"Dave Mundt" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 04:28:42 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:

I'm sooo ashamed! Nobody's touched the site in 4 years. I don't want to
do
it because it will absorb my life and I'm too cheap to hire
somebody...any
volunteers?

Sigh...as a web designer myself, I should point
out that this is a time-consuming, creatively difficult
thing. Paying someone to do it, unless you can hook
a relative into doing it for free, is a *good* thing to
do.
Secondly, I looked at the site...and while it
does not look bad at all, I did note with some
interest that it has EXACTLY the same style as the
website of the original design company. Perhaps
it would be a good idea to get fresh eyes looking
at it.
I also really prefer websites that have
some indication of what the product costs. Now,
on at least a couple of the ones I have done, that
has meant that the catalog pages have been generated
on the fly from a database (I prefer mySQL running
under Linux).
As for expense....How cheap are lost sales?
While you really do not need to do a massive revamp,
and spend tens of thousands of dollars on it, I need
to point out that change to the content of a website
is one of the criteria that many search engines
use to push YOUR site up in the listings. Also,
I could see adding some content about the process
y'all do to make brushes, and, some "teaser" pages
for coming products.
It might be nice, too, for folks to have
a somewhat more formatted webform available for
feedback and information requests. Some folks
prefer working within the browser, rather than
having to pop over to their Email program.
Now...having said all that...I have to say
that it seems like a pretty good site, overall.
It is easy enough to get around in, and has a fair
amount of information easily available about your
products. I am sure that the brush business is
probably not that volatile, so you probably DON'T
need to make that many changes.
Oh yea...one thing that can be worthwhile
is to have a regular promotion listed on the
home page. That can catch folk's eye and get them
looking about your site.
Regards
Dave Mundt

I don't think I want a retail site. I get enough calls and e-mails from end
users but can't make any profit from selling orders less than $100 even at
full retail prices. We are so un-tuned to small orders it costs close to
$15 to process an order. If I do retail, I would be selling to my
customer's customers...not good! Our average order is from co-manufacturers
or mill supply in the thousands of dollars. It's just what we do, right or
wrong, and I constantly second guess our strategy. The page is mostly for
existing customers that need dimensions, part numbers, weights and such. It
relieves a large number of info calls. The end-user calls we do get are for
items usually not available retail like brass wire or special configuration
or technical advice. I don't know of any mfgrs that do retail well.

But, my website truly sucks, and I promise to re-do it as soon as I get the
brushes for Gunner.