vjwebb Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 My store has been online for several months now and I would appreciate any feedback. Click here to visit www.vjwebbgifts.com Thank you, V J Webb -- A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not a ships ultimate purpose.
♥FWR Media Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 My store has been online for several months now and I would appreciate any feedback. Click here to visit www.vjwebbgifts.com Thank you, V J Webb Love the products (being a dad) Got SSL which is essential but does the whole site reall have to be SSL?? Slows things down. Given that the whole thing is SSL it seems slow (ish) but maybe nippy without. No immediate address (puts of users) it's not even in "contact us". Images seem far to large as there was a noticable load time and I'm on fast BB. Oddly I can't see the size of images as "properties" reveals .. "Unknown (not cached) .. odd. Finally .. it is virtually stock osC whith some colour changes. Given the nature of the nive offerings, it's a shame that the theme doesn't attract as much as the products (average first impressions 10 secs? .. good potential customers may vote with their feet). Generally seems a workable business .. keep at it. Ultimate SEO Urls 5 PRO - Multi Language Modern, Powerful SEO Urls KissMT Dynamic SEO Meta & Canonical Header Tags KissER Error Handling and Debugging KissIT Image Thumbnailer Security Pro - Querystring protection against hackers ( a KISS contribution ) If you found my post useful please click the "Like This" button to the right. Please only PM me for paid work.
vjwebb Posted March 29, 2007 Author Posted March 29, 2007 Love the products (being a dad) Got SSL which is essential but does the whole site reall have to be SSL?? Slows things down. Given that the whole thing is SSL it seems slow (ish) but maybe nippy without. No immediate address (puts of users) it's not even in "contact us". Images seem far to large as there was a noticable load time and I'm on fast BB. Oddly I can't see the size of images as "properties" reveals .. "Unknown (not cached) .. odd. Finally .. it is virtually stock osC whith some colour changes. Given the nature of the nive offerings, it's a shame that the theme doesn't attract as much as the products (average first impressions 10 secs? .. good potential customers may vote with their feet). Generally seems a workable business .. keep at it. Thank you for your comments. The entire name and address are on the Privacy page as required so it didn't occur to me to put it elsewhere. I will add it to the contact page also. When I look at the properites of the images, it shows me the sizes (I am running ie6) so I don't know why that doesn't work for you. I have been thinking about adding one of the thumbs contributions so I will look into that. V J -- A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not a ships ultimate purpose.
cybercon Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 I too am a dad and like the products, but I would change fro the brown. Use colors like the red in you logo. Maybe frame the images more closely rather that making it look like a table, or maybe no borders at all. There is not link on the Geotrust button. It says click here but..... The link for for watching Bunnard exits your site. Consider embedding the video in the page or opening a new window or at least a tab, rather than making it fell like they are leaving your site. I think you have too many categories. Try grouping them into stuffed plush stuff, ceramics, etc. THose are the big things. I see. Jeff Contributions I use: DynaMenus - Light Box - Best Sellers Content Box - Related Products 3.2 - UPS XML - Secure Admin Login - Vendor Locator - Graphical Borders.
Victor Wise Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 Love the website (being my nickname is VJ) Is 800-881-5996 your phone number? If so, edit the header of your store so it can be clearly visible on the top left of the web site. Speaking of the header, looking at the right side, I see a 'free shipping' gif. This is taking up valuable real estate, and is of little use to you in the header. But in the 'view cart contents' page it would be more important. While I don't have a problem with the stock appearance, I really think you need to do some work on the color scheme. And by that I mean getting rid of the awful red. This would probably give you more latitute to make other design changes, such as adding a diffused color on the side to raise contrast. I would like to point out though that there are several things I really like about this web page. Specifically, your category index pages are the best I have ever seen in any oscommerce web site. VJ Best Regards, Victor Wise
vjwebb Posted March 29, 2007 Author Posted March 29, 2007 I too am a dad and like the products, but I would change fro the brown. Use colors like the red in you logo. Maybe frame the images more closely rather that making it look like a table, or maybe no borders at all. There is not link on the Geotrust button. It says click here but..... The link for for watching Bunnard exits your site. Consider embedding the video in the page or opening a new window or at least a tab, rather than making it fell like they are leaving your site. I think you have too many categories. Try grouping them into stuffed plush stuff, ceramics, etc. THose are the big things. I see. Thank you for your comments. The GeoTrust button says click on the 'icon of gold padlock'. The gold padlock is at the bottom of the page. I too have found this confusing in years past, but it's the way they do it. Maybe, I'll do a popup with clearer instructions for anyone thinking that they are supposed to click on the geotrust button. Also, could you elaborate on the Bunnard movie clip leaving my site? It stays on the site and brings up the standard movie player, so I think I may not be understanding your recommendation. V J -- A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not a ships ultimate purpose.
vjwebb Posted March 29, 2007 Author Posted March 29, 2007 Love the website (being my nickname is VJ) Is 800-881-5996 your phone number? If so, edit the header of your store so it can be clearly visible on the top left of the web site. Speaking of the header, looking at the right side, I see a 'free shipping' gif. This is taking up valuable real estate, and is of little use to you in the header. But in the 'view cart contents' page it would be more important. While I don't have a problem with the stock appearance, I really think you need to do some work on the color scheme. And by that I mean getting rid of the awful red. This would probably give you more latitute to make other design changes, such as adding a diffused color on the side to raise contrast. I would like to point out though that there are several things I really like about this web page. Specifically, your category index pages are the best I have ever seen in any oscommerce web site. VJ Thank you for your comments. I really like the idea of putting the free shipping in the cart box, I will work on that. I assume by the 'awful red' you are referring to the reddish brown color. I will try some different color combinations. Whatever I use has to work with my logo so maybe a true red or hunter green would work. Any thoughts on a replacement color? V J -- A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not a ships ultimate purpose.
Victor Wise Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 Any thoughts on a replacement color? No. I decided though the next time I need a new color theme, I am just going to look at web sites until I find a good combination. Maybe this page on color psychology will help you. Best Regards, Victor Wise
Victor Wise Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 This is a crazy coincidence, but today Adobe realeased an online tool that creates color themes for you! Talk about timing! Best Regards, Victor Wise
vjwebb Posted March 30, 2007 Author Posted March 30, 2007 This is a crazy coincidence, but today Adobe realeased an online tool that creates color themes for you! Talk about timing! That is funny. There are also a couple of on-line sites that you give a base color and it will create complimentary colors. The reddish brown that is being used on my site is the same reddish brown that is used in the outline of the bear in my logo. I'm playing with a few other combinations now. -- A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not a ships ultimate purpose.
haolee Posted April 3, 2007 Posted April 3, 2007 My store has been online for several months now and I would appreciate any feedback. Click here to visit www.vjwebbgifts.com Thank you, V J Webb Your web site looks nice. How is your conversion rate? Hao
jello1 Posted April 3, 2007 Posted April 3, 2007 The SSL slow down is a myth... really. take a look at any SSL enabled site, you will not see a difference in speed. my store runs both FULL SSL and ACCOUNT SSL. they both run at the same speed. <span style='font-family:Courier'>If you can't fix it Perl it!!!...</span> ******************************
Victor Wise Posted April 3, 2007 Posted April 3, 2007 Got SSL which is essential but does the whole site reall have to be SSL?? Slows things down. Given that the whole thing is SSL it seems slow (ish) but maybe nippy without. I didn't even realize the whole store is in SSL. Why would you do that? Best Regards, Victor Wise
jello1 Posted April 3, 2007 Posted April 3, 2007 I run another clients store in total SSL, the reason is due to customer awareness.... makes the customer feel warm n fuzzy... but really has no impact at all. <span style='font-family:Courier'>If you can't fix it Perl it!!!...</span> ******************************
vjwebb Posted April 3, 2007 Author Posted April 3, 2007 Your web site looks nice. How is your conversion rate? Hao Thank you. My sales are improving all the time. I've only had it fully operational since September 2006 and I have been happy with the progress. However, I am running advertising on Yahoo, Google, MSN and Shopzilla. I have discontinued the Shopzilla because I think they are too expensive and I'm going to try some print advertising in two Teddy Bear Magazines and the National Mensa Bulletin. I'm looking for other advertising venues if anyone has a suggestion. My goal is a good customer base in the next few years so that I can use it to supplement my income when I retire. Things are really slow right now, but everyone I talk to says the same. I focused on getting all the features installed last year so this year my focus is advertising. I know I have good products and my prices are competitive with my competition so it's just a matter of getting enough traffic to get the percentage up. Of course, like the rest of the world, my day job keeps interfering with my business. Too many projects, not enough time. -- A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not a ships ultimate purpose.
vjwebb Posted April 3, 2007 Author Posted April 3, 2007 The SSL slow down is a myth... really. take a look at any SSL enabled site, you will not see a difference in speed. my store runs both FULL SSL and ACCOUNT SSL. they both run at the same speed. Thank you for your input. That has always been my experience also and I really like having the full SSL. My home page isn't running SSL and I don't see any speed differences. When one side is slow so is the other side and it's always due to server load. -- A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not a ships ultimate purpose.
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