Looks great! I checked out the updates, and like them. Your homepage is nice and neat...I like the one image. Also, your pricing is nice and concise (can't remember if you changed that or not).

Just need to figure out how to get those numbers out from underneath the gallery pics...but I know you are working on it.

Also...I am supportive of your religious conotations in your logo (not that you are looking for approval). I get that you are using the cake biz as a testimony, and you are not concerned about those customers that you may offend.

kimster,
I am considering what you said about the "Guaranteed" part on my Home Page. I can see that technically that could be a problem......Maybe change it to something about me providing the the best that I possibly can for each and every order type thing.

TubbsCookies,
You made me laugh! I gotcha! Last I heard, I think the Pastor said that there were a minimum of 1500 people who attend weekend services on a regular basis. So, I'm not too concerned about getting orders.


I think LetThereBeCake07 made a good point when she said:

"God will bring you business BECAUSE of who you are. Those who are "offended" need not to visit your site or order from you. Just like I woulnt go to a store or a movie that offended my beliefs. There are all kinds of businesses for all kinds of people. Thats what is so cool about it, there is a place for eveyone
Your place will be a perfect fit for many and a chance to share your story. It is also a great example to those around you and your kids! They will see that mom didnt change who she was to plese others or get business but instead you trusted in Jesus and He provided for your needs."

For sure there are stores I will not visit because of what they sell, like what was stated, there are all kinds of businesses for all kinds of people. Our church is a Bible based Church (not to get started again! ) and believes in taking care of orphans and widows, but I know others will learn of me by word of mouth also. People are wanting something more than just word of mouth, they want more detailed info so they can place an order. I really think that people will order from me regardless of what they believe. IMHO.

A really cool thing about God is that He will use where ever you are and whatever you have in your hand to offer him. Moses had a stick, I have a cake!

julzs71,

Thanks for your opinion!


BlondiezBakery,
Thanks for letting me know what you think about the update! I jacked up the About Us page and duplicated the Home Page....ooops. At least I didn't have that page ready yet! Good thing. Still in progress!

You are right on about what you said, and I do appreciate your support, even though I am not looking for approval, just some good pointers and advice about the layout and business info of the site.

You guys are awesome!

I think that the home page looks much better. A+! I think that you need to add some kind of cake like clip art by the welcome at the top of the home page...although I am not sure what exactly...so far so good!

And you need not change anything on there about anything that relates to your religion. I think that people want us to change and conform to society...be what you are cause that is just fine.

I love your reviews page. I think its great you stick to your convictions! Best Wishes!

I am all for freedom of religion, and so long as you live in a bible thumpin' type of an area (and I say that with the utmost respect) you need not worry about not getting orders due to your obvious affiliation with the church. I am with Tubbs in that I would steer clear due to my very anti-church views, but that is neither here nor there. In general I suggest keeping your religious/political views out of your business as not to alientate anyone (so you can make more money), but if it is deeply ingrained I suppose there is no separating it, and as long as you don't have overly judgemental/preachy tones on your site then you should be pretty safe getting business. I have seen some pretty harsh things by the way of links from sites.. tests about how good of a person you are.. links to propoganda from more extremist religions.. but your site doesn't give off that type of a vibe. Simply that you have faith and are proud of that and want to share.

I will say that I agree that I didn't get a "cakey" vibe from your logo or splash page (or overall layout of your site). It feels more like a nice little church site until you read on about pricing and flavors and such. I think if your logo were overlaying a pink line drawing of a cupcake it might give off more of a cake vibe.. and if your splash page had animation of a cake swirling into view that would help too.. Maybe get an image of a cake up higher on your about page too? Something so that you don't have to scroll to see a cake.. or maybe get an image of a line of cupcakes to go where they pink block is? I don't know how much control you have over your layout though.

I think your site is very pretty and I don't have any problem with the religous stuff (I'm a wanna-be Catholic )

all I'm going to add, is that I really don't care for 'splash pages', i.e. the pre-homepage stuff. I would put your message in pink block under the "Welcome" and maybe put a illustration of a cake or cupcake with one of the those cool butterflies hovering/sitting on it.

I also agree that you should try to tighten up your info on the homepage so that you see more of the image without scrolling. (also, you should reduce the image size - in Kb - so that it loads faster)

good luck and Godspeed!

Thanks guys!

So, I think we all agree that there needs to be something more "cakey" at the top somehow, so that when the screen pops open, cake is what comes to mind.

I am limited on what I can do for quite a few things; most of the stuff for godaddy is "fill in the blank" type stuff. I chose this route so I can update with pics quickly.

Does anyone have a site where you can resize an image or change formats for free and is easy to use? I think Kelley from Cake Boss had listed one somewhere.......Maybe I could take a pic and stretch it across the top somehow. Cakes by Sam comes to mind when I think of this. I don't know how to do a lot of the computer type stuff.
(I intend to eventually take computer classes so I can learn some of the basic stuff on how to "mesh" images together or to be able to add text, things like that. I think PhotoShop?)

I appreciate all your help and comments, whether we agree or disagree.

I agree that you should put a city and state. I also think that you should tone down the pink a bit, and make it even lighter than it already is.

To make it more professional looking, I would use only one font. Right now you have what looks like Ariel and Times New Roman (on the prices page, for example). I think it would look neater if you just chose one.

I agree with others who said you need to consolidate your stuff so that there is less scrolling. I do have to give you kudos for allowing the person that's viewing your site to click on the cake pictures to see a larger version. I always get annoyed when people have super tiny pictures of their cakes.

Oh and I know lots of us women love to throw in exclamation points to sound nice (I'm guilty of it too), but I think exclamation points on a website make it look less professional.

Good luck with everything, it looks like a great start.

I just use Photoshop, but you can re-size pictures for free at www.shrinkpictures.com

My only constructive criticism of your site would be to eliminate the splash screen. If I'm a customer (or a web surfer) I've already made the decision to come to your web site and look around. I don't want to click to enter. That's why I'm there. I think you might actually lose potential customers by putting in this added barrier. To me, it's like saying to a customer "Ok, you're heeeere. But do you really waaaaant to be heeeere?" It's better to just grab 'em by the horns right away.

It is really pretty though. Just a personal pet peeve of mine.

Most template sites.. especially flash templates.. have the splash page and it's not an option to get rid of it. Just one of those things you know? I have one and only because every Blu template has one.