Comments again please,....3rd time lucky !!!!

[Hedgehog Toys]

Hi,

Could you check out and comment on the website now i have uploaded a few products ????

Thanks

www.hedgehogtoys.co.uk

[Jayne]

Well I think it looks lovely now, even better than before :D

Jayne

[ewan]

very nice :)

[DavidHorn]

It's streets ahead of where you were not very long ago. I'd be more inclined to buy from it now than at any point in the last week or so.

If you're looking for quick tweaks, I'd consider having the left hand menu options available when someone clicks on a product - currently they disappear, forcing the user to use 'back' on their browser ... really, a website should allow users to navigate away without using the back button.

If your budget does not run to paying a designer, then you may have gone as far as you can. Well done.

David

[clairemackaness]

It looks fab, nice clear images of bright and interesting products. I also love the footprint buttons they are really cute

[RSL]

The site looks lovely. The colours suit the style of products you offer and the layout is easy to read.

Good luck with it

[cjd]

Much better :-)

In the spirit of continuous improvement.....

1. find a way of eliminating the white boarder round your products and some of the text in your contact page etc - it looks cut and paste.

2. check your fonts and font sizes - they vary all over the site - consistency is part of branding

3. there's some spelling mistakes that spellcheck won't find - not instead of note etc - get a fresh pair of eyes to read every page, you won't be able to see them any more :-)

4. having told you to take all that text of the front page, I think it now looks rather unwelcoming ! A few words of hello would be nice.

5. still think you get get rid of the -> on the left, but if you prefer it, leave it.

found you another pinocchio by accident......

http://www.pinocchiotoys.co.uk/

[Hedgehog Toys]

Thanks everyone for the comments so far, i wouldn't have got this far with the site if it hadn't of been for your constructive comments.

CJD, thanks for the pointers, there is an option in the control panel to enable me to change the background for the products, i will check it out.
My wife is going to proof read for me and i will standardise the font.

Nearly there......!!!! :lol: [/quote]

[lowcostinks]

nice looking web site, the buttons on firefox look abit small tho as in the image has been resized wrong dunno if th ats just me

[Whistle Ink]

Hi,

I'll be honest. A definite improvement on the last one - but I still don't think it looks the business. It still looks amateurish. Its a very good attempt at doing it yourself - not may could get this far but it needs the hands or 'clicks' of a professional web designer.

I'll leave it there! What do the webdesigners of this forum really think? I mean really think?

I would save up and get it done professionally. :D

[ink4-u]

that is top makes me want to look at and buy more now.

[Coding Monkey]

I'll leave it there! What do the webdesigners of this forum really think? I mean really think?


Basically what you said. I would not buy from a website that looked like that. That's the most fair way I can word it.

Many people are looking at it exactly as you said: as a first attempt as a website. It's far better than what I would have done as a first attempt, but I wasn't trying to sell something. If you look at it as an attempt to make money, I think it fails.

[Jayne]

I'd buy from it, i'm a none techy so wouldn't be able to tell a pro site from a home made one:D

I think it looks warm and friendly.

Jayne :D

[ink4-u]

i think you can jayne without knowing yourself. look at that site and then go to toys'r'us or pcworld the sites are on differne levs however i think it is a good improvement and makes me more interested to buy.

[crus]

OK,

designers and programmers tend not to be the best people to ask,
niche markets are hard to understand, let alone if you throw in a personal story.

Howe many other sites are selling hedgehog toys? If none, then you have a good chance, you may miss out on a few conversions until you can get a full blown site built.

User trust is important, landline and on line chat can counter the negatives of a site that doenst quite hit the mark.

I would clean up the header and focus on the fonts used, otherwise theres not that much you can do with a shelf cart system.

D

[cjd]

I think both sets of comments are fair.

It's still blindingly obviously a home made site, but at least it's no longer utterly hopeless; and it looks honest.

A grandmother might buy from it but a discriminating web user certainly wouldn't. (btw, I haven't looked at what happens when you try to buy something - https etc?)

It won't matter of course, because having a web site counts for nothing if no-one knows about it.......

But that's the next step.

[Hedgehog Toys]

Calm down guys.....lol.....i didn't mean world war 3 to break out...lol.
Agreed, the site isn't a perfect corporate image, but then, neither is the Harrods one and look at the dough they have got :wink:
Seriously though, once the business can sustain a full blownsite designed by pro's then i will go for it, until then i will just do the best i can with this one....

:wink:

[clairemackaness]

I think it looks just as professional as mine and mine is homemade with the assistance of UKBF members.

What hedgehog is doing is exactly what I did when I joined the forum and now I have a site that I'm happy with, people buy from and you lot dont criticise.

Keep going hedge, your almost there. There is no harm in home made sites, these developers have to say that or they would all be out of a job LOL.

I'm with Jayne, I'm not techy and I'd buy from you.

[Hedgehog Toys]

Thanks Claire.... cheques in the post :wink:

[Coding Monkey]

Calm down guys.....lol.....i didn't mean world war 3 to break out...lol.


Well, you were asking for our opinions. I'm not here to make you feel bad about yourself, but you will not see the same results with that design compared to a professional design. I somewhat agree with Crus, as my standards are going to be higher than almost anyone here when it comes to the design side, but that's because I understand what's required in order to produce a successful website. They ain't that high that I've not purchased from a website because it wasn't WC3 valid, or because they haven't spent £10k on the design.

But the design side should never be underestimated. Put yourself as a blind user, unaware of the owner: why would you trust this person? It looks to me like a hobby website, and a hobby website means someone doesn't have the time or money to invest seriously enough for me to know, beyond a doubt, that I will receive what I order. And that's the difference between Harrods and the Ritz Hotel (who also have an awful website) you know of them already, you trust them already, and you're there for the experience of it, so the fact that they're even selling anything online is an achievement.

[Jayne]

I like smaller businesses, you get better and more helpful service from big ones. I bought something off ebay from a little shop and the service was one of the best i've had, got the product in two days. I bought from a big shop and the product took over two weeks to arrive.

So a home made site wouldn't put me off at all, they try harder to please their customers. :D

Jayne

[cjd]

Don't let us discourage you; focus on your products and markets and get the best site you can manage/afford and make it better all the time. A good site takes years, literally.

If you have something that others don't have and you can find a way of telling people about it, you'll sell no matter what your site looks like.

Of course there's a big but - if you're just retailing other people's products and your competitors have better marketing, web sites and prices you're stuffed before you start......

[Hedgehog Toys]

YIKES!!!

Don't take me the wrong way guys, i am extremely grateful for all the help and comments, without it i the site would still look like something my kids made.....hmmmm now there's an idea.....NOOOOOOO!!!!

Seriously, i will continue to develop the site until i can move it to a more professional base and don't fear....i will still come looking for your comments. :wink:

[Coding Monkey]

I like smaller businesses, you get better and more helpful service from big ones.

Jayne

Quite often true in the case of services, but I doubt these guys (http://simplyipod.com/) are a large business when they've got iPod World (http://ipodworld.co.uk) to compete with, yet their website looks professional and their service is superb.

John Lewis customer service is incredible, as is Amazon's, and Play.com is very efficient.

It's going to come down to one opinion next to another in this discussion of home made sites and those that use them, but as a general concept, far less people will hold that view and the solid state of statistics can back me up.

[Coding Monkey]

Seriously, i will continue to develop the site until i can move it to a more professional base and don't fear....i will still come looking for your comments. :wink:

;) No probs.

[Jayne]

Don't worry Hedgehog, we love to get our teeth into a businessey subject, we enjoy it :lol:

Jayne

[DavidHorn]

There's no doubt that the design could be better. Kind of the point though is that this is the first step - aimed at a market who might not care as much as we (designers) do about what the site looks like.

My wife buys presents for our 2 year old - and his friends - online quite often. When I look over her shoulder I think 'My god ... that's an awful looking site' ... but there she is with her credit card poised. We've always received what we've ordered (which may mean we're lucky).

The point is that the tolerance for what we consider to be poor design is much much higher in some markets than in others. Mums of young children (with the greatest respect to all of them!) probably aren't that bothered about the way the website's designed so long as it's presentable, will take their cc details, has the product they want in stock, and makes the process as smooth as possible.

[Whistle Ink]

I'd buy from it, i'm a none techy so wouldn't be able to tell a pro site from a home made one:D

I think it looks warm and friendly.

Jayne :D

I'm non techy Jayne. Jayne do you really like the site? Really? Or are you just being nice? :D

When I desgined my site right at the start I thought 'wow' fantastic. But then I didn't know how to do ceratin things etc so I went for a whole site redesign by Matrixx. Before I did so I realised my attempt was a pile of *$£&!!!! :lol: :lol:

Hedgehog stop developing the design yourself :!: Its time to let go and get the pros in. You need a site which reflects the quality of your products and your business / service you offer. You concentrate on getting the sales! :D

[Jayne]

Yes I do like the site, if I didn't I wouldn't post rather than upset someone. I really like the colours, they feel like woodland, they say hedgehogs to me :D

I have my own tastes, often people don't agree with me, but so is life :D

Jayne

[SillyJokes]

Hedgehog, the bottom line is that you want as many people as possible to buy from you. You don't want to exclude anyone.

So if you manage to sell to Jayne at the moment you haven't sold to the others who don't like your site.

In the end Jayne thinks she can buy hedghog toys from you and you don't even sell any hedgehogs.

You can't compare yourself to Harrods. You should compare yourself to your direct competition and while this wooden toy area seems to have more than it's fair share of truly appalling websites I'm afraid your's is still near the bottom of the pile.

If you look at your five year plan (you do have one don't you?) you may see that spending money now will reap rewards down the line.

If you compare your start with ours (6 years ago) we also designed our site from scratch and it grew slowly until we are employing people, have offices and a monster warehouse - but it has taken 6 long years when the web was young.

You are a little fish in a pond full of other little fishes with more jumping in all the time and only a few are going to grow up to be pike.

I'm sure you could find someone to work with, within your budget, to get this site singing for you, but you really must get it up to scratch before you do anything rash like paying for adwords.

I know your passion for the business will shine through on this project and you will be able to make a success of it. Don't let your lack of top class design skills hold you back from making it big.

I still love your URL but get some hedgehogs! What about 'prickly pile up' from Tobar?

[Hedgehog Toys]

Hmmm... just checked out the Tobar website. That is the colour scheme i originally chose for my site,,,,,,,oh by the way, i have done loads of mailshots but not one hedgehop has bought any toys from me... :cry:

[SillyJokes]

Fool! They are hibernating!

[Hedgehog Toys]

:roll: Drat....i new i planned my marketing strategy at the wrong time....maybe i should go for squirrels...or would that be nuts..

[cjd]

Well I think you've come an awfully long way very quickly. You've now got a functioning web site that can sell stuff which is step 1.

I think what will happen for you now is that you won't sell anything at all :-(

This will be partly because your web site is not the best in the world but mainly because no-one that needs wooden toys knows your here.

If you'd bought a shop in the high street people passing by may have looked in - but your site on the internet is utterly invisible.

Even if you'd employed the best web designers on the planet this would still be the same (despite what they'll tell you about seo etc.)

I think you now need to think about product and marketing.

[Hedgehog Toys]

THanks for the comments
My next step is as you rightly point out CJD, is getting my site noticed.

I have thought about the flyers in my local paper (see post in marketing section) and i am now looking at the best ways of getting my site recognised by the search engines....constructive ideas for both local marketing and SEO would be appreciated...
thanks

[SillyJokes]

To make your marketing pay you will need to convert as many people who visit your site as possible.

I am worried that you will spend a lot of money on marketing but at the moment the site will not convert as well as you would like. This marekting money will not give you the returns.

You have come a long way and if you carry on at this rate you will certainly be successful, however as I mentioned and has been mentioned above, it doesn't happen over night.

When we started SillyJokes we didn't give up our day jobs for two years and only then when it looked like we were making enough to cover the lost revenue (plus we sold one car and shut down all spending - I cycled the kids to nursery with a trailer on the back of my bike)

It's an exciting time for you hedgehog - keep a diary - it might give you a few laughs in years to come when you are turning over a million.

[Robert]

I thnk the design is quite good for an "oldie-worldie" toy shop! No offense meant at all, this is a good thing:)

One thing though... I clicked on about 5 toys before I found one that said "Add to trolly" on it. I had started to think that it was just a catalogue browsing site with no online shopping facility. I might have moved on if I wanted to buy..

[10 Yetis]

i agree entirely with what Silly Jokes has said... If I was you I would not spend a penny yet on marketing or ads until you are absolutely sure your site can convert browsers to buyers.

At the minute I am not sure that the site is quite there yet?

We pretty much specialise in offline marketing (with the excpetion of viral stuff*) but I am sure there are people on here that can help.

A few things I think about the site as it currently stands, and please don't think I dislike the site, I don't, I like it and think it is well on the way...

- Seems to be no 'in your face' reference to shopping securely online on the front page. If I buy on line I always look for this. Also, no mention of the cards you accept?

-The site itself looks really slick, but I (personally) think the banner lets you down at the top. In ad and Graphic Design terms it is never a good idea to use an italic font and the colour is maybe too wishy washy... i guess what i am trying to say is that it is not striking enough.

-Think the 'about us' section needs to be moved to a more prominant position, along with contact details. May want to reword the bit about reply in 2 hrs apart from in busy periods as it could give off the wrong impression. Maybe something like, "Got any questions? Why not give us a call, or drop us a line on our easy to use form below and we will help as soon as we can".

- I cannot remember if it was Ozzy or Silly Jokes who told me this, but when I first launched the 10 Yeti's site the number was buried in the contact us page and we got very few leads from the site itself. Ozzy or Silly Jokes said I should move the number to the front page and make it bold... thats what i did and from the week I did it leads from the site increased noticeably.

- Use of an 0870 number. This would put me off... Not sure if it is because I have had to defend companies that use these to the media, and this makes me to close to the situation... but, I wold recommend that as soon as you can afford it you should switch to 0845? 0870 gets loads of criticism, and personally I wold not call one of these national rate numbers.

-You need to reduce the bariers for payment. Specifically relating to the paying by card over the phone? I am sure someone will say if this is legal or not but... could you not take the card details and enter them through the site whislt the buyer is on the phone?

- Lastly, I had a quick go through the shopping experience and at no point do you ask how the buyer heard about you? i.e. your sales lead source. This is vital if you want to track which marketing methods are working best for you as you can then concentrate more budget to the better performing areas.

I feel really bad listing these things... i genuinely beleive that they will help you though.

As I said, I really love your site and products... and after all, how could I knock a fellow scouser (I am originally from Bootle - Horny Road).

Hope this helps

* excuse the blatent plug!