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My official website is now available

post #1 of 18
5/2/10 at 8:08pm
Thread Starter 
Well, the time has come for me to formally announce my website is up and running. Hubby has been making corrections and adding pictures. New pics of the babies are also up.

I welcome all constructive criticism as this is my first attempt. I wanted it to be simple and easy for people to view. The wording attached to the pages is also not as full as I would like, but I am waiting to see what feedback I receive and what other information people would like to know.

You may view it at
www.snowbalds.com
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post #2 of 18
5/2/10 at 8:20pm
It is alot better then it was.
How come you are calling bi-colors tuxedoss and blues grey?
There are no colors like that.
You have more kittens due.
My mentor lost her boy at 5 days of age last night.

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post #3 of 18
5/3/10 at 10:05am
Nice website - love the pics.

But here is my constructive critism (minor stuff but very important)

1. Put the titles (champion/gran) on the cat's name - not just at the bottom. For example Monty should have Champion before his name. You want the titles of the cats to stand out; want potential people to know right away you show them.

2. Major important - correct the colors on the kittens. NEVER use the term "tuxedo" to describe your black & white cats/kittens. Use the correct term always - BICOLOR. Its professional. I hate when people refer to their cat's color as a tuxedo - its not - its Bicolor!

Same goes for using the term "grey" - its BLUE.

I might be picky, but you will not look like a quality breeder if you do not use the correct terms. Those terms (tuxedo/grey, etc) show me its a backyard breeder; not a professional, and I'm sure you don't want that kind of reputation!

Be sure to state your contact for kittens, what it includes when you buy a kitten (shots, worming, spay/neuter, health guarantee, etc). And any testing (genetic) you've done on your breeding cats.
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post #4 of 18
5/3/10 at 4:08pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks so much ladies! The color and championship titles have all been corrected now. Hubby was the one who messed that up, not me! LOL.

GK, I will be adding the terms of sale with the health guarantee, shots, etc either tonight or tomorrow. It's not like I had forgotten, I just hadn't gotten to that part yet.
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post #5 of 18
5/3/10 at 4:10pm
Are you going to do 1 or 2 year health guarantees?

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post #6 of 18
5/3/10 at 5:33pm
Hi Skewch!

As a graphic artist, I'm pretty picky about these things, so I'm impressed with the layout - it's easy to navigate and not too cluttered. Nice to look at!

One thing I always look for on breeder websites, and GoldenKitty mentioned this, is - what testing do you do on your breeding cats? I probably won't even call if I don't see FIV & Felv negative, blood typing, & HCM scanning. Tell us about yourself, give us confidence in your cattery!

If you're looking for more content, I see a lot of sphynx sites that include general care info for the sphynx breed (diet, bathing, ear cleaning, etc.), not totally necessary but nice to have...

Keep up the good work!
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post #7 of 18
5/3/10 at 6:49pm
Thread Starter 
Brooke, thanks so much for your excellent constructive criticism. Hubby is right now working on the site again, also doing some advertising through google and such sites.

With the general care etc of the breed, I personally, don't want to read about it all that much because I already know what is required. I know that some may not know what is needed, but that's where I, the breeder, come in. I will be educating all persons who contact me. I have a list of questions that I want answered and when I'm sure they have no idea about the grooming, I will clue them in.

I know the info is not for me, so thanks for the input on that. What I may do is take pictures of how I do the grooming and describe the practices I have in place.

Again, thanks for your input. It really helps to have another few sets of eyes to assist in the development of the site. Hubby is the I.T. geek in the family and does all of this for a living plus the programming, hardware and software so he's quite knowledgeable. He says a special thank you to you Brooke, for these are really good points you've brought to our attention.
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post #8 of 18
5/3/10 at 6:51pm
Thread Starter 
Jacky, we will be doing 2-year health guarantees on all kittens.
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post #9 of 18
5/4/10 at 8:06am
Glad to help! Looking better already - I love what you added to the home page. I was just browsing your site again and noticed one thing and thought I'd mention it...sorry if you think I'm being nit-picky, you can always just ignore me...

I almost completely missed your "About Us" page! The link at the top is cool, but I only used the nav bar on the left to navigate your page, so if I hadn't been curious about that was at the top of the home page, I'd have totally missed it.

Just a suggestion to add a link to your "About Us" page to the nav bar on the left hand side - great info on that page, a silly story, an extra cute photo will give a potential buyer some insight into YOU. IMO, That's the sort of thing that makes you memorable and sets you apart from the rest.

Tell your hubby good job! I really like the flash in the header.
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post #10 of 18
5/4/10 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 
Brooke, again a huge thanks for pointing that out. I never even noticed that till now. Weird, I thought it was there before. I will get hubby right on that! He's at work now, but he'll do it right after supper.

With the feedback from you guys, it is looking so much better. Wish I could have you all over for a party!!!!
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post #11 of 18
5/4/10 at 12:08pm
I think it looks great and you have gotten some awesome advice!!
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post #12 of 18
5/4/10 at 1:11pm
Nice looking website. I know just how tricky it is to get everything working together.

Like everybody else, I have a couple of picky points. The pictures in the banner at the top were pretty slow loading. It just looked like a blank space and I had actually read the information and opened another page before the first image showed up. Granted, I don't have the most up-to-date software or fastest connection, but I'm thinking there are a lot of other people out there in the same situation.

You have three queens listed: Maddie, Molly, and Bonnie. However, your first litter of available kittens were born to Oreo and Monty. Why don't you have Oreo listed as a queen? Does she belong to another cattery? Is she now retired? I'd really like to see some information on her since you're selling her kittens.
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post #13 of 18
5/4/10 at 1:18pm
I haven't looked in detail, and couldn't begin to comment on content, but I did want to compliment you on the design. The colour choice is beautiful and inviting and very easy on the eyes, and your layout seems very intuitive. You can fill your site with the best content, but if your reader isn't comfortable looking at it, you don't accomplish much. Congratulations on making it pleasing to use.
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post #14 of 18
5/4/10 at 3:30pm
Thread Starter 
Wow you guys, you are awesome!! You have again surprised me with things that have gone unnoticed. This is the exact reason why I posted this thread.

Ok, Brooke, I told hubby about the About Us page, he is at work so he looked it up, and had the same reaction as I did, thinking it WAS there once upon a time. He will fix it this evening.

Goldycat, we are going to remove Oreo's babies from the website tonight. I pointed it out to hubby and told him previously I didn't want my site to include her babies. He understands my point and YOURS now LOL Oreo will be fixed and has already found a new forever home with wonderful people to love her and spoil her. They have visited us twice now, and I feel really good about this home. Oreo will go once her kittens are weaned and gone to their new homes. Most likely not until beginning of June. I hate the fact I have to rehome a couple of my cats, but since I am acquiring two new Sphynx in July, I need to make room for them. I wouldn't do it if hubby would allow me 10 adults, but I see his point as to why not LOL

Again, thanks to everyone for your input and suggestions. It sure helps!!
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post #15 of 18
5/4/10 at 7:39pm
Thread Starter 
Brooke, the About Us page is now called Our Cattery. Hopefully people will understand that LOL

Corrections have been made, and so if anyone has anything else to add, please do so
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post #16 of 18
5/4/10 at 7:49pm
Oreo has always been my favorite cat of yours.
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post #17 of 18
5/4/10 at 10:05pm
Nice job. Be sure you update the kitten pictures frequently since they change so fast. Maybe just add new pictures instead of replacing them so people can see their progress.

I haven't gone through every page carefully, but I did spot several typos/spelling errors in what I did read.

Mackerel is spelled with an "el" at the end, not "al". You'll have to check all your descriptions because it's spelled the same every time.

In Bonnie's information there is a typo in the word "gorgeous".

In Our Cattery, 3rd paragraph, typos in the words "viewing" and "petted". In the 4th paragraph I believe the word is spelled "cuddly" rather than "cuddley".

I don't know what program you're using, but it wouldn't hurt to run a spell-checker if it's available. I know I can only do that if I'm using a word-type program, but not if I'm typing text in Photoshop.
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post #18 of 18
5/5/10 at 6:35am
Thread Starter 
Good grief! Seriously, I thought he'd fixed all that days ago!! I told him, people will think we're idiots if we can't spell things correctly. There isn't a spell check in the program/web thingy he uses. He's now corrected all that you've pointed out....thanks for doing so!!!
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