More professional Look

[faithfulguy888]

hi guys i have not been on here in a long time do to all the paper work but earlier today a new more professional looking website of mine was upload. I am now looking for any critics in here to tell me what they think.


my web address

http://www.cougarsecurity.org.uk

all comments are welcomed good or bad.

[Rob Holmes]

Hello,

Well now the site is in flash you may find yourself struggling in the search engine rankings.

Also some of the the picture resolutions are poor - maybe improving them by a few kb wouldn't hurt the page loading times too much and enhance your image loads.

Hope this helps,

Rob

[Dread]

Please dont take this the wrong way, but its absolutely terrible.

Your site has just about all things that are considered bad web design in it. It uses frames, the site is fully flash, it doesnt comply with standards, its not accessible to people that dont have flash installed or dont have javascript enabled, and its not accessible to disabled people.

Even the actual flash is pretty bad, the background images are really bad quality and it plays music, you should never have music playing on a website.

Really really sorry to be so blunt.

If you want any advice feel free to PM me.

[JoyDivision]

Sadly Dread is right.

This is an ideal candidate for a CSS/XHTML retrfofit. You can keep the look similar (minus the pointless animations) but make the site far more accessible. And remember an accessible site is also accessible to search engines.

At the moment the site is just a combination of vector and bitmap images which have no meaning to computer. The only thing that can understand that site is a human eye.

The whole reason web design differes from print is that a website should be multimedia, it should be able to be manipulated in different ways, be it a text reader, a search engine or a mobile phone.

To conclude the design is not bad, the structure is. However unless you have £200-£500 to get it put right professionaly I think you will just have to put up with it and do what Matrixx says, improve those images.

[MinuWeb]

I hope you didn't pay for that.....

There is no need to use flash at all, most of the "effects" can be done quite easily without it.

Basically what Dread said above.....

[Jayne]

Hi,

I don't know about the other stuff, but that picture of the dog was horrible. You should never train a dog to be nasty like that, it looks cruel in the picture. The site makes me think of thugs, not security guards.

Jayne :D

[faithfulguy888]

:lol: haha well im not worried about search engine traffic most of my traffic comes from my marketing technique. lol its not cruel guard dogs are not fluffy toys if they where not nasty it would let thugs walk all over clients buildings. guard dogs are also trained to take thugs down by the arm. A doberman is more of a riot control dog as well as a building guard

the pixels in the website will be sorted out later this week and i think flash looks cool no matter what others think of it. somehow the website seems to be doing the trick as ive had a lot of work coming in.

I knew from start most the businesses would condemn it in this forum because most business in here deal with websites so they lower someones confidence and then say well i will do you a website for this much.

the other forums thought it was better than my last look and most security companies use flash. take a look at http://www.showandevent.co.uk

nice one ppl....

[faithfulguy888]

forgive my error the website is

http://www.showandevent.com

[Magsite]

I've had a look. I like the way the page changes when you select a different page. I sometime like music on a intro flash.

I agree the pics need more pixels but your ontop of that.

What CP do you offer? My hubby used to do it abroad, not much work here.

Cheers

Lisa

[Jayne]

All dogs are cute and fluffy, mine is...but if you came up to my house he would bite your bum...lol

I hope you give the dogs lots of cuddles after their hard days guarding, or I could be the one you have to watch out for :lol:

Jayne

[Jayne]

Yes...nicer dog pic please :D

Jayne

[Rob Holmes]

ok - getting back on topic.. Thats a bit better - still poor for the search engines and has the music as background which is 'generally' a no-no - BUT if you think your ideal customer likes music on the site then I'd at least test response rates with and without music.

I'm sure some of the others will comment again :)

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

Regardless of whether it's flash ot not and the SEO implications, my honset opinion is that it's pretty damn awful! Both from an asthetic viewpoint and a usability (and I mean general usability, not accesibility) viewpoint. On smaller screens half of the text in the buttons dissapears.

[easy]

These forums are quite ferocious themselves today, never mind the dog.

But seriously, I agree with Jayne - the dog gives an 'ugly' image of the business you are in and I feel, particularly as you are looking for investment, that your image needs to be more professional.

If you are doing the site in-house, I suggest you go to somewhere like http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php where you can buy truly fabulous images very cheaply. The pictures on your site are very pixelly. If they didn't start out like this, I think someone has over compressed them as jpg's and then imported them in to a Flash program.

Your designer hasn't given much thought to the end-user. If someone is using an 800 x 600 screen, some of your services disappear.

Sorry its all negative! :oops:

Robert

[creative-keyrings]

I dont think many people releise that if this person has built this site himself it has probabley taken him for ever to make it. He then asks for your feedback and its no way helpful to critise him 100%.

Its very easy for someone to say its pants but how hard is it to praise? Ok it may not be the best looking website but at least we could help out and point him in the right directions of some webdesigners on the forms.

Im just fed up with peoples slander all the time, i know honestey is good but slander just takes the mick.

All the best,
Callum Slade

[epiphany]

The type of customers you get probably aren't looking for security gaurds in search engines so Ii wouldn't be too concerned about that at the moment. I find people that don't use the web a lot would be more impressed with a flash site than a simple static one that adhered to all the guidelines in the book. If you are happy your clients like it then go for it!

The first site you posted a number of weeks ago looked a lot worse than this one so at least you are moving in the right direction. After a few months SEO might be something that is of more value to you then you can look at making your site more accessible.

I have to say that I have seen sites a lot worse than this posted on these forums recently and people weren't nearly as critical

Terry

[mumper]

[quote]I knew from start most the businesses would condemn it in this forum because most business in here deal with websites so they lower someones confidence and then say well i will do you a website for this much.
[quote]

You did ask for comments good or bad and to be fair you did get both. And yes there are a lot of designers on here but I think that the majority are very fair in their assessments.

For myself, the copy on the site really needs a bit of a tidy-up of the punctuation and the way it reads - and no I'm not looking for work I have enough on at the moment. I quite liked the actual look of your site though.

[Srivvy]

I agree with mumper

The majority of those comments were from people making a genuine effort to be helpful.

This forum is very good for gaining honest advice from people with a range of backgrounds, including web professionals and people who are scared of big angry dogs. If someone does not like your site, look at their reasoning and try to use it as constructive criticism. You learn nothing from "oh thats nice" and if you are looking for a confidence boost, show your sites to mum or nan.

[JoyDivision]

Being rude is not going to help anybody as all use this site with the aim of getting business and for that we need to be nice and helpful. I think most peoples replies were helpful and polite.

People have been harsh with me on here, it was not what I wanted to hear, but they were probably right, they have sucessful busineses at the end of the day. A lot of people who have replied here run thriving web development businesses, they know the market, they know what a good site is.

I made a site like that back in 2001, I thought it was wondeful and brilliant it had all these flashy bells and whistles. By the time I had completed the first year of my degree I realised what a load of crap the site actualy was.

[Jayne]

Hi,

Love the new doggy picture, you get 10 out of 10 from me now. You have now been promoted to classy security firm :D

Jayne

[faithfulguy888]

:lol: haha thought you would love the new dog

[duenna]

I dont think many people releise that if this person has built this site himself it has probabley taken him for ever to make it. He then asks for your feedback and its no way helpful to critise him 100%.

Its very easy for someone to say its pants but how hard is it to praise? Ok it may not be the best looking website but at least we could help out and point him in the right directions of some webdesigners on the forms.

Im just fed up with peoples slander all the time, i know honestey is good but slander just takes the mick.

All the best,
Callum Slade

damn right

[SillyJokes]

I don't do web design so I have nothing to gain by giving you want you asked for, a critique of the site.

I would echo what is said above about search engines, accessibility and the quality of the images.

However on the plus side the text is nice an large and has a good contrast with the background.

There is plenty of quality content that relates to your business and it's not too hard to navigate.

The menu is clear as tp what each bit is.

I would how ever urge you to consider the in next reincarnation of the site to move away from flash as search engine ranking could get you even more business than you already get in other ways and it is virtually free (after you have had a search engine friendly site built). Our site runs almost entirely on search engine traffic.

Can you really afford to turn your back on new business?

Hope that wasn't too savage.

PS I grew up with working dogs and I think people are too sentimental about them altogether.

[Rob Holmes]

I grew up with working dogs and I think people are too sentimental about them altogether.

I like dogs... but I couldn't eat a whole one :D

all comments are welcomed good or bad.

Hmm you did open yourself up a bit - For what it's worth IMHO most personal opinions on if people like your site or not don't actually matter. In fact I'd go further to say it doesn't even matter if you like it or not and doesn't matter what you think of it.

Before I get totally flamed for the above comment let me explain. What really matters on a website is the following 3 things..

1. You have a good product
2. You sell it well
3. To the right people

IF you do these 3 things and just focus on these 3 things then drive targetted traffic to the site - you cannot fail to do well.

What really matters is that your site appeals to YOUR potential customers. So if your type of customer is that excentric bloke who runs Glastonbury then he probably wouldn't care if your site was in flash or not, he may not even care if the resolution of the graphics is poorer than it could be. Frankly it just boils down to the person reading your site on the day and what mood their in. Would it put the bloke off in Buckingham palace looking at additional security? I don't know - maybe, maybe not - if he was having a bad day and feeling ruthless yes - if he was having a good day and feeling generous and open - maybe not.

Also don't neglect the search engines - they are targetted free traffic :)

I guess I've never asked for a review of any of my sites from people publically because of the general harsh reaction I've seen to others!

Hope this helps a bit,

Rob

[c2webdesign]

I think Rob has hit the nail on the head. If it's working for you, you have the right market coming to you (without the specific need of SEO) and you are taking bookings then great!

It's all about monitoring your website traffic. If people are visiting your site, browsing your pages and contacting you - then your website is doing well. If on the other hand you have a ton of visitors (all coming from targeted locations) and staying on your site for only a brief amount of time - and only a bare minimum contacting you then you may need a rethink (or redesign). You say you have orders already but monitoring your website traffic and making changes accordingly can bring more.

If someone asks me to critique or give opinions on a site - my interpretation would be (as I am not looking for your services) from a visual design, accessibility and usability.

I'll forget about the obvious downsides in accessibility as this has already been mentioned above - but from a usability point of view the site is easy to navigate and find your way around (found the frames a little awkward and hidden. Took a while before realising I have to scroll down for more text - you may want to make more obvious - maybe highlight arrows in a different colour).

From a visual point of view I was put off a little. A huge part of that was down to the poor quality of the images. Too 'pixally' and resolution of reduction is offputting and badly distracting. Tidy that up and the visual aspect isn't too bad.

Unfortunately, and it is a reality, some people do look at the visual and professionalism of a website design to judge a company. If the design is not up to scratch it can reflect badly on the company. I certainly do - but I may be a little biased :)

If this is a site you have developed yourself then the best of luck to you. If you have paid a professional to design this I would be a little more worried.

Hope this helps,
Dean
C2 Web Design
http://www.c2webdesign.co.uk

Web Design | Online Marketing | Search Engine Optimisation

[Cornish Steve]

I am not a techie, and I know little about website design, so I can't comment on the technical aspects of your site. Here is what came across to me:

1) The quality of the pictures is poor (something of which you are already aware). This is important because those pictures are what create the first impression of your site. First impressions are important.

2) One thing I always do pick up on is the quality of writing at a website. You have several grammatical errors on each page. It's important to fix these because the calibre of writing reflects on the professionalism of the company.

3) Most important of all, your company's message is not clear to me. You come across as "just another security company". As we have discussed in the past, you need to offer a unique story and pound away at that message on every page.

I agree with others that this site is a big improvement over your previous site. It takes time to arrive at a suitable site, and you're clearly on your way to getting there.