I'd love your input on the design, layout, etc. Is there anything that still needs tweaking? Does it look sufficiently professional? In other words, if you stumbled across this site and didn't already know about my business, would you actually buy a sling?I still haven't selected a web host. I was thinking of using GoDaddy's Deluxe Plan. I want to be able to host more than one domain, since my next big project is moving this blog to a real website. Are there other comparable hosting services that are inexpensive, reliable, and have sufficient storage space/etc that you would recommend?
Rixa, I think it looks fantastic. I like the clean, modern look of the page, and it looks very orderly and easy-to-understand. I hope you get lots of orders, and with that beautiful and professional website I think you will.
ReplyDeleteI love it! It's gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWe use GoDaddy and my hubby is a web application developper ... so I'd recommend it!
Go Daddy may be a good host, but I have refused to use them ever since I saw their commercials during the super bowl a few years ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://videos.godaddy.com/godaddy_media.aspx
yuck. My money will not support that.
I love it. It is beautiful and looks easy to navigate. I love the decorative links in the upper right!
ReplyDeleteI would avoid GoDaddy like the plague, they are awful.
I use waterwebs through a friend and we've been very happy with her wonderful service and she is another stay at home mom, which makes me feel good as a self employed mama about helping other women in our economy.
Service is EXCELLENT!
I love your design, especially the colors and the circle motif. Awesome!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bluehost.com/
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend bluehost. The husband's work has used it for the last couple of years, and it's been a stable, reliable hosting service that doesn't break the bank.
I've not been too impressed with Godaddy in the past. I dislike the way they've portrayed women, and (perhaps more or less importantly) I've found a disconnect with what they say they're going to charge me and what I actually get charged. Shady business practices, and shady portrayal of women -- meh on supporting them.
I think it looks great! I used godaddy.com to register my domain but ended up hosting my photography website with bludomain.com from whom I bought my web template. It was just easier that way. I have no complaints with godaddy though.
ReplyDeleteI like it very much. I'm planning on buying two infant scale slings in the very near future. Finally a midwife! And your batik sling you blogged about made me salivate.
ReplyDeleteI did a lot of research on hosting companies for a few different sites. I decided against GoDaddy after reading way too many negative reviews. (Not even addressing their sexist ads).
ReplyDeleteI use Hostmonster and have had zero problems. I've also heard great reviews from friends for Blue Host.
website looks great!
ReplyDeleteyou can get free hosting from weebly.com. or, just google "free web host".
The page is beautiful, an unusual and distinctive design. Great colors.
ReplyDeleteMy only caveat is to be careful about sizing and how you structure it - when I first opened it in my browser window, I couldn't see the link design at the top right....but that's probably cuz this is just a jpg...that first window is crucial...
I'm not crazy about godaddy's ads either; I've been really happy with Dreamhost.com
Love the look and feel -- professional yet warm.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering though about the structure of the website, meaning what the sub-pages look like and what is contained on them. How does the navigation change or stay the same from page to page?
I'm not opposed to having more than one link to another page on the same page of origin, but something's not completely jiving with me structurally. Something about the hierarchy of information isn't completely clear.
It's tough to converse about this on e-mail with a static image. Feel free to e-mail me directly if you'd like to "chat" about it. :-)
I think it's beautiful...though the lack of your head struck me as a little odd in the main picture. Dan agrees...he'd like to see the full view too. We found it a bit...decapitated? And the only other thing I would suggest is to have a picture with the baby settled in the sling more...as in, knees above hips...as a tbw nerd, that particular position strikes me as just a hair...shady? Does that make sense?
ReplyDeletep.s. Dan just pointed out, having your hand on baby's bum doesn't actually help "sell" the sling...I think another picture (with that same sling - it's gorgeous!!) might demonstrate the awesome power of a ring sling more...
ReplyDeleteI can size/scale the website. Does anyone with web experience know the maximum width of images & content you'd want? I have an average sized laptop screen (I think 1280p wide) and don't know how much bigger/smaller I need to accommodate for.
ReplyDeleteJen--about the picture, I already shipped that sling and it's the last of both fabrics and so that's all I have! And I cropped my head because I was doing something weird with my face. So the picture looks very strange if it has me in it. I do have some other pictures of another sling that might work, but I love the colors of this one a lot more...In any case it's easy to change the main picture. I'll look through my files.
Urbancrunchymama, the header on the top (including the vines) and the text menu on the left will stay the same on every page.
I have been wondering if I really need that vine menu thing--I made it as kind of a "quick links" thing and also for visual interest (to echo the vine shapes behind the logo), but it doesn't serve any essential function. Would the page, especially the header, be too empty without it?
Rixa,
ReplyDeleteCould you cut your face out of another picture and paste it onto your neck for this picture?
-Kathy
I think it looks good! There is only one thing I would change. I think it should say "Welcome to Second Womb Slings" up at the top, and then cut out where it says it below. It just seemed a little redundant to me. But, I really like to vine thing on the side. It does look very professional!
ReplyDeleteRixa,
ReplyDeleteThe average screen resolution used by most web surfers is 1024x768. If you're using a fixed width design, you'll want to optimize for that.
Otherwise, if you go larger, people will have to scroll right to see the entire site, which is a huge drawback to usability. It makes visitors much more likely to leave the site.
For hosting, I'd recommend Bluehost.com, Hostgator.com or Dreamhost.com - they all have similar offerings and good support, etc.
I would never used free web hosting as it is:
1. Unprofessional - if your website is a business, run it like one.
2. Unreliable - free hosting can be closed at any time with or without notice.
I like your other picture with the same sling (reversed, with the turquoise on the body) better.
ReplyDeleteTwo other suggestions are- to move the link in the upper right down, it looks a little bit cut off, and resize it since I had to scroll to the right on my laptop to see the full page. Otherwise, I think it looks great.
As 'anonymous' said a couple of comments up, I'm using a resolution of 1024x768 and a desktop with a 19" monitor. I can't see the whole page without significant scrolling - I'm seeing about 70% of the page.
ReplyDeleteI love the vine thing - but I'm big into vines and such. :-) I agree that the "Welcome to my website" statement in second section is redundant. (Personally I wouldn't use the words "welcome to" at all. I think it's unprofessional.)
Gotta tell ya - those slings are so beautiful they almost make me want to have another baby. Almost.
i like the vine visually. but using it as a navigation tool when the menu is listed on the left side seems redundant. unless you're trying to appeal to both right and left brained folks. yes, this site would pull me in to look around and shop.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a 1024 width is reasonable. You could also put a free counter on your site for a few weeks, and see what size window your visitors are actually using (i use http://extremetracking.com/)
ReplyDeleteOkay, at second look, and looking at these comments, I realize it really does have too many links. There's the main link section at the left, the three links under the pic, the vine, and the bottom band with contact.
It would probably be cleaner, more intuitive, to reduce these and make them more consistent. Maybe even rethink your categories (does faq really need to be broken down further?)
I would play around with moving the vine to the left and using it as your main navigation bar, and putting logo to the right.
And yes, welcome to sws is redundant.
Good luck. Simplicity is always key!
s.
p.s. love the logo!
I have been using Etsy. Mostly because my Cousin Kat kept bugging me to sign up to sell my stained glass. But now I am pretty happy with it. However, I am barely computer literate. So Etsy is a good place for me to start. They help out a lot and chatting with other folks who like to make stuff is fun.
ReplyDeleteHey do you make slings for small children? My Neice loves her baby dolls and I would love to get her a sling because she insists we bring them with us.
pinky--I do, they are $15. Here are the fabrics available for the play slings:
ReplyDeletehttp://secondwomb.blogspot.com/2009/05/childrens-play-slings.html