Website redesigned soon.

[mpt]

The following is our current website, within the next few days it will be redesigned to be more "updated" and "professional" looking. We have histrocially just focused on delivering the best products at the lowest costs to our customers, and while our customers seem to appreciate the simple nature of our website, many in the design world have prompted us to give it a new facelift. Check it out in its current form then visit us in a few days to see the "new and improved"

Perfect Timing

[candypam]

Hi …
Well…. To me you kind of put the cart before the horse posting on here.
You should have posted before you actually started a new design.
I know this is the old one here you asked us all to look at and it’s actually too late for anyone to chime in with suggestions, but just incase it’s not all done, I’d like to suggest a few things that I feel is a must for your new web store.

First of all you have some real high end stuff here! This isn’t your typical watch website. You’ve got HIGH END, and people will expect a high end website.
When I looked at your soon to be old website and saw all the Rolex, Cartier, etc etc, I was kind of shocked! Reason being…

If I was buying a $7 thousand dollar Rolex online or a $15k Cartier, heck even a $500 Gucci, I would expect right off the bat to see a beautiful, stunning, top of the line website plus a secure website badge like Verisign or Hackersafe/Mcafee.
People don't care if you have Google check out or Yahoo, all they want is to see safe and secure!
I'm sure your design company has already told you that, and if not, run far away!

I actually didn't feel real safe shopping this old website!
I read your nice story about your family on your about us page, and you have all these real stores and have had many years in business, I think a few good pictures of these stores and the jewelers themselves will also help you gain much needed trust.

I'm not sure who the company is doing your new design, but you are a prime candidate for a few really cool features like SNAP SHOP, and a left nav section slide out feature is a must for you. If you’re not aware of them, you might want to check them in action on my website before you finalize your “finished “store!

Also because you have the dot biz instead of dot com, you’re really going to have to put on a nice, loud “runway” show to get people to your website! Anymore, price just won’t do it… too much close competition. People look to see if the website matches the price tag (if you get my drift)
Anyway I'm real anxious to see your new design and I wish you the best of luck! ;o)
Pam

[cactus_donnat]

Hi there,

Thanks for posting here. I agree with Pam-- there is so much input you could have gotten from some ecommerce professionals and successful merchants (like Pam) here before you went and signed for a redesign.

There are many, many things on your site that do not meet best practices in ecommerce. The first thing that jumps out at me is all the Google Check-Out buttons- wow. It really looks cluttered on the site-- simply an add-to-cart or buy now button would be sufficient. It looks way too loud-- and having your phone number on each item, too. You have your toll free number in the header where it belongs- that's good enough. It doesn't need to be plastered all over. Also, the flashing graphics are very busy and very "old school" web.

I think this may be because you are not on an ecommerce platform so you need to have a way for people to check out. Like Pam said, a secure shopping graphic would work. Let me ask you this- is your new store on an ecommerce platform or just a regular website with Google Check-out buttons? You should seriously consider moving your store to Yahoo or another trusted ecommerce cart-- you are missing out on a lot if you are not.

Another thing that jumps out at me is your navigation- it's very hard to see how to navigate your site- your search box should be in your left hand nav- that's where people go to look for it. Your categories look like links, not a true menu, so to me, it doesn't look like the navigation.

I do like how you show the savings- that is good. Your product descriptions could be more detailed- that's really good for SEO.

A watch site that we design is: Welcome to TeNo-Boccia-Xemex.

Please do let us know when your redesign goes live. I am interested to see it. I hope for your success that you went with a developer that knows ecommerce -- there is a big difference between a web developer and an ecommerce developer.

Thanks again for posting and I wish you the best of luck with your site.

[candypam]

Donna - WOW...
That’s a super cool looking website link you provided for them to look at!
Such funky features I loved! Yep that's what I meant... classy high end!
hmmmmm ha ha ha
I'm saving all these cool websites I keep seeing with these neat flash things or whatever going on. Their section pictures set up you guys did is super cool!

I better tell Rock Star Robyn at SC's PPC team to pump up the volume even more on my PPC campaigns (gulp, oh God I have no life now ha!)
So I can get all this fancy stuff on my new redesign when the time comes.
Ahhh I can see it now ~ a candy bar unwrapping itself hee hee
Pam

[cactus_donnat]

Pam- you really gave some great advice! High end items belong on a high-end site-- and a high-end looking site doesn't necessarily have to cost and arm and a leg- it's all in the design. When I think high-end, I think clean, white and slick. Which reminds me of something else I wanted to add-- PerfectTime, the color choice of the dark colors I think isn't the best choice.

Donna

[cactus_donnat]

Originally Posted by candypam

Donna - WOW...

So I can get all this fancy stuff on my new redesign when the time comes.
Ahhh I can see it now ~ a candy bar unwrapping itself hee hee
Pam

Pam- that's a really cool idea... hmmmm.

[mpt]

Originally Posted by cactus_donnat

should seriously consider moving your store to Yahoo or another trusted ecommerce cart-- you are missing out on a lot if you are not.
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Thank you for all of the great feedback. I'm interested to know what we are "missing out on" by not being on a yahoo store for example?

Yes our site is 100% custom written, while I would like to move to an ecommerce platform, I have the following concerns 1) SEO - we have highly developed SEO to many of our links, and I would hate to change them and have to start over 2) I haven't found a system I like that allows us to customize it to our needs as much as I would like.

The site "re-design" is merely cosmetic so it is not an enormous undertaking, and we're always looking at different options.

[sunil.lukose]

I dont have much to say after Donna and Pam already laid out most of it. Most of your sections are empty, do not frustrate people to click empty sections, if oyu do nto ahve product don't show it, last one thing your logo kind of reminded me of prestige time logo.