mikeinsjc
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2010
Posts: 329
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Post by mikeinsjc on Mar 29, 2017 9:56:05 GMT -5
I spend each summer selling my cut/polished and tumbled stuff in Cooke City, Montana. Cooke is only four miles outside the NE gate Of Yellowstone. It is a lot of fun, as I interact with hundreds of people each summer from all walks of life and many different countries, many of them rockhounds. The kids are particularly a kick, and I enjoy their enthusiasm and usually end up giving away bunches of stuff each summer,hopefully fueling their interest in the hobby.
Through my son who is an IT guy, I found a great young man to set up my new website. It is now up and running at cookecityrocks.com. I would appreciate any suggestions, criticism or corrections any of you much more experienced in the hobby than I might have to give.
On this forum I have only met fossilman and wampidy (who lives nearby), so if any of you have travel plans that take you to the Yellowstone area please stop by and introduce yourselves!
Mike
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 29, 2017 11:24:35 GMT -5
I think it looks terrific! Very professional, engaging, informative, easy to navigate, etc. I love the guess the rock bit. That's a really smart way to get people's attention and keep them on the site. I enjoyed it. Great job! Here's the direct link www.cookecityrocks.com/ |
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Post by parfive on Mar 29, 2017 11:54:50 GMT -5
Everything happens for a reason.
But sometimes the reason is that you're stupid
and make bad decisions. Kinda odd at the top of the home page. |
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Post by parfive on Mar 29, 2017 11:58:43 GMT -5
Disappearing quote?
Didn’t show up second visit.
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Post by aDave on Mar 29, 2017 12:08:39 GMT -5
Disappearing quote? Didn’t show up second visit. It rotated for me whenever the home page reloaded. Personally, while some of the quotes are nice, some are distracting and really don't apply to your site or the subject area. Some might even "put off" some folks. Do you really need them? I ask because if the quote area is removed, it would allow your social media/phone number to take up space where the quotes are against the blue sky. For me, it is hard to read the phone number...at least the area code, as the text color doesn't offer enough contrast for me to see it well against the mountain. Otherwise, I think it's a nice site. I'll be going back to read more in detail. |
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mikeinsjc
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2010
Posts: 329
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Post by mikeinsjc on Mar 29, 2017 14:56:56 GMT -5
I think the quotes change with each page reload. The quotes aren't intended to be relevant- just interesting, funny or thought-provoking. They are more of a tool to get people coming back. I have a bank of about 50 or so the site draws from.
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Post by Pat on Mar 29, 2017 15:20:07 GMT -5
Everything happens for a reason.
But sometimes the reason is that you're stupid
and make bad decisions. Kinda odd at the top of the home page. I'd can the quotes, especially the one parfive quoted. It feels a bit insulting. Maybe put in interesting facts about rocks instead. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 29, 2017 16:43:01 GMT -5
I didn't really notice the quotes, but now that I have, I agree with Pat. Rock facts would be cool! |
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Post by toiv0 on Mar 29, 2017 18:27:13 GMT -5
I agree with the hussy police above
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mikeinsjc
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2010
Posts: 329
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Post by mikeinsjc on Mar 29, 2017 18:47:27 GMT -5
Very interesting. With all the rock expertise out there, I can't help but chuckle that the comments center on the quotes. Did anyone get past the upper right corner?
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Post by Pat on Mar 29, 2017 19:15:42 GMT -5
Very interesting. With all the rock expertise out there, I can't help but chuckle that the comments center on the quotes. Did anyone get past the upper right corner? Of course! It's a given. Beautiful samples, even the unknowns. |
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Post by aDave on Mar 29, 2017 20:14:40 GMT -5
Very interesting. With all the rock expertise out there, I can't help but chuckle that the comments center on the quotes. Did anyone get past the upper right corner? First page, first impression. I don't know why you believe it will be the quotes that make folks return. It's the content. Of course I got past the first page. I happened to tell you it was a nice site. Did you miss my post? Dave |
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Post by fantastic5 on Mar 29, 2017 21:04:33 GMT -5
I really like the site as well. I really like the articles linked on the right. I agree the quotes should probably go. Would be nice to have geology/fossil facts in their place.
The only addition I would like to see would be on the gallery page. How about identifying the materials that you are showing a picture of?
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Mar 29, 2017 22:04:20 GMT -5
Mike, I love that wavy Bruneau jasper slab in your gallery. Never seen any like that.
Crop your photos tighter. Fill the frame with the subject of interest. For example, the Septarian with a US quarter has extra empty space that steals real estate from the specimen itself.
Lynn
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Post by glennz01 on Mar 29, 2017 22:28:29 GMT -5
I spend each summer selling my cut/polished and tumbled stuff in Cooke City, Montana. Cooke is only four miles outside the NE gate Of Yellowstone. It is a lot of fun, as I interact with hundreds of people each summer from all walks of life and many different countries, many of them rockhounds. The kids are particularly a kick, and I enjoy their enthusiasm and usually end up giving away bunches of stuff each summer,hopefully fueling their interest in the hobby. Through my son who is an IT guy, I found a great young man to set up my new website. It is now up and running at cookecityrocks.com. I would appreciate any suggestions, criticism or corrections any of you much more experienced in the hobby than I might have to give. On this forum I have only met fossilman and wampidy (who lives nearby), so if any of you have travel plans that take you to the Yellowstone area please stop by and introduce yourselves! Mike Be sure that you took all your photos or got permission to use them. Not saying you did or didn't but people do watch for that stuff and its a pain in the butt if you are found to have one thats not yours (had to study this in my it class a while ago) |
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Post by captbob on Mar 30, 2017 6:33:55 GMT -5
May be just my opinion, but your Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are the most unfriendly, unwelcoming pages I have ever seen on a website anywhere for as long as I have been using the internet.
The Terms of Use page is downright hostile. I lost count of how many times I read "You must not". Curious as to why you believe you need such on a simple rock website.
You forgot the firing squad!
As Joe Average, after stumbling across these pages I would click myself elsewhere and never return.
Thinking (hoping!) you got some really bad advice on adding all that and figured it was a reasonable/prudent suggestion.
It wasn't.
On the plus side, I do like your site. Just don't see the necessity for the excessive legalese.
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 30, 2017 8:00:47 GMT -5
As an avid web surfer, I must say that I don't recall ever clicking on a site's term of use page. I'm sure it's pretty standard stuff. That said it is rather verbose, especially considering that you have a legal statement/warning at the bottom of every page which takes up a lot of real estate. Does your web designer expect that much trouble on a website that isn't even selling anything... yet?
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mikeinsjc
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2010
Posts: 329
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Post by mikeinsjc on Mar 30, 2017 10:01:57 GMT -5
Sorry I went off on you guys about the quote thing. I thought it was a cool touch.
captnbob, I was taken aback by the terms of use thing also. I was assured by the designer this is what happens on every web site. I'll see if we can't bury this deeper in the site or delete it altogether. Does seem rather harsh.
Layout issues are minor- I guess I was looking for feedback on the literal content itself. Keep the input coming- I do appreciate it.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,718 
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 30, 2017 10:03:43 GMT -5
Yes sir Mike..... Thinking of hitting Cooke City again very soon,will give you a holler when I do....
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vera
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 259 
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Post by vera on Apr 8, 2017 23:37:01 GMT -5
I must have been looking at the site through very rose colored glasses, because I read all the articles and looked at all the rocks and did not even notice the things everyone else did. So as a novice I really liked it. I did wonder if you will add sales pages in the future - I know I would since you can slip a business card with the site info to each buyer in the summer and sell things all winter on the site.
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