Group help needed
Cayuga
Posts: 480
Three months ago I opened a small vintage stereo store in Ithaca, N.Y. and I must say its been a lot of fun and generated some positive cash flow. I'm getting ready to launch my web site and I would love feedback from the club members. I'm looking for thoughts on look and content, please take a minute and go to hionfi.com and give me your thoughts. You will see that the site is just being developed, this is a layout version not the final site. Thank you for taking the time and any and all comments.
Post edited by Cayuga on
Comments
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Are you planning on adding more sections to filter out things.
For instance "Electronics" covers a lot of stuff: Pre-amps, Amps (Multi, 2 channel, Mono), SACD Players, ect.
I would take a look at some of the subsections Audiogon uses to section out things and maybe use a couple of those as subcategories under your main headers.
The pictures and headings are quite nice and look very fluid overall. I would just think about categorization of the gear. The site is simple, easy to navigate and looks very polished."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Thanks for comments, I think your correct about creating sections for electronics.
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Thanks for comments, I think your correct about creating sections for electronics.
No problem. As I said, I would put them as dropdown UNDER Electronics. I like how few menus there are up top right now."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Thanks again, any feed back is welcome
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The typical mind set in web design (or any design for that matter) is that design is a luxury that can be paid more attention to as money allows. The opposite is true. A well designed website can generate more cash flow than you ever imagined. With that in mind, I can offer you some advice that I hope you'd at least take into consideration.
Who is your target market? What is your ideal customer like? Build the site for them. Flashy websites are a thing of the past. Don't waste your time making it look great aesthetically while neglecting it's functionality and content. If I can't figure out who you are and what you do within 3 seconds of visiting your site, you need to rethink your design. Sure you'll get people who "dig" a little deeper, but the percentage of people who leave who you could have done business with will blow your mind. Reviewing site analytics from an outdated design to a new design is where the proof is at.
Why does your company exist? Does your website continually answer this question? Does your website align with your brand and identity? Do your have a brand and identity or are your clients/customers left confused. What is your strategy long term? Does having a website get you closer to your goals? Successful companies communicate their brand in every conversation, in every interaction. Don't view your business as a small vintage stereo store. Think about how you can reach far beyond your city through web and be the premiere source for anything vintage stereo. This could be a long term "bigger picture" idea that you could look into. Trust me, the sites out there right now in vintage audio are outdated and aren't getting the job done. Someone has to do it right
I'd highly, highly recommend you have this done by experts who know what they're doing. It's not cheap. But if done right, you could potentially be running a business that not only serves your area, but markets its services to vintage audio lovers around the world. The only way to do this is to have a solid web development and design team put something together that can get you there. -
Audio did you even LOOK at the site? Its pretty well made already and does all of what you just typed.....
Click here: http://www.hionfi.com/"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Thank you audiocr381ue, are you saying the site looks homemade? If you could be more detailed that would help. I understand websites and have built a few, what I want to know is key areas of a site that audiophiles would like or like to see. I want people to go to the site for reasons other than buying something. The selling part is the least of my concerns at this time.
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Cayuga,the only thing I can add is keep it simple to use. Nothing more frustrating than a site that is difficult to get around.Maby a little something about yourself and how you got into audio.People like to know a who they are buying from.Dan
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I want people to go to the site for reasons other than buying something.
Perhaps have a section to well document white papers (if you can get the owners permission) provided they are all respected and known.
Things like articles on Why Vintage over New?, Cables Do They Really Matter? What WPC am I REALLY Getting from my AVR, ect."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
This is the website to my local HIFI shop: http://hawthornestereo.com/
I like how things are grouped on the site, and I think it's well laid out to give you another perspective. Nice start! -
Looks pretty nice so far. Maybe use different pictures for the headers so people actually know they switched screens.
Maybe add an advice area for certain types of equipment. like Reel to Reel cleaning and such or Turntable adjustments etc...
Make it as one stop as possible. -
Keep the ideas coming, thanks
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It looks very good.
I really like the themed header images on the Speakers, Turntables and Elecronics pages. A collage of assorted items on the other pages might better tell the story of what you offer.
I don't know if you want to tout your brick and mortar storefront or not, but a separate location page with image, map, store hours, etc. does make some buyers more comfortable.
It's a challenge to support, but I offer my name and phone number on the sites I own and I answer or call back every caller. This will really separate you from the average Internet seller who hides behind the technology.
The registration page is a great idea and requires discipline. So many site operators ignore the gold mine of information they collect and fail to mine it and send focused offers to those who register at an interval that is not too frequent and not too long. You need to promise you will never share or sell the information you collect (and MEAN IT)!
Moving to an extremely esoteric topic, the purer your "under the hood" html coding, the better chance you have of search engine retrieval. I've been at this since early 1994 and have about 70,000 pages of code on the net that score zero errors at http://validator.w3.org in their html code validating tool. I'm convinced it enhances my search rankings, but obviously, honest well written natural language content is what really matters.
Your images are nice, but relatively monochromatic. You might consider a unified color scheme for all of your marketing materials, business cards, logos, invoices, letterhead and website, etc.VTL ST50 w/mods / RCA6L6GC / TlfnknECC801S
Conrad Johnson PV-5 w/mods
TT Conrad Johnson Sonographe SG3 Oak / Sumiko LMT / Grado Woodbody Platinum / Sumiko PIB2 / The Clamp
Musical Fidelity A1 CDPro/ Bada DD-22 Tube CDP / Conrad Johnson SD-22 CDP
Tuners w/mods Kenwood KT5020 / Fisher KM60
MF x-DAC V8, HAInfo NG27
Herbies Ti-9 / Vibrapods / MIT Shotgun AC1 IEC's / MIT Shotgun 2 IC's / MIT Shotgun 2 Speaker Cables
PS Audio Cryo / PowerPort Premium Outlets / Exact Power EP15A Conditioner
Walnut SDA 2B TL /Oak SDA SRS II TL (Sonicaps/Mills/Cardas/Custom SDA ICs / Dynamat Extreme / Larry's Rings/ FSB-2 Spikes
NAD SS rigs w/mods
GIK panels -
In the "getHIONFI" page you better check your grammar and spelling a bit. I know it isn't a done deal yet, but some folks really hate the improper use of your/you're. hottest"Don't forget to change your politician. They are like diapers they need to be changed regularly, and for the same reason."
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Thanks for all the responses, don't think about the copy that's on the site or grammar, none of this will be on the site when we go live. I'm just gathering information about content and function from the members so I can compare your thoughts to mine. Thanks
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Those Cornell students have money, or should I say their parents do.Michael
In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
NORTH of 60° -
EndersShadow wrote: »Audio did you even LOOK at the site? Its pretty well made already and does all of what you just typed.....
Click here: http://www.hionfi.com/
I did, did you?
Brand, identity, all of these things are not communicated. I'm a fan of not talking to people like a salesman. Rethink the language you use. Logo should be in the header. Remove it from the banner and body. Remove the text in the header. Remove the links from the body, they're already there in your nav menu. Your tag line is repeated 3 times. "Your Source for Quality Vintage Audio Components." I'd think of a different tagline. Their are many sources for quality vintage audio components, why should I be shopping with you? Why does your company exist? Answer this question in your tagline. A blog about recent rebuilds and happy clients would drive traffic.
Tagline idea: "Because Vintage Audio Sounds Better." PUSH THAT. Ask some of your clients to write a quick blurb about their audio journeys and how they kept winding up with vintage gear. Find young audiophiles who love vintage audio and feature a story about them, break the stereotype that vintage audio is for old people. Blog. There is a revolution of people, young and old, getting into vinyl again. They'll need some vintage audio components. Get a piece of that pie!
Put your tag line directly under your logo (which should be in the header).
Just a few ideas for your consideration. My brother who's in web dev charges several thousand dollars for this type of consultation and is flown around the world to help people with this exact thing. He's helping me set up my production company and we're walking through this stuff slowly. The last site his company built was in the $100,000 range which is average for them, to give you some perspective. You don't need to spend this kind of money to have a site that is phenomenal. Web is changing. It's not about having a site that looks good anymore. You're on the right track and I wish you the best of luck!
