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Check out our site and come talk with us: www.productgss.com

AshtonAshton subscriber Posts: 2
edited May 2007 in Website Critique
Share your eyeballs and your thoughts please:My company, Global Sourcing Specialists, is interested in gaining feedback for our company website:www.productgss.comas well as our recently launched blog:www.product-global.comI offer the information below about us and our website to anyone willing to share their thoughts with us.  I will be happy to answer questions and will be checking back on the thread regularly.  In advance, we really appreciate all your help and thank you for your time and input.  -If you are willing to offer us feedback, please let us know which comments refer to our company website and which comments refer to our blog.-Goals: Global Sourcing Specialists is a product development and manufacturing sourcing firm that helps businesses, start-ups, and inventors develop consumer products and tap overseas resources for production.  The goals of our website are to provide an online destination where potential customers can visit and 1) learn about who Global Sourcing Specialists is and what we do2) develop new customer relationships and business3) educate and create dialogue through our blog4) help promote our company through SEO and other online methods.-Our site content was designed by us--the rest by a professional, award-winning website designer (who is also a friend).  Our goals were the same as above.  It`s hard to say how long it took to design--20 hours at least on our part with many changes and tweaks along the way.-Our ego is intact and we are happy to receive all commentary and critique about our website--from the nasty to the fantastic.  All feedback is helpful.-Once again, our website is www.productgss.com and our blog is www.product-global.com.Thanks again!

Comments

  • InactiveMemberInactiveMember subscriber Posts: 12
    I don`t think the site is terrible. It`s quite workable ... except for the copywriting. The copywriting is definitely terrible, or first class awful.
    The graphics don`t bother me and I imagine that the vast majority of potential visitors couldn`t care less. The top graphic is quite nice in my opinion. But forget about the graphics for a moment: don`t your visitors want to know what this site offers? How long do you think they are willing to spend figuring it out?
    The copywriting is all about what you do and not about what you offer. "Envision - Connect - Build - Succeed". I can see why this string of words appeals to you - you are the business owner - but I cannot figure out why it would appeal to your prospective customers. Perhaps a more literal approach such as "Manufacture your products overseas and save money. A lot of money." Isn`t that what you`re really offering?
    From your services page: "Our Value Proposition to You". What does this mean to a customer? Your value proposition? The information is well written and presented nicely but is a bit wordy in each separate service description.
    The trendy "recommend" this site to a friend is nice but really seems out of place for this type of business. Just a comment.
    I think the site is fairly well done overall. It just needs a large injection of clarity and some professional copywriting. Or ... just a bit more focus perhaps. Basically you could reduce the information on the entire site to a few short snips and snaps on the front page ... and don`t forget a prominent call to action.
    Great business concept, imho. Probably a real value.
    Here is a link to an article I wrote on copywriting.
  • AshtonAshton subscriber Posts: 2
    Just want to say thanks for the comments thus far.  Please keep them coming!  They are all helpful.To make sure I understand your comments correctly...Craig,A better explanation of our competencies on the site is warranted.  In terms of product development, this does happen in the States and we should clarify that on the site, no?  We have experience and are currently working with a number of different kinds of products.  In the way of textiles, I can think of at least 5 different products off the top of my head that we have done or are working on.  We`re also working on a machined metal after market car product, plastic injection tool/handyman products, baby and toy products, and some electronics as well.  We don`t provide 3d animation services, but I have a very good designer I can refer out to who does this.BrandAlchemy, To save my designer, I have to say that while he gave me some basic input and helped me build the backend, many of the design choices (banner included) were mine.  I agree, the homepage banner could probably use improvement.  The pics in it are from Istockphoto.com.  Is there a better source for pics?  Please let me know.  I agree that I should fix the blog scrolling issue.  I also agree that "0" comments does not look great.  Of course, my goal is to begin generating comments.  I`d rather have people know they can make comments than not see there aren`t any.  Is there a way to do this?  Finally, beyond brokerage, we provide a suite of services in the following: design, development, prototyping, vendor sourcing, manufacturing management, quality control, packaging, and shipping.  Do I need to make this more evident/prominent on the website?nhgnikole,Blog excerpts indeed.  Yes, I`ll make subscriptions much easier and visible.  "Site Powered by Wind Energy" means that our servers are run by wind energy.  CookieMonster,           Copywriting...  We should be more specific about what we do in less words.  I do like the recommend feature, but perhaps we should change how we present it?  Thanks again for all of your input.
  • InactiveMemberInactiveMember subscriber Posts: 12
    Thanks for the kind words Craig. Craig has nicely summed up a very complex topic. The copywriting needs to be professionally written or you need to invest some time and effort in making it excellent. As Craig points out, better than I have in the past, copywriting is complicated. Though the end result is supposed to be very simple, the process of determining an approach and filtering the words is tricky. My advice: either spend some time learning about copywriting or hire someone to help. This tends to make a huge difference.
  • AshtonAshton subscriber Posts: 2
    Hi,      Just want to say thanks for all the input.  It may take us some time--but I`ve taken notes on your suggestions and will be implementing a number of them.  Thanks,Ashton
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