get paid
>You could provide a service you do full time, for free, in your own time, and we're not guaranteeing we'll even pay attention to it
Yeah, see, no.

>>5772717
THIS!

Remeber Valve giving some 50% discount on games and shit? Sales were boosted to 80x at times.

Different genres, I know, but the point stands: people friggin love paying for shit that's on sale.

>>5772450
This is good

>>5772519
everything except upper right is good

BUT

personally I hate how the F is not finished at the bottom and joins with the white. Agouri's version had it much better.

Sell bitz bags like some stores sell extra candy, where you put random bits in bags and they can't see what they get, but it's a buck or so cheaper than buying specifically what you want. Warhammer people will eat that shit up.

>>5772746
I can provide FEEDBACK, because I can do that shit as I'm working.

– Figure out a fucking font or at least theme. Literally none of these so far have good fonts. Stop using stencil or written fonts. Decide whether sans-serif or serif is the direction.

– "Games" doesn't need to be on the logo. "Fortress" should be the only word needed. Legally, if need be, it can be called "Fortress Games" but that word doesn't need to be in the logo. Ideally the actual logo shouldn't have letters at all and these named examples should just be the branding font to accompany it.

– The tower is poorly done and bland. Whoever made it didn't use any pixel-alignment or snap-to-grid, so it also appears fuzzy. Redo the tower. It should also be distinct at 1" in print and ~32px for on screen.

– What is the arrow supposed to symbolise? What is the chunk to the left? These look slapped on with no real thought.

>>5772759

You have my gratitude

>>5772759
>>5772699

Finally fixed

>>5772799
>Ideally the actual logo shouldn't have letters at all
Fakeedit: Should be "words" instead of letters.

>>5772806
You didn't add the base but somehow it looks much better. Nice. Could you do one arrowed version, too?

>>5772806
Lower one is cool, better than the arrow.

>>5772799
>Redo the tower.
Yeah, I know. Think of it as a "rough"

>What is the arrow supposed to symbolise? What is the chunk to the left? These look slapped on with no real thought

The squares is a reminder of the admech checkers, and is directly linked to games, just as the tower

The arrow is a wink to the chaos star, most likely.

>>5771044
You could do this just to get keep best for the box. If the models are unpainted, then someone might buy them from you, but normally people who buy this stuff want to put it together themselves. The whole store army thing is not a bad idea. Of course, if you can find some rare stuff, like old IG Praetorians or funky Forge World stuff, those could be used to fancy up the store display cases.
>>5771212
Yes, because certain boxes come with extra arms, weapons, and stuff, and people are always adding or changing their army, people do not want to spend money on another Cadian Command Squad when all they need is to add a Flamer to it.

A good idea for when you open the store is to put of Flyers of a contest. Maybe once a month or something, break open a box with lots of Infantry, like Orks Boys, Gaunts, or Cadian IG, all have people paint them. Charge 3-5 bucks each, and have the winner get 10 to 20 dollars as store credit. What this really does is get modelers looking at the pieces. When I saw the plastics Orks from Black Reach, I was like, oh fuck, these are beautiful. This is a good way to have people come and then start collect different pieces for new armies, just cause they are impressed by the pieces. Plus left overs can go to the Bits Box.