Hi, I'm looking for help in improving my website. I am not a designer or programmer, I am just the person with the idea behind the store. That is why I am turning to the experts on this forum to see what advice and tips you could give me to make the all aspects of the website BETTER! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. www.ExquisiteTrimmings.com Many thanks.
The Home page reflects a very plain and unbalanced design style. The top menu may not be ordered in the most effective way. People most likely would want to see what you sell before caring what is on sale. Thus, I would put New Arrivals and Sale towards the right, before Contact. The image fader is overly large and visitors are not going to sit still and watch all of the images go by. Unfortunately, this is the only place where you give any indication of what they can buy! Instead of the oversized images, it would be far better to put some text high up on the page welcoming the visitor, tell them what you sell, and give them a reason to stay on your site and look around. Below the image slider you have three completely useless boxes. If I click "Shop Now" where does it take me? I am already shopping. Does it take me to "Ties", "Accessories"? I don't know, so I won't waste my time and click it. The next box is "Keep Updated". Why should I give you my email address before I have developed the slightest interest in your store or your products? The last box is a bunch of social media icons. Do you really want the visitor to leave your store and forget about shopping so they can read some Tweets? What makes you believe they will come back? Instead of these three boxes, it would be far more helpful to have boxes representing categories of products you sell, each with a nice picture of a representative product item. The bottom of the page in grey is where the page looks unbalanced. It looks like the typical WordPress-style footer. It is way oversized, due in part from the social media icons being listed AGAIN! My rule of thumb is that if the footer area is larger than any other section of your page, something is out of whack with the design. Search does not work too well. I selected a tie by Antonio Muro. Then, I did a search on Antonio Muro to see what other Muro products you sold. The ties were not there! May I suggest that on your contact page, it would be helpful to have a simple form for visitors to fill out instead of just giving them your email address. That would make it much easier for visitors to contact you, and it would reduce the SPAM you get from displaying your email address on a web page.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it. To address your points: I think New Arrivals is in a good spot over there... But I'll move sale over to before Contact and see if it can be highlighted red. The 3 boxes under the slideshow will be changed. That is an excellent idea. Thanks. I'll get the grey box fixed. I'll ask about the search. Re: Contact form - When I see one, I can never be bothered to fill it in a feel that it doesn't go anywhere.. I am always looking for an email address as I feel it's more direct. However, that's just my opinion. I shall inquire about getting a contact form put in there. As you can see from my answers, it's not me doing the work (unfortunately). Again, I really appreciate your input, thanks.