Thanks to everyone who participated in the first NetDummy peer review of the site Shaddow Domain. We here at NetDummy realize that this site was a bit, well, over the top. Two of you even complained about our selection. So allow me to explain.
The site had many obvious flaws that a (mostly) beginner group like NetDummy readers could quickly identify, and this is the primary reason for our choice. And while the design’s tastefulness was questionable, it promoted nothing illegal or pornographic. We found no scams, no gambling – just some creepy graphics that most everyone has seen flipping through CDs or posters at Spencer’s. We selected the site as an easy target to insure a good response from the audience. Since we’ve never run a peer review in NetDummy before, we felt Shaddow Domain was the perfect site to begin with to assess reader response, and to help us decide whether to do additional peer reviews in NetDummy in the future.
The good news – you readers did great, and we plan to do more peer reviews in the NetDummy newsletter.
I have to agree with most of you who said “it’s not my kind of thing,” but Shaddow Domain is an excellent example of a site attempting to address the needs of a specific niche market. Many participating reviewers picked up on this and offered advice that varied from broadening the site’s target audience to increasing the site’s appeal for the specific niche (in this case, Goths). Interestingly, several of you found items you would purchase once you fully explored the site.
Shaddow Domain offers many lessons, including color selection, page layout, e-commerce design, and navigation. These lessons apply to any site, and there is plenty of material to learn from here even if you happen to be a non-Goth. Without further ado, here are the NetDummy reader reviews.
Too Much Empty Space
I went to Julie’s site and even though this is not my thing 🙂 I wanted to help her because I could relate because I’ve seen my site for so long that I can’t see it objectively.
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Make It Livelier
I had a look at the site, and its not bad – better than I could do, but a couple of things struck me.
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Too Much Scrolling Around
Like Julie Pedersen, Web Mistress of Shadow Domain, I too am a self taught web designer, (approx 6 years) who’s need to come to grips with the web & web design, was driven by other business demands. I now design a limited number of web sites for small to medium businesses.
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Enhance Non-Goth Appeal
Let me begin by saying that I am not a “goth” individual and I know very little about the culture; however, I did find several items in your inventory that I could see myself or others like me purchasing for various reasons unrelated to the “goth” culture. Having said this, here are my suggestions for increasing your site’s trustworthiness and attracting more visitors.
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Optimize For Search Engines
Julie makes a common mistake in thinking that being “listed on several search engines” will bring her traffic. A site can be listed in every search engine in the world but not have enough traffic. Being listed and being found when people look for the service or goods you sell are two entirely different things.
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Theme Has Potential But Site Needs Tweaking…
Site theme has lots of potential. The merchandise is really cute. That’s why I’m taking the time to reply. But…
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Fix The Navigation
I must say.. the site does offer a very focused type of product.. but that is not the issue at hand.
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Fix The Basics
OPENING PAGE AND MAIN CONTENT – Upon entering the site, first impression is a personal home page due to the background, the animated gifs, and amount of scrolling and large text. My recommendation would be to create a standard template for all pages to follow.
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Bad Design, Poor Graphics
Well, viewing the site was a little shock at first, but it was not the site’s content. In general, the whole site looks more like a personal webpage than a commercial website. The general design is very bad and the graphics are lacking.
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Too Cluttered
Re: Shadow Domain… here’s my comments for what they’re worth…
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Short Comments
Not all reviewers send in lengthy reviews, but many have good ideas regardless. Here are the short comments:
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Jackie Rosenberger is an editor with murdok
