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Thread ID: 114632	2010-12-11 04:08:00	Website feedback please	johcar (6283)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1160577	2010-12-11 04:08:00	Just launched a new site today: www.myschoolshop.co.nz This is an auction site today, with a specific focus on schools and school-related items, like school uniforms and books. Unlike Trademe, the way I have set up the categories means that people will more than likely be dealing with other people in their local community, rather than at the other end of the country, so no worrying about packing and freight and stuff going missing in-transit, and sellers and buyers will probably meet and make the exchange of goods and cash. Feedback on the site welcomed. It's an off-the-shelf software package that has been tweaked a bit. I'm sure there are lot of suggestions to improve it further - however some may have to go on the back-burner if they require a bit of development ($$$).... (We don't have any paid advertisers at the moment which is why we've got non-profit orgs up instead - PM me if you are a non-profit who wants a bit of free webtime - for a limited time only!)	johcar (6283)
1160578	2010-12-11 04:35:00	Hi Johcar It's a nice idea - I'm just wondering why you chose to launch it at the start of the school holidays when everyone has had enough of the year? Also, what have you done about letting staff and pupils know about this? Good luck anyway	tuiruru (12277)
1160579	2010-12-11 05:25:00	Cheers tuiruru - the project started a couple of months ago and was supposed to launch at the beginning of November. Unfortunately we've had a few unavoidable delays, getting the customisations done so they work they way we want them to - you only have one chance to make a first impression. The developer has been extremely helpful and has done a heap of work for real cheap, since the changes we have suggested will benefit the saleability of his product - and he has a lot more enhancements he wants to do too. Interestingly (I think, anyway) uniform auctions on Trademe are still running hot, despite this being the END of the school year!! Bizarre. We have spoken to a few principals and BOT representatives - all seem to think it's a great idea - staff have been a bit "meh", I guess because raising money for the school is not in their normal scope of work. Fair enough too - they have more than enough to do during any given school week! We are considering advertising in the NZSTA (NZ School Trustees) publications, but that probably won't happen until next year. Over Xmas I will be emailing schools around the country (individually addressed, so it's less likely to be considered spam), letting them know about the site. In the meantime, we've got Facebook, Twitter and word-of-mouth (including this lot here!) as our main advertising arsenal (short arms, deep pockets! :)).	johcar (6283)
1160580	2010-12-11 07:07:00	Looks pretty clean and crisp. :) I've only taken a quick peek, but I went looking for two bits of information that immediately popped into my head. 1. Is there a list of schools that are signed up? I want to see what local schools could benefit from my auction, but I don't want to google all their websites and try and work it out that way. 2. Physical contact. No, not that. :rolleyes: I want to see something 'real' that shows me who is responsible for the website. I don't like one-sided contact pages. What about a PO Box at least or a phone that goes to a message service? Are you planning on adding categories? [edit:] Re-read your post. I see you are using regions as the only category. Will you expect people to use the search function to find things that may be for sale outside of their region?	Jen (38)
1160581	2010-12-11 07:17:00	Back again. :D Your www.myschoolshop.co.nz search input field crops off all the tails on letters. For example, j looks like an i. The login page here www.myschoolshop.co.nz doesn't crop the letters, but the wee login orange box on the top left also crops. This is with Firefox 3.5.15.	Jen (38)
1160582	2010-12-11 08:13:00	Looks pretty clean and crisp . :) I've only taken a quick peek, but I went looking for two bits of information that immediately popped into my head . 1 . Is there a list of schools that are signed up? I want to see what local schools could benefit from my auction, but I don't want to google all their websites and try and work it out that way . 2 . Physical contact . No, not that . :rolleyes: I want to see something 'real' that shows me who is responsible for the website . I don't like one-sided contact pages . What about a PO Box at least or a phone that goes to a message service? Are you planning on adding categories? [edit:] Re-read your post . I see you are using regions as the only category . Will you expect people to use the search function to find things that may be for sale outside of their region? We haven't done a list of schools - there are 2500-odd primary/secondary schools in NZ, so trying to maintain a list that would be easily searchable by a user would be a bit of a nightmare . Our thoughts were that an individual would most likely be looking for a local school and it would be easier by far for them to quickly visit their school website and locate our logo (as per the FAQ ( . co . nz/faq . asp#210" target="_blank">myschoolshop . co . nz)) . In addition, if the logo wasn't found, this would also perhaps prompt them to contact the school to in turn get the school to contact us (sneak-attack marketing!! :)) . . . Pretty easy to pop a PO Box on there - good point . Will attend to it ASAP . Thanks . We don't want to do like a certain other site and set up an 0900 number as a Customer Service line, however we do have a Skype account (with subscription) ready and raring to go to make outgoing calls (only) for any specific customer support required . Outside region goodies - yes, the search algorithm is pretty damn good and fast and was one of the hold-ups to our go-live date . Back again . :D Your . myschoolshop . co . nz/search . asp" target="_blank">www . myschoolshop . co . nz search input field crops off all the tails on letters . For example, j looks like an i . The login page here . myschoolshop . co . nz/login . asp" target="_blank">www . myschoolshop . co . nz doesn't crop the letters, but the wee login orange box on the top left also crops . This is with Firefox 3 . 5 . 15 . Good spotting - also with FF3 . 6 . 13 and IE8 (can someone check with IE7 and maybe, gulp, IE6 please??) . I should have picked that up myself!! I'll get the developer onto it tonight!! EDIT: Oops - not IE - Opera Thanks .	johcar (6283)
1160583	2010-12-11 08:25:00	2553 schools to be exact...	johcar (6283)
1160584	2010-12-11 09:24:00	Now have a PO Box in the footer.... Thanks Jen.	johcar (6283)
1160585	2010-12-11 09:28:00	From a SEO perspective...and if you want to increase search engine visitors, though I realize your site has not been indexed yet, but you may want to.. - Add it to Google's Web Master (www.google.com) tools - which they ramped up a lot lately. You can now see what "google bot sees", plus do diagnostic tests, crawl rates, view stats, popular queries, etc. including speed load times which is now a factor in search results listing (serps). Some SEO tips (searchengineland.com) from their tools. - May want to consider adding Google Analytics for visitor tracking; now can customize reports for certain segments. Useful feature is how visitors land at the site then if they crawl through, or bounce off, etc. - Since you say it's a auction site - you should include that term near the top page - since in NZ it's searched about 40, 000 times a month, as opposed to buy and sell (which you have) - searched about 12, 000 times. For exact searches, those terms are searched much less. Check at Google adwords keyword tool if you want. - Maybe submit your site to local NZ directories. Some email good tips for promoting NZ sites, on the web, mobile, SEO tips, etc. - As noted by Jen, you need categories/sub categories, once you know what they need to be, and that they are labeled for not only users but for search engines (i.e craw-able depending on depth/amount of categories), i.e. good site - usability and site architecture. Examples here (searchengineland.com) and here (www.searchenginejournal.com) - might be a bit advanced but important. Worked for some of my blogs/sites - ramped up visitors, reduced bounce rates, and increased inter page visits.	kahawai chaser (3545)
1160586	2010-12-11 09:45:00	Cheers - already got Google Analytics installed. Have just amended the front page to include the word "Auction" I will investigate Google's Webmaster Tools, and we are investigating local search engine services - thanks. Subcategories are there - click on the Region and you can drill down to the districts, schools and sale categories. When you post an item, you start at the sale category level and then select a school - but of course you can only see that once you have an account...	johcar (6283)
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