Web site let me know

[wiwoodsguy]

I am in middle of so much and then I decided to get a web site running too. I have some portrait palettes listed on the site but have not gotten to posting my cuttings of intarsia stock yet. Still under construction but I figure I'll be working and reworking the site as long as it is up. I am also giving a free palette in a drawing just contact me and let me know you are in the drawing. also let me know how the site is looking so far if you have time. I really like input and if I am not going in the right direction let me know. Mike


Here is the link if you like to take a look.
The Handy Woodguy LLC - Home
sorry I am learning just learning this web master thing and I'm not really that good seem every step I take leads to more confusion, Mike

[Scrolling Days]

Looks like a good start, Mike. Being brutally honest, though, your opening sentence which explains yourself and what you are offering is kind of confusing (at least to me).

Hello I am the Handy Woodguy of Wausau Wi, Wood Scroller who creates a portraits from your Picture. the wood to cut your (scroll saw portrait palettes) pattern from or I will cut the portrait.

Since it is such an important part of the page, you might consider re-wording it or clarifying it a bit. Good luck with the ongoing construction!

[yost69]

Well since you asked. I have a question. Is this going to be a business site?

I only looked at your homepage for now as the site seems to load really slow. Not sure if it is the yahoo server you are on or my internet.

If it is going to be a personal site that you sell some stuff on then these suggestions wont matter to much.

First, the italics really hurt the eyes. Dont know if it is just me or not but they look really blurry. My suggestion get rid of the italics. If you really want to keep the italics i would increse the text size a bit.

Second, the what can i do for you list has already been done under the first paragraph. My suggestion, get rid of it or move it to a about us page. Also there is a picture right in the middle of the paragraph. Suggestion is to move it.

Third, the last paragraph has Call Us Today!Please contact us anytime! Suggestion, reword it or get rid of one of them. Sounds desperate.

Fourth, there is a link /contact_us/admin/ at the bottom that makes you sign into yahoo. Suggestion, do away with the link. Anything with admin privlages should not be on your site for hackers to have access to. If you really meant to have your guests click on this link they will not want to sign into yahoo to contact you.

These are just my suggestions, i am not a professional so take them as you will.

Again this is just if it is a business site. If it is a personal site nothing much matters because it is your style of yourself so anything goes. Where as a business site should look professional.

Ben

[miniwoodworker]

It's slow to load for me, too.

I got a security message that your site wants to run Windows Media player extensions - click if you trust the site. As Ben mentioned, if it's a personal site then anything goes. On a business site, I don't want to see anything that triggers a security alert. That makes my confidence in site for processing my credit card go to near zero.

I didn't go beyond the home page for that reason.

For business sites, I prefer those that don't force me to listen to music, watch video, etc on the home page. Give me the option of clicking on a link if I want those.

If this sounds harsh, I don't mean for it to be so. Hope you take the criticisim in the spirit it's given - Just trying to help you make your site the best it can be.

[wiwoodsguy]

thank you all I am trying as you all can see and this is quite new to me as far as getting it right. I am going up north next weekend to visit grandkids and my daughter is a web designer so I will have her help me get it to look good. I hope. I am hoping to make this a business site however I do not expect much back from it except to give potential customers a place to check out what I have to offer them. As this is only the 2nd day into the project I expect a few bumps in the next few weeks as I put it all together. Lee and Ben I plan to have a drawing for a free portrait palette 7-1-09 and I was wondering if you would like to have your name in the hat? Free shipping so nothing to lose. Again thank you for the input as I want folks to be comfortable when the visit me at my site, Mike

[Big_red_S]

The website is slow to load because you are loading the thumbnails as full-size images and scaling them down through HTML code. You should use two images, one a thumbnail and when it is being clicked it displays the full size image in the lightbox.

As Ben mentioned the font is hard to read and is not consistent. Try and use only one style of easily read font (Verdana, Times New Roman, Arial) for the whole website (it's also more professional).

When writing on the web it's easier for people to see short paragraphs. If they see a long paragraph most people won't bother reading it. I'll break up some of the paragraphs on your home page & contact page.

Since you have long pages, I would put another navigation bar on the bottom.

On the palettes page your "See All Feedback" link shows the whole eBay URL - that's not necessary and quite frankly since people aren't used to it they might not click it.

Your really should have better pictures in your gallery of works. When you post pictures here most of us can imagine what the piece really looks like and know the limitations of taking pictures.
Your customers don't.
Take a look at Trout's pictures - those are ones that could be put on a website.

[lucky788scroller]

I tried the link youve got there, copied and pasted it, and I can not find your website sir!