New Site: Yak's Hardware

[creartica]

Check out my new site http://yakshardware.ca Let me know what you think? any suggestions? see any errors? I have couple days to finish/tweek the site.

Yak's Hardware officially opens for business on January 25th 2012. Yak has most of his products up in list form. The individual detailed product pages are not up yet.

Charles Reid


[Spam Content & ID Info Removed]

[Vasili]

Re: New Site: Yak's Hardware

Personally? I think it unprofessional placing your Web Design banner in the Prime corner of the site itself instead of some advertising or promotional message that is directly relevant to the site's overall offering and which will exponentially contribute to potential conversions (sales, or valued customer contacts/interaction). I challenge you to find me one similar genre site that the 'designer' tag is placed similarly, or is not exclusively in the footer (if on it at all). * You need to revise the page size in BV to allow for the Yak footer to show ... apparently it is below your defined page length and is not visible.

Typically, it is instead the perfect place to promote 'hot' selections or programs that need added exposure, such as 'Clearance' or even in this case, the 'Yak Club' as not only would this be an immediate revenue builder, but also provide a wider base of pre-qualified and interactive consumers to focus other marketing efforts towards.

I also noticed prevalent mis-spellings in core areas like your Left Navigation: For instance, you originally spelled "Notebooks" as "Notbook" (amongst other spelling errors), and completely left out "Laptops" as a category, which could be linked to the 'Notebook' page if necessary based on Canadian usage, if needed. You have since changed 'Notbooks' to 'Netbooks' which is neither an accurate term according to the product manufacturer, it is also not one that is used by the industry, which then severely cripples any hopeful SEO Valuation and Content Relevancy Ranking to be attributed to the website overall. Even though this is your site, it does not matter clients supply you the information (especially if English is not his native language) or if it was your own supposition or good intention (which demonstrates your due diligence by performing the minimum of research) - a professional would have never allowed these simple Proofing and SEO/Term errors to make it online. Further, with regard to SEO applications, giving such prominence to AdSense in a position usually reserved for Add-On or Suggestion items or services proprietary to the store itself compounded with the errors of Terms and weak page META development and metrics implementation that renders the AdSense fucntionality to a bare minimum (since 'Netbooks' is not a real term, AdSense cannot pick up on one of the industry's hottest categories to even present the opportunity to develop random conversions - Laptops, Notebooks, and Tablets - not "touchpads"), the website transparently suffers from designer inexperience and faulty compliance.

Basic, common-sense methods need to be used without fail, and should be the framework to build a solid skillset. With regard to spelling and syntax/term usage, it is another reason to compose all content, lists, and text first in Word so SpellCheck can do it's work prior to keeping an archival resource to use later to update and more. Forming these basic habits as part of a proven methodology will help to enlarge your skillset, and support your efforts to promote your web design enterprise as one with reliable expertise.

The background is clearly Seasonal (snowflakes), and should have been simply a complimentary monochromatic background (and definitely without using the unecessary and ill-fitting image background used as a type of page border), for two reasons: first, to ease the strain on visitors eyes as they focus on the volume of small text on the page, as the contrast is unwelcomed and actually sophomoric, IMO; and, by having a static, recognizable ('branded') monochromatic background will further create a negative stability and recognizability with Visitors due to the site changing without seeming justification (hopefully not with more unprofessional backgrounds that also erode overall professionalism of the store, which is a critical aspect of trustworthiness, something visitors are always assessing as they visit sites while they vascillate deciding to convert their desire into an actual transaction or abandon the site never to return).

If this is your first attempt at a "larger" site design, then you have had a good start, to be sure. You've done a lot of work and invested a lot of time producing this site, but such an undertaking does not negate the typical standards or requirements that provide the predictably reliable results that optimal performance provides. The key is to focus on the details and the overall presentation, making sure the entirety is delivered with the aplomb that is expected. This is the real compliance, the reality of the rubber hitting the road in web design: making things pretty and professional looking is important, but the purpose of a website is to perform, to function (convert and/or communicate), and things will simply not function properly unless the minutia is implemented with the care and precision as are the larger, more obvious aspects. Balance ... with perfected continuity and totality of performing relevance.

Keep plugging away .... but definitely dial-down your self promotion by limiting your "Designer Info" to a simple text link in the footer! Let the site itself and the clients be your best advertisements. You will be surprised how that will prove to be more profitable in the end.


@

IMO

[creartica]

Re: New Site: Yak's Hardware

Thanks for the detailed response. Yeah I would never put myweb banner on a client's site. Yak's Hardware is my site. I do however see your point, I did not reallythink about it because it's my site. But it now gives me a bad taste in mymouth! I'll move my ad.
I do tend to rush stuff, I'll try to slow down and publishonly finished pages. In Canada we have laptops and net books. A lot of businessesdo call "laptops" notebooks here. I will make sure to use laptops andlink to net books and notebooks.
I will tone down the background imagery and contrast; I do wantto have some kind of seasonal themes though. I will keep it to a minimum. I havehad positive feedback about the circuit board frame boarder.
This is my first attempt at a large site and keeping it simplewill definitely make things easier. I will read up on copyright law.
Thanks, for the input Vasili
Charles

[creartica]

Re: New Site: Yak's Hardware

I do not know why my words are stuck together? Weird.

[Vasili]

Re: New Site: Yak's Hardware

You have made may corrections and improvements, which is good to see. There are still a few simple typos to address yet, so don't give up!

However, for being a 'web designer' you should well know that your site is insanely too wide at 1231 pixels, as the universal maximum accepted width based on the 16-grid foundation of the Net is 982 pixels wide maximum for universal viewability.

Why you would ignore this and actually make the site wider since last review is difficult to understand ...