I am opening my home based kitchen the first of the year and i've been trying to get the details moving while the kitchen gets finished. I just started my website yesterday and still have some galleries to add. Just wanted to share and see if there were any recommendations for anything i am missing or that i should change. All suggestions welcome. Also if anyone has set up their own and used GoogleAdwords GoogleWebmaster or GoogleAnalytics please let me know what i am doing wrong...it is not cooperating

Here is the ling..... www.RachelReeseCakeBoutique.com

Some quick feedback from a professional web designer:

- The script font is nice for the title and headings but it is not very readable for body text
- The background is very busy and draws your eye away from the page content
- You may want to consider breaking up your home page content into smaller paragraphs or bullet points, try to pare down your mission statement/competitive advantage into one sentence if possible
- Include contact info directly on your home page (phone number, "serving the XYZ area")
- Consider reducing the number of pages: flavors and prices can probably be consolidated onto one page or even included directly on the home page.
- Independent guestbooks are not really used too much any more, you may want to replace it with a link to your business's Facebook or Yelp page for people to leave feedback
- For the Contact page, consider a contact form instead of just listing your email address (it will cut down on spam)

Good luck, and congrats on the new business!

great ideas! Thanks so much Jason, I will for sure be doing some of those.

I did my website through Godaddy.com and website tonight. I have the statics on mine too and had the hardest time getting it to work. I ended up taking it off each page and now when i get my daily stats it tells me anyways which pages people were on. It is a great feature that is for sure! Good luck on the business!!

I understand if you don't wish to take my advice but I would suggest charging $3.25 instead of $3.24 for fondant cakes. Easier math for you and a more standard pricing.

Bridgette that was a typo i did catch it but have not corrected it yet LOL Thanks though

This is a suggestion for your photos. Some of them look crooked, but it is just the photo. I run mine through a program to straighten them before I publish them. This way, just because they were shot less than straight, the cake will still be straight in the end photo.

scp what is the name of the program? I am computer illiterate LOL

Me too. My web designer made it so that every time I add pictures to my computer, they automatically go to Picasa also. But you could just load them directly on Picasa. There I fix my lighting, crop, and straighten. The final fixed pictures are the ones I put on my site. It is a free site.

http://picasa.google.com/

I love this application. My pictures have been so much better.

Can I let the English teacher in me run wild?

- On the front page, you use 'we' everywhere, and 'I' once. I'd go with 'we' all the way through.
- "This means cakes ordered from Rachel Reese Cake Boutique result in will have a more polished, finished look than those of a grocery store bakery and are always fresh and moist." Cut out the underlined - the original sentence sounds clunky, and I wouldn't think you'd even want to mention grocery store cakes in the same breath as yours!

- "Since each cake is custom designed to meet your needs prices are based per serving. One serving yields a 1x2x4 inch slice of cake, if you would like larger pieces of cake you may want to order additional servings beyond the number of guest you are expecting."
A comma is needed after 'meet your needs'
I would change 'prices are based' to 'our cakes are priced'
I would put a full stop after 'slice of cake'
I would put a full stop after 'additional servings' and cut the rest of that sentence.

On the prices page you make the following statement:

You then go on to state that

I got my partner and daughter to read that page and even they wondered if they had to order 4 dozen cupcakes to reach the $75 minimum.

On the flavors page; line up the bullet points.

What is 'custom' maybe you should consider it to 'other flavors by request'.

I would also change the background of the photos, they are distracting.