New website - what do you think?

ugg

Hi everyone,
My new skincare website, bodzilla.ie http://www.bodzilla.ie/ is nearly finished. Given that I've received so much help through this forum, I'd like to know what people think of it before it's handed over to me. I've used Realex for payments and I think the site is well-designed, trustworthy and secure - but I've been looking at it for so long at this stage that I could be missing something glaringly obvious.
Thanks!

Lostinspace

It's a nice site Ugg. Well laid out and easy on the eye. Just a few small things.

(1) Social networking is extremely important for any business. It doesn't matter if you're selling concrete or skincare products. You need to share your products with the world and let people know that you are selling. I believe that the 'Share' widget is too small and it's way too far down the page for anyone to notice. Therefore I suggest you look at www.chernobylheart.org.uk. If you hover over the logo on the top left hand corner you can actually share that website link through social networking sites/email. You can get that through http://bar.meebo.com/.

(2) That Comdo icon on the bottom right hand corner doesn't look nice imho. It's out of sync with the rest of the website. Red and purple doesn't go well together. Secure or not, get rid of it.

(3) Also, I haven't checked but it's important you get an SSL cert for your website. You should ensure that when people check out that it says https rather than just http. I think that's important when people are buying online.

Otherwise good job. Make sure your blog is up and running before you go live. Good luck.

ugg

Hi Lostinspace,

I see what you mean about the social networking 'share' widget. The one on the Chernobyl Heart site is very impressive.

Do you think, though, that it's a good idea to have the share facility on an ecommerce website? I'm in two minds about it because, while I want to promote bodzilla.ie using social media, I'm wary about sending a potential customer away from the site.

I agree that the Comodo ssl icon sticks out like a sore thumb. However, I decided to use it because it shows that the site is secure which, as you said, is important - especially when people are trusting you with their personal details. As this is a new site, I'm prepared to live with it for the moment, ugly and all as it is, at least until the site is known and trusted.

The ssl is in place and https displays during checkout so at least that's fine. I'm also using Realex rather than PayPal because that's what customers seem to prefer.

Now to sort out my blog and my SEO...

Thanks for the advice

strandroad

I like the site - very clear and professional - but my main pet-peeve would be that the logo and especially the graphic underneath does not really say what the website is about. You need to scroll down and see the products (and know what they are). The name Bodzilla is catchy but tbh my first association is with bodybuilding and then with Brian O'Driscoll You have the header and the slideshow to get the correct message across but the header graphic and the generic slideshow pics could really mean anything. I think you need a little more identity work.

Lostinspace

ugg wrote: »

Hi Lostinspace,

Do you think, though, that it's a good idea to have the share facility on an ecommerce website? I'm in two minds about it because, while I want to promote bodzilla.ie using social media, I'm wary about sending a potential customer away from the site.

I honestly do. Ok, just say Mary has 200 friends on facebook. Mary finds your website through a Google search and notices this widget where she can share your site. Now she may not really want to share your site but this widget looks pretty cool so she decides to test out sharing it on her facebook page. When she shares this it doesn't take her away from your site. It opens a new mini page where she can log into her facebook and share your business. The important thing is that your website is STILL open in the background as she doesn't have to close that down in order to log into facebook. Even if Mary decides to stay on facebook and close her website then at least she has shared your business with her 200 friends. OK, realistically only probably 30 or 40 of those friends will see the link she has shared and probably 15 or 20 will click into your site, resulting in a number of conversions or referrals. I may be pulling figures out of my head but that's the power of social media.

tricky D

Homepage:

The Flash banner presents a few problems:
First and foremost, it's Flash when it would be much better as a JQuery implmentation such as AnythingSlider for a few reasons. See http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055939692
It rotates too fast and distracts too much.
The lhs text is vertical, so hard to read and disconnected from the angled text on green on the rhs.
Dunno why many designers still use Flash for this.
It does have free stuff and special offers which is good.

Homepage could have better SEO which one of the reasons for replacing the Flash.

Overall site:
No favicon.
I can't find any postal address. Put it at the bottom of every page or at least in the contact us page. This is vital for trust and can be a showstopper. I wouldn't buy anything without it.
There are a lot of colours in the design, too many in my opinion: various purples, various greens, black, orange and the comodo red. Try to get these cut back a bit and concentrate more on the purple which is your main branding colour. Personally I would try to change the black blocks to the purple.
The 'Add to Shopping Bag' is on purple when orange is usually the most effective colour for these buttons.
If the text was Add to Cart, you would free up space for a quantity box which might eliminate the need for an extra click.
I get a 'Line Items In Your Cart Were Modified Due To Low Stock.' message for some products. Better to explain what that means to users.

I would make the body text a bit bigger and make the Product Catalogue nav links bigger and/or emboldened.
The addthis code makes the page jump if I start scrolling before it is finished downloading which is a bit irritating.
Some of the lifestyle images at the top of the main content area are unrelated to the page content e.g. happy couple in the baby section. I'm not a big fan of these anyway as they don't add much value, if any, and instead push content below the 'fold'.
Some of the lifesgtyle images are from istockphoto, gettyimages and maybe others. Be sure that the usage rights for these are in order or you risk getting hammered for copyright breach.
6 products per page could be upped - I'd prefer to scroll than click and wait.
Product feedback form input boxes are too smal, especially the feedback textarea box. (The postal address is displayed there which isn't the place I'd expect at all)
Why do I have to have an account and sign in for newsletter?
Get the blog branded.

hth and gl

ugg

Lostinspace, you make a strong argument for the 'share' widget and, as you said, it opens a new window so at least the website is still open in the background.
Tricky D, thanks for going through the site in such detail. Your suggestions have really got me thinking about how the site can be improved.
The same goes for your comments about strengthening the site's identity, mhge.
Thanks everyone for the generous advice - I'm now looking at bodzilla.ie with fresh eyes, which is exactly what was needed.

Kev O C

Very nice siet. Has a youthful feel to it. Nicely laid out and easy to follw. One thing I'd notice is the text is a bit small but sure people can zoom on their computers these days easily

dotcom13

Very nice site, I've just started design sites too. Hopefully I'll get one as nice as yours soon.

p

Very odd choice of branding. 'bodzilla' is very agressive and masculine. Same with the visual design. Seems at odds with your product and customers.

suey71

I actually like that its a little masculine. I wouldn't buy mens products from a site that was all girly girly. I also like the purple, its feminine yet strong.

I really like this site, it feels fresh.

I'm also in the process of setting up an online store and hopefully it'll be as good as yours.

Good luck.

pitkan

Hi ugg. Firstly, you have to be happy and satisfied. Secondly, as stated it is pleasing to the eye and is as good as any out there. Take on board any of the suggestions offered and best of luck with your venture.

ugg

Thanks for all the feedback lads. Just to explain the branding... we purposely avoided a feminine-looking site because we're selling to men as well. Hence the purple and green colour combination, which we felt was both fresh and gender neutral. The name 'bodzilla' has a masculine sound but, again, this was intentional because, unlike most skincare sites, we want to appeal to both male and female customers. We found that while women don't seem to mind buying from more masculine sites, many men are turned off by overly feminine branding, so there you go...;)

Tim M-U

Wow, well done! I first saw the website and nearly fell in love with the design! I see through comodo that you have ssl secure transactions etc.. The blog though is a wordpress default theme and you should proberly use this; it's a great way to discuss + promote your products online. You should use twitter/facebook, another great social networking way of promoting your site.

Good luck!

suey71

I'm surprised that you haven't posted over on the Mens Health/Gentleman's Club, as there are some good guys over there that would give you some feed back on the male products that your selling.

At the moment there are a couple of good threads there that are very relavent to what you do.

Some of the guys over there really know their stuff, and I'm sure you'll get some great advice from them.

ugg

Thanks suey71, that sounds like a great idea:D

pablo21

Site looks good! What software did you use to create it? Is it open source?

ugg

Glad you like the site pablo21. It was built using bvCommerce.

ablowick

it is good site but you need to put you address so that people will be able to contact you . Also need to see details of postage/Shipping costs so people will get the full picture

Darkphenom

This site is very good!

Just out of curiosity did you use photoshop / dreamweaver / fireworks for this site. It is visually impressive! Is this your first webpage?

One small point is that you could add a small favicon to your page.