Can someone critique my website?

My wife is starting a cloth diaper service and I am building her website. It is just a simple Squarespace setup but I like it so far. What are your thoughts? Be nice please, this is my first site.

BlueWagonBaby.com

I think it looks nice and clean. Could use a touch of color maybe or just a bit of flair. Maybe use a blue highlight to fit it together with a logo (yeah know blue wagon baby)

Just a thought, being that you offer pickup, you should include your serviced area.

Other than that, looks good. Nothing is worse than a site causing stimulation overload.

I am definitely planning a logo but need to find a designer that isn't going to rape me. I have a thought though.

Service area is TBD. I will probably throw something up there that is a little generic for now though.

Thanks guys!

It's very casual personal, and not so professional. For example: "So this is where we get into the actual cost of our service and what you get for paying us" and "Well, if you made it this far, you must be interested".

I would suggest cleaning it up to remove everything but the facts, and using a larger clearer font. You want things like this to jump out: "This simple service is provided for the low price of $20 a week". You don't want it buried in a line of bullets.

Apply a little Billy May to things, like your pricing page: http://www.bluewagonbaby.com/why-cloth/ As is, it took me a few seconds of reading through it to figure out your product was at the very bottom as a separate thing.

Better would be something like this:

BLUE BABY

Everything else

SAVINGS TO YOU!!!

I second the addition of blue accents. The website is rather sterile without it.

One of the issues is that your content doesn't fill a large monitor vertically. Additionally, the information that people need is hidden on subpages and listed in text format.

I recommend figuring out what your key business information is and create dead simple infographics (ideally using your blue accent color extensively). A half-width service map (again, highlight your service area in blue), a half-width table offering no more than three pricing tiers, and a half-width picture of a very happy baby rocking your diaper (again, blue background if possible; pay a photographer). These three items should be on your main page along with your contact information BIG (hours too).

This is a very bad mockup but the flow is reasonable. Convince them to use your service, show them how much it costs, then get them in touch with you.

Contact info needs to be at the top of every page, either button to fill out a contact sheet or a phone number. Ideally both.

Meta description needs to be appealing so people will click when they find the site in a search engine. Meta titles need to feature what you do (some variation of cloth diaper service) and then the company name for every page. No "us" or "cloth is better".

Ditch "Welcome to Blue Wagon Baby", it's not doing anything for you. Keep the rest of the H1.

Caution with the green claims: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-cloth-diapers-might-not-be-the-greener-choice-after-all/2015/05/08/32b2d8dc-f43a-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html

DaveEstey wrote: Caution with the green claims: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-cloth-diapers-might-not-be-the-greener-choice-after-all/2015/05/08/32b2d8dc-f43a-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html

Very interesting. though I hate how they give examples that don't tell the whole story (cotton uses more water than disposable, just in washing alone over 2.5 years... I'd prefer if they showed a table with total water usage of both in all stages, manufacturing, packaging, use, disposal), it is interesting none-the-less. Sounds kinda like the paper vs. plastic grocery bag thing... everyone thinks the paper is better for the earth when in fact the plastic bag is like 10x better.

My wife and I use a mix of cotton and disposable. I pushed for cotton to save money at the beginning, but agree that cotton diapers are really dumb if you are traveling, or out of the house in general. All in all we have probably not gotten full return on the cotton ones, until at least we are done with kids in diapers and sell them on to another family.

Good luck to you though, my mom used a diaper service when I was a kid and says she loved it. They really don't much exist anymore though.

Thanks everyone. I will definitely think these over. I was going for a more casual view to encourage a community, relationship type business. I see your point though.

Make important stuff bigger and at the top, got it.

Also, little creepy seeing my son on here.

In reply to singleslammer:

PM sent.

In reply to iadr:

Part of the issue there is that this is a template style build. I only have so many things that I can alter. I will see what the other templates look like.

Sorry, I think top mount buttons are the way to go.

Have you tried wordpress? Much better platform overall.

I think maybe a bunch of dancing kittens cavorting through soiled diapers would be cute...

FYI, my one big take-away from website design? People don't read.

Information you want them to know (prices, contact info) has to be obvious. No, more obvious than that. REALLY obvious. Assume your site is being accessed by a caffeinated 13-year-old who's also texting their BFF and driving while talking to five friends and has to pee.

Good point Keith. I will work on that. I spent my afternoon making a "disposable diapers are wasteful infographic. I don't want to get into an argument over that so if you don't agree, please keep it to yourself. I am just trying to make sheep buy my service. kidding.

Big Prices, big service area, etc...

Keith Tanner wrote: FYI, my one big take-away from website design? People don't read. Information you want them to know (prices, contact info) has to be obvious. No, more obvious than that. REALLY obvious. Assume your site is being accessed by a caffeinated 13-year-old who's also texting their BFF and driving while talking to five friends and has to pee.

Keith is right, and this is an interesting parallel between Web content and, well, any other writing. For effective web content, unleash you inner Hemingway.

Remove half the words. Remove half of what's left. You're now getting closer to the meat of the matter. Remove passive verbs, unneeded adjectives and fluff. Remember, no one cares about you. Just tell them what you'll do for them.

Honestly, the web copy you really need is probably something like "Reliable cloth diaper delivery in Central Missouri, only XXXX. [Contact us] to have diapers delivered to your door."

Or something like that.

I think there needs to be a balance. We're fairly verbose in our product descriptions with an approachable style. On high value stuff like ours, people love to sink into detail and you do want to create a relationship.

But if there's something that really needs to come across - like "sold in pairs", it gets a paragraph of its own near the top. Sometimes with bold or red text.

Serious advice this time- I buy parts online from several vendors here, and work with the sites daily, and I still have to search for the tiny little red button that says "Buy this". Don't hide the important stuff.

The best advice I can offer you for building a website that sells a diaper service...

Don't ask men. Especially men on a car website.

Too wordy.

Your "casual approach" isn't working. You are not building a community, relationship type business. It is deeply utilitarian. You want referrals from people who are in relationship with each other, but you don't want to actually build a community or relationship. FaceBook referrals to a site called "CheapDiaperService.com" (example- cut to the chase). The only thing that should be on your site is the dirty details (pun intended), the cost, and a few reasons why it is a good idea (green, healthy, convenient, etc).

Pet peeve- "$20 a week". Should be "$20 per week", or "$20 weekly). You are not selling weeks, and they don't cost $20. Consider $19.99, and make sure it can be setup as an automatic payment.

Are you really gonna blog about this? It's E36 M3. Nobody wants to talk about it or read your exploits.

I dunno, the mommy market is a strong community. Word of mouth will count for a lot, and you get that from forging a relationship with your customers.

Any FB posts related to the business should be along the lines of welcoming cute, squealy little new customers. Get permission and post a picture of the little darling. After you've done that a few times, it'll be a point of pride for the new mamas. Blog posts on why you should go with cloth diapers won't get the attention.

I am not denying community and relationship is a necessity.

I am saying the community is not the product being sold. The product is as utilitarian as an electric bill, but smells worse.

You need to TAP INTO community, but not BE the community.

This site should not be about building a community. It should be about a product that makes women's lives better (and their children's). Let the community building happen elsewhere (FB, etc).

What would this look like?

For example- a campaign like "Less time with diapers, means more time with babies". Offer a free week of service to anyone who brings you a referral through FaceBook. Have videos of Dads enjoying their kids more because of less stress when the household budget is relieved.

Provide a professional service that makes women's lives easier and better, and don't flirt with the potential to patronize them by implying they may fall in love with baby pictures, and therefore pay you to haul their E36 M3 away.

Here's an idea... How about a segregated personalized service? Could you set it up so the SAME diapers were always returned to the SAME customer? The selling point would be, "Why would anyone want their child to wear someone else's used diapers?". Do it like a rented uniform service- clean and return the same (marked) diapers, and replace when they are beyond their useful life.

I think there's a very thin line between tapping into a community and being one. You want to support it, embed yourself in it. There's really no difference between Facebook and a website, they're both ways of reaching potential customers in this case.

If you show potential customers that you care for your existing customers and that they're people instead of just clients, that'll go a long way. You're not (overtly) trying to get women to fall in love with the baby pictures, you're showing that you know these babies are in your care. It's the same as GRMs Internet.Hot.Rod.Of.The.Month. GRM picks those cars to make their readers feel like part of a community.

I really like the first suggestion for a campaign.

Keith Tanner wrote: There's really no difference between Facebook and a website, they're both ways of reaching potential customers in this case.

Sure there is a difference! - FaceBook ALREADY exists, and the potential customers are ALREADY using it and ALREADY connected with each other!

I am not saying don't have a website. I am saying do everything you can to tap into existing community instead of reinventing the wheel. Women are already connected.