Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Would like to hear what everyone thinks about my site.
any advise greatly appriciated.

http:www.rdbelectronics.com


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

RDB Electronics
http://www.rdbelectronics.net

Great start.  I suggest a couple of things...

1. You have things like `About Us` and `Policies` as your main navigation but the ones that really bring in the money for you are going to be the product categories.  Take a look at www.fingerhut.com.  The categories are the most prominent links while the others (About Us, Policies, etc.) are available but only if you`re really looking for them.
2. If people are coming to your site, it`s because they want to shop for products.  So give them products, right there on the main page.  Don`t make them fumble around to find `em.  I understand the desire to have your `thank you` message right there where people can learn about your philosophies, but I would recommend just putting your picture and a sentence over on the right side and then a link that says, "Read the rest" and a title at the top that says, "Message from our President".  Also, you could incorporate just a little image that says, "Low Price Guarantee" that they can click on if they want to know more.
   
3. Your logo looks homemade.  I`m being a little overly critical because I have been developing websites for businesses for years but the site still have somewhat of a homemade feel to it.  In my personal opinion, it is worth it to work with a professional to develop your site.  It adds to the perceived credibility of the site it looks very clean.

Other than that, I think the site is off to a great start.  I would suggest you address those issues and then check back.  Developing a website is a constant process...something that`s never `finished`.  You`re off to a great start though.

-Ryan


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

Ryan J StarPointe Marketing Website Development, Hosting & Marketing Consulting

Hey there,

I`ll play the role of plain consumer because I`m definitely not a techie!

First off, there`s something missing on the front page. A graphic, a photo?  That open space to the bottom right is driving me batty.

Ditto what Ryan said about your thank you message.  That`s definitely what all of us startups are dying to get across to our customers - that we`re better than the big guy - but that`s just too much text.  Maybe have photos of this week`s specials on the front page instead?

I saw in your paragraph that folks can email you for a price comparison.  What about a link to a "contact us" fill in form?  I prefer the form to email because it`s right there and I know it didn`t get kicked into their junk folder by mistake.

Good on ya for having a search feature and a link to view cart  I`ve seen alot of new websites that overlook those and that`s frustrating as a consumer.

On the home page, put "Our Catalog" higher up on the left.  Run those other topics across the top or bottom horizontally.  That said, is there a reason for the duplicate "our catalog" listing on the right side?

I clicked on the Magellan Meridian Gold as a sample product.  Good job being plain and simple with explaining the features.  Your customers, men I`m assuming, will appreciate the short bullets.  (My customers, women, would appreciate longer, detailed paragraphs.)

Suggestion: if you`re a discounter, why don`t you put the product`s MSRP on the main product listing page?  People will definitely be drawn by

Magellan Meridian Gold

MSRP: $329.95

RDB Price: $249.99

Savings: $79.96

And then they can click for more info if they`re interested.  People will come to you because of your price - spotlight it!

Next I added the Magellan to my shopping cart (don`t be upset about the abandoned cart on this one).  In the shopping cart, you`ve got update, remove, and my *favorite* feature - calculate shipping.  But it took me to this "Note: The actual shipping amount will be shown on your invoice. Residents of some states may be subject to sales tax."  What on earth is that all about?  There`s no point in having the calculator if it doesn`t show the amount right there. 

From the shipping message screen, I clicked on home.  Then I went back to view cart and the Magellan wasn`t there.  What happened to it?  Did it fall out in the cereal aisle?

Oh, and can your logo take me back to the home page? 

Hope I wasn`t too harsh.  You have all the features that are important to me as an online consumer.  Definitely check out the mysteriously vanishing Magellan though - that could be a quick way to lose a customer!  Other than that, you`ve got a good thing going, keep at it!

Diana

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

"Whether you think you can or you think you can`t, you`re right."
paraphrased Henry Ford

Hello:

I agree with the fact that there should be more emphasis on the product.  Some other ideas:

Make the font larger/more attention getting with regards to the product section

Make the font smaller and less cumbersome in the main area...that lost me.

I like your logo but maybe you could sharpen the colors.

I love that your background is white...nothing captures my attention faster. 

 

Best of luck,

Stacie

 

 

 

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

Stacie Mullins
Creator
Debutante Vintage Boutique

Have to throw another vote for updating the logo - the fact that I can see the image borders on the black background make it look home made.

The left navigation works well, and the main section stands out - moving beyond the home page, I viewed a page from the Categories links on your left navigation (I went to headphones), and I wasn`t crazy about the setup - the picture locations alternate to the left and then right of the text - looks like this is the setup on any search/browse results page.  On a bigger resolution, that means that the images aligned right are way over on the screen, and it`s difficult to follow.

So I`d suggest a consistent layout in the results page - images on the left, text and link to the detail page for your products on the right.

On the product detail pages, I naturally hover over the image to see if I can see a larger, higher-quality image -- but you shouldn`t assume everyone will.  Coming from an e-commerce background, I can tell you that photos are a tremendously important piece of online commerce.  So give people a clear indication that they can click a link or the image to see a larger image, or even additional images (from other angles, etc.).  And make sure that the image either pops up in a separate window, or that the image page has navigation back to your detail page - when I clicked the image to open the larger one, it was simply a static page with the image and nothing else -- don`t leave it to your customer to click the Back button to return to the detail page.

And putting on my search optimization hat - you have html code in your meta description tag...you`ll want to strip that out so that it`s purely text.  And include a few more product details in your both the meta description and meta keywords tags.  Those tags aren`t vital for search op, but if you`re going to use them you might as well use them to your best advantage.  But not a bad page from an optimization standpoint (looking at the product detail pages).


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

chuck fuller