how can we improve our website?

[blown away]

All suggestions welcome, I have been messing about with the content and design over the last couple of days, staffskite btw. the site builder is quite restrictive as a you use templates that can't be changed for background colour etc.
I'm fairly happy with the result but I'd like some input on what can be improved ( I know that some of the pics are awful, trying to resolve it), there are a lot more products to go in there but it takes time and patience ( both in short supply!).
we have tried to make it as simple as possible and have never done it before apart from our ebay shop, blown away kites and models, which is simplicity itself to set up and maintain.
what we now need is exposure, if I google for our company name, staffordshire kite and board, we come up right at the top, as our ebay shop, such is the power of ebay! our website doesn't get a look in, and yes I have put in the name as keywords, before you ask. was it a mistake to abbreviate the name to staffskite for our co.uk?

 

[blown away]

Does no one want to comment?
Is it that bad?:redface:
Or is it not in need of improvment?

 

[mattk]

The reason your site doesn't come up on Google is because it hasn't been indexed yet. You can see what pages on your site are indexed by typeing:

site:www.staffskite.co.uk

into Google. This will return all the pages on your site that are indexed. This query works on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

To get your site indexed by Google (or indeed any search engine) you need to get links that Google will follow pointing at your site. This is easy. Submit a "story" to news sites like Digg.com and Reddit.net. The search engines love these kinds of sites and will follow the links to your site and index it well. If your site has an RSS feed, submit that feed to sites like FeedBurner.com and Feedster.com. Despite most search engines having an "Add Site" function, there is anecdotal evidence with Google at least to suggest that the waiting list on these functions are soooo long as to render them useless.

If you find that only the first page of your site is indexed then you can prompt the search engines to dipa little deeper by submitting a sitemap. Create an XML sitemap of your site using a free XML sitemap tool such as this one. You can then log into Google, claim your site and upload the sitemap to help Google index all your pages. Yahoo are also rolling out several Webmaster tools which I've only just started using, but they look similar to Google.

Hope that helps.

 

[creospace]

OK:

General images are too big and are should be resized as take an age to load
Shop images are too small and not viewable at all
The logo isn't catchy and doesn't represent what you do
The city skyline doesn't look right at all
It doesn't look professional and I'd have no confidence in buying from it
Lots of space doing nothing

Get a pro to do it

 

[-TJ-]

I quite like it but you will need more text on the site to get good results in google. E.g. more info on the front page and more indepth product descriptions.

 

[SillyJokes]

You can do better.

Don't forget the importance of the first fold and don't waste a mm of it on grey space

 

[blown away]

Ok, I have been playing about with the site and made some changes, mainly with the front pages.
Still having some picture issues but they are slowly being resolved. have a look please and see if I have made a postive start to making the site viable, please remember that we are total amateurs , not web designers, if we could afford to have someone do it for us, we would.
It's easy to say with hindsight that we should have spent a few £100's less on stock , then we could have got a professional to do it, but, you live and learn. :redface:

 

[creospace]

if we could afford to have someone do it for us, we would.

So when you did your business plan you didn't actually put a budget aside for a website? Anywya that aside I would say the question is more 'Can you afford not to spend good money on a decent website'?

So yes all things considered it's getting better, i still don't get what the American skyline picture has to do with your business, it might be a catchy picture for an advert on a billboard but it doesn't affirm to me that I've landed on a website selling big boys kites

There's a little too much spare space for my personal liking, not sure what others will say.

Try to tidy up the text too, you know about the pictures and that will be the biggest thing that will stop people from buying from you, if they aren't' put off by anything else.

Remember:
First impressions on landing (assuming they can find the site) - good web design/er
Faith in the company by reading - good Copywriter
Faith in the products by seeing - good Photos/photographer
Hopefully an order - a good customer

 

[Chelltune]

On my screen the site is wide, I have to scroll across to see the right hand side of it.

You could ask a company like www.acpr.co.uk to rewrite your home page text, it wouldn't cost much but would make it look more professional.