Hello,

Our site WoodturningVideosPlus.com has been up for a little over a year and we would *really* appreciate your comments on the overall look of the site, navigation, layout and anything that bothers you in any way. At this point we're not sure if we need a complete overhaul, or maybe just a few tweaks to make the site better and more visually appealing. I have ran the site through many of the checkout programs as requested in the "sticky" and we've come out good, although I'm not sure about some of the code recommendations, as we're still quite new to HTML.

We have three main educational libraries, our "Main" library offers in-depth educational articles, some of which exceed 8,000 words on one page. What's the best way to handle a large article? Break it into parts, with each part a separate page? As it stands now, our library articles are no deeper than a T3 page and we're unsure about stretching some of the articles into T6 or longer pages. I've heard that Google ignores pages that deep, but I'm not sure one way or the other.

Also, on our "Main" and "Tips" intro pages, we have all of the articles listed, with a short description of each article and a thumbnail image. Is there a better way to present this information? We hope to have 300 articles loaded in the next few months, so our library pages are going to get really long.

Any help you can offer (brutally honest is Ok, we're here to learn ) would be greatly appreciated. When we first started a little over a year ago, we were happy to just get a page up and running without problems in all of the different browsers. Now that we have a few pages up, we're taking time to see what we can do to really pull everything together. I only found this site a few days ago and I've been impressed with the wealth of knowledgeable people who are willing to offer help and assistance. As a newbie to the world of websites, I really need all of the help I can get. Thanks in advance for your time and best wishes to you and yours!

Steve

1. Use external Javascript.
2. Use external style sheets.
3. Make the text area wider. Most monitors are 1024x768 or better according to TheCounter.com: The Full-Featured Web Counter with Graphic Reports and Detailed Information . You have it at 725 and I would go to at least 800. Even numbers are better than odd.
4. Your copyright notice should not be an image.
5. View cart belongs on the homepage up high so it is obvious that you are selling stuff.
6. Get a better headshot. Your current one looks like a snapshot taken at a funeral (the lillies in the background).
7. Hire a professional designer.

__________________
Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac

Hello Dave,

Thanks for your comments... I'm not sure what #1 and 2 refer to, so I will have to do some research. I have Adobe CS3 Web Premium edition, but I'm still trying to learn some of the programs, as website construction is still very new to me.

#3: Good idea... I will get this done.
#4: The program I use makes the footer an image, but I should be able to make it a text box instead and not use the footer insert.
#5: Great idea! I never thought about that. I have been trying to learn how to make a "call to action" for the front page as well. I will get the view cart added - Thanks!
#6: Good point... I don't much care for pictures of myself, (never have) so I used one of the few that's ever been taken of me.
#7: I would like to do this, but the few I've contacted thus far are *very* expensive. Right now, I'm trying to do whatever I can myself - if possible.

Thanks for your time and your comments. I sincerely appreciate your recommendations and your counsel. Best wishes to you and yours!