

My startup makes jellyfish aquariums - andon11

Thanks to the immortal jellyfish and the mortal will smith for the recent jellyfish plugs...<p>My startup breeds jellyfish and makes specialized aquariums for displaying them.<p>www.jellyfishart.com<p>The first jellyfish exhibits opened in public aquariums in the 90s and scientists have been making achievements in breeding and displaying jellies since then.  The exhibits are hugely popular and now jellyfish are found in virtually every public aquarium.  Jellyfish Art uses proprietary tank designs and new breeding techniques to commercialize jellyfish aquariums with the same success they have achieved in public venues.<p>We started last year by making large custom aquariums, but we're building a website now to launch a line of plug-and-play desktop tanks.<p>Staring at a jellyfish tank beats staring at a computer screen I promise
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tjic
Lose the splash screen and the "enter" link.

I already typed in the URL, of COURSE I want to enter!

You've only got one goal with people visiting the website: get them to buy
one.

With your website, what's my next action as a customer?

It should be "enter my credit card, click submit".

I can forgive you for not having an ecommerce solution set up yet, but failing
that, what's my next action?

To get on your mailing list, so you can pitch me with interesting articles,
discounts, etc.

...but you're not collecting email addresses.

Well, failing that, I guess it's to call you on the phone.

What's your phone number?

It's the absolute last thing on the page, in the smallest font on the entire
page.

"Call Us (415)-810-3343"

should not be a footnote: it should be the POINT of your website.

(at least until you can get a mailing list set up, or better yet, an ecommerce
solution).

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coglethorpe
I agree with that for sure. Also, this photo has a problem:

<http://www.jellyfishart.com/cyltank.jpg>

There's a guy in it.

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tontoa4
Wait... what guy? ;-) <http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/5822/cyltank.jpg>

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Jasber
Put your own tanks on the front page. Make your own videos with jellyfish in
them, and use those. The videos you offer don't tell me anything about your
product.

You also need more content. I want more from your Website than it offers. I'm
genuinely interested in your product but can't find enough information about
it on your site.

Consider adding a FAQ to cover basic questions.

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trickjarrett
Call to Action! Call to Action! Call to Action!

Echoing what has already been said, your goal is to get them to give you their
info so you can make the sale, or to get them to order online.

Also while I totally love Vimeo, you need your videos to autostart. If Vimeo
can't do that, get them hosted elsewhere so that you can. The motion is what
will draw people in.

And kill the splash screen. It's very 1998 and annoying.

I suspect you did it for SEO, but you need to work on your content. The better
SEO help is adding more content to site with multiple pages. Give me a page
about the Jellyfish. About your aquariums. About the history of jellyfish as
art. About jellyfish mating. Etc etc. Don't spam the site up, have logical
navigation, but the more content on a site, the heavier it is weighted and
you're going to be going against scientific sites for terms like jellyfish. So
you're fighting an up hill battle when it comes to SEO.

~~~
andon11
splash screen is getting the chop.

anyone have a favorite video hosting site other than vimeo?

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EGF
Checkout using a site that allows you to upload to multiple sites then
tracking stats behind views such as tubemogule.com

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mixmax
This is a complete breath of fresh air, and certainly very different from what
we normally hear about here.

I never realised that you could get jellyfish in tanks, and I want one!. It's
a very cool concept.

But as the other posters have pointed out, the site definitely needs some
work. For this particular niche it probably doesn't need to be all flashy and
ajax-like, but if you follow some of the advice in the other posts it will
definitely help your sales.

The one thing I would add to the conversation is: More pictures, videos and
information. I want to see more jellyfish, what kind I can get, what colors
they are, where they live, how they breed, how I keep them alive. Some
wikipedia articles and names.

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truebosko
Some things I would like to know:

\- Your price for the tanks

\- More info on the tanks. Dimensions etc.

\- Market prices for Jellyfish (or your prices, since you sell them right?)

\- Some links or even self-hosted information and guides about owning
Jellyfish and tank maintenance.

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helveticaman
Yeah, it etches sketchy when you don't put your prices up.

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misterbwong
Also, the Untitled 6 page title for the team page isn't helping either...

You definitely want to put up a more professional face for your site. It
doesn't have to be cutting edge, but sharper lines and cleaner/more
interesting design will give people visiting a better first impression of your
company. Like others have said, this is your company's virtual storefront. If
web design isn't what you want to spend time working on, you might want to
consider hiring a contractor to make a simple e-commerce site for you.

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critke
I just love the idea!!

But the site is confusing. Kill the splash page. Put a call to action - nobody
will know that you're actually selling something - it looks more like a fun
little site showing off jellyfish in aquariums. And although it's great that
you have videos, I would suggest you also put yourself in them with real tanks
- and show your passion for what you're doing.

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moxy
Your product is great, and I'm sure you'll have no trouble making sales.

However, the two pictures on the "Tanks" page looked a bit tacky, and I
thought the splash page was unnecessary. Also, three videos on the home page
seems excessive. Might I recommend a more modest approach (perhaps one video
on each page)?

Otherwise, the site speaks for itself. And I like it.

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mhp
For your tanks, how do you do water changes? Where's the protein skimmer? the
carbon filters? How will people make sg 1.025 water in their office?

Saltwater tanks are a LOT of work. I'm just curious if jellies are somehow
easier (like having a Betta in a bowl)

~~~
andon11
saltwater isn't too difficult. not as easy as betta in a bowl, but you only
need to check on it every other week.

~~~
mhp
You should clarify that saltwater is easy if your tank is FISH ONLY. Reef
tanks ARE difficult.

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rsheridan6
You could use more pictures and some rough indication of how much it costs. Or
is it the kind of thing that, if you have to ask, you can't afford it?

What kind of commitment does a customer have to make other than money? Do you
have to learn a lot, constantly monitor pH and temperature, etc, or just
sprinke some fish food in every few days? There is no indication on the
website.

Along the same lines, do you guys maintain the tank or does the customer? If
you do it, is your service SF only?

Also, aren't some jellyfish fluorescent? That would be cool. I understand that
green fluorescent protein doesn't just come in green anymore.

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anthonyrubin
I think you need more photos. Some possible inspiration:

[http://www.amanotakashi.net/portfolio/nature_aquarium/index....](http://www.amanotakashi.net/portfolio/nature_aquarium/index.html)

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knieveltech
I like the idea and would be interested in a desktop tank (assuming care and
feeding isn't expensive or time consuming). You might consider updating your
website to include some information for potential customers, like what kinds
of jellyfish are available, what's involved in taking care of one, average
lifespan, special concerns, etc.

~~~
andon11
the jellies require feeding and some water changes, but they're about as hardy
as any other aquarium fish.

so far we've been doing large custom tanks with automatic feeders or
technicians coming in every day to do the feeding.

as we launch a line of desktop tanks, I wonder if customers will dread feeding
the jellies 2x/day like brushing your teeth, or look forward to it like
watering a houseplant. Personally, I don't like brushing my teeth and never
kept a plant alive for more than a week. thoughts?

~~~
knieveltech
If feeding could be partially or completely automated I think you're sitting
on a goldmine (and I'll be waiting patiently for the IPO). If it absolutely
needs to happen twice a day and has to be done by hand then there's no way I
could have one of these on my desk at work (because lets face it, I'm not
going to sign up for anything that has me driving to the office twice a day on
the weekends and lugging a fish tank to and from work on a weekly basis is
scary compulsive behavior) and I really REALLY want one of these things on my
desk at work.

I could definitely see something like this going viral (sea monkeys 2.0) in
short order if things progressed to a stage where they're relatively
inexpensive, customizable (flourescent jellies ftw), and don't require a
tedious amound of upkeep.

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mattmaroon
Reminds me of a sushi/teppan yaki restaurant that used to exist in the
Bellagio called Shintaro. Even though the sushi was overpriced (though
excellent) I used to eat at the counter just to watch them. They had a few
tanks with rotating colors of backlighting, that somehow was simultaneously
trippy and relaxing.

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jamongkad
How do you breed the jellyfish? I always thought you just catch them in the
wild.

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rwebb
those are sweet. i want one.

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jparicka
We can help to design a website. Contact me at jparicka(@)gmail.com.

