Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I hesitate to post my website in its rather unfinished and poor design
state, but in order to move forward most efficiently it seems best to get
some feedback from the community.

A little background first. This is an information website as well as an e-
commerce site. It is designed around a single, yet very important, baby
item. Please let me know if the information provided helps you to
understand the full benefits and uses of the product.

As far as the design of the site goes, many of the pictures are simply
place holders and will be updated with professional photos shortly. The
homepage will get a complete facelift. The green color is too much and
will be way toned down or elimated all together. The site is designed by a
freelance web designer, but it just doesn`t look quite professional enough
to me. Please share your thoughts.

Also, if anyone in the business can give me feedback on what is a fair
price to design a site like this, it would be much appreciated as I move
forward and get some new help.

Thank you much!

Please view my site at www.littleloaf.com

TOL,

While looking professional enough for you is very important, the site isn`t that bad at all.  I like the bigger font sizes, and the basic layout.  It does need to be cleaned up a bit to make it more usable.  You links need to stand out.  Right now, they just look like the rest of the text.  Also, I would keep the tagline at the bottom in just one color, or two at the most.  The contrast of the three colors looks a little off.  Same goes for the logo.  I would ditch the lilac font color.  It`s hard to read.  Other thans that, I would add a contact form somewhere, really pimp the testimonials by maybe including one or two on the home page, and make the Buy Now link stand out more that the rest of the links.

Let me know it you need any help or more tips,
Steve


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Steve James Fresh Yields- a new media firm, providing ecommerce solutions, redesign consulting, web design, email campaign management, and internet marketing.

Very interesting site! I would be very interested if I were a new parent.

The lavender colored icons on your index page are a bit difficult to read.

One typo I noticed:

Why swaddle->benefits->prevents startle reflex:

you typed know instead of known. Small detail, but I like to have everything
as perfect as I can, so there you go.

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Hi TOL,

Congrats on taking the step to get a website up and running! As an online marketer, here are some of my thoughts...

I like the concept of the bubbles - though it looks cleaner on the homepage (white on green) than it does on subsequent pages (green on green). I would keep this consistent thoughout the site.

Your homepage is were you need to draw in your customers so providing more information about your product here is important - maybe include some of the testamonials (maybe rotate a couple in one spot?) and include some of your design features.

I would make the navigation text a smaller font and move the tagline to the top of the page.

You have a lot of content on your website but you need to dig around to read everything. It might be better for your visitors to see some more of the content on the homepage (or at least the sub sections so they can click right to the what they want to read, i.e. - features, or demonstrations. Maybe move some of this content into a F.A.Q. section).

Definitley make the Buy Now stand out - Maybe include that at the top of the top right of the page. Also, people will want to see exactly what it is that they are buying as far as the color is concerned.

In my experience of researching pricing, the cost of developing an ecommerce site runs the gamut for customized shopping cart & inventory management systems from $10k to around $4k.

Being that you are using Yahoo shopping cart, you could develop a professional looking site using a yahoo shopping cart with the ability to update the different sections of your site with a content management system for around $3500. The content management system (CMS) would be useful if you wanted to update sections frequently, such as adding testamonials, or if you are running promotions on a monthly basis, or adding press clippings to a press section. Without the CMS, you could develop the site for about $2500.

If I can be of any more help - please feel free to contact me!






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Leah Messina Sinuate Media http://www.sinuatemedia.com The Organic Marketing Company.

I couldn`t critique your site. All of the cute baby pics had my wife all ooooooing and awwwwwing. Very nicely done. Informative, navigation is easy. Like I said, I can`t really critique it, but I found it interesting and eyecatching.

Dear TOL:

I just want to add some tips: Information is power (in the good sense of course).

Interested in helping you in some way I just search in Google for what is swaddle (English is my second language) and boom! right there I found a lot of information and similar-idea web site with other tips that would be greatfull for your site, such as

* "Doctors xx says" (you don`t need to find a doctor, you can find some information from the internet, o what some newspaper wrote, etc)

*  They offer `bulk order` for retail business sales, and this could help you to grow faster.

And what I didn`t see from them (no matter they seem saying is THEIR `magic` idea, is that this suddle is as OLD (and still in use) baby-wrap as some tribe around the world. This type of warm, human-touch wrap has being used generation after generation in many areas around the world such as South America (You can still see them in some areas of Bolivia & Peru) & Africa as far as I remember and not only for better-sleep idea like baby`s mother still wrap him/her with her own hands and after few little time he/she was growing inside, and wrapped, by his/her mother`s body, that`s what I believe the baby could feel with the saddle, but also for carrying the baby in their mother`s bag-pack.

I wish you can understand what I meant with my poor english.

Learn from another and grow faster doesn`t mean to copycat ideas. Information and ideas were born to be shared & improve, they cannot be captive.

So keep the good job!

Hi TOL:  SUN is a great place to get your site critiqued.  As I continue to redesign my sites the advice from members has been extremely helpful and very candid. 

I agree with you on the site not looking quite professional enough.  Secondly-I wouldn`t have paid very much for the design of your site because it actually kind of turned me off with all the pistachio green and the use of the colors- I hate to say it but it was actually nauseating.  I can barely read your contact email.  A decent design and build of an e-commerce site will cost you from $1500.00 - $5000.00. 

Sounds like you have good instincts about what needs to be changed with the design.  Go with your gut and insist your designer do better and keep insisting until you feel you have gotten value for what you paid! 

There are many freelance `designers` out there taking a good buck and not delivering a decent product.  Boy, that makes me mad!  Hopefully, your designer will put some real work into this site.  He/she couldn`t have spent more than an hour or two on this if they knew what they were doing and if they did know what they were doing they wouldn`t have delivered this design to you.  Navigation is easy and the site is straight up and simple but the design- yuck.  I`m sorry if this offends your designer but honesty is the best policy and I`m giving you my honest opinion.

Do you have wholesale opportunities available for this product?  I`d be interested in carrying it on my website, packedwarehouse.com.  We are just getting ready to add new categories- one being a baby product category and we are always looking for products which are unique.  You can contact me through the site link above.

Hope this opinion helps.  I`ve had to endure some stinging critique about my own design but it really made a difference for the sites and that`s the purpose of asking, right?  Good luck with your designer!

 

 

Thank you MightyMite. Your feedback, although stinging, is very
appreiciated. I agree with what you say. Fortunately, I have not yet paid
much for the design of this site, but I agree, what is done could have
been done in only half a day...it took her several weeks.

I do have wholesale oppotunites and would happy to provdie you with the
details. Thank you for your interest.

I will be in touch shortly.
Best,
Trisha

Hi,

I am in no way an expert, I am trying to start up an intrnet business myself but I am not finding good products to sell. 

Anyway, I love the product, great, great idea!  When my nephew was an infant my sister would wrap them up in a little blanket, sort of like swaddling.  She said the infants feel secure and they do this in the hospital to for newborns.

I like the web-site but it needs tweaking to look a bit more professional.  I do think you have something good to work with.  Good luck. 

Michele

 

I have to say that I just thought it is so cute! I am not sure what Michele means by making it more professional....I do not think I would ever equate professional with a new baby.

I am not so sure about the mom picture and the making the transition line. Go for cute. Can you imagine anything else working in the world?

I vote for keeping it cute...