Blog Assignment #7

The website I chose to evaluate for this blog assignment is the website for a garden center I work for. It is the Stepping Stone Rock and Garden Center. It is located in Hattiesburg. The link for the website is http://thesteppingstone.net
I like the web design of this site. It is very brightly colored. This is appropriate for the rhetorical situation. The bright colors remind me of brightly colored flowers. The Stepping Stone uses this as a strategy to make people think of flowers, which ultimately brings the hope of selling plants. Also all the major headings are at the top left. This makes it easy to navigate through the website. I like the fact that there are pictures of the different plants and pictures of the store. This makes me familiar with the store before actually going there. I also like how the store hours are posted on the left. This is very easy to find location.
The website, however, does have some downfalls. I would like to see more information about the store and what products we sell. Under the tab “Products”, there is also sections with information about the plants, stone, pottery, applications, and fountains. The page under each one just gives a short description. There is not a lot of detailed information given. For instance, I think that maybe there should be a plant list of exactly what plants we carry available. This may create more work to do this, but I think it will pay off. Customers want to know what we have. They often refer to the internet to see what stores have before they actually visit the store. I think having a product availability sheet will be beneficial to the store.
On the “Services” tab, there are sections with each of the kinds of services that the Stepping Stone offers: Irrigation, Landscape Design, Hardscape Installation, Rock Engraving, and Creative Containers. Each of these tabs just offer an overview of information. I think there should be more detailed information regarding these tabs. This could be accomplished by having pictures of past jobs that the store has done. Also I think there should be a approximate price list for each type of job done. That way customers will know exactly how much it will cost them. By having this kind of information, customers know what to expect and this is good for the growth of the business.
The “Contact us” tab is pretty good. It gives the location and number to reach the Stepping Stone. It is set up in an easy to read format. Under the “Garden Calender” section, it is actually blank. This suggests that it is not finished yet. I think having a garden calendar is a great idea if it were to be completed. Having a calendar that shows when to do certain garden activities is very useful in a garden business. It gives customers useful information. Under the “Home” tab, it gives a link that says “joomla web hosting.” This is pretty confusing and I am not sure what purpose this brings. I think these kind of things need to be cleaned up.
Overall the website looks good. I think more detailed information needs to be given though. Especially in the product line. Since this is a business that is directed at selling plants and services, more information needs to be addressed within these topics. I think by supplying the website with more informaition it will help in boosting sales. I also like the fact that they have a place where one can “like” their page as it links to facebook. This uses the idea of social networking and that is really important for a local business.