Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Load time is slow. If you need this to be scalable, you are better off writing it in a much more friendly way - ie LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP).

It did load slow for me. I can`t imagine what it would be like at full load.

The thing about cross-browser compatibility is this: you can`t really tell people "best viewed with" ... you have to make it work on all browsers within limit. What I mean by "within limit" is that if someone is using Netscape 1.0, they are on their own. But you should at least support IE 6 and 7, Firefox 1 & 2, Safari ... Mac and PC. And be sure your code validates ... right now your html is not and your CSS is having trouble. You`ve also mixed together external, inline, and internal css ... IMO this is a no-no.

The front page is confusing and doesn`t show the visitors a clear path for the next action. A lot of the meat seems to be below the fold.

The display for the lists could be a lot more user-friendly.

Hi Julie,

I don`t know if this is what you`re looking for, but I have some other suggestions.

I checked your source code - it doesn`t look like you are collecting any site statistics (did I miss it?). This is a must-do.  You need to know your biggest traffic sources, the amount of time spent on your pages, unique vs. returning visitors, etc. before you can even think of making improvements and determining best traffic-generating strategies.

I strongly recommend Google Analytics (totally free).  You drop a bit of code at the bottom of each page, and voila!  You start collecting real information you can use.

In addition, your subscription box for your monthly newsletter should be on every single page of your website. Capturing emailing addresses is one of the most important things you can do.  Instead of people visiting your site once, bookmarking it and never returning again - you have permission to market to them over and over again when you have their email address.  Just don`t forget to supply them with great content.

I would also eliminate the link exchange you have - it can detract from your page rank as your links are not for similar services/items. 

And unless you are getting lots of traffic you are not going to sell any ads on your site.  I would take the "ad space available" boxes off immediately.  This part is just personal – but it appears to me as a potential customer that you’re more interested in making money than taking care of me, your customer. Besides, each page of your website should focus on only ONE action you want your visitors to take. 

Also, your header is nice (colors great, clean design), but I would shorten it up a little to about 250 pixels.  Then you have a better opportunity to put great information above the fold.  Pictures don`t sell - words do.

You`re off to a great start!  Congratulations and best wishes for every success!

~Stephanie

I wouldn`t put "best viewed on" or "recommended for" or anything else.
Just make sure it works for a majority of the people and you`re OK.