22 replies to this topic

[Mr Biggles]

General
Is this site completed or under construction?

The site is completed although its an ongoing concern.

If completed:
How long has the site been up?

The site has been up for about 2 years in various forms. I decided to get serious about around a month ago and try and get some visitors through the door.
It is not an ecommerce site, it is more to try and get leads from my target audience.

SEO
Do you have incoming links?

Yes I have some links, I try and find sites that are relevant to my business and I submit my site.
I have written a few articles on my site in the hope that these will be of interest to people and they will automatically link to me without having to ask.

I am aiming to write at least one article a week so that in a year or so I will have quite a bit of information that will be of interest to me.

What keywords are you targeting?

Anything that will tie in my locality (adelaide) with the services I provide.
The services my business provides is basically anything to do with network support, web design, general IT related services.


Do you want your code reviewed for errors or improvements?

Only if its easy to correct, or something I have done is a major no no.
Im not really fussed if its not the most efficient or prettiest looking code in the world.

Marketing
Who is your target audience? Think about:

Gender
While I want to target both genders, I probably would have to be honest and say my writing would mainly appeal to males.

I am half way through reading the copywriting booklet which seems to focus a lot on how to write for both genders.
I am going to try and modify my writing to target both genders, but this will take time.

Nationality
Australian or any nationality who lives in Australia that owns a business.

Age Range
35 to 55
Under 35s that have a business are usually very energetic and tend to network more often than older business owners.

They usually have personal contacts that would do the same sort of work I do, and of course the trust is already built into the relationship, and of course a website cannot compete with that.

At 55 and above I find most business owners are thinking of moving on or have their own system that has obviously been successful for them.

Most laught at the internet and say things along the lines of "I got this far without the internet"
Its a shame because the successful business owners over 55 are usually cashed up.

Income/Education level
Businesses that have a profit of at least 150K a year that can sustain an ongoing support package or have the capacity to commit in the long term to whatever project they call us in for.
As far as education level is concerned. Being able to read would be a definite plus, although I would say seriously at least secondary schooling and above.
Many businesses in Australia are run by people with no formal education so it would not be wise to only target say business owners with degrees.

Likes/Dislikes
I want to target customers that would rather the job done properly than having a half baked job done at a nice price.
I want to target customers that value a personal level of service with the inherent trust that goes along with that.

My best customers at the moment listen to what I have to say once, wave their hands in the air and say "just do what you have to, to fix the problem"

I also like customers that have been burnt once before, it sounds strange but they value your trust far more than someone whos never had their trust broken.

The more you tell us about your target audience, the better. We don't know them- you do!

Why is your site different from sites selling/offering similar info/goods/services? Why will someone want to do business you?

Like I said before my site is not an ecommerce site with a shopping cart and checkout. It is to generate leads for a consulting business.
I have looked through all of the directories that list local businesses in Adelaide specifically I.T related businesses, not a single one apart from mine actually offers any [url=http://searchengineland.com/070531-115312.php]Real[i][/i] Content[/url].

Most have google ads and the latest threat warnings on viruses. They all seem to follow the same template of what we do, our services etc. There does not seem to be any personalisation (if thats even a word) it all seems very cold and calculated.

I have taken the one bit of constant information from this forum, and that is content is important and utilised it on my site, and I think that is what makes my site different from every other website I compete with in Adelaide that I have seen.

How important is usability?

Usability is very important, I do not want visitors hitting the back button because they are confused.
I have done the following to aid usability.
1) made all the left hand navigation buttons the same on every page throughout the website.
2) Put a quick submit button on every page throughout the website.
3) made sure contact details are clearly visible throughout the site.
4) Made sure there is a FAQ on ever page
5) tried to keep flashing dancing pulsating graphics to a minimum.
6) Put a sight map that is available on every page of the website.

I am also working on putting in a search facility as well as a graphical map of what my website looks like.
It is not finished and some people may get confused with the right hand icons listed as;
Top 10 tips, more articles etc etc
My object for these 4 buttons is that the titles and buttons remain exactly the same throughout the website but depending on what section your are in will depend on what is displayed in the top 10 tips and other 3 links - does that make sense?

What is the purpose of the site? (inform, sell, online community, support B&M business, contact info only, etc)

The purpose of the website is to :
1) inform and provide worthwhile content for visitors.
2) Demonstrate through our articles that we know what we are talking about.
3) Hopefully turn a few visitors into clients.


Design
Do you want design suggestions?

No thanks, I know its not the most inspiring website out there, but its functional and gets the job done, I dont want to spend heaps of time getting pretty pictures and funky themes happening when I could be doing more productive things like writing more content


NOTE:
You will find there is a bit of inconsistency from the main page to other pages with the way headings are set out.
I am reading the nitty gritty and also the copy write booklet that came with it. I am trying to implement a few of the recommendations suggested, but have only practised on the home page.


I am really interested in any SEO related problems you might see with the site. I am also keen to find out what people think of the SEO articles I have written.

Please let me know of any factual errors in these articles as there are obviously people far more experienced on here than me.
Most of the pointers have been collected from reading the posts on this forum.

Edited by Mr Biggles, 18 May 2006 - 06:55 AM.

[Mr Biggles]

Gee is it that bad!!!!

I went away for the weekend to Tasmania, just got back expecting at least one bit of feedback. I did everything right, I filled out all the right questions and nothing.


Have I done something wrong?

[sweepthelegnate]

well the weekend is generally slow. and you didn't exactly spell out where this site is located that I could see. I assume it's the site in your signature?

[Mr Biggles]

Such a simple yet stupid thing.

Yes I am one of those people that often forgets to attach attachments to emails.

Here it is

Creydall Systems

[oneofthe3lions]

There seem to be some strange filenames here.. why have you used 'primary_pages' and 'common pages' etc ?

http://www.creydall....ary_pages.html# is supposed to be your sitemap from one page that i browsed.. all i get is error page 404.

You have no pr on any inside pages, are all these pages new? are they duplicate pages from another site?

try avoiding using 'click here' etc for your links.. use rich copy!

sorry, no time right now, will look again. but initial findings..

[noel_x99]

I didn't really have time to read all the content and it seems that's what you want to focus on the most. But here are a few comments.

First impression is very favorable. I like the way you "reused" the logo circles in the header and on the solutions page. I hope you carry that through on all your marketing materials. Your site makes your company look professional, technical - yet accessible. That's good because in your business so many techies are so techie that they can't relate to your customer.

On the solutions page, it bothers me that the last line (or two) of each description sticks out to the left margin rather than lining up under the indented lines. Is it wrapping around the graphic?

Content wise, I read the home page and it seems you are talking to your audience. I don't like the order of the bullets, though.

We give you peace of mind.
Increase your business efficiency.
Free up your time.
Increase your bottom line.
Increase your systems reliability.

Seems reliability should be 1. had put peace of mind at the bottom.

I don't really like the "try it for a year" phrase in this paragraph:

Our major hurdle is overcoming businesses habit of only spending money on I.T when things go wrong, our proposition to you is; try it for a year, measure what you spend on I.T related expenses at the moment (including costs associated with unscheduled downtime). Use one of our Computer Support plans for a year, then measure the difference in expenditure, in all cases you will find planned maintenance will outperform flying by the seat of your pants every time.

It sounds like you are asking them to trust you. (And if they have previously had a bad experience, they may not be prone to trusting IT people.)

Rather try something like this:

Tell them to figure out what they spent last year on IT related expenses. Make a list of things they should include: time lost to computer down time and networking problems, time spent trying to learn software, getting rid of viruses, recreating stuff lost with no backup, email lost in spam filters, etc. (make it a thorough list of things they may not think of).

Get the potential client to come up with a total figure (that may surprise them) and have that potential client call you for a comprehensive solution.

They may like the "peace of mind" idea...but show them that you are saving them money and you'll make the sale!

[MaryKrysia]

Your site is very good, in most respects. I had a little trouble finding exactly what services you provide. This should be clearly stated where it can be seen within a few seconds.

You bullet lists makes claims but they are not supported by how you provide these benefits. Verifiable claims will help you stand out from the competition.

Remember that the average web site visitor will what to know right away what you can do for him/her as well as quickly find out if you have what they are looking for. I think many would click away if these are not immediately apparent.

Mary

[Mr Biggles]

Thanks for the comments

I will have a good look into what you say and make changes as required.

As far as the file names are concerned, I did not know it made any difference as to what they were called, does it make any difference? Is there some sort of naming convention I should follow for folders/directories?

I initially had in bullet points all of the services I did on the home page, but changed it because that is what everyone else has in this industry, and they all nearly say the same thing.
I suppose I was trying to stand out, its actually quite hard to work out what to do sometimes. I know what you are saying about people leaving if they cannot find out immediately what they want.
Any suggestions? I will continue to work on it as well as try to make it easier to work out what the business does.

I noticed the 404 error as well, I have 4 different templates and forgot to update one, will fix this tommorow, Im tired, I have a cold, sore throat and generally feel awful at the moment, winter is definitely here.

Also the reason none of the other pages have any page rank is probably because the site in its current state did not exist 2 months ago. Prior to that I had a very dodgy looking 5 page site that was very neglected.

[arlen]

Generally speaking, your site is pretty attractive, simple and mostly easy to navigate and use - all good things. Don't confuse my tendency to be wordy as hell as heavy criticism, I think your basic site is fine but could possibly use a little tweaking.

Design
Do you want design suggestions?
No thanks

Sorry, that's where I start, and what impacts me the most. Feel free to disregard but let me tell ya what I think

First, though you've used it to set up a theme which I can appreciate, I'm not overwhelmed w/ the choice of the 3 balls. It may not seem important to you, but to me graphics set the tone for a site, and I'd be less likely to consider a professional service if a site looks amateurish. Nothing wrong w/ simple, keep that, don't spend 'much' time or money, but consider that your logo represents you as your 'brand' and could have a significant impact on lead generation.

If this is the official logo and unchangeable, then ignore this, but the graphic leaves me unmoved as it's simply a beginner photoshop lesson plunked in front of the business name. That leaves me cold because you are relying on an element many, many, many people use as navigation bullets and does little to set you apart. I can also appreciate that each ball seems to represent an element of your service, and the group represents a holistic solution of all three <edit - actually I may have misread that, but that itself points out a potential problem of perception>. Perhaps you can look at making the balls have more character, so they act as a series of sub-logos ... like superimpose an image on each (similar to the Firefox, Netscape & Opera logos). That's just off the top of my head, and may not be that much of an improvement, but I'd think about if you can brand yourself in a more unique way.

Speaking of the Firefox Netscape & Opera logos ... I'm not really sure what function they serve (and why IE isn't included) on first glance. It only becomes clear once I've clicked on one and begin reading. I think it would make sense to move those out of such prominence and provide a broader "Browser Comparisons" page that explains what you are doing. I'd then consider including the IE logo alongside them and use it's page to set the standard by which you are comparing the others. Currently, these buttons draw my attention more than anything else on the page, and I don't think they are your primary message.

Another thing that seemed odd to me is that when you do get to these browser comparison pages, you have a new sub-nav section w/ articles on SEO. You mentioned your desire to write a lot of articles, are these only applicable to the browser comparisons? Why aren't "SEO Articles" a more prominent part of your navigation? Better yet, a primary nav button titled "Search Engine Optimization" (as many won't know what SEO is) that takes you to a directory page of articles you provide. Maybe, in fact, the browser comparisons belong here, as a subset of the broader category of Articles, rather than vise versa. I don't have time to read your articles right now, but if these are a really important element, I think they get lost currently.

On your 'Solutions' page, a couple of things stand out to me. First, this page is titled to appeal to a local audience ... I didn't read deeply, but is your business, or are only these services restricted to the Adelaide area? If you only do local work, then maybe you need to consider explaining that earlier. If you do work for people outside the area, are these services not available to them? Seems you are trying to capitalize on a good keyword phrase, but it doesn't fit well with the titles of your other pages and leaves me questioning whether you are strictly local, or ?

Also, I can't read the small text ("web solutions" etc.) in each solution logo. Seems to me that's more important for clarity than the business name, which I can read. My gut asks me 'why aren't these featured on the home page? I don't know if they deserve it or not, but if these are the different services you offer, perhaps the home page should be tailored to beat the drum for each of these services. Something like "Your Problem >> Your Solution" . Also, you mentioned your services page is just like everyone else's. Can the list of services be broken down and detailed as a part of each "Solution"? In other words, if you focus on defining your 'Solutions' as the principal thrust of the website, then the 'services' would surely have a home under one or the other, eh?

Concerning navigation, I'm not sure what distinguishes the items in your horizontal nav bar from the ones in your left vertical nav bar. I'd only use the combo if you wanted to give special prominence to something (I have the same issue on my site, the bar is a useful design element that I've not been able to use to full benefit yet as far as navigation)

Copywriting could use a little attention too, though like I said, I didn't read deeply ... lots of abbreviated words (wks, etc), too much 'we' (the company) and not enough 'you' (the client).

Overall, I think you provide a lot of info and get your point across, but it seems to me you could tighten things up a bit.

Edited by arlen, 26 May 2006 - 10:20 AM.

[Mr Biggles]

Thanks for taking the time to write the review, seeing as you (and others above and hopefully below) have spent time trying to help me. I will do my best to seriously consider your recommendations and put them into action the best I can.

First, though you've used it to set up a theme which I can appreciate, I'm not overwhelmed w/ the choice of the 3 balls.

Im quite proud of my rather large balls I was watching the tennis a few months ago and notice the Garnier logo plastered all over the tennis courts, and I really liked it as it stood right out.
Garnier Logo

I asked myself, how can I pilfer that and not make it obvious where the inspiration came from.
Well I spent a bit of time on creating it and while it looks nothing like the actual Garnier logo, you can see where the inspiration came from.
I have been in business just over 2 years and have just recently changed logos (1.5 months ago) before that nobody said anything one way or another about my logo. Since changing it I have had at least 6 compliments regarding its design and 2 people have actually asked if I could design their logo.
I think many people who know me and realise my lack of style in every sense think I actually paid to have it done (but I didnt)
So thats my explanation for keeping it, but everyone is different and nobody can get a 100% strike rate.

You can actually click on the logo and it will tell you what it means etc, it also has a stolen law and order statement mentioned, its my second favourite show and had to refer to it in some way. Would like to of incorporated the doom doom theme into the back button but I fear this would of turned people off.

I think it would make sense to move those out of such prominence and provide a broader "Browser Comparisons" page that explains what you are doing.

I think I agree with you here, Id be interested in what others say about this. I thought putting them there would do two things, give people the impression the site is cross compatible (which it is) and two, entice people to click it because of curiosity. I might put a larger title over the three icons of "browser comparisons"
I have read about the "mystery meat" type buttons and agree its a stupid thing to make people guess what they are going to click on.

Another thing that seemed odd to me is that when you do get to these browser comparison pages, you have a new sub-nav section w/ articles on SEO.

In my original post I mentioned that I am still working on those right buttons and it will probably confuse some people.
My intention with those is to have them identical in every section with the same titles "top 10 tips" etc but have it linked to an article relevant to the page you are in.
For example if you are in browser comparison, the top button will link to "top 10 tips for selecting a browser" if your are in SEO then it will be "top 10 tips for SEO"
Its a work in progress.

On your 'Solutions' page, a couple of things stand out to me. First, this page is titled to appeal to a local audience

Yes you are right, the entire site is designed to attract a local audience, but the articles are general in nature and targeted at a wide (geographical audience).
My reasoning behind this is that I want people from everywhere to link to the site because they may find the articles useful, and this will improve my importance in the view of the search engines.
This will make my site more visible/prominant among my local audience, which is my target market.
I do have in the FAQ a question and answer regarding this question, maybe I need to make that more obvious?
I am also open to being educated, if this way of thinking is wrong, please tell me.

Also, I can't read the small text ("web solutions" etc.) in each solution logo. Seems to me that's more important for clarity than the business name, which I can read. My gut asks me 'why aren't these featured on the home page?

I had thought of this (putting them on the home page or maybe on each page in the right column) what do others think?
I just did not want to overwhelm people with too many graphics on the first page.
I have never had trouble reading the tagline of the sub logos, but maybe I could look at reducing the size of the company name and increasing the size of the tagline.

Concerning navigation, I'm not sure what distinguishes the items in your horizontal nav bar from the ones in your left vertical nav bar. I'd only use the combo if you wanted to give special prominence to something

I have put the Home page link on both the horizontal and vertical nav bars because some people expect it on either, so I tried to keep everyone happy.
The other horizontal links are for links and FAQ which I believe should also be on every page. The only link that may be confusing is the MYOB. I wanted this to have special prominence because it is a common problem for businesses and I want them to see that particular service, as its one service that sets us apart from others.
On a side note, I seem to be ranking quite well in google for MYOB (and similar terms) and its practically the only search term I am getting hits from google on. The terms are highly selective, so the people coming through are looking for the exact service I provide. I have not made a sale from the website yet but its only a matter of time.
My intention is to capitalise on this an offer more MYOB services, and write some articles on MYOB to put on that page seeing as it is getting traffic.

Copywriting could use a little attention too, though like I said, I didn't read deeply ... lots of abbreviated words (wks, etc), too much 'we' (the company) and not enough 'you' (the client).

Probably should run a spell checker through it too
I know what you are saying and I agree, my intention was to get a decent amount of articles out there, then get someone who is good at writing to fix up some of my mistakes.

I have got the copywriting manual from this site as well as the nitty gritty, but still have not read all the way through them yet. I wanted to do that and fix as much of it up myself as possible.

I had not thought of the abbreviated words, are they a bad thing to have on websites?
I will also go on a "we" hunt and structure the offending sentence so that it incorporates the information from what the potential client can get out of it rather than from the businesses viewpoint.

Once again thankyou for taking the time to review the website, it will ultimately help me build something that will be a success.

Edited by Mr Biggles, 26 May 2006 - 06:57 PM.

[blaire576]

well your site look fine

[Mr Biggles]

I've merged this new request into your old thread as we only allow one site review per member. - Jill


http://www.creydall.com

OK its time to be put through the ring of fire....
I had my site reviewed a good few years ago now and I think its time to get a some constructive advice (as long as it does not include the pretty flash wheel I spent half a day working on, on the front page)


General
Is this site completed or under construction?

I dont think it will ever be complete, but it is a fully functioning web site and has been for a few years.


If completed:
Since 2004 in various forms

SEO
Do you have incoming links?

Yes, a few

What keywords are you targeting?

IT Support
Computer Support
Web site design
Web design
Accounting software




Do you want your code reviewed for errors or improvements?

If its simple to fix, go for it, if its hard and requires lots of work, ignorance is my best policy, unless its going to effect SEO significantly

Marketing
Who is your target audience? Think about:

Business owners and Senior managers struggling with IT support problems.

Companies that do not have a IT department, and companies that do and want to offload some of their mundane work to our support desk.


Gender - Predominantly Male (probably because of the way I write) I would like to target more females.
Nationality - Australian
Age Range 35-55
Income/Education level - 80K-250K
Likes/Dislikes - They want reliable services and are prepared to pay for it. They just want IT problems to go away.

The more you tell us about your target audience, the better. We don't know them- you do!


Why is your site different from sites selling/offering similar info/goods/services? Why will someone want to do business you?

It actually has some information of use on there, 95% of the sites I compete with have no more than 5 pages with a set list on each of how great they are.


How important is usability?

Its pretty important, if people cant use it easily then they will leave. I get some terms such as "IT Support" down to a 30% bounce rate which I am guessing is OK and an average of 2.5 mins on site.



What is the purpose of the site? (inform, sell, online community, support B&M business, contact info only, etc)

Its purpose is primarily to sell our IT services to local business. Part of the site is to inform small business Australia wide on some of the hints and tips we have picked up over time on different areas of running a small business, but this is to increase the chance of selling our services.

Main Areas:

Front page and articles - Directed at our potential clients.

Directory - Currently have one small directory that links to major Construction companies in our city with the idea (and its already working) that our web site comes up amongst a completely separate industry to our own so that we have an opportunity to sell our services to them.

Online shop: I am going to change this to another name because the shop is more purchase buttons that integrate into the information provided, the word shop instantly puts people on guard that they are going to be sold something and that is not really the case with this section.

Design
Do you want design suggestions?

Once again only if its easy stuff to fix, I am more interested in the SEO recommendations than anything else.


Problems we have:

I seem to rank pretty well for our main search terms however I am in some form of black hole with regard to anything relating to web site design, we just do not rate at all and have had quite a few articles up for a few years now, even junk sites that have nothing to do with web design come before us. Not sure why that is, I have not done anything different. All of our articles have been written by me and not copied off other sites.

Would like to know what other people think is a reasonable search volume (unique visitors per day) We are approaching 40 per day during week days which is double what we were getting previous to December (when I started putting some effort back into it)

Im sure that number is a laugh to a lot of US sites, we just do not have the population here. Is there anyone else targeting a local area of say 1 million people? What search volume do you get?

Any suggestions would be welcome:)

Edited by Jill, 15 February 2009 - 12:55 PM.

[Mr Biggles]

No Problems, gee 2006 eh, time does fly.

I suppose eventually we will have members dying of old age, "Major achievements in life - He was a member of Highrankings for 40 years"

I cant believe how similar my original site review request was to the new one, I promise I did not cut and paste:)

[icecape67]

seems to be quite slow loading... Also, there seems to be quite a lot to read on the landing page, maybe it could be split in more pages

[JPK]

I like it.. although if you add a bit of color will look better i suppose.