Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

It doesn't appear that you've enabled analytics.

Your images should each have alt-text (for the search engine's sake).

The block of text (starting with "About Australian Ugg Boots:") should be moved to your About Us page. It clutters your home page.

Your About Us page has a broken link to "Our Showroom".

(I live in the United States)

Hi Michelle,

I think your page needs a little bit of graphical treatment more in the style of a boutique. Your target market is hip women - your pricing is premium and your website should reflect this pricing. Start a blog, post some videos and market to the Seventeen and fashion mag readers. Your graphical treatments to your website should follow similar layouts of the mentioned magazines.

I always thought Ugg boots were sexy - so I compliment your product.

I currently live in Arizona U.S.A. where I work as a Marketing Director. I obtained my Marketing Management degree from the University of Queensland in Australia. I have wored in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada and the U.S. all in marketing management and director roles.

I live in Iowa - USA.
I love your new site. But here is a potential suggestion.

I suggest you ask your visitor where they are located early in the visit then show the price in their native currency.

I for one have no idea what the current exchange rate is for the Austrailian Dollar vs USD vs Euro. If I were making a shopping decision this would influence my decision making.

Hi Michelle,
I'm from the U.S. (California). Here are a few suggestions:

Include a statement at the top that states who you are/what you do. E.g., "UGG makes fashionable sheepskin boots that last a lifetime". Or "Ugg - the ultimate in comfort, fashion and quality boots".

Take all the stuff under the product photos on the homepage, and create separate pages for it. Too much scrolling.

Link the graphics at the top of the homepage to the corresponding product section.

All of the links in the navigation bar at the top should take the user to a page. That is, I should be able to click "Products" (without having to select Men or Women). The Products landing page could have links to men, women, kids, gifts, etc.

I like when consumer product websites include information on the cost of shipping - that often influences my purchase decision. I'd recommend you make this really easy to find. Put it in the info section, and include it as its own page.

It would be nice if instead of having a separate search page, you just have a search field on every page.

On the About Us page, the graphic on the right side (Our Showroom) doesn't show up for me (IE 7).

It could be a cool feature to have a section in your products page "As seen on" -- that lists the products that have been featured or shown in magazines, TV, etc. There are a lot of buyers who are looking for the same boots they saw in a fashion mag.

On the 'Select Your Currency' dropdown menu, you have 2 choices. So I need to "select other currency" if not AU. Why not just list all the choices in the first drop-down, with Australia at the top? Less clicks = faster to buy.

Overall, remember that your goal is to make it really EASY for the web visitor to know what the site is, find the product they like, and buy it. And keep in mind - you need to do this for 2 types of visitors: those that come to the site already knowing what they want, and those that 'found' your site that don't know what Uggs are.

Hi Michelle,

I agree with Levon & Tracey.

Overall, it's a very decent effort given that it's been done by you and your husband. However, if you were to seriously consider building a brand out of your business I would suggest hiring a professional web designer. They would bring in aesthetic values that one associates with reputed corporates/brands.
Sorry to be forthright, but to me the jarring points were
1. Clutter at the top with many visuals (including offer banners) jostling for attention.
2. Lengthy scroll downs
3. The text layout and the sentence/line breaks.

I'm not sure if selling over internet is your focus area but if it is, then an impressive website acts as a reassurance about the credibility of the business one is transacting/intends transacting with. This is especially true if one is transacting across countries/continents and where the awareness about your company may not be very high.

I live in Bangalore, India.

Hope this helps