Critique My Site (May 2007): New Day Eclectic

[Ina]

eBay sellers Norma Bermudez and Daren Wymes are transforming their New Day Eclectic website into a new site called "Bixley Heath, Exceptional items for Mind & Home." The aim is to combine the classics with a fun modern twist, and the two are looking for feedback on improving their ecommerce website.

Norma has a background in publishing and advertising in the New York tri-state area and has turned to a new career - Interior Design. Daren Wymes is an expert at antique procurement and professional restoration with over 15 years of old-world craftsman experience in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Norma and Daren want to expand their site to be attractive not only to designers, but also to professional home/business stylists, set designers and home stagers, whether they need basic home furnishings or to fill a need through decorative accessories. They are growing their Art, Books and Furniture sections in particular, but also are looking to expand the decorative areas to appeal to those with a more global theme.

Norma said they are looking for feedback in four areas.

1 - The browsing experience. "We have a lot of inventory, we sell as New Day Booksellers as well so we welcome advice on how to make the search/browsing more "user-friendly."

2 - The layout. "We like our design layout, but it never hurts to ask if anyone else does."

3 - The inventory. "Perhaps a good question is about the inventory itself. What are people buying? We're changing in an effort to be a bit different at a time when I think we're saturated by the same old things. We want to offer quality items with an edge. And price structure? Is it "all over the map"? We think so, ergo the change."

4 - Marketing. "What type of advertising brings people to the site? Email marketing, blogging, prints ads? The trade papers are filled with ads for sites that deem to sell "antiques" or decorative items. As far as we're concerned, we see an awful lot of "average" inventory that doesn't sell. How do we bring in those customers/clients looking for that "something else"?"

Visit New Day Eclectic:
http://www.newdayeclectic.com
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Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com

[justonce]

Hello. Just opened your site and here's my first impressions.

l. The opening page with the title has no instruction as to what to do ..... I know it should be obvious, but people will not figure it out and one hesitation can mean goodbye on the www.

2. The next page should be about what you are selling, not how or when you may be selling it.

3. The line about being in a hurry should be at the top in big letters saying

SHORT ON TIME.....click here and go shopping instantly...(and make sure that happens).

The scrolling never came in....I am on dial up (unfortunately I cannot get anything else, but country living is grand)....and I am not the only one... folks will just leave the site if they can't get stuff to come in quickly. Better to do something that is really quick and easy than slooooow and moving.

Your tabs at the top showing all the destinations should show all the destinations....or leave them off and have one big button that says

Here's what's for sale today.....and then click to a full site map.

Pick one font and stick with it....the way it is written out now it is very hard on the eyes on my computer.....and leave off 90% of what you wrote for other pages that more fully express your terms of service and other information. People don't like to read what's for sale, they want to see what's for sale, so change the first page to the home page and put about six really great pictures with some short inticing descriptive text and a link that lead to the various parts of your site where people can buy that item and more.

I didn't get past the second click and I don't think many people will unless stuff is for sale right away.

Franci
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Justonceonline.com

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead

[mainstreetmallonline]

I'm a web designer myself. My wife is an SEO professional. When we look at the site we see "pretty" but not much substance. The designer knows about cool javascripts but little or nothing about marketing. The post above is spot on.

The coding and page layout do nothing to benefit the site in regards search engine placement and some aspects of it may actually hurt.

Lose the flash intro page. It does nothing to further your aim: to sell something, and does a lot to drive people away.

Check the site for broken pictures. I found several with only a limited exploration. The gallery pages are... hmmmm... difficult. I can't think of a better term. They are awkward and not intuitive. Not everyone is a geek with fore-knowledge of the "usual" things they are expected to do to get there from here.

Sorry to be so negative. I usually like to point out more positive things but I really couldn't find any. The site just doesn't "feel" comfortable to me. I realize it is a work in progress, but it may be going in the wrong direction. For me it does nothing to suggest I would want these people messing up my home or my antiques. I realize they are not their web designer but what they choose to represent them speaks to who they are if not what they do.
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