Redesign having reverse effects

[webstudent123]

We recently re-designed our e-commerce site with the hope of boosting sales.. however the design has had the opposite effect.

We are mostly concerned with 'red-flag' type issues that may be seen in certain slower internet connections as we have had to do a lot of CSS overwrites in order to achieve custom sidebars and headers on different pages. This is because our hosting company (network solutions) does not allow programming code to be utilized by the clients.

Please take a look at the site and jump around from page to page. If you would, please add something to the cart as well and let us know if you see anything that would cause you to abort the storefront.

Link to site: http://www.shawntrautman.com/

Please avoid advising us to leave our hosting company as that is not currently an option.

Thank you all so much for your time.

Sincerely,

The ShawnTrautman.com web development team.

 

[krymson]

I'm not a fan... looks too infomercially to me... which in internet terms is it almost looks like spam or those early 2000's infomercial websites.

Why not make it more of a shopping cart with a blog. Not so much on the advertising. People wanna know what the benefits of this product don't come across as BUY NOW! BUY NOW! BUY NOW! GET IT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!!

Come across as it will change the way you look and feel about yourself, it will bring a little bit more fun to your life, you'll be the light of the party, put some comedy in there like... Women know about guys who are good on their feet, prove them right. IDK but to mee it feels a but pushy. Even though it does not say buy now real big I get that impression.

People wanna know how the product is going to benefit them...

At the top have a welcome message give the site a more personal feel so the end user feels like their getting to know Mr. Trautman

Design wise everything below the header/nav looks very late 90's early 2000's

And you're a "web design" company right? Then why are you using tables? *sigh* shoulda looked at the code first...

 

[webstudent123]

Tables and Co.

I work full time for the dance lesson company- (claytonbrowndesigns is my side/freelance deal) The site in question is the outcome of a two man team.

Tables: Pre-set by the host- We have no choice in the matter-

I do greatly appreciate the feedback you have given and will no doubt put it to good use.

Cheers

 

[webstudent123]

Women know about guys who are good on their feet, prove them right.

You mind if we use this at some point?

 

[krymson]

You mind if we use this at some point?

Go ahead... I'm here to help in any way aren't I?

 

[Phreaddee]

if you ask on here about this site again then please take some of the advice with you??That may sound harsh, but really it has to be said.

first things first...

Please avoid advising us to leave our hosting company as that is not currently an option.

...because you know whats coming, its a common theme.
tables = hosting problem
scripts = hosting problem
inline css = hosting problem
etc, etc
therefore sales = hosting problem

and why oh why is it not an option?
a) the accounts manager is an idiot cheapskate and the current hosting is free? $2/month?
b) the domain came with a "free web builder" and the site is built in that
c) some dodgy extortion scheme?
d) unable, unwilling to change because "its always been there" and some sort of strange loyalty for what seems like a pretty shitty deal.
whatever the reason, it is the problem that needs solving.
whoever is in charge of that decision has to let go. THAT situation needs to improve.

do you have ftp details? dump the whole site and start again somewhere else. Maybe even start somewhere else on a brand new site? not a third time over shitty redesign of a wysiwyg webpage thats never going to deliver to you what you need.

something without limitations, and frustrations. wouldn't that be nice? then you could concentrate on the sales!

times are a changing and many people use smartphones for e-commerce these days, so firstly its going to have to work on them at least to some degree...that was decidedly unpleasant on my android phone.

as for the design there has been *some* strides forward but...
i'll let ghosts of times past critique it for you...

September/October 2010

Claes Nilsson
if you unclustered it a bit then maybe they would stand out more and you'd know where to start reading your site.

flyboy
I wonder about all that scrolling down. Too much information?

evocrim
Too much on screen. It's difficult when clients insist on features that you know will be detrimental to the design and the success of the website, then they'll get huffy when people aren't staying and using the website that they insisted on.

I would describe it as "shouty" and puts me off, but then I'm not a dance student so maybe I'm not the desired clientele.

I also recall a pretty interesting discussion regarding the tables too but cant seem to remember where and when...

my point is all this was discussed in depth over two years ago. and since then you've had two years of the same "problem".

...and whatever "benefits" you get from this hosting "deal" is pretty slim and it all sounds rather odd anyway. I've never dealt with network solutions at all but I did check out their hosting packages and none seemed to "limit" me to using tables, or "forcing" me to use a pre-packaged site builder, and nowhere at all did I find any evidence of being "locked into us for life"...

and if the problem is the third party merchant facility is through them as well? there are solutions...

...So I suggest it comes up at the next staff meeting...









...honestly do a thousand redesigns. its not going to make a damn difference. the site is fundamentally flawed because
the basic structure underpinning it is shite.

 

[webstudent123]

perfect

I bet you spent a long time writing that and yet you did absolutely the opposite of what we asked for.

As we have given our reasons in the past for why we cannot leave our provider I am not going to re-list them. You clearly have no problem searching the archives so if you really want to to know why the answer is there for you.

Cheers!

 

[webstudent123]

to be more exact

if you ask on here about this site again then please take some of the advice with you??

What makes you think we have not taken any advice in the past?? We have actually done quite a bit with the feedback, including creating two other websites that do not run on Network Solutions that are doing quite well.

tables = hosting problem
scripts = hosting problem
inline css = hosting problem
etc, etc
therefore sales = hosting problem

Although I am sure there is some truth to this statement it is also very flawed. We have indeed been able to influence sales based on the design of the site.
Do you think that somehow visitors to the site are saying "wow, tables and inline css, im not buying anything here!" ? Well, they are not, and to think that is simply misinformed.

times are a changing and many people use smartphones for e-commerce these days, so firstly its going to have to work on them at least to some degree...that was decidedly unpleasant on my android phone.

Agreed, NetSol's is working on a better mobile design (they have one, but we have it turned off due to limitations)-

as for the design there has been *some* strides forward but...
i'll let ghosts of times past critique it for you...

This is not very helpful… If you re-read the OP, we are looking for serious design flaws or 'red-flags' that may be only visible on slower internet connections as we have created custom sidebars and headers that overwrite the existing elements.

You then continued on why we need to leave our provider… even though this was nothing but a waste of your time.

 

[krymson]

What makes you think we have not taken any advice in the past?? We have actually done quite a bit with the feedback, including creating two other websites that do not run on Network Solutions that are doing quite well.


Although I am sure there is some truth to this statement it is also very flawed. We have indeed been able to influence sales based on the design of the site.
Do you think that somehow visitors to the site are saying "wow, tables and inline css, im not buying anything here!" ? Well, they are not, and to think that is simply misinformed.


Agreed, NetSol's is working on a better mobile design (they have one, but we have it turned off due to limitations)-


This is not very helpful… If you re-read the OP, we are looking for serious design flaws or 'red-flags' that may be only visible on slower internet connections as we have created custom sidebars and headers that overwrite the existing elements.

You then continued on why we need to leave our provider… even though this was nothing but a waste of your time.

What my esteemed colleague is trying to say is...

For this statement...

Although I am sure there is some truth to this statement it is also very flawed. We have indeed been able to influence sales based on the design of the site.
Do you think that somehow visitors to the site are saying "wow, tables and inline css, im not buying anything here!" ? Well, they are not, and to think that is simply misinformed.

With all of that extra script in that page, the page size is substantially larger. If if was just the html then your file size would be smaller and therefore faster to load. A way to can think about it is having a high res image that in its raw form is 250MB and you wanna load that up and no matter what connection you're on its gonna load slow as balls... Now you take that same image into photoshop and optimize it for web and devices and lo and behold it knocks the file size down to 2-3MB without reducing the quality.

In-line or in page CSS will weigh down your file size and loading speed... Besides you have 2 youtube videos on the front page as well...

Agreed, NetSol's is working on a better mobile design (they have one, but we have it turned off due to limitations)-

Net Sol I know for a fact does not make you use tables, and it's not weather they support mobile design or not, its how YOU code your site. If you're using one of those site builders I would recommend changing your "side job" because when your client comes to you with a request that is outside of the capabilities of this site builder what are you going to do then? Tell them it's not possible and they point you to a website that's doing that very thing...

Though Phreadee's information is misinformed he makes a valid point...

tables = hosting problem
scripts = hosting problem
inline css = hosting problem
etc, etc
therefore sales = hosting problem

This information is wrong...

tables = web design service providers problem
scripts = web design service providers problem
inline css = web design service providers problem
etc, etc
therefore sales = web design service providers problem

At the end of the day whether you wanna hear it or not it is on the designer/developer's shoulders to fix the issue... The hosting company does not write the code ( That is unless you're using a site builder, but 98% of the web hosts dont have their own proprietary site builder), the web designer does, the web designer writes the scripts, the web designer writes the inline css... there for the fall of SEO and ultimately the fall of sales is due to the service of the web designer.

As for the "ghosts of times past"

Your site still has too much on the front, it still seems cluttered, and it feels like a mile to the bottom of the page

At the end of the day its not hosting limitations, it's your limitations. It's your skills and promises you're making that are limiting the success of the website...

Sorry to be blunt but you need to see where we come from.

 

[Phreaddee]

my "misinformation" (ie that its a hosting problem) is based on several previous posts regarding this site and the OP's insistence that it it a fault of the "hosting"

yes customers wont "see" tables and inline css and not buy, but they will notice the effect these poor techniques bring to the site, even if they do not know why.

we are looking for serious design flaws or 'red-flags' that may be only visible on slower internet connections

are you? are you? I told you the biggest "red-flag" and you dismissed it.

I look forward to critiquing your next redesign in sept 2014.
And yes, if your still blaming the host...

 

[webstudent123]

really?

Net Sol I know for a fact does not make you use tables, and it's not weather they support mobile design or not, its how YOU code your site. If you're using one of those site builders I would recommend changing your "side job" because when your client comes to you with a request that is outside of the capabilities of this site builder what are you going to do then? Tell them it's not possible and they point you to a website that's doing that very thing...

Well, here's what we have to work with and why I say we are limited to the tables:

On our admin panel in Net Sol we have the ability to change the code inside the header, footer and side columns, one at a time.
These elements all live inside of one large table with a top column for the header (colspan="3"), three columns for the 2 sidebars and page content, and a bottom 3 col footer column..- We do not have access to change this tables code.

Our site is 100% custom built besides that fact that it must live inside the large table. When I started working here this was how the site was and although it has been my recommendation to leave Net Sol to achieve more flexibility I understand my bosses reasons for staying with them. We have a lot more on our plates then just the website.

We cannot utilize programming code to call different sidebars, page layouts etc.. they all have the same layout. However via CSS overrides we do have different headers and side columns for certain types of pages.

Regardless I really do appreciate all of your feedback.

 

[reverseengineer]

I must say, of all the websites I've reviewed, this is one of the best one's so far. Comprehensive, engaging, straight to the point. Too bad I don't dance. lol.

 

[leroy30]

I may have missed this in the thread somewhere but are you benchmarking your search engine performance? i.e. Is the new design converting less visitors or are you showing up in less search results.