Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`ve got over 10years experience with all things web. I`ve been building web sites since the Internet went live (anyone remember prodigy!) Currently I`m a senior web application developer in Atlanta GA where i spend my days coding away. I`m a part time teacher for DreamWeaver, CSS, and ColdFusion as well as being a part of my local ColdFusion user group as a board member for the past 2 years.

I`m here to help with anything you need (with the exception of writing your code or building your site for you, sorry just no time). What i can offer this community:

• advice on hosting
• when to spot a good or bad deal
• where to find X (I`m a wizz on google)
• general web site related hosting advice
• do`s and don`t of Search Engine Marketing
• code reviews and web site reviews (ie is everyone seeing your web site the way you do? & is your site a dream boat or the next Titanic
• anything else
  

If i don`t know the answer I`ll try and find it. so add me to your buddy list, email me or post here and let`s get you going!

I`m game. I started  my site and have been adding functions etc. as we have grown. It is a Job Posting site primarily focused on temporaries (but we recieve alot of full time positions as well). I know we need to simplify the site a bit and add a newsletter as well. We recieved about 22,000 unique visitors since January and had 490,000 hits so we believe we have a little someting going and expect to monetize the site but keep basic features free in the near future.

I would be interested in any feedback you all have. You can be as brutally honest as you want. Here is the site

http://www.TemporarEase.com

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Matthew Walden info@TemporarEase.com www.TemporarEase.com

I is really good to see that this forum is starting to develop with the diversity of its members, who can contribute help through ideas, opinions, critique, and suggestions.
As for my question to Jonese, I would like to know your take on an e-commerce website. When developing a website  that will be your main distribution of your product are shoppers mainly looking for the ease of the navigation and checkout as opposed to the latest trend in webdesign or vice-versa.



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Skype Me!!! @ tomaszpw
Rate Me.

TemporarEase aka Matthew

Thoughts:

• flash header is eye catching. Make it link somewhere which drives in the dollars. I went to click it just because of the motion.
• your top nav looks horrible on FireFox. Each item is too small in width. (looks fine in IE7)
• your content area is set to around 810 pixels in width. Do you know what your major audience is? did you know that 30% of users still browse the web at 800 x 600 pixels, which equates to 760 pixels of usable width for your site! If you can go bigger i would!
• Find a better way to place your adsense banners or get rid of them completely.
• Make it easier for employees or job seekers to "get started". The banners are nice and bring extra color but required me to "think too much" to do anything. you should have separate links in your menu for employers and job seekers
• Your search results are great except i want to be able to sort them by the columns
• Why do the apply links / button open in a new window? You`re probably losing people who have pop-up blockers but can`t figure out how to turn them off, or override them.
  

Suggestions:

• get rid of the pop-ups for applying. See if you can`t work the registration system into the apply system. So when i hit the site as a first time visitor i can browse, find the perfect job and then apply / sign-up for your site all at the same time.
• Again create separate menu links for employers and job seekers in your menu.
• Make your menu taller and stand out a bit more.
• Provide more contact forms not everyone like to click on an email link.
• rewrite your policy information in your voice. I`m 99% sure that most of that is auto generated :)
• Change the on-state of your menu (the way that menu item looks when your on that page) from the orange and red to something which flows better with your green and white color scheme
• move your spread the word down, or make it a separate page on your site.
• You mention a featured employer / employee of the month but i don`t see this anywhere on your site. Makes me think you don`t have one, put one up, even if it`s bogus but remember to rotate it so you look like you are doing it.
• Like your colors and can tell you have established a brand, but i know what to look for.
• Love the idea that it`s FREE, but there is nothing shouting this from the roof tops!!! (yes it`s common practice but people still like to be told.)
• Remove the beta version 1.1 from the header, makes you seem like your not sure if the business will do anything.
  

overall it`s a nice site. clean professional and well organized. I also like the fact that you didn`t cram a lot of fluff down my browser :)

Ok that`s what i have...

tomasz,

It depends on your product and your audience first most. But generally my e-commerce sites lose customers during the check-out process. We call this cart abandonment rate. Now it`s typically for you to lose people at this stage but a high abandonment rate signals a problem in your checkout flow. I can`t give you solid numbers because it`s really a percentage of how many sales did you have, how many carts where abandoned, what stage of the check out did they abandon the cart etc...

Some things to keep in mind.

• Keep it simple. set your father, mother, wife, or anyone else who`s not Internet savvy down in front of your store and then give them a simple task to buy 1 item from your site.DO NOT HELP THEM AT ALL (that`s the hard part). watch what they do and take notes and then see if you can`t solve the problems they have before they have them.
• Many sites will take you to the shopping cart as soon as you press the buy button but they don`t make it easy to return to shopping. Other will simple add the item to your cart and keep you on the page you are at BUT there is no visual queue that the item was selected. The lesson her is to always keep your customer informed as to what`s going on, and leave an friendly out, or step back button.
• Information is key to any shopping experience on-line. if people can`t find what they are looking for and can`t buy it easily they WILL go somewhere else.
  

So your goal should be the following:

• keep it simple.
• give lots of information. tell customers where they are, what they are doing and what will happen next
• organize your shop in logical groups. don`t be afraid to cross group items.
• ask lots of people to tell you what they liked or disliked about your store and there buying experience. reward them with a discount on there next purchase. (a purchase you might or might not have gotten anyway)
• keep it clean. IE don`t junk it up with a bunch of SALE, or HOT ITEM, or NEW, or SPECIAL etc icons and text. if you sell widgets then the widgets should be what stands out, not the icon pointing to the latest widget.
• be honest with your customers about billing practices, shipping practices and when there is a problem. Send an email as soon as you have there money telling them you got it and are processing there order. tell them when it ships or if there is a delay, give them a way to track there orders and an EASY way to make returns or get help
  

it`s a learning process but take it slow and don`t move forward until you`re ready to. ask lots of questions and don`t be afraid to see outside help. there have been many before you and most of us are willing to share our knowledge.

I`m loving this....and learning too! GREAT stuff!!!

Keep it coming...

Jeff

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tomasz,

You`re exactly what I need!  Thank you for allowing me to pick your brain. I`m starting an online electronic greeting card business. My e-cards will feature a personal pic and recorded message. Can you recommend hosting for a flash site.  My e-greeting cards will be animated, therefore, I`ll need a flash site, right?

Also, I might need to build my greeting cards myself.  Can I use Flash MX to do that?

ANIMAZED

This sounds like a great site to me!

I send out e-greeting cards all the time but personalized with your picture, wow
thats a first, really one up on the other guys
I am definitely interested in signing up as soon as you get up and running !
MUCH SUCCESS TO YOU
jo




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Jo
NJ

jonese,

I just wanted to commend you on your good practical advice.  It`s nice to have someone like you on these forums that really wants to help!  I hope that I can pick your brain when my site gets up and is running!

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Stay tuned...coming soon

jonese,

i run my business out of my home and usually deliver products personally, or drop ship them.  i carry no inventory.  i have played with the idea of a website, but can`t afford it, honestly.  so i put together a freebie with my isp.  i do not advertise it, but it is web presence if someone was to actually look for me.  as far as websites go, i don`t really like it to advertise it.  but i do like the looks of it.  it works as far as links go, but . . . i don`t think it`s very user friendly.

feel free, if you would to critique it, but please be nice, i bruise easily.

thanks

 

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But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrew 11:6