How's my website?

[Phil Morland]

Hi folks,

 

I've started to put a website together and wondered if anyone had any comments, good or bad, on how it's looking before I spend a lot more time on it. I'm doing it all myself as I can't really afford a pro on the case, especially as it'll need updating almost daily. I've tried to get everything I do on there, so I hope it isn't too complicated to use. I've started an e-commerce shop but this is by no means complete, just samples of each section at the moment. Anyway, I won't say too much so I can be guided by what people think. All comments very welcome,

 

Phil.

 

Link: www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk

[Lee]

for DIY thats VERY good!

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... lshop.html - in my browser the open times where on two lines & the second line was cut off by the picture of the shop front.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... ineer.html - same thing the telephone numbers & safe cut of the last line & half of text.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... paint.html - "Need help email us" was touching last line of text, although it was readable

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/doorchains.html - More details was out of the box for the product.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... cers.html- same as above on last product.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... locks.html - as above.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/safelocks.html - as above.

 

I did click through a few items & they added to the basket fine. the above problems may be because different browsers sometimes use different default fonts or sizes, so they may look fine in your browser but not on another computer or browser. I was using Motzilla Firefox

 

Lee

[Phil Morland]

for DIY thats VERY good!

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... lshop.html - in my browser the open times where on two lines & the second line was cut off by the picture of the shop front.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... ineer.html - same thing the telephone numbers & safe cut of the last line & half of text.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... paint.html - "Need help email us" was touching last line of text, although it was readable

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/doorchains.html - More details was out of the box for the product.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... cers.html- same as above on last product.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/ ... locks.html - as above.

 

http://www.traditionallocksmiths.co.uk/safelocks.html - as above.

 

I did click through a few items & they added to the basket fine. the above problems may be because different browsers sometimes use different default fonts or sizes, so they may look fine in your browser but not on another computer or browser. I was using Motzilla Firefox

 

Lee

 

Thanks for doing that Lee, just what I needed. I know what you mean about different browsers, I'm using IE8 and it displays ok on my computer. I'll look into all the problems you mentioned and put them right. Next problem is trying to get it as Google friendly as possible. Thanks again for your time and help,

 

Phil.

[shop-keep]

Well done Phil. Online sales are the way to go as footfall declines on the high streets.

 

a few things to mention - Maybe too large a side menu - could it be broken up into categories and sub-categories?

 

Could you put in a dropdown option box alongside some of the products instead of having multiple "Add to Cart" buttons?

 

Also there's no "View Cart" or "Proceed to Checkout" buttons on the main pages - Normally top right corner.

 

I would like to see a "Terms and Conditions" page explaining delivery, return procedures etc.

 

Well done and keep at it

 

Graham

[Phil Morland]

Well done Phil. Online sales are the way to go as footfall declines on the high streets.

 

a few things to mention - Maybe too large a side menu - could it be broken up into categories and sub-categories?

 

Could you put in a dropdown option box alongside some of the products instead of having multiple "Add to Cart" buttons?

 

Also there's no "View Cart" or "Proceed to Checkout" buttons on the main pages - Normally top right corner.

 

I would like to see a "Terms and Conditions" page explaining delivery, return procedures etc.

 

Well done and keep at it

 

Graham

Hi Graham, thanks for your pointers, some good ideas there. Terms and conditions is something I'm working on, much needed for buyers and sellers benefit. View Cart and Proceed To Checkout buttons on the main pages also needs doing. Not sure about drop down menus, personally I don't like using them but I'll give it some more thought. And the side menu is large isn't it, and likely to expand, so I will think about categories and sub-categories. You are a damn fine fellow, thanks for these tips,

 

Phil.

[Lee]

I liked the add to carts, but agree you need some cart links on the top right of all pages.

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

Impressive, very good start.

[CotswoldEngraver]

I would like to see a "Terms and Conditions" page explaining delivery, return procedures etc.

 

Well done on your site, it looks good.

You need a terms and conditions page, about us page as well as a delivery & returns policy page.

A privacy policy is also essential for a site where you are handling customers information. Even though you are using paypal to handle your sales you need to tell customers what you do with their information. At some point you may wish to start handling card payments on your site, it is then essential that you have the above policies listed. We have recently upgraded our paypal account to paypal pro to offer a full merchant account and have had to ensure we have the above listed.

 

All the best with your site.

 

A shameless plug but take a look at ours too, all my own work as well - http://www.aseawards.co.uk

[josie]

Both sites mentioned are great efforts with good navigation systems.

 

I've only glanced at a few of the pages code and it seems as if a good balance of page title info and keyword generation is in place.

Bear in mind that Google currently takes absolutely no notice of the meta keyword tags inserted in source code focusing more on other aspects that used to be covered in these tags. Yahoo and Bing still use keyword meta tags so they are useful for those two engines.

 

There's a lot of nonsense talked about website design and its good to see neither of these sites has fallen into the usual pitfalls of trying to be all things to all people and overloading on fancy graphics. It's a common myth that you need to have all the latest technological bells and whistles on your website for it to become successful. It's just not true.

 

Once a certain level of professional appearance is achieved (both sites have done that) the absolute main focus is on functionality.

No-one will ever buy because your website is pretty - they probably won't even remember what colour it is 5 minutes after visiting - but they will remember if your products are well presented, easy to buy, and fulfilling a need.

 

Without looking, does anyone really remember what colour the Yahoo website is? Or Google, or Microsoft, or the BBC?

Probably not, and these are 4 of the most highly visited websites around.

 

Functionality not frothy appearance is the key to successful ecommerce. And what is the definition of a successful ecommerce website?

That's easy.

It makes you money

 

Get the basics right, then optimise extensively, and check the W3 Org Validator from time to time.

http://validator.w3.org/

There is no magic bullet solution (although plenty of people will tell you there is - for a fee of course), it is more like a set of scales where you try to pile as many advantages on your side like grains of sand eventually tipping things more and more in your favour - it's a slow process but very worthwhile when you start to see online orders coming in.

 

T&C's covering returns etc and a Privacy Policy are lawful requirements rather than "nice to have's"

I can't remember offhand the relevant EC Directives but best to add them asap.

Search engines also mark down sites without these elements in place. You won't suddenly jump to the top of the rankings once you have added them, but it's another few grains of sand in your favour.

[keithm]

A very imformative reply Josie so thanks for that, are you in the Website business by any chance?

[StevenB]

are you in the Website business by any chance?

 

your question answered HERE Keith!

[keithm]

Ha ha, I saw that post too about 5 minutes after I posted Steven!

[josie]

hahahaaaaa, yes I reckon I've worn the tips of my fingers down by punching away at computer keyboards for so many years, but thankfully that's behind me as a full-time occupation. But I'm still more than willing to help fellow forum members with their own websites or IT issues - it doesn't seem like a chore when I don't have to do it.

 

In addition to what I've already mentioned every webmaster should ensure they have a properly formatted Sitemap on their website.

These help search engines enormously and aid better rankings. They are easy to do and there are several free tools available that can do all the work. Google is your friend for finding them or you can look at http://www.sitemaps.org/

 

Also a robots.txt file should be present in every website. This also helps search engines.

 

Not having either of these doesn't mean a SWAT Team will drop through the ceiling with guns blazing as their absence is definitely not a hanging offence, but they both constitute a few grains of sand on the positive side of search engine optimisation and visibility and should be implemented.

 

Almost every serious website on the planet has both, and although Sitemaps are often split into two types (public and bots), robots.txt files can be seen on almost any website you can think of by extending the following examples

 

Google

http://www.google.co.uk/robots.txt

 

BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/robots.txt

 

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/robots.txt

 

Ladbrokes

http://www.ladbrokes.co.uk/robots.txt

 

If anyone needs a hand with either of these just give me a shout and I'll help wherever I can.

 

Another thing to do is register for a free Google Webmaster Account and submit your Sitemap there, and also at Bing Webmaster Tools which now also incorporates Yahoo Site Explorer. Having a Google Analytics account will give you scary amounts of data regarding your website. Big Brother is alive and well and monitoring everything that happens.

 

If you want to know how many visitors you are getting, where they come from, which pages they look at and how long they spend doing it, along with an incredible amount of other information which will help make you money, then implement Google Analytics. It's free.

 

Not having something like Google Analytics is like trying to play tennis with a blindfold on. You'll only be guessing what your visitors are doing.

Whereas if you know what's really happening on your website you can optimise your marketing and tailor it specifically into areas that will make you money and that's the name of the game.

[josie]

BROWSER TESTING

 

As noted earlier by someone, different browsers render different page elements differently and it is a battle for any web designer to find a common denominator in presentation to keep their website looking good in the variety of browers including mobile devices available nowadays.

 

There's no magic medicine for this unfortunately and the only method I have ever been successful with is trial and error, with step by step testing in multiple browsers along the way.

 

I would currently test with Internet Explorer 8 and 9, Mozilla Firefox 7 and 8, Google Chrome ( I think its 15......), Opera, Safari for Windows, and a Lynx text browser to ensure compliance with some Accessibility requirements. I dumped IE6 two years ago and have sidelined IE7 too. These browsers will cover the overwhelming majority of users, although mobile device surfers will present different issues due to the small screen size they use.

 

Understanding CSS will help enormously in keeping a website nicely presented in the majority of browsers, and as usual the W3 Org validator can help with both html and CSS. I wish there was an easy solution but if there is I haven't found it yet. The rewards of perseverance however can be excellent.

 

One thing is certain though - despite what many of the so-called online gurus might say (usually for a fat fee) a website won't help a bad business. The expense involved in properly setting up and managing a vibrant eCommerce presence will probably be the final nail in the coffin of a shaky enterprise. I don't suppose anyone would expect to setup a high street retail outlet for two bob and a balloon, so why would a decent website able to take orders night and day come cheaply (effort or money)?

 

Adding this extra expense to try and save a sinking ship will torpedo it for sure.

 

In many cases a fully loaded online shop isn't necessary and a simple online brochure type site is all that's needed and these CAN be put together and run very cheaply with very little technical knowledge required. A rough (very rough) price guide for a simple brochure website would be a few hundred to construct and maybe a tenner a month to maintain and that's where I would recommend anyone without a web presence started instead of going the whole nine yards straight away.

 

My congratulations to all those who have taken the plunge to do it themselves. I know how much time and effort you will be putting in and how many frustrating hours you will have spent trying to get to grips with the technology and terminology. Keep going - it pays off in the end !

 

Let me confirm for the record that I'm not touting for business. I'll help any member who asks for IT help without charge. I'm here to try and develop my engraving interests and I'm benefitting from the forum hugely and all I have to offer in return is my knowledge of computers and the web.

[windycity]

hi josie

do you have a website?

[josie]

Yes I do, but I must admit I haven't yet gotten round to reading the forum rules and didn't know if it was allowed for a new member such as myself to add links.

[StevenB]

you can't put your web address in a user signature until you've reached a certain number of posts (100 I think) but you can certainly tell us what the address is as part of a conversation such as this

[Phil Morland]

Wow, just come back to this and seen the very comprehensive replies from a number of people. Thank you so much, I really appreciate the time and effort you have made. It makes a difference as obviously web authoring is not my trade and I'm a bit like a duck out-of-water. Thanks for comments about the legal stuff and search engines in particular, I'll make some additions/changes. Also I've had more good advice in than I've been able to give out, so will make a site charity donation. Thanks again,

 

Phil.

[josie]

This webiste is about 7 weeks into a soft launch.

There are many things still to add but intial results are VERY encouraging.

 

It has full online sales capabilites with a discount system, affiliate program, wholeasale buyer system which shows different prices, mailing list capabilities, file upload and a heap of other features that would bore you to sleep.

 

Traffic management is natural at present, ie, no Googla Adwords campaign has been intiated as I don't think it will be ready for another few weeks yet, but as I said, initial data results are pleasing.

 

scotcrystal.co.uk

[windycity]

nice work josie and good website.

 

some very valid and good points mentioned in your posts but i think that customers do pre judge you on your website and also expect anyone that is in business to have one.

as most peoples conversation about when looking for or finding a business/tradesperson to a job whatever trade it might be starts along the lines of what was his/her website like

"oh he didn't have one" "really, sounds a bit dodgy to me" josie is right for a couple of quid you can get one and should.

 

I have a small cheap basic ecommerce paypal type of site which i won't post on here as it will get ripped to shreds by all and sundry, I think the colour scheme is important.

the hardest thing for me is good quality pictures of the right size and pixel amount. the trophies are ok as we get a cd from the suppliers every year, i also wanted to learn and have as much input good or bad in my site.

thats the thing when getting a website you have to be realistic as to what amount of revenue it will generate, i would love a full ecommerce site like say shoestrings or any of the numerous trophy sites out there but they cost a lot of money not just for the shop front and cart software but theres the seo's,database collection,marketing and maintenance. but in saying that my site has been a great investment and it has been a great tool.

[ANDY]

thats a huge amount of inteweb knowledge josie, very informative

 

on a side note, your sporting stars glass engraving, what are the legal aspects of using images of famous people?

 

and are those photos all really hand engraved .......by hand?

[josie]

What I'm about to say might sound crazy but bear with me.

 

There is a huge amount of evidence to show that successful websites become relatively invisible to their users.

Once the intial first impression is planted and then consistent branding is applied (colours, navigation, layout), those factors then only become noticeable by their absence or when the look and feel departs from the established norm. The actual purpose of the website takes over and the all important products or services become the most important aspects and users tend not to notice the framework of the webiste.

 

I call it the furniture factor.

 

When you go home tonight you probably won't notice your favourite chair (unless someone has moved it) and that's because you have become accustomed to what it looks like and where it is, and you expect it to be comfy. If it isn't, in other words it doesn't fulfill your needs, you'll notice it plenty and not in a nice way..

 

Functionality and the ability to fulfill a need or desire of a visitor is what people remember on the web.

What it does, not how it looks.

 

Sadly many webmasters get sidetracked into some sort of beauty pageant and their efforts go largely unrewarded.

We've all seen plenty of very slick websites, but I can guarantee you it's not their appearance that makes them successful (except in a few niche appearance driven markets). Their ability to make the selection and purchase of goods and services as easy and pain-free as possible is what will make them successful - given of course that they can drive the traffic to the site in the first place.

 

Good product images are crucial as noted by windycity.

Until fairly recently any web-based image above 72 DPI (dots per inch) was bad practice and probably a waste of time.

The larger an image filesize the longer it takes to load online and visitors don't like to be kept waiting for webpages to appear.

Also, except in the case of large high-resolution images monitors didn't do them justice on the web.

 

The spread of broadband internet connections means we're not so hung up on small overall page sizes and monitors these days are able to display much higher screen resolutions as standard meaning we can probably get the benefit of website images at say 96DPI with maybe even as much as 150 DPI for large one-at-a-time product images.

 

I still have the majority of mine at 72 because lining up side-by-side images at 72 and 96 it's virtually impossible to tell them apart.

 

Another pitfall can be Flash based content. Until fairly recently anything made with Adobe Flash was invisible to search engines. It was purely for the human eye. Things are changing and Google have declared they can spider and index a lot of flash content now providing a few guidelines are followed (check webmaster tools for info) and this makes flash based brochure type content more accessible and likely to be found by searchers.

 

The downside of the flash based brochure content is it is very likely to fall into the category of duplicate content which is frowned upon.

The reason being I believe these brochures are produced by only a few companies to show their range and then skinned out to appear on various other outlets as "their own". I might be wrong on this as I haven't investigated it yet, but if that is the case I would take care not to be penalised for duplicate content.

 

It's not a hanging offence, but it's a few grains of sand on the wrong side of the SEO scales.

 

I 100% agree that a single page web presence is better than none at all, and there are plenty of do-it-yourself online point-and-click website builders anyone can use for less than 15 quid a month. If you can type you can manage one of these. The techie terminology can sometimes be a pain in the rear end (something I have campaigned against for years) but there are plenty of people here who can translate anything that is puzzling into everyday language.

 

I've just read back my posting and I have to admit that no-one has ever accused me of using 20 words when 50 would do

[josie]

Hi Andy

 

The law on copyright and digital image use is absolutely crystal clear - there is no ambiguity whatsoever.

 

Copyright exists on every image whether or not it is claimed from the very instant the image is created.

The instant the camera shutter clicks and the photo is taken copyright in that image exists in the right of the person who took the photo.

 

This right of copyright can instantly be transferred away, for example in the case of photographers sitting around a football pitch - they are taking the photos but will almost certainly be working for a newspaper or photo agency or perhaps even the football club. In the photographers contract of employment will be a clause automatically assigning copyright of photos taken to the employer.

 

Permission to use any photograph can be sought from the copyright holder, sometimes for free, sometimes for a fee.

When dealing with Photo Agencies they provide images in many formats and at differing resolutions, and the fee they require will depend on the usage the image is to be put.

 

For instance, to licence the use of a photo of a famous footballer to be reprinted in a widely-read magazine will cost quite a lot, but the same image at a lower resolution can have permission granted or be licensed as an artistic reference for much less providing the finshed article appears on only a few items and as a generalised only partially derivitive work.

 

The method of creation can also alter the status of copyright - for example if I paint someone I own the copyright in that painting not the subject. The safest way to appraoch this issue is to assume absolutely every digital image has a copyright holder and I don't just mean photo images - this also covers graphics, website banners, and also the written word - absolutely everything

 

There's no such thing as a free lunch nowadays.

[Lee]

I'm loving your ramblings Josie

 

Lee

[josie]

Ramblings just about sums it up Lee. If I get through a day without upsetting or offending anyone it's a good day.