Brand new fitness/bodybuilding osC site

[Predd0 0]

After months and months of planning, designing and developing, I've just released a new Aussie fitness and bodybuilding website entitled "Amino Z". It's located at:

 

http://www.aminoz.com.au

 

Whilst not yet completed, it's well on it's way. I've taken the basic osC framework and incorporated it into a number of modules.

 

Would very highly appreciate any feedback (good or bad!). Thanks!!

 

- Jay

[Predd0 0]

Been adding heaps of new features lately - has anyone got some feedback? Would be really appreciated!! Thanks!

[rommany 0]

Get yourself a SSL and add the fast easy checkout contribution.

 

Other than that its fine.

 

Well done

[ddp 0]

After months and months of planning, designing and developing, I've just released a new Aussie fitness and bodybuilding website entitled "Amino Z". It's located at:

 

http://www.aminoz.com.au

 

Whilst not yet completed, it's well on it's way. I've taken the basic osC framework and incorporated it into a number of modules.

 

Would very highly appreciate any feedback (good or bad!). Thanks!!

 

- Jay

 

Good Job!!

 

I particularly like the way your articles are organized. What contribution was used to do this?

I am trying to do something similar.

[Predd0 0]

Good Job!!

 

I particularly like the way your articles are organized. What contribution was used to do this?

I am trying to do something similar.

 

Thanks for the feedback thus far pplz!

 

I'll take a look at that fast easy checkout and also SSL - good ideas.

 

The articles...hmm I basically duplicated the product catalog, changing all variable names so there's no overlap (both admin and main site). I also have the BTS template system installed. Depending upon the category that the article is situated in, it will call upon a different template. This is why interviews are different to general articles that are different to reviews and so on.

 

Then I just tweaked every template page. The reviews page took the longest - implementing the nutritional information and then a link to the corresponding nutritional calculator.

[greatlakes 0]

Very Nice!!Good work

[ddp 0]

Thanks for the feedback thus far pplz!

 

I'll take a look at that fast easy checkout and also SSL - good ideas.

 

The articles...hmm I basically duplicated the product catalog, changing all variable names so there's no overlap (both admin and main site). I also have the BTS template system installed. Depending upon the category that the article is situated in, it will call upon a different template. This is why interviews are different to general articles that are different to reviews and so on.

 

Then I just tweaked every template page. The reviews page took the longest - implementing the nutritional information and then a link to the corresponding nutritional calculator.

 

Pretty cool. Have you thought of putting your work on together and adding a contribution for these article additions?

 

 

 

I am sure the os community would find this quite useful.

[Predd0 0]

Thanks for the comments. Yes I'll have to get some of the modules up in the contributions sections.

 

I'm currently working on an effective way to integrate the PHPBB and the main website. At the moment they are semi-linked, but not to my liking :\

 

Meanwhile if anyone else has suggestions please throw them at me :D

 

Oh and a quick question - how does everyone find navigation around the site? Is it too confusing having so many menu items on the left side?

[rankandfile 0]

Jay,

Congratulations on your bodily transformation and the construction of your website! It looks like you are on the road to a successful fitness career. Pats on the back aside, you need some constructive criticism if you want your website to get better.

 

I am not an OSC veteran, but I've been around bodybuilding and sports my whole life and am probably in your target demographic of males 18-54 (I'm sure you also have other target demographics as well!). At any rate, here goes:

 

I think the overall layout looks nice. I particularly like the AminoZ logo and how you have the orange banners branching away to the bottom and right from the logo. There are too many items to choose from on the left side. It almost makes your site look lopsided to the left. It works to some degree on the home page because you have a lot of content from top to bottom. However when you go to some of the other pages, there is a lack of content in the middle column and all you see is the left side column with all those links and a picture. You might want to try a 3 column layout with two side banners and a center column.

 

Another note, I recommend not putting so many pictures of yourself, at least not on the home page (I think there were 7 here). Don't take this the wrong way. Accomplishments aside, it seems more like a shrine than a store. Yes, you definitely should market yourself, your image, attitude, and accomplishments, but maybe try to do it on a separate page titled, "About the President", or "About the Owner", or the "History of AminoZ"...something like that. And then you can talk in depth about your transformation and why you decided to start the company.

 

I know it may be tough to get quality bodybuilding pictures, especially if you are just starting out. But I personally think it looks a little more professional. One idea might be to get some stock photos. I did some modeling here in California and the photographers didn't pay me a thing...they got stock photos and I got a free headshot. Something like that might help you to get some good stock photos of fitness stuff.

 

The navigation in general should be re-configured. Aside from possibly going to three columns, I recommend making the navigation options beneath the "Sign Up Now" banner larger and more readily available.

 

As for your products, you definitely need to get some fat loss stuff in there. I also recommend starting a line of apparel. You have too nice a logo to let it simply be shown on your website. Besides, you have only a limited window of opportunity before your notoriety for getting into shape wears off, if it hasn't already. You need to take advantage of those free publicity opportunities by wearing an AminoZ hat, t-shirt, or other item. Please forgive me, I am a pimp when it comes to marketing!

 

Other than that, I think this is a fine initial offering. Good answer on the lady who was working out hard but not losing weight. The scale is such a misleading indicator of progress!

 

PS: If you ever want any exposure here in SoCal, let me know (I'll take a free hat-wink wink knudge knudge)

All kidding aside, what program did you use for your logo?

[wallspc 0]

Site looks good - one thing I would do is make the white background of the product images clear. Since the page background is not white it stands out right away to me and looks unprofessional.

[Predd0 0]

thanks for the feedback - very much appreciated.

 

rankandfile - some very good points there, thank you very much for such an in depth analysis.

 

With the menu, it is beginning to get slightly cluttered - and when I add more modules in there's only going to be more stuff there. the only thing holding me back from a 3 column layout is the limited width of the page. I've designed it to be 780px wide - ideal for an 800x600 resolution and above. I fear by adding in a second column, the main section is going to be further reduced leaving me less and less space for content. However this is an idea to toy around with and I'll have a think about it.

 

Valid point about the number of photo's on the main page. This will reduce with time - my main focus is marketing myself and the information side to the website at present. The store is a minor part - something that will require further focus down the track. A separate page is a good idea - I'm considering adding in a separate section dedicated to the challenge I won - I've had a lot of enquiries about the specifics to my training.

 

I'll also look into these stock photos, pretty the site up a bit.

 

Products wise, the store still hasn't been completed - and yes especially with quite a fair share of my audience seeking to lose weight, fat loss supps are a priority.

 

Apparell - a great idea - will have to look into it further.

 

Rankandfile - have you got a bodybuilding/sports website?

 

wallspc - ah yeah that's something I completely forgot about. I'm with you on that - absolutely hate that white background - that really needs fixing

[duncanjones 0]

When you click:

http://www.aminoz.com.au/qa_ask.php

 

It takes you to a signup page:

http://www.aminoz.com.au/login.php?my_account_f=

 

On this page it has:

GO STRAIGHT TO CHECKOUT

Proceed to Checkout without creating an account. By choosing this option you wont have an online record of your orders, nor will you have access to members-only features on Amino Z.

 

Which doesnt relate to asking a question. Make it show up only if cart contents >0

[rankandfile 0]

I don't have a fitness website, although I hear there's a killing to be made in supplements! I am going to be starting up a couple personal sites for both myself and my family and I'll include personal items like my trip to my family's native home in Italy, wedding pics, baby pics, stuff like that. I work in engineering and will be coming out with an e-commerce site along the lines of the various disciplines of engineering. I have so many fricking things I want to do and so little time to do them! I'd love to partner up with an experienced OSC implementer and open up shop after shop. I am not very good at php, but I am a good businessman, marketer, and can definitely sell.

[Predd0 0]

Hey thanks very much for all the comments here.

 

I have actually made an update to the site and completely removed the supplements section. I will be adding in products later down the line - but for now it's just info!

[chooch 1]

Very impressed with the general layout and colour contrast, definately worked hard at giving it a non-stock effect.

 

The column left is far too long and should be kept on par with the product listing/info area because somethimes the images and text/descriptions are basically too short in comparison with teh fixed length column left.

 

As good and imaginative as this site is, I'm still not sure how you will make money from it.. please elaborate

[Predd0 0]

hey cooch

 

thanks for the feedback. left column does need to be shortened - thanks for the advice. i will be working on only listing the titles and once a user clicks on that, then can then enter the sub-sections.

 

money wise - well at the moment it's only via advertising. the site was only launched in march and is already experiencing a high rate of growth. soon i will be using the oscommerce shopping cart to include a few paid services and a couple of specialised products. i am also working on releasing a subscription-based addon to the site which will be the main focus to the website. unfortunately i can't go into too much more detail as it's still under heavy development - but I am really excited about it :D

[Predd0 0]

Website update - I have implemented a huge nutritional database.

 

Goto the main site (http://www.aminoz.com.au), on the left menu look under "AZ Food DB" - enter your food and away you go.

 

Would greatly appreciate feedback on this new module - took about 40 hours to conjure up youch!

[pitorian 0]

Website update - I have implemented a huge nutritional database.

 

Goto the main site (http://www.aminoz.com.au), on the left menu look under "AZ Food DB" - enter your food and away you go.

 

Would greatly appreciate feedback on this new module - took about 40 hours to conjure up youch!

 

 

Excellent site, JAY, any tips, I am looking for a site similar..

 

Chris

[Predd0 0]

Thanks Chris! It's amazing what you can do based on the osC model. At the moment the shopping cart is disabled - this will be re-enablced when I release a whole stash of services and products.

 

Basically I have tweaked a lot of contribs - too many to name. A main one is information pages unlimited. I have also copied over the basic product/categories structure to create new sections like articles, q&a's and also the food database.

[Predd0 0]

bit of an update: I have now shortened the left menu drastically. Thanks for the tip because it makes navigation so much simpler. Any comments?

 

Also I spent a few days writing scrips for a CRON job to automatically release articles and Q&A's that are scheduled (just as you can say when a product is in stock). I then took this one step further and set up another CRON for an automatic weekly newsletter to notify newsletter subscribers of what articles and Q&A's have been released in the previous week. You can also add in a message to the newsletter which automatically gets published in the news section (main page) once the newsletter is sent out.

[Predd0 0]

Latest Update:

 

I have released the "products" section which makes use of the product categories, shopping cart and checkout.

 

On each product page I installed a "quick facts" module where mysql is queried and this information is attained and then presented in a tabular format to the user.

 

Would very much appreciate feedback. Cheers!

[Predd0 0]

New Update - A search tool has been integrated into the website to search through the various modules available:

 

- News

- Articles

- Products

- Q&A's

 

Would very much appreciate constructive feedback on this new module (located on the left menu).

 

http://www.aminoz.com.au

[aapinen 0]

how is that Q&A's is done?

 

Was there a contribution?

[Predd0 0]

Nope I made the Q&A's myself.

 

Basically it is a clone of the products and categories as you can tell through the navigation. I simply replicated everything, took out shopping cart functionality, attributes etc.

 

Then to submit a Q&A, the customer must log in and submit a form. When the form is submitted, it creates a new Q&A in a "pending Q&A's folder" (ie. just like a customer creating a new product in an invisible folder to the public). Then I can go into admin, answer the question and move it into a visible directory.

[Predd0 0]

A few major updates since last time - am interested to get constructive feedback on any aspect of the site.

 

- Addition of counter (I was surprised at how much traffic was coming in)

- Addition of poll on main page (modified contrib)

- Addition of quotes (testimonials contrib modified)

- Addition of complete site map (contrib modified for use of all modules, not just products)

- Incorporation of printer friendly pages (self-designed)

- Addition of RSS feeds for news, articles and Q&A's (contrib modified)

- Major SEO changes:

-- SEO Assistant installed

-- Header tags installed and modified extensively for various modules

-- SEO URL's contrib installed and modified for all modules

-- 'Forum' on menu changed to 'Discussion'

-- Reciprocal links page established

 

Any comments/suggestions/questions most appeciated! Thanks.