Lockdown Shopify website

[Mike Oxlong]

Good Morning All,
I get bored quite easily so need to be doing something productive to keep my brain engaged.
My normal day job is running a precision engineering business primarily designing and manufacturing cast products that are then CNC milled/turned or machined from solid parts for the low volume automotive markets. It’s something I am very passionate about and enjoy everyday.

With lockdown we have basically all been working from home and i found myself with some spare time.
I have spent the time creating a Shopify webshop and would really like feedback on it from you chaps.

Until i started this I had zero knowledge of Shopify but think myself quite computer competent.

All of the modifications to the site I have learnt from watching YouTube as Shopify’s business model is to pass you onto a professional developer something I did not want.

I have tried to build a visually interesting website that is a little quirky and possibly humorous.

I have used the Debut template but with a few custom bits

I am really interested in the page loading time due to the use of a custom background Which Shopify said would make the site very slow but i really wanted a interesting background.

Bear in mind this is not my day job, i am self taught and its the first website i have built so please be a bit gentle or i might cry

Site is www.pitstopbits.com

Please le me know your thoughts

Thanks

Mike

[Bikerjon]

Had a very quick look. I like the humour/quirkiness, but the background clashes with the product photos and makes them difficult to see.

[Mike Oxlong]

Hi Jon,
Thanks for your thoughts. Do you mean the photo backgrounds or the Timber background ?

Thanks for taking the time to comment

Mike

[Bikerjon]

The timber background. Although if the mug photos had a plain background then you might get away with it. Looks a bit "busy" to my eyes.

[Mr Overheads]

Agreed - not a fan of the timber background.

[Mr Pointy]

Center the text under each mug photo.

The perspective of the mug photos looks very odd as the shelf & mug don't match.

[technodup]

It's a bit Geocities circa 1998...

Leaving aside the visuals, I'd guess that 'ditsy/jokey' schtick you're going for might work on a female/family/pet related site, but for 'guy' stuff like cars not so much.

Shopify/Squarespace et al make it seem so easy, simple etc but there's always more to it. You might not need to be a coder, but a flair for design is definitely a plus. I don't have it. I don't think you do either. (Sorry!).

[DSLiverpool]

That’s really good for a none Webby / designer.

Not much to add apart from lose the plank background all of it everywhere and pay a few £ for a logo. Job jobbed - have a look at wearecow web site it’s mad but designed to brief to be quirky.

[Mike Oxlong]

Wow....many thanks for taking the time to offer such constructive criticism Guys.

I was really chuffed with the plank background but if it doesn’t work for you guys then its bye bye background. I will try for a less busy clinically clean look.

Thanks again for bothering to comment.

Any more ideas comments or views greatly received

Mike

[DSLiverpool]

Add content, write stuff, put a fact about each car in the listing, I assume your print on demand the mugs? if so look at other muggy sellers and pinch what looks good


Also get shoppable instagram and FB, https://www.shopify.co.uk/instagram

There is more but that will keep you busy fo a while.

[Mike Oxlong]

Thanks Dave,
Wearecow is indeed funky. I now appreciate how much further I have got to go !
I am really enjoying the process. The social media side is a new exciting process to me

Mike

[pigface1000]

Lose the timber background it looks naff.
Make the watermark lighter as it overpowers the pics of the cars

Does it need to say taxes included?

[Mike Oxlong]

Good Morning All,
Thanks again for the feedback I am going to rejig the design. I let you know when it’s completed
Mike

[Mike Oxlong]

Good Morning All,

I hope all is as good as it can be in the current challenging situation for you all.

I wonder if any of you could take a look at the latest iteration of my website.

I have taken on board the very helpful comments posted here on my first attempt of a shopify site and hopefully listened and moved the sites look and function on a little.

Please bear in mind I am very much a virgin (oooh er missies !) at this lark, but I have a very enquiring mind that needs occupying.

Website is www.pitstopbits.com

Thanks again for any input.

[MockingJay]

Well, it loads quickly. If you want some image compression which will speed things up a bit more check out crush.pics on the app store.

On your about us page you have a misplaced full stop.

"We would .however be very interested to know if you think we should be printing on different style or types of mugs"

Also the 'h' on the end of finish isn't bold like the rest of the text on the page.

Other than that, I like it. The website is clean and the menu makes everything easy to navigate and I can what I want easily.

One thing I would suggest is either get somebody on Fiver to make you a homepage banner or learn to use photoshop yourself as in my opinion your banners are the only thing letting the website down. The latter will stand you in good stead should you choose to run the site long term and you need to craft good looking emails and the like.

[Mike Oxlong]

Thanks MockingJay I have sorted the mistakes.
You are bang on with the banner slideshow content.......the Covid-19 banner I am really happy with the other two not so . I have a copy of Gimp to learn as I understand its quite powderful obs. not as good as Photoshop

Thanks again for taking the time to critic

Edited by Mike Oxlong on Monday 18th May 11:52

[akirk]

some comments - will probably sound a bit blunt - but easiest to just state it

- Banner - messy
- Logo - looks really amateur, jpg images can't include transparency, so the white background is a clear sign of an amateur image... either save it as a png file which can include transparency, or re-design it so that the background will be the same colour as the banner

- your set of three banners
- the coming soon sticker is over text
- you have too many design styles in the same banner
- words missing - I have got to (be) honest...
- the text is almost impossible to read
- the one with the NHS mug - background is confusing and the difference in each section is poor
- text styles are all over the place

- backgrounds below - too many colours etc.
- the mugs have a pale blue background onto the white page background - lose the pale blue and have the mugs on a white background - will look much smarter...

[Mike Oxlong]

Thanks akirk.........not blunt... truthful. Thanks ever so much for the constructive criticism.

Regarding the light blue background I only used it to give the white mugs a little better definition rather than white mugs on a white backgound. Perhaps I am wrong.

Cheers for your thoughts

[deggles]

My main concern would be, do you actually own the images you are selling or have permission to use them?

[akirk]

Mike Oxlong said:

You are bang on with the banner slideshow content.......the Covid-19 banner I am really happy with the other two not so . I have a copy of Gimp to learn as I understand its quite powderful obs. not as good as Photoshop

A lot depends on what you hope to achieve - for someone who previously had no experience - what you have done is great - however, if you want to build a professional business (rather than just have an exercise in learning to use Shopify) then look and feel is critical - it doesn't have to be over-poncified artwork, but it can't look amateur - and at the moment it does... Gimp is very powerful and as good as Photoshop for what you need - I have used Photoshop since version 0.78 back in the distant murky past decades, but in reality use only a small part of it and Gimp would do all of that...

A banner like the Covid one is graphically flawed in a number of ways - the outlined font which is hard to read - text in several different orientations and hard to read the Covid-19 Update text, the photo in the middle splitting the text, but more importantly showing a harsh line through the coffee pot - putting it on the edge of the banner crops it naturally...

as an example:

this is literally less than 5 minutes adjustment and makes it a more cohesive image - ideally the photo of the cups would go across the whole background, but then you need to shoot the photo to anticipate the banner - in the absence of it there is a lot of tidying up you can do...

hopefully you will see this as being helpful, not critical - what you have done is great, but it is a long way off professional and the visuals is a big part of that... you can either learn to do the graphics, or if a serious business, pay a company to provide you with some graphics...

Shopify does push you to developers, but there are a variety of options and while many companies will only take on the whole project, others will allow you to do what you want and fill in the missing gaps in your skillset...