Advise on Think Bible Bookstore please

Hi, Zell. Sorry it took so long to get around to reviewing your site. I have noticed your active participation around here

I looked at this earlier, I think through you introduction. The first thing I noticed is that there seems to be a lot of bits and pieces all over the page. It's hard to figure out what to focus on. Some of this should be cleared out and some of it should be made more prominent. The navigation section, for example, doesn't have any more visual importance than any of the other elements even though it is probably the most important thing in the sidebars. In some cases I'm not quite sure what is an ad and what is site content (especially in the header area next to the logo, and in the footer area).

The King James advertisement that is front and centre is a good exmple of the problems here. There are lots of little pictures there - too small to really see clearly and no good explanation of what the offer is. It might even take some visitors a second or two to figure out what KJV stands for! I would make that one big picture (rotate it between versions if you must show different ones) and add some text to explain what this is. That will be better for SEO too.

One of the most importnat problems I see here is that links don't look like links, they look like plain text. It's hard to figure out what I can click on. It should be easy for people to get further into the site by making the clickable items more obvious.

Looking at the sidebars - as mentioned, the navigation is most important so it should be more prominent. The security and shopping bits are pretty useless to the visitor (good to know, but not that important - should be there if they want it but unobtrusive - maybe the footer woudl be a good place for this). The product search should be much more prominent - put it higher up, under the navigation. The contact section should go in the footer as well, or as a link on the navigation menu. About should be an item on the navbar (there's also a type-o in there - Ministry not Ministy).

You've done a good job of setting up the functionality here. I was able to get in and find products to buy - I just think it could be a lot easier for the user. And if it's easier for the user, that means more sales for you!

Hope that helps,

I just went in to actually buy a product - I think the shopping cart page could use some work if that's possible. It seemed like I was being taken to another site and I felt that the page structure could do a better job of setting a place - meaning showing me where I am and what I'm doing.

I also noticed this: "Please No Foreign Orders! We are currently shipping within the U.S. only."

Gee, now you tell me. This would be helpful information to have in the "shopping" sidebar.

Thanks for all your input and suggestions. Like you the "not apparent" links bothered me. I had "standard" links for two years and I just recently changed to the same as osCommerce cart. It came free on a new host and I was looking at the cart system. I had already underlined the "about" phrase at the bottom of the nav bar.

I do most of my banners, etc on KJV "hard core" site (those who believe in the KJV versions as opposed to others) and so most visitors know this stuff coming into the site. In fact, most of the books I sell "honor" the KJV. It's my "thing". It's why people come.

I just recently added the "main" template. The header, footer, sidebar, etc are all brand new php "includes". I've yet to do the cart. It will be moving to the same layout as the other pages. (I put it "stock" on my site over 2 years ago and havn't touched the "look". (actually.. the lack of a "look").

I've got several items to add to the sidebar.. shipping rates, etc.

I think I was "closer" to your ideas before I let the osCommerce "look" influence the layout. Product search was in top header... newsletter signup bigger... etc.

Thanks for all the input. I sincerely appreciate it. Enjoy the product you ordered!
(and signup for my new affiliate program!) email me if interested. I need beta testers!

Some of your suggestions have been incorporatated. I removed all the disctracting ads which were not generating revenue anyway.. bolded nav links, underlined all links... at least it's a start.

Thank you for taking a look. As you can see by the thread, you're the only one who offered opinion. I appeciate it.

Hello there Zell

Well, you're getting my vote for site of the day today. It's a very cool site indeed, in this user's humble opinion, and I dont even buy Bibles!

But really, it's all good stuff, apart from the blue-grey background , which I think would benefit from some Divine enlightenment. I like the layout, though, (perhaps because it's familar to me). Within your central table everything is floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. You're on a winner here chaps, forget your tags and macs and whatever they are.

I think it's a marvellous site, so dont fix what aint broke. If I was a bible-buyin man, my cart would be full to bursting. Such Divine commerce! Great to see it , too. Nice Job chaps.

Best regards
Mack

IMO the site is way to busy (no pun or relation to me), there is nothing to focus on, your eyes scan over the page and it becomes to much, then with all the links, one would be afraid of getting lost within the site.