I am currently rebuilding my website and would love your feedback. I know what I like and dislike about sites when I visit them. I like good information,search buttons and photos. I also know my site could be improved. What do you like or dislike about websites when you visit them?
- pictures-lots or few?
- search button
- members only section
- about us page
- shopping page
- contact page
- FAQ page
I am also guilty of not sending out newsletters like I should…I know this because some of you email me and ask me ‘why haven’t I received an email’?
What do you like to have in a newsletter?
- upcoming events
- sale items
- videos
- private ‘member’ only section
- contests?
I also like contests. I do! I’m a sucker for a gift card or other prizes for answering questions.
In keeping with that thought I am going to give away three Jac DVD’s to people who leave comments below this post offering their insights. If you just post ‘hello’ or something…that won’t count but if you leave ideas you will be entered into a random drawing!
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Hi Stacy, I think the most important thing is to keep it simple and organized, easy to follow. I think you already do a very good job with that though. I do like seeing pictures, they often draw my attension quickly. Hopes this helps.
I like pictures. I do prefer quality over quantity.
For some reason I don’t like to watch videos very much but I know they are extremely popular with most people. Obviously you can’t do this with your instructional videos but I am often irritated by the news sites that post a video of a story without a transcript. I would rather read than watch.
About us page – totally necessary.
FAQ page – could be extremely helpful. You could use it to explain that you are not deaf or and you don’t ride without bridle or saddle after only three weeks of training! lol. Seriously though I bet you get lots of the same questions over and over as new fans find you; a lot of those could be compiled in a FAQ page. Then all you have to do is get folks to actually look at it! However that video and the totally untrue story with it is exactly how I found you, so for once I’m thankful for an erroneous story!
Being able to search a site is good. For instance I wanted to re-read your post about the above ride and was able to find it by searching the word deaf. But I have seen sites where the search function was so limited that it was pretty useless.
Members Only page – depends on the purpose. Paid membership? It does seem a little off putting to me but I’m probably in the minority here anyway. I’m 69, don’t ride, have never ridden, don’t own horses, did work for an equine vet 25+ years ago. I just never lost my girlhood love for horses. One of the things I like best about your site is your personality and that you actually engage with your fans.
I had not even looked at your Contact Us page until now and didn’t realize how you are using it. I expected it to be the typical fill-in-the-blank or email link page and was very pleasantly surprised! You may need a new name for it though. There does seem to be a formatting problem on it right now though – the last few entries are on the dark background and are unreadable unless you highlight them.
Oh, and I was one of those who clicked the Do Not Enter page on my very first visit here! Have always been kind of rebellious. lol
That’s all I can think of at the moment. Except whatever you do or do not do, I’m grateful for you.
I love the way you explain things so the average horse person can understand them & that it can give those who need it the confidence to put them to work! Also for the new website love the idea of having contests . Also a DVD tab that you could click on a certain DVD & it might give the particular steps that would be being worked on & explained!!
Wow you have gotten a lot of great answers so far!
I like enough pictures to get the point of the page.
I like tabs better than a search button.
I didn’t realize you had a membership. =) It does make sense to have a members only section
if there are privileges over and above for being a member.
about us page is always great.
It is nice to have the goods separated from the information.
I personally like contact information on each page so that if I am just looking at one page I
don’t have to go somewhere else to get it, but if it is tabbed that’s not bad either.
FAQ page yes it is good to know what is going on.
I like contests as long as they are not too complicated to sign up for.
mtsuz@yahoo.com
I like the videos of Jac every week, enjoy reading the different questions people have and find the blog very helpful. I would like to see lots of videos and pictures.
I would like to see a weekly or monthly video on how to retrain an abused or spoiled horse. It would also be nice to see lots of pictures or short videos of all of your horses at shows or during training.
hi Stacy…keep the videos, especially with music and/or talking in the background. Pictures are good also. some ideas: Horses for sale, Vet list, about 3-4 each month, keep changing them, Trail Ride areas, and/or “camping with your horse”. Fun ideas, activities to do during the summer to keep your horses from being board. Search Button stays in
. A special section: The Funniest Thing my Horse(s) ever did”. .could be a photo or video…win a prize as the readers judge who is funniest, naturally you will also be a part in judging.
At least once, have a FULL list of all the types of breeds, the names and a few short sentences about each horse, include ponies. This would be good for the people who are not too familiar with the different breeds.
Pick a “Horse-of-the Month” and give the history about that horse…where it originated…what is it used for. .you get the idea.
Show pictures and “how to” braid manes in different ways and styles.
Keep the EVENTS list, dates, schedules.
Another section: My first “REAL RIDE” on my first horse, prefer video, picture will be okay, but add a caption. This should be so funny!
Q & A section…everyone can give answers.
List of good Horse Books that could be helpful, there might be a few of us that still like to read books!
I hope I added a few ideas for you……Happy Trails!
I like your current layout, with a search button to make it more user friendly to navigate to those older post that I may have recalled as being gold and want to see again. I like fewer pictures so I don’t crash my computer! FAQ, about us, and contact pages are also important and should be easy to find.
For a newsletter, I’d like upcoming events and am always drawn to a feature article no matter what it is on. I really don’t like private sections, they make me think of some elite club (that i never seen to be a member of..). I love information that is easy for anyone to be able to access and like that I can tell a friend of something I have seen on your current page and they can easily access it to get value from it too. Happy redesigning!
Rebecca-YOU ARE A WINNER! Can you contact me with your info? Shoot me an email at info@westfallhorsemanship(dot) com and put your name and contest winner in the subject line. I need your address to mail you your DVD!
Everyone had great ideas don’t know if this was mentioned yet, a trainer I worked with had on her website a specific tab with drop down info about a competition (tb makeover) and she did a weekly update to count down to the competition she didn’t always post pics or videos but it was neat to follow her to the competition. With everything with Jac it might be nice to have a specific tab for him where we could find more info and also links to all his videos, I did have a hard time finding them all and in order when just searching youtube. Just a thought!
Thank! God Bless
Kelley
really don’t like sites where you have to search for a “contact us” tab. Are you doing any clinics in Texas?
I love your website and your generosity–I’ve learned so much from watching the Jac videos you’ve shared. I don’t have the speediest connection, so its always better for me if images lean towards lower res. (I need to stop and start videos a lot, waiting for my computer to catch up). I’m not loving the idea of a “members only” section because its at odds with the openness and generosity of your site that I’ve appreciated so much. But hey, everyone needs to make a living, and that might make sense for you. Thank you so much for everything you’ve shared!
My apology, I misspelled Jac.
I think your webpage is great, it is very easy to navigate and informative. I love the videos about Jax’s training and your insight into the different aspects of his personality as well as that of horses in general. Definitely keep the “DO NOT ENTER”page. The search option is always good. I also like that you share stories about your “followers” and the progress they are making learning from you. The only thing I can think of to add is a page directed at children to get them interested in your training at an earlier age. I personally would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings about the loss of Roxy. I have read your postings and the poem multiple times and it helps with the loss of my Clyde after 28 years together. Some days are so hard, I miss him terribly…as I sit here with tears streaming down my face, I will be listening to you recite the poem after I post this, it always seems to help. Thank you
The home page should show a picture of the person/subject to say to the viewer that “I have found the right site” . Then it should be easy to navigate and have buttons clearly laid out (with driop menus further expanding on the topic) . FAQ’ s is a must and I like links to other documents. Depending on the subject an online store could be useful. Pictures of work in progress, finished pieces or just plain for fun stuff is good. Then videos of the work being done. So, it should have “everything” .
Lots of pictures! 🙂 and a descriptive caption for them all ( I don’t like when I see a picture but don’t know what is going on or who it is) a spot for people to ask you questions and have them answered. in vedio type or picture.
Hi Stacy,
For the design and layout : I really like them, brown is not so easy to work with but you did a really good job with it and it’s navigate on it.
pictures-lots or few : Not too much, not too many. Pictures can be very useful to show some particular actions or things. But if you put too many of them it wpn’t mean anything anymore. You are already doing some very good videos to show to people what to see and what to do. So you don’t need to put too many. I think your articles at the moment are the good balance between not enough and too much. So I would say just keep it like you do it now.
search button : Very useful ! If you start using keyword for your articles it can be very convenient. For exemple if I’m looking for an old video I won’t remember the eaxct title of it. So a keyword will help me to find it again. Or if I have a problem with my horse and I’m looking for solutions, I can put a keyword as well and see if you have already made a video about my issue.
members only section : I would say no… Why ? Well, as an abroad person it’s psychological more difficult for me to made payments to access to “I don’t know what more”. I give you an exemple I started to learn horsemanship with Clinton Anderson. I was working in an Australian ranch which is training in the same way. I was first going to his website to try to grab informations. But I’m not going there at all anymore. Every explanation is locked by his membership thing… And unfortunately it’s not as easy for me to suscribe . I know that I won’t have any help from him or his team if I’m having a huge issue with my horse as I’m just leaving on the other side of the world. The reason why I like you and your website is because you let people access to your knowledge and experiences. You really want to change the world for horses and not thinking money first.
about us page : Very important. When people are coming for the first time they like to feel the athmosphere that you’re going to bring them. To understand you motivations, your past and why you like what you do !
shopping page : Yes ! If you do it right and handy it can be a great opportunity for people to know where to buy good quality items.
contact page : Really important. Let people give your their opinon, ask for help or congratulate you. We always need opinions even from people that we think worst than us to make us better trainer.
FAQ page :
It can be very useful but I don’t see which can of question you’ll put in it. The answer is maybe what are the repetitive question that people are asking you by email.
What do you like to have in a newsletter?
I don’t like newsletter so please let the choice to people to subscribe and unsubscribe easily.
You can share you’re upcoming events for sure but too much sale items won’t be very appropriate.
Contests are a really good idea ! you may have a lot of good surprises by doing them.
Point of view from a nice French girl who likes your website how it is now and who likes to learn more and more with your advices and videos. =)
How about some do’s and don’t s, I know you cover things in your training session but I am working with a two year old, he has been in the pasture all winter so it seems like I have to start all over even with simple things like walking on a lead rope, but it would kind of be nice to know some things not to do, that will just create problems I have to fix in the future, I am just an ordinary person with horses who is learning from what I see on RFD tv and the computer. Have a great day and I love following you, you make things look real easy. And I am just in awe with your bridle less riding, I have watched you perform at The equine affaire in Columbus more than once. Take care,
Michelle
Up coming events is one of my favorite taunts. I also love the ongoing story of Jack. Contests are fun also. Yet what I love about your current site is the clearly personal touch. That is something I feel is quite unique and keeps me coming back.
The ability to search the site well.
Love pics and videos too.
Good organization. Actually I like your current site a lot.
I like all the categories you have listed at the side.bar. Very easy to find.
Q & A always nice.
FAQ s
Nice to see where you are appearing or showing.
Above all, regular updates
I like FREE …like educational vidios. Have a topic so you can search what yiur looking for.ex…different topics on training. Different topicd on problems(biting, headtossing, maybe evrn a section on health.symtons(including what may look like behavioral prob) cures.
I find that your current website is more than user friendly, also the colors and format suit you and your lifestyle to a T. Search button could use a little tweaking but generally I find what I’m looking for. I really like the date tab on each of your blogs and enteries, easy to keep track of what is happening with you and your training program with Jac.
Pictures, pictures, pictures, lots of pictures, many of us learn best when having visual aids. I could use a few more videos on simple things than many trainers don’t seem to think are relevant, such as teaching a horse to get in a horse trailer, teaching a horse to accept a bath or clippers, or even cleaning small cuts or injuries, or applying bug spray.
A big question for me has to do with several of your videos in which you mention Jac asking to come into your space and you sending him back away. When do you let him come into your space and how do you let him know that hugs are okay at certain times and not at others? Maybe a quick info video on that 🙂
I agree with some of the others in that a newsletter may not be needed as long as your fans are receiving notifications on your blog post, which I love!
Event calendar, another good idea.
Bios on your horses, how they came to be, and how you made them what they are. We all love to read up on other horses, the ones with us now and those that have come before.
Keep smiling, can’t wait to see what happens next!
Stacy the home page should load quickly and be an index to things within your website. If it doesn’t load quickly, people will exit and go look somewhere else. All pictures should be compressed and lad quickly. A thumbnail is preferred by me, if I want to see it larger I will double click to enlarge.
Organization is important and information easy to find. I personally like drop down menus.
Clutter will also make me leave, if it is difficult to find a link to something, I will leave and I believe you lose a lot of traffic that way!
To have a good website it is essential for the important things to be easily accessible on the home page and the other things to be easily found with a search button. Personally I like it when the home page is fairly basic with not too many things going on, it makes it easier to navigate the website 🙂 Pictures also help with this a lot by using a picture like a button e.g. A photo of Jac with words saying ‘follow Jac’s progress/training’, when pressed it takes you to a playlist of Jac’s videos from YouTube. Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing your new website!
When I visit a website I love to see lots of photos. Photos of whatever the writer is talking about or trying to explain etc. In the newsletter I would to see all that is listed! I love your website just as it is but I’m sure if your are updating it will be great!
Links to any reference. Example, if referencing a previous episode or product, put the link to that portion of your site or place off your site. Makes it so handy to keep on following what you do and show us so well.
I love your family stories. They make everything in your teaching the horses and us very real and doable. Thank you for caring.
Sent from my iPhone
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Stacy, I love a weekly training tip accompanied by photos and or short video. If weekly is too frequent, a monthly one is always appreciated. Thx for all the advice you give us!
Training videos are my favorite. Your training on Jac has been great and I appreciate your time and sharing your knowledge. Ease of moving about a web site is good for the older generation who did not grow up with computers–keep it simple!
Stacy
I love the pictures, especially with the training videos. Contest are great, freebies too. I like to be able to manuver back and forth easily around the site. You do a great job of making your site so personal and friendly. I love that you ‘re keeping us up to date on your where abouts and activities. I’m still sad you left Ohio, but I’m willing to bet you will be back, someday, to stay!
Hello
I do love your website, the style, the colours, and your entries. They are well written and easy to follow. Just the right amount of pictures and text! The Do Not Enter button is great! (It was a very long time before I tried it…)
I agree with the others, I’d like to read more about the horses you have/had, and about their quirks. I am just starting with horses, and am so surprised at just how different they all ride and act! My previous experience with horses was a few trail rides as a kid…I thought all horses would start, plod along in single file and stop without reacting to much…I’m having quite the education right now! Horses have active minds, and have definite ideas about how and where they want to be ridden!
I dislike ‘members only’ stuff…and forums, too, as one earlier poster suggested. Those are just a place for the aggressively opinionated people to dominate…and I come here to read your ideas and posts.
I’d like a better way to navigate this site, or find posts by subject. When I saw the YouTube clip of Vaquero when he was sick, I had to spend a whole afternoon scrolling backward using the top left hand click to find out what happened to him..(My condolences on your loss. He was one talented little horse. I’m so glad you gelded him when you did and gave him the gift of being in a herd and happy. That is a gift meaningful to a horse.)
Of course, it was an enjoyable afternoon, and I learned a ton. Thank you!!
Not a fan of newsletters. I check your Facebook page everyday, even though I don’t have Facebook, or want it. I just found it from Google, and saved it to my Favorites. I enjoy all the links you include, though I wish I could have a look at your collection of All Four Feet Off the Ground pics!
I have really enjoyed the Jac story, love to see what is happening in your world, but really appreciate learning tips to help me with my non showing pleasure riding ,too. I go to your blog almost every day and get such a nice variety of tips and just the news of what you are doing. Thanks
I really enjoy things as they are, everything is good positive knowledge!
Love your blog and receive it in my email but never think to go to your website. You should have a nice big “push here” button to go to the website. Thanks for all of your help and advice to those of us trying to become better horse people!
I like FAQ.
I think that a simple, very easy to navigate website is always best. Everyone loves contests! Also, videos would be great, especially more instructional videos.
I like websites to be easy to use and not confusing, I like the pictures because they help you understand better than words sometimes can. The settup you had was pretty good, and search bars are always great! I hope that helped some 🙂
I Like your blog! its easy to navigate,
I personally like videos with a few different ways and tips to get the same result, def helps with training and what works and what ways to change unwanted behaviors.
Love newsletters with updates on upcoming show/clinics schedule.
Where are they Now blog?
Love lots of pics.
Love FAQs & Helpful Hints, Contact us/Ask Us
Contests :).
Sale Items
Stacy, Your an Amazing person and an Inspiration to so Many..
l like lots of pictures, but organization is important so as not to overwhelm. A search button is great if it works well. I’m sort of indifferent towards the ‘members only section’ but as long as its free I’m in! Love an ‘about us’ page on a site. It makes it more personal and shows people who you are and creates interest in you and your products. A shopping page is great and makes it is easy to buy your products. A contact page is a must. FAQ pages are great too and can be very helpful. It saves you the trouble of answering the same questions over and over.
I go to your website to learn. Videos and answers to questions are great and who doesn’t love a contest?! The most valuable thing to me on your site has been the Jac series. I can’t thank you enough for it. It would be easier to navigate the Jac videos if you had a link to each of the episodes in one list – located, for example, on the right sidebar like where you have ‘Top Posts & Pages’. Something to enable viewers to find a specific episode quickly from any page.
I like some pictures but not a ton. Easy to navigate. I hate when I am looking for something but can’t find it. Clear categories and subcategories to click on so I can actually see what I am looking for. FAQ’s are helpful to at times. Love your blog. Jac is such a sweet boy.
As far as newsletters I like lots of learning info. LOVE contests!! Video’s are great too. I really learn alot from you. Thanks!
Hi Stacey, I cant think of anything I dont like about your website or Blog. I’m a huge fan and enjoy reading questions and queries that people send to you and the response you give. The infomation you have available about training tips are FANTASTIC. Also the series you did with Jac was great it really helped me with my mare. I wish I could help those Last chance corral foals but being in Australia makes it a bit difficult. You do a fantastic job of promoting and informing everyone of these little guys about all they need is the second chance at life which was horribly taken away the first time. It has made me do some research here in Australia about this issue. Keep putting heaps of photo’s on that would be one of my Favorites. Keep up the awesome work, You give me insperation and confidence in my riding and im pretty sure im not alone on that one.
I would like to see more stories about some of your other horses and what they do! And more pictures! And names of all the horses!
I like visiting sites that are easy to read (making font color and background color so that they don’t blend together is the main problem I run into; you do a good job on this, but I’ve been to several places that don’t, and I never stayed long, lol)
I do like pictures and visual aids, but I don’t want to be overloaded with them… too many in one post make me feel overwhelmed, but one or two can add color and help push a point ect. I love video usage to demonstrate things, as it helps the information sink into my brain.
Search buttons are very helpful, but I find that extra categories and subcategories help me find things easier, especially when I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking for. I think ‘about us’ and ‘shopping’ ect. are classified as catagories, and are things that I find helpful or interesting. I think adding more subcategories would improve your site to be even better than it is already 🙂
In a newsletter I like to recieve videos and events the best, but I don’t often sign up for them…
I hope that some of this was useful to you, good luck and blessings to you Stacy!
I love FAQ sections, photo sections and I don’t care for member only sections as some I’ve been on require payment. Some folk need good info but can’t afford to pay to see it. Making searches simple it awesome. Some make them so complicated it’s frustrating. BTW I have enjoyed the Jac series on FB!!
i love your training tips, answers to problems, and especially lots of pictures, so would love a chance to win your dvd on training jac to have it all together in 1 place. we are seniors on fixed incomes with health issues, so anything that would help us would also be appreciated, since we can’t do physically what we used to. both have health issues that are making us very insecure to ride.
Your current layout is simple but effective. What I would like to see with your new site would be a mobile friendly version and a upcoming calendar of your events.
Stacy you may wish to give your web sight a face lift, but web page is very effective as it is. I found your web.page just a few months ago. I enjoyed exploring it on my phone (some web pages are just too fancy for my phone to load). I was able to purchase all your videos easily and at a very reasonable price.
Dam, my fat fingers hit post again by mistake.
Ease of navigation is the key. We horse people are not computer genesis. The technology is just a means to get more horse stuff in our lives. Stacy, your humble humanitie is what like most.
I like a calendar of events. In your case a calendar of places you will be stopping at during your travels.
Hello Stacy
Thank you for asking our opinions !! I am new to your page and so far like your content. I am just trying to get to know a new horse that is quite young and has not had much experience since his foundation training. I would like to see Jacs videos/training and am having a hard time finding them, so, any way of doing this the easy way ?!
Also, any tips you have for the new partnering of a human and horse, just any common mistakes people make that come to your mind. I have ridden for over 30 yrs, but, no formal lessons ever so I am always open to suggestions so I don’t ruin what this intelligent animal has been taught so far 🙂
Thanks, Corry Truax
I like lots of pictures when it comes to teaching/demonstrating. And the videos are very helpful. Search boxes are ideal. Upcoming events and travel schedules help out a lot. I like to know where clinics are being held. Giveaways and contests are great ideas. It helps us feel a bit involved. Personally, I am a huge fan of advice columns. Where questions get sent in and answered. But all in all, simple is best. And you are doing a great job!
Really enjoy your impromptu’s along with your training. I’ve been following you and jac and your lovely family and your life’s adventure. I think you are doing great. I love the blogs and yes lot’s and lot’s of pictures. Along with your videos, narration, and pictures it really makes understanding easier. The Website I guess? Umm. I’ve enjoyed so much . I haven’t stopped to be critical . Lol.. Maybe a little brighter for us older ones . Just simple with all the navigation tools to be able to access and yes a search window. But all in all, I love it. Thank you. Have a great day. Oh and I do like the games or giveaway’s . It’s fun. !!