22 replies to this topic

[Scottie]

Hi Mr Biggles-

The quick once over:

On first view, I wasn't sure where you wanted me to focus. I ended up being distracted by the big Please Leave a Message, Live Support Offline graphic. I think, if I were you, I'd de-emphasize that some. Live support is nice, but not the most important thing on your site.


It's busy, busy, busy! Overall, I think you've got a nice look to it, but there are too many elements vying for attention. Here's what I would do...

Create a bar directly under your header (lt grey, maybe) and in that bar place links for
Live Support | E-Newsletter | Testimonials | Site Map

Then remove all those links and elements from the page. Allow your right side graphics to float to the top. They look good, so feature them.


Shop- this confused me. Shop for what? You sell services, right? So I clicked on it... and was still confused. The text talks about taking the plunge and how hard it is to start your own business. Wait, what was I shopping for?

If someone clicks "Shop" (which I'd rename something like "Purchase Services") they are ready to buy! You don't need to have a conversation with them at that point. It's time to get to brass tacks: what are you selling, how much do they cost, and how do I proceed from here?

Instead I'm faced with a goldmine of resource icons. What does this mean? You aren't really selling me anything, you are offering me a list of web resources? I click on Support Services and I get an article titled "PVII CSS Page Pack- Baily Potter" and some more fluff about how difficult everything is and how you can provide support, but no details on what that means.

Then there's a link recommending a purchase of online quoting software.

At this point, I am confused and go back to my search results to find a company that can clearly tell me what they offer, how much it is, and how I get started.

The look is really nice, but I would recommend streamlining your copywriting and answering the basics:

Who
What
When
Where
Why
How much

Good luck with it!

[BBCoach]

Like the others have said, "Not a bad design."

However, for someone who says that he's targeting these keywords:
IT Support
Computer Support
Web site design
Web design
Accounting software

I have to give you an "F." Your title doesn't reflect it and the very first section of the home page starts by asking a question "Does Your IT Provider Measure Their Own Performance" instead of offering a listing of solutions. For example, IT Support is not the same as saying Technical Support or IT Management Services. Also, I don't see anywhere on the home page Web Site Design, Web Design or Accounting Software.

You need to rethink your SEO strategy.

[zephyr]

Am I missing something, or are there really no Description tags in any page?

[Michael-F]

Overall, it feels like I'm being left to fend for myself after reaching the homepage. If I don't feel like calling you, I have to sort through a lot of menu options to figure out what you guys are all about. To make things worse, the navigation itself is clunky and confusing. The only way I can see someone actually taking the time to navigate this site is if they really, really want to know more about your company in particular (as opposed to just shopping around). Chances are, potential customers are not going to be impressed, and they'll want to go elsewhere. After a quick once-over, I don't see anything about web design anywhere on the site. I see hosting and a couple things where design might be implied, but if I were a visitor I would have no clue that you guys are involved in web design at all.

Some examples of navigation problems:

• Clicking on the sidebar links without dialing down all the way through the menus takes me back to the homepage. That's bad. When I click those on most sites, it brings me to an index/landing page for all the categories covered under that menu. Some of the options don't do anything at all. It's very inconsistent.
• Some of the links and menu options want me to download a PDF. PDF downloads need to be clearly marked as such, and they shouldn't be part of your main navigation.
• Clicking on Shop and having it take you to Resources is confusing.
• There's no reason to have your search bar hidden behind a Javascript tab.
• The pictures on the right side for IT Checklist, Spring Newsletter and Testimonials should be links.

Nitpicky things:

• Times New Roman makes the copy look very cluttered.
• On your FAQ page, the question, "You're a local Adelaide business - What's the point?" is in second-person while the rest of the FAQ is first-person. It should read, "We're a local Adelaide business - What's the point?" Better yet, the question could be expressed better in general - "We're a local business - What's the point of having a website?"

[Arye]

Visually it is really not very interesting I am afraid.

[Mr Biggles]

Its been a while and now there are all these recommendations, great.

Thanks for the feedback, a lot of the stuff are items things that I sort of knew but ignored because of the work involved.

The design is staying for the time being, except for the great submenu idea which I will put into practice. As far as inspirational design, in my experience people do not go to web sites to look at pretty pictures and nice designs, although when I do have time I will concentrate a bit more on it perhaps. It will have the least return for my effort.

I will go through the recommendations in detail, especially the navigation & business that was pointed out.

I think one of the biggest problems is the site has just gotten too big to manage properly, I need to trim it to something that can be organised properly. For instance description tags that used to be there, then replaced with the "I must do those tags, I will get to them next week" scenario.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Edited by Mr Biggles, 28 December 2009 - 09:49 PM.

[ArtphotoasiA]

Hi there.... my 2 cents... hope it helps.


The graphic can be improuved... really... is quite too standard and ''pale'' does not make me stop by and say... ''oh.. what is that..'' just passing by...

A quick way can be change maybe the background and most of all the header that is quite terrible sorry...

Beside I love your menu on the left... nice job.

Thats all folks!

[Mooro]

Just a 30 second look at the home page leaves me wondering "I'm here, now what?"

A lot of words and a lot of scrolling before I see the subscribe form, I'd make that a much higher priority, I'd even suggest putting that and your phone number right at the top, afterall I guess you want folks to sign up and get in touch more than anything.

I really think more than anything the call to actions on the site need defining better which will have a vast improvement on your subscriber / contact / conversion rate.