Good man! I used to do this for a living and it's kind of fun to be doing it for someone who just wants feedback. Pretty gutsy to ask for public feedback. I'm guessing I speak for some of the other folk as well as myself when I say that the $10 is nice, but the real reason for helping with feedback is because you've been cool in prior dealings with knifemakers.
I did read the thread, but it's still a bit early - please forgive me if I duplicate stuff mentioned elsewhere. Also, I know you asked about the store, but I'm commenting on the whole website - it's all part of the identity.
I don't need a reply on why each is or is not a good idea - I trust you'll do what makes sense to you, not do what doesn't work, and ask more questions if something isn't clear...
Here's a bunch of random stuff I thought about when critically looking at the site, in no particular order:
1) Home page, bottom - make the words "It's a burl" a link to the itsaburl.com website. Similarly, make the e-mail address clickable (e.g. <a href="mailto:itsaburl@hotmail.com">itsaburl@hotmail.com</a> or whatever). Also on
http://burlsales.com/contact.html.
2) I find it weird that different pages have different widths - at least on my computer - which means the locations for links changes when you click on different pages.
3) Avoid having links with NO content - at least put something on the How To pages. (I can't tell you how many pages with no content say "Coming Soon" for years...). For example, I have a small piece of burl I got as a scrap from a woodworker - it might be fun to know how I can turn it into a block - you have pictures on the home page showing something like "raw" - "washed" - "sawed" - "block" - maybe it would be cool to show how it's done. It's not like it's a trade secret, right?
4) Areas with lots of text in paragraph form could benefit from either an indent on the first line, or a double space between paragraphs (
http://burlsales.com/stabilized.html)
5) Add some pictures to
http://burlsales.com/burlspalt.html to illustrate the points. And to
http://burlsales.com/types.html to illustrate the different woods. Links to further information may be a good idea, but there are pros and cons.
6) After people have been to the website a few times, additional visits will be to the store anyway. If you can move your other pages into the web store's navigational heirarchy, then maybe the store could be the default page, which would be most convenient for people who are there to actually spend money without being a significant inconvenience for people who are there to read about burls.
7) If the website and store are not integrated, there should be some way fro a person to navigate back to the main home page. "Home" should probably be renamed "Store Home".
8) For a discussion of background brightness, etc, see
here. Whatever background you do go with, please keep it neutral - e.g. gray. A bright orange background will make the colors on the wood look all wrong.
9) The detailed description text is hard to read as it is all run together, no clear distinction between what makes this piece special versus "FREE SHIPPING" type information that applies to everything.
10) When getting detailed information on a piece, it would be nice if it showed in the navigation bar on the left where we were, rather than collapsing to full.
11) I'd put a block in only one categoery.
12) If each piece has its own custom entry with photos, it seems sort of silly to list "In stock" under each piece - I think that' strongly implied.
13) It would be really cool to provide information about whether a particular kind of wood needs stabilization or not.
14) Some folk would buy pieces of wood that aren't big enough for "scales" on a handles, but are big enough (and beautiful enough) to use as scales on pocket knives or as accent wood in larger handles. If you end up with some figured scraps big enough to be worth using in that setting, I'd love to get some. Maybe sell a pile of them, mixed, as a lot under "budget"?
15) Under policy "If for any reason you purchase is not what you expected, return the item within 7 days and we will refund your purchase price.", you might say "...return the item in original condition within 7 days..."
16) In your navigation on the left hand column, arrows tell us there are subcategories which show when clicked. In the navigation on the upper right corner, arrows don't work that way. It's not very confusing, but undermines the feel of a consistent smooth experience.
17) Is there a particular reason for showing 25 on a page, rather than, say, 24 or 30?
18) For folk making a set of knives, it would be really cool to offer sets of blocks all from a single burl - I would buy blocks from the same burl if I knew just so a set could be all from the same burl. Yes, that would be cool.
19) Why are some thumbnails bigger than others? Should ideally be consistent.
20) Agree that about us should have some pictures of the shop and some of the tools you use to make it work. Also, an explanation of the stabilization process would help people understand why they should pay extra. (Also, if the scales are pre-cut, were they stabilized in the pre-cut condition, or were they stabilized as a block, then cut?)
That's all I have time for right now - the 20 month old needs breakfast.
Please let me know if you'd like additional feedback - I can go on and on...
