Advice on how to improve website.......

[dvdbargains]

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All advice and opinions are appreciated, that's what I asked for, good and bad!

I cannot contemplate going back to Wordpress now after all the effort I've put into this (whether it shows or not I have put some in believe me!) and would it not knock me right back to square one regards Google rankings etc. anyway??

TBH the themes and such like weren't a problem on Wordpress just in general I found it a bit confusing so my mind is made up to stay where I am for now.

[babrees]

I realise you have put in a lot of work on this, but please, please change the template. I used to use affilistore but ALWAYS totally changed the template completely so you wouldn't even know I used it. If you do not know how to do this it may be worth paying somebody to do it. I hate it when I see hundreds of sites using that same template without altering it at all.

You CAN change the favicon. Just upload your own.

If I were looking for designer clothes I personally would not give your site a second glance, sorry. For classy goods you need a classy looking site. Take a look at this one which also uses affilistore: Designer Fashion - it CAN be done!

[findlite]

findlite.. what plugins do you suggest? Always willing to learn more Wordpress is a newish thing to me (less than 4 months). I have AllinoneSEO etc. Yes my first site was beyond ugly too!

Depends what you want. Im a "less if more" kinda guy as im all about the seo and having clean code that loads quickly.

I use:

Askimet
All in one seo (Just be sure to sort out your title's and meta's as they can become duplicated or jumbled up if your not careful)
Google XML plugin (instant sitemap generator)
Max blog press (stops you pinging every time you edit)
I love social bookmarking

Thats it really. Some guys use alot more stuff than this but as i said im really into my seo so like to keep stuff simple and use my own clean coding if i need to achieve something.

[dvdbargains]

I realise you have put in a lot of work on this, but please, please change the template. I used to use affilistore but ALWAYS totally changed the template completely so you wouldn't even know I used it. If you do not know how to do this it may be worth paying somebody to do it. I hate it when I see hundreds of sites using that same template without altering it at all.

You CAN change the favicon. Just upload your own.

If I were looking for designer clothes I personally would not give your site a second glance, sorry. For classy goods you need a classy looking site. Take a look at this one which also uses affilistore: Designer Fashion - it CAN be done!

I don't know how to change the template unfortunately

The other site you listed is possibly Affilistore Enhanced??

[MarketingGenuis]

Hi all,

I have spent a lot of time recently chopping and changing the look and layout of my website Designer Clothing Shops - Designer Clothing deals for men and women

I am now reasonably happy with the layout/features etc but would appreciate some unbiased views on how my site is looking and how well it works etc.

If anybody could spare a minute or two to cast a critical eye over it for me any feedback, good or bad, would be gratefully received.

Many thanks :tup

Visited your site and noticed the following

1- You do not have a Site Map, you need it (talk to your web designer)

2- Your Search box took over space where your logo or header should be prominent( Move your search box to the right but also reduce the size then use a bolder text tag header. This should catch the eye of your site visitor e.g Discounted Top of the Range Designer Clothing' under the second banner which appeared on the body of the first page list all the top designers clothings that's you carry & the deals you offer.

3- I also noticed that most of the other pages were not full of contents and looked bland( add more contents to cover all the blank spaces towards the footer of some of these pages apart from the first page.(Google spider crawlers that visit your sites after indexing will find it difficult to rank you better.(You can imagine asking for a full glass of water but on receipt you got half full the other half is empty would you drink it?) Get back to your web designer or copy master to add some SEO targeted infused contents.

4- Your Share Button is not the such to be used on your type of site but rather blogs( You are selling apparel, what have you got to induce your site visitors with, to enable them to share your site with theirs friends( Rich in Content, Confidence that they are satisfied with your site which captured their attention, first impression matters)

5-You 've got to bribe your visitors to share your site, here is what makes facebook, Hi5, Youtube, Plaxo, Twitter & other top social media sites have millions of members but also millions of dollars every month on sale of advertising. Just restructure your website and inject this tool on your site to see rapid results


I hope this helps, if you need any help in marketing/ or software's that help short cut your internet/affiliate marketing activities, Pm me for help.

Regds

[joned44]

I realise you have put in a lot of work on this, but please, please change the template. I used to use affilistore but ALWAYS totally changed the template completely so you wouldn't even know I used it. If you do not know how to do this it may be worth paying somebody to do it. I hate it when I see hundreds of sites using that same template without altering it at all.

You CAN change the favicon. Just upload your own.

If I were looking for designer clothes I personally would not give your site a second glance, sorry. For classy goods you need a classy looking site. Take a look at this one which also uses affilistore: Designer Fashion - it CAN be done!

Have to agree with this, sorry

You're in a market sector where "image is everything" and your design skills are not yet ready for that. I'd suggest either hiring a designer (use Sitepoint or similar to get it cheap) or putting this project on the back burner for a bit and working on a site where the look will not be so critical to its success... just for a while, you'll be amazed how quickly you learn if you keep at it

Cheers, Jon

[babrees]

I don't know how to change the template unfortunately

The other site you listed is possibly Affilistore Enhanced??

Then learn html and css. If you are unable to learn invest and pay somebody to do it for you.

Nope - That site, AFAIK, was on the ordinary affilistore. It may not even be the latest version. ScorpionCart will be able to tell you.

Also your metatags are the same for every page, they should change. I am sure you can have them change for each page.

Finally, you need content. Have a blog - Affilistore isn't the easiest program to intergrate content, what I would do is have a blog that is separate to that (in it's own directory) and just have a link to it and back.

Sorry if I'm harsh - don't mean to be, had a bad day

[accelerator]

Your site logo top left could look a lot better. This kind of thing can be outsourced quite easily.

I always like to see a tagline under a logo to give me an instant idea of what the site is about too.

Rgds

[dvdbargains]

Thanks for the further feedback guys, it is all useful.

I take on board the point about padding out the other pages aside from the home page, and will rectify this accordingly.

As far as changing the layout of the pages/learning html or css etc is concerned that isn't going to happen yet unfotunately! I am just a normal dad who works full time and tries to earn a bit of spare cash via a website of poss. Paying somebody to do the work for me just isn't an option as I don't have the cash spare to do so, so for the time being it will have to be a total novice trying his best to compete with the big boys!

Thanks again for the feedback, good or bad it is all helping me make small improvements until I can afford to get it done properly in future.

[chrisbrocklesby]

W3c is important there are a few errors:
Markup Validation of http://www.designerclothingshops.com/ - W3C Markup Validator

Good luck with your project.

[dvdbargains]

W3c is important there are a few errors:
Markup Validation of http://www.designerclothingshops.com/ - W3C Markup Validator

Good luck with your project.

WHOOSH!! Straight over my head I'm afraid

[desilo]

First let me congratulate you on your new site! Now for the constructive criticism....I think it still needs some work. The layout needs some more work and PICTURES! Please feel free to add pictures. If your site is about designer clothes then show us some designer clothes...stimulate with the visual...make your visitors want to stay and find out more. So I would definitely start with adding quality photos to help promote what you are doing.

[desilo]

Also add some color to the page, a nice background would do the trick. And try a different font and font color maybe?!

[dvdbargains]

Point taken, thanks Desilo.

I will look at that shortly.