Dodgestationpottery.com

I have just created a pottery e-commerce website.

http://www.dodgestationpottery.com

I have been designing websites for 10 years now, however, am new to e-ccomerce. I am hoping to get some critique on the navigation of the website.

On the homepage, I think you should switch the three little pitctures+text and put them above the big pictures. I get the feel they belong above the fold, and they just missed it for me.

Navigation is pretty good. Though I did resort to pressing the 'back' button when I ventured to the Blog.

The categories for the Shop and Glazes are pretty easy to get through. One thing, in the footer, Show All Products, is there a way you could put a little picture with them? Everywhere else the products have a picture, except there. In your case especially, the picture serves a powerful purpose.

I think you should get a contact form instead of an email link.

Oh, and I like how you can zoom in smoothly on the product's main page

Good Site

Viewed with Firefox 3.5.2 I noticed that the home page appeared to be aligned right where some of the site is centered. I think centered looks much better.

I also agree about the contact us. This should be a page in itself where you have all of your contact info, such as physical address, phone number and a web form for general inquiries. You may also find it helpful to display a phone number on the main page to help build trust "in the header not in the footer".

You may also find it very helpful if you included a printable order form. This will help with local sales as well as national sales as you will then be able to accept checks and money orders. They could also print the form out and fax it to you. If you decide to accept checks, make sure you clearly state that they will be held until they clear before any merchandise is shipped.

Your page descriptions seem to be a bit long on some pages. For descriptions try to use around 4-8 keywords/keyphrases and around 160 but no more than 200 characters.

Linking from images is not as good as linking from text. If you can I would add a rel="nofollow" to the images leading to your product page.

I would make an sitemap.xml file and submit it to Google, Yahoo and MSN.

You have an canonicalization issue that needs to be addressed.

You should turn off directory indexing site wide.

Copyright needs changed.

I did not see anything like a FAQ that discusses your return policy, what happens if an item is delivered chipped or broken, etc.

It appears that your site automatically generates the titles and descriptions. As you are well aware being a website designer, this is not the best way. Nobody searches your domain name, so why have it first on every page in the title? Your keywords are the same for every page and the description is also the same for every page. This is not going to help you at all. Titles and descriptions should be unique for every page.

Overall I like the site and many things about it, but I do feel what I mentioned above should be fixed.

Navigation is good. I can get to where I want. However I don't like your home page, the images are very big and throws it off in my opinion.

i too am aligned to the right (ubuntu, asus eeepc) which looks untidy. I agree on the contact form, may i recommend this one . This is by far the best contact form script i have found and believe me, i've seen a lot!! It is fully customisable and a breeze to install and configure.
hope this helps!

I think your homepage would be better if you made the top three smaller by about 35%. And instead have it like a banner with seperate images fading in and out.

I really love your navigation under "our glazes" we're you have to click the cups. But something about the pictures, webgodjj, that reside below it doesn't go right.

not bad.. it reminds me very much of jomalone.co.uk.

i would say add bigger gaps between the 4 main pictures. personally it feels a little cluttered / close at the mo. also may be worth leaving a gap between these 4 pics and the line that appears to be joining them at the bottom of the pics. I would also if you can use more clean and sharp images for the 4 big pics they seem very grainy.

FONT - Not a big fan of the font face used for the 3 boxes on the main page .. its not got enough UMPH! I would suggest making the titles bold e.g. 10% Off Dinnerware Palace Settings

Navigation - easy to use from what i looked at

Advertisement - Again the 10% off dinnerware Place Settings - Isn't this a promo of somekind... this should stand out a lot more and attract the vistors eye to it to encourage a purchase at the mo

best of luck

ed

The whole site seems to be right aligned.
And the pictures on the home page are too big.
Otherwise, it really looks good

Looks good but I would center it, right now it is right aligned.