First let me say that I could not find anything saying that I couldn't post my website here. If it is a problem, please let me know and I will remove this post.

Basically I have just got my website up and running and am looking for suggestions or input on what I should add or remove. I also want to make sure that what I have posted is accurate and correct information. I am not using any marketing ploy or term ("Ampli-fibers" anyone?) to sell my rods, nor do I intend to. I just want the customer to get accurate information.

So please hit me with any and all coments so that I can improve on what I have.
Thanks,
Dave
[www.cabochonrods.com]

Dave,

Nice looking work there. I'm getting ready to set up my site and I saw a couple things that I'd like to incorporate into mine.

As far as comments I'd say I like how colorful your site is, but the blue is a little hard to read (at least on my screen)

And I noticed a typo on the info page "you nee a tune up"

Good luck with the site, I'm sure it'll be a great success.

Walt

Very well done! Crisp, clean, attractive ant very informative!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

looks good! i personally would have gone with a more professional looking menu bar but thats just my opinion....it looks good though

You've done many things very, very well. It looks nice.

I'm going to add a few items that should help anyone that is setting up, or that already has, a website for their custom rod building business.

1. People don't like, and won't take the time, to read much text. Make your statements bold, concise and to the point. You're trying to hook them, not provide them with a complete understanding of all things rod building. Get to the point quickly and effectively.

2. Photos help. But they must be sized correctly so they load quickly. About 40% of intenet users are still on dial up and poor photo optimization or too many photos cause folks to lose interest while they wait for the photos to load on their computer screen. Most give you about 20 or 30 seconds max before they move along somewhere else.

And... if you use photos (and you should) use good ones. Your photos will also be a reflection of the quality of your rod work. Fuzzy, out of focus, poorly lit or with shabby backgrounds (bedspreads, kitchen table, etc.) do not make you look like a craftsman.

3. Put your contact information front and center. Put it on every page. Make it easy for folks to get in touch with you.

...............

You asked for honest feed back, so with your permission I’m going to be honest with you.
The site looks Good, Professional, pictures are sharp and load fast. The only two problems I see, one minor and one major are

Minor;
The statement about turning for eight hours like that much time would make a difference in epoxy leveling. Sounds like a marketing ploy when you and we know a epoxy sets up in much less time

Major;
I find it interesting that you would put the following statement on your web site
“All information and pictures contained on this site and the pages within are copyright and not free for use or distribution without the owner's express written consent unless otherwise noted”

When you obviously plagiarized quotes or statements from other people or sources with out giving them credit for them.

Question:
How can you even legally copyright a quote by Gary Loomis anyway?

If I were doing business with you I would consider this and integrity issue that would cause me to look elsewhere for what I wanted.

Please don’t consider this a personal attack it is not, but rather an opportunity for you do adjust things based on your request for feed back.

I am with Walt. The Blue is too hard to read.

Nice layout.

Steve, I WANT honest feedback so here is some clarification for you. I do spin my rods for eight hours...at least. It's not a marketing ploy but the time I am on shift at my regular job. ;~) I work swings and normally do the rods during the day and either dry them at night when I am at work or between midnight and 8am while I sleep. Even if I don't turn a rod for eight hours, I wait at least that before applying a second coat of finish anyway.

What quotes have I plagiarized?? I wrote everything on that web page from home without any reference. If I have written something that Gary Loomis quoted, let me know as the words came straight from me....not anything I have read. If they are something that someone else has said before me, I will gladly change them. I'm definitely not out to take credit for someone else's work. If you looked at my tutorial I posted about two weeks ago, you will see that I am the type of person who happily gives credit where credit is due. In that tutorial, I stressed that 90% of what I learned in doing wraps that way I got from Raymond Adams.

The only thing I used as reference was the latest issue of Rod Maker and if you look at my pricing page, it pretty much mirrors the order from Rodmaker. That being said, I'm sure everyone has a pricelist that very much looks like that if not identical just in a different order. Now, Mr Kirkman, if there is any problem with that, let me know and I will modify it.

As far as that quote at the bottom of my page...This isn't my first website and I use that statement as I had an issue with my previuos web site where people where using MY pictures with their text claiming it was their work. They even direct linked to MY page! After getting some legal advice, I put that in as it's just as effective a tool as sending someone a cease and desist order to stop using your material. Not that it works 100% of the time but at least I have some ammo if I try to sue or something. Also, I enjoy advancing this craft as much as I enjoy learning. That's why I freely distributed that tutorial and told everyone I sent it to to share it with whomever they wished.

Blue text changed to a much lighter shade. Also fixed the spelling error that spell check didn't catch...who knew that "nee" is a word....

I will add my contact info to every page tomorrow probably. That is definitely something to fix.

David;
Here is the quote from your page

"To allow you to visualize this, imagine jumping off a diving board... when you are bouncing on the end, the board will resonate to your jumping frequency. After you have splashed in the pool, the board will continue to bounce for a short time before coming to a stop. Now, picture the same scenario but this time with a bag of cement strapped to the end of the board. Not only will the board be sluggish when you begin to bounce, but after you leave the board, it will resonate FAR longer than a board without the added weight. This same process happens on your fishing rod."

Compare this to the analogy made by Gary Loomis
Republished in the 10-2 issue of Rod maker mag in the Beginners Corner section under the article titled "The Right Number of Guides" written by Tom K.
About 1/3 the way down left side of first column. A couple of words have been changed, but it is Gary's quote.

I did not say you had done this on purpose. It’s just the way it is. I for one was one of those people to whom you sent the tutorial and I acknowledges your professionalism in giving credit were credit is due.

I was bringing this to your attention so you could correct it if you wanted to. Not as a judgment of your character. I do not doubt your integrity.

But was saying if I had seen this on your site and knew it was some one else’s quote it would influence were I went shopping.


I also was not saying you don’t spin your rods for eight hours I’ve left mine running that long or longer when working or doing other things.
I was noting that the way it was worded sounded to me like you left them that long for the betterment of the product. Like it took eight hours for the epoxy to level out properly. It was the wording that sounded like marketing hype to me, not the act.

PS: congradulations on the new born!





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2007 11:38PM by Steve Gardner.

Disable all your email links. Programs called spambots will eventually find your site and crawl through your code. They capture any link with a "@" in it and add it to email lists that are then sold to spammers. Use a form handler instead and save yourself a big headache.

I know how much work you put into the site but your color scheme is very hard on the eyes.

PS your rods look great.

I will change the analogy tomorrow. I will also work on the color scheme. I actually like it and don't have any problems with the colors. That being said, I need to appeal to the masses, not my personal choice. Thanks for all the great feedback!

Matt Dotts Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Disable all your email links. Programs called
> spambots will eventually find your site and crawl
> through your code. They capture any link with a
> "@" in it and add it to email lists that are then
> sold to spammers. Use a form handler instead and
> save yourself a big headache.
>
> I know how much work you put into the site but
> your color scheme is very hard on the eyes.
>
> PS your rods look great.
>


I agree about the email links, I use forms on my site and after more than 2 years I have never recieved a single spam message.
I also believe that web forms are more professional looking than a simple email link.

Just my .02


Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2007 12:08AM by Dave Orr.

David,

Don't know if it is my computer or your web page, but when i go to the "information" and "about us" page, the sentences run on top of each other and can't be read. I refreshed the page, got out of it and went back in, same thing. Hopefully it is me, but you may want to check it out. I don't think i've had that many beers...yet.

Carrington

David,
"Nee" is indeed a word which used to be found in wedding announcements and obituaries very frequently. It preceded the printing of or speaking a woman's family of origin name. Now, it is often used in crossword puzzles as the answer to a three letter word clue which means "formerly." Bob

Home page
“to the weekend fisherman to the competitive angler”
Need to reword it…
“from weekend fisherman to competitive angler”
“to competitive anglers and weekend fisherman alike”

FEATURED Services
Your bullet list could be hypertext links to more detailed info such as you have on the information page.
A popup page would be neat but many browsers will automatically block the popups.

Menu buttons
My personal preference is for them to be consistent on each page. I would keep the same placement and order and I’d even keep in the button for the current page but make it offset, greyed out, or highlighted; something to show that it’s not active because you’re already on that page. I’d also make them a little smaller than what you have. The menu buttons are often placed horizontally across the top and have the button for the current page enlarged/highlighted so that it becomes the page title.

Gallery
Needs lots of work…
Bo3.jpg isn’t informative to the viewer; use short descriptions rather than filenames.
Too many pictures that look the same, be more selective.
Perhaps categorize your photos, you can bookmark a category and link to it from other pages.

Information page
Tune Up: “re sand” should be hyphenated “re-sand”
Spiral wrap: “while difficult to see in this picture”… get a better picture(s)
Spiral wrap: “wrapped rod, you will never”… lose the comma
New Guide Concept: ref: “Bulls eye appearance”… you don’t get a bulls eye for ALL the guides on the rod
Rod Construction: “Allot” should be two words “A lot”
Rod Construction: “of even more” should read “or even more”

Miscellaneous:
Don't forget to mention getting a rod as a gift for someone else... Juniors first rod, father/son matched rods, Corporate gifts with Logos on them, etc.

And, yes, you need contact information and an email link [form] on every page.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2007 12:46AM by James Hicks.

It's smart to ask for good feedback and thankfully this forum is available and has provided just that!

Personally, if it were my site, I would want it to be a reflection of my personality and commitment to the craft.
I can go anywhere on the net and find data.

Take all the advise offered, reject it or mold it to your personality.
BE YOURSELF AND THE LAST JUDGE OF WHATS RIGHT OR WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Integrity is an assumption.
Only then will you stand out!

Good luck guy,

~Mark



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2007 09:43AM by Mark J. Mire.

I do understand the problem with others taking your work, your photos, your website layout, etc. It's happened to me and within the past couple weeks we even had a sponsor here who had their entire website front page "lifted" and used as a template by another competing dealer.

There's not much you can do about it. It's good to post a notice such as you did claiming all material on your site as your own. That will at least keep the honest people from taking it and give you some legal alternatives should less than honest folks decide to "borrow" anything from your site.

The RodMaker order sheet was provided so that rod builders could use it for their own purposes. I have no problem with anyone using it on their websites or in their own custom rod businesses.


...................

Everyone, I truly appreciate all the advice and corrections that I have been givin here. There are somethings that you just "miss" just because you have stared at the same page for an hour. Also, sometimes spell check doesn't catch mistakes like "allot" to "A lot" and "nee" to "need" and as I read it, I skip right over it.

I have fixed all the gramatical errors as well as any punctuation and spelling problems that were pointed out. I have also changed the shade of blue text to one that is higher contrast and easier on the eyes. As far as layout of navigation bar, and general website design, that is something I am sticking with. As Mr. Mire stated, it's a reflection of my personality and I like the non-conventional positioning and color. Even with all the critiquing, not one person has mentioned that my site was hard to navigate...

I am NOT a web designer by any means. As soon as I figure out how to remove my email address through the use of forms, I will. Until then it must remain as I still need people to be able to contact me. If I get spammed through this first email, my host provides me with 199 more that I can change it to. ;~)

The Gallery page definitely needs work....and to be honest I cheated to create it. Fireworks has the "Create Photo Album" feature and I just used it to make the page so I can at least get some pictures of what I have done posted. What my plan is is to have a short desciption of the rod with one thumbnail on the gallery page. Clicking the thumbnail will like to a second page with more pictures( with accurate descriptions) of that rod. This will not only give more information but also cut down on the bandwith that people on dial up will need to see my pages.

Finally, thank you Mr. Kirkman for the use of the pricing guide.

Dave something I noticed in RodMaker and on your site cost replace double foot guide $10 i assume that does not include the guide cost and that should be added on the web site cost $10 plus guide, if I am not mistaken RodMaker said the price didn't include components
another item it seems by quoting a specific price $45 to replace fore grip and reel seat you may well be short changing yourself again should read plus parts in addition even if doing a rod with 6 double foot guides you are getting less then for replacing the guides alone not even counting the grip and reel seat labor
maybe I am reading this all wrong but that's the way I see it
John