Hello all!

I wondered if you could take a moment and review my website www.kidtimebooks.com - I have completely re-designed it from a real sort of disorganized prior page.

I am certainly new to creating, but think I am doing a good job? but want you the professionals to critique me, because ulimately I need SALES generated from my site. Any of your comments would be a + and I truly appreciate your time with looking!

Take care!

John M. Randazzo
www.kidtimebooks.com

looking good! I'm a regular surfer of the net, but I find it still lacking something. Like a background? White gives the site a cold feeling, like a hospital.

Design for your demographic. For children's books, make the site feel more children-ish instead of stark by choosing softer colors, more of them, happy fonts, and rounded elements. Right now if I couldn't read I would think your site is a programmer's site or something. Compell your audience to buy by giving them a visual representation of your company that relates to your product.

I love it John. Love the concept. Love the site.

1) Consider an entry in the navigation buttons on the left...
"Slide Show our Books"

That's the money maker. The rest of the site is for the parents to "get it",
the slide show with big book cover pics is how the buying selection is going to be made IF the child is involved at all (i.e. not for surprise gifts to them).

2) Consider putting the description text for each book below the big book cover pic in the slide show. Parents can read it to the kid while the selection process is in place

and finally,

3) Consider a ADD TO CART button (especially on the slide show). ... because, the kid will want the 3rd and the 8th and the 15th. That's no good if the parent has to go through the whole process one by one. In other words, since the process is , select Scooby, configure scooby, order scooby, credit card scooby, shipping info for scooby ( and more? I need a scooby-nap ;-) ) ... that blows the flow that promotes the impulse buy. Even 5 minute order process disrupts that. A "add to cart" will help facilitate multiple sales.

Believe me, I know it's no small thing (just "throw an ADD to CART feature"), but I think you'll be happy with the result.

Oh wait... there's more ...

4) The Sample Book is good. It's not entirely clear though if the book itself is just text, no pictures (beside the cover) ??? Add the pictures, or clear that up in text at the top.

5) AUDIO! Get a mic for the PC and record you spouse, sister, mother, any adult female reading that exact story to some munchkin (pretending to be Jennifer). And not just the story... but do the normal EXTRA interactions that (good) parents do when they read a story - "What's that in Scooby's paw?" " A SCOOOOBY SNACK" <giggle, giggle>

Adorable.
Parent's will be drooling to have such a fantastic interaction with their kids.

Heck, maybe even a link on that page, "Dad reads to Bobby".
BAM, the webpage changes, same story, Bobby's details, male adult reading to male munchkin. PERSONALIZED ;-)

Then put the link to the sample page prominently on the home page.


Good Job! Good Luck!

Dan
p.s. If you want to diversify and offer a complementary product to your audience, you can do (original) Personalized Story's like that and have them appear as a PC screensavers for your customers, using my new software. PM me if that sounds interesting.

Well, So far - I have changed the "SAMPLE BOOK" to more reflect Dan's comments! Thanks again for your support and reviews!

Your body text does not start till well below the fold. You need to completely reorganise you main content. Look at how other sites do it.

I like the site...especially the animation at the top in the header. I think the white background is okay for this kind of site. Adding a busy background would only complicate the site and distract the viewer from reading your text. Which brings me to the only critique...the font type and color. It changes frequently. I would try to stay with your theme, like a navy for the color and just one or two different fonts. But other than that it's great! Especially for a beginner!!! Super job!!! 5 gold stars!

*kelly*

John,
Good job with the sample book. It's great.
Where's the audio? ;-)

Dan

Try to wrap the text around the images, posting them on the left and then on the right. I think it'll help make the first look of the site more professional.