Review Request: www.HelmStore.com

Anyone?

Your site has some good graphics (navigation bar and product pages) but it definetely needs a template. If your found a conservative grey or dark blue corporate template and put your content inside of that, it would look very professional. Also, you should have a page completely dedicated to: What is HELM?. This should probably go on your about page as your main product. Take the banner out of the header too, move it below content so your logo will look more professional. The more professional your page looks, the more like you are to land a sale. Good luck!

The site looks simple and good, but as farmer_Tom mentioned it will be better if you have a template with some graphics....

ok. I've made some changes so that it fits with the brand of all the other sites I own.

There's still some css issues to sort out and its only the front page at the moment but owould you have said better or worse?

http://www.helmstore.com/default2.asp

Tom - Hear what you're saying about the about us page. The HELM license is the main product as we are one of only two UK distributors so I have to really push that I think...

There isn't too much i can say about this, it works and does what it says on the tin: Marvellous!

It looks nice, but doesn't stand out from the crowd - I doubt the intention is to stand-out though. Good branding, apart from the logo changing across the site, the design is good and clean.

The reason for the logo changing is simply that default2.asp is a demo of a new layout using a different design. All the other pages use the old design

Thanks for the comments though! What do you think would help it stand it more?

I don't know what HELM is, that's why I'm having trouble here.

One problem I'm having here is with the link colours - that dark blue is too easily confused with plain text. Something that stands out more would make it easier to find the links.

The checkout system seems to work very well. I really like the cart summary on the front page. It's nice to keep that information visible at all times, and most e-commerce sites don't. I don't know what this VAT is though. Maybe a pop-up definition should be used there. I went all the way through the order process and it looks pretty good. THe only thing I was confused about is in Step 3 where it says that my license will be emailed when payment is confirmed, but I hadn't paid yet. Then I got to step 4 and I still hadn't paid. What you could do is just put a note in Step 3 that payment is made in Step 5. So something like " will be emailed to you when payment is confirmed (step 5)."

I think the look of this could be improved a lot. I don't like the black bold text, for example. It conflicts too much with the navbar & logo. Maybe dark blue would work better (not bold where possible) and then do the links in red.

Can I give you some feedback on you logo? I remember when you first posted it and I was busy at the time and never got around to critiquing. Or maybe I did, I don't remember. It's just too complicated. Logos should convey complex ideas in a very simple way. If you look at the top companies in any business the logos are very streamlined. In this case I would just take out the body. The idea is the same, it's just simpler and therefore catchier. Better branding.

Thanks for the crit Megan!

HELM is a hosting control panel used by hosting companies to supply shared or reseller hosting to their customers, similar to Plesk or cPanel, but designed for windows and, IMHO, better!

HelmStore is one of only two authorised UK distributors of HELM which is quite a selling point as it carries a lot of ethos not to mention status with it

I agree with the checkout thing. Since all of the products are non-physical i.e. license keys, there is nothing to ship and CactusShop normally displays that info at step 3. With shipping switched off it does get confusing but I'll see if I can simplify it.

VAT is a Value Added Tax and is added to all order made within the UK and EU personal customers. It doesn't apply to international visitors. Although it does say where applicable below the basket and at the bottom of every page, I agree a pop-up explanation may be useful...

Agree with the text colours, I need to do some work on the css to get it right as there is still a lot in there from the original skin.

Changing the logo is a bit of a non starter as the guy with the light above his head and the colours used is replicated across all of the company sites, stationery etc and would be very costly and damaging to change at this stage unfortunately

Nice and simple layout and design

Wow, I always have assumed everyone in the world knew what VAT is, it's so much part of everything we do in the UK! Definately must remember that for the future Agreed that an explanation is required.

It would also be a good idea to include a description of what HELM is... I've never heard of it before as well.

I see you've changed the menu, it looks better and it's good that the a element is a bit bigger, the critisism is that the rollovers aren't obvious enough. Also you have different rollovers for each item even though the image is essentially the same, seems a waste of bandwidth to me!

As a new customer of HelmStore.com I have to say I really like it and would recommend the site to anyone who needs to make a purchase of their products.

Not only is the website quick and efficient at processing orders, but their customer service is fantastic. A great company to deal with, 5/5!

G.

Cheers Glenn. You're getting about aren't you mate!!