After feeling ignored by my web design outfit for many months I finally got fed up an dove into making improvements to my ecommerce site a few weeks ago.

 

The design outfit has repeatedly told me how impressed they are with the changes I've been making, but I spent a lot of time reading and researching what motivates and frustrates online customers, so I can't take that much credit.

 

Both of the guys below had a profound impact on the changes I made to my product pages from a usability aspect, but they are considered masters at web usability.

 

Steve Krug's (Book - Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability) http://j.mp/I6F3df

His book is short, funny and I highly recommend it.

 

Jakob Nielsen - (Amazon profile) http://j.mp/JNielsn

 

Product pages is where I've invested time and it's starting to come together, but I'm thinking it would be smart to add a couple of smaller neutral colored buttons in the call to action area. They could use small text fields that toggle open & closed and offer a quick overview of my Return policy and Shipping info, both would have direct links for people wanting all the details. But, in most cases placing that info directly in their line of sight boosts the trust factor which helps in converting sales.

 

The cart is based on OpenCart and it works fine, but anyone familiar with OC will see a lot of changes I've made.

OC Demo:

http://demo.opencart.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=49

My product page:

https://hiddencameragear.com/cellphone-recon-usb-surveillance-tool

 

The footer area has some real content issues that MUST be addressed, so I will be writing and rewriting some of that information very soon.

 

New logo concepts are being worked on, so the logo will be updated also.

 

There are 2 main issues I need real advice on from a web designers point of view.

 

1)

Product listings on the front page (Featured area) and the sub category pages are just plain horrible. There are 4 items in a row and they look like a mess; scattered, uneven and totally unprofessional!

 

Spent a little time putting together a PSD file with only 3 products showing on a row and each product would be inside a static sized container. I’m thinking something along the lines of this screenshot with product name, image and price field. I could make some colors invert on mouse over, but I'm just not the person to think up a nice design.

http://puu.sh/p8aV

 

There is still a big problem with that type of design, since there would be no space for information to help lead customers in the right direction. I have considered using a tooltip that could hold a good write up about what the product does, but that presents a problem for mobile devices. I'm hoping to hear some suggestions.

 

Figuring out how to lead and inform people has been a big problem from the start of the project. Most people show up with a problem and they need answers to any number of problems; an out of control teenager, employee theft, bad neighbors or fear of a cheating spouse. A lot of people have no idea what to look for, I need to help lead them, but we all know that people on the web read NOTHING.

 

I've considered using a design something like this screenshot for my home page to help people decide what category they should open. It has some eye appeal and offers little snippets of info. Any amount of real text is a waste and even brief text will only be scanned over. LOL

 

 

 

2)

My other issue is with the top olive colored bar (and the footer but to a lesser degree), I've had a lot of people tell me the color looks drab and I'm more than happy to change it, but if I make a change the background will probably need to be changed too. I know some things in this world, but web colors ain't on the list. Please feel free to suggest.

 

I appreciate the members who have made to the end of this post and while I value honesty above all other things I hope you don't beat me up too badly. Thanks!

i quite like it its laid out well and if i come across it on Google (and lived in America)i wouldn't feel concerned when ordering something...

 

I think the colors work well together but i do agree that it is somewhat "drab" maybe try and get some more vibrant colors thrown in like red or a brighter blue. Just take a screen of the website (or use the psd if you have one) and experiment with colors which work well together.

 

then come back here and see of people like the colors you've chosen.

 

featured image looks good

I have not had time to look over what you specificly ask, however, I am not a fan of the yellowish background and dark blue colour on the nav. I will spend more time on this thread later, but that is the first thing I took a dislike too.

 

I think a light grey/white background would work better with that colour of nav.

 

Sorry to not be helpful lol.

I have not had time to look over what you specificly ask, however, I am not a fan of the yellowish background and dark blue colour on the nav. I will spend more time on this thread later, but that is the first thing I took a dislike too.

 

I think a light grey/white background would work better with that colour of nav.

 

Sorry to not be helpful lol.

 

No, I want to hear your thoughts. I picked the color scheme from kuler.adobe.com a while back and it was the most popular palette on their site for a long time. I thought it was a safer bet then me trying and as I admitted I am not a color guy, so that's why I used those colors.

 

I will be watching for any more details you can can offer up and feel free to suggest colors directly.