WE'VE MOVED!

We are proud to announce our NEW community destination. Engage with resident experts and fellow entrepreneurs, and learn everything you need to start your business. Check out the new home of StartupNation Community at startupnation.mn.co

Please review my website...

PrissyPuppiesPrissyPuppies subscriber Posts: 1
edited January 2008 in Website Critique
We are a new online retail boutique for dog products that caters to those who love to pamper their furry little one. We are still trying to finalize our website by finishing adding all products we would like to offer, but most are already on we just need to add different selection to each category we have. I would like to receive a critique on what else I might need to add to the home page and other pages as well, or just change things around to make it more appealing to some one who wants to buy these types of products. Also we are thinking of hold “puppy parties” (kind of like a Tupper Ware party) where we show off new fashions and other dog stuff that might be useful for any dog owner. I want to know how to add that on to the website or have it link off to a whole different website?? We are located in Miami and will be only offering the parties in Miami and Broward counties of Florida, what do you guys think of that?? Please feel free to give me all your suggestions that way I may implement them and succeed in my new business venture. Our website is as follows:  www.prissypuppies.com

Comments

  • RC4URC4U subscriber Posts: 1


    Hi, I don`t have any pets or anything, but I do like your website.  I think that it`s easy to find your way around and I like the colors.  Good Luck with everything.


  • PrissyPuppiesPrissyPuppies subscriber Posts: 1
    Thank you, I`m glad that non-pet owners find it easy to use and like the lay out of it. If you do have any friends or family that have pets (dogs) please let me know, so that I can maybe get there e-mail, so once we have our official launch I can send out a discount coupon for them to use, as well as any one else in SuN..
  • WeblineWebline subscriber Posts: 13 Bronze Level Member
    Visually, it isn`t really a tight, cohesive ( for lack of a better term ) layout. It is too wide, and seems to have too much open space. For example, ( just my opinion ), if your logo was moved to the top left corner, and the content was moved up higher, you would fill your page and eliminate the "scattered" feel it has. Some pages get much wider depending on the content they are showing. The left column is much too wide. And your pages don`t validate through W3C.Your SEO .... that is an entirely new topic in itself.Your main page only shows 4 "Featured Products". At first glance, I thought this was all you had to sell. I would say definitely put more products here to show off a larger variety for new visitors.Your "returns policy" page basically doesn`t have anything on it; definitely get this in place. Also, shipping information should be easy to find. If you have SSL, give some information up front; I don`t want to possibly go through all the shopping and selecting and deciding, then find out that your ordering system isn`t secure.I am a dog owner, and to be honest, I`m not sure I would pay some of the prices you have on your products. For example, $30.00 for a "Bite Me" shirt, and I can`t find any information on what its made from, or what makes it a quality product. +$50.00 for a collar with "crystals" isn`t a convincer for me to buy it; if they were diamonds, yeah, but crystal doesn`t tell me much of anything. Granted, I don`t shop for these types of items so I don`t know what average pricing is for them, but don`t make me do a search to make comparisons; tell me why this is a value, and how it is a better cost than shopping for it somewhere else before I go looking.In a nutshell .... tighten things up and share more information with your visitors.
  • PrissyPuppiesPrissyPuppies subscriber Posts: 1
    Thank you for all your comments, that excally what i wanted to hear! I will go ahead and work out those things and it all makes sense.
  • vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    We own a small dog Taz and have a few sweaters and T`s, but have not paid as much for them as you charge. However, you may be targeting a high-end market and of course Miami has a high end component.
     
    An ecommerce website is open to the world... that is the market place. You do not have to market to the world, but you should know who your target market is and gear your website toward them. Your products and pricing may be fine for a higher end buyer... maybe even less expensive than the high end dog shops.
     
    As far as the design, I am assuming because you are using prostores, there may be some design limitations (depending upon to which prostore package you subscribe). If you are limitied to the design you have, one way to make it better is simply to increase the size of the font used. The current font is rather small. A larger font will be easier to read and fill in some "empty" space.
     

    The website header (grey rectangle at the top) is wasted space at this point. Again, I`m not sure what you can do to change it with prostroes, but I suggest eliminating it.  The links appearing in the header are also on other parts of the web page so deleting them from the header will not hurt.
     

    The left column is too wide. That may be a function of your logo image (width). There is an image (row-9-1.gif) under the "Product categories". It appears like a transparent bar. Something with color may be better. Also, the current alt image tag for it is "image", I would change that to one of your targeted keywords.
     

    SEO - the good news is Prostores like a lot of ecommerce solutions does an ok job of using your categories and product names to generate titles for each web page. Your home page`s title is "Prissy Puppies Home Page". If you can, I would change it to something targeting your keywords... dog fashions, dog boutique... something more descriptive.
     
    Because prostores uses your category and product names for web page titles, you need to consider SEO when naming your categories and products. For example: the category Prissy apparel and sub categories tees... shows a web page title of "prissy apparel: tees". Consider changing the "tees" category name to "dog tees" and then the page title will read "prissy apparel: dog tees". Much more relevate for people searching for dog tees. 
     
    Similarly, think about the name of each of your products interms of what words people would use to search for it. "Bite Me! -Tee" or dog tee - Bite Me! or Bite Me! - dog tee.
     

    Page content - your home page content needs a little more to it and although cute, "...pur-fect web boutique", implies cat products rather than dog products. Here is where you want to communicate what your store can do for me and my dog... is it pamper my puppy/dog, provide high end products at reasonable prices.....etc?
     
    Your policies, services, shipping terms, return policies, privacy policies, are important. Take some time to make them complete... look at other site`s policies. SSL - your site does use SSL to protect transactions which is good. That should be disclosed in one of your policies.
     

    Contact information - except for an telephone #, I could not find a way to contact you. Most ecommerce sites have a generic online contact form, you should have such a form.
     
    I like the sizing charts you have on your product pages.
     
    Do a search on dog apparel and see what the top few website look like, there pricing, and products.
     
    ~Roland
    vwebworld1/1/2008 8:58 AM
  • vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40

    Puppy parties - you certainly can and should add that to your web site. I would mention it on your home page with a link to another page specifically talking about it or at least a link to an online contact form (see how handy an online form becomes).
     
    ~Roland
Sign In or Register to comment.