“Muse” - How we did it & feedback please

[jpo]

I’d responded to questions in the other forum about a site we created so I thought I’d share more details and get feedback here. I put “muse” in quotes since it really does not fit the definition – at least not yet (but we're getting there) – it’s something where we had an opportunity and pulled it together.

So, if you’re up for giving feedback, I'd really appreciate it - see www.DesignerWindowBlinds.com – please be honest. We’re always looking to be able to improve.

[Edit: For those outside the continental US, we know it does not work since shipping is not set-up. They're working on explaining that better up front]

If you want to know how it came about, here ya go:
It’s kind of a long story as to why, but the short version is to 1) we planned to create a viable income source in the least amount of time without a significant investment (our goal was online in one month, for less than $1,000), and 2) we have a pretty good network in the real estate industry - that market is down now, but people in it are looking for other ways to make money, 3) We have a great partner who has been making very high quality products (blinds, shutters, etc.) and only selling them locally with no online selling presence, so we got to work, outsourced set-up through elance, went live and started marketing through our contacts (affiliate program).

Next step is fixing and fine-tuning what we need to and then marketing to others. We really aren’t sure our smaller budget site can compete with the big sites, so the grass-roots through our affiliate program may be the best way, but we’ll be trying to figure out search engines in ZenCart set-up and attempt a few Google AdSense and other similar to see what works.

Finally, a word of warning. The above may sound simple, and no we didn’t spend much money, but did spend a ton of time. For example, since blinds are priced by size, there is a pricing matrix for each product. That lead to over 9,000 potential prices for each product, so with over 20 products, that was over 200,000 individual prices we had to input?!? We ended up applying Tim’s concept of 'what's the best way to do this in the least amount of time' and were able to get creative with coding and Excel, but it still took quite a while, so the point while it’s great to take the first step and start the project, take the time to plan it out in advance.

[kamakiri]

Have you actually made any sales? I tried to make a purchase, and you have no way to make a payment. The previous screen is also completely overkill where none is necessary while not efficient where you need it to be. It is simple to kink the zip code to the address so it pops up automatically.

Why set up a pw? Skip that entirely.

I could go on, did you want me to?

[Sven]

Ok, from a designers point of view and without reading anything after the link in your post (will do that later):

Site opened slowly
Typeface does not match my idea of "designer"/there is too much going on, too many typefaces on one page.
pictures are too small to give good impression of the product
I like the info on measuring, seems complete and is very readable, gives me confidence. Compared to that the info on instalation is a bit overwhelming, i'd say leave it out or stick it a bit deeper in to the site. It can put people off.

There is too much tekst to be "designer", for that I want to see a lot of beautifull pictures.

That's about it for now. Again, I'd say have a good look at the typeface you use.

[Emily.L.P.]

The site looks good to me. I would consider presenting the comparison info in a chart form (easier to scan and get the idea). Also, I'm not sure what I'd be rec'ving if I signed up for your e-newsletter. And, I don't see any incentive to do so.

Those are the two things that jumped out for me. Good luck with it :)

[northshore]

Hi. That's an impressive site for the first web presence of your new company.

The things I like are: the payment options on the upper right corner. The picture of the woman smiling as she looks through some blinds. The color scheme, and ease of navigation.

Improvement considerations: There are many messages on just the first page. Too much info for a first view. Comparisons, saving money, giving back-perhaps additional tabs for this info would be good.

Nice job. I'd love to hear about your experience at Elance and what they charged. If you have a moment to send a brief email I'd love to hear about it. :)

[jpo]

Thanks so much for the feedback. It’s really helpful to have others input, especially when we’ve mainly had feedback from people that are not as tech savvy, so thanks.

First, an apology to those outside the continental US (which looks like its most of you) – right now, it’s only set-up to sell online for the continental US (other sales are still offline as they have been before). It gives an error to others and we’ll have to add more notice there.

To answer the questions,
Yes, we have had sales, but thanks for the comments because what was discovered was locations outside the shipping area caused errors and when sizes were not changed, several products were blocking the online checkout process. Not sure how that made it past testing, but that’s being fixed asap.

The designer comments, layout, typeface, easier reading through comparisons, what’s important, what's a turn off, too much content, etc. are all appreciated and actually sparked a really good discussion of where to resign, fix & fine tune.

Northshore, I sent you a private message to answer your question.

Thanks again.

[moneymagnet]

First off, congratulations for taking action and being brave. You deserve credit for actually doing instead of just talking about it.

I like how your are very specific in your niche. I'd be interested to see how much demand there is for this online.

I agree with most of the critiques listed so far...so I don't want to be dedundant.

I feel like you would benefit by a little more focus on the product at least visually...from a big picture standpoint, there is a lot of text...so maybe you could enlarge some of the pics and play around with the visuals.

Your site may also benefit by getting rid of the left hand column (product search, etc.) of the home page. Perhaps that would make the middle section more easily readable.

Also, a customer testmonial page or included with the product may increase conversions.

Again, well done for taking steps towards making your dream a reality. You are doing good buddy!

[captaink]

OK, I have not looked into the source code, here is some ideas about design and layout:

http://www.blindapeseo.com/forumpics/designerwindowblinds.png

hope it helps.

::captaink::

[jpo]

Wow. Thanks again. This is really great feedback. We're doing what we can and passing the rest on the to developers.

I'll be offline a while, but really just wanted to say thanks.

[kamakurakid]

Ditto what CaptainK has outlined, font needs to be bigger in the body overall. Also, if you are looking at AdSense for a commercial website, I feel it might look "cheap". Affiliate ads might feel better, depending on the quality.

Bigger images, people want to see the product.

Dump the font in the banner, Papyrus is so over used by those who think it looks classy. Really just garbage this font from your computer over all. I just completed a design certificate in web design and the instructor who is a font guy went on for 10 minutes on how this font needs to die. Plenty of examples given by him as to why. Stick to two or at the most three fonts.

The banner needs to be a part of the package, it is there floating in space, rubbing with the brown zone. Get a box around it.

When in doubt throw it out.

Set font size to 15px, as 12px (normal) looks like 10px on a 17" screen (1920 by 1200). Most of your buyers will have 17" screens or more anyway.

Good to see the site up, now the tweeking begins.