Please Review my New Site

[KKoher]

Hey...I just got my website up and running. Its not finished yet, I still have lots of products to add, but I thought you could check it out anyways and tell me what you think. I know it is a very generic template...maybe one day we'll have the funds to upgrade....Thanks -Katie www.blackheartinc.com

[KKoher]

Opps...sorry, I meant BLACK HEART INC. Home Page ....I guess its pretty bad when you don't know the address to your own site, huh? lol...we wanted blackheartinc.com, but it was already taken.

[KKoher]

No one? Thanks guys for all the help & support.... =(
JK, but seriously...I would totally appreciate any feedback you might have.

[smitty02]

Hmm I see you don't have many products on your site yet. (like you said) The pink is a nice touch but it seems off centered. This is just my opinion but it would look better if the background was shown on the other side as well. other than that looks pretty good.

[iamandagirl]

Good site , I think so

[KKoher]

Thanks for the input. The pink is actually centered, its the Logo at the top that is not. Because its a template, we cannot get rid of the Black Heart Inc. on the left hand side, so it kinda throws our whole logo off to the right, and out of center. There are still a few more products I need to add, but everything listed is stuff we have in stock at the store. We don't have any wholesalers that dropship, so we are limited to how much product we can have on the site (mostly b/c we don't have the space or the finances to go all out and order a ton of stuff, we just have enough to fill our store).

[SeasonEnds]

How many purchases have you received online? The fact is, people can go and buy the same thing from any other established company. What makes you better than them?

I'm sure it would be easy to find a template that looks way better than that. Have you tried templatemonster or something like that? What ecommerce store are you using and how much are you paying? There might be better ways.

I wish you the best of luck. Check out t-shirtforums.com for a wealth of information along the lines of your business. It is the best resource that I have ever found for my business.

[Fanatik]

Whomever you've got working on the site should reconsider the layout and template choice. You can use those colors in a much more effective manner. That site pops way too much and may send some people into seizures j/k. I like the concept - but using a better interface would accomodate people a little better and I can PROMISE it will increase sales.

Joomla, Drupal, and many more Content Management Systems can do a better job at portraying your site, while still having ecommerce functionality.

[SiteFlipAcademy]

Hey Katie! Just went to your site, overall it's not that bad, the only thing to be fixed is the header which is needed to be trimmed and centered. Using CMS could be a great help, it improves the visual output of your site.

[KKoher]

Thanks for all the feedback. I will deffinetly look into a different template, and try to make it look more professional.

[meaghannf]

Agreed- having a different template would really help you out and I imagine you could find some good free ones that keep the slightly edgy feel but make it easier to navigate. Also, you might consider switching the pink and the black. Having the pink (the bight color) be where your content is right now simply highlights how little content you have. The eye is drawn to the pink area, but there's nothing there.

Good luck!

[KKoher]

Thanks again....So, I am doing my website myself, and have very little experience with web design (which is why we used a template in the first place). I'm really not sure where to find free template, and then when I do find one where do I go from there? Our host is Homestead.com, and they have this whole thing set up already where you just pick one of their templates, and go from there. Its not very customisable (as you may have noticed). After checking out my site, and seeing what I have, and what I need to improve, what would you recommend? And not like "You need a new template", b/c I get that, I just don't know HOW to get one....Sorry, I'm really a beginner when it comes to all this website stuff, but we have so many people that stop into the store that are down visiting on vacation, and ask if we have a store near them or a website. So the website thing was the next step for us. Thanks again for all your patience and support, its very appreciated.

[SeasonEnds]

You can go to Monster Template Network Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Flash Templates, Logo Templates or Free Web Templates Resource - FreeTemplatesOnline.com and search for one. You may have to pay. Try getting on google and search for free web templates and find one you like. Once you have chosen a template you should be able to download the files them and edit the information. You can PM me if you are having trouble.

[KKoher]

Hey, Thanks! I'll try that right now...and get back to you if I have problems after I download one.

[Fanatik]

KKoher,

Please read some of the post I left for another person in a somewhat similar situation... Please don't take it as harshly as it was intended for the other user - I just dont have time to edit it right now... I know you're on a time constraint because you have areal business, so again - please don't take offense to the harshness... not intended for you. Just info purposes re: Joomla, templates, etc... If you need ANYTHING at all, let me know. I design and build sites as well and would be happy to help ya out. -J

'So, since I left a reply without much substance - let me delve into it a bit.
I built 'www.hidreview.com' with Joomla. I didnt know a damn thing about Joomla - but I learned FAST! I learned it over about a month's time. I then used Google to find a compatable reviews service that would integrate with Joomla... It happened to be 'jreviews.com' -- Then I looked for templates; 'www.rockettheme.com' -- Go figure. I found all that, and I knew nothing about Joomla CMS. The site looks kick ass, and I built it with the intent to sell it; I needed a CMS that was easy to use and learn... so I used my resources available.

Simply put - you need to put some sweat equity into your site. You're trying to quickly post a website and hope for a return on your work... it doesnt work like that.

Ask yourself these questions:
1) WHY would someone want to click thru your site?
2) Did I make it easy to find info?
3) Can people UNDERSTAND MY CONTENT?
(aka price structure)
4) Is it easy for people to contact me/order?

There are a ton more - but start with those... You need structure, you need to TAKE YOUR TIME. Just like the questions above - if you don't know how to do something -- Google.com is a fking wonderful tool. I use it 23 out of 24 hours of the day. Yes, I sleep with my damn Palm (that could be made into a joke.. hehe). '