Keep contracting to pay the bills. As you guys save up some cash, hire a designer to make the pages prettier.
So many people will disregard the praise for your site if it's ugly or they can't figure it out.
Edit: A little more food for thought - I opened the page you linked, then went to the homepage, then closed the page. It just didn't appeal to me visually. It wasn't until I saw the comment about charging too much that I even realized you sold something.
So on the cost thing - split test! Run a test between $5 and $10. Seriously. Combine a pretty product with a price that seems just barely over the limit and you will likely find that people are finding your product "re-assuringly expensive". It costs $10 and it's pretty. It must be a high quality itinerary.
I agree with the Split test, but also while you are at it, run some landing page test. However, that means you have to have alternatives to test, so get the visual design stuff right and have a few versions to test with a specific conversion event in mind that is not "buy" As of now the page elements are so incongruous it's just baffling.
Quick question: why is this a website? this seems like information I would want on my smartphone so I could have easy access on the go.
Thanks! I think you're right and a great idea. We've discussed a redesign for a while now. We couldn't justify the cost when we were bootstrapping. Now that some cash will begin to roll in again I think it would be worth it.
According to reams of empirical data prices with 7's or 9's as the last digit (e.g. $17, $49) tend to convert best. I would suggest testing prices between $7 - $11 as a simple, 'low hanging fruit' way to get started.
So many people will disregard the praise for your site if it's ugly or they can't figure it out.
Edit: A little more food for thought - I opened the page you linked, then went to the homepage, then closed the page. It just didn't appeal to me visually. It wasn't until I saw the comment about charging too much that I even realized you sold something.
So on the cost thing - split test! Run a test between $5 and $10. Seriously. Combine a pretty product with a price that seems just barely over the limit and you will likely find that people are finding your product "re-assuringly expensive". It costs $10 and it's pretty. It must be a high quality itinerary.