Please Review www.leatherlollipop.com

**LeatherLollipop** · 08-24-2003, 11:47 PM

Hello! I very much value and appreciate others opinions, especially fellow webmasters that have much more experience than I do.
First I'd like to tell you that my site is only about 3 months old. I've done all the SEOing etc. by myself and I know there is much more to be done. I was rejected by Google AdSense, OUCH!, however, since I was not given an exact reason, I tried looking over my site to see if there was something that did not go along with their program policies. I had a few affiliate programs that I've since removed. They were mostly on a page by themselves. I've removed the entire page. I feel I have a fair amount of content for an online retail store. I want to resubmit to Google AdSense but I also do not want to anger them by resubmitting and being forever banned or something.

I've heard conflicting things. Someone told me on another board that Google AdSense will always reject commercial sites, yet I see the AdSense on other commercial sites. Anyone know about this? Also, when you are critiquing me, please give any suggestions as to how much content is enough content for a retail store site? Do I need more? If so, what type of content would be your suggestion?

Please if you see anything else that is wrong with my site that may make Google reject me again, please tell me.

I also would not mind a review of the whole site in general. This is a template driven shopping cart solution. I am in the process of learning to build a website from scratch but due to wanting to get my store up, I took the easier way out, so there are some things that I cannot change.

So, be honest and I truly will appreciate any help from those of you who I've seen be so helpful to others on here. I would like to know from a customer standpoint as well, if you find it easy to navigate, etc. Thanks a million!!!

Leather Lollipop

**MeNtAlFrUiTcAkE** · 08-25-2003, 03:51 AM

I would try to add width="0" height="0" and alt="imagetitle" to all of your images.

Example Your Logo: <img src="images/logo/logo_ylw250.gif" width="250" height="180" border=0 vspace="15" hspace="5" alt="www.LeatherLollipop.com">

One of the things that many authors look past is the height, width, and alt attributes of the img tag.

First, the height and width. When a internet browser enters a webpage, it simply reads in the HTML file, finds out what images are needed, and downloads the images to your hd. Then, the browser evaluates the HTML file, determines how big the images are and where to put them, and arranges what you see on the screen.

If you were to leave out the height and width part of the img tag, the browser will actually spend longer time to load your page because it has to realign everything on the page after it determines the dimensions of the image. If you have already specified the dimensions, the browser will know before hand from the HTML exactly what the layout is, making the load timer that much quicker.

The alt attribute is just as important, if not more so, as the height and width attributes. Basically, it provides an alternative text description of an image.

For instance, not all people surfing the net are using browsers such as Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator which have a graphical interface. Text-based browsers such as Lynx are very popular because the load time for the webpages is much much faster. None of the images have to be downloaded, so it saves a lot of time for those who are just there to read. You can also change the option of downloading images or not in Internet Explorer and Netscape to achieve the same effect.

However, this poses a big problem if you are using links with pictures. Poeple using text-based browsers, or those who like to turn the "download images" option off of their browser, will not be able to tell what your link is. Therefore, the alt text is used instead to describe the anchor. It allows for more exposure of your webpage to a wider range of audiences.

**david** · 08-26-2003, 08:33 AM

Nice site.

Just a couple of things I've noticed:

1. Your golden web award is broken, and because the alt text is so long it's pushing the whole page text over. I'd suggest either removing it or fixing the link.

2. In the menu the item names longer than one line are not indented on the second (or third) line. It looks a bit strange.

3. Also in the menu there's a misspelling "Ladie's Leather Vests"

4. I would recommend either putting some featured products nearer the top of the page, or having a 'Dmoz-style' categories listing. There's no obvious path for people to start looking around the site.

Overall, though a nice site. The design is clean and the browsing and ordering process seem nice and simple. Good work.

Just a quick note about Google, I'm not quite sure why you want to be a member of Google adwords anyway. Surely you want your visitors to buy from you, not go to someone else's shop....

**jindian** · 09-05-2003, 02:03 AM

Hello,

Your website has some good content and the ordering process is nice and neat. The top navigation bar is excellent. There are some things which you need to change.

1. Change the background color.

2. Change yellow and Black combination it makes the site look un-professional.

3. Change the index page content. Organize it more..

Hope this helps
Jindian

**LeatherLollipop** · 09-05-2003, 02:12 AM

Thank you so much for the critique. Let me ask you this. Why do you feel that the black and yellow theme look unprofessional? Most biker sites are in black and orange (Harley colors), but that option was not available to me (as this is a template) plus I did not want my site to look exactly the same as everyone else's. I've been told white is the best color for a background.

Colors are one of those things that are personal to each person. No matter what colors one chooses, there will be those that love it or hate it.

I do however want to focus in on what you said about the index page. Are you talking about my site map? I do want to make that look awesome but was not sure exactly how to do it. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!

**jindian** · 09-05-2003, 02:22 AM

Hello,

Index page meaning the main page.. It looks un organized like content all over the place. The testimonials need to be organized like show one testimonials and ask to click if they want more and the rite and left both text and background are dark colors..

I will be happy to re-design your site for a small price.

I am professional web-designer and I have worked on over 60 web-sites.

hope this helps
jindian

**david** · 09-05-2003, 11:25 AM

Just wanted to say I personally quite like the colours. It makes the site different

**LeatherLollipop** · 09-06-2003, 01:36 AM

Why thank you David! I appreciate that. Have a great weekend!

**Zodite** · 09-06-2003, 02:46 AM

Overall I think the site looks pretty good. I like the colors though I did notice some issues with the links in all of the sections of the site though. For starters, when you hover over a link on the left side of the page it's a brighter yellow compared to the links on the right side. I would change it so that they match. The 'fingerless leather gloves with studs' link under the top seller section is taking up two lines. Perhaps omit the 'with studs' words or at least move it under the first line of that link.

The links toward the top center of the page, where it starts out Got leather, we do... anyway lose the bold attribute on the fonts. You should only use bold fonts when you want something to really stand out. Also when you move your mouse pointer over the novelty motorcycle hemlets link it moves the rest of the links over. Also all the links in the center of the page should probably be the same color... you are using black, red and blue. Try to stick with one color for an active link and then maybe change the link color when the mouse moves over the link.

Another thing I noticed was that you have the report an error to the webmaster in two seperate locations. I would keep it over in the bottom right and remove it from the center of the page. you also have the click on images to enlarge in two different spots as well. Perhaps consider removing it from under the image of the mens USA flag leather vest image. Also the test stating this site features a secure payment system... consider moving that under the credit card images.

Ad one more thing I would do with the menu on the left under the product category... everything that you have in the site shortcuts menu I would move to the product category section... then when the mouse moves over the womans leather option I would have another menu appear with all of the womas leather stuff shoing such as the jackets, vest, halters, etc... same with the mens stuff.

Hopefully this helps a bit.

Eric
http://www.web-dates.com

**LeatherLollipop** · 09-06-2003, 02:58 AM

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I do need to change some things, but it is strange that you are seeing my links in black red and blue, I am seeing them and put them as black and orange. I did have black and yellow, like the yellow in the website itself, however, people complained it was hard to see. So, I changed it to orange. I do appreciate your advice, and I will change some things. See this is a template and there is no way to do what you suggested about the subcategories coming up under the main categories. I've already asked my shopping cart host about that. I wanted that but anyway. The hazards of using someone else's template. Thanks again!

**Christina** · 09-10-2003, 04:27 AM

Hi,

I looked through your site for almost 30 minutes and I can't find any reason google would reject your site... ??? If someone tells you the answer I would like to know... If you can't get the answer I do know someone you can ask I can guarantee they will know the answer. go to www.Web-Exposure.com

Christina

**LeatherLollipop** · 09-10-2003, 04:40 AM

Well, thank you Christina. I appreciate the time you took checking things out for me.