Suggestions Anyone??

[Petite Pinheads]

Hi Everyone, I've had my website up for about 9 months and I'm making some changes. I'm hoping anyone here can make some suggestions.

My page is for my dogs, I breed Miniature Pinscher puppies. I hope all my links work, I believe they all do. However right now I am working on an individual page for each puppy that I have sold. I'm wanting to know if there is any way I can make it so that each puppy's new owner can make their own modifications to their personal page? Or add blogging that they can log into and leave their own changes without having to go through me. I want them to be able to log in, so its password protected, and it would be great if they could put their own photos on too, but I doubt that is possible.

Anyway, go check out my dogs and let me know what you think. If you have any suggestions I'm open to all kinds. I used the BlueVoda for my page building. I havent figured out how to use Soholaunch or Microsoft Frontpage yet, not to mention I dont want to start all over.

Sara

http://petitepinheads.com

[aconstas1]

Re: Suggestions Anyone??

This is one of the few sites where I think the background picture is OK. I liked the one with the Paws because it is light and not too distracting. I didn't like the marble background nor the super dark background. Im not sure why you switch between 3 or 4 different page styles. It's not very consistent and the buttons move around going from page to page. I suggest you pick one that you like the best and stick with it. The Puppies page was very dark, but the text was also very dark making the whole page very dark and hard to read. I do like your pictures and I liked the pink girlie borders and I think a "Legally Blond" type theme would help you the most.

[Vasili]

Re: Suggestions Anyone??

You may wish to consider investing under $200 to actually buy a vBulletin Forum (the same one here) for your customers to be allowed to post changes, stories, updates, and pictures and videos as well. The phpBB forum offered via Fantastico! in your VH account would require some installing of MOD's and other elements to do this, and that whole process seems to prove very difficult for most, so paying a low price for a Forum that will work for you off the bat seems the logical alternative.
I prefer Forums (with the control aspects: password, registration, anti-graffitti, etc.) over Blogs any day of the week.

FrontPage is being phased out by Microsoft, so I do not reccommend delving into a utility that will soon lose all support.
Soholaunch is actually an alternative website builder that has the built-in eCommerce features you may need later (if not now), so if you are contemplating a makeover, that might be the way to go. It's Free with your account, but you need to request it via a Support Ticket. And, if you are going eCommerce route, keep in mind the need for an SSL cert on your site for transactional security and consumer confidence: if that is your plan, install Soholaunch on a new site/account by itself, making sure you know it will need to be converted to a dedicated IP once you have finished building it (added cost, and required for issuance of SSL).

So, between adding a vBulletin and Soholaunch (+ template?) into a brand spanking new account, you are looking at around $200-500 to morph into a professional website the way you describe it. Completely do-able, and with the help of your peers, not as big of a project as it first seems. Besides....you end up with a completely wonderful website, ready to take on the net! LOL

As far as your BV site is now? I personally think the black background totally uncomplimentary..(I understand it is because the dogs themselves are black-ish, but...). Were it a dove gray, or a muted off-white with a light gray page border and a white "page area" it would make your pictures and text literally jump, which is what you want: the content should enagage visitors, not the colors overwhelm or confuse.

And, you are right......your site is of the genre that needs to have visitor participation, to express everything that goes with ownership and emotional fulfillment thereof. A vBulletin Forum would be a perfect medium for all to revist regularly, and would provide the element of dynamic content that definitively contributes to SEO.

and on we go....

[lorikirstein]

Re: Suggestions Anyone??

How did you get those doggy paws to work with the movement of the mouse? Very cool! (i'd like to do something similar with my arts site.)

Sweet site.

[bill2006]

Re: Suggestions Anyone??

Sara, you have done a lot of work.
-Some attention to detail is needed, particulary with spelling: "descent" and not "desent", "temperament" not "temperment"
-I second Vasili on the background, makes your page dark. Use brighter colors, you want users to think positive, i.e. happy homes for happy pups, etc.
-I have no idea if it is common to ask buyers to agree to a contract. Good intentions aside, you might want to consider rewriting your first paragraph so it doesn't seem so demanding.
Good luck

[Petite Pinheads]

Re: Suggestions Anyone??

Thanks to everyone with your feedback. I have a guestbook up and running and have a few comments on it already. I have changed the pages so that they flow together better. I have not made any spelling changes (thanks for pointing them out Bill, I cant stand spelling issues). As soon as the server is back up I will make more modifications.