You're off to a good start, Julie. That resized graphic works better, but I'd still try to reduce it's height. The good thing is that while the graphic is loading now, I can see something else - namely, that first item.
For me anyway, seeing that cart as the first item had me interested - and I don't even do scrapping (well, not your kind anyway
).
I think this setup works much better.
Now, something else occurs to me. (don't roll your eyes...)
When I looked at your site yesterday, I didn't go beyond your first page. But now I see that on your scapbooking store page, you have a great opening that might work better on your main page - namely, the links to the different sections for what they'll find on your site, along with that little blurb about what you offer.
On your current main page, maybe move the links to P1 (just below the banner), and below that, a heading : Latest Hot Products - or something to catch people's eye. So then, they'll be able to tell immediately what they'll find there and most likely will want to spend more time looking around. Especially since the internal links would be right at the top.
This makes it so easy for your visitors. They won't have to search. The info they need will be right in their faces when they land: links to what's inside and a display of what's hot to tempt them.
Not sure about all the titles at the top though:
top row (home, store, about, history)
huge graphic with (scrapbooking furniture, storage solutions)
It all seems more distracting than helpful to me. But remember, I'm just one person and you're sure to find people who will disagree with me.
I think I'd get rid of the "scrapbooking storage store" link at the top. It's a cumbersome title, for one, plus isn't your whole site a store?
The text on the graphic might be better with just one line (if you can manage it) "Scrapbooking Furniture & Storage Solutions" puts it right up there.
Anyway, I'd love to do more critiquing but I have my own work to do, so I'd better refocus. Got some writing to do.
I hope this helps you.
BTW, good to meet you - a fellow journalist and writer.
Sylvia
PS: I forgot... on your store page, I notice that the graphics are wee. When I suggested resizing to load faster, did you change these or were they always so small? Regardless, they would work better if they were a bit larger (visually but not file size if possible) because they really don't do the product justice. By resizing, I really meant the top banner because I think that's the one that's slowing down your download time and possibly losing you customers. If people can read text while they're waiting for the images, that's fine. When I first visited, I didn't see anything until that huge graphic popped in.
Linear Mode
