A ceramics site with broken link (arggh) and a review.

[studiopottery]

Hello
I have a broken link on my website:
http://www.kcsceramics-international.co.uk
and however much I look I can not find it I have a large amount of people exiting on this broken link please help to find it.
Also I have a few questions about reviewing my site

• Would you buy from this site if not why not?

• Is the company logo and design of site easy on the eye and easy to navigate?

• Can you find what you need easily?

• Can you go through checkout and get your postal prices easily?

• Does anything put you off buying?

I hope that you can help and I look forward to your constructive criticism.
thank you Karen

[MattE]

Would you buy from this site if not why not?

no - you use paypal - if your are a legit business, get your own merchant account

Is the company logo and design of site easy on the eye and easy to navigate?

background is too dark - text is a bit small, navigation needs to look like navigation even a "-" in front of each would help. Sorry, don't like the logo much...the colours clash with the rest of ther site as does the font used. The rest of the site hints at a theme, but the logo heads off in its own direction. The logo also needs to link to the home page.

Hey! this is on you about us page:

Poole pottery is still on the up we will be doing more fairs so I will list our other fairs soon so do come and see our vast stock we have more new items if you can not make it have a look at our on-line shop and we can send you your item we specialise in Poole Pottery studio, poole pottery freeform, poole atlantis, poole delphis, CSA, poole Aegean plus Troika and Troika St ives pieces is another line that we are following and other greats like rare Lladro figures including the Sport Billy series and a great deal of bunnykins also many Royal Doulton figures and toby jugs by Doulton plus many other items including silver do remember we BUY as well as sell so if you have anything you would like to sale contact me.

This is ONE sentence - rewite needed!!

Does anything put you off buying?
Site needs some soul - curently it is just a database with an interface. There is nothing there that make me feel welcome - buyers of this sort of product are not the same as people looking to buy a part number item, which is how all these shopping cart programs have been built. Go beyond the ease of adding products, the integrated payment systems, the easy add to cart. Give people and experience, show people that you know what you are doing and are trustworthy - lets face it no one knows who you are so you need to share that with them - don't rush people into the catalouge - get them to interact with you - offer to chat even before that start looking at buying - put a java chat interface on and invite people to talk to you - them finding out what they are after you can guide them there - most times they will buy because they have confidence that this is not some faceless site with no soul....[/quote]

[webhost1]

http://www.netmechanic.com/toolbox/html-code.htm

Try these guys and you should beable to find the broken link.

[MarcieZoob]

The first impression is so important when selling online. You have to capture your customer through the presentation but the color scheme is jarring and does not instill trust.

"Would you buy from this site?" In all honesty I would not - it looks amateurish. Graphically, you need a more pleasant color scheme and some enticing product photos that lend a more professional air.

The shop navigation on the left is so difficult to understand (and use) due to the text formatting. I found another site that is using the Actinic cart like yours and their site navigation is very easy to use, not to mention professional looking. http://www.soccerpro.com

[SnerdeyWebs]

I would have to agree with ZOob and the others. It's important to set the tone once they are on the site.

It's all about Trust and building a site that makes your surfer confortable. Also, I think that the image in the middle is very plain and lacks the look that creates an impulse to buy now.

I would check out some other sites that do the same as yours and see what you can learn from the layout.

Good luck and if you make the changes.. let us know so we can review again.

[studiopottery]

Thanks for all the criticism I am working on the logo and will add some more info pages any idea what the logo should look like.
I thought have some nice pictures of the rare items that I have sold with the logo over the top just overlapping the items but not to much to cover them up. I am trying to change the text size but am finding it a bit tricky does any one know how to do it on actinic 7. And what exactly is wrong with the photos I have a plush background some are a bit scraggy but most I thought was very good. Any ideas.
thank you karen

[webhost1]

I looked at your code and did not see any place where you have font size. I only found font color.
You might look in your css file. You might have the info in that.

Logo, since you deal in pottery you might have something with a pic in that along with you site name.

[parallelworlds]

I'm still not sure why people have such issues with PayPal. I've been using them for years and have never had any problems. However, since people insist on making a big deal out of it... I believe that PayStorm (?) offers cheap merchant accounts as does bugoutdomains.com... just something to look into since there are some hard headed people out there against paypal.

[studiopottery]

Hello Critics
I have re-done the logo hopefully that is more eye catching thank you for the hints and tips.
What do you think this time?
I have also re-done the front page.
What do you think?
I am working on the font size and also the links as you are right they do not look like links.
I will also re-take some of my photos I feel some are alright but the older photos are not of the same quality.
If there is any thing else to suggest please do and also I still can not find the broken link it is coming up quite a lot on my statistics page but it gives no more info so any help would be appreciated.
thank you
Karen

[MattE]

you need to put a
after the intro text so the main image sits underneath

The logo is better - rather than familiy owned, maybe think about promoting your expertise in pottery topics - get back to the trust thing.

I'd not have your logo theme again in the main image

This does not make sense

Poole pottery at it's best we aim to stock rare and interesting pieces,

also you should never aim, you should 'do' - so you 'stock rare and...'