Hey everyone,

I am a college student that recently launched the site http://www.sportslizard.com for buyers and sellers of sports collectibles. I am relatively new to web design. I just (within the last year) learned php and mysql. Let me know what you think.

Thanks a lot!

The site looks clean. Navigation seems to make sense but black on dark gray bacground is not the best color combo. Especially for those areas "Home," "Buy," "Sell," "My Account" expected to get the most use.

Sure, the technical side of the site runs on mySQL and PHP. In reality the viability and disirability of the site runs on information design, usability, desirability design and marketing. This is also implied by the tagline "Sports collectibles done right." Essentially you are setting up users to expect a certain level of performance with that tagline. The difference between expectation and performance will determine satisfaction level.

The first item I clicked was $4.99 for sales ...plus $5.95 shipping ...plus $2 insurance ...plus a dollar listing fee. My guess is you want to target items over fifty dollars. The real review is of performance, meaning observing users post items and order them, seeing where users have trouble.

The site looks okay. There is little in the UI which seems to back up the tagline. How was the selling of collectibles not "done right" elsewhere and done right here? I couldn't tell. These seemingly trivial details are what is going to determine use, reuse, and absolutely critical word-of-mouth. Because, without an ad budget the interaction design is all you've got.

Thank you very much for the reply. I think I wrongly assume that most people will realize that it is competing with eBay/auction sites in general. That is where the "Sports Collectibles Done Right" comes into play. I attempted to "fix" many of the problems I found with eBay. I do think that I need to do a better job of advertising that fact as well as many of the other things you mentioned.

Thanks again!

Adam

Hi Adam.

I like your logo!

Taking DCrux's tagline comment one step further, I would change it to "Sports Collectibles Marketplace", which really describes the site better.

When you say "Sports Collectibles Done Right", you are inviting comparisons, not only to eBay, but to any and all sites that sell sports collectibles.

Remember, "one man's trash is another man's treasure," and "Done Right" is actually subjective. If your visitor doesn't agree with you, he/she could quickly form a bad opinion and move on.

Also, your site's advantage centers around the non-auction format, but the visitor doesn't see that distinction up front. They have to click on the link "The SportsLizard.com Advantage" to find it.

This is a great feature with a great benefit. Feature: not an auction; Benefit: You want it, you buy it! No waiting around, no hoping your not out bid, etc.

This distinction should be obvious on the home page, and on every Item page.

I'd also change the button text to "Buy Now" rather than "Buy this item". The difference is subtle, but is a stronger "call to action".

As long as the site is working correctly technically, the next step is to make it look "Professional". (I know, professional looking is also subjective. <grin>)

Play around with cascading style sheets. If you can get your layout in CSS and dump the tables, it will be very easy to make design changes in the future by simply changing the style sheet (external file, of course!)

You have a good concept, in a niche area. I think your site has the potential to actually make some money.

-ACross

__________________
Anita Cross
Internet Marketing Consultant, Call Of The Wild
My pet Photography site: Royalty Free Stock Photography

Hi Adam:

I also have a sports site that sells products. One thing I would reccommend is to add some descriptions to your products. This should raise your chances for a click thru as the person knows more about the product before clicking on the link.

If you would like to exchange links let me know. My site is http://sports-to-go.com

__________________
Jack Mitchell
Home Shopping Online | Sports To Go | Shopping To Go