New website, looking for input.

[Stixx]

Hi all:

I just spent the past two months building a website for a small business my wife and
I are starting. Having lost my job in February I've decided to try the self employment
gig.

I'm no expert at site design, but I know a lot of you guys, & gals, do this type of thing
for a living.

I was hoping a few of you wouldn't mind taking a moment to check out the site and give me
some feedback on its layout and design.

The site is at:

www.ihandcut.com

What do you like about it?
What don't you like about it?
What would you improve about it?

Be brutally honest, I've got a thick skin, been around for nearly 50 years and there's not much
I haven't been called before.

I really appreciate anything you have to offer. And if you see anything you like, PM me, I'll give a better
deal.

Thanks all,

Stixx1

[CyranoAH]

- Images don't load properly, many red crosses in IE. Firefox loads up ok.
- I'd add some kind of subtle dark background to differentiate the central body from the rest.
- Some work needs to be done about the typography (sizes, faces) and colors. The title and link colors stand out too much, even more than the main logo itself. Look up some tutorials about CSS formatting. It really makes a difference.
- You could redo the table design with <div>, which is preferred.
- Some pop-up windows aren't sized to fit their contents.

Daniel

[Chairboy]

Looks good!  I have some comments.  First, things that are great:
1. You didn't put in a 'foyer' or 'landing strip' page.  That's a common mistake, you avoided it, and this is fantastic.
2. You offer PayPal, which makes purchasing products from your site much more attractive to me. 

Some things to consider:
1. I don't see a way to see all of the products at once, or in big groups.  Clicking through each individual page might be ok if I'm guaranteed to know when the products are by description, but as a visiting buyer, I like being able to see a 5x5 or whatever grid of glasses so I can say "oh, that looks interesting" and click straight through.  Adding thumbnails to your existing stuff might do much of the same, it's just the reliance on text descriptions that makes this a little challenging.
2. There doesn't appear to be a way to order from the product pages themselves.  Instead of forcing your buyer to write down a list of things they want, give them a chance to just add it to their cart from where they are instead of needing to use the one drop down list.

[eskimo2]

Looks great!

I had a bit of confusion as to where the prices were, then I saw them under products.  I think most folks are going to start on the left under "Hand Cut Patterns", where they won't see prices.

Maybe "Hand Cut Patterns to Choose From" and "Products and Prices" would be better titles.  Even better, move the products to the left.

[Maverick]

I liked it. I found it loaded properly and was easy to follow. Frankly I like having prices right there with the product. I hate having to start a "purchase" process just to find out how much the darn things cost.

One thing I found missing, no airplanes. 

I did like the troops glass, that was done nicely. Have you started to consider any wedding choices? Something for the couple's toast or a set of glasses for the main wedding party with names and date? Just a suggestion.

[Reschke]

Not a bad site at all. I like seeing the prices with the products but you might just want to have a price list on there are some point as well. But it is a well thought out site. Nice job.

[DREDIOCK]

Frankly I like having prices right there with the product. I hate having to start a "purchase" process just to find out how much the darn things cost.

Ditto!

The fastest way to turn me off to a purchase. Is to make me guess how much its going to cost.
Or make me start buying it to find out.

I want to know at a glance how much something is.

I've been known to look at a product I wanted in a store. And upon not seeing a price for it . Seeking out the manager and asking how much it costs.
The when he tells me  saying to him "Ok well when you start putting its price by it maybe I'll buy it."

Just a pet peeve of mine.

Site looks good though.
Simple.elegent, easy to follow. Not all cluttered up with fluff

[ROX]

Good META TAGS.  They are paramount to help people find you.

As far as marketing...if you want to prove the "not a production facility, but as artisans" part, include that you do custom designs, logos, etc.  Otherwise it does look like an assembly line.

I thought you did great!  Take to heart what others have advised and you will do fine.

Now, additional marketing...how to get 100x more orders?  Get your product out where people will most likely order...i.e.; Stuttgart, Arkansas is the duck hunting capital of the planet.  They'd buy a piece of poo with a duck etched on it if that were possible.  Even the Vice President goes there to duck hunt. Get your banner on a store website there or your product on Prarrie Duck Wings' shelves and you are IN.

Good Luck!



ROX

[Saintaw]

Not bad at all on the front end.

The images seem larger than the display size: resize your images to fit, set an "alt" tag for each of them.
Popups = bad. For some, they will be blocked... for others, it's a loss of control over the application and has no support for back button. I would open each item window in the same window as the parent one.

I would really recommend switching to a css, table less layout if you intend to keep this same website for a long time, it will save you lots of headaches during maintenance. I would start by removing all colour references from the html script itself (body, td etc...)

[Stixx]

Thank you for all the input.
Will be incorporating many of the ideas that have been posted, some immediately, others as
I revise the site.