Redge Posted November 24, 2006 Posted November 24, 2006 Hello, Thank you for taking the time to help give feedback on my store. Link: www.the-bed-shop.com Any type of feedback is appreciated and you can never give me too much! Thank you.
Avec Posted November 25, 2006 Posted November 25, 2006 The main page has something on it that is driving the size way up. The category images are all small, although you should try to cut them down to around 10k (they are all around 20 now). It looks like the various images in the 'What's New' info box is always huge - Marilyn image is 1880 kb and the images in the new products box are also very large. So I would say you need to do something with all of your images and use a thumbnail contribution. Very stock osCommerce look. You have nice products and images, do something that uses those to a much greater extent. The pink with black font give me a headache. The introduction is nice, but seems very out of place at the bottom of the page. Maybe this should be on a seperate page linked to either from the 'Information' info box or something in the header. While you are taking care of that, get rid of the stock osCommerce "Welcome Guest" and all the log in stuff. The information links in the 'Information' info box are really disparate. You might want to break them into a couple different info boxes or areas of the page. There are some on describing spring systems, product ranges store hours, terms and conditions, etc. There is some good information there, but it is piled into this catch-all info box that it is getting lost. Is paypal really how you want to get paid? To me, the uneducated buyer, it makes you look more ebay-ish than professional. If it is standard in your area, then ignore. For the center product info box with the images, you should remove the header and title. If there are no products in a particular category or sub-category, they should not be a possible selection. e.g. wooden frame 3/4 The popup images are not sized correctly for the popup window. I needed to scroll down to see the rest of the image. The icons/images for the manufacturer logos are different sizes. The 'manufactur info' info box is hard to figure out. There should be something that says "to view other Julian Bowen products, click here" or something. The way it is does not seem to add to the shopping. I am not sure about reviews. I have seen a lot that say, as your does "there are currently no reviews" but few, if any that actually had reviews. Because there are no reviews, it makes the sites seem amaturish. maybe have walk in customers write the reviews and you put them in, then when you have enough you turn this function back on. If you expect internet orders you need ssl. I like your categories menu with the hover-over pop outs. Having your store phone number in the header is a good idea. You may want to use that to add a link to your address and showroom information. Nice job carrying the color to the checkout status dots The images are nice and look professionally done. Are they from the manufacturers? Have fun and good luck.
Redge Posted November 25, 2006 Author Posted November 25, 2006 The main page has something on it that is driving the size way up. The category images are all small, although you should try to cut them down to around 10k (they are all around 20 now). It looks like the various images in the 'What's New' info box is always huge - Marilyn image is 1880 kb and the images in the new products box are also very large. So I would say you need to do something with all of your images and use a thumbnail contribution. Very stock osCommerce look. You have nice products and images, do something that uses those to a much greater extent. The pink with black font give me a headache. The introduction is nice, but seems very out of place at the bottom of the page. Maybe this should be on a seperate page linked to either from the 'Information' info box or something in the header. While you are taking care of that, get rid of the stock osCommerce "Welcome Guest" and all the log in stuff. The information links in the 'Information' info box are really disparate. You might want to break them into a couple different info boxes or areas of the page. There are some on describing spring systems, product ranges store hours, terms and conditions, etc. There is some good information there, but it is piled into this catch-all info box that it is getting lost. Is paypal really how you want to get paid? To me, the uneducated buyer, it makes you look more ebay-ish than professional. If it is standard in your area, then ignore. For the center product info box with the images, you should remove the header and title. If there are no products in a particular category or sub-category, they should not be a possible selection. e.g. wooden frame 3/4 The popup images are not sized correctly for the popup window. I needed to scroll down to see the rest of the image. The icons/images for the manufacturer logos are different sizes. The 'manufactur info' info box is hard to figure out. There should be something that says "to view other Julian Bowen products, click here" or something. The way it is does not seem to add to the shopping. I am not sure about reviews. I have seen a lot that say, as your does "there are currently no reviews" but few, if any that actually had reviews. Because there are no reviews, it makes the sites seem amaturish. maybe have walk in customers write the reviews and you put them in, then when you have enough you turn this function back on. If you expect internet orders you need ssl. I like your categories menu with the hover-over pop outs. Having your store phone number in the header is a good idea. You may want to use that to add a link to your address and showroom information. Nice job carrying the color to the checkout status dots The images are nice and look professionally done. Are they from the manufacturers? Have fun and good luck. Absolutely fanastic feedback, thank you so much! I will make the necessary changes then update this post.
Avec Posted November 25, 2006 Posted November 25, 2006 I am happy to know you took it in the spirit it was given.
Victor Wise Posted November 28, 2006 Posted November 28, 2006 Hello, Nice Site – all around! I have a few recommendations which may increase conversions. According to my computer, your checkout is not over an SSL server. I recommend using SSL as it will make people more confident with their private information during checkout. Some of your images are way to big. Here is a snapshot of the homepage (http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/) 3 175235 IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/caesermemory.PNG 1 115393 IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/logo.jpg 1 67053 CSS IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/headerbg.jpg 1 57129 HTML http://www.the-bed-shop.com/ 1 47998 IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/marilyn.jpg 1 45524 IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/pink.jpg 1 26910 IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/contract.jpg 1 25568 IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/sono.jpg 1 24570 IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/headboard.jpg 1 24460 IMG http://the-bed-shop.com/images/bunks.jpg It looks like some of the image thumbnails are actually the full sized enlarged images just scaled down. The above image sizes are way to big – you need to scale them down with photoshop or some other program. In regards to your logo, I would remove the text that says your website address since there is no need to display it. Right now it makes the logo/banner more cluttered. As a result, your phone number is harder to see because of banner blindness. You want your phone number more easily visible since it makes the site more trustworthy and it increases the chance of someone ordering via phone if they are unwilling to trust your website with their credit card information. I would like to comment on the site color scheme. From what I have read, pink represents a color that is calming to the muscles and body (http://library.thinkquest.org/27066/psychology/nlcolorpsych.html for more information). Good choice for the overall site. However, I have mixed feelings about using pink as the background color for your logo and phone number. I think that you want a color to represent purity, white - or trust, blue (which also might make people more comfortable during the checkout process). Also, I just don’t like how the pink top banner looks aesthetically. This is just my opinion. I hope these suggestions were helpful. Good luck with the website! It’s a diamond in the rough. Victor Best Regards, Victor Wise
engrsapper42 Posted December 1, 2006 Posted December 1, 2006 Hello Michael I really like the image pop-up. I was wondering if you could tell me what contribution you used?
chooch Posted December 1, 2006 Posted December 1, 2006 This is a very well laid out site with easy navigation for customers but a few things need looking at. 1) (Whether the header logo size is increased or not) The header hieght needs to be bigger to make it slightly more imposing. 2) The image sizes in the product listing still look kind of appropriate but really need to be a fraction bigger - anyhow, when an item is select and product info opens you really need to have a much bigger image there before pop-up is clicked. There's too much info on that page about a tiny-weeny image.. you need to address that issue. 3) There is no need for the rollover text to appear when the cursor is rolled on to your category links. This is a good site even though it is quite stock - Good Luck Upon receiving fixes and advice, too many people don't bother to post updates informing the forum of how it went. Until of course they need help again on other issues and they come running back! Why receive the information you require in good faith for free, only to then have the attitude to ignore the people who gave it to you? There's no harm in saying, 'Thanks, it worked'. On the contrary, it creates a better atmosphere. CHOOCH
engrsapper42 Posted December 2, 2006 Posted December 2, 2006 Hello Michael I really like the image pop-up. I was wondering if you could tell me what contribution you used? I found it!! thanks
Redge Posted December 4, 2006 Author Posted December 4, 2006 Hello again, After thoroughly going through this thread many times I have edited my site to meet the majority of the fantastic criteria listed in this thread. There are some things I couldn't change, for example, the colour scheme as these colours represent the brand the website represents. Another issue is SSL, obviously my site requires this and I need it installed asap, can anyone advise me on the cheapest and most effective website offering this? Now the site has been edited I'am hoping it will be possible for you great people to give me some more constructive feedback. Thanks in advance. Michael. www.the-bed-shop.com
Guest Posted December 8, 2006 Posted December 8, 2006 Makes me tired just looking at it... :lol: I'm off to bed... B)
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