10 replies to this topic

[Jholden]

I have a new site about to launch, but want to get a few views on it and what can be done.

The site is BlackHorseMotorsports.com, BlackHorseMotorsports.com/catalog is the shop. Yes i know there are no product just waiting to upload when i know it is ready.

Please be hard on me, i want to know everything wrong even if its just a tiny typo. Also if any one has any ideas on listing items please tell me. I have over 500,000 parts between OEM and Aftermarket so anything is helpful.

Edited by Jholden, 13 February 2010, 18:20.

[burt]

Really cool logo based frontpage.

Then you get to the catalog which is a crappy free template, one of the very ugliest available.

Jeez, start over, please.

[kymation]

That "front page" may be a really cool image, but it does absolutely nothing. There's not even any way to get to the store. Lose the whole page, and move your store into the root.

The store appears to be stock osCommerce with a few minor image changes. The color scheme doesn't even match your header. If you are really selling auto parts, you'll need some addons so the customers can find what they want in those 500,000 parts. I don't see that you have added anything at all.

I agree with Gary: Start over.

Regards
Jim

[Jholden]

kymation, on 13 February 2010, 20:54, said:

That "front page" may be a really cool image, but it does absolutely nothing. There's not even any way to get to the store. Lose the whole page, and move your store into the root.

The store appears to be stock osCommerce with a few minor image changes. The color scheme doesn't even match your header. If you are really selling auto parts, you'll need some addons so the customers can find what they want in those 500,000 parts. I don't see that you have added anything at all.

I agree with Gary: Start over.

Regards
Jim

The front page is there because i needed to have something up, but also because it will serve to split between wether to go to the parts site or our race team page.

What type of add-ons where you thinking of?

I plan to start over, i am looking at ideas and trying to figure a direction to go in from here.

[kymation]

You want to make shopping at your store as easy as possible. The harder you make it, the fewer customers you will have. Making them click on a splash page is one more obstacle for your customers to pass. If you want a link to your race team, put it in the store: On the front page, in one of the side columns, etc. You decide, but keep it out of your customers' path.

You plan on 500,000 products. That's a large store by any measure. Given that I'm looking for a specific part for a specific vehicle (and I haven't used Google to find it already) how am I going to find it in that store? Better yet, how am I going to find similar products for my vehicle that I might want? Maybe there are multiple choices for what I want; how do I find just those products and not 10,000 unrelated products at the same time. Hint: Search doesn't always work that well.

You need some sort of navigation aid. There's a Make/Model/Year Addon for auto parts stores that I would consider an absolute minimum. The Products Specifications Addon might be better. You need some way to sift through all of those products to find the ones that matter to the customer. Find something that works for your store.

I would also clean up the layout. What you have now is a stock layout, and that works for very few stores. Look at every single box in the side columns and ask whether you really need it. If you do need it, does it belong where it is? What is most important and what is least? Go look at your competitors and shop around their sites. What do they have that you don't? What works well and what do you hate? Take that knowledge back and use it on your store.

You should normally use the colors in your header throughout your store. Your header is very monochrome, so don't just use those colors or your store will be too dark and boring. Again, look at other sites that are well done. Install Colorzilla in Firefox and look at their color palette. Find one that you really like and stealcopy the colors. Use those colors to build your store's look. Don't just copy another store's look; try to make yours unique.

Regards
Jim

[Jholden]

kymation, on 14 February 2010, 01:13, said:

You want to make shopping at your store as easy as possible. The harder you make it, the fewer customers you will have. Making them click on a splash page is one more obstacle for your customers to pass. If you want a link to your race team, put it in the store: On the front page, in one of the side columns, etc. You decide, but keep it out of your customers' path.

I didnt want to admit this to my self, but you are right. I think i am going to go with a side column on the right that will have a box. With a few other boxs bit will still keep it out of the way

kymation, on 14 February 2010, 01:13, said:

You plan on 500,000 products. That's a large store by any measure. Given that I'm looking for a specific part for a specific vehicle (and I haven't used Google to find it already) how am I going to find it in that store? Better yet, how am I going to find similar products for my vehicle that I might want? Maybe there are multiple choices for what I want; how do I find just those products and not 10,000 unrelated products at the same time. Hint: Search doesn't always work that well.

There should be close to 500 with what my OEM suppliers and my After market suppliers have been sending me. As you suggested in the next qoute i searched and found the YMM option box, and i am going to install that. I am also going to hire a designer to work on another way to also aid in searching process.

kymation, on 14 February 2010, 01:13, said:

You need some sort of navigation aid. There's a Make/Model/Year Addon for auto parts stores that I would consider an absolute minimum. The Products Specifications Addon might be better. You need some way to sift through all of those products to find the ones that matter to the customer. Find something that works for your store.

I also picked up your Products Specifications Add-on and will use that also.

kymation, on 14 February 2010, 01:13, said:

I would also clean up the layout. What you have now is a stock layout, and that works for very few stores. Look at every single box in the side columns and ask whether you really need it. If you do need it, does it belong where it is? What is most important and what is least? Go look at your competitors and shop around their sites. What do they have that you don't? What works well and what do you hate? Take that knowledge back and use it on your store.

I agree with you and burt, i have decided to get a completely new look. I am throwing away all of the setup i have now and i am going to use a better concept with colors that flow thrum the whole site, and better graphics.


Thank you so much to both of you, i was a little blind at first and thought the site looked decent but pointing out the major flaws has showed me i need to make it better.

Edited by Jholden, 14 February 2010, 02:07.

[Biancoblu]

Entirely down to personal taste, but I think some chrome effect graphics throughout the store would look great with your products.

[14steve14]

Surely if you have 500,000 products to list you have the money to get a professional website specially built and designed that would look 100% better than the crappy oscommerce site you are using. If your store is soon to launch, you have a lot of work to do. You still have the silly oscommerce buttons that look really out of place, and the silly cartoon images on nearly every page. By the looks of it you have no SEO contribution added, no sitemaps added, and most importantly no header navigation, so that when i looks through what pages you have i had no way of returning to the front page.

If you are asking for a review of your site at least have the basics set up and working.

[Jholden]

14steve14, on 17 February 2010, 21:58, said:

Surely if you have 500,000 products to list you have the money to get a professional website specially built and designed that would look 100% better than the crappy oscommerce site you are using. If your store is soon to launch, you have a lot of work to do. You still have the silly oscommerce buttons that look really out of place, and the silly cartoon images on nearly every page. By the looks of it you have no SEO contribution added, no sitemaps added, and most importantly no header navigation, so that when i looks through what pages you have i had no way of returning to the front page.

If you are asking for a review of your site at least have the basics set up and working.

Hello steve,

Thank you for your review. As i said 2 posts ago, i have deleted everything and decided to go with a different idea, so the will be getting comletely redone in the next few weeks. Thanks tho for looking.

[NoobsRus]

You said "Please be hard on me, i want to know everything wrong even if its just a tiny typo."

One thing to look out for, and that will really put off a lot of people, is incorrect use of apostrophe: Under "Apparel" for instance you refer to "Hoodie's" and "Shirt's" - those are NOT the plurals (it's "Hoodies" and "Shirts" - no apostrophe).

Good luck.

[Jholden]

NoobsRus, on 26 February 2010, 12:33, said:

You said "Please be hard on me, i want to know everything wrong even if its just a tiny typo."

One thing to look out for, and that will really put off a lot of people, is incorrect use of apostrophe: Under "Apparel" for instance you refer to "Hoodie's" and "Shirt's" - those are NOT the plurals (it's "Hoodies" and "Shirts" - no apostrophe).

Good luck.

Thank you very much, i will correct that right now. What did you think of the rest of the site?