Hey all...I want to say thank you for taking the time to take a look at the website. WOW...there was a lot to be said...ZOINKS!!! My husband and I have been working on this site and I can't believe how much we just didn't see together. The both of us really didn't see my dog in there so "thank you" hawk-eye!!

I took a lot of what you said into consideration and I have already made some changes. Thank you again for your thoughts and opinions as they were very helpful. I didn't expect this many comments.

And just a little note... I have my "big girl panties" on so I am not offended with anything that anyone of you have said. If I wasn't able to take it, I would have never opened myself up for constructive criticism.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart and keep checking in for what I may do next.

Christy

Do you have any other photos of your cakes?

I mean do you have other cakes that you have done, so you can add them to your portfolio on you website. I noticed there are no pics of wedding cakes or sculpted cakes.

if there are some cakes on your gallery that do not cost 200.00 dollars or more, i'd take those off, it's confusing to the customer, if you can get 200.00 for a double layer cake with flowers...good for you!

that would be scary to me if i were a customer...if a double layer cake cost 200.00....how much would the other cakes cost?

You also might want to remove the Publix name for legality purposes. Just a thought? Love how your personality shines through!

I'll be honest and hope it's not redundant. (And props to you for having the guts to post and ask for honest feedback. I've had a site for a year and have yet to do that - I'm still tweaking it, but I'm getting close!)

Ok, I was a bit floored by how much you are able to charge for your cakes (more power to you though! ) but more importantly, I was shocked when I clicked on the portfolio and saw Wilton class cakes rather than the big 3 or 4 tiered wedding cakes that would cost at least $550. As proud as we are of our class cakes, I would remove them from the gallery. They are lovely and well done but those are obviously not what you want the public to associate you with.

You need to put your show stopping cakes right on the front page. I know when I set up my site, I uploaded pictures as I was creating it but I'm sure if you are charging as much as you are then you must have a slew of big ones under your belt so I would make them the focus. At $9 - $19 a serving, anything less is distracting. (If, for some reason, the cakes that are pictured are as fancy or elaborate as you have made, then that is a whole different story....)

I don't want to re-iterate what the others have said but I also felt your page would benefit from less text, reducing/moving the 'about me' pages to the back, use more positive phrasing, and ditch the cheap-skate/scam-attracting guarantee.

When I read your thing about only taking clients you like, it genuinley sounded like people had to basically 'apply' to get you to take their order and then see if they are accepted. I refuse to work with bridezillas, so I get where you are going with that but is that truly what you mean or how you want the clients to interpret it? (btw, did anyone else get this feeling or was I misunderstanding? If I am way off about this, I applologize).

** I did, however, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your husbands flavors names for the cakes - they are awesome! And I think the picture of you at the top is great - very cute and professional looking. I am assuming you are licensed so I would toot that horn too since most of us struggle to achieve that milestone.

HTH and feel free to come along and pick mine apart when I post it. I shall also have to locate my big girl panties, lol. (They were hiding for a while but it's been sink or swim lately and ya can't swim in this business without 'em!)

lol, kind of ironic......I say she needs less text but look at the almightly novel I wrote!!! My bad!

that crazy claim that"if you are'nt floored by the delightfulness of the cake...you can keep the cake...and i'll tear up the check"....makes me wonder if she has ever even had a job working with the public....let alone run a cake shop?

and you gotta "apply to be a customer"

dog's leg in the pic....wilton class cake for 200.00....making cakes in the dining room of your house...

are we being punked?

I can tell you worked your guts out on the website.

Your cake work is fabulous.

A little question for you, is that a drink can in the photo with the doggie? Also a major nono with the health boys.

Honestly, I would not take your website serious because it seems overly kid friendly for me.

My first take on the flavors, I liked the ones I was reading, clever stuff, then I glanced at the word creepy and then I saw the word bugs and I was off that page--done. I went back and realized the 'Bug's' was a reference to Bug's Bunny with the carrot cake--very funny but very illegal.

So while your work is great and your website has a ton of hard work in it, it needs a clear and solid business theme to be taken seriously to jive with the no-nonsense prices you can command.

While most have said to remove the guarantee, but if you decide to keep it the wording needs to be changed. The way it is written doesn't make sense.

I copy and pasted directly from website:

you can tear up my check and keep the cake

Why would they tear up your check? Shouldn't you tear up their check?

Nah, I don't think we are being punked either. Sometimes it's so fun creating a whole website all about us and our passion that we lose sight of the big picture, which is that the site is to attract paying customers.

This is the second site review request that I saw where there was massive story/text rather than front & center cake pics accompanied by simple facts, mixed with some creativity..... To be honest, I scope out other people's site with a notepad and write down things I like and dislike to keep them in mind.

Sorry Bee, but you'll probably not like me very much when I'm done writing this....

I agree with the many others that have said to move the order of your tabs. Cakes should come before the "me" section.

Pricing - you need to show cakes that are worth $200. I'm sorry, but very few of yours are.

Gallery - take off any licensed cakes. Nemo, Ohio State, Coach, Harry Potter, Harley Davidson Thomas and Tinkerbell all have to go, unless you have agreements with the license owner.

Blog - you have a drink glass in one photo - where you are modeling the ohio state guy.

For the good points - I love the design, the cute stories (though they could be shorter), and the names of the cakes.

Good luck!

I love it. Very well done.

Okay, just a few comments about her pricing. Do I think the regular 'ol basket cake is a $250 cake, no. But yes, I do think she has some $200 cakes on there. Let's keep in mind she is out of Orlando, so I'm pretty sure the cake pricing is higher there. Personally. I would never buy a cake from a house that had dogs or cats, so that is a photo I would get rid of. That is in no way saying her house is unclean, I just couldn't do it.

To be honest, I think the site needs some work/editing. While the design is cute, pretty much all of the text written would send me to another baker. I get it, you want people to understand you do custom cakes, not your grocery store cakes, but don't put down the people who decorate them or buy them. You don't want people to think you are a cake snob, and that is the vibe I get. Also, take out the bit about your schedule for appointments b/c you want to spend time with your husband and daughter. People do not care about your personal life, they just want you to make them a cake. If you are selling cakes that are $250 as a starting point, you need to showcase different cakes in your gallery, because while the cakes look cute, they don't say $250+ to me. Maybe it's because I am a hobby baker for friends and family that I think those prices are crazy...but if you actually get people to buy cakes at that price, kudos to you. I would make the site more about the cost, taste (flavors), and design of the cakes themselves and not the back story of the cake maker. If I'm on the web looking for someone to make my wedding cake or my kid's birthday cake I want to know 1. Can this person do the design (I want and I want to see examples of what I could get) 2. How much will it cost 3. What flavors can I get.....the rest I really don't care about, so I would edit down the all about you sections. Also, I agree with the people about the photos of the cakes in your house. I would think that if you are making cakes in your house that you probably don't have a legit/legal business. You could probably get shut down if you have pictures of a dog in the same kitchen as your business, that would make the health department think that is where you are running your business.

Everything that I noticed, others have already mentioned (the Wilton cakes being represented as $200+ cakes, only doing cakes for people you like, etc.) But, I noticed something that I've seen other people have done, and it drives me crazy each time: I hate reading reviews that look like they were text messages. OMGs, !!!!!!!!, and smily faces don't scream "professional" to me. Plus, not one of them actually said "wowwee" so they must have all gotten free cake, right? Okay, I'm just breaking your balls a little bit on that one, haha.

Other than that, I think many people here have had some great advice! Good luck with your business and I can't wait to see the new site after the edits have been made

I don't sell cakes, but here's some food for thought..........I wouldn't want to see a person working on my cake with their hair hanging over what they are working on like it does in one of your blog photos. Some people can really get grossed out by that kind of stuff. (that's one of the things that bothers me on some of the cake shows too, even though I love to watch them)
Even though I don't sell cakes I can totally see what these other ladies are talking about when it comes to your guarantee, that would be sooooo easy to get a free cake from you and there are a lot of people out there who will do no matter if it's for a b-day, wedding, baby shower, ect........
Also I have to agree it's a lot to read through on your first page where I would expect pictures of cakes to pop up to look at........good luck to you!

i don't know how they get by with it on the cake shows on tv, but the health dept requires that your hair be tied up....none is supposed to even be hanging on your neck at all...around here that would be a fine if he came in, and your hair is just hanging down like that....but the op obviously has an illegal home biz.....from what i remember florida does not allow home bakeries do they?

I'm wondering if the OP is just now getting a storefront or commercial kitchen? If she's just starting out, then yeah, the only pictures that she's going to have are going to be from her house and she'll have new pictures produced in the coming weeks. I hope that this is the case!

Your nails are dirty in your blog photo: "The Cake That Never Was."

We know it's food colouring, but there are many who won't and they'll just be thinking "Eeww!!"

There are some pictures there that I would definately take down if I wanted to charge in your price range. They are an example of 'your cakes' and 'your cakes' start at $200. I'm guessing you didn't charge that price for some of those cakes at the time. Yes they do show off your different abilities, but it might be better to get some dummies to decorate to show what you can create for $200.


I like how you're fun and quirky and I can feel your excitement of getting your business out there. It just needs a few tweeks.

Good luck to you.