Week 2 Part B Restraint's area

 

Ciao Restaurant

1.       https://www.ciao2.com/

2.       I chose Ciao’s restaurant in Vista California which is a local, unique cool restaurant with Italian food, drinks, and is good for kids' and adults. Their website shows the menu, and they serve a lot of options. It is a family owned local business with one location, not international and is a place I enjoy in Vista. It has a nice atmosphere, the staff is profession and treat their customers will, the food is good and fellow customers are nice. They also provide holiday specials as well, it’s a great place for Mother’s day.

3.       On the top right of their website, they link you to their Social Media, including reviews. This includes Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. They have high ratings and I think it’s really good they link customers to their social media sites. They let the consumer see the ratings directly and the reviews.

a.       Last post on Yelp was 2/6/2023 and the business seems to use social media consistently. I think because they have such a large volume of customer reviews and ratings, they don’t spend a lot of time reviewing the review or responding from what I have seen.

b.       They have about 1400 followers on Instagram and the business has been around for 25 years.

4.       My analysis of their social media use is that they do use social media and have it linked directly to their website. The use of social media shows that customers really enjoy the experience at the restaurant and they run a well-managed highly rated business.

 

Upper Crust Pizza

1.       https://www.uppercrustpizzavista.com/menu

2.       Upper Crust Pizza is also located in Vista, CA and they have good pizza, sandwiches, and a good selection of food and drinks. The website has a full menu online and the in-person service is good. The business is family friendly and it’s a nice place to hang-out with friends and family. The owner is friendly and so is the staff as well. I chose this business to compare against Ciao’s in use of Social Media as they are in the same are and in the restaurant business.

3.       They have a basic website, but they do not link or list their social media or review. I think they could better promote the business by listing their reviews and links to social media because they are a good place.

a.       Yelp has 195 reviews with a four-star rating, last review with 5 stars on 1/13/2023.

b.       I was not able to find any other social media related to them. I think they could expand the business by adding pictures of their business and using Instagram and Facebook. Maybe a weekly special would be useful to get more followers if they add the accounts.

4.       My analysis of their social media use is that they are limited in Social Media and could make better use of the platforms as they have high ratings on Yep. They should like these review from the Website and allow customers to see their value proposition based on feedback. They do a nice job, are friendly, and have a positive response from customers.

 

 

Pacific Auto Center

5.       https://www.pacificautocenteroc.com/

6.       Pacific Auto Center is a multi-location auto dealership in Southern California. They are a local business that sells used cars to consumers in San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange County.

7.       They do post their social media score on their website, it claims a 4.7/5 rating however, when you research the organization, Yelp verified users give the business a very poor rating. A family member purchased a car at this business and commented that the low yelp ratings, and user comments, were very accurate based on their first-hand experience doing business with this organization. Their high-scoring ratings listed on their website reference DealerRater and Cars.com. They do not link their high score they publish on their website to DealerRater or Cars.com which seems a bit unusual if you are a great business. Social Media users prefer Yelp it seems, and they have rated the business on the low-end.

a.       Yelp last review was 1/30/2023. Also, Yelp flagged that there seems to be suspicious activity on reviews. Based on review, this makes sense as one certified Yelp account said that many of the positive reviews were from many single accounts that have only posted one review so they felt these were fraudulent positive reviews.

b.       The business does interact with Platforms however; the business practice customers complain about has been repeated over and over again by customers for years. Based on the duration, and the same feedback, and the businesses same response, it seems that this is a real issue, and they are not adjusting their business practice.

                                                              i.      Three years post the review explaining their business practice, my family member confirmed they had the same experience so the ratings by consumers seem to be accurate and honest.

8.       My analysis of their social media use is that they do use Social Media however, the social media sites referenced that they score themselves very high-on did not appear to have the same score based on my research as best I can tell. They do respond to user feedback and negative posts but a high-number of consumers on Yelp, which rated them low, said they did not solve any of their problems which seems consistent over a long period of time. My opinion is that Social Media reviews, and those that research them, will have a pretty good idea of what to expect when interacting with this organization. Seems like you would want to be an experienced car buyer or maybe go to CarMax where you pay a little more but don’t have a riskier experience.

 

Belching Beaver Restaurant

1.https://tavern.belchingbeaver.com/

 

2.Belching beaver is in vista Ca this is a really good restaurant it is a mix of foods, it has steak, wine beer, hamburgers fries and more. It has a very good long list of menu options, good for adults and kids. This is a good place to eat.  They have a website that shows location when it open and the directions, and events that happen there. I see a lot of good reviews on Yelp they had seen a lot like the directions and website are on Yelp as well, they get good comments on yelp as their online business It also shows logos and different colors also videos on their website as shown.

3.Belching beaver has Instagram, Facebook, twitter it also has a website that is shown on iPhone directions and map also the iPhone are shown on their website as well. Very nice place for enjoyment and family times. They also have a job resume straight off their website. On the website it also has accesibilty menu as a user way under another company.

4.This is a very good website and restaurant.

 

Belching Beaver Restaurant

1.       https://tavern.belchingbeaver.com/

2.       Belching Beaver is in Vista, CA this is a really good restaurant / Microbrew and it has a mix of foods, steak, hamburgers, fries, high-end meals like salmon along with wine and they make their own beer. It has a very good long list of menu options, good for adults and kids to attend. They are a local business with multiple locations in San Diego. They have a website that shows locations, hours of operation, directions, and events they are hosting.

3.       The Belching Beaver business links their social media at the upper right corner of their website. They are a social responsible company, links are to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I see a lot of good reviews on Yelp, they have positive comments, and nice customer feedback.

a.       On Yelp, they have over 1,000 reviews and a four-star rating. Overall, good review but they do not respond to the poor review and comments on Yelp.

b.       On Instagram, they have 6,628 followers and post often using social media.

4.       My analysis of their social media is that they do use it but if they expanded like Chipotle, I think it would help their business to engage new customers. Overall, they are doing a decent job but could still improve and probably gain some new customers and respond to negative reviews and feedback.

 

Chipotle Mexican Grill

5.       https://www.chipotle.com/

6.       Chipotle is a national restaurant chain that is corporately owned and was a father-son business before being discovered and expanded across the United States. The business has a repeatable food-process and the experience is very similar across any restaurant nationally. They have a strong website and online presence and did a good job during the pandemic selling online, delivering product. They will cater as well for consumers.

7.       They link their Social Media at the bottom of their website, they are a social responsible company and the links are to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

a.       On Yelp, the have individual store reviews so they vary quite a bit. There are good review but also a lot of poor reviews, I do not see the individual store locations responding to review. I think they could to let them know that they do care about customers and value their input into the process. There may be corporate restrictions I would assume for individual stores to respond, have to assume they have guidelines and/or a public relations department.

b.       They have a huge number of followers, about 3.3 million on Facebook. They last posted on January 30^th and appear to be pretty active. On Instagram, they have 1.2 million followers and post often using Social Media.

8.       My analysis of their social media use is that they do use social media and have a large following but they could do a better job of responding to customers at individual stores.

Week 4 Part B

 

BUSINESS BACKGROUND:

The business name is going to be called “wehavebees.com” which is in the business of making and selling queen bees and nuc hives for hobby and commercial beekeepers. Our goal is to provide high-quality bees to those in need for both cold and warm-weather beekeepers.

                For the business, it’s going to be a fictional business at this time and is only going to be created for this class. I don’t own a business currently although I do use social media platforms. I’ve been using Instagram for about 6 years and have 300 followers, YouTube I have multiple channels and have used it for 5 years and have 200 followers. Additionally, I’ve been using Twitch for about 2 years, but my following is pretty low at around 20 followers.

TARGET BUSINESS MARKET:

Target Market Analysis for Live Bee Purchasing:

                Our primary market is queen bee production, Glen County in California is the queen bee capital in North America. Olivarez Honey Bees produces 200,000 queen honey bees every year and they cannot supply all orders requested and sell-out every year. The market demand for queen bees cannot be met and more production is necessary to meet the demand for commercial and hobby American beekeepers. Annually, about 25-35 percent of bee colonies do not make it through the winter and need to be re-established which requires queen bees and nuc colonies. Based on analysis of losses at 30%, 1.2 million bee colonies need to be re-established annually. Many beekeepers, including commercial beekeepers, have operations that focus on pollination and their business model includes purchasing queens over breeding and producing queens themselves as it is not the focus of their business. There is new technology to monitor hives, in limited use, but if it becomes widely used, there is the potential to increase the market demand further for queens. Producers that can deliver within 3 days after receiving an order will rise to the top of the market for beekeepers.

                Risks to the market include bee disease that impacts your ability to produce quality queens, decrease in demand for almond grove pollination in California which provides the main income for commercial pollinators and queen demand, or an automation change in how queens are produced for the industry. Since the market has been consistent for 20+ years, we feel the risk is low if strong queens with good genetics are produced.

Source Information:

                Primary source information includes research on companies providing queen bees to the beekeeping industry, total number of US Colonies, and local news articles related to rearing queen bees. Based on information provided by statista, there are approximately 2.7 million bee colonies in the United States. The general loss of colonies in the United States, according to beeinformed.org, averages 27% for the last 14 years with commercial beekeepers losing 39% of their colonies in 2022. Based on loses alone, the demand for quality queens is outstanding and those who have cost-effective production operations can do well in this industry.

Projections:

                During the first year, we will complete a limited run, make sure our technology is working as expected, customers are happy with the queen product produced, and provide good business reviews. Upon the first year completing, we will look to scale the business, while controlling operational costs, spend marketing dollars, and also look to retain 75% of customers for return orders.

 

Production Year	Production Quantity	Average Price	Gross Sales
Year 1	250	29.00	7,250.00
Year 2	1000	31.00	31,000.00
Year 3	2500	32.00	80,000.00
Year 4	5000	33.00	165,000.00
Year 5	7500	35.00	262,500.00
Year 6	10000	36.00	360,000.00

 

Marketing Analysis and Conclusion:

                Based on marketing and competitor analysis, the primary way to drive sales is having a website that supports online ordering, with delivery dates, that is optimized for Search Engine results. Additionally, we will use Social Media to promote the product, including blog articles to increase our changes of being found, we can use bots to write the blogs quickly. To support the community, we will also produce video’s support on social media so customers can learn about us, how to install queens, and the quality of product we produce. With new technology for managing colonies coming to market, we may want to have a vendor agreement with Beehero to provide queens with an automatic order notification when they discover a queen has died in a colony. With this technology being used, there is a strong opportunity to save the colony as soon as the technology detects a queen has died if one is re-established. We may be able to work with them to receive an order immediately and increase value to the market or have an exclusive deal.

                In conclusion, the market is strong for queen bees and the demand far exceeds the supply. It is a labor intensive business and you need qualified staff to product queen bees with operational costs managed. With a well-managed business, gross profit margins should be 60 percent and by year 4, all capital equipment should be nearly paid-off. As a start-up business, we should be 100% profitable by year 5 with capital costs paid, provided the market demand does not change.

Week 4 part 1 target of food industry market

 The demographics of Sprouts and Cream of the Crop seem to be similar. They are targeting customers that are looking for natural healthy food; Sprouts has its own company labeled products that are natural, and Cream of the Crop does not but they have do have fresh produce. Sprouts seems to promote ease of ordering along with pick-up and delivery using Uber Eats for online customers that want to avoid an in-store shopping experience.

            Cream of the Crop, I feel, is less professional than Sprouts. They may want to consider updating the site to be more competitive with Sprouts website. Sprouts has their items categorized nicely for the customer, whereas Cream of the Crop does not. Cream of the Crop’s website asks you to sign-up with your email address and looks like a newspaper ad, which makes if feel more like a cheaper local discount market. Additionally, Cream of the Crop does not have a secure site, it is not using certificate’s which is all right but most modern sites ensure security so customers feel confident in the business. When you navigate through the Cream of the Crop’s website, you constantly get the email sign-up pop-up which is old design and pretty annoying to customers. Subtlety, both websites focus on ways to save while shopping with either business.

            The crossover between customers shopping at either business exists, however, Cream of the Crop has a single local presence in Oceanside, unlike Sprouts national presence. Most customers would probably cross-over to Sprouts from Cream of the Crop due to the number of locations which exist in communities outside Oceanside. I feel the flow of customers, especially those with financial means, would flow to Sprouts. Cream of the Crop is a good local choice for customers interested in their Deli and Juice Bar which makes it slightly different. Last, Sprouts categorizes some brands based on social equity suppliers and that may attract a certain type of consumer as well.

I think that the audience wants to find an organic product that contains healthy and nutritious foods, they are not necessarily concerned about the design of the websites. The call to action at Sprouts is to support natural products along with products and suppliers that are minority owned. Cream of the Crop’s tone is focused on healthy foods for those that are budget conscious based on my review. Messaging is focused on natural products but Sprouts and Cream of the Crop differ, Sprouts focuses on online shoppers and Cream of the Crop focuses on in-store shopping. Overall, the design could be improved but based on the target customer, I feel the designs do meet the demand of their market.

 

Buisness Research

Ciao Restaurant

1.       https://www.ciao2.com/

2.       I chose Ciao’s restaurant in Vista California which is a local, unique cool restaurant with Italian food, drinks, and is good for kids' and adults. Their website shows the menu, and they serve a lot of options. It is a family owned local business with one location, not international and is a place I enjoy in Vista. It has a nice atmosphere, the staff is profession and treat their customers will, the food is good and fellow customers are nice. They also provide holiday specials as well, it’s a great place for Mother’s day.

3.       On the top right of their website, they link you to their Social Media, including reviews. This includes Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. They have high ratings and I think it’s really good they link customers to their social media sites. They let the consumer see the ratings directly and the reviews.

a.       Last post on Yelp was 2/6/2023 and the business seems to use social media consistently. I think because they have such a large volume of customer reviews and ratings, they don’t spend a lot of time reviewing the review or responding from what I have seen.

b.       They have about 1400 followers on Instagram and the business has been around for 25 years.

4.       My analysis of their social media use is that they do use social media and have it linked directly to their website. The use of social media shows that customers really enjoy the experience at the restaurant and they run a well-managed highly rated business.

 

Upper Crust Pizza

1.       https://www.uppercrustpizzavista.com/menu

2.       Upper Crust Pizza is also located in Vista, CA and they have good pizza, sandwiches, and a good selection of food and drinks. The website has a full menu online and the in-person service is good. The business is family friendly and it’s a nice place to hang-out with friends and family. The owner is friendly and so is the staff as well. I chose this business to compare against Ciao’s in use of Social Media as they are in the same are and in the restaurant business.

3.       They have a basic website, but they do not link or list their social media or review. I think they could better promote the business by listing their reviews and links to social media because they are a good place.

a.       Yelp has 195 reviews with a four-star rating, last review with 5 stars on 1/13/2023.

b.       I was not able to find any other social media related to them. I think they could expand the business by adding pictures of their business and using Instagram and Facebook. Maybe a weekly special would be useful to get more followers if they add the accounts.

4.       My analysis of their social media use is that they are limited in Social Media and could make better use of the platforms as they have high ratings on Yep. They should like these review from the Website and allow customers to see their value proposition based on feedback. They do a nice job, are friendly, and have a positive response from customers.

 

 

Pacific Auto Center

5.       https://www.pacificautocenteroc.com/

6.       Pacific Auto Center is a multi-location auto dealership in Southern California. They are a local business that sells used cars to consumers in San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange County.

7.       They do post their social media score on their website, it claims a 4.7/5 rating however, when you research the organization, Yelp verified users give the business a very poor rating. A family member purchased a car at this business and commented that the low yelp ratings, and user comments, were very accurate based on their first-hand experience doing business with this organization. Their high-scoring ratings listed on their website reference DealerRater and Cars.com. They do not link their high score they publish on their website to DealerRater or Cars.com which seems a bit unusual if you are a great business. Social Media users prefer Yelp it seems, and they have rated the business on the low-end.

a.       Yelp last review was 1/30/2023. Also, Yelp flagged that there seems to be suspicious activity on reviews. Based on review, this makes sense as one certified Yelp account said that many of the positive reviews were from many single accounts that have only posted one review so they felt these were fraudulent positive reviews.

b.       The business does interact with Platforms however; the business practice customers complain about has been repeated over and over again by customers for years. Based on the duration, and the same feedback, and the businesses same response, it seems that this is a real issue, and they are not adjusting their business practice.

                                                              i.      Three years post the review explaining their business practice, my family member confirmed they had the same experience so the ratings by consumers seem to be accurate and honest.

8.       My analysis of their social media use is that they do use Social Media however, the social media sites referenced that they score themselves very high-on did not appear to have the same score based on my research as best I can tell. They do respond to user feedback and negative posts but a high-number of consumers on Yelp, which rated them low, said they did not solve any of their problems which seems consistent over a long period of time. My opinion is that Social Media reviews, and those that research them, will have a pretty good idea of what to expect when interacting with this organization. Seems like you would want to be an experienced car buyer or maybe go to CarMax where you pay a little more but don’t have a riskier experience.

 

Belching Beaver Restaurant

1.https://tavern.belchingbeaver.com/

 

2.Belching beaver is in vista Ca this is a really good restaurant it is a mix of foods, it has steak, wine beer, hamburgers fries and more. It has a very good long list of menu options, good for adults and kids. This is a good place to eat.  They have a website that shows location when it open and the directions, and events that happen there. I see a lot of good reviews on Yelp they had seen a lot like the directions and website are on Yelp as well, they get good comments on yelp as their online business It also shows logos and different colors also videos on their website as shown.

3.Belching beaver has Instagram, Facebook, twitter it also has a website that is shown on iPhone directions and map also the iPhone are shown on their website as well. Very nice place for enjoyment and family times. They also have a job resume straight off their website. On the website it also has accesibilty menu as a user way under another company.

4.This is a very good website and restaurant.

 

Belching Beaver Restaurant

1.       https://tavern.belchingbeaver.com/

2.       Belching Beaver is in Vista, CA this is a really good restaurant / Microbrew and it has a mix of foods, steak, hamburgers, fries, high-end meals like salmon along with wine and they make their own beer. It has a very good long list of menu options, good for adults and kids to attend. They are a local business with multiple locations in San Diego. They have a website that shows locations, hours of operation, directions, and events they are hosting.

3.       The Belching Beaver business links their social media at the upper right corner of their website. They are a social responsible company, links are to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I see a lot of good reviews on Yelp, they have positive comments, and nice customer feedback.

a.       On Yelp, they have over 1,000 reviews and a four-star rating. Overall, good review but they do not respond to the poor review and comments on Yelp.

b.       On Instagram, they have 6,628 followers and post often using social media.

4.       My analysis of their social media is that they do use it but if they expanded like Chipotle, I think it would help their business to engage new customers. Overall, they are doing a decent job but could still improve and probably gain some new customers and respond to negative reviews and feedback.

 

Chipotle Mexican Grill

5.       https://www.chipotle.com/

6.       Chipotle is a national restaurant chain that is corporately owned and was a father-son business before being discovered and expanded across the United States. The business has a repeatable food-process and the experience is very similar across any restaurant nationally. They have a strong website and online presence and did a good job during the pandemic selling online, delivering product. They will cater as well for consumers.

7.       They link their Social Media at the bottom of their website, they are a social responsible company and the links are to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

a.       On Yelp, the have individual store reviews so they vary quite a bit. There are good review but also a lot of poor reviews, I do not see the individual store locations responding to review. I think they could to let them know that they do care about customers and value their input into the process. There may be corporate restrictions I would assume for individual stores to respond, have to assume they have guidelines and/or a public relations department.

b.       They have a huge number of followers, about 3.3 million on Facebook. They last posted on January 30^th and appear to be pretty active. On Instagram, they have 1.2 million followers and post often using Social Media.

8.       My analysis of their social media use is that they do use social media and have a large following but they could do a better job of responding to customers at individual stores.

Week 3 Part B development of Brand

 

Company Business – Buymybees.com

                The business I want to brand is called buymybees.com, they are a start-up business focused on selling queen bees and established nuc bee colonies for commercial and hobby beekeepers. Based on research, the business is in demand as large suppliers of queen bees sell-out annually and cannot fill all orders due to the national volume needed. The primary requirement of this business is to have very high-quality queens that are bred to be mite resistant and generally, gently to work with. There are very well-established bee equipment manufacturers that also offer queens and bees for sale from suppliers, that have vendor agreements and sell to consumers, but they are more expensive. Most businesses that sell queens go direct to consumer, and market using search engine optimization, business blogs, and paid advertisement to establish their presence in the market. One key factor of this business may be to team-up with universities that have an established bee research program focused on genetics and breeding to ensure high-quality results. Additionally, the business may eventually offer “breeder queens” which are created using artificial insemination to control genetics and product high-quality queens used in other’s queen raising programs.

                The brand objective is to establish high-quality queen bees for sale by working with a university that has a good bee genetics program. This will help establish the brand because consumers will understand the science and research is being invested to product high quality queens. The brand will be supported by an online ordering system for ease-of-procurement by customers and will be developed by professionals with proper UX Design for the business. The business ships through all continental states using UPS overnight which makes it a competitive brand with other producers. Shipping dates will be three-times weekly, which is a more often that other businesses to help establish convenience which increase brand value. The business will have two queen bee lines, Italian for warmer states and
Carniolan’s for cold weather states. The brand will focus on marketing both lines to meet national geographical demand and would like to sell all queens produced. The business will be state inspected and certified to ensure that our bees do not have any illnesses and are of high-quality. The certification will help establish the brand as customers will see that the operation is professionally run and well-managed. Because the business is a start-up, we will need to focus our brand and marketing based on the college university program resulting in strong genetics.

The components needed to build the brand will consist of a professional website, well designed business logo, and a corporate online store. The design will take the business brand into account with a custom look and feel based on the owner’s input. Additionally, components will include using Cloud Software to communicate with customers, this may include Emailage, Mailchip, Twilio, and an imbedded chat. Other components will include a payment service to take credit cards, PayPal, and possibly crypto as it becomes more mainstream for ease of purchase. We will integrate with UPS for as an order tracking component so customers can see their order status along with delivery. Last, we will add training and product video’s so new beekeepers understand the proper way to install a new queen bee into their colony or replace an old queen.

                The brand strategy is to market to beekeepers nationally and present the high-quality genetics and university partnership resulting in strong queen bees. To market the business, we will join multiple beekeeping and pollination groups on Facebook and offer our queens for sale to start gaining business recognition. We will provide the website link to our which will allow the consumer to see a very professional business. Email marketing will take place by purchasing lists of pollination beekeepers from the Almond Board because nearly all commercial beekeepers come to California in February to pollinate the groves. By having this list, we will use a commercial email Cloud product and send our marketing solicitation and have the ability to track the results. We will optimize our Website for search engine optimization on search-terms and may consider paid advertising depending on the available budget. We’ll also write blogs with reference to the website in addition to posting many beekeeping training videos to drive organic traffic. Last, we’ll provide customer incentives for those leaving social media feedback and referring a fellow beekeeper who purchases from the business.

                Assuming the business will produce high-quality queen bees and nuc colonies, the analysis will focus on the Marketing dollars spent and lead conversion to sales. The goal is to spend Marketing dollars where strong sales took place by analyzing the data and profit results. When we have to spend Marketing dollars, we want to ensure they return the best results. As the business matures, we will want to send surveys to customers and understand what Marketing channel was used to find-us – Social Media, Email Marketing, Website search, etc., because organic traffic sales results will be hard to track. We’ll also analyze the overall market demand, and our demand, to determine if it is worth increasing production based to scale and meet market demand. At that time, we may need to add professional staff which may bring additional marketing value to the company especially if they have a strong academic background in genetics. We will then analyze if producing “breeder queens” has a strong demand in the market and potential sales opportunities.

 

Week ;3 part A Design of websites and branding 2nd

 

Penny juice

POOR DESIGN REVIEW:

Penny Juice

https://www.pennyjuice.com/

The first problem I see is that there is a button for ordering in the middle of the home page and an order now link in the top right. I feel the order now link should actually be a cart that holds the order when a person wants to purchase product. Second, clicking the get in-touch link takes you to contact information but also has the order form below the information to contact the company. This seems a little strange to me and I think a chat feature might be better using bots or more modern technology. Third, the order form and process is unorganized and it’s hard to tell product, information, and sizing on the form. Normally, you see product, all the details, add quantity, and then add it to your order cart for review before purchase. The layout and design is confusing, the form is poorly structured, and the design is very old.

            The website design is poor given the modern availability of site templates and current design. The site looks like it was designed in the early 2000s and the colors do not look professional nor meet today’s standards on look and feel. They should consider using more modern templates that you can easily purchase online or consider using a cloud based platform like Shopify or Square and update the site. If they want to keep their current custom site, it should be updated, and the order form should be updated as well.

If making custom, I would use WordPress or Webflow to design a modern look and feel to meet the consumer needs. I would make ordering simple and show an inventory, allow you to select it, see all the options, and add it to the cart. Also, allow the consumer to create an account so returning consumers can easily log-in, see past orders, and re-order as well. If this is a product, they sell both online and in-person as well, then I would use Square as my Cloud Platform. In a nutshell, this website has not been updated for 20+ years and the design is rough.

 

2^nd MGBD Parts services

http://www.roverp6cars.com/index.html

The first issue navigation is poor from an aesthetic point of view, old, and clunky. When you access another page via link, it is one long page with all the information and pictures mashed together. Second, the colors make the site look bad, and there is quite a bit of spacing from the header to the content, the layout is poor. Third, on sub-pages, items that look like hyperlinks are not hyperlinks, support links to email actually link you to some unrelated outside website unrelated to the site. It’s quite strange that the email link is completely unrelated and it is not a “mailto” link.

The design does not easily support the consumer, there are too many ads, abstract colors that bother your eyes, bad formatting, and links that are not links which is confusing. The navigation on the left is old based on current technologies and the design is poor for the consumer. They have embedded Facebook links randomly in the middle of the page which makes it hard to find. Overall, the layout of the pages is different, unorganized, and do not have a consistent layout.

To improve, they should take the site down and re-design the entire site before going-live. Again, they can use modern templates, navigation, a better UX design, appealing colors, better categorization of related information and a consistent design for all pages. Additionally, they could add a search to allow consumers to find information quickly. The site looks like it was created by a person who had little knowledge of HTML. They could review some YouTube video’s on modern web-design and cloud platforms to assist in their journey along with some technical training before re-working the site.

 

 

Well Designed:

California Center for the Arts, Escondido

https://artcenter.org/

The website is very clean on the design, simple to follow, and they have categorized the information in a useful way for the consumer. The hyperlinks are correct, the images on the site are clean, and colors are pleasing which makes the website easy to read. The about information and contact information on the bottom of page is good along with how to order tickets. The event calendar shows the chronological date order of events and it’s nice to see if you have a specific date in mind. Overall, the design is nice, easy to navigate, and the website format is appropriate.

They used a modern design, possibly based on a template, and the user experience is thought-out and easy to follow. The site looks up-to-date and well maintained, the information experience for the user is accurate and provides all the information needed to attend a show. The site allows customers to easily purchase show tickets with the information provided, saving them time, so they don’t have to drive to the theater. Overall, the design properly communicates the information a customer would be interested in.

When I first saw this website, the homepage looked nice, and I scrolled down to see information about the featured events. I think they did a nice job communicating the information about the events, the site looks professional, and I feel confident that they are a legitimate business. Navigation is good, you can easily see the schedule of events. When you purchase tickets online, they are using the Salesforce Cloud Platform to manage their business, it’s an expensive platform but very flexible for Customer Relationship Management. By using Salesforce, they have a powerful tool to market to existing customers and perform analytics on show profitability, and configure it to meet their business’s needs, it’s a very good option if you can afford it.

 

 

Apple

https://www.apple.com/

Apple is a well-known company; the website is professional and they have the money to hire professional to build their website. The website shows its’ products to consumers and allows you to shop online or easily find a local store if you prefer in-person shopping. Additionally, you can easily find support on products and quickly contact customer service if you need help. The website is well made, it is cleanly designed, has nice colors, and focuses on the products and company brand. The company is innovative and has a very long history of creating technology products, they are cutting edge and the website reflects the innovate history and strong design. Their website design reflects their products including the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and VR sets. It’s very clean and easy to quickly learn about their products and models, pricing, and online purchasing.

I was able to find what I was looking for very quickly, which made if convenient. The website is complimentary to the products build and sold by Apple. Extremely easy to see the specifications of the products, difference between products, and purchase online. The website design reflects the elegance of the products as it’s easy to use.

 

Design Summary:

From a user perspective, I feel that:

·         Poorly designed websites make me want to leave and find another company or website that’s professional. I want to have a good experience quickly and find the information that I’m looking for.

·         A well-designed website is clean, organized,  well managed, consistent, and consumer friendly. The design allows a consumer to quickly access the information with little effort.

Based on the review of multiple websites, there is a clear difference in the level of talent between poor and well-designed sites. Many of the smaller sites appear to be done by someone with little knowledge of design principals and they do not seem to have a technology background.