Please Vote on which you like better. I would like constructive opinions on what you don't like and why. Please keep in mind that this is not a template. I just learned how to use Macro 5 months ago and did the entire thing from scratch. I know it is not perfect so tell me something else lol The bottom one is the way the page is hosted now. If you don't like any of them please make suggestions. Thanks http://www.grocerypricebooks.com/indexTEST2.php http://www.grocerypricebooks.com/indexTEST.php http://www.grocerypricebooks.com
They all look good, but you should keep the current, you are doing good, keep at it and you will only get better... I'm also a webmaster... see my work below... www.hotrhyme.com www.warrface.com
it's too spread out, IMO...for instance, the right hand bar goes off the side of my browser window. A little too cluttered. Look to sites like templatemonster for some inspiration!
The first one is the best start of all of them. Notice I said start. You need to make a few updates. You need to do away with the typical table frames, they just look outdated. The navigation needs to be up top, everyone is going to miss it sitting down there. I feel trapped by the advertisements, I understand you want to make a few bucks, but there is no quicker way to drive someone away from your site than overloading with ads. No one is going to be able to find your site, add some meta tags (description, keywords, etc) and make sure your site has been submitted to some search engines. You also got yourself an extra uncompleted tag "ml>" outside of your <html> at the bottom, remember to delete that. Going back to the advertisements though, your header image/logo blends right in with them. Make the site header the same as page width and really get it to pop. I couldn't tell if the Meijer, Kroger, & Giant Eagle logos were ads or part of your site without hovering over them to see the href. You really need to add some more content or something, all the ads I see (except one) are completely irrelevant, google is just guessing right now with what ads to show. I would make sure to add the Google search to the UPC Database page though, that is where most people are going to need to search. On the favorite links page, I wouldn't use banners like that, maybe if you made your own, but right now they aren't uniform by any means. Not to mention I think most (if not all) are ads. Rename the navigation links. Instead of Grocer Price Books, just rename it to Home or News... instead of UPC Database, rename it to Product Search or Find Products, not everyone knows what a UPC code is. And does that survey really serve any purpose? It seems to be very generic questions basically to find out if I am male or female, and what race I guess... These types of websites need to be marketed to the masses not to specific people like that. Keep on going with that design, good luck. Let us know if you need any help!
Holy crap lol Okay let me see if I can address all that!! (answers in red above) Keep in mind that if your giving me all this on the TEST pages. They are not completed. I just changed the header and the layout a tad.
Ok I didn't realize you were this new to it. Let's see if we can't fix you up. I am going to address each red highlight in order. 1. I guess the only way you are going to be able to learn how to edit templates is by reading about basic HTML and messing with the templates. 2. Ok, every site needs a navigation, it is a basic principle of web design. I realize you have the stores listed up top, but your other links need to be up there too. You need to at least bring 'UPC Database' and 'Printable Coupons' up top as they play a major roll in your site. You already got the 'Home' and stores up top, so those are good. Remember the least important stuff goes down at the bottom. The footer should be reserved for copyright information, and a link to the privacy policy. 3. Ok, I think you may be confused when I say trapped by the ads. Think about it, when you are trapped what is happening? It usually means you are stuck on all 4 sides. Hence I said I felt like I was being trapped. I think everyone will agree your site is way to ad heavy. The ads are very bright and attractive, while most of your site is black and white with a few exceptions. It really causes the eye to draw away from the content. 4. This is something you need to Google to really learn about it. This is one of the most basic things about HTML. At the very top of your code in that template page, there are things called meta tags. These are things that tell the browser and search engines what is on the page. It is everything from the page title, site description, keywords, & content-type. The reason I brought up search engines with this is because anytime you do a search, you will see that almost all pages have both a title and a description when listed in google. If I were to search for your site, Google is going to pull the first few lines of content from your website. Instead, you need to add a description meta tag so you are in control of what people see when they search for your site. It really helps you show up in the search engines. 5. At the very bottom of your page, you had some text that said ml> it was an error when you were messing with your template. I do believe it is gone now. 6. You need to design a new header, don't just stretch it, it will get all distorted. A well designed header really attracts people to the site. Make sure the top is free and clear of all advertisements. Also make sure it is relevant to the site, just because it looks cool does not mean it is going to fit the website. 7. It does say "Click on your store below to get the most current prices" but the problem with that is, look what is right under it "Ads by Google - Grocery Food - Store Coupon" So yes you do have advertisements in your content. I was just saying that you can't tell if they are part of your site or ads because the eye wonders all over this site due to the massive amount of ads, and the average internet traveler will ignore all images because they assume they are ads. 8. No I am not kidding. I don't mean content to UPC Database, I mean content on your homepage. Google is displaying extremely random ad results on the home page, because it really has no idea what your site is about (meta tags again will help) and that is because you don't have enough on the front page besides advertisements. Tell me more about the history of the company, how to use it, why should I use it. This should help Google target the ads more precisely. 9. As of posting your website here, there was no Google search on the pages. 10. Ok I am pretty sure you updated your website after reading my response, because all of the ads from the partners page are gone, but there were definitely some there. But still, they look like advertisements, and them being all different sizes confuses the eyes and makes it not very easy to navigate through. 11. This is a site for finding coupons and deals correct? Why would you need to know what a UPC is for then? An average joe will just be looking for coupons, I doubt they are going to have UPC codes on hand. 12. No I was not looking at the test pages, I was looking at the direct grocerypricebooks.com
I chose the first one, but honestly, all of them are kind of messy. Everything is splattered about, and the banner doesn't look very eye-catching, especially with the huge black border around it.
The current one is the better one in my opinion, on Simple idea is to remove the borders and use simple colors to divide each section of your website, Header, sidebars, footer...etc
I agree whole heartily with everything that matthewbeckman says. If you make the changes he suggests, your site will look a LOT better. Trust me
Thanks Will, but really GroceryPricesBooks, try to understand that I am not trying to be mean when I review your site, I just want to help you! I hate when people view my work and will tell me "Oh it looks great" because then I never know what I am doing wrong, and then there is no way to improve upon myself. So here is response to your last response. 1. Learning takes time, just don't give frustrated and give up. I still have to come here to ask silly little questions because things can get so confusing, so please, don't hesitate asking easy questions here, we love to help! 2. That looks a million times better, really... that helped the page out a lot. 3. Ok as long as you don't keep all the bright flashy ads then we are ok. It is just they really draw from your website and we don't want that... we wan't them to blend in to an extent. 4. No no, that is the stuff you don't want to mess with. The http-equiv is telling the internet browser what type of document it is (text/html) and what the character set should be (iso-8859-1). Just leave those alone. What you are going to want to do is add stuff below that. Here is an example from my company website I am working on. <title>Ennis Steel Industries | Our Services & Equipment</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="description" content="Ennis Steel Industries: Everything You Need In One Place Using The Latest Technology." /> <meta name="keywords" content="EnnisSteel Ennis Steel DeSoto Fortworth" /> Code (markup): The stuff you would want to change is the title, description, and keywords. This is the first thing search engines are going to look at. Keywords will really help improve people finding you. 5. Fixed. 6. Alright just don't get set on that design if you don't like anything about it. It really is worth the time to spend time on things and make them look the best as possible, even if it takes some time for a minor detail. 7. Looks a lot better with the navigation, still a little ad heavy, but you say you are fixing that. 8. What I am trying to say is, the more words and stuff on the main page, the better Google will do at guessing what your site is about, therefore giving you more targeted advertisements. 9. Yes I mean a Google search box. I believe you have added it now though. 10. Again, I really find them to look like ads, but it isn't something everyone is going to come across very easily. 11. Still think you should really think about making your site more about coupons and stuff to just to appeal to more people. I would still make the UPC database a large part, but make sure coupons and such play a key role too.
Okay, completely redone. Let me know what you think now www.grocerypricebooks.com Thanks for all the suggestions. Holly
Much much better. The new banner is much more related to the site and actually makes sense. Glad you took some suggestions.
Thanks I thought it looked okay before but now that I see what I did now I realize the old one looked like crap LOL!
Ha I wouldn't say like crap, it just needed work, and you are just starting out. Glad we could help though. If you need anything else let us know! Good luck on the website!