Must like the pain !

[dan pack]

Hi all,

Back again with a new site, I think i know some of what is coming but here goes. Being totally peed off with the old web people etc etc we created this dan-packaging-machinery.co.uk.

Still some ongoing bits to do but any thoughts most welcome.

Cheers

Steve

 

[fisicx]

Nothing special. Everything is hidden away in the menu. The homepage should show the range of products.

Why use shopify if it’s not a shop?

But in general it’s not very inspiring. Looks DIY.

 

[dan pack]

Thank you

We looked at the products and the range is diverse in not only application but price and having seen the way others in the industry done we went towards machine by application format.

Why shopify well when it comes to websites we have just got sick of being let down and held to ransom not only financially but also time wise by others.

Doing it this way has allowed us to get what we wanted, the full process was painless and has been from the start.

We where badly let down for example when the original sights ssl cert ran out leaving to all the not secure messages etc. From buying the domain name to getting the sight live took about 4 weeks with no outside help.

We got rid of the hero from the other site as well!.

 

[fisicx]

Looks like you had a bad developer. SSL is usually automatic, no need to renew.

However, your homepage still needs to be a grid showing the products. Don’t need anything else.

Look at the tradesman theme in my signature for an example of what I mean.

 

[Anon871]

Hi!

Overall I don't think it's bad at all! I think it's easy to navigate and from the navigation menu a potential customer can find exactly what they're looking for.

What I would suggest is add more links tot he footer (for SEO purposes) and maybe look at reducing the amount of text on the homepage? Visitors of your website often haven't got time to be reading paragraphs of text before they move onto the next site.

Hope this helps!

 

[dan pack]

Hi Anon871,

Many thanks for that, by links do you mean just to a few pages such as shrink wrap machines, cardboard shredders and flow wrapping etc

Speak soon


Steve

 

[Anon871]

Hi Dan!

Yes, links to your core products (the one's you really want to push). By putting them in your footer, each page of your site will include these links. Google will learn these are your most important pages which will help SEO

 

[dan pack]

Perfect thanks Anon871, will the fact we have links between our 2 sites be doing any harm?. There are a couple not products that are on both

Cheers

Steve

 

[Anon871]

Nope that should be fine

 

[fisicx]

Sorry to say Anon871 and @dan pack that footer links just don't work like this any more. Google looks at relevance when assessing the value of a link. This is why it vitally important to get the main product categories on the homepage (not in the menu or the footer). You then drill down to the products and from these forwards to related products. You need to take a much more holistic approach to the site structure and internal linking.

The key thing to remember is: people will only be on your site because they want a machine. So your job is to lead them to the machine and then sell it to them. Neither of these things are happening effectively.

From buying the domain name to getting the sight live took about 4 weeks with no outside help.

A decent developer could have done this in a couple of days. And the right developer would have advised on how to properly structure the site.

 

[Anon871]

Thanks for clarifying

 

[dan pack]

Thanks both,

So we have the 4 industry sectors which contain the machines used in that industry would you de text some of the home page and replace with a carousel or something similar with the machine types ie shrink-flow-sleeve-shredder-etc-etc

Cheers

Steve

 

[fisicx]

The problem comes from people stuffing the footer full of links with no real reason other than to boost ranking. So Google now just ignores them.

But if you have a widget packing machine with links to a widget labeller and packing materials (because they are related to the main product). It's all about relevance.

So we have the 4 industry sectors which contain the machines used in that industry would you de text some of the home page and replace with a carousel or something similar with the machine types ie shrink-flow-sleeve-shredder-etc-etc

No, I'd have a grid showing all products or the main categories - the industry sector doesn't matter. Bin everything else - it's not of interest to the potential buyer.

I want side seal machine so I'd expect to see this listed on the homepage. I click on the image to see the range. Can then look at the actual product, check it meets my needs and make an enquiry.

And the enquiry system needs a lot of work. The way it's set up is clunky and impractical. And that's because of the limitations of Shopify.

 

[UKSBD]

If you are going to use Shopify you need to know how collections work and how the pages are built

A page like this for example points to the wrong URL for the products - https://dan-packaging-machinery.co.uk/collections/shrink-wrapping-machines

They may be canonicalized but it is still better to point direct to the correct page

 

[dan pack]

Hi UK

Many thanks for the reply

is this detrimental and could you elaborate if you have time

Cheers

Steve

 

[dan pack]

Any thoughts ! been playing again so if anyone could be so kind or not as the case may be !.

dan-packaging-machinery.co.uk

 

[Graham Tyers]

Just a small observation, on my android-chrome mobile as I scroll I keep sliding into the slider menu causing the main content to redraw.

slightly disturbing and disorienting.

 

[fisicx]

Get rid of the hero image.

Get rid of the Contact, Welcome and About us boxes.

Add a navigation system.

Move the contact number into the header

Add full contact details to the footer.

Bin the twitter thing (you don't have a twitter page)

On the product categories condense the intro and remove the video as it pushes the products below the fold.

The 'Enquire Now' buttons don't work.

Some of the product pages need a lot more info including the tech spec pdf. There is a huge chunk of whitespace on the right of some products which causes the list lines to wrap. This is because of the awful bootstrap grid you are using. Example: https://dan-packaging-machinery.co.uk/pages/capella-flow-wrap-machine

A number of product are similar and would be better displayed as variants. The Reply EVO machines for example.

Add an enquiry form to every page.

Bin the blog - it's adds no value.

The ONLY reason why anyone will ever be on the site is because they want a machine. So your job it to lead them to the machine and then market that machine.

Using shopify is a bad move. You would have been far better off with a dedicated site. Just because you had a bad experience with a developer doesn't mean they are all the same.

 

[dan pack]

Cheers for the input

Get rid of the hero image. By that do you mean the DM logo ? We have tried to establish a theme to run through machines ie DF (Dan Flow) DS (Dan Shrink) to get continuity through the range and also tie in with the Get Me Packaging site.

Get rid of the Contact, Welcome and About us boxes.

Add a navigation system. Do the large boxes not make it clear where things are ?

Move the contact number into the header Will do this

Add full contact details to the footer. Will do this

Bin the twitter thing (you don't have a twitter page) Have this sorted just needs putting on

On the product categories condense the intro and remove the video as it pushes the products below the fold. Do you mean pushes it down the top third ?

The 'Enquire Now' buttons don't work. Does the option to email that is on every page bottom right not cover this ?

Some of the product pages need a lot more info including the tech spec pdf. There is a huge chunk of whitespace on the right of some products which causes the list lines to wrap. This is because of the awful bootstrap grid you are using. Will look at this

A number of product are similar and would be better displayed as variants. The Reply EVO machines for example.

Add an enquiry form to every page. Does the option to email that is on every page bottom right not cover this ?

Bin the blog - it's adds no value. Even for SEO contents and links to our other site

The ONLY reason why anyone will ever be on the site is because they want a machine. So your job it to lead them to the machine and then market that machine.

Using shopify is a bad move. You would have been far better off with a dedicated site. Just because you had a bad experience with a developer doesn't mean they are all the same.

Thank you for looking and taking the time fisicx.

 

[dan pack]

Just a small observation, on my android-chrome mobile as I scroll I keep sliding into the slider menu causing the main content to redraw.

slightly disturbing and disorienting.

Thank you still an ongoing project so will look at it

 

[dan pack]

Been at it again ! so we lost the hero but gained a site any thoughts on what we have done would be fab.

getmehacona.co.uk
getmepackaging.co.uk
getmepaackagingmachinery.co.uk