Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`d be very greatful for feedback on PackedWarehouse.com.  It`s the first e-commerce site I`ve done and I`ve just finished the redesign.  The pictures have to be optimized and some pricing still needs to be added but if anyone could provide their feedback I`d certainly appreciate it. And please, don`t hold back with your criticism.  If you think the design is yucky, please tell me.  If I have to do it all over again....it`ll be a lesson well learned!

Thanks!

Hey MightyMite,

I thought the site was put togeather fairly well, but to just add a few suggestions.......raise the fon`t size a bit, it is a bit hard for us blind folks to read such small font.
And one other thing I can think of is to add a bit more color to the front page.....there is alot of white, maybe add some borders along the right side and maybe some page breaks just to add some more color into it.

I agree with the above statement and also, I noticed you`ve used two fonts (arial and times, I believe) on the front page. It might give it a more uniform look if you just used one font.

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You may want to make the list at the top left of your home page :

• Unique Gifts
• Custom Design Ornaments
• Home Deco
• Gaming Accessories
• Electric & No-Fuel Alternatives
• Wheels for family fun

into clickable links to take you to various sections.

Also it is a bit confusing to go to packedwarehouse.com and see a header for Dovetail Investments. I think you should put the name Packed Warehouse there
along with your tag line "eclectic mix of high quality..."

I would add a contact email button to each page. 

 

Scott in Ozark

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"God first, family second, and everything else next!"
Warm up with wood heat!
www.outsidewoodheater.com

Stop paying for heating, save your money for a new boat or car!

I agree with Gingerskhan about the header that it says Dovetail Investments it can definitely throw someone off guard.  Overall it looks good, I really enjoyed the pics of some of the cool items you have on there.  I also agree with adding some more color, larger font and one typestyle font, like Georgia font.  Maybe in the future add a spot where your clients can insert their experience in shopping on your site.  That`ll give a nice warmth to some newer clients who might feel unsure about shopping with you, especially those nervous nellies out there.  Hope this helps!!!

Thanks so much, everyone!  I`ll be getting to work on applying your advice and please, keep the input coming.  I really do appreciate you taking the time out of your busy days to critique this site`s design.

 

I agree with all the comments above, the font on the Customer Service page is extremely small, very  hard to read.  The Email Us link does not seem to work? Also, your Warehouse Catalog page, while very informative, is a bit bland.  Instead of placing your images on top of each other, try putting them side by side to fill out more of the page and reduce the white space, or like on the `Mouth Blown` product you have a description to the right, more of that might be nice except if you have too many words or descriptions that could also be detrimental.  I would try moving the images.  Just my thoughts, I realize that no matter what you do, someone will always have their own views about how you did it.  Overall, it looks really good.

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Cal Henry
www.club5150.com   (Currently offline - see profile for details)
www.twinfishcreations.com     (Coming soon!)
www.(not ready to disclose).com   (Coming soon!)

Hey MiteyMite,

There are some great opportunities to improve your site by improving the images.
Some suggestions:

1. Some of your images are stretched. The graphic on the top left of your banner is stretched horizontally. To look professionally, NEVER let that happen.

2. Also, most of your product images look blurry or pixelated. I poked around and it seems that usually they are very big graphics that your are squeezing into a smaller space on your page. So you are requiring the browser to do the image shrinking for you. Browsers do a lowsey job of that and mess up your beautiful graphics. So use Photoshop or something to shrink the images to the right size file, and then use it in your page.

3. Also, sometimes your original image is too compressed so you`re getting JPG artifacting. If you want to save space, just shrink the whole image to the right size, but don`t use such a high level of JPG compression.

Hope this helps! Congrats on putting your site together and pushing your business forward!

Cheers,
robin


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Definitely agree with many points mentioned in the earlier posts.

Dovetail Investments doesn`t need to be in the top of the screen.  Somewhere in the about us, contact us, or legal page is good enough.

Points are ugly and small.

Stretched images are no-no.

Images should not be resized by the browser using width/height attributes in images tag.

http://www.packedwarehouse.com/catalog.em?pid=449154
So much empty space in the middle.  What for?

The woman with the headset in the right corner?  Does she work for you guys?  It looks like a stock photo => amateur work

http://www.packedwarehouse.com/custom.em?pid=495027
Too many font sizes and styles (normal, bold, italic, red).

http://www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts.asp ?TID=1325&PN=1
"We will move the Ozark Mountains to serve you with Technology of the 21st Century."  If the site is not of professional quality, the statement actually works against the image that you are trying to project.

Just a suggestion to those who don`t really know how to design sites.  Surf the web and visit sites that are in the same of similar to your industry.  Then borrow the idea of the design and customerize to reflect your existing superficial "brand" elements (colors, font style, etc).  Ta-Ta, you now have a very nice design for your website.  Implement it though may be another issue though.