Looking for some feedback

[Guest]

I still have a couple of modifications to put on. As this is my first site I was hoping to get a bit of feedbck before going any further.

 

Shoes

 

Thanks in advance

[♥geoffreywalton]

Initial reaction is it look weird. Can't explain why though!!!

 

Could be the grapes and penguins, can't relate them to crocs.

 

The 3 life style images waste space for me, a better use would be to emphasise free delivery above the line.

 

See you are having problems getting £ to display on your site.

 

I posted a solution yesterday

[futuremillions]

Biggest thing, no SSL! It's a cute, eclectic look. I would definitely get rid of the grape vine and penguins. I am not sure how that fits.

 

I still have a couple of modifications to put on. As this is my first site I was hoping to get a bit of feedbck before going any further.

 

Shoes

 

Thanks in advance

[digilee]

In addition to the forum rules, live stores discussed in this channel must be powered by osCommerce Online Merchant and have the "Powered by osCommerce" text displayed on the site. Not only is the osCommerce solution being used, but valuable feedback will also be presented by the osCommerce community.

 

Break into the template where you might find a footer to add this to.

[Guest]

Thanks for the feeback. It is very valuable. The Penguin and Grapes are Crocs publicity images. Should resonate with Crocs buyers. SSL is going on the site soon.

 

Really like the idea of changing lifestyle images to push Free Delivery.

 

I will definately add the OScommerce footer. I did not realise that I had removed it.

 

Thanks again!

Dan

[burt]

Looks like you bought a template from sonewhere, then installed it - now you've added the "cute" images it looks quite strange. It doesn't look professional enough to tempt me to become a customer.

 

I have bought a pair of Crocs for my partner. I never heard of Penguins and Grapes - maybe for A linux Shop or a Wine Shop? I don't know what to suggest except to go back to the original look of the template and make your changes a LOT more subtle.

[Guest]

Thanks for the comments. I did start from a template. To go back the original really would not be suitable and anything else is a bit outwith my very basic skill level.

 

With regards to the Penguins and Grapes these are image used by Crocs themselves. Not so much on line but more in their stores. We will aim to change this as the new season images come out.

 

I guess I am going to have to keep practicing in order to make the site more professional looking.

 

Thanks again

Dan

[♥Vger]

There is a full ssl certificate on the site, it's just that these templates hardcode links which should be https to http and the ssl certificate is largely wasted.

 

The "Powered by osCommerce" link is also there in the footer, to the left.

 

Vger

[burt]

To go back the original really would not be suitable

 

Why? There is absolutely nothing worse than a shop that looks unprofessional - you can have great prices, great service, ssl certificate, great search engine rankings and all the rest of it.

 

If your site looks "home made" I'd suggest that a good percentage of potential customer will click away within 20 seconds. These days buyers are so savvy, that everything has to spot-on.

 

I'd be interested to hear anyone elses view on my opinion...

[Guest]

I really am clueless when it comes to this stuff (although I have picked up a few things since I started). I got a fashion store template as it seemed to be the best fit. This is why I am saying that it is difficult to go back. I have also heavily modifed the site with contributions and I would hate to loose that work.

 

I do accept your comments and would welcome any practical suggestion as to how I can easily change it and make it more professional?

 

Thanks

Dan

[luckyno]

I really am clueless when it comes to this stuff (although I have picked up a few things since I started). I got a fashion store template as it seemed to be the best fit. This is why I am saying that it is difficult to go back. I have also heavily modifed the site with contributions and I would hate to loose that work.

 

I do accept your comments and would welcome any practical suggestion as to how I can easily change it and make it more professional?

 

Thanks

Dan

 

your major problems are with header.php ... and often this file isn't touched and modified by contributions... so it's easy to change this orrible header.

[Guest]

I would welcome any guidance on an easy way of changing the header?

[luckyno]

I would welcome any guidance on an easy way of changing the header?

 

open it with dreamweaver... it is always done with tables... it will be better with divs and css, but I'm sure you are going to find tables that create the visual aspect of your page. If you don't know html, you can find some information here: www.w3.org

[Obewanz]

Dan,

Might I suggest to first start by reducing the height of the header. Seems to me that the best sites usually don't exceed 200 pixels high in their site headers. The more streamlined the better, so it seams. The other suggestion is to change the background color of your categories menu or at least change the text color. The colors you're using don't really work well together. I would suggest going to www.visibone.com and checking out their color tools to help with this. Also, since you said you're still working on it, don't forget to change the colors of the product_listing files to match the rest of the site.

 

I think I'd also have to agree with Burt, except I think he is exaggerating just a bit, they would leave in about 5 seconds.

 

I would say that you have a good start, but still need quite a bit of work to make it more professional looking and get that "stick" factor.

 

Good Luck!

[Guest]

Ben, Luca,

 

Thanks. I really appreciate your comments. I will get on them straight away.

 

Thanks

Dan

[Guest]

Hi Folks,

 

I have ad a bash at redoing my header. What to you think? Is it an improvement? Does it look a bit more professional.

 

Comments welcome!

 

Thanks

[luckyno]

Hi Folks,

 

I have ad a bash at redoing my header. What to you think? Is it an improvement? Does it look a bit more professional.

 

Comments welcome!

 

Thanks

 

I think it is 10times better now! Can you change "Get Crocs" style? It looks like web graphics 10 years ago. You can find excellent fonts here: www.dafont.com

 

The categories colors are not good.

 

I think you should use dark blue for text and white as backgound. And for sub categories probably a always white but a with grey text.

 

Change colors on your products pages.. it is impossible to read well. Change size too. The text must have a good contrast with the background.

[Guest]

Thanks Luca, I do prefer it with the changes so far. I agree about the column colours. I will have a go at that next. Do you know of any good contributions for the product boxes.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Obewanz]

Dan,

This is so much better, but it still needs just a little...

 

The colors work much better together, but the category menu is still not what I would have selected, then again - I'm not designing this site. Soo, if you have the ability to change them, I would take the really brite blue out and replace it with something a bit more subtle. Change the #09b7fe to something more like #99ccff or if you want to go darker try #003399. You may have to play with those a tad to get it to your liking but that should get you started.

 

I would also change the "Get Crocs" slogan typeface and get rid of the humungo 3D emphasis of that text - it overpowers the logo, which shouldn't happen with a slogan or catch phrase. If you want it to stand out, try giving it perspective and keep the text simple with only maybe (I do mean maybe) a slight shadow behind the text - though this too may overpower the logo since it is a bit small in comparison.

 

Another thought on this subject (though the text style REALLY needs to be changed on the slogan regardless) is to move your search element to the right and enlarge your Croc logo to fill in a bit, with the slogan either under the logo or shooting out from the bottom right of the logo 40'-60' up and right from their with perspective. Whether you do that with the slogan or not is independent of the change to the logo and the search element move - I really think those two changes will help open up your header to more design possibilities. (Though the cart to the right takes up precious space that could be dropped down below with an infobox- just my .02 on that one as well.)

 

Like I said in the beginning though, this is MUCH improved over what you originally had.

 

Hope this critique is useful.

[Guest]

Hi Ben,

 

Thanks, your comments are very useful (I am glad I am making progress). Do you know of a good contribution to help with the products in the middle. I think they could be displayed a bit better?

 

Cheers

Dan

[Obewanz]

... Do you know of a good contribution to help with the products in the middle. I think they could be displayed a bit better?...

Dan,

Not really sure what you are asking for here - could you please explain?

 

I only see a slight oversize issue on the home page of the site, which is really a minor cosmetic thing compared to all else. The product listing pages seem to be fine to me except your specials page did not have the table header data - not sure why, but that too will probably not be noticed by your average eshopper.

 

One thing that I keep forgetting to mention though, is that your [displaying x of x] text color (split-page results) seems to be too light as well. My first thought would be to change it to the grey used on the rest of the site, but you might consider changing it to the navbar header background color as well if the other is too boring.

[gforster]

Why have you got adsense on your site ?

 

You are literally advertising all your competitors at the bottom of your site, if one customer goes elsewhere and buys a pair of Crocs from them and not you then how many clicks would you need to recoup that profit ? 100 ? 1000 ?

 

You don't see an advert for Asda in Sainsburys window ......

[Guest]

Why have you got adsense on your site ?

 

You are literally advertising all your competitors at the bottom of your site, if one customer goes elsewhere and buys a pair of Crocs from them and not you then how many clicks would you need to recoup that profit ? 100 ? 1000 ?

 

You don't see an advert for Asda in Sainsburys window ......

 

I thought I have blocked them all, but there seems to be many crocs sites using adwords. At the stage my site is at I also thought it might be good have adsense on from a PR perspective and that customer could use the link if a product was out of stock on this site.

 

I may be completely off the mark with this. Do you think I should just remove it. I thought about just adding the google search box.

 

Dan

[Guest]

Dan,

Not really sure what you are asking for here - could you please explain?

 

I only see a slight oversize issue on the home page of the site, which is really a minor cosmetic thing compared to all else. The product listing pages seem to be fine to me except your specials page did not have the table header data - not sure why, but that too will probably not be noticed by your average eshopper.

 

One thing that I keep forgetting to mention though, is that your [displaying x of x] text color (split-page results) seems to be too light as well. My first thought would be to change it to the grey used on the rest of the site, but you might consider changing it to the navbar header background color as well if the other is too boring.

 

I have seen alot of light box contributions. the installation scares me of mostly because I have so many contributions on the site. Do you think it would be worth it? Would you recommend any?

 

Dan

[digilee]

Lightbox?

 

Look in my contribs <-- click over there for solar signin or search the contributions.