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2ND attempt here --- PLZ PLZ Review


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PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review this site.

 

poke around and see if there is anything that could be done better or if your into skateboarding tell me what would help to gain sales.

 

After doing a MASSIVE amount of marketing through 12+ ways gaining over 1,000 unique hits in just one week.... But only 2 good contacts and no sales.

 

Is the product line to little?

Is the layout bad?

 

those comming in are looking around a little but that is it.

 

be as harsh as you like ----- I can take it

 

thanks david

My Webpage

 

you can use login of "[email protected]" with password of "check" if you like

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your layout is weird. everything isn't lined up with each other. wi would do the 800px center page mod to work that out.

for exampel, your header logo and menu only goes halfway accross the screen, then everything else is centered. then the banners are on different lines in different locationsa and have a bar between them that only goe halfway accross the page(an has some wierd animation on it?). all of this makes me uncomfortable and makes the page look cheap.

also there are other somewhat pointless animations on the page.

 

too many banners, they make your site look like big advertisment. Also one of your banners is showing "Image Hosted By Tripod" this is pretty bad.

 

there is a huge white space at the bottom of the site

 

you don't have many products, only 5 wheels. there is a good amount of skateboards, but the site seems to lack some content. you could give more info about the products in the product description, not just the name of the product.

 

i would say the biggest turn off of your site is the design. you would have been better off with the stock OSC design. sorry.

 

maybe try adding some information about skateboards....proper techniques for installing trucks and wheels, maintainence tips, cool boards gallery, customer boards gallery, grip tape application methods etc. this will give your customers another reason to visit your site.

 

good luck with the site, and sorry for being harsh, but you asked for it! :)

 

p.s. sorry for all the spelling mistakes :-"

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PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review this site. 

 

poke around and see if there is anything that could be done better or if your into skateboarding tell me what would help to gain sales. 

 

After doing a MASSIVE amount of marketing through 12+ ways gaining over 1,000 unique hits in just one week.... But only 2 good contacts and no sales.

 

Is the product line to little?

Is the layout bad?

 

those comming in are looking around a little but that is it.

 

be as harsh as you like ----- I can take it

 

thanks david

My Webpage

 

you can use login of "[email protected]" with password of "check" if you like

 

If you want my opinion I have to honestly say I don't like the design. Too many scrolling flash parts which make the site look cheap to me (just like the banners at the bottom). Part of this comes because your header and footer only cover about 3/4 of the screen while the categories/products use the whole width.

For me it is all to screaming with the big letters and colors on your front page but maybe your audience, though it appears to be otherwise, like this.

There is also an awful lot of space below your last line, Powered by osCommerce, which again doesn't make the site look very professional. Your category buttons box does not have a very matching background color with the buttons which are not very eye catching either.

 

I hope you don't take this too harsh, I see you put a lot of work in it already but for me you really should rethink your design.

 

One more remark: you show the logoff option while you are not even logged in and it is clickable also.

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My first impression is that I have been redirected to a spam/phishing site, and I should close the browser window as quickly as possible before it has a chance to upload spyware to my machine. Flash is all well and good, but it really needs to be used properly, and when used wrong, it makes a site look cheap. Don't worry, I can't do good flash animation either. I can code actionscript, but if I need to have graphics done, I really need to talk to a designer. Shrink the text. First off, PEOPLE DON"T READ and when the only thing they see at first glance is text, their not going to read anything, and simply leave. Spend some time looking at sites you think are good, and mimic them. There is no shame is copying someone elses idea, if it looks good.

osCommerce is a great piece of software with wonderful contributions.

Spend some time in the contribution area. There are a lot of gems there.

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I will be honest, when I arrived at your site I thought it looked very "busy". The first thing I saw was the Visa/Mastercard Card logos. Its good to tell customers somewhere on your front page that you can offer secure credit card processing but I don't think you need the animated gif.

 

Personally I don't like animated banners - I think it is better to show your company logo, name and a brief description of you business.

 

Other people have already mentioned that the header and footer are not the correct size so you know about that.

 

Again another personal opinion I wouldn't display the Banner Exchange Network on my own website I think it makes your website look cheap. Are you making much money off it? If you really want banners maybe you should try something like Commission Junction this way you can controll what banners are put on your site so maybe display banners that are relevant to your target audience.

 

Just some of my opinions, other than that welcome to the E-Business I am sure you will have your first million soon

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Wow! What can I say... Your website needs tons of work. Everything is everywhere on my 1400 X 1050 screen. Have you seen your website on this resolution? First of all remove those ugly buttons. Second center your store and put it in a fixed width table, parts of your website are all over the place on my screen. The colors on your website do not match. Pick three colors max that match and stick with it throughout your website. Get a logo, a logo is very important for the image of your company. Change the button colors to match a color "theme" that your website should have but does not. I also don't recommend the animations you have. The banner is annoying for it repeats the same thing over and over and over. The card animation is not necessary at all. Fix your buttons, your layout, your logo, get rid of banners, and fix those animations.

 

Sorry for being so harsh,

Andrew

Andrew Yuen

osCommerce, Community Team

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yeah dude calm down a bit with the site. even a skater like me can see that it looks very tacky (would have rocked in 1994). i would suggest going back to basics and work on it from there.

 

from a skaters pov:

i had know idea which brands you sold at the start. if i was looking for a blacklabel deck i want to see that you sell blacklabel on your homepage, i don't want to waste my time looking for it. no doubt you would of had a look at skateboard.com, how about doing something loosely based on that. it looks tidy and proffesional and makes me want to whip out my credit card.

 

good luck,

 

nick

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"Cheap skateboards", trucks, decks and wheels --- that is what we are all about.

 

Umm... I asked for quality products at a cost effective price.

 

-Layout problems from hell

-Lame flash

-Looks like Oscommerce 1/2 milestone

- Use consistency in your template

- Kill Advertising

- Where's the search?

 

Contact me for professional services.

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Now these are the kind of replys I wish I got the first time through ---

 

I went with what I thought was appealing beacause I wanted different -- but this advice is valuable and tells me what my visitors are saying.

 

Thanks

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if youa re planning to redesign I would keep it simple.

 

start with the stock OSC

do the 800pixel and center mod

alter the stylesheet to the colors you want

get the icon and buttons upgrade contributions to fancy up the icons and buttons

create a nice header banner that has your logo and store name

then yuo can add other contributions to fancy up the site, for example column controller, layout changes, image resizer, cool menu contribution etc.

make sure to include lots of info about your store and the products

 

start off simple, focus on the design and then go from there. good luck!

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David,

 

I wont start with all of the obvious things already mentioned, but i will agree with the others that you should start from a stock osc site and make your mods from there.

 

I will give you my thoughts on your site as a design professional (my training is in architectural design), these are simply critical observations.

 

The Good:

 

I like your navigation buttons. They are good sized, and with nice colors. they should also indicate (when clicked) where on the site you are. I am not a skater so once i clicked on category and looked around, there was nothing to indicate where on your site i was. I think that your other buttons should match your navigation buttons to keep your site consistent and most importantly coherent. the buttons offer you an oppotunity to integrate the skate products with your site. maybe they shoud be decks or wheels.

 

This is where the good ends, Sorry.

 

The Bad:

 

The color: Find a new one. Find some one who has a background in color theory or get a book on the subject. Color theory is studied as a seperate subject and is mandatory in many artistic fields.

 

Image consitency: Particularly in the decks section, some images have a white background, some have a black background, you should pick one. The area around your images also needs standardization, some are wide others are narrow, again pick your dimensions.

 

Content: Your customers would feel better about buying from you if they knew more about you or your company. When i first saw your page i had no idea what you were selling. Intice the visitor with a stimulating image that will keep them on your site. As of now the first thing they see is large screaming text, and non stop animation.

 

On the average, you should expect about 4% of your visitors becoming buyers. This is a thumbnail figure and can vary but it is a good indicator that you are moving in the right direction. Which means that 40 out of every 1000 visitors should purchase something. The fact that you have had no sales indicates that your visitors are not comfortable. There is nothing wrong with not having an eye for design, that is why there are individuals who specialize in design.

 

I am including two links to oscommerce sites i have worked on (and that have been making sales) so you can see for yourself some of these ideas in practice.

 

www.custombutterflyart.com

www.1stopflorist.com

 

Hope this helps.

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Hi

 

Ouch. Your site is completely out of proportion. Nothing lines up. Maybe you are working on it. Check out some of the image contributions available. Your images need work. Clearly you have some skills with flash. Use a few of them, not all of them. A modern site needs to be subtle. A bit of movement helps catch the eye, too much movement makes the eye close.

 

Mark

http://www.durance.fr

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I have to say i agree with everything everyone else has said. I know getting a look together can be tough, expecially for someone who may not have any experience with web design never mind PHP.

 

I would suggest looking for a site that sold templates for OSC if you have a hard time coming up with a look you like on your own. There are a bunch of companies out there that offer them for a fee... or I am sure you could find someone on these forums to make you one. I know I have done it for a couple of people.

 

Good luck =)

Wendy James

 

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

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I will "second" much of what has been written here & add that your logo should be staying put, not flashing off & on.

 

Also, I agree that you should look around at some professional sites. I looked through the OSC example sites to get an idea of what was possible with OSC layout.

 

You have a good thing going in that you are trying to move away from the stock layout, it just needs some tweaking.

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