STIXX web site critique

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STIXX web site critique

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RickFromStixx

posts: 2

Dec 23, 2008 11:38 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hello, fellow SUN entrepreneurs. We would appreciate your critique of our web site for our new products from STIXX. Stixx is a state of the art digital graphics printing company that prints exclusively on a new fabric sticker media. Basically it`s a sticker, but insted of paper or vinyl it`s a polyester fabric. It has many applications including:

-Removable, reusable and repositionable

-Leaves virtually no residue on the applied surface

-Won`t tear, stretch or wrinkle

-Can be used over and over on different surfaces dozens of time and still sticks

-It sticks to virtually any clean, smooth surface

-Can be used indoors and outdoors, it sticks on cars and can be driven through a car wash

-Print sizes from business card to 5` x 50` banners

-More info at the website.

We are a web based company and want our website to drive our sales and service applications. We are providing products and custom design services through our storefront and customize sections.

Please be as critical as necessary, this is our 3rd web site in 18 months and we think we finally have a cool new site. The first was, well, terrible. The second site was better but our programmer used Swish (?) instead of Flash and it turned out we couldn`t manage the site as we had planned. Our pride has grown thick as we have learned the hard lessons of web based business development. We plan to continue to expand and improve the store and the content and text to optimize our SEO. We have some of the social network items in place including a blog and video with a newsletter for email marketing in the works. We are also developing a Facebook and MySpace presence. We plan to use more viral videos and a contest to name our mascot, the little guy on the website in glasses and tie, and our blog.

Please let us know what you think of the positive and negative aspects of the web site. We want it to be user friendly, easily navigable and fun to visit and join our community.

The URL is www.itstixx.com.

We hope you anjoy it and can help us maximize its content and use.

Thanks,

Rick From Stixx

CraigL

posts: 9051

Dec 23, 2008 11:51 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hi Rick ;-) Welcome to the forums
I visited your site, and have two initial thoughts. The first is that you should lose the splash page. Nobody pays attention to them, nobody cares, they`re a waste of a click and time, and serve no function.

The second, having directly clicked through the splash page, is that your main page loads very slowly. I`m on a DSL line with FireFox 2.x, and I sat staring at the background graphic for nearly half a minute before even seeing the "loading" graphic. Then, when I got bored looking at that, I switched tabs to here. Eventually, the page loaded.

If I were finding your company via search-engine (SE) results, I`d have clicked away. I rarely sit for more than 20 seconds waiting for a page to load unless I know ahead of time that I "need` the info on that page.

The main page itself, after all the delay, isn`t at all worth the time. The tagline (easy on, easy off), is excellent. But it gets totally lost in all the rest of the page. The blue graphic doesn`t at all show me that you`re a fabric company, and the old-fashioned microphone up by the "blog" almost makes it looks like an old-time radio site.

I couldn`t read any of the text on the main blue area, at least without squinting, so I have no idea what it says. Then, moving the cursor over the various tabs and seeing the water effect was just annoying.

The way you describe your product, and our being in a textile business, it sounds very exciting! It`s new, innovative, and unusual. NONE of that comes across on the site. It`s as if you went for gimmicks and Web toys, rather than selling the product itself.

Before I saw the page, what I had hoped for was to quickly see a graphic demo of what you described above. It could`ve been a short video clip, but just as easily been still images. Then, seeing nothing like that, I tried to figure out how the site page associates with the product, and couldn`t figure that out either.

So I guess what I`m thinking is you need a better sense of marketing strategy, and a developer who can put your vision on to a visual Web site.

stonesledge

posts: 1093

Dec 24, 2008 12:05 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hi There! Since Craig covered alot above...isn`t he great? ... I will say that I like the look of it. It is pretty cool!!

Erin

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

Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

Jmes

posts: 98

Dec 24, 2008 3:48 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hi there Rick
I think Craig covered most of the important points
I`d like to add my own bit though
I`d give serious thought about the target audience though. The site looks like its aimed for kids and teenagers, if that`s your target audience then its good, but I think grownups would find the excessive eye-candy a bit too much, and a bit annoying
I would put an example of the product in the main page, so that when a user first enters he will understand exactly what the product does without having to read more than 2 sentences, then I`d write more about what`s so great and innovative about it. I`d also add a Buy It Now option near it, so they won`t have to search for it

All in all, it looks like you invested a lot in the site`s design and it does look great

Best wishes

Jmes

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

My LookupPage

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Dec 24, 2008 9:20 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Ok, I understand how cool it is to have an all flash (or swish) site, but having one does present some SEO issues (search engines have problems reading content) and may limit the amount of viewers (because of load time).

The splash page... certainly not needed (it`s just a SEO ad for your web design company). If you are going to keep it, you should use your most important targeted keywords in your page title and description (no description now). PS: Your design company knows this - they have a title and description on their own splash page.

The main site - ok it`s cool ... but the whole intro menu building finger pointing part is not really needed. You might eliminate that part of the animation and save some load time.

The transition between pages, I think just a simple page replacement rather than some sort of page turn/swipe thing would be better. A page turn fits when looking at a catalog - with pages.

How it works - good video.... but, the first thing the view sees is an ad for the production company. I might expect a production company credit at the end of the video.

The link to the STORE... just make it a link directly to the store rather than showing a flash page that says click here to see the store. Why make the viewer have to click one more time?

The store - loads slowly. Rather plain design compared to your main site. Also... still some "test" products shown.

~Roland

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

patentandtrademark

posts: 1332

Dec 24, 2008 4:02 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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i think it looked cool. have you protected the trademark via federal registration?

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

James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

Webline

posts: 687

Dec 24, 2008 4:43 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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I have to agree with what was said .... it`s a great looking site .... BUT .... visual toys and neat little effects don`t sell your product, you and your product sell the product .... so you need to make a decision .... do you try to keep the "cool effect" and rework the content so viewers actually get a better idea of what you do .... or, do you start over again, create the message that sells, and build a site around that message?

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

M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

RickFromStixx

posts: 2

Dec 25, 2008 8:42 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hello Everyone,

Wow, thanks for the input. This is what we need to hear and see, the consumers perception of our business. The sight has only been up for a few weeks and we`re working on getting it right. We undestand our product is very unique and that adds to the fun of you giving us your input. We know our products and services inside and out, but you don`t. Thats why we want your honest and experienced opinion.

If you get a chance to review it again and find any other good or bad points please let us know. You the customer are our best critic and motivator.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays,

Rick

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