Website Review

[dawnjlane]

Hi All

My Virtual Assistant business is now just over 2 years old and is moving in the direction I want it to. My website has recently been updated (my design and work) and I am now taking a short degree level course in Dreamweaver hoping to make the site a little slicker and more punchy.

I would very much appreciate feed back on the following areas (which I can then put into play when doing a new website as part of the course assignment):
1. Stage of development - although current site is finished I am always looking at ways to improve it
2. Designed by myself using WebPus X2
3. Site is hosted in the UK
4. Would like critique on ease of navigation, layout and copy, and possibly SEO rankings (try to stay on top of this through Hypersubmit and Google Analytics)
5. Does the site 'tell' you what I do and make you want to contact me for more information/to ask me to work with you?

Tell me like it is - I am thick skinned and want to ensure anyone visiting the site will want to follow up and contact me.

Find my site at www.your-office-online.co.uk

Look forward to your comments.

Dawn

[phillip@ysatisfy]

Hi Dawn

Here is some feedback on your site:

1. Look and Feel: I like the site, it's clean and easy to read, which I think reflects your brand. The only thing I would change is to reduce the size of the header as it currently takes up a lot of valuable real-estate on the page, which could be better used to push your services. One thought could be to get rid of the YOO on the right hand side, leaving the rest of image of phone etc...

2. Navigation: This is good, I like your big buttons. You can't miss them which is great. Only thing I'd change is the drop down navigation on each button. Its not imediately clear to me that the large buttons go to a different page to the item below them. Think of how people use standard window apps like Word, when they click File at the top of the screen, a menu of items appears below it to choose from. Users don't expect File to be a function / link in its own right. I would recommend putting under your horizontal nav buttons a link to the pages that these buttons if clicked take you to e.g. If you click Benefits, why not add a link above testimonials going to "Why use us?" and link this to the benefits page.

3. Content: On whole really good. Straight to the point and helpful. You may want to take another look at the frontpage and feature a summary of the services your business offers, so if a user comes the page, they can see quickly what you bring to the table.

4. SEO: Looks ok, but people of more skill in this area can provide better advice.

On the whole I think your site is good. The only thing I really would change, is the reduce the size of the header to get people to see more about your services.

Good luck

Phill Hunt
Head of Ysatisfy customer satisfaction and internet consultancy
www.ysatisfy.com

[AboveParr]

Just a small observation - It's really nice to find a site the looks like it's been properly spell-checked!!!

[paultgreen]

I've registered on the site, as I see it as a good way to market our free review service to people - allowing them to book it in themselves is a fantastic idea..

[Peter W]

I don't like the navigation at all. Each of the 5 boxes seems to act like a drop-down menu, but then 4 of them only have one more item to show. And it would not occur to me to look for News and Articles under the Home heading, or Testimonials under Benefits, or Code of Conduct under Profile.

Some of the images do not look clear, for example the Pay On Time logo.

Is the quote on the home page supposed to be in Times New Roman?

[Ray Stewart]

A point about the pricing.

I would expect to see a reduction in the hourly rate if I was going to guarantee 50 hours of work a month to you, rather than 3 free hours. That only equates to 6%.

Apart from that, to a non website expert, the site looks fine to me

[Majjie]

As a non-expert, I think the site is fine. It provides all the information I need as a visitor ... although, I too find the drop down buttons a bit odd. I'd prefer to see the drop down options visible all the time as smaller buttons under the large ones (but I don't, of course, know how difficult that would be to do!).

As a designer (though not of web sites) I'd like to see another colour on the pages - a pale grey background to some of the text perhaps - but again I don't know how difficult that is.

[smartbookings]

I think the logo needs improving

[MIRRORSTYLE]

I think the site is very good,Im no web designer but I think the site is easy to read,I like the pale blue colour and I think the idea is a good one. My only gripe would be that the wording is a bit "samey" all through - no punchy lines. But on the whole I like it. well done

[dawnjlane]

Originally Posted by smartbookings

I think the logo needs improving

In what way?

Dawn

[bluestagstudio]

Hi Dawn,

I'll start by saying considering you're not even using Dreamweaver yet you've done an alright job! My major points would be...

I agree with Peter W about the navigation, not only does drop down menus with only or two options look a little out of place some of them seem to be out of context. Under 'Contact Us' you have 'Books' and 'Links'. Neither of which are anything to do with contacting you.

The content isn't bad, it's pretty obvious what you do and how it could help, little niggles though like 'Your Office Online can will handle your e-mails' makes no sense and it's things like this that can really pull a website down.

The website code doesn't validate with W3, which, in a nutshell means you might not do as well in search engines, and the disabled may have problems accessing your website. Unfortunately this is something that's hard to avoid if you're using any type of software like Dreamweaver etc.

This can also affect SEO too, but having good relevant content can make up for that.

I like some of your links/accreditations at the bottom of the homepage, but not all, I'd get rid of the ones that claim to help with SEO (they really don't) and just stick with the VA related ones.

Hope that helps!

Cheers
Matt.

[dawnjlane]

Thanks Matt - I am currently taking an introduction course to Dreamweaver and will be amending my website as part of that coures so your points are very useful and timely.

I have also though about the links at the bottom of the page/drop down menus, and will also be culling some of these or moving to other areas.

All comments on this thread are very welcome and will be used to update my website.

Thanks

Dawn

[ethical PR]

Hi Dawn

I think a few copy changes might make the site even more accessible. How about using About Us for example rather than Profile. Paint a picture of the sort of clients you have helped and include a few endorsements from them.

You asked for feedback on why people might not like your 'logo'. I know logo's and straplines are very personal things, but from my own professional view as a communications person, can I make the following points;

I think maybe you could look at refreshing your corporate identity alongside your website development and look at something simplier. My thoughts are that the 'YOO' doesnt really add anything and I dont think the strap really helps aid understand of who you, or help differienate you from your competition. You talk about real but you offer a virtual service.

best wishes
Helen
Upward Curve PR
helen ashley (ethical_PR) on Twitter

[Printing&Postage]

Could maybe integrate the banner text with the banner image to save some space & adjust the balance of the top of the top of the page.

It would also mean the all the web browsers would display it the same (Google Chrome's showing a different font to IE) - though I;m tempted to say use the same font you've got in the main text for all the header text except "Secretarial services at the click of a mouse", as too many fonts can make a site feel a little "patchy".
(I'll email you a quick mock-up as I don't have anywhere to dump the image right now.)

Also, I'd prefer some spacing between the menu images & a either little less difference between the normal and rollover image, or dark text on the rollover image.

HTH
Will

[Printing&Postage]

putting your email address as part of the image will reduce the spam risk too...