Name of Site/Business: Baskets Galore by Sylvia

Site's Main Purpose: Ecommerce/Sales

Please Review the following:
Does the home page sufficiently convince people to go further into the site?

Does/can the site achieve its main purpose?

Navigation. Is it clear and easy to understand?

Appearance/Attractiveness

Typos and grammar

Images failing to load

Search engine marketing. Can the pages be reasonably well indexed by search engines?



Additional Comments/Notes
the site is doing nothing! no one stopping by to shop.

I went thru your site and the visual layout is very nice. I had several problems with the "purchase" section. For instance, if I click to purchase the first item, "Gourmet", a different item is shown in the Pay Pal checkout. Also, if you click on a second basket when one is already chosen, I get wierd results. Sometimes Pay Pal comes up in a new browser window; at other times it replaces the existing window.

Your header image, depicting "Baskets Galore" is being cropped at the bottom. Also, your lower border image on the Home page only is extended to far to the left. Maybe reduce it by 10px or, for this page, don't use it.

I looked at the site with IE, Firefox, and Safari (Apple) and the look-n-feel is the same. I don't use Netscape anymore so....

The HTML from the Home page had over 100 errors when passed thru validation at http://validator.w3.org. Since some errors are in the "header" area, I don't know if this will have an affect on Google Search. Probably not though as I get a top of Page 1 result in Google with the parameter "Baskets Galore by Sylvia". And, if "Baskets Galore" is entered, the site appears at the bottom of Page 1.

If you fix your purchase portion of the application and correct the html so it passes validation, I think you've got yourself a winner!

as the site is made using a sitebuilder, it will never pass validation

your title tag in actually showing up in your title.

when I clicked on grad gifts - there where no specific grad gifts there.

The site needs a lot of cleaning up.

mj1 - I am quite curious how you know it is made with a sitebuilder, I looked all over and could not find that info lol , also why is this not a good thing - just wanting to learn more

When I do my site analysis for potential clients the first thing I do is look at their code. Although at times I may be wrong, I can tell by the source code, the look and feel of the site, as well as the template used. I have seen this template many times before. Also, the link at the bottom goes to a hosting company that has a site builder with this template. I can tell, what CMS system, what programming language, the level of expertise of the person who designed the site and more. Just from the source code. I'm right probably 95% of the time.

I hope I'm wrong as that would put this site in a better position for improvement.

[ Message was edited by: mj1256 08/24/2007 09:29 pm ]

Hi

I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to review my site. Am somewhat sad about this situation, as I don't know where to start. Thanks again!!!!


Sylvia

look---the site works. you should never rely on search engines alone for your traffic. it is only one piece of your marketing plan. you can still start a blog, write articles, post videos, start a MySpace and Facebook profile, all of the newer social media ways to get traffic are still available to you.

The problem is that no one is going to or shopping of my site, there is no need of having the site if no one shops there, I don't rely on this site along, I am looking for someone to shop off it, if not this site is no good to me. If I look to make money off of this site along, I would be homeless.

Sylvia

Sylvia, aside from what others have said about site design and code, I'm going to throw out another reason you have to consider why no one's buying.

Your product descriptions are terrible.

"This baskets is filled to the brim with goodies can be customized and fitted for diabetics"

Okay, keep in mind that some of us are really put off by bad grammar and punctuation. But there is absolutely no description of the "goodies" included or how to customize it.

Then there's the "movie night" basket that includes a "Movie CD." Don't you mean a DVD? And which one? Do I get a choice? For all I know, you're including the type of DVDs you can buy at the dollar store, which aren't exactly an item many people want.

You're offering a men's "executive" basket with a watch for $20 extra. No one is going to think a $20 watch fits into being an "executive" item. And a pair of socks? Egads. I don't think there's a man alive that would be happy to receive a pair of socks in a gift basket.

Your "baby wagonette" says "Filled to the brim with baby items including two items of clothing for newborns." For $100 I want to know what I'm getting.

Sorry, but even if I came to your site inclined to make a purchase, I would leave because your offerings are dismal.

Thank you JQ, I will make the needed correction.

Sylvia

Am somewhat sad about this situation, as I don't know where to start.

OK, so the site needs a lot of work, BUT that does not mean to quit!

That means if you REALLY want to do this type of work then it is time to LEARN.

You said you don't know where to start - pick 1 of the posts suggestions here and start learning about it by searching this forum. 98% of everything you need to know is right HERE at this site. However you will need to take the time to learn it.

When I first started I use to spend countless hours a day here reading and posting.

But if this site of yours was just a way you thought you could make some $ and you have no true desire to learn everything you need to make it a success then well.... I guess I would suggest you move on. and I don't mean that in a nasty way - really !

Web sites can be a lot of work and learning the correct way to have a web business takes desires, dedication and lots of time.
I wish you the best
Beth

Good advice Beth and JQ.

I did not go as far as the shopping cart, but I was on page three, tried to click on FAQ, and couldn't get there. I had to go the first page of "Gift Baskets" to get to FAQ.

From what I could tell, you don't really have any true categories, which is necessary; particularly from an ecommerce point of view.

I've had a website for 18 months, just spent a LOT of money to have someone redesign the site (which by the way, I would highly recommend having a professional do it; less headaches for you), I actually STILL cannot get the shopping cart to work the way I want, but I'm not getting discouraged, and I don't think you need to get discouraged, either.

Just hang out here and learn some stuff.

mj1 - I am quite curious how you know it is made with a sitebuilder, I looked all over and could not find that info lol , also why is this not a good thing - just wanting to learn more
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Looked at the source code meta tags
<meta name="generator" content="Homestead SiteBuilder">
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as the site is made using a sitebuilder, it will never pass validation
They can use an editor such as HTML Validator lite (which is free) and make the corrections listed in the validator/Editor and it will validate
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as far as the site selling - First you must install customer confidence - Then sell your product
Check out other similar sites - check their description and keywords - look at the design - check out how they display the product - check out their pagerank - look at what works and what doesn't - DON"T GET DISCOURAGED - Edison tried over 1,000 times before he made the lightbulb and it still works. How about that - You can do it. I've been working on my site for a long time and am still working on it until I (we, the forums help a lot) get it right)
hope this helps
falcon

Note: another site like yours is being reviewed on this forum "DawnsDesignerBaskets"
you may want to look at it.
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Don't ba afraid to fail:
R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on
English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.
Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.
Don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try !!!
KEEP TRYING !! eventually you will succeed. (note: the forums will help - that's what they are for !!!
falcon

Thanks Navyfalcon for those postive words. I really do like what am doing, so your advice is very, very helful. thank you!..........what a humble spirit.. and that's rare!!


Thanks Again

Sylvia

Ps: I will keep trying!!

wayne gretsky (hockey legend) said "if you don't take the shot, you don't get the point"

he also was quoted as saying "don't aim for where the puck is, aim for where it will be"

Teddy Roosevelt said "if you take a shot at an elephant and miss, run like hell"