Review my tee shirt website?

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Review my tee shirt website?

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VinceTheTeeShirtGuy

posts: 9

Oct 18, 2007 12:24 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hi, I`m trying to get some reviews and critiques on my tee-shirt website.

A fair few people have commented that they like the overall look of the site, but I notice, from website stats, that few people pass from browsing designs and on to the orders page.

Perhaps I`m not getting enough traffic, or perhaps there`s something fundamentally wrong with the design. It`s hard for me to tell, because I know how to navigate the site, whereas others may be finding it difficult. The only customer feedback I have so far says that the site is "very user-friendly", but who knows what the other, anonymous, visitors thought.

I created the site myself (I`ve a background in IT), using PHP/MySQL.

Anyway, if you`d like to look at the site in all its glory... and perhaps be kind enough to give me a critique, I`d be thankful!

The URL is http://www.bunnyhoptees.com

Thanks,

Vince.

txbassguy

posts: 48

Oct 18, 2007 12:52 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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wow -
i was instantly lost trying to navigate the site.
looking at the site - i`m not really sure i`m at a website that sells t-shirts. i`m not sure if the large graphic is going to be on the t-shirt or not.
i would prefer something simple and more user friendly. Check out the competition and check the usability of their sites.

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No Eternal Reward Will Forgive Us Now for Wasting the Dawn.

VinceTheTeeShirtGuy

posts: 9

Oct 18, 2007 1:02 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Ok, interesting point, and thanks for the feedback. I`ll definitely have a think about that. I don`t want to change the site too much because there was so much work involved... do you think a flash animation at the beginning would serve the same purpose?

There ARE photos of the finished tees (though not for all of them) if you didn`t find them, perhaps it`s not obvious enough. Thanks!

Oh, and I play bass too. :)

Vince.

AndyCosta68

posts: 178

Oct 18, 2007 12:11 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hi there.
So, my opinion is: the site has potential, but at the moment it is just confusing.
Personally I don`t like the fact that when you click in a category, it open thumbnails at the bottom of the page...I almost missed it! I would probably go to a main category page whenever a category image is selected.

I also would have the actual image shown on a t-shirt (even if the t-shirt is not a real one, but a rendition of one with the image plastered on it). This will allow your potential customers to visualize it instead of imagining how it will look like.

You offer a color selection for the t-shirts, but how do I know how the image will look like on that color? You need to provide that information to the client - I understand that looking at a color on a computer screen is not the same as seeing it in real life, but this option should be available.

If I selected the size on the first page, why should I select it again when I am in the shopping cart? This information should be brought over from the previous page.

Oh! I just noticed that when I click on the shopping cart icon I am taken to a page with all your designs...that`s very confusing. I thought the first t-shirt on the page was the only one (probably because of the size of the screen I am using).

You should review your process for a customer to place an order. You will loose sales if you keep it this way.

I hope my suggestions are well received. Good luck.

Andre

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Andre Costa DaCosta Chocolates, LLC www.DaCostaChocolates.com

VinceTheTeeShirtGuy

posts: 9

Oct 18, 2007 5:35 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Yes!

Those are fantastic ideas! Calling up the picture of the finished tee-shirt rather than just the design is easy enough to implement and adds a lot to the site. And it`s also easy enough to rewrite the code so that the displayed tee`s colour changes when the user clicks on the various colour boxes. That is terrific thinking, thank you!

I`d also wondered about that dropdown list of sizes, quite frankly I`d seen people click on it (uselessly) during site testing, but I couldn`t think of another way of fitting the information in the space I had available. I guess the dropdown list is easy enough to substitute with a piece of text that says something like "Available in whatever size you want!" (which is true enough, too).

The window size issues are harder to fix: quite simply, the site is meant to be viewed with a fullsize window, and I can`t predict what size window people will be using or control it programmatically (I can use JavaScript, but people can block that on their browser settings). That`s going to take some thinking. I`m a bit loath to throw everything out and start again, simply because there was a lot of work involved.

But your other ideas, I really loved and I`m going to implement them this weekend. Thank you so much!

Vince.

AndyCosta68

posts: 178

Oct 19, 2007 11:50 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Can`t you set up the window size to 100% (instead of a fixed window size)? I believe this is what most people do nowadays...also CSS has some tricks that can be used - I used to know some CSS, but I haven`t worked with it in years...

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Andre Costa DaCosta Chocolates, LLC www.DaCostaChocolates.com

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Oct 20, 2007 2:48 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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The landing page logo.gif file is way too large! > 492,000 bytes. Which means it will take forever to download and see for anyone with a dial-up internet connection.

~Roland

-------------------------

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

VinceTheTeeShirtGuy

posts: 9

Oct 21, 2007 2:41 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Roland:

I`ll see if I can compress the animated .gif, or perhaps I can just crop the images that make up the animated .gif and then put the whole thing on a background.

Good thinking, though. I haven`t had dial-up in a long while, and sometimes one forgets how slow it can be!

Andy:

At the moment I`m implementing the improvements you suggested. In the new version, clicking on the colour boxes calls up an image (just a mock-up for now) of the selected design on the selected colour tee.

Your CSS idea sounds intriguing. I hadn`t ever thought of that because AFAIK, you need to open a window and display a page before you can use CSS. Still, I`m no expert, so the idea certainly bears looking into.

Thanks, peeps!

UPDATE:
I`ve implemented Andy`s suggestions and put the new version online.

GeorgeAppiah

posts: 8

Oct 21, 2007 10:24 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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I suggest you let every t-shirt design stand on its own page, with some content (desctiption, story, whatever). Relevant text on a page is still the single best way to get traffic organically from search engines.

Then I think a much bolder "Add to cart" or "Buy Now" button wouldn`t hurt. I looked all over before I saw that tiny shopping basket right under my very nose :-) And make sure there`s text written on the button. Don`t leave people to figure out what to do or what an image might mean. Mind you, not everyone out there is as savvy as you and I.

Finally, take a visit to CafePress and Threadless and get your creative juice flowing.

Oh, and finally (again!), good evening from the sunny paradise on earth -- Accra, Ghana.

VinceTheTeeShirtGuy

posts: 9

Oct 21, 2007 4:40 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Ah, George! Great minds think alike!

Making the "shopping cart" button a bit more noticeable and adding some writing to it was going to be my next step! I`ll probably put the new button up today sometime.

Good point about text attracting search engines. So far I`ve been using meta tags, but more text wouldn`t hurt. I`ll try and work that in somehow.

Actually, SOME text happens naturally because, when the user clicks on the photo icon, a html page bearing the photo of the finished tee is generated and displayed. The generated page stays in the home directory, where it could be indexed by search engines, so part of the work is done. I guess it`s easy enough to put more info (metalinks and stuff) on the generated page, and achieve a result pretty similar to what you are describing.

Thanks for the ideas, you guys are great!

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