Site Review

[Badger]

Good Morning one and all.

I would really like some feedback on a website i am having to develop live http://www.onlinepackagingshop.co.uk/

I am not particularly happy with the products page, i am very open to suggestions please.

I am quite pleased in the shopping cart process as far as steps are concerned.

Must admit i have had to hit the forums recently for advice, amazing how much you forget sometime. So a big thank you to all of you who provide valuble help, comments and support on sometimes a daily basis.

Do Actinicer's ever meet up for a Bevvie or 3 ???

Christian

[Tricky]

Hi Christian

Welcome to the Dragons Den, brave boy going for a review on your first post...

Overall I like the look of the site, except the annoying flashing £50. Everywhere you look on the page it's always in your peripheral, when I close my eyes I can still see it.

Product pages are very long, especially as the couple I looked at were for the same product, only a different colour. Why not set up a single product page with the different colours as selectable choices.

Images are also very small, and when I click on the image to get a closer look I get the details but no picture.

Just a few observations, hope it helps, good luck....

Richard

[acompton]

Welcome to the Dragons Den, brave boy going for a review on your first post...
Its not that bad in here! We are only trying to be helpful. I went for a review on my first post. It shows that you've done a great deal of work by yourself.

The site looks very nice (apart from the flashing £50). Competitive prices, too (I might be back). I have few small niggles:

1. On the top catalogue page, the first row doesn't have the same left indent as the others - looks a bit odd.
2. The main logo should be a link to the home page - its a common convention
3. The pricing is confusing at first. I'd get rid of the default pricing message and just leave the radiobutton prices. Add a blanket message that prices don't include VAT
4. Whom do you see as your target customers? Commercial or home? If commercial, you can get rid of the "Email a friend" option.
5. "friend's e-mail address" has an apostrophe
6. T's & C's are a bit thin.
We deliver your order right away.
Wow. That's impressive! I'm sure you don't mean it the way I just read it

We will normally send your order to you in 2 business days
Oh no. What happened to "We deliver your order right away right away"

When the order is placed at our website, credit card numbers are encrypted using 128 bit encryption
It looks like you're handling the credit card details. Are you aware of PCI-DSS compliance issues?

I can get this to appear in the top left corner
" /> " /> " /> " /> "> You need to spend £50.00 to obtain free shipping! ">

[acompton]

Do Actinicer's ever meet up for a Bevvie or 3 ???

It has happened, but we are all based in physically disparate locations so it isn't easy to get people together.

[grantglendinnin]

Good looking site, I especially liked how the categories have FAQ fragments at the bottom, stylish idea.

One thing I would comment on is the homepage, at the bottom where it says 'Max delivery for orders below' in a gray font, it appears quite difficult to read the gray text on this lcd screen, may want to make it slightly darker text.

Finally, I know your designer won't like it, but I would advise you to come to a compromise with your designer to either:

a) add a 'nofollow' tag to that footer link

OR

b) remove the link altogether


Outgoing links won't help your site, even less so on an 'unrelated' topic.



Good luck with it:)

[RuralWeb]

When I click on the horizontal nav bar I dont see any change as most of the content is below the fold ie the site looks broken

[fleetwood]

Just to echo whats already been said - the flashing £50 is a no-no, as is the bouncing 'i' for more info on the product pages (seriously made me feel queasy!)

Otherwise, a nice overall look, but still needs a fair bit of fine tuning eg too much white space on pages I looked at, made the pages look a little less professional than they could. For this type of product, I would suggest the site needs to look as professional as possible, to match the service you are trying to offer.

[Rich Brady]

I've only looked at a couple of cataories, but your extended info pages don't seem to have much, if any, extra info in them! Do you really need them?

The images on some of your pages seem to take a little while to load up. Has anyone else noticed this?

[leehack]

Again the £50 is awful, it annoys the hell out of you, it has a grammatical error (term not terms) and you cannot click on it to go see the info, seriously, don't be stubborn, get rid of it.

The more info button too, 'more info' makes me think I am going to get some better images or some more in depth information or maybe even both, i actually get none of that on the 10 products I clicked upon. The button would be better called 'you already know this' or 'pointless click', one of my pet hates that, larger image or more info option offered and absolutely zilch extra provided.

Sites seems very slow, either on poor hosting or your images need optimising (this may have just been a blip though). Not a bad feel to it though overall, just lacking the usual 'have a look at things from a user's POV'.

[Badger]

Many thanks everyone, i will make the changes and ask for your comments again.

[super cat]

website looks O.K to me.

just ordered some items to compare with my existing suppliers..., hope to receive them soon.

:D

[Badger]

Hi Christian

Welcome to the Dragons Den, brave boy going for a review on your first post...

Overall I like the look of the site, except the annoying flashing £50. Everywhere you look on the page it's always in your peripheral, when I close my eyes I can still see it.

Product pages are very long, especially as the couple I looked at were for the same product, only a different colour. Why not set up a single product page with the different colours as selectable choices.

Images are also very small, and when I click on the image to get a closer look I get the details but no picture.

Just a few observations, hope it helps, good luck....

Richard

Hi Richard
Yep i dived straight in.
Many thanks for taking time to give me your input. You will be pleased to know i have stopped the £50 Flashing. I agree i need to address the product pages. I will also start to improve on the extended information adding suitable pictures and more packaging information.

Thanks again. Any more input is most welcome.

[Badger]

Its not that bad in here! We are only trying to be helpful. I went for a review on my first post. It shows that you've done a great deal of work by yourself.

The site looks very nice (apart from the flashing £50). Competitive prices, too (I might be back). I have few small niggles:

1. On the top catalogue page, the first row doesn't have the same left indent as the others - looks a bit odd.
2. The main logo should be a link to the home page - its a common convention
3. The pricing is confusing at first. I'd get rid of the default pricing message and just leave the radiobutton prices. Add a blanket message that prices don't include VAT
4. Whom do you see as your target customers? Commercial or home? If commercial, you can get rid of the "Email a friend" option.
5. "friend's e-mail address" has an apostrophe
6. T's & C's are a bit thin.

Wow. That's impressive! I'm sure you don't mean it the way I just read it


Oh no. What happened to "We deliver your order right away right away"


It looks like you're handling the credit card details. Are you aware of PCI-DSS compliance issues?

I can get this to appear in the top left corner
" /> " /> " /> " /> "> You need to spend £50.00 to obtain free shipping! ">

Morning acompton
Thank you for your input.
I have changed points, 1,2,4 and 5. I will address the others today. Typos have been sorted.

Christian

[Badger]

It has happened, but we are all based in physically disparate locations so it isn't easy to get people together.

Well if one comes along maybe i will by you all a pint !

[Badger]

Good looking site, I especially liked how the categories have FAQ fragments at the bottom, stylish idea.

One thing I would comment on is the homepage, at the bottom where it says 'Max delivery for orders below' in a gray font, it appears quite difficult to read the gray text on this lcd screen, may want to make it slightly darker text.

Finally, I know your designer won't like it, but I would advise you to come to a compromise with your designer to either:

a) add a 'nofollow' tag to that footer link

OR

b) remove the link altogether


Outgoing links won't help your site, even less so on an 'unrelated' topic.



Good luck with it:)

Hi grantglendinnin
Thank you for your input. I have changed the Grey. Can you see it better? I have also taken out the footer link.
Christian

[Badger]

When I click on the horizontal nav bar I dont see any change as most of the content is below the fold ie the site looks broken

Hi Mal.
Thanks for your input.
I agree with this and i will make some changes today.
Christian

[Badger]

Just to echo whats already been said - the flashing £50 is a no-no, as is the bouncing 'i' for more info on the product pages (seriously made me feel queasy!)

Otherwise, a nice overall look, but still needs a fair bit of fine tuning eg too much white space on pages I looked at, made the pages look a little less professional than they could. For this type of product, I would suggest the site needs to look as professional as possible, to match the service you are trying to offer.

Morning Fleetwood.
Thanks for your input. The Flashing has gone. No more flashing "I" on the more info button.
I will also work on the look and ask you to take another look shortly.

Christian

[Badger]

I've only looked at a couple of cataories, but your extended info pages don't seem to have much, if any, extra info in them! Do you really need them?

The images on some of your pages seem to take a little while to load up. Has anyone else noticed this?
Hi webD
Thanks for the input. Possibly down to the server prowebhost. We may be moving. I am working on the extended info as we speak.

Christian

[Badger]

Again the £50 is awful, it annoys the hell out of you, it has a grammatical error (term not terms) and you cannot click on it to go see the info, seriously, don't be stubborn, get rid of it.

The more info button too, 'more info' makes me think I am going to get some better images or some more in depth information or maybe even both, i actually get none of that on the 10 products I clicked upon. The button would be better called 'you already know this' or 'pointless click', one of my pet hates that, larger image or more info option offered and absolutely zilch extra provided.

Sites seems very slow, either on poor hosting or your images need optimising (this may have just been a blip though). Not a bad feel to it though overall, just lacking the usual 'have a look at things from a user's POV'.

Hi Lee
Thanks for taking the time to take a peek. Grammatical errors are gone as is the Flashing £50. Working on the extended as we speak.

Which have a look at things am i missing Lee?

Christian

[Badger]

website looks O.K to me.

just ordered some items to compare with my existing suppliers..., hope to receive them soon.

:D

Hi super cat

Many thanks for you order. They are going on the Courier this afternoon and will be with you tommorow. I did notice your comments with the order. Thank you.
Christian

[Tricky]

Hi Christian

Have been back to the site, and as before I'm very impressed with the look, but the big 50 is still there, although not flashing.

Please have a look at http://www.atlanticshopping.co.uk/ in which Lee has got the same message across, but in a more subtle manner.

As it is, your eye is drawn straight to the £50, which I'm sure you'd prefer your customers to be looking at the products for sale.

Cheers

Richard

[Badger]

Hi Christian

Have been back to the site, and as before I'm very impressed with the look, but the big 50 is still there, although not flashing.

Please have a look at http://www.atlanticshopping.co.uk/ in which Lee has got the same message across, but in a more subtle manner.

As it is, your eye is drawn straight to the £50, which I'm sure you'd prefer your customers to be looking at the products for sale.

Cheers

Richard

Hi Richard. Point taken, i agree i prefer Lee's way. I will get it changed.

Many thanks for your thoughts.
Christian

[fleetwood]

Christian
Well done on taking the time to reply to all who have left you comments.
Its a courtesy that too many fail to do.
Look forward to seeing your site come together.

[leehack]

I'd certainly second that, not only did you listen and act upon the feedback people provided, you also thanked each of them. I think you are the first person to do both, nice one, lets hope you get more success because of it.

[RuralWeb]

you also thanked each of them. I think you are the first person to do both, nice one, lets hope you get more success because of it
Yes - you had me confused for a while (easy to do) as to what you were doing but it is as lee says the fist time anyone has taken the time to do it.

I stopped posting on site reviews a while back because of the thankless comments you got from ops but Ill certainly post again here:)

[grantglendinnin]

Nice one, I like it. Near enough everything looks fine and dandy now, though maybe a little fine tuning for SEO purposes wouldn't go a miss.

Cheers,
Grant

[Badger]

Christian
Well done on taking the time to reply to all who have left you comments.
Its a courtesy that too many fail to do.
Look forward to seeing your site come together.

Thanks Fleetwood, i thought it would be courteous to answer everyone that had taken time to review.

Christian

[Badger]

I'd certainly second that, not only did you listen and act upon the feedback people provided, you also thanked each of them. I think you are the first person to do both, nice one, lets hope you get more success because of it.

Thanks Lee, i need it to work! I am right in thinking http://www.atlanticshopping.co.uk/ is your doing Lee?

I think its fantastic, i would like to have my products laid out the same. I am in the middle of changing the site to one product per page, i have read that this is a better way forward with SEO in mind. Am i correct?

Lee could i ask you how you went about getting your sections and product page to look like it does.

many thanks
Christian

[Badger]

Yes - you had me confused for a while (easy to do) as to what you were doing but it is as lee says the fist time anyone has taken the time to do it.

I stopped posting on site reviews a while back because of the thankless comments you got from ops but Ill certainly post again here:)

Hi Rural, perhaps its the way forward. It can only help the forum.

Christian

[Badger]

Nice one, I like it. Near enough everything looks fine and dandy now, though maybe a little fine tuning for SEO purposes wouldn't go a miss.

Cheers,
Grant

Hi Grant
What fine tuning would you recommend for the site. i took your post to mean changing to one product per page. Am i correct?

Christian

[Rich Brady]

Well done it looks great. Looks like you've taken onboard everones advice, which is refreshing to see and as has already been mentioned thanking everyone was a very good of you.

I have noticed that no matter which tab you selceted in the top nav bar "OLPS Quick Links" seems to remain red as the current link. It may confuse simple customers, beleive me eveyone has them :p

[Badger]

Well done it looks great. Looks like you've taken onboard everones advice, which is refreshing to see and as has already been mentioned thanking everyone was a very good of you.

I have noticed that no matter which tab you selceted in the top nav bar "OLPS Quick Links" seems to remain red as the current link. It may confuse simple customers, beleive me eveyone has them :p

Hi WebD

Mmm yep it would probally confuse them. i will change it today.
Christian

[super cat]

Badger,

got my order this morning.. :D
i will definately be ordering from you again.
i will also send you an e-mail about printing and different size bags when these run low. :D

[leehack]

Thanks Lee, i need it to work! I am right in thinking http://www.atlanticshopping.co.uk/ is your doing Lee?
I did build that site yes.

I think its fantastic, i would like to have my products laid out the same. I am in the middle of changing the site to one product per page, i have read that this is a better way forward with SEO in mind. Am i correct?
It's not a 100% blanket decision that all products should be SPP, but if you have at least 80-100 words for a product then it is usually correct to go SPP IMO.

Lee could i ask you how you went about getting your sections and product page to look like it does.
Reading and learning html and CSS to be honest. To change things of this sort you need to have a pretty high level of html and css knowledge. It's more something that you pickup over years rather than a quick tutorial or instruction.

[bamboo]

I usually refrain from posting on site reviews because the only people you really have to please are your "suspects" otherwise known as "potential customers" but purely from a marketing viewpoint, as Malc mentioned earlier in the thread, you are wasting far to much prized selling space above the fold with that enormous £50 banner that just takes you to the terms and conditions.

This is wrong for two reasons.
All sites have literally seconds to grab a suspect when they land on the homepage and all I see on your site is a huge red £50. I realise I am repeating what others have said here but it really dominates the page to the extent that I cannot instantly work out what you are selling.

But even worse than this this banner pushes the lovely big red buy button, these things simply out perform any other buy button I have ever tested so it's great to see you using them, off the bottom of the screen so to make a purchase I would have to scroll.

Like most customers I am both lazy and in a hurry so once I make the buying decision I have to click the buy button not search for one off the screen.

Lose the banner, shrink it or incorporate the key "free delivery" price point into the header or even turn it through 90 degrees and stick on the right hand side of your pages where the majority of suspects expect to find such things.

The OLPS Quick links just takes me back to the homepage so why not just have "Home" written on it instead?

Just my two cents.
Overall a cracking site that deserves to succeed and I hope it does.

[Badger]

Badger,

got my order this morning.. :D
i will definately be ordering from you again.
i will also send you an e-mail about printing and different size bags when these run low. :D

Thanks, drop us a line when you are ready. We are an Industrial and Retail Packaging Company. We can supply and print most products.

Christian.

[Badger]

I did build that site yes.


It's not a 100% blanket decision that all products should be SPP, but if you have at least 80-100 words for a product then it is usually correct to go SPP IMO.


Reading and learning html and CSS to be honest. To change things of this sort you need to have a pretty high level of html and css knowledge. It's more something that you pickup over years rather than a quick tutorial or instruction.

Hi Lee, many thanks for your input. I have have to upload my new product page. It wasnt that hard really in the end.

Christian

[Badger]

I usually refrain from posting on site reviews because the only people you really have to please are your "suspects" otherwise known as "potential customers" but purely from a marketing viewpoint, as Malc mentioned earlier in the thread, you are wasting far to much prized selling space above the fold with that enormous £50 banner that just takes you to the terms and conditions.

This is wrong for two reasons.
All sites have literally seconds to grab a suspect when they land on the homepage and all I see on your site is a huge red £50. I realise I am repeating what others have said here but it really dominates the page to the extent that I cannot instantly work out what you are selling.

But even worse than this this banner pushes the lovely big red buy button, these things simply out perform any other buy button I have ever tested so it's great to see you using them, off the bottom of the screen so to make a purchase I would have to scroll.

Like most customers I am both lazy and in a hurry so once I make the buying decision I have to click the buy button not search for one off the screen.

Lose the banner, shrink it or incorporate the key "free delivery" price point into the header or even turn it through 90 degrees and stick on the right hand side of your pages where the majority of suspects expect to find such things.

The OLPS Quick links just takes me back to the homepage so why not just have "Home" written on it instead?

Just my two cents.
Overall a cracking site that deserves to succeed and I hope it does.

Thanks for your kind review. i agree with all you have said and will update today. I think you should continue your reviews. You have a keen eye and you have provide me with some good feedback. keep up the support.

Christian

[Duncan Rounding]

A couple of points from my opinion....

I like the clean uncluttered lines of the site.

I would consider changing the products that are the same excepting the size or colour etc into one product with components and choices as relevant - it's hard when browsing to both find the product in the size that you want as well even know the range of sizes available.

I would make the Add to Basket and More Info button rollovers the same as the View Basket and Pay Now in the top right.

The delivery pricing at the bottom of the page - this is only seen if I bother to scroll all the way to bottom - it also looks a bit strange that you have the £1.14 related text in such a small font. I would say something like 'Delivery from £1.14 for orders under £50' with a link to your info page rather than the homepage - it's also not so clear that it is clickeable. You might also consider adding the 'from £1.14' to the £50 image at the top.

I expected that I could click on the pictures of the box, tape or roll of bags in the top £50 image and go to that section. You might consider splitting this image and adding links to do that.

[Badger]

A couple of points from my opinion....

I like the clean uncluttered lines of the site.

I would consider changing the products that are the same excepting the size or colour etc into one product with components and choices as relevant - it's hard when browsing to both find the product in the size that you want as well even know the range of sizes available.

I would make the Add to Basket and More Info button rollovers the same as the View Basket and Pay Now in the top right.

The delivery pricing at the bottom of the page - this is only seen if I bother to scroll all the way to bottom - it also looks a bit strange that you have the £1.14 related text in such a small font. I would say something like 'Delivery from £1.14 for orders under £50' with a link to your info page rather than the homepage - it's also not so clear that it is clickeable. You might also consider adding the 'from £1.14' to the £50 image at the top.

I expected that I could click on the pictures of the box, tape or roll of bags in the top £50 image and go to that section. You might consider splitting this image and adding links to do that.

Hi there.
many thanks for you kind input. I am sat here doing what you have said right now. I agree with all of your comments.

Thanks again
Christian

[Jan]

I took a look at the cartons section (because I need to buy some), you have used the same picture for all sizes, I would much prefer to see a picture of what you are actually buying. Same for bubble wrap.

Regards,

[Badger]

I took a look at the cartons section (because I need to buy some), you have used the same picture for all sizes, I would much prefer to see a picture of what you are actually buying. Same for bubble wrap.

Regards,

Hi Jan

Thanks for your input. Please feel free to order, the cartons are a very good grade and we have plenty of stock. If you need higher quantities the get in touch. I can address the price for you.

I agree with your point. I will be improving images on a daily basis so watch this space. I will email SealedAir to see if i can get some bubble images.

Thanks again Jan.

New upload should be sometime today. Its Sunday and i can feel a walk on Hove Seafront, couple of pints and Sunday dinner. Then a few more hours in development (my girlfriend is pulling her hair out) is in order.

Christian

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

Is the price for "12 x 9 x 9 Single Wall Carton" correct as they are around 1/3 cheaper than the smaller "9 x 6 x 6 Single Wall Carton"

[Badger]

Is the price for "12 x 9 x 9 Single Wall Carton" correct as they are around 1/3 cheaper than the smaller "9 x 6 x 6 Single Wall Carton"

Hi there, yes prices are correct. As a Packaging company we can offer better prices on our best sold items. The more we buy in, the cheaper we can sell them for.
Christian

[Badger]

Morning all. I have finnally uploaded a new snapshot. Thanks for all your kind advice you have given. For those who posted comments i think you will see i have taken notice.

A few things i know need tweeking are the more info pages. (working on that today). More information will be present on the products page. All products will show 3 also bought links. background image will be linked to the terms & conds page.

http://www.onlinepackagingshop.co.uk


I would welcome more comments if you have the time.

Thanks again.
Christian