[samos]

Hey fellas (& ladies). I've loved this forum every since joining. It has been a real help.

I'd love for some feedback with regards to my big commerce site. It is still unfinished, the colour scheme is bland etc etc. but this is my first ever venture into something more artistic (i've always been more clinical, academic and science as opposed to artistic, particularly because I didn't think I had it in me). I've been in the health and fitness industry (strength, bodybuilding, mma etc) for a number of years and have always been asked where to find a particular style of apparel, so I thought i'll bring them to the table with simple designs.

Anyhow, everything from the banner to the singlet designs i've done by myself with a bit of self taught photoshop and illustrator. A graphic artist mate of mine helped me refine them. I like simple, vector images. They're nothing intricate!

Anyhow the questions i've come up with are the following:

Iron Tanks: irontanks.bigcartel.com

1. The facebook link doesn't work correctly, it includes the irontanks.bigcartel.com url before hand (eg: http://irontanks.bigcartel.com/www.facebook.com) instead of just facebook.com, for example)

The other issue is that it opens in the same page, how do I make the link open in another tab/browser window?

2. Domain name - should I go with a .com or .com.au. I'm in Australia, and I think the majority of customers would be in Australia. If I use a .com.au, that makes me harder to find globally - but if I use a .com, does it make it harder for me to be found locally? I'm willing to ship internationally, I just don't know how much business I'd get (considering shipping costs etc). What is your take on this?

3. SEO etc. Big cartel doesn't really have any options for this, is there anything I can do within the HTML to improve it, if so, where abouts in the HTML? Any pointers are much appreciated.

4. Criticisms, compliments, or just criticisms. It's still a work in progress. Do you have any recommendations for background colour/image, colour scheme etc? I know I need to fix it - I tried the 1x1pixel repeating gradient for a faster load time, but it ends up too short and starts again (1024 x768, might make the latter longer?)


Thanking you in advance, appreciate any input.

regards,
Sam

 

[bigluelok]

why not get both the .com and the .com.au? you could link them both to you store/site

 

[samos]

Ah, really? I didn't know that! I may just do that, thanks for the heads up. So both URL's will lead to the one bigcartel site?

Thanks, really helpful.

 

[bigluelok]

yeah people do that all the time like say your trying to type yahoo.com but you type in yaho.com it still takes you to yahoo

 

[samos]

Thanks buddy - any idea how to fix the facebook link issue I have??

Thanks,
Sam

 

[mads]

The Facebook link issue is very easy to fix: Just put http:// in front of the link and it should work.

I really like the site. The header instantly tells me that you are catering to bodybuilders and the like – that's awesome. The colors aren't boring at all, your header image does enough for the overall look and feel.

You need to specify that the gradient should repeat horizontally. Right now, it repeats vertically as well as horizontally. If you do that, you will also be able to use an image that is 1px wide. I don't know the backend of the system, but if you can specify CSS, try adding this rule:

body {
     background-repeat: repeat-x;
}

As for the domain name, I would just get both. It's easier than choosing, and not that much more expensive in the long run. I'm too tired to give advice about SEO right now (I'm on the other side of the planet) but if I remember I'll come back tomorrow with some tips). Although I am unsure of how much you can actually do on the backend with BigCartel.

 

[bandict]

Your facebook link should be something like this. "http://www.facebook.com/yourfacebookID" so if your facebook id is irontank, the link should be "http://www.facebook.com/irontank". Note: This is without the quotes.
What you can do is log into your faceboook page, then goto your profile page(make sure you are on your profile page). Next, look into your browser address bar and copy the link there. This will be your facebook profile link. Just paste that link into your website where you have the facebook icon.

 

[samos]

Mads, champion - that fixed it instantly. Appreciate the feedback.

Bandict - thanks for your input too buddy - i've only used facebook.com temporarily because i'm yet to create an Iron Tanks facebook fan page. But will do so soon!

Mads, i've tried that bit of CSS, but all it did was make the bottom bit 'brighter', but it still chops off (just before the strength dept. hoodie), and the gradient starts again. Hmmm.

At the moment, the image I used is 768 pixels high, by 1 pixel wide. I might try 1x 1280 and see if that fixes it?

Mads any info on SEO would be fantastic. It's a department I really know little about. I did contact big cartel, they don't have a whole heap in terms of SEO, but gave me some code I can use, and I added the keywords. You can check my page source and see..

Thanks once again,
Sam

 

[samos]

Making it 1x1600 without any repeat seemed to fix the problem. Not sure if it's a bit too white down bottom now, though?

 

[mads]

Making it 1x1600 without any repeat seemed to fix the problem. Not sure if it's a bit too white down bottom now, though?

All you did it fix the symptoms. As soon as your site gets over 1600px in height, you will have the same display error, but I guess it works for now.

 

[samos]

Yep, I realised that mads, as 1280 was too short..

I tried both repeat x and y, but it still didn't fix the issue. I will play around with it a little more now!

Thanks,
Sam