Is my site setup correctly?

[cj929]

Hope someone can help,

Dont know much about web design- just a bit of html, so I got a friend of a friend to design a site for me. The site looks good but I'm now wondering if its working correctly behind the scenes, I'm not selling many DVD's but maybe the whole concept is wrong but I want to cover all bases- here is my site onbikescotland.com

I would appreciate it if anyone could answer a few questions, I'm going to contact the designer but would like to have some info first.

1. Its hosted at vibus.net based in Ireland but I think this is a reseller, I cant get at the html to make changes, the designer gave me Macromedia but I still cant get at the html. Should I change to a proper host where I can get a username and password etc Then will I be able to change the site myself or will I have to give the host instructions?

2. How can I find out the size of my site on the server, also the bandwidth, does this info determine the reliability of my site?

3. Are my video samples too large, maybe people cant download them properly, what do you think of the quality of the video- they are in the wmv. format?

Apart from maybe people just arent interested in buying my DVD's, can you think of any other reason maybe technical why hardly anyone has bought my products from over 700 hits- please be brutally honest, if there is no future in the site I'm going to get on with something else.

Thanks

 

[neuntoter]

1. Its hosted at vibus.net based in Ireland but I think this is a reseller, I cant get at the html to make changes, the designer gave me Macromedia but I still cant get at the html. Should I change to a proper host where I can get a username and password etc Then will I be able to change the site myself or will I have to give the host instructions?

You'll need to access your site with an FTP or through your browser, download the files and folders and you can edit it from there through your copy of Dreamweaver. If your site is hosted at vibus then whoever uploaded your site to their server has your username and password. Shouldn't be a problem getting that information.

2. How can I find out the size of my site on the server, also the bandwidth, does this info determine the reliability of my site?

I had a look at vibus and it depends on what package you have.
If you have a reseller account (which I'm guessing you do) then you have 3gbs space and your banwidth is 5. Looks like a good host though with plently of the "essentials" like mysql, asp, php etc support.

3. Are my video samples too large, maybe people cant download them properly, what do you think of the quality of the video- they are in the wmv. format?

Yeah they're too large. I downloaded one and it's over 11mbs. The quality is excellent, but you could reduce the size of them and advise people they are only low quality previews.

all the best

 

[zkiller]

1. Its hosted at vibus.net based in Ireland but I think this is a reseller, I cant get at the html to make changes, the designer gave me Macromedia but I still cant get at the html. Should I change to a proper host where I can get a username and password etc Then will I be able to change the site myself or will I have to give the host instructions?

as mentioned by neuntoter, whomever designed the site for you and initially set things up should have all the info you need access the site via ftp.

2. How can I find out the size of my site on the server, also the bandwidth, does this info determine the reliability of my site?

the reliability of your site is based on numerous factors which i also mentioned in an earlier post of yours. this is something you have no impact on. it is the responsibility of your web host to ensure their clients web sites reliability/up time.

3. Are my video samples too large, maybe people cant download them properly, what do you think of the quality of the video- they are in the wmv. format?

personally, i think they are fine. but as mentioned above, to speed things up a bit you could afford to lose a bit of quality.

Apart from maybe people just arent interested in buying my DVD's, can you think of any other reason maybe technical why hardly anyone has bought my products from over 700 hits- please be brutally honest, if there is no future in the site I'm going to get on with something else.

as i mentioned in your other thread, i like the idea you had with the dvd's. however, your sample clips aren't exciting enough to make me want to purchase any. motorcycles are about tight windy roads and in the clips it seems like you are riding mostly on flat straight roads. in order to spice things up, you might want to try to add some interviews with other riders and footage of their machines or maybe some footage from events such as track days or motorcycle meets.

point being is, put yourself in the position of the customer and figure out what would make you want to buy this product? marketing is key!

don't give up on it just yet.

Thanks[/QUOTE]

 

[ian]

You cant just make a product and expect it to sell. You need to do your research.
To start with the frontpage should have a link to the video sample.
Also if I was a biker, I would need to be a tour guide with a person appearing, entertaining commentary, etc etc, and even that would be an extremely tough market to get into, people would tend to favour big budget productions. Look at what other similar successful products there are out there in the marketplace and try and learn from them.

 

[cj929]

thanks for info, have now placed link to DVD's on first page, going to look at getting twistier footage. I have access to FTP now but i cant figure out how to change html, alot of the icons in the FTP refuse me access? any ideas

 

[zkiller]

could you describe your ftp difficulties with a bit more detail? all of the html files should be easily download-able. also, what ftp client are you using?