Site Review - Under Construction

[esavvy]

This site is under construction. The content is example content -- as the client has yet to deliver me the content (and products). I was looking for structure critique .. user friendliness.
Site map is 1/2 done.

Who is your target audience? -- Guys (gals) who love to clean thier cars for hobby. The obsessed auto owner.. classic car owners.

How important is it for your site to rank well? Very important

How important is usability? Equal to site rank -- I have seen tons of traffic on sites but no closes because of usability

What is the purpose of the site? (inform, sell, online community, support B&M business, contact info only, etc) sell!

Do you want your code reviewed for errors or improvements? Wow..if anyone would do this.. I would love it.

Do you want design suggestions? I am not a designer .. so anything here will help</i>

Any suggestions are welcome.

http://www.detailyourcar.com/

[WebSavvy]

The site loads fast, is nicely designed and laid out very, very well. I love the colors and the flash header is extremely well done and loads very, very quickly.

The navigation is easy and flows really well. The only thing that I would change (if it were me) would be to have the top navigation bar begin at the left with the links flowing from left to right, rather than from in the middle of the bar to the right.

But, that's just me. Navigation from middle to right works fine if it's just 3 links or maybe 4. But when it's a full row it just looks better coming from the left, where right now Home has the biggest indent ... the reverse would have resources (your last link) with the biggest indent.

I hope that makes sense the way I explained it.

Did you design the site or did someone else design it?

:)

[esavvy]

Thanks savvy1. Great suggestion on the navigation (and easy to change :) )

Yes..my kids & I did the design. .. kept inside the walls of this forum .. esavvy is a stay-at-home-mom programmer and 4 kids in training :) nicayla is my third born :)

[Blue]

:) Now hold on a minute....

I've viewed the site at both 1024x768 and 800x600 res.

At the higher res, the navbar looks (somewhat) centered. At the lower res, it's more or less right justified.

I think it would look OK either centered or left justified, but you should make sure, esavvy, that it moves gracefully, dependent upon the res the viewer is at (did that make sense?).

You don't have a site map link. Might want to integrate one of these.

Nor do you have contact info directly on the home page which instills confidence in the site visitors (I like to see it on every page as I never know when I might make up my mind and call to order a product or ask a question leading to a sale).

I would consider giving the newsletter subscription box a light shading of color to make it stand out a little. Also, I might change the name of the "Join!" button, since you have a "Remove" option.

I like the logo but I think the top of the "d" should be level with the top of the faded letters "CAR" and the star.

On your "Ask the Pro" page, I might suggest that you leave the newsletter boxes UNchecked by default. This gives them a clearer "opt-in" choice and doesn't make for an irate customer complaining about "I did NOT check any boxes blah blah blah...".

Well, I really like the layout, it's easily navigated and easy to read, and I like the colors. Great job!

I hope this helps.

[maartenvr]

P.S. Why would you as a car detailing website link to a pet supplies website???

[esavvy]

I will have to re-word the link - and take them directly to the pet hair removal products (for relevancy)

The car detailing site distributes products for cleaning dog hair and cat hair etc... from automobiles. The pet guy has agreed to sell them .. but the products are not in his cart yet. (both of these guys are our clients)

[esavvy]

Blue -- awesome comments. I like the logo ideas and newsletter signup stuff.

Believe it or not .. there is a sitemap link. .. But this is a good comment- since you could not find it! If you can't --how can the visitor?

Thank you!
Mary

[jacobskl]

esavvy,

I like the combination of content (tips) with products. I also like the look and feel of the site. (Really wish mine looked that clean!)

One question for the crew: On the shop index page ( gotten to via the "Auto Detailing Stor" link on the bottom of the page), you have text regarding how you are building the page. Now, since I am guessing that this site isn't really available to the public this is okay. However, is there a better way to say that this area is still being worked and is not in final form? Personally, I hate "This site under construction", as all sites are always under construction. What does anyone else think?

Other than that, I love the site. I found the tips well written and useful, and (as I said) the layout is clean and clear.

[jacobskl]

(Forgot something)

I did find your site map easily. However, I noticed that it is only 1/2 done: The informational pages column header doesn't have any text under it.

[Blue]

You're welcome Mary!

Believe it or not .. there is a sitemap link. .. But this is a good comment- since you could not find it! If you can't --how can the visitor? I have only one word for this - DOH! (And I am slapping my palm against my forehead, LOL). Actually, this brings up a good point (as I'm sure you've already realized).

Certain links should take advantage of using keyword text - but - there are others where it's not only not necessary, but could be detrimental, as in this case. Another might be - Auto Detailing Home.... could be easier recognized as just Home. I would think a lot on this one, Mary.

[Blue]

One question for the crew: On the shop index page ( gotten to via the "Auto Detailing Stor" link on the bottom of the page), you have text regarding how you are building the page. Now, since I am guessing that this site isn't really available to the public this is okay. However, is there a better way to say that this area is still being worked and is not in final form? Personally, I hate "This site under construction", as all sites are always under construction. What does anyone else think? This is a great topic to help warn off new webmasters against.

Unless you have a substantial portain of a page done, and it has a good chance of ranking well and serves a purpose for it's visitors (that last bit should have been reversed), you should not make a page available to the public.

Never use an "Under Construction" image or text. It's probably best to exclude and delink a page that is not finished.

Be aware that directory editors will not list a site that is under construction (or at least they're not supposed to). Also, it's a waste of time for your visitors.

(I realize, Mary, that you explained that your site was under construction.)

[highman]

This page (http://www.detailyourcar.com/auto-detailing.php?nic=interior-cleaning) I would split up into the individual sections, this then gives you good scope for targeting search terms on each of these subjects, same with the exterior cleaning page.
When you have split the sections up into individual pages, then link directly to the product that deals with the pages content.

i.e. the SEALING & GLAZING page has links directly to the product(s) that do this

Also the menu's that appear on the left could do with a tad more spacing between the line heights, looks a bit of a jumble to me

All in all... nice job :)

[esavvy]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am in the process of incorporating many of them.

It will probably be some time before launch .. because we have to get all the products in .. but I will let you know when it launches.

[mncsc]

Attractive site, but the alt tags are a bit repetitive, especially in the bullets preceding the menu links. Consider changing them to what each menu link is (targeting more phrases), or delete them altogether - they interefere somewhat if you happen to mouse over while considering which link to click.