Comments again ...please

[Hedgehog Toys]

Hi all,

Before i start uploading products i would appreciate comments on my revised colour scheme and website header....

Thanks....

and go gentle on me now :lol:

[Jayne]

I quite like the colours, it reminds me of Autumn and hedgehogs :D

Jayne

[fastfences]

Hi Hedge,

I look at your site as one of the few 'non web' guys on the forum and reckon it's great. It is a refreshing change from the 'usual'. Some may say it's not a very 'child like' site, but it IS the adults who'll be using it. Congratulations!
Cheers, Nigel

[clairemackaness]

Much, Much better very woody

[cjd]

Colour scheme and header is fine.....

But this is awfull:

"Hedgehog Toys was established in 2005 by Chris & Yvonne Dalton who live in Liverpool, Merseyside and are parents to Hannah (11), Rebecca (10), Ruth (4), and Daniel (1).

After many years of dreaming of running a traditional toy shop, the dream became reality with the birth of HEDGEHOG TOYS.

We have realised that over the last 10 years children have gradually become more involved with computerised toys and game consoles. Our aim is to provide parents and grandparents alike with the alternative choice.

We aim to base our business on several key foundation blocks :-"

Customers don't care about you or your agonies of business development, they want nice stuff for their kids.

This sort of information should be buried in the 'about' page.

The top half of your home page is the most valuable real estate on your whole site and must be very, very carefully thought about.

By all means use it to generate your ethos ( a vital marketing message) but do it with much less space and much less soul searching. Show people what you are, don't force feed them.

Similarly, you don't need the trolley on your home page - it's empty but it takes about 20% of the screen - a wasted selling opportunity.

In my opinion your buttons are about 3-4 times bigger than they need to be.

One way to think of this is to imagine you have to pay £1,000 for every pixel on your home page - how would you use it then?

Also get rid of comic sans - it's become a cliche.

ps Resist the temptation to judge my own site by my own rules - it will only upset me ;-)

[fastfences]

Colour scheme and header is fine.....

But this is awfull:



Hi all,
just for a difference of opinion, I think the 'intro' is totally relevant. It is showing the owners as a family unit with empathy and consideration of children's needs, rather than a 'full blown, think only of the pound' business. Of course, may well be the latter, but they're presenting the venture in its best light.
Cheers, Nigel

[clairemackaness]

I'm with Nigel. I prefer to buy things from normal everyday members of a community and/or a nice family unit. It show that the site is designed by families for families

[Hedgehog Toys]

THanks for the response, i am just in the process of planning to move the text to an about us page but i have to admit, you have made me think twice.
Maybe people will prefer the 'family image' as opposed to a 'high street chain' image. I know i would :lol:
I can't figure out how to move the checkout / trolley off the homepage but i will certainly resize the buttons.

[Cornish Steve]

I agree with the comments of others: the new colour scheme is quite pleasant. It ties in with the 'hedgehog' name too.

As with any company, strategy is going to be critical. What makes you different from the many hundreds of other companies out there selling toys? With traditional toys, you're not going to be competing on price. That means you must differentiate. The 'traditional' angle makes you different but not unique. Plus, who is the likely target market for traditional toys, and how will you reach them?

I had a thought about this. What about going after grandparents who are looking to buy toys for their grandchildren? They are probably more affluent, more enamoured with traditional toys, and likely to spend more on their grandchildren than the parents. This would call for a website suitable for older people: larger font size, pictures of grandparents with grandchildren, and so on. You could advertise in magazines and in places frequented by grandparents. Over time, it would give you a way to expand your business into other areas.

Just an idea.

[cjd]

By all means use it to generate your ethos ( a vital marketing message) but do it with much less space and much less soul searching. Show people what you are, don't force feed them.

I like the family image too - I'm suggesting being a lot more subtle than using the entire home page on it and in such a obvious way.

You need to project your look and feel - your brand - as family oriented, people like you etc etc without looking amateur and missing opportunities to promote your goods - pictures project stronger images than words.

To be blunt, you have to weigh up the fact that if you say I've been in business for a few months and have a young family - right on the front page in the first line of your web site - some people will say 'ah that's nice, I'll buy something to help them along' and some people will say 'well I really wish them luck, if they're still here in 12 months I'll buy something, meanwhile I'll go to Mothercare' and some others will say 'bugger that, I'm not giving those amateurs my credit card'. I think it's possible to keep all three groups comfortable with you if you think a little more about it.

I'm sure someone here can help you with a bit of code to get your shopping trolley to only appear when it neds to ;-)

[Coding Monkey]

Sorry, but I cannot share your views. As one of the 'web' guys on this forum, I think it looks unprofessional and highly unattractive. The colour scheme, the logo, the page layout, the font, and especially the buttons. I honestly clicked off the website pretty quick.

I'm sorry, but I wouldn't buy anything from you or trust the website as a reliable source.

[Rob Holmes]

ok I checked the site in Firefox and then in ie just to make sure it wasn't firefox that was making it how I first saw it.

I'll try to be gentle :)

I'm afraid you may give the impression your site is homemade - you've done alot better than I did on one of my first sites but if this is going to be a real business I think you'd make more money having a professional design your site. They're not expensive generally (I'm not volunteering btw)

I can see why you've used the colour scheme you have - it's very 'woodlandy' but buttons, fonts, text size are all generally too big.

Images are just slapped on the site - they don't blend in - I would call it more of a simple geometrical collage than a nice looking 'blended' site

Your web name is attractive - I can see it will be memorable and easy to market and attract people to - when they get to your site I fear they may well be put off by the 'amateur' look

I don't want or mean to discourage you at all and hope you take the comments in the spirit they are made in :)

Rob

[Hedgehog Toys]

Hmmmmm...

O.k. a complete mix of comments. I guess it's difficult sometimes to come up with a decent enough site whilst using an 'off the shelf' template system.
We are currently looking at the costs etc of building a site from scratch but obviously the 'cost' factor plays a big part.

The difficulty is that i am working a full time job and have 4 kids and a wife to support along with all the usual household running expenses. Therefore my funding is quite limited in terms of business start up.

I tried various 'off the shelf' packages and this one works best as it is more customisable than the others.

I could take out a bank loan and plough the lot into building a website but to be a fair, even then there is no guarantee of sales.

If you look at this site www.pinocchio-toys.co.uk you will see a fairly basic site. This is a small shop in Dunster which has an excellent turnover from its website even though it isn't that great a site.

There is hope for me yet.....lol

[Rob Holmes]

Just so you've got an idea - a custom site with a basic shopping cart should cost £500 to £800

Obviously you can get cheaper and alot more expensive.

Rob

[Whistle Ink]

Hmmmmm...

If you look at this site www.pinocchio-toys.co.uk you will see a fairly basic site. This is a small shop in Dunster which has an excellent turnover from its website even though it isn't that great a site.



I like that site, its lot better than yours. Its very clean, bright and well laid out.

Those buttons of yours are HUGE!!!!!! Is there any point in having the categories along the top AND thedown the side? :D

The colours are ok but I think the site is overdosing on it.

[Hedgehog Toys]

Whistle, yeah fair comment. I guess having the links on both top and side bars is too much.

I will change that now and see how it looks.

I am just going to revise the buttons to make them alot smaller...lol

[cjd]

Hmmmmm...

If you look at this site www.pinocchio-toys.co.uk you will see a fairly basic site. This is a small shop in Dunster which has an excellent turnover from its website even though it isn't that great a site.

There is hope for me yet.....lol

That's a decent site. Note it uses the whole page to show you the things it sells. No begging text :-;, no empty trolley, consistent branding.

It's very simple but it does the job. I look at yours and I see 'amateur' written all over it - why would I buy from you if I can buy from him? You need to be competitive - people won't use you just because you seem nice.

Harsh, but this is business.

(Don't mean to be cruel, but I don't think business is easy).

[Coding Monkey]

If you look at this site www.pinocchio-toys.co.uk you will see a fairly basic site. This is a small shop in Dunster which has an excellent turnover from its website even though it isn't that great a site.


That site has went for a very simple look, and it works well. I think it could be majorly improved, but it's gentle on you and for a website selling children's items, the colours work well. Do I feel it could improve its turnover by having an improved design? Yes, but it's currently bringing in sales. I don't think yours achieves the same result

[Hedgehog Toys]

OK.

Try this one, i ditched the shopping cart elsewere. I revised the buttons, scrapped the top category bar and placed the search bar on left alingnment.

Better or worse ????

[Coding Monkey]

A lot better than before

[cjd]

Better but still poor.

1. Lose the visitor counter (you don't want to tell people you've only had 1000 vistors.)

2. Put the 'I am a real person with a family, and I believe in real toys' stuff, in an About section and re-write it to look more of a statement of policy and less 'begging' - note your pinocchio competitor shop does this well.

Or if you are really determined to push that message on the front page (I have some time for that argument) reduce it to a few vital words that convey the same message and may become your strapline. 'Real Toys for Real Families' or some such.

3. This leave the front page to do the useful bit of selling your gear.

3. You must have a Contact section which contains a real address and telephone number - people don't buy from sites that don't have these. Note that your competitor is able to put a photo of their real world shop there too to prove they are substantial.

4. you don't need the - > stuff after the items on the left it looks fussy and it's unnecessary.

5. You will see a lot of sites will now show their stock position - pinocchio doesn't - if you can do that it adds confidence. But it does mean you have to carry stock......

[Rob Holmes]

getting there...

Also I would suggest reducing the width of the main cart to the width of your top logo (approx 750px)

Rob

[Rob Holmes]

I might even toy with losing the right menu (special offers and most popular) - I don't know if you have the flexibility to do this with your cart but it maybe worth trying if it's easy and getting a general opinion?

Rob

[cjd]

.....and you need a Terms and Conditions page. Copy someone elses and change a few things - just for now.

(And yes I know someone will shout at me for that, but in the real world that's how everybody starts out. When you've sold your first 10 baby buggies you can afford a lawyer.)