Guest Kazam Media Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Hi Just want to say thanks for the help that has been given to me in the forums over the past few days, it's very much appreciated. I'm in the process of setting up this new shop selling SLR lenses, memory cards, digital photo frames, etc. Starting with a basic Legend template, I've added the category tabs from Killer and then inverted them so they drop down from the top. Given the whole template a dark, plastic look to match many of the items on offer. I plan to include a rotating banner on the front page instead of the graphic and text that's currently there. I also want to eventually include tabbed pages for the product information, to stop the pages getting too long. I'd love to get some constructive feedback on this before it goes live. The site is available at Kazam Media Shop Thanks - Richard ---------------- Now playing: Three Drives on a Vinyl - Greece 2000 [Moonwatchers Sea of Tranquility Remix] via FoxyTunes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kazam Media Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 UPDATE: Now added an animated gif banner. Ive added this because Im still pondering the issues with putting one of the banner mods in place. Love some feedback on the shop so far? ---------------- Now playing: Snow Patrol - Headlights On Dark Roads via FoxyTunes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest webicon Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Ok It's nice so far - you've got a reasonable custom skin - a few things I would suggest:The headerbar is a bit too empty - I'd be inclined to move up the search on the right a bit and perhaps remove 20px or so off the headerbar - you'll find the style you need to edit in layout.css - I'm guessing the only thing that has the header so big in the first place is the default padding-top in #topHeaderI'd actually make the category buttons just a tad bigger - so that they have a bit more space around the text which will make it easier to read.It would be nice to see which payment gateway you are using/payment methods available from the off. These days I like to see a Paypal Or Verisign logo before I start shopping... i am often disappointed to get to last page and find that an unknown/untrusted payment gateway is set...Customise the colours of the buttons and ftext field boxes (can be done from within style.css) - It is the only real thing that stops some very good stores being brilliant. It's a bug-bear of mine to see the default buttons - customising these will give your site a much better finish.Other than that I think you've done a smashing job :dizzy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kazam Media Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Thanks for the feedback on this. I've taken on board your comments and made the following changes:Enlarged category buttons slightly in both height and width - hopefully these will become roll-out menubars once I find out how to impliment it! That's the reason for leaving a little bit of white space below them at the moment.Added a PayPal payments logo to the front page as you suggested (great point by the way)Changed some of the colours for the default boxes and buttons. I want to keep the content boxes white though as it makes it easier for me to add certain images which have white backgrounds, etc.I'm going to have a look at different colour schemes and see which work the best. The overall colour scheme for the site is dark and plasticky to match the nature of most of the items on sale. Thanks for the feedback! ---------------- Now playing: Various Artists - So Special via FoxyTunes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseyjoe Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 I pretty much agree with everything webicon said. I especially concur that the banner takes up too much height. I'd go for nothing higher than 90px but I think that 60px high would be even better. Given that the same banner appears on every screen, there is no need for it to be any more than a discrete reference point. I would put the Sale items box (right side) just below the shopping cart box. My point is that it's a stronger buying incentive than whatever is in Most Popular. Next, I would be reluctant to publish that link to Sigma, even in a new window. Consider how much precious effort it takes to bring a user to your web site. Once you have a visitor, the pluses and minuses of referring them to another web site, even if it is that of your principal resource, deserve careful attention. I clicked on the link and noted how very well Sigma - as it is to *their* benefit - helps visitors find a nearby dealer and even provides a comprehensive list of internet web sites other than than yours, in which to shop. And your site is not on that list. Even if I had a top-of-the-list business name such as "AAAA LOWEST PRICE BEST SERVICE, LTD" and even if I offered immediate free delivery of the most complete inventory of Sigma products and offered the very best prices and so on, I still would be hard-pressed to justify making that list of competitors so readily available from my web site. My marketing philosophy would present my own site as the PRIME SOURCE and everyone else be damned with silence, even the manufacturer. Of course, that requires that the product information on my own site be as complete as what a person would find on the factory site to preclude any need to go there and be exposed to my competitors' links. In your About Us page, you have a link to your photography work. That's a good idea, but I would open that link in a new window. Again, it's back to, why lose the contact at the store once you have got it? By opening in another window you improve your chances of inviting a purchase. Also, as soon as you can, I would put a much greater effort into the content of that About Us page. So far, there is nothing there that would give me confidence to send my serious money to your site. I would need to know more facts about who you are, where you are and why I should trust you. You obviously have a first class background in the field as can be seen on your photography page. Take advantage from that. Find a way to include some personal information that assures the prospective customers that you are not just another web site. Put in a few photos of you and/or your staff or your customers in casual and human situations. Make yourself real and genuine and accessible. Talk about why you are selling stuff. Talk about why your customers are happier with you than anywhere else. Give prospects an emotional reason beyond low price. Finally, one minor design flaw (my opinion, of course) of the otherwise excellent CC themes, is putting the site docs at the bottom of the screen where they are thus presented as afterthoughts of little importance. On every one of the of the 8 or so CC stores I've built and host, I move the site docs up to a box in the left column, usually above currency and language. Those site docs are more important in encouraging a sale than the default design assumes. There are tutorials here and on the cubcartforum.org site for doing that. But here's one example of how it looks (see the Information box): http://itsgreektomejerseycity.com OOPS - one more thing, I hope you will eventually support CC by paying for the copyright renewal. Hope all of this helps . . . Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kazam Media Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Hi Joe Just want to first say a massive "Thank You" for taking the time to view and offer constructive feedback on the site. I've taken on board pretty much everything you and everyone else has said and made quite a few changes as a result. With regard to the Sigma logo and link, I don't have much choice about it. The link will eventually go to a specific page rather than the main landing page and will relate more to Kazam & Sigma's relationship, so will act more as a confirmation and give the potential purchaser more security than anything else. I'll probably get that to load in a pop-up instead of linking direct to their site as well. At the moment our site is not listed on Sigma as we still haven't launched Officially yet. Having said that, the shop has had over 1000 hits in 3 days now and a couple of enquiries for advice which is good. There are still a couple of mods that I'm working on getting in place at the moment - extending sub-cat tabs and additional product information tabs - that will help make the site different than other CC sites and more functional for potential customers. I've also changed the sitedocs as well, and this will also be being changed and revised before the site goes live. Interestingly, I've noticed that not a lot of shops actually have an "About Us" page on their site. Anyway, thanks again for all the feedback. If the shop is successful then I will definitely be purchasing a copy as the support I have been given is from a great community that deserves to continue and grow. Best wishes Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kazam Media Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 There is now a FREE plasma screensaver package available for all registered users to the shop... ...so if anyone wants to register and get the FREE screensavers you can let me know if the process works and give me any further tips and pointers before the site goes live very soon! SHOP HERE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest webicon Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 Hi Richard, I agree with Jersey Joes comments with regards to accessibility and links out of your site. Your site is looking much ,better since you reduced teh height of the topbar and as a customer I would feel much better seeing those payment options on the left :-) Only thing I did notice is that since you've changed the height there is a little 'issue' with the display of the topbar in IE7 (in other browsers its fine) - Please see attached. It will be a small conflict somewhere in the css that is causing this... Good Luck with the store. Sherie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kazam Media Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Hi Richard, I agree with Jersey Joes comments with regards to accessibility and links out of your site. Your site is looking much ,better since you reduced teh height of the topbar and as a customer I would feel much better seeing those payment options on the left :-) Only thing I did notice is that since you've changed the height there is a little 'issue' with the display of the topbar in IE7 (in other browsers its fine) - Please see attached. It will be a small conflict somewhere in the css that is causing this... Good Luck with the store. Sherie Hi Sherie There appears to be a conflict somewhere in the CSS that is causing the middle section grey graduation to sit at the top of that section instead of being placed at the bottom. For the life of me I can't see where the issue is, so have deceided to leave it there at the moment. I appreciate everyone's comments and help with this. Best wishes Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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