Hi Guys! appreciate all the feedback and comments - no bad feelings.
Though I would explain why some of the quirks in the web site. - I love
the 'who would put a legal notice at the top of a web page' comment. The
remark could be the best Christmas present I've every got (could be
worth thousands of dollars). Here why:

(a made up - extreme case) very year or so there is some 'nut' emails
you with a leaky boat problem. You tell him to fix it with epoxy. He
buys some epoxy for $75. Next thing you hear is that you are being sued
for $50,000 because you told him to use epoxy and he did but the boat
sank and his cat died. The lawyers ask if you legal disclaimers on your
site and other legal notices that could get you off the hook. You say
yes, but they counter that the disclaimers are hard to find, easily over
looked etc. etc. Judge agrees and you lose. My disclaimers are right up
front as you pointed out - you cannot overlook them.

The legal issues involving trade over the internet are not well defined.
Issues like trademarks and meta tag usage, and selling products in
states you don't have agents in, etc. can get you in federal court. Of
course, on such stupid claims you will probably win the case, but not
until you've paid a $400 an hour lawyer for 30 hours of his time, flown
cross country with hotel and car charges while you sit in the
courthouse and your business goes down the tubes.

For your information - the legal ramifications of doing business on the
web are nasty and still subject to differing legal interp. You could
loss everything through no fault of your own.

Hope this explains a few things and the risks of internet business. Most
of you have read of the suits filed against ebay, amazon, etc. all the
time by folks trying to cash in on vague internet business rules.

Our site - epoxyproducts.com, has over 175 pages. Hard to organize that
many. Our customers range for nuclear power plants to folks wanting to
dip there fishing flies into our fumed silica.The guy with the boat
doesn't want info on how to paint his garage floor. The beginner thinks
he can buy one part epoxy in hot pink. The experienced user wants the
pricing on 30 gallons of marine epoxy. Some folks want to know why we
cannot ship a certain product to California. Industrial buyers want only
access to MSDS info.

We could be like everyone and just list products but we try to educate
folks about the products and even mention the bad aspects of our
products. Like why you might not want to use coal tar epoxy (which we
sell) even if the guy at the boatyard told you to. Yes, lots and lots of
links. Confusing, but it also puts us at the top of the search engines -
something other companies would almost kill for (and something that will
make or destroy your company).

We do try to make it easy to use the site. Page types are color coded,
there is a single page list of products and prices, a site only google
search engine, help page/index page (like in a book).

Yes, the site is funky. Folks love or hate it but it works (better to be
at the top of the search engines and lose a few customers than not be
found on the search engines, have an cookie cutter web site and a total
of three customers). The site supports my wife and I and one has to be
careful not to "kill the goose with the golden eggs" by 'fixing' the web
site to conform to the million of other web sites out there. Heck, if it
was an ordinary web site, we wouldn't be talking about it now. Maybe
having the worst site is just as productive as having the best site?

We are a mom and pop business operating out of our home in New Hampshire
- guess we also like to color outside of the box a bit too. And we're
not trying to get rich off of slick copy/ads etc. huge markups etc. -
just want to make a living and pay the electric bill and sleep well at
night. - thanks guys and Merry Christmas to everyone! -- paul oman
-----------------------------


Brian Nystrom wrote:
Pirateer guy wrote:
That web site is the biggest reason I don't buy from them, and I know
Paul is reading this. I have tried several times to get to a simple
page with prices on it and waste so much time going around in circles,
I just buy it from someone else. I honestly consider it the worst site
on the web I've ever visited. I'm sure his product is excellent and
if I called him on the phone
he's give me the answers, and go to great lengths to help me out, but
most of the time I'm looking for answers on a Saturday or Sunday
morning, so I look on the web.
I also know Paul has helped many people on this forum in the past and
I always read his advice. He is professional, forthright and always
polite. I was going to talk to Paul about his web site, but didn't
know how to
go about it. Maybe this will have him take another look at it.
Then again, he might just tell me to go pound sand. It is his web site
and his company and he has every right to whatever he wants to.
Dan

Sadly, you're right. Short of adding gratuitous moving graphics and
goofy background music, the site couldn't get much worse. The layout
is confusing and visually, it's a major affront to the eyes. You don't
even know what company's site you're on until you scroll past the
first screen of poorly organized text. Who in their right mind starts
a site that sells products with a legal notice and an announcement
that their return policy is strictly enforced?

Simple, easy to use navigation is key to a successful website and it
amazes me how few people understand that. They end up designing sites
that mimic a pile of notes and scraps on a desk, rather than an
orderly document. No matter how good one's products and pricing are,
if people cannot find what they want - typically in 3-6 mouse clicks -
they'll simply go elsewhere as Dan did.

No business can afford to have a website that bad, especially in an
economy where you're working hard for every dollar and every customer
is critical.

Paul, if you're reading this, please go to Vincent Flanders' site
webpagesthatsuck.com and/or buy a copy of his book "Son of Web Pages
that Suck". His site and books teach good web design by showing poor
web design. When I built my own site, his guidance helped prevent me
from making many of the common mistakes that new web site builders do.
It's not difficult to do it better, it just takes an understanding of
what's involved.


On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:12:00 -0600, Doug Siddens
wrote:

The following is my opinion of a good company. My affiliation is as
a DIY end user. No recompense, no funny business.

I've been refurbishing our 1973 ketch and have done some epoxy work
in that process. I've never worked with epoxy before this. I
talked to several local glass workers and researched on line to
learn a bit about epoxy. I searched for different vendors and their
prices. I settled on a place in New Hampshire called Progressive
Epoxy Polymers. (http://www.epoxyproducts.com/main.html)

My first thought was, what a mess of a website. I found it very
confusing. Since I first came upon it, there have been improvements
made to make it more "user friendly". Aside from that, the site
is most informative to this beginning DIY'r. I was won over by the
explanations, descriptions of chemistries, MSD's , suggested usages,
and personal responsiveness of the owner and his wife. I did a
calculation of prices per ounce, approximating the match of the
different brand's products. I realize that there is no way I can
say I'm comparing the same chemistry of different brands.
Nevertheless, Progressive Epoxy prices remain the best I have found.
I've used the Premium No Blush (~15 gallons), Low-V (~2 gal), a
putty with kevlar, and some elastomeric stuff. In addition I've
used the fumed silica, micro balloons, ezy-thick, chopped glass &
milled glass.

Progressive Epoxy Polymers is my epoxy source, I recommend them.