Archive : eBusiness

Last week I got back from shop.org First Look. I’ve been involved with Shop.org for about 6 years now when I had Dell join. Events had a dip in attendance early this decade and they have slowly come back to a creshendo this year. There were about 500 eCommerce leaders attending (by my estimation). There was a lot of enthusiasm and buzz for eCommerce, which has hit mainstream and is riding a premium to the economic growth. The first day keynote featured a panel of analysts and eCommerce leaders,...

Review #7 (What is this?)My-Me.com Kudos Clarity of Purpose – this site makes it very clear what it’s all about in the first headline and subheader. Although it’s not clear how the service is free. Consistency – The site uses two fonts and two colors. Very clean and consistent design. Opportunities Mirroring Design of Unlike Fragments – In the middle of the page they have three sections: What are MyMe’s, Where can it be used, and Get your own caricature. While these topics may seem...

Review #6River Pointe Church Today I review a church Web Site, River Pointe Church in Richmond, TX. This one is better than most. To generalize, most church web sites are very, very bad. Today’s church grossly undervalues, under-optimizes, and under-leverages the Web’s capability to serve visitors and members. I’m motivated to improve Church and non-profit web sites that do good in the world. So, to make this review special, I’ve invited a fresh perspective from fellow blogger Terry...

Review #5TwoMaids and a Mop Before I comment on the site, I want to show everyone a company that ‘gets’ the idea of building a customer-centric company, with a story of their own, in an authentic voice, building customer evangelism from the inside out…. This maid-service company is opens up with dialogue that connects to customers. It’s real. How many companies tell their story with confidence; not in corporate-speak, but as if you were sitting down for lunch with the owner? How...

Review #4Wayne Wallace Photography This is a beautiful site. Imagery is relevant to subject and fosters positive emotions relevant to the service and brand. Sophisticated, consistent design and fonts that don’t distract from the product as hero (the photography). The site is ‘accretive’ to your credibility. What really differentiates you? Any photographer can claim the words on your home page. Find something that is uniquely yours. Or tell a story. I’m looking at this image of a child...

Review #3Aside Designs The rollovers on the home page, hiding the descriptions – bad idea. I want to see the links to your clients, portfolio, and about. Suggest you put images on the home page with the text or put the top navigation on the home page The images on the front are inconsistent in quality and tone. Doesn’t look like they came from the same photographer (you?). Copy font is way too small. You need html text or links on the home page for search engines. You have no title tag relevant...

Review #2YMCA Camp Copneconic Excellent, a site that does great things for kids, with a funny name…glad to help! Love the logo…but the rest of the site doesn’t reflect the quality or colors. Good you have links in html text for search engines. But the colors are random, the black text is hard to read against maroon, and the site is very basic. And why do colors change to Red within the site – even worse tha maroon. You can get an $30 Dreamweaver template and make this look a lot better...

Review #1Nooked.com Welcome Nooked, the first Lighting Round Web Site Review! Ok, first it took me too long to get what you were offering. You have two types of visitors: A) Marketers who know what this is and B) those that need to be educated. Either way, the majority of visitors need to be educated on RSS Marketing AND on Nooked (how it works, benefits, impact, etc.). This type of content is too buried. Less is more on a page like this, which is essentially a landing page to convert people to...

Have you seen Jim Cramer’s Mad Money? It is one of the most popular shows on CNBC, if not the most popular. He’s famous for his “Mad Money Lighting Round” where he gives callers a 30-second-or-less stock opinion. I love the concept, although I’m not sure I’ll act on his advice again (I bought CAT and it hasn’t moved!). Once in a while a friend asks me my opinion on their web site and I give them a "lighting round" review. Some don’t ask, but I wish they would…if you...

Online shoe shopping is great. The top players have free shipping here and free shipping for returns. I’ve ordered from ShoeBuy and Zappos. I usually order 5-10 shoes, try them on while watching a movie, keep a few of them, and return the rest. I ordered from Zappos recently, returned a bunch and kept 4 pair. As I printed the return label, I noticed their 110% price guarantee. I checked competitive prices of the shoes I was keeping using Froogle. And there WERE better prices elsewhere. So...