Opinion: Shopify Community - Just Launched

convertyourcds.com - just launched by levistamper

levistamper — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:01:28 +0000

Launched last week - convertyourcds.com

CDs to (MP3, FLAC, AAC, WMA, Apple Lossless, etc.) -> $1 per disc (US), shipping included.

I have a few design issues to iron out, but I'm open to input.

http://convertyourcds.com/

contact: info@convertyourcds.com

dumai commented on Studio Scrubs relaunched!

dumai — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:13:53 +0000

Thanks,

It looks like a wordpress theme possibly because of the blog listing on the homepage. In back of my mind I probobly did get inspired by it. Client was using wordpress before. The concept must have transfered over to shopify.

noefresh commented on Studio Scrubs relaunched!

noefresh — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:40:30 +0000

Beautiful- is that an adaptation of a Wordpress theme? Has a bit of that feel.

HunkyBill commented on Studio Scrubs relaunched!

HunkyBill — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:37:01 +0000

Nice work!

Studio Scrubs relaunched! by dumai

dumai — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:22:06 +0000

Hey guys,

I just wanted showcase a new redesign I did for Studio Scrubs. I hope it can inspire other designers and integrators to fully push the creativity with shopify.

www.studioscrubs.com

Thanks for any positive/negative feedback!

dav3 commented on What do you HATE about our store?!

dav3 — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:34:52 +0000

i have paypal, but i recieved 3 costumers, 2 of them refused to pay without credit card...

:-/ anyway i'll soon give up :-/ ain't working..

dockane commented on What do you HATE about our store?!

dockane — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:53:53 +0000

@BBG

Thanks for the heads up on the testing site. Seems worth a further look. I also have used www.usertesting.com and LOVED it! It's real time navigation where folks use video capture as they navigate around the site. My first stab at it was very affordable as well. Everyone should check 'em out, I'd say.

dockane commented on What do you HATE about our store?!

dockane — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:51:46 +0000

@dav3 Try PayPal ... it'll allow folks to use a credit card if they don't want to use PayPal, and then at least you can really test the store. Hard to test it if people can't buy easily, I would think, no? ;-)

dav3 commented on What do you HATE about our store?!

dav3 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:43:21 +0000

because my shop is like a testrun, and making a creditcard gateway would cost too much for a test.. in my oppinion ;)

BBG commented on What do you HATE about our store?!

BBG — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:49:16 +0000

Concept Feedback is an interesting site you might want to checkout regarding the design, and the price is right. Here is an ecommerce one for example: http://www.conceptfeedback.com/concept/2686/ecommerce-redesign/

dockane commented on What do you HATE about our store?!

dockane — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:25:38 +0000

Hi @dav3 why can't you accept credit cards?

dav3 commented on What do you HATE about our store?!

dav3 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:43:17 +0000

I can't tell you what I hate about your store, but what I hate about MY store is, that I can't accept creditcards...like the biggest no-go for online-shops...

http://parfume-outlet.com

dockane commented on What do you HATE about our store?!

dockane — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:19:47 +0000

WOW! Now, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Thanks to each of you for your responses so far. And a special thanks to @Rawsterne for tossing the first stone! It's been a busy week, so it's taken me some time to implement some of your suggestions and respond, but here goes!

I have some specific follow up questions addressed to each of you, so if you're still able to help, I'd really appreciate your response. I called out those sections by highlighting your forum name in BOLD. Thanks mucho. Doc

Branding: Lot's of suggestions on branding. I realize this is a problem, but didn't think it was a much of an issue as each of you suggested, so thanks for that. We're working on those issues now thanks to each of you.

Design: The design you currently see is template I chose because it allowed me to do a "deal a day" type site, which initially was all I thought I was going to do. Then, as I got my feet wet, I realized there was much more we could do with catalog items, and there were initial limitations to the deal concept (i.e. a lack of eyeballs to sustain it right out of the box), so I kept the template, but added on to it with the help of a designer who has been helping out only with the back-end coding and not the graphics elements. I'm aware pretty sites are great, and I love them too, but I'm spending money on functionality first … perhaps my thinking is backwards on this? I actually thought the gray design was okay (particularly since kitchens are generally stainless steel, and pastry people aren't as flashy and vibrant as line chefs, but I'm re-thinking this...) Thanks for your very concrete suggestions about the cluttered nature, and general sulkiness of the header section, and other things missing (like a prominent search function!) this is tremendously helpful. Tremendously.

Code errors/misaligned stuff: I swear, I hate IE. This stuff alone keeps my designer busy. Thanks for pointing them out. Chrome also doesn't like the zoom function on my product pages … not sure what's up with that.

Shopify blog: Ugh. The blogging aspect of Shopify is really weak. Sorry friends at Shopify! Being able to seamlessly integrate this into the store is one of my biggest pet peeves, actually. Perhaps, as @Jonathan suggested in another post, it's worth moving the blog off Shopify, to a platform that is better suited to blogging. The reason I hadn't done that is because I want this to be a SINGLE place for people to come, and not have two separate places for my visitors to land and hang out. Perhaps I'm way off in my thinking on this though, so I'd appreciate the feedback! Two things I've thought of as beneficial in re-thinking this: First, links to TheBaker.com from our Blog site would create link love, and second, it would separate visitors into buyers vs. readers, which could be a very good thing. The cons however, would be that we would limit our cross-over traffic from people who read to people who buy, but perhaps I'm underestimating this reality greatly. Care to weigh in?

Google Ads: @Jonathan asked about whether they're working for me. It's too early to say, really. I only have them on the blog section, so they're not really taking people away from the store that I see as of yet. I anticipate this could be a good revenue stream though, based on preliminary click data.

3rd party services: We'll be moving this stuff to the footer probably. They're of no real use now. No one uses them. Maybe I should pull them altogether as @Stuart suggests they're slowing down the site a lot. What do you think?

Header is butt-fugly and confusing: I made some changes to the header and nave button tittles with your suggestions in mind. It took me a while to figure out how to get the drop downs to work (this, I would think should be a video tutorial for other Shopify users!!)

SEO: I used some coding that Caroline created to automatically pull meta tags from the pages, but there seems to be a glitch on the product pages for sure … @Caroline can you identify where I've messed it up? Thanks!

@Caroline Facebook Connect Implementation: My designer took care of this for me ... I'll ask him to comment here in the forums!

@JonathanBriggs!!! This statement has me curious … "It does not feel like a store - more like a blog with shopping links. This is not in itself bad but customers may be confused." -- What specifically makes it feel that way? The site should feel like a store with the community side (the blog) as integrated, but not the primary purpose of the site. Can you lend a little more insight? Thanks!

@JonathanBriggs This one too: You mention the absence of branding "Does not instill confidence that "the baker" is a trusted company." Do you mean the lack of professional imagery (like a logo) is the reason for the lack of trust? Or is it the design of the site itself the problem. I get the feeling you mean visitors might think it's something just "whipped" up and not a real establishment is that right? If so, don't you feel the pressroom the about us offset this at all? Thanks!

@DavidL Glad you came back to kick me some more … your reinforcement of the design problems has caused me to approach my designer (who's over $50 an hour ;-) ) with new ideas for a re-design. I also re-worked the category headings to make them more clear. I agree they were hard to figure out. This sucky part is I'm limited to a certain width in that dang header, so I've been compromising on word-length as a result. Ugh … templates! Moved the pressroom link to the bottom of the page as, just that, a link only.

@DavidL You have some points here that I'm really curious about!! "Snag It" [we're using Buy Now, currently] needs to link to the external product detail page... where someone can add to cart right away. The mixer page links to some generic listing page as far as I can tell... forcing me to then go searching for this product on some other site."

What, specifically do you mean by "external product detail page"? (Sorry if this is a silly question!)
You mention the mixer page … is this the page you're referencing?
Or this one? I'm not sure to which "generic listing page" you refer. ;-)

@Stuart Thanks TONS for your insight into the page load times and how to fix them! I will be working on these issues this week!

parfume-outlet.com launched! by dav3

dav3 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:15:32 +0000

I just launched a new project: http://www.parfume-outlet.com

Hope you like it =)

regards

Helen commented on numsi.com launched!

Helen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:32:59 +0000

Thanks Jonathan,

I am just starting to address that whole issue, wish I'd realized earlier how important labels and titles are... we live and learn! Do you mean titles of products, I know they need to be less ambiguous, I know now at least!

Helen

jonathanbriggs commented on numsi.com launched!

jonathanbriggs — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:29:51 +0000

Well done Helen! It looks great.

One small thing I noticed is that the Titles of pages are not very search engine friendly - this is worth fixing.

Hope the new site is a success.

Jonathan

numsi.com launched! by Helen

Helen — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:13:24 +0000

Hello!

I have been working on my site for ages but I am finally ready to send it out into the world. I used the great Vogue theme plus an enormous amount of advice posted here in the forums, and I have been tremendously happy with both Shopify and the community. Thanks all!

numsi.com is dedicated to design for the little ones, because you have to live with it to. We concentrate on wall art for babies, children and their people, and also have a clothing and gift line. Please stop by and check us out,

Thanks!

Helen

http://www.numsi.com

Matty commented on Condom.ie just launched!

Matty — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:22:59 +0000

In that case Valerie, any chance of getting a few details about the last guy. Name and address would be fine, a year on and this still bugs me.

Anyway, hope you have better luck than him and the business goes well.

KISSESBEAUTY.DK LAUNCHES by Phillip Hobbs

Phillip Hobbs — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:04:02 +0000

CHECK US OUT AT www.kissesbeauty.dk

Jamie commented on Showcase your Shopify sites at eCommerce Gallery

Jamie — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:46:08 +0000

Hi James! I have a few I can send you. Lets put in this url too:

Submit your site: http://ecommercegallery.com/submit-your-site