Hello all.

We are a manufacturer/distributor that also offers this online store to consumers looking to purchase bulk quantities and/or having trouble finding the product at the retail level. We have been doing online business for the last 10 years or so but have only been using Network Solutions E-Commerce package for the last 2.5 years.

I manage the site, do the photography, graphic design, coding, etc. I am no pro, just looking to always improve wherever I can.

Here is the site: http://vital4u.com

Would love any positive and negative feedback you have time to provide!

Thanks,

Chris

Just a quick note - your site expands to 100% width, and on a wide screen that means your left column and content hug the left side...between your conent and the right colum is a huge dead white space. I would suggest building to a fixed width. Also noted that your 2 "monthly specials" are wider than the content above, throwing off alignment.

Center content of your home page has a lot to offer, but is really busy - not sure what you are calling attention to as the priority - many of the elements are competing.

The graphics and center content is all done as images - which has no SEO value. I would strongly suggest using live/readble/crawlable text with images.

I would work on consistency in text size and color. For example:
-Your contact form has HUGE text (needlessly)...and red text. Red is great for highlighting 1 word or something to be "cautious" about - not for readable text
-Your FAQ page has red text (poor design choice for readbility), and green & blue text at the bottom?
-Be judicious in the use of extras...unless an item is designed and included for a particular purpose, delete it. For example, your "More Information" text on the right side of the page? Not sure there is a benefit for search engines or visitors?

Hope that helps a bit.
Best of luck.

Thanks martiniguy. I appreciate your time and comments.

The centered look is something that I had wanted to accomplish from day 1, but never took the time to research the steps to get it done. Well, now I have and have since corrected this problem. Thank you for helping to point me in the right direction!

I have taken a few of your suggestions and applied them to my site. (centered 1024px width, reduced text size/color in contact page, removed the 'more information' box on the right column).

Now that the page is centered, I also agree that the graphics on the home page are busy and competing. I will work on updating with some smaller graphics accompanied by text to create a more legible and user friendly interface. Thanks for the suggestion.

I will come back and post again once I have done more of the planned changes, but for now it's already a huge improvement with some of the minor things that I have done.

Quick question:

I can't seem to edit my home page in the 'cloned' copy of my site design. Is this possible, or do I have to just work on the home page with the design that's currently active?

Have to work on the active site - there is no sandbox mode to work in.