Kilabyte wrote:True the bots need feeding and I have done little to get the site promoted yet, it is still really early days for this site and I just really wanted to show people how shopping cart V3.5 can be implemented.
I must admit that I do have a background in web commerce and 25 years experience in computers (only the last 15 or so in internet).
Two sites that I completed in the last few months are
www.bensonsforbeds.co.uk and
www.harveysfurniture.co.uk. Now these are .net, sql and flash based (among other things) and on a much grander scale. They each bring in 3 million £ worth of sales a month.
But one thing we did before they were launched was market research with specialist companies and test sites. This included over 400 test subjects. Plus special glasses that recorded where people looked on the page and where they went in the site.
Very strong aspects that came out were that people did not want to much text to read unless they asked for it (they did not want information overload). They preferred bold and eye catching items. They did not like having to scroll but preferred to click on items. They never looked at the front page and just went away, they always tried clicking (even on some very bad sites we showed them where it was not obvious what to click). They did not like slow loading pages. Many other items were lower down the list but it is a 40 page report so probably not best if I go in to it all here.
This was an expensive exercise to carry out (in the £ thousands), so luckily I did not have to foot the bill
.
Using this information is the way that my site was designed.
Everyone has different views on what is the best site. Certainly a lot is based around what we have done in the past or what we do when we go to a website. But that is not always the best way forward. I certainly had to rethink things after getting the report.
I am not trying to say that other peoples ways are wrong in others eyes or that my way is right in others eyes. Just that it is based on solid research rather than a belief that what I am doing is right.
One of the joys of the internet is that different people do things in different ways. Its a bit like buying magazines. Many cover the same subject but they may be different styles, we pick the one that appeals to us. It would be boring if all the sites looked the same style.
So very true that you want to stand out from the crowd, and the old ways are not always the best ways. Keep in mind these comments given to you were with the intent of giving you an honest opinion, and they came from people with oodles of experience. Please don't disregard them just because of a focus group, they don't always give the best information either.
There is a very fine line with what you are trying to achieve. I don't believe you can ever give too much information, it just has to be presented in the right way. Too little information and the surfer has no idea what's behind door #1, and will just go away. Most of us don't have enough time to go digging deeper just to see what the site is offering, and with all the other search results they will be offered there really is no need to waste your time trying to figure it out. Relevant content is what everyone searches for. With that landing page it could have people wondering where's the content. If it was me I'd go back to the search results pronto.
I think you have a solid idea, but you just haven't achieved it yet. From what I see, you are very good at what you do. The home page for your bed site is what most everyone would like to achieve, it's awesome. I'm not trying to upset you, just giving you my opinion, along with the others. I think everyone on here has good intentions, and we are just trying to help each other out. Good luck with your sites.
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