Feedback on my website

[ToddS]

I'm not terribly sure if this is the best place to post this thread, so if moderators wish me to place it elsewhere please let me know.

For starters, I wanted to make it very clear that in no way, shape, or form am I trying to promote any of my products. I would, however, like to get some feedback on what you folks think about my website. I sell a variety of items from bowls, platters, ornamental birdhouses (Dale Nish style), pens, etc.. The site is through an e-commerce site called Shopify, which has its pros and cons, but I guess it works. I've had some good comments from friends and colleagues, but after looking at some of the IAP member's websites I must say I have some potential work to do. As a medic my skin is pretty thick and I don't take things personally, so I'm open to any comments.

Anyway, www.branchout-woodworking.com is the site. Thanks in advance to those who are willing to take a look.

Very best,

Todd

 

[TonyL]

Nice and clean! Would like to be able to zoom-in on the pics. Much success!

 

[ToddS]

Nice and clean! Would like to be able to zoom-in on the pics. Much success!

Thanks Tony. At one point the pictures had zoom capability but I think Shopify changed some of their programming. Good suggestion and I'm going to have to research this a bit more.

 

[TonyL]

[emoji106]

Sent from my SM-G900T3 using Tapatalk

 

[robutacion]

I had a quick look and I can say that, if was you to create the whole thing, you have done well, it's a tremendous job and how do I know, I created a hand full the recent and the only one live, is my web-store that was also created and supported by Shopify and you used a theme base, similar to mine.

Some possible changes may be suggested but, and as time goes, you will change a few things here and there, that is only normal.

The bigger issue is, how bad you want the web-store to be known and appearing at the top of a page when a search is made, that my friend is a major decision, waiting for the web-store to be passed on from mouth to mouth and without any major promotions, it will be painfully slow however, with the right investment, you can have your web-page being promoted fast and furious, the question is, can you afford that overhead? well, I couldn't...!

Advertisement is and has always been a very expensive exercise, and you have no guarantees, and that is a fact.

With that said, we all had to start somewhere and having a web-store such as yours, is a great start, congrats...!

Best of luck.

Cheers
George

 

[bmcclellan]

Site looks good.

 

[Jgrden]

Nice. You been a busy little guy.

 

[steamshovel]

When do you sleep? If I made all you have shown on your site I would be 9,000 years old and never slept. Good job on what you have shown and good luck.

Preston

 

[Joe Burns]

Hi Todd,

Looks like a good start on the web site. You have done tons of work there. You have a pretty good layout there. Some things come to mind for me.

The front page is a little busy for my tastes. We want to encourage people to click through the site.
Could you simplify the left menu or would shopify let you move it to a drop down style menu at the top?
Do you have a facebook setup for your business? I didnt see a link on the site for it. I use my facebook and twitter pages to drive traffic to my website.

Great job.

Joe

 

[gbpens]

No pictures on the front page????? All I saw was Happy Holidays. DISPLAY some of your work on the Home page! You are not selling holiday greetings or a sale! Make your company name much large. The whole page looks like a busy Power Point. Still, a great try with plenty of info. Hope I haven't made an enemy here.

 

[ToddS]

When do you sleep? If I made all you have shown on your site I would be 9,000 years old and never slept. Good job on what you have shown and good luck.

Preston

Thanks Preston. Appreciate the comments. Yes, all of this stuff is mine. These projects are anywhere from very recent through about 2 years ago. Now I'm just trying to get my name out there, above and beyond my friends. It's becoming a hard reality that I have to do more advertising. Friends are.........fickle..........to be really honest.

 

[ToddS]

Hi Todd,

Looks like a good start on the web site. You have done tons of work there. You have a pretty good layout there. Some things come to mind for me.

The front page is a little busy for my tastes. We want to encourage people to click through the site.
Could you simplify the left menu or would shopify let you move it to a drop down style menu at the top?
Do you have a facebook setup for your business? I didnt see a link on the site for it. I use my facebook and twitter pages to drive traffic to my website.

Great job.

Joe

Thanks Joe. Good suggestions. I've gotten those suggestions from a few others as well. Any ideas on how to direct customers to where they need to go without such a busy intro page? I want them to make sure they know shipping costs and navigation process, but I suppose they will figure it out. The modern generation is far more computer savvy. I'm pretty bad at this stuff, so it took me a long time to get this website worked out. It's no wonder these larger companies have webmasters that do nothing but web page development. This site has taken a very long time.

 

[ToddS]

No pictures on the front page????? All I saw was Happy Holidays. DISPLAY some of your work on the Home page! You are not selling holiday greetings or a sale! Make your company name much large. The whole page looks like a busy Power Point. Still, a great try with plenty of info. Hope I haven't made an enemy here.

No no!!!! Not at all!!!! Thanks for the comments. I like what you had to say. Between your response, and those of others, I think I'm going to spend some time tomorrow working on some tweaks.

 

[mecompco]

I think with a little work your site will be great. I agree, get rid of the endless legalese on the home page--the nav links on the left are enough. Oh, and I find the red dots all over the place off-putting. When you click catalog, it defaults to all products, which oddly includes sold items.

I do like your product mix and categories.

Just my .02!

Regards,
Michael

 

[TellicoTurning]

If I can be really honest here, Unless "Branchout" is your last name (You don't have one in your profile), the title of the site makes no sense to me.... it seems a bit disconnected to the content... and it's really not a site I would spend much time on... I think the home page should reflect more of what you do and in pictures... My opinion only, but I think we have become a visual society and rely on pictures more than written descriptions.

And I don't like sites that I have to log in to to surf or buy from... again, just my personality.....