Topic: Anubis Cycle - New web site give honest opinion - really

[mennedy]

Lights it up for me!!!

[ElCheapo]

Anyone here know how to to do flash? I would gladly pay someone to do the splash page. SHould not be too hard to make it rip. Lucky me my motorcycle skills are much better than my web skills. I would not call myself anymore than advanced beginer. I know enough to get into alot of trouble, but somehow I can make a turd rank. 

[Jeff]

Anyone here know how to to do flash? I would gladly pay someone to do the splash page.

Seriously, save your money and skip the Flash. Flash is great, and it does have it's place, but it's place is not here.

advanced beginer

Bit of an oxymoron, no?

Lucky me my motorcycle skills are much better than my web skills.

Good thing for me too! 

Jeff

[ElCheapo]

advanced beginer

Bit of an oxymoron, no?
Jeff

The web is one of the few places you can have this happen. Learn pieces of "how to" way ahead of where you should and know enough to get in lots of trouble......


I don't know, the flash, well.... this is the chance I get to play with it a little and of done right will work great. Let's put it this way, the other guys is not doing it. 

[cbjunkie]

tom, i have to agree with him about the flash - especially as he wrote in an earlier post.

one of the things i love, for instance, about Z-1's site is the no-nonsense approach to the shopping experience...i mean, when it comes right down to it fancy graphics aren't going to sell your parts. efficiency and good service are - and this begins when someone comes to your site for the first time - "first impressions" and all that...

don't get me wrong - the flames are cool as hell, and i like the all black format, and the logo has really come along since the early sketches you posted for us to crit...but even checking it out for this post, not even shopping, i was almost immediately frustrated and found myself having to search all over the page for the "skip the intro" button.

if you are artistically attached to the flames, and i can understand that you might be - that kind of thing happens in a design environment to creative folks - they get attached - why not put them at the end, when the sale has happened?

my 3,
junkie out...

[ElCheapo]

Flash Splash dies 

[Jeff]

Good call. Really it is. Trust me. (we need a thumbs up emoticon here)

Playing with it Flash one thing. It's fun and all, but remember, you're building a business website, not a play time website.

And I know it sounds like I've been harsh. The site you have here is a huge improvement over what you had. But you can make it even better in every way. Better looking, easier to build, easier to maintain, faster to load, and on and on.

Jeff

[750duo]

Tom

Just my opinion - BUT   I HATE!! websites that come up ALL BLACK.  

It makes the copy hard to read and looks fuzzy.

I think you should loose the BLACK in favor of a light color with BLACK COPY which will give good contrast and make it easy reading. (And easy on the eyes)

My usual first time visit to a black site is about 3 nano seconds - unless the content material has something to do with SOHC4's - then I grudgingly give them a little slack.

I agree with NO FLASH  - GOOD DECISION!!  

You want to pull them in - wow them with what you can do for them and make them ask for more. Anything that detracts from that goal should be kept to a minmum. Once you hook them, you can have this other WOW stuff available but buried down in the site - If they want to see it they can click it up. Don't make them suffer through it just to get to the $ale$ page.$

The copy should be straight to the point - I got the stuff you gotta have, the best quality, the best service, the best prices, the best pics, etc.

I agree with Jeff and cbjunkie - The point is - don't drive them off before they land.

I'll get off my soapbox now - but you said "be honest"      

Tom
 

[MikeDeB]

Very professional looking site.  But where are the stock replacement gauge faces?  After sending you all those scans I was hoping to be able to purchase a set or two.

[ElCheapo]

Very professional looking site.  But where are the stock replacement gauge faces?  After sending you all those scans I was hoping to be able to purchase a set or two.

We did the K1 only. I drew them up and well shyte happens. And no matter how much time I dump into them. I would get harassing emails from some Honda Resto Holy Roller that views me as an evil infidel to his sacred Honda. We are still working on the K1, they are available but I guess we will have to tweak them forever. Because of these people I guess we will always be working on them. God Help us if we decide to do something as dumb as attempting to make a K0 face 

And because I may have the rpm redline 500rpm off on the AFTERMARKET faces I am one of those dirty Yamaha (devil) worshipers  I just tell them that there are faces available out there that have no redline at all for double the money if they would like more selection. 

I like the black look of the site, Like the splash thingy some will hate it. I think maybe a little bit of florescent green text on white would be better  Save the world and bring back the the old dead and gone text flashing command..

[ElCheapo]

I have been officially been turned off by senseless, gratuitous flash.

http://www.rideicon.com/

So frustrating it was not even funny. Lots of fluff and zero substance. The jumping navigation was way too much to take.

Flash = Evil 

[cbjunkie]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

ATTACK OF THE CHEEKPADS!!!

R U N !!!

[seaweb11]

I have been officially been turned off by senseless, gratuitous flash.

http://www.rideicon.com/

So frustrating it was not even funny. Lots of fluff and zero substance. The jumping navigation was way too much to take.

Flash = Evil

Here is what I saw.....

To enhance your experience, rideicon.com requires the Flash 8 Plug-in for your web browser. You can download and install this Plug-in for free from macromedia.com. Then you'll be able to check out all of the newest gear from Icon Motosports.

Bite me!

[ElCheapo]

Seaweb you saved yourself all kinds of punishment by not loading the evilplet needed to run all that automated agravation.

[cbjunkie]

dude - you have done the right thing...

i'm really glad you found that site - that is exactly what i'm talking about...and think of your customer base...who are the guys/girls that are buying these parts from you?

i think your target audience/base is much more likely to appreciate the straightforward approach - leave it to the rocket boys/X-box fanatics to play around on sites like Icon's, which is clearly well-done and expensive and tailored to appeal to a very particular set of people.

i'm looking forward to seeing what you settle on,
junkie out...

[ElCheapo]

It just killed me that with all of the obvious money invested in the site, there was no real content aside from a slightly outdated dealer list. Also I noticed that there are products on there that I KNOW have been discontinued. ?

Plus too damn hard to maintain and keep accurate.

Could you imagine trying to plug in a complete data base for parts listing of thousands of parts into a funky flash deal like that?? I can't I still like some flash stuff here and there, so I will make use of flash stuff for would be for "commercial" type stuff. You know, things that customers can CHOOSE to watch if they like and are never kept hostage by some flash fluff. 

[cbjunkie]

not to mention the fact that it will go out of style in about two months. then you have a tired piece of #$%* that everybody has already seen and is rendered, as the Geneva Conventions, "quaint"...

( )

[seaweb11]

I get new clients every week coming to me to pay good $$$  for a link from my site for additional Industry Traffic..

 Years ago I would explain the problems of their load time or crap home pages as a service to them. My theory was I should help them succeed so they would continue with their links from me.  A lot of people just went away confused or adamant that their site worked great!

Now I just email an invoice  

[ElCheapo]

The fact is, it is the details that make or break a site. This is much like the paint on a bike. There was a time when I could get sites to rank well and do it in less than 2 weeks. But some of the techniques and rules have changed a bit. This site was lacking the details because it was still in the creative stages. I went for form rather than function at first. Some of the function is coming back into play now. But this time I want much more substance. I am hoping to incorporate a searchable data base later that will almost give my customers a better idea of what I have in stock than even I know.

[Ernie]

I like the site alot. Will check it out more soon.

After skimming, one thing I personally would change is what you photograph the parts on. Maybe a metal shelf or counter as opposed to the dirt lot and concrete.

put them on naked women 

[seaweb11]

Maui Woman

[Rushoid]

I like the site alot. Will check it out more soon.

After skimming, one thing I personally would change is what you photograph the parts on. Maybe a metal shelf or counter as opposed to the dirt lot and concrete.

Yeah, the dirt lot and concrete could go but I liked the weathered wood. I thought it was a cool touch.

I'm surprised nobody suggested a real flash page. You know, a hot girl flashing her "gauge faces" at you. That would bring in a few more customers I bet. 

[ElCheapo]

The product pictures are old ones, I stopped taking pictures like that a long time ago. Normally I take a picture on a relatively clean white background and then clean it up just a little more with photoshop.