I recently completed my small business site and I'm keen to hear some feedback. Any feedback at all would be great- aesthetics, useability, comments on the products, photography, etcetera. My next step is to figure out advertising. (Any ideas in that department are welcome as well.) http://www.oonaghnaturals.com
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PLEASE critique my site
- Thread starter captainmeowtron
- Start date
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The little image on the "splash" page is kind of out of place. It's like everything else is pretty but the image is just there. If that makes sense.
Why do you have a splash page? I'm honestly asking.
I think the nav is awkward. I mean the right hand side. It was not immediately identifiable as being the navigation. I think it needs to be a bit more distinct.
The site loads well and I love lip balm so now you're tempting me.
For a small business I think it would be nice to know where you're located. I mean, if you're a legit business and all.
I think telling more about the products, such as listing ingredients may help sales. Some people may have a reaction to the product.
The site is real basic, I mean it does scream home business. I mean not to offend because I am interested in the product.
Why do you have a splash page? I'm honestly asking.
I think the nav is awkward. I mean the right hand side. It was not immediately identifiable as being the navigation. I think it needs to be a bit more distinct.
The site loads well and I love lip balm so now you're tempting me.
For a small business I think it would be nice to know where you're located. I mean, if you're a legit business and all.
I think telling more about the products, such as listing ingredients may help sales. Some people may have a reaction to the product.
The site is real basic, I mean it does scream home business. I mean not to offend because I am interested in the product.
Very nice product images, GREEN!!! lol maybe ease of the green a bit.
I dont think you need the splash screen.
The quality of the text or image text is very low, you should fix that.
I would try to incorporate a navigation block or bar under some of the text. And make all the about and contact stuff more visible and not so far to the right.
Work on your sites logo.
And you should make your contact email a link so it will be a little easier for people to just click it to send you and email.
But the biggest issue i see is the text quality, thats the first thing that you should fix imo.
I dont think you need the splash screen.
The quality of the text or image text is very low, you should fix that.
I would try to incorporate a navigation block or bar under some of the text. And make all the about and contact stuff more visible and not so far to the right.
Work on your sites logo.
And you should make your contact email a link so it will be a little easier for people to just click it to send you and email.
But the biggest issue i see is the text quality, thats the first thing that you should fix imo.
Hi there,
You've got a pretty good looking site there so far. I love the colors and the clean, uncluttered design. My suggestions are:
Left justify your text where ever it makes sense (that is nearly everywhere). Full sentences, paragraphs should probably be left justified. I would use the centered text sparingly and carefully.
jessica brings up some good points:
-It might be best to run your navigation horizontally across the top. It is pretty standard, but it is a convention that people are comfortable with.
-re: the splash page - I would think about how you can make this page more useful to the user. Think about other online merchants (amazon for instance). You could use it to show off a new/feature product, offer a bit of news, or give a quick overview of the company. Draw them in and get them shopping right away!
-I'm not wild about the handling of the about and contact pages. I would use graphics for your logo and then just do the text in Georgia or whatever (left-justified). It will be more readable and more professional.
-I'd put some kind of contact info on every page.
-My last one is just a thought for new content or whatever. I think you can get away with higher resolution images. A lot of effort is going into the settings in the photos. Let people have big, clear, beautiful images. The effect will be dramatic.
Okay that's my 2 cents. Take what you can use and don't worry about the rest. I think you are on the right track. Don't lose the clean style though!
I am not much of a lip balm guy (naturally moist, supple lips I guess
) but I wish you the best of luck with your business.
You've got a pretty good looking site there so far. I love the colors and the clean, uncluttered design. My suggestions are:
Left justify your text where ever it makes sense (that is nearly everywhere). Full sentences, paragraphs should probably be left justified. I would use the centered text sparingly and carefully.
jessica brings up some good points:
-It might be best to run your navigation horizontally across the top. It is pretty standard, but it is a convention that people are comfortable with.
-re: the splash page - I would think about how you can make this page more useful to the user. Think about other online merchants (amazon for instance). You could use it to show off a new/feature product, offer a bit of news, or give a quick overview of the company. Draw them in and get them shopping right away!
-I'm not wild about the handling of the about and contact pages. I would use graphics for your logo and then just do the text in Georgia or whatever (left-justified). It will be more readable and more professional.
-I'd put some kind of contact info on every page.
-My last one is just a thought for new content or whatever. I think you can get away with higher resolution images. A lot of effort is going into the settings in the photos. Let people have big, clear, beautiful images. The effect will be dramatic.
Okay that's my 2 cents. Take what you can use and don't worry about the rest. I think you are on the right track. Don't lose the clean style though!
I am not much of a lip balm guy (naturally moist, supple lips I guess
) but I wish you the best of luck with your business.
Agree with what's already been said. It feels lazy though that just may be the result of either your ability or time spent. Picture boxes and random text..no clear design imo. Lose the splash page, it serves no purpose and gives your market the opportunity to not click further.
Also watch the line breaks with your text.
Also watch the line breaks with your text.
Splash page - no! Bad idea - doesn't add anything to the site, gets in the way... just go straight to the site. You don't need an ad to tell people what they're doing... just go to the site proper! Your audience (and customers) will really appreciate it. After all they're the ones you want to visit the site, like what they see and buy stuff. Everything else is secondary.
Thanks for all the help. Looking over the site once again, I think I was spending a lot of time trying to make sure the code worked (it's my first time with php and the shopping cart was very challenging) and not enough with the design.
Will you look again, and see how you like the suggestions I incorporated? I think I will also add larger pictures for each product page. Would it be annoying if I have a fade between the product and a detail of the product (open jar, etc) or would it add valuable information?
http://www.oonaghnaturals.com
Oh, I worked on the copy as well. Any additional comments are welcomed.
Will you look again, and see how you like the suggestions I incorporated? I think I will also add larger pictures for each product page. Would it be annoying if I have a fade between the product and a detail of the product (open jar, etc) or would it add valuable information?
http://www.oonaghnaturals.com
Oh, I worked on the copy as well. Any additional comments are welcomed.
Many successful companies were started as kitchen-sink endeavors, expanding as they went along. It's a great thing that people can do these little start-ups- don't knock it! It's part of the American Way, don't you know. Moreover, I suspect people are doing it in greater numbers than ever after being laid off from the jobs they once depended on.
^ yes nothing wrong with that and there are a lot of people who started small at the comfort of their own home (or someone else's home lol)
Save? he or she is starting a business, you ask for a small business loan..
Edit: i took a look at your edits, very nice! you just improved it 10x..
Save? he or she is starting a business, you ask for a small business loan..
Edit: i took a look at your edits, very nice! you just improved it 10x..
1. Logo should be linked to home.
2. Flash is not search engine friendly. Also, someone with flash blocker would see your front page as blank.
3. Inconsistent capitalization for product names on home page flash
4. Lack of footer.
5. Bug with cart page background color. See image.
2. Flash is not search engine friendly. Also, someone with flash blocker would see your front page as blank.
3. Inconsistent capitalization for product names on home page flash
4. Lack of footer.
5. Bug with cart page background color. See image.
Attachments
How often do people use flash blocker? Is it just a few people (like worrying about Internet Explorer users?) What is a good alternative?
A growing number. AdBlock is on Firefox's top 5 list for addons and has been there for a long time. There's also a Safari block and similar items for most browsers. It's hard to capture these kinds of statistics though and I didn't find anything on a quick search. Alternative to Flash is simply JavaScript in a lot of cases.
Seems to be 10% of users from America and Europe, 20% of users from Asia, at least for my site on famous mac users.
It gets rid of those pesky instantly activated flash ad, and reduces CPU usage.
Hm. I decided to use a nice looking (I hope) HTML table instead. No reason to risk it, I guess. I suppose I wanted to impress visitors with something fancy. Maybe they will like the floral flourishes I added instead.
Do you guys think it seems like too few items for sale? Do you look at the site and think, there's not a lot of different things I can buy?
Also, the header still seems somehow not right to me. Is it too wide? Is the type face unattractive or not modern enough?
Do you guys think it seems like too few items for sale? Do you look at the site and think, there's not a lot of different things I can buy?
Also, the header still seems somehow not right to me. Is it too wide? Is the type face unattractive or not modern enough?