Aw, what the heck, while I’m here …

I know I just wrote a whole post the other day about why I’m not going to be a helper-mouse goshdarnit.

And how all those people who write to me wanting freebie advice and help with their websites can forget about it.

But now I’m going to. Give one of them freebie website advice, I mean.

Because I thought about it and I can’t help myself: they really, really need it. I can’t help them all because it will drive me crazy, but I can help one.

Okay, last person who asked me for advice. How about we start with you?

Let’s do this thing! In fact, let’s do it Dear Abby style.

Confidential to Avivit in Charlotte, NC

Re: your website that you asked me to review (and gave me permission to link to).

First of all, good for you for starting a brand new business (importing yoga clothes!) and putting up a website (website!). That is huge. Big scary stuff and I’m for it!

You’re doing the thing! Love it love it love it. Pat yourself on the back and repeat at least once a day.

Because web sites are like babies — they grow fast — and you won’t have time to remember how great you are. Remember.

So yeah, a website is an ongoing work-in-progress, and I’m sure you’ll end up doing lots of interesting stuff with it as your business grows and changes.

Now. Since you asked. Here’s what I’d change.

The icon

I LOVE the little flower icon you’re using as a logo and favicon. Gorgeous. And it works. Very very nice.

Now sneak that in more and embed it here and there into different places on the site. The cuteness factor wouldn’t work for a lot of websites, but it absolutely works for you.

The header

The photo header image is attractive but the gigantic size means people have to scroll down to figure out what your site is about.

And the high-fashion-meets-goth-ness there doesn’t necessarily mesh with the whole yoga/pilates-ey vibe either.

You could either take it out or get something that’s about a quarter of the size at most.

While you’re at it, take out “High performance & style apparel” since that’s just more blah blah blah. Then you can make the Yoga, Pilates & Fitness Activewear from around the world be your title at the top of the page.

And keep in mind that putting your keywords (yoga, pilates, activewear) in the images is not the most search-engine-friendly thing to do.

The name

Hmmm, not to stress you out too much, but are you married to the name? Do you *love* it and want to live with it forever and ever?

Because ActiveWearUSA doesn’t really have any emotional or mental associations for me, “sticky” or otherwise.

Actually, it kind of sounds like it might be a lot like every other online clothing thing that ever was. Which of course it’s not, right? It’s yours. It’s special.

So if you’re not 100% taken with it, maybe try brainstorming up something a little more fun, because your brand is clearly all about easygoing lightheartedness. I wanna to hear some sparkle in the name.

(Plus, if you ever want to go international, you don’t want the brand name to limit you.)

The “About Us” page

The About Us page should be either really personal or really “yes, we’re a serious company” but not a mix of both. I think it will flow much better if you commit to one.

The “Our Brands” page

I don’t think Our Brands needs to be a top navigation link. That could be folded into the About section or be a bottom link. It just won’t interest most people. Unless your audience is not individual buyers, which it appears to be. Correct me if I’m wrong.

The copy

Have a native English speaker go over the copy and tweak a little. When I got back to North America after eleven years abroad there were all sorts of “not-quite-right-nesses” happening all over the place in my site too.

Okay, there still are, but now they’re slightly more intentional.

Generally speaking, my favorite parts are where you speak personally about your experience with the clothing (size chart, descriptions of the different pieces) and my least favorite parts are the cold, formal ones (the brand description, the return policy).

Links (sidebar and bottom navigation)

The small-type horizontal list at the bottom of each page looks like it’s meant to be navigation of some kind. It’s not. Link these or take them out.

The sidebar is filled with links but I can’t tell by looking if they actually go places. Make them look more link-ey, especially since I just got fooled by the bottom ones.

And if you don’t want to underline, you can at least give them a roll-over color.

The biggification

Don’t be an slowpoke introvert like me. Start blogging it up right away. Write about what you do and what you think and what you care about.

Hang out places where yoga/pilates type people hang out and comment like crazy. Be helpful when you can. Be honest when you can’t.

Follow all my advice about 1. usability testing, 2. website analysis and 3. asking people for advice.

And last but not least, or — as we say in Hebrew — acharon chaviv …

For the love of god, wear your eye-catchingly gorgeous clothes EVERYWHERE. Be your own walking advertisement.

That’s it. Good luck. Go forth and conquer.

And here’s the disclaimer for everyone who’s wondering.

No, I’m not a designer. No, I’m not a web optimization person.

I’m just a. a person with strongly held opinions and b. (for some reason I can’t fathom) someone that everyone asks.

If for whatever reason you still think you want my advice, read this first.

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