Thread: Pinata Palace finally moved to Voda!

I finally got Pinata Palace moved from my previous webhost to Voda. I'm in the process of adding a search feature which will be under the view cart. I know that I elected to make the site wider than 800 - I'm using right around 1000 - tested it with A Child's Palace and it's doing good - so going with it here unless it seems to hurt sales.

I got 2 sales the first day I moved it over, so am excited that even with all the internal pages needed to be re-indexed by the se's - they kept my home page and are still sending me traffic.

Please tell me what you think and what you like/don't like about it.

Thanks so much.

Hi Beth,

Another great website, well organised as usual, nicely laid out, easy to read and navigate, as youve already mentioned the dreaded scroll ...I wont ;o)

Lovely job Beth..well done

Thank you Lincslady!

BTW, I didn think through my designs on these stores - using the wider screen - I've made the pages where all the products, etc will show up at 800 wide - so people could never scroll and shop the entire sites. I put specials, etc down the right - and the search feature. I like that it looks better for the majority with the wider screens.

It looks wonderful Beth, a fun site. A great place for parents to set with their children and pick. Good job.

mmmm i think its so good but i also know its good to have some comments lol well i hope so
the text seems small to me and a bit fuzzy? mmm mite just be me and the birthday parties games text at the bottom front is a bit bright to tread for me
and lol the header is of centre to the white sqare underneath mm i know its prob centerd to the page but just seems of to me
a couple of pics wht links underneath dont have a link
look its realy cool and you have had sales so it is doin its job well done]god i hate givin negatives

Hi Beth

Nice site. Job well done. The text on the links is a bit hard to read, however it gives the site a nice character, which goes well with the rest of the site.

Just so you know. I did a quick search on MSN on fun pinatas and the site came up http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q...atas&Form=MSNH

However the links were not working. this is how it showed the links http://www.pinatapalace.com/site/918844/page/442973

You might wanna check that out, unless I'm looking at somebody else's website.


Good luck with the site.

Mike

Beth: I think it looks great. The fonts are fine on my screen, but I have a high res screen, maybe the way I have the contrast set, anyway, looks crisp and clear to me. "Birthday partys add to the fun" down at the bottom the link is pink on blue, which is tough to read. All links I tried worked and the fact you already got sales, says it all. Greaat Job!

I really like the pinatas they look as good as anything available here in Mexico. Most of the pinatas in Mexico at least the good ones are made of barro to this day,less easy to break and you get more for your money. The pinatas that you advertise are very nice indeed and at a good price. I wish you success with them. On your site I noticed the link of add a pinata to your BD party directed me to a Technews.com. All other seemed to be fine.
But all and all it is a fun site to look at.

choco777
www.mayatabasco.com

Thank you everyone

Funny how fast things change - I checked that news article 2 weeks ago - check it at least once a month - looks like TCN News is no longer - so I'll have to delete that - so glad that was caught!

As to the search - what came up was an interior page before I switched to VodaHost - and those were all named strangely - hopefully the search engines will quickly replace those pages with my new interior pages - only the home page name remained the same. (I'm about 50% down in traffic - which isn't as bad as I thought it would be!)

Choco - my pinatas are handmade in Mexico - but unfortunately, we have to have them made to strict size specifications in order to ship them without paying twice as much to ship and for the pinata!

The name at the top is in the center of the page - the white box is not - I struggled with that LOL - will rethink it some more, maybe do some playing with it.

All Star - do you remember which pics didn't link? I can't find them! And don't feel bad about giving negatives - you aren't - you're giving feedback.

Thanks all - I love hearing everything - keep it coming!

Hi Bethers - great professional looking site as I would expect from you. Just one criticism - my eyes are not what they were, but I do have difficulty seeing the mauve hyperlinks on the blue background. I really have to squint to read them.

Everything else is looking really good though.

Cheers

If I might ask, where are you, do you keep an inventory or have them drop shipped. Because there are places where I once lived and have many contact in the Mexican businesses, including pinata makers from mexico. There is no difference in the pinatas, alot of Northamericans (i hate that,they don't know but except for south amer. were are all northamericans,anyway yeah I know i get side tracked), make them and
the shipping is almost nil compared to shipping from mexico. If they are made in San Antonio,TX , believe me they are hand made by Mexicans and are authentic and have more styles with up to the moment motifs. Sorry if that is nosey, just trying to help.

Choco777
www.mayatabasco.com

Hey, Beth!
Finally, huh? I know exactly what you have been going through....geez!

Only 2 things I saw for your consideration....
1. To minimize the "feathering" of your BV shapes (the page panel, the elipse, etc.) I would suggest trying adding a 1pt border in the same color. It seems that when sizes of shapes are larger, the definition of edges gets "mechanical" and loses some resolution without the re-emphasis of borders.
2. And your script font used for the links might look better if the next size larger, not bold.

Other than that, another excellent creation!

TY Vasili - I'll deifnitely be giving those suggestions a try (I wondered about how to get rid of the feathering on the ellipse!) But - those will be on another day - I can't wait till I have high speed and access from my rv again - this bench is getting harder and harder :)

Choco, I travel all the time. My pinatas are dropshipped, kind of - the people who do it are friends and they are in El Paso - and deal directly with who makes the pinatas. We are always looking for other people tho - so if you have any contacts - would love to get them.

So, the inventory is in a warehouse in El Paso. Are you saying that they could be shipped directly to the customer from Mexico for cheaper? If I had people I could trust, I'd consider doing that. And don't get that wrong - I would say that no matter where - you have no clue what I go through to add a new supplier or drop shipper to my stores :) - I'm picky!

Trish - I've thought about those colors a lot - will rethink them again - can you look here: http://www.pinatapalace.com/talkingpinata.html and let me know if you can read this page all right? Anyone else is free to comment also!

The only way you could save shippingfrom mexico direct is in bulk and I don't think you want to carry much inventory. Is this place in El Paso the one right on the border with Ciudad Juarez and is know for their Indian blankets and Mexican curios? Very nice place...HUGH. I was speaking of San Antonio. You could even keep minimum inventory and sell off non sellers locally, it is a big businss there. If it were profitable to ship from here ,(Comalcalco , Tabasco MX.) dropshipping, I possibly could help,buy putting you in touch with the right person(s). I have a few political friends in positions that control the sale of these artisanian articles,hammocks etc. Let me work on it. NO promises it is difficult here. I will check the alternative, SAFE and RELIABLE companies here and let you know.

Very nice site Beth, beats having to make them at home. I will add to favorites.

Ok Beth,

You are ONE up on me now! Guess Id better hit the work horse harder and get my other one up and moved too!

Karen

LOL Karen - I still have 2 to move and 2 new ones to build - ouch - did I say that - that's 4 more!!! I might drop to 1 new one for now -

Choco - all we have in El Paso is a warehouse - everything is shipped from there. No store. Sales in TX are very small - as people can go across the border and get larger ones at good prices. I would be interested if you have products that we could add to the site and bring to our El Paso warehouse. They would have to be party and/or pinata related - because that's all we carry - and I'd also be interested if you know anyone I could put in contact with our people in El Paso to make pinatas - we can always use another source.

Coming late to the party but.... Very nice Beathers! Great job as always.

Andy

No such thing as being late to the party - it's going on 24/7/365 on this wonderful thing we call the web.

Thanks - and I still would like some comments about this page: http://www.pinatapalace.com/talkingpinata.html
Can you read the text all right with the colors as they are?

OH, comments about ALL pages are always welcome - don't mean to say I only want for the one.

Yes- that page looks very good and the text is all very readable.

See ya on the web

Andy

Bethers,
I will be on this idea monday. The elections here always throw everything off. We are involved right now trying to get my brother-in-law elected president of the municipality. We will know this week-end if the PRI chooses him as their candidate. There must be something we can do for you. If he is chosen and elected ....WOW! Have in-laws in border towns, Monterrey,nuevo
Laredo and Torreon in Coahuila.........so there is chance.
let u know.

George

Hi Bethers,

Great site as usual. The talking pinata page was great and I was able to see clearly with no problems on netscape. I was jsut wondering if it might be more visually appealing if the bubbles were in different colors for each row or column or even random. The same bright pink seemed too pink for me...others may disagree...

And can I just say

Originally Posted by beegud2

Hi Bethers,

...The same bright pink seemed too pink for me...others may disagree...

aaah Mexican pink, you either really like it or hate it.

Originally Posted by bill2006

aaah Mexican pink, you either really like it or hate it.

LOL...I have to admit...I'm more of a blue person...BUT I'm sure the festive mexican culture would not mind the use of the festive blue and yellow etc....lol

Originally Posted by beegud2

LOL...I have to admit...I'm more of a blue person...BUT I'm sure the festive mexican culture would not mind the use of the festive blue and yellow etc....lol

Blue, yellow, green, they are all present. You have to visit it to enjoy it.

Good idea, and I think I'll see what I can do about mixing up the colors - just like the pinatas are vibrant colors!

Thanks - I love this place and all the great ideas!

Just took you up - take a look again and see if you like all the mixed colors on that page!

Hi Bethers
You did great will your site well done. I almost believe it was SOL. I am still work on my new one www.educational-toys-for-kids.com

Hi Beth,

It looks fabulous....absolutely love it and the colors you chose made it stand out more. It really is a great site.

Haven't forgotten the pinatas. Just checking some othe prices. Wish I had a ballpark profit margin, i'm thinking 40% above wholesale. Can you pay ex-factory prices at Nuevo Laredo? Then you can enter without paying tarif up to 400 usd. Still sourcing.

Sorry I did not hear from you. I couldn't negoiate a price without knowing where you stood as far as profit margin. They were willing to work at the border but gave up I guess. They waited three days and now I can't get an answer. but they get so many bogus inquiries that I can't blame them for thinking maybe this is just one more. Sorry did not know where to reach you except on this thread.

Sorry, Choco - I'm sometimes not on here for a week - and this is my first day back.

I'm not sure what you were looking for - but I'd really have to put my people in TX in touch with anyone you might have down there - as they do that negotiating - I am in sales to customers - and make suggestions to them.

We are always looking for more and others to make the pinatas - and if you click on my name - or any of my stores - you can find some of my email addresses and reach me that way also.

But when I'm offline, I only check for orders and customer requests - as I have very limited connectivity sometimes.