Please critique my website!
I am considering a facelift for my website, www.brooklyngigcenter.com , and I know that this forum is a place where there is no shortage of opinions. I'm working with a developer who is asking a lot of questions that I can't answer objectively enough.
My website sells musical instruments - guitars, basses and violins, primarily. While it's been a success so far, I feel that it could be doing much better. So aside from advertising considerations, I need to understand what people like and don't like about the site. Some questions that I'd like to have answered are these:
1. Is the overall design conducive to buying?
2. Does the consumer understand what the site's about?
3. Are products easy to find, and are they presented properly?
4. What do you like most about the site?
5. What do you like least about the site?
6. If you were looking to buy one of these products, would you buy from the site, and why or why not?
All comments will be appreciated, and will be taken into consideration while we evaluate the site. Thanks in advance for your input.
My website sells musical instruments - guitars, basses and violins, primarily. While it's been a success so far, I feel that it could be doing much better. So aside from advertising considerations, I need to understand what people like and don't like about the site. Some questions that I'd like to have answered are these:
1. Is the overall design conducive to buying?
2. Does the consumer understand what the site's about?
3. Are products easy to find, and are they presented properly?
4. What do you like most about the site?
5. What do you like least about the site?
6. If you were looking to buy one of these products, would you buy from the site, and why or why not?
All comments will be appreciated, and will be taken into consideration while we evaluate the site. Thanks in advance for your input.
Comments
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um, does this count as a comment?
Safari can’t open the page.
Safari can’t open the page “http://www.brooklyngigcenter.com,”. The error was: “Cannot show URL” (WebKitErrorDomain:101) Please choose Report Bugs to Apple from the Safari menu, note the error number, and describe what you did before you saw this message. -
whynot_31 The link has a comma at the end. Just remove it.
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it's the comma at the end.
I'd like to see a real physical address
gig center sounds like your gonna find me a gig, not try and sell me instruments. The name tells me it is an exchange of bands looking for musicians and musicians looking for gigs -
I like it. I would work on the logo/home page. Not sure what exactly. The lay out is really nice when I click on the links. I would have a link added to get back to the Home Page. You should exchange the Sheep pic with something from your website. Good luck!
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I agree that "BrooklynGigCenter" sounds like where I would go if I were a musician and looking for a gig.
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I would add a tag line on the home page about what you do. I'm unclear as to whether it is a craigslist type website for buying and selling instruments between users or if you are just selling instruments.
It says, "Musical Instruments" under the logo but how about:
"THE online place for buying and selling your musical instrument." Or, "THE online place for finding a musical instrument at below-market costs" or some other tag line so that the user instantly knows what you do.
Also, are the Bangles the most recent band you can refer to on your home page? -
I know nothing about your product so I only have an answer to question 5.
Nice name, but what do you have to do with Brooklyn? Other than the Bridge in your logo. Nothin, You don't even have an address in Brooklyn, Just Park Slope, Brooklyn.
You could have hundreds of identical webstores each identifying with different cities -
No flash, so big points up front!
One small thing that would turn me off of a website, is that the text on the info pages (shipping info, latest news, etc.) is hard to read. This is definitely partially due to small text size, but also maybe to the font and text color on the background. Maybe just me, but you asked for our thoughts
Just noticed this is also true on the product descriptions. The small white text kinds of blurs together for me.
I agree that you need to always be able to navigate back to the homepage easily (maybe the logo at the top links back?).
The overall layout and navigation seem pretty good to me--the sidebar that has other options always there is good. -
BrooklynJack wrote:
The reason there's no physical address is because I'm not a store, and I have already had a couple of people show up here to browse when I did have the address listed. And even though I don't stock anything at this location I don't want people thinking I do.
I'd like to see a real physical address -
ringrunner wrote: I know nothing about your product so I only have an answer to question 5.
The Brooklyn identity is something that is high on the list to include more of.....great comment, thanks!
Nice name, but what do you have to do with Brooklyn? Other than the Bridge in your logo. Nothin, You don't even have an address in Brooklyn, Just Park Slope, Brooklyn.
You could have hundreds of identical webstores each identifying with different cities -
A few things that I've noticed - both from working as a Producer/GM for a web site and also...a musician who buy most of his gear on-line
1. Hierarchy and Navigation - I don't know that you really want your Manufacturers to be your Navigation. This, for several reasons. Hopefully, you'll be adding more Mfrs. as you go along and you don't want to keep adding to that Nav and having the page length increase.
Also, if you're a user that's not familiar with Italia guitars, for example, your might go right by that because it wasn't something you recognized.
My recommendation is to have your Navigation and Hierarchy be something more about the Gear Type like:
Guitars
- Electric > Mfrs
- Acoustic > Mfrs
- Bass > Mfrs
- Amplifiers > Mfrs
- Effects > Mfrs
Drums
- Acoustic > Mfrs
- Electric > Mfrs
That will just make it easier for people to find exactly what they're looking for.
2. Tags - Make sure to use H1 and Title tags so that the search engines can find you
That's all i have for the moment but you're off to a good start so congratulations! -
Agree with danielle123 - it needs more descriptive text and callouts that create a bit of excitement / interest in navigating beyond the home page.
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I like the sheet music links, but you are redundant when you say, one after the other on the same page:
"Brooklyn Gig Center is your ultimate source for hassle-free LEGAL sheet music downloads, with no extra software required! Just click and play!
TotalSheetMusic and Sheet Music Direct are your ultimate sources for hassle-free LEGAL sheet music downloads, with no extra software required!"
The first paragraph should simply introduce the links. Then you can use the second paragraph, but amend it to mention Scorch, or at least work around the software issue, because.... the info is incorrect. Sheet Music Direct requires the purchaser to install software: Sibelius Scorch. -
make the Frequently Asked Questions "link" on the nav bar actually do something.
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Very hard, in fact impossible, to navigate to woodwinds. I'd fix that in a hurry.
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steal ideas from your competititon.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS301US302&q=used+instruments
make sure site comes up when people type "used instruments" and "used musical Instruments" by joining google's pay per click hegemony. -
BrooklynJack wrote: it's the comma at the end.
^^ This
I'd like to see a real physical address
gig center sounds like your gonna find me a gig, not try and sell me instruments. The name tells me it is an exchange of bands looking for musicians and musicians looking for gigs -
I'm a (former) web and flash designer, so here's my two cents. Not bad, but room for improvement.
It looks quite a bit like an off-the-shelf web store (ie, put together using basic web store software). The layout of the navigation and the lack of graphical unity between the guitar images and the rest of the page contribute to this.
The "Total sheet music" banner ad in the middle of your homepage? Don't like that at all... it's one of the most prominent things on the page. If it's part of your free music download offer, I wouldn't include a banner ad.
Suggestions:
1. Color palette: it's dark and very, very grey. Not very fun... I'd think that a musical instrument site would be a bit lighter and more playful.
2. Guitar images on homepage: these could use a rework so they don't look so... thrown onto the page. Something more integrated would work better for you, IMHO.
3. Rework the nav. I agree with others who have said that manufacturers shouldn't be the main focus, but the type of intrument. Maybe also include a dropdown allowing people to jump straight to a specific manufacturer.
4. Internal pages: these lack unity... they should ideally have a similar layout. Could use some more text on these pages... sell the items! Also, some pages, like Barcus Barry, have banner links to sites outside your site. Bad idea. Keep people on your site!
Good luck! -
Thanks for the valuable input. A lot of these ideas are already thoughts in my head, but it's completely different when I hear objective points of view.
This site started out very small, and has grown quite a bit. Seems like I have to keep re-creating the wheel instead of just doing it correctly and logically from the start.
I truly appreciate the comments, folks....keep them coming! -
Pretty nice! Takes two seconds to see you're selling musical instruments. Loads fast. I like the simplicity of the gray and black. Makes the focus on the gear.
One thing, happens on Firefox 3 but not Safari 3, hard to describe. The list of manufacturers has an odd selection jumpiness. The yellow highlighted name jumps up two names from where the cursor is. The little popup thing is activated for the selected one, too. But clicking is of the one where the cursor is. Very specific, local, consistent occurence. Location of the selection jumpy spot is towards the bottom of each name space. No idea why, though.
OSX10.5.6, FF3.0.7 -
From a quick glance, it is visually does not suck butt.
The menu on the left side on the opening page has too many options/is too long. Give users fewer options that force them to click on a bigger category of what the want. The smaller categories can appear on other pages.
Make it easy for morons who might be buying a guitar as a present for someone else. -
Did anyone happen to notice the subsite when you click on Daisy Rock Guitars on the left side? Any thoughts on that?
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whynot_31 wrote:
point out to cheap idiots like me that this our best source for NEW musical instruments at "direct from the manufacturer" prices.
make sure site comes up when people type "used instruments" and "used musical Instruments" by joining google's pay per click hegemony.
...maybe state how much cheaper you are than places like Guitar Center.
Accept Paypal in addition to all the various credit cards. -
BrooklynGigCenter wrote: Did anyone happen to notice the subsite when you click on Daisy Rock Guitars on the left side? Any thoughts on that?
I did. I think the sub-nav that you're working with in the Daisy Rock is much closer to how I'd suggest the overall nav should work. I also personally wouldn't recommend custom colors/design for different pages like that. i think it's just a little jarring but that may be personal preference. -
8)
First of all i want to wish you all the possible success in the world.
I agree with sentiments regarding the "gig" center.
It makes me think you are a
a) place to get professional sound and stage reinforcement such as
PA's stage lighting amp and drum rental etc. (kinda like SIR ?)
b) booking agency
c) musician referral svc
im not familiar enough with violins or woodwinds, but as far as most of the guitars go they appear to be predominantly student models.
Is this your target market ?
To me thats the biggest thing, clarifying your target market.
the name makes ME think
COOL i need a new crown power amp and maybe some newer JBL's
this guy sounds like a good bet !
then i see some daisy rock guitards and kinda go "huh" ?
my gut reaction would be different if i entered the site without
my own false preconception of what the gigcenter must be.
the number of local studios and music stores has diminished significantly in the last 10 years.
i truly wish you the best.
peace
g -
i think you need a mascot with a soul patch
just like ole strummy here (see above) -
how about an irreverent pick with a faux hawk named justin
here he is (above) sticking to the man
Howdy, Stranger!
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