Members grunge782 Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 I've been looking around at some amp websites and sometimes it just amazes me how some of these smaller businesses in the music gear world have AWFUL websites, despite the products sounding great and the service being excellent. Word of mouth is always nice, but customers also want to be able to easily navigate the site and easily see pictures of the gear, the specifications, clips, contact info, etc... For some reason, I see an unusually high amount of unprofessional, unorganized and outdated websites in the guitar gear world unlike other markets. It's 2011, a lot of customers will NOT buy your products if it looks like the site was made in the 90's or if its a complete pain in the ass to navigate. Here are 2 sites that I think look fantastic and are very easy to navigate. This is what other music gear companies should shoot for: http://www.valvequeen.com/http://www.fargenamps.com/ So a word to the wise; keep your sites organized and up to date looking. It really does pay off and the customers truly appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eyeball987 Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 I am probably going to be starting a position with a company soon that specializes in web development, SEO, SEM, outbound, and inbound marketing. I agree with your comments. I am shocked how poorly those parts of the smaller companies are run. Largely due to lack of resources, knowledge, and time. I am hoping to help jumpstart some of these smaller companies so that they can grow and thrive. Who knows, maybe I will help someone on the boards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 I run the recording thing as a side deal and I'm constantly updating my {censored}. I think it's crazy that someone wouldn't take an hour out a week to tweak their {censored}. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Neilrocks25 Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 You can see mine in my sig it's not to bad, my wife designed it. But yes there is some bad websites around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grunge782 Posted December 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 You can see mine in my sig it's not to bad, my wife designed it. But yes there is some bad websites around.Looks good to me, probably would look even better if I could read Japanese . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y0UNGBL00D Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 {censored}ty websites really put me off of a company. its almost 2012. my {censored}ing niece could make a website worth a {censored}. is this what you want your website to look like when jesus comes back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Travisaurus Rex Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 I agree. In this day and age, everything is web oriented. Having a bad website is just like having a run down POS store or a theme park with no maps or signs. There are a lot of sites I have visited only a couple of times and never gone back to because of their website. They might have great products or info but it is too frustrating to get around on their page. I have seen some really bad ones too. Image does matter. There are even studies done that say you only have about 5 seconds to catch a persons interest/attention before they bail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members magentaplacenta Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 UX is everything, but most don't want to pay for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FrostByte Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 http://www.surrealamplification.com/goodnews.php These amps also make you want to hate gays and black people. Do a search for username: JerryDyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ovid9 Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 http://www.surrealamplification.com/goodnews.php OMG MY EYES!!! Well, at least that wasn't his home page. But that background is squint and "how fast can I click back off this page?" inducing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zeppelin Rules Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 http://www.surrealamplification.com/goodnews.php These amps also make you want to hate gays and black people. Do a search for username: JerryDyer Amurrkah P.S. I want your avatar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thefallacy Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 as paranoid and simpleton as people are these days, to the point that the OP could be construed as spam...i.e., you fishing for people to PM you for web design jobs. That is why peoples websites suck. Everyone that tries to tell them different is just a salesperson trying to scam them. They can do it better (and cheaper) on their own. :jerkoff: I say good luck to them. My company had a {censored} website, and then we redesigned 2 years ago, and got a significant marketshare to the point that I am bout to spend 2-5 times more again now, for a new web site, because it makes exponential sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grunge782 Posted December 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 http://www.surrealamplification.com/goodnews.php These amps also make you want to hate gays and black people. Do a search for username: JerryDyer Oh I know all about JerryDyer. But to each his own, no matter how bigoted I may think he is. Nobody is forcing me to buy his amps. That sites background is pretty though. Its like some Bootsy Collins + Bible mixture being injected into my eyes. Even then, I have to admit the site is better organized than a lot of other gear makers believe it or not. At least you can find the amps quickly if you wear some sunglasses . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FrostByte Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 Amurrkah P.S. I want your avatar Dude I've lived in 'murrkah for 31 years and I totally agree with that facepalm. Avatar... Liz Vicious... Look it up. I've been jerkin' mah gherkin to her for as long as I can remember Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grunge782 Posted December 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 as paranoid and simpleton as people are these days, to the point that the OP could be construed as spam...i.e., you fishing for people to PM you for web design jobs. That is why peoples websites suck. Everyone that tries to tell them different is just a salesperson trying to scam them. They can do it better (and cheaper) on their own. :jerkoff: I say good luck to them. My company had a {censored} website, and then we redesigned 2 years ago, and got a significant marketshare to the point that I am bout to spend 2-5 times more again now, for a new web site, because it makes exponential sense. I can't do a lick of web design . I wish I could, but I can't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FrostByte Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 Oh I know all about JerryDyer. But to each his own, no matter how bigoted I may think he is. Nobody is forcing me to buy his amps. Nobody is forcing you to buy anything, this voids your whole thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thefallacy Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 I can't do a lick of web design . I wish I could, but I can't no worries, some savvy web marketeer will copy>paste your OP all over interenet....all they need to do is change the word "guitar" for some variable, and change the links. You should get royalty for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grunge782 Posted December 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 Nobody is forcing you to buy anything, this voids your whole thread Wat ? My OP was about how good web design and organization is in fact very important for small business owners when some still believe it isn't. A business owners personal religious or racial beliefs (as delusional as they may be) had nothing to do with my OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members madrigal77 Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 http://www.rondomusic.com/ The layout of the guitars selection is even worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FrostByte Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 http://www.rondomusic.com/The layout of the guitars selection is even worse. Yea, it's tough to navigate. You click "electric guitars" if that's what you're looking for. All the 6-strings come up, if you need to switch pages you click on a page number. Want more than 6? Click on 7, 8, or 9 string guitars! Navigate through pages as mentioned before. If you're on "2" and you want to see "3", click on the "3". If you want page 6... advanced browsing... click on page 6! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members madrigal77 Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 Yea, it's tough to navigate. You click "electric guitars" if that's what you're looking for. All the 6-strings come up, if you need to switch pages you click on a page number.Want more than 6? Click on 7, 8, or 9 string guitars! Navigate through pages as mentioned before. If you're on "2" and you want to see "3", click on the "3". If you want page 6... advanced browsing... click on page 6! It's just messy and looks terrible. It should be sorted by model, ect... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FrostByte Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 It's just messy and looks terrible. It should be sorted by model, ect... they gotta cut costs somewhere! Sorry, I was just being a smart ass. I personally feel that if the product speaks for itself, it shouldn't matter what the site looks like. We didn't always have the interwebz to shop on... That said, I think Rondo has it organized that way due to their customer base. People go there looking for budget guitars so they sort them from cheapest to most expensive rather than by brand name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaXu Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 Here are 2 sites that I think look fantastic and are very easy to navigate. This is what other music gear companies should shoot for:http://www.valvequeen.com/http://www.fargenamps.com/So a word to the wise; keep your sites organized and up to date looking. It really does pay off and the customers truly appreciate it. That valve queen site has an awful color scheme that is pretty close to unreadable. The problem isn't unique to small guitar companies but pretty much all small businesses. The primary issue is usually money - for the amount they can afford they typically can't get a proper webdesign company to do the site. If they can, usually they end up with the company that doesn't know anything about usability, user experience and can't even code properly. In the best case they get a freelancer willing to do the site for little money and who really knows his or her {censored}. On the other side of the fence are bigger companies that DO have the money but are the bean counter, nickle and diming type who want things done for way too little in a way too short time. Again the contract usually goes to the companies that know jack {censored} but are willing to do it cheaper than the competition. Recently the railroad company VR here in Finland updated its systems. The companies that were chosen to do the work were Tieto and Accenture, who have a well known track record of a) doing stuff for the government etc and b) doing absolute {censored}. After the system for buying tickets was complete, VR's ticket system was pretty much {censored}ed for several weeks and even now it's still an utter turd. Another company did an analysis of the system and I think it had close to 150 points where the user experience fails completely. So when picking out someone to do a website for you, have them present their best work and see if it's truly easy to use and elegant looking. Ask them how they could make your company website better and get them to give some specifics rather than vague answers. Also when figuring out what you should pay for a site, remember that if you want to be able to update the content yourself the price goes up exponentially because the admin interfaces take a lot of work to do properly if the company doesn't already have their own content management system in place. I would probably steer clear of folks who just want to drop any of the common CMS like Drupal or Joomla on your site. They are generally way too complicated and awkward to use, especially for a small website. I'm a web developer at an advertising agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grunge782 Posted December 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 That valve queen site has an awful color scheme that is pretty close to unreadable.The problem isn't unique to small guitar companies but pretty much all small businesses. The primary issue is usually money - for the amount they can afford they typically can't get a proper webdesign company to do the site. If they can, usually they end up with the company that doesn't know anything about usability, user experience and can't even code properly. In the best case they get a freelancer willing to do the site for little money and who really knows his or her {censored}.On the other side of the fence are bigger companies that DO have the money but are the bean counter, nickle and diming type who want things done for way too little in a way too short time. Again the contract usually goes to the companies that know jack {censored} but are willing to do it cheaper than the competition. Recently the railroad company VR here in Finland updated its systems. The companies that were chosen to do the work were Tieto and Accenture, who have a well known track record of a) doing stuff for the government etc and b) doing absolute {censored}. After the system for buying tickets was complete, VR's ticket system was pretty much {censored}ed for several weeks and even now it's still an utter turd. Another company did an analysis of the system and I think it had close to 150 points where the user experience fails completely.So when picking out someone to do a website for you, have them present their best work and see if it's truly easy to use and elegant looking. Ask them how they could make your company website better and get them to give some specifics rather than vague answers. Also when figuring out what you should pay for a site, remember that if you want to be able to update the content yourself the price goes up exponentially because the admin interfaces take a lot of work to do properly if the company doesn't already have their own content management system in place. I would probably steer clear of folks who just want to drop any of the common CMS like Drupal or Joomla on your site. They are generally way too complicated and awkward to use, especially for a small website.I'm a web developer at an advertising agency. Honestly I can read it perfectly fine and I like the look. I found it by far the easiest to navigate compared to other tube suppliers I have used. You are right that there are a lot of small businesses that have issues with their websites, however the guitar gear world is unique to have so many of these high priced boutique gear websites with practically jumbled word documents with colored lettering. I haven't quite experienced that at least in that magnitude when shopping for other items from small businesses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y0UNGBL00D Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 conversely, it annoys the {censored} out of me when a site is so packed with flash animation and "UX" that fullscreens iteself, dims the lights in my house, pours me wine, massages my feet and starts discussing my finer qulaities when all i want to do is get some simple info. there is a balance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.