Web Site Feedback Please

[adeleuk]

Hi
Adele here, still new to the forums but thought I would ask for help and advice of people are who are willing to offer it please?
I have set up and designed my own company web site at
www.phoenix-life-coaching.co.uk
I used Microsoft Front Page which I am very comfortable with having used it for years with my personal site. I know Front Page is not always popular with professional web designers but it works for me.
However the site is meant as an online brochure hopefully to attract clients and generate business.
I have registered it with most of the UK search engines that still accept manual submission but as yet it does not show up on many of them.
I would like people to give their oppinion of how the site looks and works for them as they view it.
The main things I am looking for feedback on are the overall impression of the site, whether the information makes sense and is clear and most importantly if you were looking for a coach would it prompt you to contact me.
Also the home page, I have had constructive comments from one or two members on the forums but really would like more comments if possible before I start changing it.
I have an enhanced listing going live with Yell.com on the first of August and really need to ensure the site is likely to generate business in the future.
One last request, can anyone with experience of pay for click let me know their opinions on the system, whether it worked or works for them and if it is worth the costs that Overture charge.
Thanks in advance

[gary]

OK, here are my views - I'll try not to be too harsh! :)

1) Get rid of the scrolling on the homepage - it screams amateur designer and most users find it irritating.

2) Get rid of the Bravenet counter - again very amateurish.

3) Dump the animated Enter button and use a text link instead - it doesn't work properly and some search engines won't be able to go any further.

4) There is some interesting information on the site, but try using Verdana or Arial as a font instead of Times New Roman - it looks smarter and you want to create a professional image.

5) Your contact form doesn't check to see whether anything has been filled in - I clicked on the Submit button without filling in anything and it thanked me for my sending my enquiry!

6) Your News page has no dates on it - if it's to be fresh news, the news needs to be dated. Also, remove the line that says "The site is now hosted on its own web space, courtesy of Names Co." - again it detracts from your image as a professional.

One point I would like to make is that the service you are offering is a personal one - it is generally accepted that with such services clients are unlikely to contact you as a result of seeing an ad or your website - they're more likely to use you because they like and trust you so you will probably need to get out and meet people, rather than spend money on search engine advertising.

Hope that helps!

Gary

[webvideo4u]

Initial impressions are quite good.

I would have the scrolling text stationary and get rid of the hits counter from the home page (no one really uses hit counters any more). Your web host should provide you with some traffic analysis packages. They should at least let you download your logs and there are plenty of free log analysers available to download.

From a search engine point of view frames aren't particularly helpful. If you insist on using them then make sure that you include a site map or something similar in your <noframes> tag so that the search engines can find all of your content.

Make sure each page has an accurate title in the meta information. Your home page is currently 'new page 1', which won't help either customers or search engines.

With regards to PPC I'd recommend using Google Adwords as their ads are carried on more search engines. As an additional promotion tool have you considered joining www.ecademy.com . There seem to be a few life coaches on there so it may prove useful for you.

Adi

[adeleuk]

Hi Gary

Thank you for your quick reply to my original post and I welcome your comments which were not too harsh, its feedback like this that I was looking for.

[quote="gary"]OK, here are my views - I'll try not to be too harsh! :)

1) Get rid of the scrolling on the homepage - it screams amateur designer and most users find it irritating.

Will take the scrolling off but I would still like to get the message across that I offer a free initial session. But do you think a banner is acceptable?
Change made see what you think?

2) Get rid of the Bravenet counter - again very amateurish.

Done

3) Dump the animated Enter button and use a text link instead - it doesn't work properly and some search engines won't be able to go any further.

Done

4) There is some interesting information on the site, but try using Verdana or Arial as a font instead of Times New Roman - it looks smarter and you want to create a professional image.

Hm, I thought Times New Roman would be good, I use it for my letters but will make the changes to the font along the lines you suggest and see how it looks.

5) Your contact form doesn't check to see whether anything has been filled in - I clicked on the Submit button without filling in anything and it thanked me for my sending my enquiry!

I shall have to look at this and see if I can get it to check, but it may be a limitation with Front Page.

6) Your News page has no dates on it - if it's to be fresh news, the news needs to be dated. Also, remove the line that says "The site is now hosted on its own web space, courtesy of Names Co." - again it detracts from your image as a professional.

One reason is probably because as yet I don't really have any news but as I shall be sending out a Press rRlease about the start up of my company I will be adding that to the page and will date it as you advise.

One point I would like to make is that the service you are offering is a personal one - it is generally accepted that with such services clients are unlikely to contact you as a result of seeing an ad or your website - they're more likely to use you because they like and trust you so you will probably need to get out and meet people, rather than spend money on search engine advertising.

Thanks for that info, I am networking via my local Enterprise Trust up here in Scotland, attending varous events they hold and I am also looking at joining Business Network Scotland, but like everything else this costs money and I have to wait until I can afford it.
It was also a reason for joining tis forum, as someone may read one of my posts who is looking for a coach, well you never know?

Hope that helps!

Yes it does a lot and thank you for your feedback. I have made some changes already, please let me know what you think?

kind regards

[adeleuk]

Hi Gary

Thank you for your quick reply to my original post and I welcome your comments which were not too harsh, its feedback like this that I was looking for.

[quote="gary"]OK, here are my views - I'll try not to be too harsh! :)

1) Get rid of the scrolling on the homepage - it screams amateur designer and most users find it irritating.

Will take the scrolling off but I would still like to get the message across that I offer a free initial session. But do you think a banner is acceptable?
Change made see what you think?

2) Get rid of the Bravenet counter - again very amateurish.

Done

3) Dump the animated Enter button and use a text link instead - it doesn't work properly and some search engines won't be able to go any further.

Done

4) There is some interesting information on the site, but try using Verdana or Arial as a font instead of Times New Roman - it looks smarter and you want to create a professional image.

Hm, I thought Times New Roman would be good, I use it for my letters but will make the changes to the font along the lines you suggest and see how it looks.

5) Your contact form doesn't check to see whether anything has been filled in - I clicked on the Submit button without filling in anything and it thanked me for my sending my enquiry!

I shall have to look at this and see if I can get it to check, but it may be a limitation with Front Page.

6) Your News page has no dates on it - if it's to be fresh news, the news needs to be dated. Also, remove the line that says "The site is now hosted on its own web space, courtesy of Names Co." - again it detracts from your image as a professional.

One reason is probably because as yet I don't really have any news but as I shall be sending out a Press rRlease about the start up of my company I will be adding that to the page and will date it as you advise.

One point I would like to make is that the service you are offering is a personal one - it is generally accepted that with such services clients are unlikely to contact you as a result of seeing an ad or your website - they're more likely to use you because they like and trust you so you will probably need to get out and meet people, rather than spend money on search engine advertising.

Thanks for that info, I am networking via my local Enterprise Trust up here in Scotland, attending varous events they hold and I am also looking at joining Business Network Scotland, but like everything else this costs money and I have to wait until I can afford it.
It was also a reason for joining tis forum, as someone may read one of my posts who is looking for a coach, well you never know?

Hope that helps!

Yes it does a lot and thank you for your feedback. I have made some changes already, please let me know what you think?

kind regards

[adeleuk]

Hi Adi

Initial impressions are quite good.

Thank you. :-)

I would have the scrolling text stationary and get rid of the hits counter from the home page (no one really uses hit counters any more). Your web host should provide you with some traffic analysis packages. They should at least let you download your logs and there are plenty of free log analysers available to download.

have made changes already, can you suggest a good log analyser?

From a search engine point of view frames aren't particularly helpful. If you insist on using them then make sure that you include a site map or something similar in your <noframes> tag so that the search engines can find all of your content.

I did wonder about frames so will remove them and see how it looks.

Make sure each page has an accurate title in the meta information. Your home page is currently 'new page 1', which won't help either customers or search engines.

Oops had better check that out

With regards to PPC I'd recommend using Google Adwords as their ads are carried on more search engines. As an additional promotion tool have you considered joining www.ecademy.com . There seem to be a few life coaches on there so it may prove useful for you.

Thanks for this advice and the url for eacademy, will look at this.

Kind regards

[webvideo4u]

This site has a run down of some of the better free log analyser packages http://www.handyarchive.com/free/log-analysis/

[adeleuk]

Hi Adi

Thanks for the info

Kind Regards

[redfish]

Adele,

The counter still seems to be there!