In Deep Water

[graceful.04]

Some of you might remember my thread "Starting a business in Central Jersey soonish" Well... a storefront hasn't been opened yet, but I have a website in progress; http://indeepwateronline.com/

As of now, I don't have much in stock, in fact I'm still working on figuring out how to get the store part going, but I would love it if you all could provide feedback of what you like, don't like, suggestions, etc... Thanks!

Grace

[Betta man]

Work on selling online and locally. Try working on an online store. I have never opened an aquarium store, but I know someone who has one. He buys plants and fish at aquarium clubs for really cheap and sells them at his store. Some plants at the club wouldn't sell. He bought a bunch for two bucks and probably sold them for a lot more. Things on aquabid seem to go pretty cheap. You could buy the fish on aquabid and sell them locally too. Try making your site have an online store. Again, I have never had a store and there are much more experienced aquarists here who will answer your questions better.

[MainelyFish]

The best advice I can give you about your website it to make sure you make it simple, clean, easy to navigate and professional looking... People need to feel comfortable when they go to a sight that they are going to supply there payment information to... I know personally that when I go to a site if I am not completely comfortable that its a well done secure sight I will leave and never return...

So do your best to make it feel professional and not like something someone just threw together... I have built and currently maintain several website and that is one of the biggest things I am always try to make sure I do... make it look professional and give them a reason to keep coming back...

Not sure if this helps... Hope it does...

[graceful.04]

It absolutely does help. I completely agree, and just out of curiosity, from your viewpoint does it look professional?

[MainelyFish]

Let me start off by saying I love what your doing and in fact I am a little jealous, wish I had the time and resources to start an online store front... That being said I have been debating over how to say this without being discouraging to you... To me your site feels more like a hobby site that would have good information and not so much a store front where someone would be selling items from...

My suggestion would be to do a little bit of homework and Google online fish store/pet store or even other online places that you purchase from and take a look at what a lot of them are offering. I am not saying you want to plagiarizer there sites but take what they have and make it your own... Think about it like every time some comes up with a new car design they don't reinvent the wheel or how it works... They take what has worked and adapt it to what there vision is...

I really hope this does not discourage you I don't want to do that... I think you have a good ambitious idea but it will take some time, research and planning to put it all together...

I am hear for anything you may need... Just let me know...

[Obsidian]

Personally I think that there is one thing you can do that will really help your local fishkeepers- and yourself. Accept fish that they want to give you. Set up a really good QT system and go for it. One of the biggest problems that people run into here is that there isn't somewhere to re-home fish that they need to re-home. I lucked out and had a friend with a 110 gallon tank when I broke down my 100ga tank. She took my fish for me. Our LFS takes some, but it's a small store so they can't accept too many. They have accepted some fun ones though! The big pleco's are always fun to see. They have had a 15 inch one there in the past. That was a big puppy!

[graceful.04]

I wish I had the time and resources to start an online storefront too, haha. And as of now, my site is just a hobby site, no discouragement at all. Once I actually start selling things though, you're right. It does need to look more store-like. I'll definitely work on that when I have a lot of time to spare.
Obsidian, first I need to find people who want to give me fish! As of now, I have no clue as to how to find them, let alone how to get them to give me fish

[MainelyFish]

As a hobbiest site I think its a good looking little site...

[graceful.04]

Thats a good start at least

[weedkiller]

i mess a little with photoshop and i know its all in the details..
from a quick look my thoughts are:
Home page.. drop the pic a little so you can see the fishes head.
overall i would use a higher definition picture on all pages, ones that show the beauty of the fish in sharp glorious colour, if you make them look more attractive it will look more proffesional.
when it comes to graphics Never expand a picture, always shrink if you must that way you will keep definition and it wont go blurrey
The main header, i would use an emblem with a couple of cute fishes, bit like the fish forum header, rather than just a font.
The swirley bits on your site look like they are from a free web desgn page, and the bottom would look better with a silouette of fish rather than trees, all little details. i would suggest paying a little for a compatible theme, it will improve your site no end.
Make it look more proffessional and you are more likely to get more custom.
That is my thoughts, hope i have not offended you as i know it has taken you longs hours to get where you are now and it is all trial and error. Constructive critism will make your site much better

[weedkiller]

how about
and this is a site that i was helping to maintain and did the pictures for to give you an idea http://www.1para.com

[graceful.04]

Thank you so much, first of all, you're right; I did get the swirly bits from a template but I will see if I can change them because, again, you're right. It does look like I got them from a free website page. Constructive criticism is exactly what I need! The thing about the pictures is really funny though because most of them were taken with a camera that is not quite DSLR level but pretty close to it. Taking pictures of fish is so difficult! But I'll definitely mess around with them some more. The logo is adorable but I feel like it would be false advertising because it's freshwater only. I guess thats just one more thing I need to say on my site!

[Vayurules]

Umm, my view of a professional website... hmm. I think the Liveaquaria.com site looks more professional than aquariumfish.net. I don't know if this actually makes sense...

[MainelyFish]

Vayurules,

I agree with you completely part of the reason is there is way to much scrolling on the aquariumfish.net site... along with others...

[graceful.04]

Ok, when the website grows and I have time to change it, I'll make sure that people don't have to scroll much! I do agree though, so I suppose I'll try to get my site looking more like liveaquaria and less like a hobby site.