Oppinions on my website

[Gita]

Hi I have just joined this forum... and have read some of the views and arguments.... sounds like there are a quite a few opinionated members on this board... All good I spose!!

Any ways having just finished the design stage of my website I wanted some opinions before I add the final text and launch it.

Please feel free to be as mean or as nice as you wish

Cheers

XX

 

[annethedonn]

Hi Gita

What's the URL???

 

[Deleted member 3454]

In the absence of the URL I clicked on the yellow www button at the bottom of the message.

Personally I didn't like the flash and music - it took sometime to load, too.

 

[Gita]

Hiya

Forgot to add my website details!!!

 

[SillyJokes]

Oooh, what can I say?

You have spent a lot of money on this site and must have already signed it off, therefore the suggestions I would make will be too late to be of any help to you and a waste of my time.

I think it is the first site I have ever come across with two splash screens.

Out of interest does any one ever enter the site 'with intro'?

 

[Gita]

I have yet to sign it off as I'm not too happy with some of it!!!.

The answer to your question does any one sign in with the intro??? Well spotted!! that was one of my concerns, having spent a lot of money on the intro alone, the web designer has then added an option of excluding it from the experience all together...I hope people are signing in with the intro but I know I wouldn't as I would just want to go onto the main page.

Probably will get that bit changed

Cheers

 

[SillyJokes]

What are you hoping to achieve with this site? Is it a support for your other marketing or are you hoping to find new customers with it?

If it is the latter it may not perform as well as you hope because as search engine fodder it is a disaster.

The navigation is difficult. Anyone who can't figure out how to get around will hit the back button and immediately be returned the splash pages which is not good.

Flash intros are consistantly in the top 10 of most hated things on the net and therefore should be avoided so you should have gone with your gut on that one.

The text is too small and hard to read.

I am envious of your images which aptly portray the kind of up market nights out you are arranging.

I sell a lot of stuff to party goers and from experience they often print off pages to show around and also they like to email the site around to their mates. Your site can't do either of these things.

What is the shopping cart for? I can't see anything to buy. Will there be goods in the future?

I have had a good look around the site but I am still not clear what you can do, except that it seems to be just about anything.

What would really help me decide to go out with Chi Chi would maybe be a few examples of a good night out, together with a costing, because that it what I really really want to know.

Have some examples at different price ranges, because from looking at your site I'm thinking this is going to cost more than I'm prepared to pay.

But then, I sell cheap and cheerful novelties and do not know your market. I have, however, seen an awful lot of hen and stag organiser sites and most of them would wipe the floor with your site in the search engines.

 

I have seen many flash sites and have assessed many sites as a living, this site seems to be well designed and very well thought of in terms of the client industry it is aiming at, there are many sites out there which try and achieve a look and feel which matches the industry they are trying to attract. This is often flawed by lack of knowledge or lack of design.

I guess if you don’t like flash from the outset it is difficult to assess, what chichi events has tried or wanted to achieve here.

My personal experiences have shown that if Flash is used well in terms of design and coding it can be a very successful marketing tool, as it causes people to talk about what they have seen therefore creating free publicity for the site.

I had a quick look around the internet for other events management companies in the UK, and quite honestly I have not found any which create the image of establishment as this site does.

Gita is this your first site? Or did you have one before this?

I have looked at the companies website who designed the site and in terms of there core clientele and business they seem to focus on Flash development and interactive design. I figure this is what attracted you to the company.

Flash can be effectively marketed through search engines, through various means. This obviously would mean contacting an online marketing or advertising firm. Gita if the company you have had the site developed from does not offer this, I’m sure they can advise you or point you in the right direction.

Due to the high demand of Event Management companies in the UK I would opt for the pay per click option as this will allow you to have secure placement and much quicker then adopting the neutral submissions path.

In terms of how to get around the site, I don’t think it can get more obvious than those big buttons in the middle of the screen, are we looking at the same site – SillyJokes.

Finally I do agree with SillyJokes on one thing, instead of having load with intro or without should be removed and it should go straight into the intro, as there is a skip button there anyway.

The corporate section looks good, simple and in line with the main site yet not too laid back i.e. corporate looking, good thinking.

Overall I would say that the site you have got so far, without knowing the ins and outs seems to be by far one of the more interesting event management company sites I have come across on the net.

Quoting SillyJokes again sorry [nothing personal]… but in terms of events looking like they will cost more then most are willing to pay, I think it is important you create that image even if you are reasonable in pricing at least you know that people who have come from the site will more likely be genuine. It’s far better to look professional then to look cheap.

I think if a corporate company was to come to this site to book an event they will not have a problem as it would instil confidence in them and the fact that the company has bothered to create a good online image of themselves.

Good work, keep it up.

Sorry about the essay, got carried away…

 

[SillyJokes]

My first guess is that James deisgned the site

I do not disagree with him that the visual impact of the site is great. It does appear very stylish and will impress.

However, Gita, I would strongly suggest you conduct a simple usability test on it with just a couple of people. Sit next to them, encourage them to speak out loud every thing they think as they go round the site.

Give them two or three tasks and see how hard it is for them to achieve their goals. I think that you will find they like the visuals but will quickly find it hard to perform simple tasks.

For instance, only this morning I realised why I was having so much trouble seeing the corporate site. There is a large button which says

Corporate Site, Click Here. That's all I need to know, so I click here. What I only read this morning is the bottom line in the box which says, "For Leisure Verison".

In fact I had read this but was confused by the button and I didn't see the tabs on the right hand side. I kept sending myself to the leisure site and was not able to find my way back to the corporate site.

Now, I have had a really long look at the site and I spend all my days on the net. If I have problems navigating the site, then so will others. A little usability test will show you these problems.

I did see the big back button but for every page I had to hunt around to find out where it was going to decide to pop up next. People don't want to play guessing games. They want to get around and find the information they want it fast without having to think about every single click. That makes it hard work.

James suggests it will be easy to get your site visible on the search engines by paying per click. This is quite true but you may find the cost too high. For instance the top bid for "Event Management" on Overture is £1.40 per click. You'll need to pay at least £1 a click to get in the top 5 places.

If your conversion rate is 2% each order will cost you £50 - £70.

"Corporate Event" top bid is £1.75 and so on. It's not a cheap market place to bid on, however maybe the figures add up. I still don't know the average cost of a night out.

Further points I would make about the site are:

Will you be able to deep link to the most appropriate pages to get the best conversion rates on this paid for traffic and will people be able to email the exact page that interested them to their mates?

Will people be able to book mark a page or only be able to bookmark the site?

And last of all, the site does look great but you have got some spelling mistakes. Spelling Chauffeur and Champagne wrong will not impress the kinds of clients you are after. I even saw Brief spelt wrongly in a page title. Get someone fresh to the site to read it through for you and spell check it.

 

[free0870numbers.co.uk]

not to bothered about the flash screens myself but it would be annoying for 56k users.

I noticed on the corporate side of the site there is no contact details... there is a booking form but what if I want to know more before signing my money away. A phone number or email address could be easily added to the bottom of the page.

 

[TheBookingAgency]

I really like your site Gita. However as free0870 says there needs to be contact detials on there not just a form.

I come from an event management background and I think your site portrays that you are creative and that your a young company with a lot of ideas. Which will really appeal to those wanting events!!

 

There are many things I agree with you on your last post SillyJokes, except the one about I designed the site, I wish I could do a site like that, maybe I could go freelancing and make more money then I am currently.

I do agree that those back buttons could be placed in a generic place, so that they are always where the customer would expect to find them on the next page, well picked up on.

Gita I would suggest that get those back buttons removed completely and just let the customer click on any link without having to click the back button, this will be a better solution. I think by doing this it will defiantly affect the usability of the site.

Again I agree with SillyJokes about the corporate section and the text in the bottom, I don’t think you need the corporate text in the back link, just back to leisure section will do I guess.

The text on the site needs to be error free. You could also check some of the grammatical errors, but I feel that the size of the text is fine if viewed on a normal 1024x768 resolution which is what most people view the screen on.

There should defiantly be some sort of contact details on the corporate section, this will help instil confidence in the clients, plus if there are any questions they don’t have to go to the corporate section to get the number.

I think if you can outline these issues properly then you will I think have a super product, which will be usable as well as interactive.

 

[Gita]

Hi

Thanks for all your feed back especially to sillyjokes and jamespeters.. I have passed your esseys onto my web developer who will be looking into the problems and hopefully finding some solutions by this weekend!!

Jamespeters, the answer to your question, is this my first site? .... Yes this is my first site and first business... I only graduted a year and a half ago....and am still preparing my self to enter the world of sharks!!

See you guys around

 

[TargetTesting]

Gita,
Nice site, very bold images and design. As people have mentioned before it's slow to get going even over broadband.
A few things anoyed me about the Lesuire site.
Firstly the use of the Back button, at first I couldn't understand why once i'd clicked on a menu option I couldn't switch to another. The back button seems pointless...why not let them swap to a new section without using the back option.

Secondly, there doesn't seem to be a clear indication of what is clickable and what is not (without moving the mouse over the objects).

My last point would be the accessibility of the website. You should really provide a non-flash site for those who do not want to install flash and those who are using browsing devices that do not support Flash (e.g. screen readers, text-browsers etc.)

Anyway, that's my 2p worth

Regards
Bill

 

[Greg]

Apart from what's been said above, on the leisure site, you have to click the 'back' button before using the main menu again? A small thing, but cutting that out would make navigation easier.
Good to see you have a press section!