New Website - please critique

This is going to sound stupid because I may have missed something but I didn't see prices or an order button?
 
The three things that jump out at me are that you need to make a higher resolution version of your logo for the front page, a very explanation of who you are and what your company is would be nice for the front page, which is kind of blank other than pictures, and it would be nice if you have an "About" page to give people an idea of who you are and what your background is. A couple things that would be nice are a bigger disclaimer about doing your own research on the HT recipe page and an always-there bar that allows you to bounce from page to page.

Finally, I personally am really turned off by a place that does not offer either a price list page or prices associated with each product. If not that, then at least tell us where to buy. Great website, other than that :D
 
You need a picture of the Titan Atlas holding your forge on his shoulders :)

Also a little info about yourself and your products are a nice personal touch
 
Get rid of the Blury lettering with some solid print.
 
+1 on the top part needing to be improved. Either a higher resolution graphic or replace it with something else that isn't blurry.
I will also second the other comments thegeek made. Since you're selling the equipment through a third party you can include a link to the product page along with pricing.

Other than that, nice and clean, simple, nothing annoying or lame. Nothing super special, but you're not trying to appeal to a bunch of kids either, your target audience is interested in the product and function not style points on a web site. Maybe a section for feedback by users? A video of the forge in use would be pretty nice too. Your forge is a great way for someone new to that kind of work to get started without having to build something themselves and a decent video might push someone over the edge to actually buy it rather than just think about it. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate. Even 30 seconds of it running and putting a piece of steel in.... Showing it with someone's hands and tongs and such gives a good sense of scale that is lacking in the standard images.
 
Blurry lettering
Unsharp photos
Harsh black/white contrast.
Atlas Knife Co. ???? maybe consider "Atlas Knifemaking Tool Co."
Very little info - prices, delivery, where/how to order them, contact info,etc.
The EERF plans don't open for me....and I would want to see plans when I clicked the button, not something that I have to download and open pieces of.

Not being hard on your site, but that does not seem to be very professional for a commercial site that you paid for.
 
Definitely working on a better logo, as well as overall finish of the site. I agree that it needs a vendor list to redirect people interested in buying. I also agree that a video is needed of the forge in action. I'm going to get some video of the forge at the KnifeDogs hammer-in this August.

For the heat treat chart, I just converted the Excel spreadsheet into html. I'll spend some more time polishing it for the web. It does have the disclaimer on the bottom. The data is compiled from other sources, which are linked at the bottom. I'll also include a download link for it for printing.
 
Stacy: Do you have 7-zip or Winzip installed? I've tried the plans from three machines and it works fine on all of them. Yes, I should also create a separate page for the plans and link to the download from there. Of course, until I get mine finished I can't show pictures of mine.
 
I think what he means is that he would like to be able to see what he is downloading before he is prompted to do so.
 
Don't want to sound harsh, but I hope you didn't pay them much. I recreated your header in 5 mins in Adobe Illustrator.
The steel chart is very confusing.

ATLAS.jpg
 
I like what Chrisa did, above. I feel you should have the same header at the top of every page (with links to the other site pages) for consistency. That way your visitors won't have to use the "back" browser button.

Mike L.
 
I have to agree with the others about the logo at the top. Looks very unprofessional. As Chrisa said above, I hope you didn't pay much for this. SEO and Web Design are two of the biggest rip offs a entrepreneur can fall into. I see you have WordPress installed. There are literally hundreds of thousands of free templates that a hundred times better looking than the one you currently have. Excuse me for saying, but this is really amateurish work at best.(and I'm being generous with that statement)

First off, you're page will not rank well, if at all, in search engines like Google. They want to see some text on that first page (and every page for that matter). Put something about yourself and/or your forge. Some contact info at the bottom would do well also. It would be good if you had a "Contact" page. People want to know how to get in touch with you for more info. Don't think just because you put Contact info in one place that people will see it. It wouldn't even hurt to put it at the bottom in the footer so it will show up on every page.

Your Index page has pics of your forge so I think your site is about forges. But then I look around and it seems to be about knives also. Your Index page should be informative about what you do and your products you offer.

Your pages need proper Page Titles. They should describe what each page is about. Not having them is a sign of amateur work. For example, you index page should read something like "Atlas Knife Company" or "Atlas Forge & Knife Company". Currently it reads "http://www.atlasknife.com/index.html". Not good. Page Titles tell potential customers what the page is about, it will help search engines figure out what your page is about and it helps them to know how to rank that particular page.

Another example is the Gallery page. I go there expecting to see the Page Title about Knife or forge pics, but instead it reads "Kristina's Etcher | " In fact, several pages have this.

Video is a must. Have quite a few if you can. Create a "Videos" page and have at least one video on it with some content describing what you're doing.

Get some testimonials from actual users. Few things convert into sales as real testimonials from real people. Put them on a "Testimonials" page.

I'd lose the steel chart. Confusing in it's current state. If you keep it, I would convert it into a PDF and make it a download via a link on a page instead. You could use all that data on a WordPress page, but you'd probably have to use Tables and that could take a while. Plus, sometimes WordPress doesn't like to play well with tables...

As others have said, get a "Where To Buy My Forge" page or a "Where to Buy My Products" page if you plan on offering several products. Make it easy for people to buy from you or the vendors who carry your products. Don't make them jump through hoops!

If this is one of your first few attempts at building a website, then this work is understandable. If you paid money for someone to actually design and build this, I'd ask for my money back if it was me.

If you'd like some help going forward, drop me a email or PM. I've been piddling with websites and SEO for a long time and playing with WordPress since about 2005. It's all I use anymore on my sites.
 
After looking at the site I was prepared to write a little paragraph on what I saw as being wrong, but it has all been pointed out already. So I'll keep it brief.

The site confuse me. Try and place yourself in the seat of a first time visitor. When you pull up the site what is your first impression? Would you want to stay there or would you be looking to hit the "x" on top of the page? If you choose to stay and look through the site would you be able to understand what Atlas Knife Co was all about?

Fixing the problems pointed out in the other responses will help clear the confusion.

Finally I'll leave you with a bit of a positive note. The white background is a good idea. Take a look at Google. A company worth billions because people were drawn to their simplicity. What about Apple.com? The sites have a nice clean look to them. That's the key to that type of layout though. It must be very clean and professional.

If the person you hired to do this site is proud of his work my advice would be to Hire someone else!

(Failed to keep it brief :( )
 
Working on it. I'm adding to it little by little. It's much better than what I used to have. I only paid $25 for the templates to be laid out since I don't care to learn Wordpress. I don't expect customers to come to this site from google, but only from current vendors' redirects and links from this forum. Take a look at it again later this week and you should see some improvements.

Thanks for your time.
 
I added the links to the retailers on the forge and etcher pages. I used Chrisa's first logo, although I do like the third a lot. I even added an "About us" page. The videos will take a while, though.
 
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