Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

So this is my first post. I can't believe I've gone this long on the internet and just now found this site...loving it.

I just created and launched www.FatAcorn.com in November. I looked in to having it professionally created but figured I would give Website Tonight by Godaddy and shot and I think I'm happy I did.

I'm curious as to what you think of the ease of flow of information and how easy it is to navigate. The goal of my site is to slowly begin to make Fat Acorn a recognized brand in the outdoors industry. I am currently working on my first product, Fat Acorn Outdoorsman Coffee, which will be available on the site, but, my concern is that the site is just not professional enough, or has too much of a cheesy appeal? Would there be any other ideas I'm just not thinking of in making the site better for the surfer when they click on the page?

Thank you very much in advance for your opinions, I look forward to hearing back from you

Brad Smith

Hey Brad,

Well, I'm not a big fan of using website tonight or other DIY website producing products because they limit your ability to create a quality and unique web site... plus many such products also have questionable SEO outcomes.

With that being said... I recognize that you created the site with those limitations.

In general, I think the look of the site is inconsistant or "unprofessional". The color sceme does not seem to go together - between the header image, the green menu area, and black background banners with orange text. Plus your logo does not go with anything on the web site.

One tip - do not use underlined text unless it is a link.

You use multiple fonts on the the web site... try to be more consistant. For example, on your outdoors page you have bold, italic and normal font, with arial, verdana, and georgia font faces.

Your header image (wild turkeys) is poor quality.

The links to the articles from your home page open a new browser window. Usually, a new browser window is openned if the link leads to a site other than ours.

The content is not presented in an intuative manner. The home page seems to have articles randomly placed on the page along with a link to your facebook page. It is hard for the viewer to know where they are on the web site if they click on an article.

I do not "get" how "FatAcorn" relates to any of your content, although it is an interesting name.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

Thank you very much for your insight. I have made some changes that you suggested. I looked very hard at having this site professionally done but I just flat out could not afford it right now. I have zero computer training in this and learning on the fly as what I should do and how things should be set up. Honestly, I didn't even realize fonts were different and I never even gave a second thought to the color schemes. I will figure something out with that soon because that has been something that has been bothering me also. The main page is a work in progress. Lack of content is my big killer for now. That's changing though.

Thank you again very much, I really do appreciate it.

Brad Smith

Brad Smith

Another option is to start with a web site template. Some are free, but many cost les than $100. Then change some of the graphics to make it unique to you.

Check out templates at http://www.vwebworld.com/templates/ you can search for "hunting", or other related term.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter