Website review www.edinburghsilvergifts.co.uk

[Hugh Alsop]

Hi,

I had a few problems with my website, and Lee suggested the following -

"I would strongly suggest that in the AOB forum you request a site review instead. You will get told some hard truths and more often than not, you will not like somethings you are told, BUT if you take them on board in the way they are meant, you could give your site a massive boost.

People usually ask for reviews to get a pat on the back, instead they get quite bad feedback and can't handle that. Instead of learning from it, they choose to ignore it - do not be one of these people, they are destined for mid table mediocrity in web terms as they are too arrogant to think they have got anything wrong. 90% of these sites fold within 3 years.

If you can take constructiuve criticism (looks like you can), then a site review from this forum is what i would suggest to get you started.
I am open to all suggestions.

Many thanks

Hugh

[george]

Hugh.

I'm a first impressions kind of person so I'll tell you what I see first at ESG.

I think the first thing I'd do is ditch the blue blackground at the top and sink that logo behind the checkout tab (do a search, all the info of how to is here someplace).

The card logos are too prominent, anyone selling high value items like your will accept these cards (imho), so have them somewhere but maybe at the bottom or to one side.

Some of the text links at the bottom are white, on err, white.

Some would say the sites a bit simple but that wouldnt stop me shopping with you.

I'd also get the product info back into regular text, not bold.

Maybe a link on every page to delivery info, even if it is within the FAQ page.

I like clean sites, which yours is. Just my opinion mind, and I ain't a learned interweb pro!

[TraceyHand]

can't stop and look closely at the mo but check the site in Firefox because the nav/search/cart is all over the place.

[Duncan Rounding]

Apart from anything mentioned above (your logo is the most important) theh attached images speak for themsleves...

[Duncan Rounding]

and a sixth image that wouldn't go up in the previous post...

[chris ashdown]

I found this under Engraving

Enter engraving text below - leave lines blank if you want extra spacing.
The first 0 characters are free and additional characters are 50p each.

[Mark H]

Hugh - once into the shop, the "more info" link to the bottom right of your main banner goes to a "NOT FOUND" page. I think you need to look at your overall design, and some problems such as including use of mixed fonts - you are in competition with some seriously good looking silver sites.

[acompton]

IMO the site is basically there - plenty of information and a good range of products. It just needs tidying up and making a bit more stylish. Here's a few points:
- The top banner is untidy (see George's comment)
- UK'S No 1 should be spelt UK's No. 1
- the mix of fonts is annoying
- the colour mix in About Us is worse
- under Antique there is a 'next' button and a 'Page 2' label; on the next page there is no 'previous' button
- the more button on the products doesn't provide 'more', just 'same'

I think the site would benefit from the one-page-per product treatment. that way, each section page would become a grid of beautiful objects - real eye-candy.

[chris ashdown]

If you purchase more than one item the postage goes up at a alarming rate, most sites limit postage to uk around the £4-5 mark unless very large or heavy items, I took 10 picture frames and 6 cufflinks and the postage went over £20.00, you should be able to get about 5 kilo from a courier for under £6.00

The Add to Cart button is at the top of each product where you would expect it at the bottom of the description, at the top the customer then has to scroll back up to find it

Sorry to be so negative but hope it helps

[pinbrook]

Menu in left hand nav should be a san- serif font - TNR on the website is bad, as any serif font is difficult to read on a webpage.

you offer a choice of fonts for engraving but i couldn't find a sample of any font for a customer to see what they look like to help their choice

the menu item Silver Blog should be renamed something like more info on silver gifts - blogs are nrmally perceived as a diary that you add to on a daily, weekly basis taking about the industry - yours seems simply ro be there for SEO purposes and extra sales speak

[Hugh Alsop]

www.edinburghsilvergifts.co.uk

Good morning all,

Many thanks for all your help and advice, I have changed some things already. However, I am having some difficulty with
The 'orrible gate like thing to the right of cart details on top banner - I cannot get rid of this. I cannot even remember what it was originally, or why it MORPHED into this 'ORRIBLE creature.

My sincere thanks to all,

Hugh

[los_design]

Good morning all,

Many thanks for all your help and advice, I have changed some things already. However, I am having some difficulty with
The 'orrible gate like thing to the right of cart details on top banner - I cannot get rid of this. I cannot even remember what it was originally, or why it MORPHED into this 'ORRIBLE creature.

My sincere thanks to all,

Hugh

Looks like it is an empty cell you may have added or removed content from.

On the whole I too am a first impressions kind of guy and was expecting to see a glossy, glamourous site due to the nature of your products i.e. silverware...says class to me, alas the site does not.

Knowing actinic as I do, all I see is a basic standard actinic site with a few layout tweaks added.

I know budget is important, but for this highly competitive marketplace you risk alienating customers once they find you IMHO because of the drab appearance. As opposed to this (not an affiliate link BTW just a comparison on like for like products)...and before you shout but they can afford this layout....it is NOT a design that is restricted by cost and development IMHO.

Sorry to be so blunt but you did ask...and I do sincerely wish you well with your project

[chris ashdown]

Even that site (John Lewis) has really crap photo's of silverware, I would have thought they would show the silver and or Gold on a coloured background or velvet to get the best pictures, there is not even any shine to show they are silver rather than matt stainless steel on those shown

[los_design]

Even that site (John Lewis) has really crap photo's of silverware, I would have thought they would show the silver and or Gold on a coloured background or velvet to get the best pictures, there is not even any shine to show they are silver rather than matt stainless steel on those shown

good point Chris, the images aside, it was the aesthetics I was trying to highlight in this marketplace where image is everything...

Happy Christmas to you and yours BTW and I hope 2008 is as good as 2007

Regards
DJ

[Kirk]

Hi Hugh,

For aesthetics, you might consider making your product images on the home page:

Slightly larger and uniform size - 150-200 pix

Clickable - people will naturally move their cursor over an image as if they are "touching" the product in your store.

You also might edit your product descriptions on the home page a bit. If your descriptions are overly long, your customers may not read them fully.
Instead of "...is now much less than half price. Our entire range of new silver products bears a Scottish ,English or 925 Hallmark." within every product description, you could include it under "Silver gifts under 20 pounds".

My .02 cents.

Good luck with your store!

Kirk