Please review site

[ritarobi_cwo]

Hello All --

I built livitapparel.com site sometime in May. It is still a work in progress. My hopes are to help raise funds for a non-profit organization which will help children in our Youth organization, care units, and to help fund entertainment for the Youth services.

Any feedback is needed. I really want to make the site more vibrant and need ideas to get more visitors and to have visitors buy/donate, but at the same time not slow the site down any.

Also, do you have any ideas on how to link to other businesses which are faith-based since this is a faith based site?

Thanks,
-Rita

[karenwms63]

Re: Please review site

Nice site and great concept.

Only thing I see is this page doesn't have the same width as the rest of the site.

Getting some of your youth to add links to their internet escapades (blogs, etc.) would really give your site a boost...especially since it is to fund their services. And they would probably have some very good ideas for you about what would draw their attention, also.

Also, I suggest some kind of social bookmarking buttons (like under each siggy in the forum) so the ones who visit can link you to their favorites or social sites with very little effort.

Adding you to my favorites...

[davidundalicia]

Re: Please review site

Well laid out site and gets the message across...........You have done the right thing by having your email address displayed as an image, but then you have put a "contact Us" with your address url.
This can be picked up from the source code and be used by spammers, so I would suggest that you delete that textual link.

Good luck with your site

[ritarobi_cwo]

Re: Please review site

I would suggest that you delete that textual link. Good luck with your site

Thanks, I have removed the text for the email. I don't need any unneccesary email.

I plan to add more content later and more t-shirt once I get additional time. I am always telling other content is king. I need to follow my own theory.

-Rita

[ritarobi_cwo]

Re: Please review site

Nice site and great concept.
Only thing I see is this page doesn't have the same width as the rest of the site.

Thanks Karen. Do you think myspace or facebook are good ones for the youth? Do you know others that they may use?

Getting some of your youth to add links to their internet escapades (blogs, etc.) would really give your site a boost...especially since it is to fund their services. And they would probably have some very good ideas for you about what would draw their attention, also.

About that product page, I have really had a hard time trying to get it to do what I want. I have started a continuation page link at the bottom of the page. I will try to change the size to be the same width. Thanks for pointing that out.

There are so many more different products to add, though I think it will be less then 100. I want people to be able to sort by youth sizes, adult sizes, short sleeves, long sleeves, hoodies, layered shirts, etc. I am trying to keep them where they come off the product page. I will need to find some little trick for this. If I keep it up, I will need to add a shopping cart.

Also, I suggest some kind of social bookmarking buttons (like under each siggy in the forum) so the ones who visit can link you to their favorites or social sites with very little effort.

Adding you to my favorites...

I have not figured out the social bookmarking part yet. I will need to look into that more. Hopefully, this forum has something on it. I notice that the forum members have them.

Thanks for adding me to your favorites.

-Rita

[karenwms63]

Re: Please review site

Thanks Karen. Do you think myspace or facebook are good ones for the youth?-Rita

I would go to the source (the youths you are helping...someone in charge of them would know the right group of kids to ask...) and see where they are posting...

Well, my seventeen yr old is pretty much myspace but does have facebook...

but the big ones (marketing wise) for quote unquote "social bookmarking" are digg it and delicious (not sure exactly where the periods go in delicious, so i'll just spell the dang word...lol)...

I have this on my sites and my teen thinks it's awesome that she can just click on it and link to her sites that she posts to....

but I have taken the "generic" one so that they (at add this) are not tracking it to my sign in name...
(I have this thing about who is watching over me, so I have my lines in the sand...I just have it for my visitors cause it is soooo convenient and my visitors are the ones I care about...)

in fact, it is easy...just pop it into a html box sized width=125 px and height=16 px...for the button I have.

If you view my page source (click on my forum name and go to my home page)...the script starts with <--addthis button begin--> and ends with <--addthis button end-->
and you wouldn't even have to sign up because it is open source or freeware...

But if you sign up, you can get feedback on who is linking you through their widget...all depends on your preferences...

It was just way too easy and has almost any social site you could think of on it...and the visitor can customize it according to their preferences if they use it...Way toooo cool!

As far as products and options and carts, I would advise you to check with Bethers, KMac, Navaldesign, Marincky, and Vodahost (lots of goodies included with your service)...and I can still name quite a few (probably close to thirty or more) but you get my drift...

Bethers and KMac turned me on to Vodahost and the others are very special people I have learned from since then and have come to trust their judgement...

Hope this helps...

[karenwms63]

Re: Please review site

P.S. I REALLLLLY like how you have the cross in the background...not in your face but it is so prominently there...good choice...if you decide to do any changes, colors, layout, etc...but I would keep the unobtrusive cross!

[ritarobi_cwo]

Re: Please review site

Thanks for the suggestion, Karen Williams, I signed up with add this so that I can see feedback. I am thinking of offering the Youth a competition to see which of them can get the most friends to bookmark on the Social Networks. I just need to figure out the rules and how to verify the links from friends. I add the email to the option to see if I can make this work, it allow the friend to leave a message - perhaps, they can add their referring friend's name here. I am trying to get it to add myspace at this time. Will look at youtube for suggestions.

I put the html box in, but I will need to play around with how to place it. It keeps showing up at the top on the IE and Firefox page. I see it is at the right location on your site. I will try adding it to my other html box to see if it then sticks on the page.

About the cart - I figure, once the site strarts making money, I will rebuild and add a cart later. The carts seem like so much work at this time, unless I go with SoHo.

The cross in the background will remain. I love it, the Youth Ministry loves it, and you reallllly like it. BTW - I actually found the background of Vodahost.

I also found out about Voda through the other site's folks.

-Rita

[ritarobi_cwo]

Re: Please review site

Karen Williams, I tried the favorites link on your site, though I don't see it in my bookmarks. What is favorites supposed to do.

I also noticed that I have the email address on all my pages at the bottom. I will need to find a way to remedy that.

Although the graphics are small, the site got around a 5/10 for loading. Any suggestions on that?

-Rita