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Henry@wholesaleaudioacces
02-10-2005, 07:08 PM
Hello all,
I am in the process of finishing up my beta website that sells audio accessories like wire and connectors. I am looking for opionions on the look and feel of my site as well as how it is stock. All of you feedback is appreciated.

www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com

Regards, Henry

jamison162
02-10-2005, 07:47 PM
Cool look and feel. Easy to navigate. Are you looking for comments on product/merchandise and pricing as well? Oh, nevermind.

jamison162
02-10-2005, 07:50 PM
The name of your site, business, etc. is a little misleading. Particularly the word "wholesale". You may just be the site designer/graphics guru. Not to be pre-judging. I'm sure you all have worked hard on getting it up and running and I sincerely wish you the best my friend.

Lensman
02-10-2005, 10:01 PM
Hello all,
I am in the process of finishing up my beta website that sells audio accessories like wire and connectors. I am looking for opionions on the look and feel of my site as well as how it is stock. All of you feedback is appreciated.

www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com

Regards, Henry

These are just my opinions, of course. Though I do have a measure of experience producing commercial websites. So since you asked, I've taken a brief look and here are a few thoughts:

The upscale look of your sight appears somewhat at odds with the bargain feel of your name. This could lead to an identity crisis with consumers over where your emphasis with product selection lies.

The average length of time a person spends on a web page, believe it or not, is around four seconds. Thus the more intermediary pages a person must go through to find an item, the less likely the item will be bought. So while your intro screen is very pretty, you would do well to get rid of it entirely.

Again, to shorten the work a clicks for the customer, your search window should be at the top of your main page, not on a separate one.

Your main page tells people about the selection you offer. This is better handled from an "About" link. Use this valuable real estate to promote special items or deals instead.

You make no mention of a real business location, nor have any phone/fax information. Such information would add confidence, especially to potential bulk order customers.

Not all computer monitors are set at the same resolution. You page layout, or at least your top banner, should scale to reflect that. Go to http://www.echoecho.com/ and use the "Check Alignments" feature.

Reverse type, and especially small reverse type, are difficult to read. Again, this will detract from the buyer's pleasure and could lose the sale.

The spacing of the items in your product menu change from page to page, giving the impression the actual product categories are changing as well.

Customer's may need to dig through several subpages to find an item they need. Once done, they often want to return to the main page. Though clicking your logo takes then back, this is will not be obvious to everyone. So you should add some sort of "Home" link to the page.

When purchasing online, the most common concerns are forms of payment, shipping, return policy, transaction security. These should be more fully addressed in a separate, and not buried among the other assorted Q & A issues.

Speaking of Q & A, some people may find the last one offensive. Attitude is nice, but making a sale is better. Consider removing or rewording it.

Placing logos of trusted companies on your main page - those with whom you are associated to handle customer transactions, such as Visa, PayPal, Verisign, UPS, etc., will help validate you as an established business.

Areas requiring unknown procedures, such as establishing an account, should have some sort of "What's this?" link the customer can click on to find out details. If customers don't fully understand something, you can't expect them to do it.

You are, of necessity, collecting personal information on your customers each time they make a transaction. Your site should have a "Privacy Policy" link to explain how you handle this information.

A good example of how many of these issues are handled can be found by looking at some of your larger competitors, such as www.partsexpress.com and other major vendors such as www.amazon.com. Even eBay stores also have many of the above.

You must also always remember you are in competition with larger vendors who have better name awareness and trust among consumers. To take customers away from them, you need to make some effort to demonstrate your products and services as different/better. Consider, why would I buy banana plugs from you when I can get them from Parts Express? Here's a site that provides a good example of an answer:

http://www.speakerrepair.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BL2&Category_Code=AHH_Banana

I congratulate you on your business and hope the above advice is of some assistance. Best of luck with your venture.