Feedback on my site.

[Bannerman]

Hi,

I have just joined the forum and can see there a re lots of people covering lots of business types and I would value some feedback on my web site good or bad.

The site is based on a template bought from Allwebco and modified by me, it aims to make people aware of what I sell, the second element to my site and business is the "e shop" built using Zencart and again modified / put together by me.
I host with 1and1 I don’t know where the server is but I assume the UK, I have to say that with this and a couple of other sites I have running with them have been both cost effective and painless.

I am always looking to improve and understand how to make things better, SEO is at the moment my big thing and I am learning bit by bit, I do not have the budget to pay for services like web building and SEO but if I am honest it is the learning and doing that I am enjoying I just need to attract sales of my products to complete the circle.

As mentioned all comments are welcomed.

regards

[Adam Moore]

Hi, I've had a quick look at your site and have some very quick initial feedback.

The first thing that strikes me is that you're branded as a marketing company but you're selling products.

I imagine the intention is to sell a diverse range of products which is fine but I'd suggest setting up dedicated microsites for each specific range of products or specific niche ie Bannerman Adhesive or Bannerman Automotive etc.

Focus can help no end with your SEO efforts because the search engines will look at site descriptions, keywords, titles, content and links (to name but a few) and they like to see a common thread.

When you go through to your e-commerce area the global navigation at the top of the page changes and the home link takes you to the shop homepage rather than the site homepage. This isn't necessarily a problem but you should make it more obvious that you've navigated away from the main site because at the moment it will impact the user experience.

One final observation is that when you go to the registration page of the shop users are asked to enter some personal information but the site isn't secure. You might find that even at that early stage people are looking for a padlock symbol and https in the URL.

I suspect I've just given you an unexpected chunk of work but as you said half the pleasure is in the learning.

I hope I've helped a bit,

Adam

[Bannerman]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the feedback, I will attempt to address the points you make.

You are correct we intend to market a diverse range of products so thought the company name was more suitable not being tied to one product.

thanks again.

[bluestagstudio]

Hi,

Completely agree with Adam there. If you want to do well in SEO without paying someone to do it you are going to have a big learning curve but your market isn't saturated with search engine optimised competition so you have a chance!

As well as studying all the fundamentals that Adam mentioned you're going to need to write a lot more useful content for your main website, stripping some of the information out of the PDF files and incorporating it within the site would be a good start.

Also, if you're looking at improving at web development too you'll need to google Tableless Web Design or the like and start using modern SEO friendly techniques to build your website as at the moment it's not constructed as well as it could be.

There are a lot of contradictory SEO articles out there but if you make sure you go for reliable sources of information you should be ok.

The shop is really cluttered and a little hard to read, and as Adam says while it's good that it matches your branding, it should be a seperate entity from your website to avoid confusion.

Hope that helps out a little,
Matt.

[Bannerman]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for taking time to look at the site, this is the kind of feedback that will help me develop and hopefully prosper.

It is good to have other opinions as the site is my baby and we all know your new born is not ugly it's the prettiest thing in the world, the truth is there are always wrinkles that need to be ironed out.

Thanks again for your opinion I will try and action the points you mention.

regards