Please Review ProjectShirts.com

[sgusa]

ProjectShirt.com

This is a brand new website and we're looking to give it a better look, but on a shoestring budget. Content is still being added to the site so it is not "Live" yet (no order buttons). What are your ideas for a low cost solution to spice it up?

[pixel]

I like the concept you have thus far.

If you take a look at The Weekender (The Weekender - NEPA's #1 Arts Entertainment Weekly) or Punk Your Chucks (hand painted custom converse chuck taylor sneakers shoes, af1, vans), they have a "grunge" or "edgy" design that you may want to consider doing for your site.

Let your creative juices flow for design and marketing

[Cactus_AudreyK]

Mike,

I like where you're heading with your project shirt site so far. I really like some of the designs!

Instead of the "send email" button, I would suggest that you make sure to add full contact information (including the email address) and possibly place a toll free phone number in a prominent location on your site.

There are so many ways you can really personalize the site to make it stick in your customers heads... Just the name itself inspires a "mission: impossible" thought... what a great logo that would be to kind of play off of that idea a bit, because it's something that is somewhat familiar to many people...

I know you're still working on the site, but I'd also suggest making it so your checkout page is branded with your logo as well... so there's a continuous flow of your logo and color scheme from start to finish.

Oh, and make sure that all payment options are listed on your homepage... similar to the way many brick and mortar stores have visa, m/c and amex logo stickers on their windows or doors... it's important to do the same online. Familiarity and information being readily available breeds confidence in customers shopping at your business.

I look forward to seeing what else you come up with!

[Adam S.]

Hey Mike,

Good luck with Project Shirt LLC: Vintage, Grunge and Funny Tees. There is a lot of potential for custom t-shirt sales online.

I like where you are heading with the dark design. What you need to look at in a t-shirt site is first the navigation. Because of the various genres of t-shirt messages, navigation should be a primary concentration.

I think we can bring out the design a lot with an edgy logo and a dynamic flash intro image. This will draw attention to the site as a state of the art t-shirt provider. The navigation then should easily move the user to the items of interest.

Adam Sieminski

[lucysdoghouse]

I will run it by my kids, they are both teenagers, and see what they think. They both love Hot Topic and your initial impression is dark and edgy like Hot Topic. I think it is pretty cool.

[robbbailey]

Mike!

This is right up my alley, we're in the t-shirt business too.

First off, this is a competitive business. There are several things you can do right straight away to get you headed in the right direction, let's focus on those. Here is my condensed list of tips from what I see so far in your site design:

1. Don't assume people will think your stuff is lame if you have lifestyle shots. You want to identify with a certain type of person who will buy your stuff, so put your tees on some people who may look like your potential customers. This gives the "off the shelf" look a kick in the butt. If you don't have a budget for this, get your friends to do it. OR ASK YOUR USERS TO SUBMIT THEM FOR YOU IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR PRODUCT! (hint hint)

Also, it's ok to tell people what you're all about. At TheRyde.com we open tell people that our clothing line is for good humored, laid back individuals who are into a SoCal lifestyle. Notice we didn't say they have to be from SoCal to get our lifestyle, they just have to identify with it. This opens the door to anyone who will listen.

2. T-shirts are a tricky thing to sell. People want to browse many different designs to buy the perfect shirt for them. Remember there are tons of new t-shirt companies popping up by the minute (literally!), so there are thousands of shirts to browse online. You will lose visitors before they view your entire clothing line if your navigation doesn't streamline the browsing process on your site. Assume you have a few seconds at best to grab someone. Adam's post eluded to this. Ask yourself some questions as if you had a short attention span: "If I'm on the product page, how can I browse some other designs without having to click back to the previous page?"... Give your visitors several ways to navigate your product.

3. This may be the most important tip of all, although it's probably the most overlooked. Once a first-time visitor has seen all your designs and decided to pass, are you giving them a reason to come back to the site at a later date? About 97% of your visitors will not buy during their initial session. Offer a competition, or new designs released on a regular basis, or anything else that will give them a reason to check back at a later date to check out your stuff again. This gives you the chance to give them another reason to return to your site and buy. We're working on design changes at The Ryde now to make this sort of thing an effective reason for customers to return to our site. Our users have told us this is what they want!

Ok, that's all I got for now. Hope this helps man.
Robb

[sgusa]

Thanks for all of the helpful comments. This site is starting on a very small budget, but once things get going we're expecting great things.

[Cactus_AudreyK]

Robb,
I just have to say that in addition to loving your site and designs, I really, really LOVE the sizing chart!!!! That's awesome! Seriously, perfection. Love the pictures.

KUDOS.

[robbbailey]

Originally Posted by Cactus_AudreyK

Robb,
I just have to say that in addition to loving your site and designs, I really, really LOVE the sizing chart!!!! That's awesome! Seriously, perfection. Love the pictures.

KUDOS.

Haha, yeah our sizing chart kicks ass! We had a lot of fun making it, we were sitting around asking ourselves, "Why are everyone else's sizing charts so bland, almost like user manuals? Let's make the best sizing chart ever humanly conceived..."

Thanks for the compliment!

[Cactus_AudreyK]

Now you just need a woman's size chart to complement it!