my site

[polar198282]

hi, i have been redoing my website from a very basic rubbish site to a better one with pictures and more professional look about it. I am still adding all my information to it and have a lot more work to do but i would be gratefull if you could give me your comments on it so far so that if there are any major problems with it i can sort it before i finish the whole site. I have built it myself with basic knowlede so you can be as blunt as you wish with the comments. the site is www.forgetme-not.co.uk

[Astaroth]

The site doesnt work properly in Firefox - there a few black sections and the text box is out of kilter - I cant really comment on the site because of this as I am not sure if things are in the right place or if bits are missing.

From a personal perspective I wouldnt expect to see either a counter or a guest book on a business website.

[She Says]

I am also on firefox. The images are a good size but might need lightening a little? Also I noticed a typo: 'stationary' should be 'stationery'.

I hate to be the one to tell you this as well but you are going to get ALOT of spam! Do you have a catch-all email address? It seems you might and spammers love these-they can put anything at the front of your email address ('anything'@yourdomain.co.uk) and you will get a full inbox on a daily basis.

hth
Sharon xx

[MyNI]

Well it isn't bad for an amateur (I have seen 'professional' ones that looked worse)...but it isn't perfect either. As was already mentioned, a counter is inappropriate for a business website, and can only ever do your site damage unless it starts reading into the 10's of thousands.

I don't know about the guestbook though. Usually I would categorically say NO to a guestbook on a business site but I am wondering if it might actually be alright for this type of business. I would imagine that a great part of your target market will include weddings. I have seen plenty of wedding geared business websites that have some form of comment box/ guestbook and so I think it is ok for now. One thing you will need to think about though, are you going to moderate the comments? Will you remove any bad comments?

One thing I will say about the aesthetics of the site is that it is fairly graphic intense. The majority of your homepage includes a large sliced image but you seem to have optimised it reasonably well and I didn't experience any loading problems but then I am on a high-speed connection and there are still plenty of 56kers out there so you might want to think about reducing the graphic content.

Consistency. Your homepage is a collage of various fonts and that is a bit confusing. It is difficult to find fonts from different font families that compliment eachother. One rule I would suggest you follow is to avoid mixing serif and sans-serif fonts. On your homepage you have your email addressin the bottom left in the Arial, Helvetica font family, then you have a fancy caligraphic type writing featured in your background image and then you have a modern squared-off font for your heading 'www.forgetme-not.co.uk'

Try and reduce the number of fonts to help build up consistency and brand-recognition.

[polar198282]

thank you for your comments, i have aol and internet explorer and some bits were not showing on aol but they do now, i think it must take longer for it to sort out. I will change the typo. all my items are currently being re-photographed so the brightness and contrast will be much better. I will change the guest book and have testimonials page instead. How do i change my email address from a catch all one as i have been getting email about viagra and such sorts although it doesnt bother me having to delete them they are easily recognisable so i dont have to click on them as i know what they are.
i will also look at the fonts issue mentioned, as i see your point.

[robertm]

I think any email address will get spammed - you can use a "contact us" form instead.

[Urban Space]

Ermmm, best to leave the 'visitors so far' counter out until you've had a fair few visitors. Your customers will be put off by a 'visitors so far - 61' counter.

Liam

[directmarketingadvice]

(1) I agree with others about the counter.

(2) The text on the front page is poorly punctuated and I had to re-read parts to understand it.

(3) It's no big deal, but I didn't like the fact the menu was at the top on the homepage but then moved to the side for the other pages.

(4) I thought the pictures looked "gloomy".

Overall, the site just doesn't grab me.

It looks like a "small business", which can be fine in your industry, but it doesn't have a personal touch to it.

So, it doesn't hook me.

If you're going for the handmade end of the market, I think your best bet is to take the "story" approach.

I don't know if you're the person who creates the designs or if it's someone else who does that and you sell it, but there's got to be a story in there, if told well, would suck people in and get them involved.

Steve

[MyNI]

Yeh I agree with the whole story concept. People couldn't care less that you use Polytech 300gsm Laminated Corrugated Card or whatever crap card makers use! But people love to read a personal story...although you should keep it brief and don't lie. If people get the impression that you have a reason other than profit to be in this business then they will trust that you will put all of your weight behind providing them the best quality product you can for them.

[Vicky R]

I am not sure if I am missing the point of the ‘story’ idea, but when I make a purchase, I do want to be assured that I am getting quality products, be that a card made from “Polytech 300GSM laminated corrugated card or whatever crap card makers use” or a 100% pre-shrunk twisted overlay cotton shirt or a 5 star EuroNCAP-rated estate car.

Surely, the job of the businessperson to translate the technical “crap” about the product or service into everyday language so that I can understand the benefits I will receive from making a purchase, and not to wax lyrical about the meaning of life?

I am much more interested in these benefits than I am in the fact that the person selling me the card or the shirt or the car has a passion for cats and has, over the past three years, saved 14 stray moggies from starvation.

This is not to say that, all things being equal, I wouldn’t choose to buy from the ‘caring’ business over the ‘we’re just in it for profit’ one but my main priority when making a purchase is the quality of the goods I am thinking of buying and the customer service associated with that purchase.

So for Polar198282 (that’s a lot of polars), is not what matters most that (s)he provides a competent, professional, quality service to the future bride-and-grooms buying her wedding stationery rather than any personal story about his/her life?

But like I said, perhaps I am missing the point?

[MyNI]

You are right in some respects, but the marketing technique varies from product to product. To use your example knowing that a car has a 5-star NCAP safety rating will be more important to you than knowing the story of the man who design your Renault Megane saloon.

But when it comes to something like wedding stationery I don't think the technical specifications of the card used should be prominent in your sales campaign but nevertheless such specifications should still be made available to the customer.

It is as basic as your Idiot's Guide to Marketing...the 4 P's might be overplayed but they work.

[polar198282]

i would like to comments on the comments left for me.

RE Story: i dont think this is needed in any way, people dont care about me they care about the products, and i dont bombard people with jargon that they do not understand either, i think that a small description will suffice such as " good quality card, handmade roses, hand foiled wording." tell them what they need to know.

Pictures being gloomy: all my items are currently being re-photographed becasue the original ones are a little dark.

i have also added a small slideshow on the stationary page, if you wouldnt mind having a look please.

there is alot of work that i need to do on my site and i appreciate all of your commentrs so far.

[Justin Woolich]

Site is looking good.

Justin Woolich
Business Systems Manager - Software for Business Development (http://www.businesssystemsmanager.com/)