Opinions Needed on New Audio Website

[Henry]

Hello All,
I am in the process of finishing up my Beta website that sell audio
accessories like cable and connectors. I would love some input on the
site as to how it is stocked and how it navigates.

The site is www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com

Regards, Henry

[neilnewsgroups@hotmail.com]

Henry wrote:
> Hello All,
> I am in the process of finishing up my Beta website that sell audio
> accessories like cable and connectors. I would love some input on the
> site as to how it is stocked and how it navigates.
>
> The site is www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com
>
> Regards, Henry

IMHO, you've got too many screens to get through to get to the
products. For example, when I go to the following:

www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com

The above is like some sort of introduction that doesn't tell or sell
me anything. It doesn't show me what you sell. It's like I was walking
down the street past a store, and the storefront windows were blacked
out or all the content was hidden.

For people with dial-up or slow internet connections, having to load
pages with little or no content, then having to keep clicking to find
pages with significant content, is an annoyance.

I have to click to get to:

http://www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

At the above, I see a lot of text, but not much product. I'd cut a lot
of the words and use the space for more products.

Then you've got a lot of subject headings. For example, from the
"Clearance Items" heading, I see:

http://wholesaleaudioaccessories.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Clearance

But there aren't any products there.

>From the above, I have to click on a heading that takes me to (for
example) the following, which isn't a clearance item:

http://wholesaleaudioaccessories.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Homeaudio

The above page does have some of your products, but the images are so
large and so spread out that it's hard to look at them all at once. I
suggest you go with smaller thumbnail images and descriptions, placed
closer together, so that users could click on each product and then get
more info.

Pages that require a lot of strolling means that fewer customers will
be willing to look at all the content. Laptop users and other folks
with small screens will have to do a lot scrolling, which means they're
less likely to scroll the whole page.

Overall, there's a lot of empty black space on your web site that
serves no purpose.

Also, there's no search field on every page. If I go to your site and
have a particular product I want, I have to go through the following
just to get to the search field:

http://wholesaleaudioaccessories.com

http://www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

http://www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SRCH&Store_Code=WHOLESALEAUDIOACCESSORIES

That's three screens to go through, when (IMHO) I should be able to
search in the first screen. Three screens is just too many screens.

Here's a web site I like:

http://www.jr.com/

Notice that even the URL is short! And the home page has timely
products, advertised to match current events, like Valentine's Day. (I
realize that's not a holiday that really matches your products, but you
could do sales around holidays or other events.)

And at the above, the search field is among the first thing you see.
Also, a white background is much easier to read, and the headings are
laid out left to right, the way we all read.

And at the above web site, there's a phone number that's obvious too.
You don't have a phone number at all. Having a phone number helps a lot
of customers feel like they're dealing with a real business, and gives
customers a chance to talk to sales staff, figure out what they want to
buy, and also provides the sales staff with a chance to sell items,
including items the customer may not have thought of.

While I think your web site is arguably more elegant and subtle than
the J&R site, I think the J&R site is much faster to use and more
effective. The site connects you to products faster.

A few more examples of effective web sites:

http://www.bn.com/

The above also does e-mail newsletters and other things that help sell
items and remind customers to shop there.

http://www.amazon.com/

I think you need to look at the above web sites and see how you could
get customers to your products faster. On your web site, a user has to
do too much digging to find anything.

You should also highlight best sellers; a lot of customers will be
attracted to whatever are the most popular items. Also consider
seasonal sales and other events you can create that will get visitors
excited and make them want to come back.

[Reg]

Henry wrote:

> Hello All,
> I am in the process of finishing up my Beta website that sell audio
> accessories like cable and connectors. I would love some input on the
> site as to how it is stocked and how it navigates.
>
> The site is www.wholesaleaudioaccessories.com
>
> Regards, Henry
>

Lose the splash screen. They're a complete waste of time and
bandwidth.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com