Thread: Any Comments welcome...

Hi Guys,

Well i have finally published, and after a few tweaks here and there, I think it's about done.. well so far....

So please have a look and tell me what you think, bear in mind this is the first time i have ever attempted to do anything like this, and it's a miracle i managed to get this far.

Please be kind, but honest.. www.capturedeleganceonline.com

Many Thanks
Rachel (Dory)

Its a nice site. The page title and menus need lining up on each page but other than that easy to view and read.

Hello Rachel,

Nice website.. love the concept.. The design is truly supreme.. no surprise.. after all, you're an artist..

Some technical issues..

You obviously created your index page and then cloned it or used a template which you applied to all pages.. that is great, and that is what you are supposed to do, but that also means that if the initial tamplate has a bug, they will have tha same bug.. your bug is not a serious one and you should be able to fix it in no time:

In all pages, when you point your mouse any where in the page, it picks up the 'About Us' Link.. I have a feeling this has got to do with the 'About Us Navigation Button'.. maybe bring it to the front or take it all the way to the back.. but I'd say it has to do with it's sequence position on the page.

The site takes about 40 seconds to load up.. but that's expected for a stock images page or photo gallary.. besides, my DSL connection usually feels sick at nights for some reason.

Everything looks neat and tidy and I for one like it very much..

Suggestion: Corporate Cards are a big thing out there.. Lately, I have come accross a winery that had cards made specially for them where the card itself has an edge filled with red wine that you can drink.. nifty huh..? read your card and drink it.. sort of thing.. So if you can come up with ideas where you are offering more than the ordinary printed card, you would be surprised of how many companies that have VIP's out there.. Coinsidently, the wine card cost that company $27.00 each.. and they made 500.

Hi Dory,

Eezy has some good ideas.......Here is another one:

Think about Wedding Cards and then I would be willing to exchange links with your site(my site is Weddingdressmarket.co.uk and I have others as well)

Have fun

Site looks beautiful and all but to me theres that nav that ez-ez was mentioning about also to me the entire page looks well too big when i went to your site i had to sit back to read it kinda jumps out at ya. the header with the flowers looks beautiful everything is nice except too big, my wife may like it cause she has eye problems and can't see smaller letters. thats my input maybe others may see it is a tad to big, maybe not my settings on my PC i use is 1024x768 most Windows XP setting automatically adjusts to that setting but there are some that uses 800x600. guess it all has to do with the PC manufacture. but in all on a rating of 1-10 i give your site an 8. :)
Jim

Thank you for your comments you have been very kind.

Carlos, Thank you for telling me about the link i have sorted it, for some reason i had put a link on the templates.

I am a one girl band and i am just setting up my business, to be honest as nice as it would be for my business to rocket, i am doing this as a way to make some extra money, to be honest i don't want it to get too big, i want to carry on enjoying it. As long as i can cover my over heads and make a profit to pay me some wages, then i will be happy, but please keep the suggestions coming. They are very useful......

Think about Wedding Cards and then I would be willing to exchange links with your site(my site is Weddingdressmarket.co.uk and I have others as well)

That would be great David, but i make blank cards, but i do make them to order, so if anyone tells me the theme for the card i will design and make them for that theme. You have just given me an idea to put on my site thank you......

Again thank you all
Regards
Rachel (Dory)

a very lovely site. good Luck wih it.

Just checked again.. looks good.. the link is fixed and it all checks fine.

While I find it beautiful - I think you need a little bit of text on the page - to tell me (and the se's) what you have and why I should stay around. I've already scrolled down long before the scrolling bar has passed by - so have no clue what it says (I'm saying this after asking 3 different people to look at your site and I watched them from behind). Only 1 of those clicked a link - the first two were gone in about 2 seconds.

None of your pictures on the home page have alternate text - they really do need this. Some people will have a website without pictures - some will use their little **** pilots, etc - which wont show pictures - but it will tell them what was there IF there is the alt text. This text should briefly say what the picture is that they can't see - and, whenever possible, use your keywords in the text.

You did take my earlier suggestions about your header - and while I think it's pretty, I still think it's too big. I also thing the type in the scrolling marquee is too big.

You need your title to reflect what you do - not your name - as no one is going to be looking for you by name unless they already know you. You could easily make a headline for the page - immediately under your header - with exactly what you are - using the keywords people are searching for.

You put in meta keywords - and while those ARE what you want people to find you for - you can only put them in the keywords if they are ON that page. What they are asking for there are what are the keywords ON THE PAGE that you are targeting.

Again, you meta description will hurt you - this should be a nice short sales blurb using your keywords. Yours starts with "home page for" - I guarantee no one is searching for a "home page". Do your homework and find what words people are searching for that is also what you are. For example, I looked and many people are searching for handmade greeting cards. Many others are searching for photo greeting cards. How about you make a title of Handmade photo greeting cards from Captured Elegance. And a headline on the page "Handmade Photo Greeting Cards".
And a meta description: "Handmade photo greeting cards, one of a kind cards, from original photos at Captured Elegance Online."

Looking good is important but it has to be combined with capturing your audience. If I searched for photo greeting cards and your store came up and I clicked on it - I want to see immediately that you have what I'm looking for - you have, in truth, less than 3 seconds to capture the person, and really, the majority click off after 1 second. So make sure they will see immediately that you have exactly what they need. And make sure that you are using the terms and keywords on the pages that will bring those people who are looking for what you have.

In your dropdown menu for how did you find us, you didn't include MSN - who is one of the top 3 se's - I suggest you include them - as for a new web entity they will probably bring you the most traffic to begin with.

I can see by your site your eye for beauty. You've captured that.

Beth thank you for your much needed advice, I have altered my home page, and i understand the meta keywords now.
Please take a look and tell me what you think?

Thanks Rachel

Wonderful and elegant, well done!

I like the way you market your talent. Your photos are great and the watemarks are well placed and do not take away from the images.

You might want to tweak the NavBar. The "alt text" behind your NavBar is the default text. Consider a different message or just 'Home', 'Gallery', etc..

Also, try using the default color for your scroll bar so it doesn't steal from the the rest of the site.

Good job.

yup but still to large on everything still pops out at ya lol

Well, I think you need that text on the page - but when I said title - I mean the title you put in for each page in the page properties - that shows up in the blue bar at the top of the page when you go to that page. So - take that info and put it there - that title is VITAL for se's.

You added info to each picture under it - which is fine - but those aren't alternate tags - the alt tag is what appears when you put your mouse over the picture.

Also on the text under the pictures - I suggest something like "Butterfly photographs used in my greeting cards" - or that could be the alt text. You need the keywords - which means photos, greeting cards - and then the descriptive words about it. The Cox one might say in the alt or in the title you added "Photo Greeting Card Nature Scenes".

Hope this makes sense.

Sorry i know i'm probably being really thick here, but what is alt tag and alt text? I can't find them

Thanks Rachel

I have updated my met tags and titles of pages, can you check them out and let me know if they are better? i will add more keywords when i know how to alt tag and alt text

Thanks
Rachel

Dory here are some key words for you to place in your main page html for keywords that are relevant to your main page...
just copy and paste as it is ...

photo greeting cards,photo cards,photo prints,handmade cards,kind photo,original photo,
cox arboretum,yard cards,elegance,butterflies,dayton ohio,horses,captured elegance online,

wish you luck in having a family
jim

Dory/Rachel
About Alt Txt and images: in BV right click on any image then Properties. You will see two spaces under Image, the first is the file location, the second is Alt Txt. While not necessary, search engines like them (and so do handicapped people who use braille keyboards). For example click here and roll the mouse over the image - a description appears.

The same applies to your NavBar, right click open properties and write a message in the correct space.

Beautiful cards Dory, I wish you success!! You've done well building the site for your first time. Kudos to you. Easy to go through and who knows maybe the size of your flowers will be the thing that people will remember and bring you greater fortune, a specialty trademart for sure. Very pretty throughout, good job!

Bill, if you want to be web compliant, they are becoming necessary. And there is talk about there is no excuse for websites to not be handicapped accessible - and that's a biggie - and so easy to do.

Dory, your photo are just great, love the colors on your home page.

Wis you all the best LUCK!

Looking very nice Dory! I love your cards and pictures! Keep up the Great Work!

Thank you all for your kind comments and helpful suggestions. They have been a god send.
I'm still having problems with the alt text, I've managed to sort it in the Nav bar, but i can't find anything in properties that says alt text in my pictures.
I used the gallery tool for my gallery and roll over tool for my index page pictures, I know i'm probably being very thick, but please help.

Also i'm away from home till Friday staying in a hotel on their wireless internet is it safe to publish here?

Many thanks
Rachel

Oh just one thing before anyone says they don't see any difference on the Nav bar, I haven't republished it yet, i won't till i know it's safe to do it here.....

Regards
Rachel

Hi Dory: I may be wrong, but I don't think there is an alt text when you use the gallery for images. On individual images there is. Hopefully someone will be along to clear that up for us.

As far as being safe to publish from your hotel....I don't think it's a problem. I've done it before and never had any issues. But again, I'm certainly not an expert on that either.

Thank you Dream Lady, that expains why i couldn't find any alt text, was beginning to think i was going blind....

Regards Rachel

Just an amatuer here but that is a nice site.
The navigation I tried worked well.
Beautiful photos.
Good luck!
ABC Gardiner

Originally Posted by Bethers

Bill, if you want to be web compliant, they are becoming necessary. And there is talk about there is no excuse for websites to not be handicapped accessible - and that's a biggie - and so easy to do.

That is exactly what I said, both Google and Yahoo are pushing hard on this and it makes lots of sense.