Website Re-design just launched - Weddings

TatumLD · #1 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 12:15 AM

Hello,

I just re-designed New and Blue - Wedding invitations, wedding favors, bridesmaid gifts and much more! and launched it this week. I will be working on the blog and working out the kinks. I would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks.

davebarnes · #2 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 11:14 AM

I would use external Javascript and CSS. I think you find the maintenance to be much easier.

chowell · #3 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 12:56 PM

The site looks good on the front-end, although you're still missing a Hook and clear Value Proposition.

I think the business model is a bit misleading, since many of your menu options appear to go to eInvite's site as an affiliate.

Can you figure out a way to display their products on your site? I assume you're still working on building your inventory & selection.

mtheory · #4 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 01:34 PM

Decent use of turnkey looking cart. Althought I found ita little busy and confusion sets in when the links go to three different sites.

johngroup · #5 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 01:35 PM

Nice design. On the external invitations site in the main menu, I'd like to see your logo more pronounced - as if the 2 sites are tied closer together. Good work!

Dubbya · #6 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 01:55 PM

Overall, you've done a great job on the site. Lots of content, great photos and a visually appealing layout that'll nail your target audience.

You're losing some relevancy by using your company name in page titles, so you might want to consider reworking those.

I'm a little confused by the way you link off-site from your menu system, to partner pages for magnets and invitations for example. I don't care for that AT ALL!

It'd be much better to open a new window so they can get back to your site or tell them they're leaving your site before you bounce them out the door.

Ultimately, to offer a more polished solution, you may wish to consider creating custom cart pages that look and feel like your site, with your navigation system, and that permit users to buy your partner's offerings without the appearance of having to leave your site.

For what it's worth, you're doing the work to build traffic to your site, so why bounce customers elsewhere to buy? You're effectively shooting yourself in the foot.

.02

TatumLD · #7 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 03:13 PM

Thanks so much for the valuable input!

I am planning to build our own pages in the next week or two so I won't link the customer off our site... but I thought it would be better to have the links go somewhere while the pages are being created. (The links currently go to our affiliate sites so we would get a percentage of the sale.)

I did purchase the template so I know very little about external CSS and "Hook and Value propositions" I would greatly appreciate it there are simple "fixes" I could do or recommend someone who can help me out.

Thanks again! It's great to hear from you!

-Tatum

noel_x99 · #8 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 05:19 PM

I agree with many of the comments above. Here are a few comments.

I found the menu linking to the outside sites very disturbing.
Under FAVORS in both the side and top menus, the link to "Best Sellers" doesn't go anywhere.
The continue shopping and update totals buttons are not clearly buttons. Hard to find. Actually even the links on the home page are not obvious. I realize they turn black when you hover, but I think you'd be surprised at how many "average" users wouldn't even realize that they are links.
It would be nice to have the Add to Cart button have the styling (pink) of the checkout button in the top right.
I also think I'd like to see the Add to Cart button below each product on products.php. Just in the last two weeks, I was shopping for anniversary favors (on sites similar to yours). My sister and I looked at various products on various sites. We had already viewed various products and when we went back to order, we knew what we wanted. We weren't clicking to the details page...we were just looking to buy. I wouldn't assume that users ALWAYS want to see details before they add to cart.
I really like the favico...but why pink? It feels like it should be blue!
Phone number should be more prominent.

Overall nice site. Colors seem good for the audience.

TatumLD · #9 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 07:40 PM

davebarnes, chowell, mtheory, johngroup & noel_x99,

Thank you so much for your input. I'm working on some of the changes you suggested right now. This has been so helpful!