GoldMountainMining.com

[GregBaskin]

I'm open and fearless ... give me your best shot

[candypam]

Ok, you said "you're ready and fearless"...
1. The black background is taking away from your entire website. It also masks your entire logo in the header.
Shoppers don't like to sit and look at a black background when shopping for the type of items you have. They would expect to see all this black on a Motorcycle or Car website
Wild West / Gold Mining I feel should be colors of golds, reds, tans and a little black. You have a a great name, so play it up and brand yourself with it. Right now I feel you're hiding it.
The "little" mining guy I feel should play a big part in your header. I could see a good graphic designer really having some fun with him and your store name throughout your website.
2. Left Nav colors ""YIKES".. needs toned down asap, the screaming yellow hurts my eyes, then the slide out menu's have me running for my sunglasses.
4. The Yahoo star rating is not aloud anymore on your store front.
Yahoo stopped this practice a few years ago. If they see it, they will contact you to remove it. I know my web developer took ours off a few years ago when Yahoo announced it.

You have some really cool things to sell.. Wild West... "There's gold in them there hills" ~ theme, but that's not the feel I get when I've entered your store.
Just my thoughts ;o)
Thanks,
Pam

[jam]

I totally agree with Pam about those colors....Black, yellow, red. Change those colors. Also, your item pages have way to much empty space above the fold. Who wants to scroll down that much. Not shoppers.

About us page is great, shipping policy page is informative and shopping cart follows thru with the site. I think you just need to tone down those colors!

[cactus_donnat]

Hi and thanks for coming by our forum and asking for opinions of others! This is a great place to get feedback.

I like your logo and overall theme of the site. You have a toll-free number in the header, which is great for building confidence. Also, you have testimonials in your shell- that is a fantastic feature to have. I also really like that you have your signatures on your homepage-- you have a lot of consumer confidence building on your site.

The issues I see really have to do with navigation and usability. Your item pages are little confusing and jumbled, and do not use best practices. JAM also mentioned this, about important things being below the fold. For example, when I clicked on this link:

The Humanity Bracelet® - Pewter, Sterling Silver, or 14 Karat Gold

... at first I thought I was on a section page because there were a few pictures. When I clicked on the first image, the picture enlarged- I was expected to be taken to an item page. A better way to use multiple images would be like at www.moleskines.com- this is the Solid Cactus click-to-enlarge, which allows for mulitple images. I think it's great that you show various angles and the box it comes in-- I think it could just be displayed better. Also, the default Yahoo click-to-enlarge is dangerous-- people are used to clicking the 'x' to get out of a click-to-enlarge- with the version you are using, folks have to remember to hit "Back" or else they will accidentally leave your site.

But- your conversions would increase if you had the item page laid out with best practices in mind, with the price and details to the left of the item picture, with the "Add to Cart" button right there. You have a lot of great content within your descriptions, but with some reworking of the item page- maybe Tabbed Prodcut Info and a Product Info Table could take care of this.

I also think that on your homepage, you should consider putting your universal links, like About Us, in the header. Online shoppers look for it there, while they look to navigate through your items on your left navigation- those two types of information should be seperated.

I think that you have some great products and a great concept- With a few tweaks, I think you can see higher conversion rates...

What are some of the issues you are having now, and what prompted you to ask for feedback. I could certainly talk to you offline if you'd like about the SC Click-to-Enlarge.

Thanks again for stopping by and best wishes!
Donna

[Charmlady]

I agree with Pam about colors - I think color of a site (eye pleasing or not) is key because you only have a few seconds to WOW a customer into wanting to come on in and take a look around.

Because of the background color of your site, the images don't show well, hence it doesn't hold my interest.

Also great you have dynamic naviation on the side bar - but why are some words (links) dynamic nav and some aren't? Is this because they are actually item pages and not section pages? Kinda confusing to the end user..

On checkout page -- its the yahoo default - make your look and feel follow through to checkout to make customer not feel as though they have left your store and gone elsewhere

Blinking banner at top of checkout page about deadline date is annoying...Its ok to have it on the checkout page, and even in red to catch their attention, but don't blink it -- its too confusing where your eyes should go. You have to be careful about animation on sites - this feature alone will make some (like me) leave INSTANTLY.