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jhooverjhoover subscriber Posts: 2
edited April 2006 in Website Critique
Our site has just been redesigned and any feedback would be much appreciated:www.littlemanconsulting.com
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    ShowboxersShowboxers subscriber Posts: 3
        My honest opinion is your site lacks pizzaz and originality.  It looks homemade and doesn`t reflect your company as being anything special.  Also, the font used in your descriptions and writings is boring and dull as are the pages themselves.  Your website especially needs to be eye catching and exciting since you are trying to attract clients in hopes to design their websites.  I honestly wouldn`t even inquire with your company for a rate if I were someone who happened upon your site in search of a web designer.  There is nothing that tells me you do anything exciting and intriguing.
        Sorry to be so negative but I am sure you were looking for honest answers and this is my honest opinion.   One of the reasons it has taken me so long to find a web designer is trying to find one that I am comfortable with and who will design a site for me that is above all - exciting and appealing. I think I have finally found the right company but it took me a long time.  You have a lot of competition in your field so you really need your website to reflect you as being as impressive as you can make it.  I truly wish you luck in your venture and I hope I have been somewhat helpful! 
         
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    TrueGRITSTrueGRITS subscriber Posts: 3
    Now I`m not a techie, I`m just a startup looking for a web designer - I assume I`m your target customer.  Here`s what needs improving (brace yourself, dear, sorry):

    Get clear, crisp, brightly colored photos.  Your photos need to yell HIRE ME. 
    The font is Courier New, isn`t it?  You don`t want your customers to think your technology is only as advanced as the old-fashioned typewriter, so pick a more modern font like Verdana. 
    The front page image with the hands holding the orb makes me think of a junior high sci fi novel.  Come up with something more original and crisp.
    On the homepage, size everything to fit on one screenview.  Right now I have to scroll to see just a tiny bit more.
    Your pages scream for action graphics, bullets, pizazz, excitement!
    Overall, here`s what I think and take it as constructive criticism rather than getting your dander up.  I was 6 when those Apples with the black screens with green text were out.  I went to a good school and we had computer classes back when a cassette drive was actually a periphery device.  That`s what your "web solutions" page reminds me of.  I need something modern, catchy, flashy.  Do that and you`ll get your customers
    Best of luck!
    Diana
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    NuevolutionNuevolution subscriber Posts: 30 Bronze Level Member
    I think your over all design needs to be re-vamped, here is wha`t wrong the web site needs to be balanced, sometimes using one or two colors can be as bad as using the full color palette. Here is what you need to do, if you own the graphics, try to use .gifs and with either web-adaptive or 256 color scheme, the images look distorted on my end so I`m figuring you are using low resloution export from either photshop or illustrator CS, if you are using Illustrator use the feature called save "image for web" and hike up your resolution, try not to use anything like font`s like arial or new times roman, remember! just because the font looks good on paper doesn`t mean it`s going to display good on the web, your best bet is to use; verdana, helvetica, or myraid. By any change did you do this on MSword? and then just saved as "html"?If you are going to use any of the MS products to create a web site, try using frontpage, at least is a so called web editor.Use other colors my friend don`t be afraid to use other color they are "free". Try using Light gray, black, dark red hovering for your links and perhaps a navy blue. The Key here is "BALANCE THE PAGE" to much white can make your customer squint and end up with eyes like this
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    jhooverjhoover subscriber Posts: 2
    no no...don`t think you are being negative...keep them coming!
    say what you want as long as you get your point across...it isn`t hurting my feelings, this is business. I am actually looking to have a profound site and require as much feed back as I can get!
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    LogoMotivesLogoMotives subscriber Posts: 15
    I think the others have given you some great feedback.  In addition to what they have contributed, I wanted to add that on my 17 inch PowerBook the samller text - especially in the italicized quote - is difficult to read on the gray and white backgrounds.  Also, in all your headings the kerning (the "space between letters" is the easiest way to describe it) seems to be off.  In the word "Us" - used twice at the top of the page - the "U" and the "s" appear smooshed (a technical term) together.  Bolder, stronger fonts will help a great deal.Your site needs to convey an image of "this is the guy I want to hire to help me."  It needs to be cleaner, fresher, brighter and more professional so the viewer wants to read the message you are trying to convey.- J.
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    lmclmc subscriber Posts: 1
    Based on your other posting and the information in your site (mainly the quote) it sounds to me like your target audience is more VA customers (repeat business) then it is for Web Design - which is not really a repeat business.  Not too many super flashy VA`s out there...I know because I considered doing that myself for a while.
    If your target audience is more about administrative work for small offices and independant salesman...or small businesses, I would say your site is pretty good.  I agree the graphics are a little fuzzy and I don`t know if you can set up a web page to fit all screens - but it all fit perfectly on my screen so unless there`s a way to auto adjust it, you`re never going to fit everybody`s.
    Maybe I`m just less of a flashy person, but I don`t care for some of the sites that I see that are all about flash or squeezing as much information onto the home page as humanly possible - the ones that look like the front windows of a ghetto liquor store.  Obviously, it`s all subjective since everybody likes something different...and keep in mind for every person you change the site to attract, there is someone else out there that you are putting off.
    That`s my advice.
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    PeterPeter subscriber Posts: 6
    My advice.  Look at your competitor`s site or simply other sites to see what`s appealing to you.  Find a pro web developer, show them the sites you like and have them provide a free mockup for you.  If you like it, move forward.  The mockup should give you a glimps of their design style to see if it fits you.  Your site is simple enough to cost around $200-250 at most to complete.  This would also include all images used on your site.  And should not take more than 1 week to complete.  A small price to pay for a professional look.  In some cases, your site is your first impression.  Focus on what you do best... get that client and it`ll pay for the site.Heck! If you can`t find anyone to do it for you at that price.  I will give you a free mockup
    I noticed you`re missing testimonials.  If you have some, post them.
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    jhooverjhoover subscriber Posts: 2
    Peter - this site is appealing to me.  I like the layout of it and obviously I liked the design or I wouldn`t have put it up.
    Please expand on what you feel is wrong with the design.  You have made generic comments that the design does not look professional but this was based on a template that I found on a professional website design site.
    Other than the graphics, that I agree need to be cleaned up - but I am not a graphic developer and it takes time to get custom graphics done.  And the fact that people don`t like the font.  But LMC is correct that my target audience is VA customers and not necessarily web design customers - so that is why I am hesitant to go for all the flash.
    Please elaborate on what about the layout is too shabby and less about the fact that you don`t like the font or the pictures.
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    PeterPeter subscriber Posts: 6
    Hi John,
    My ratings will go down for this but I hope you`re taking my comments as constructive criticism.
    My comments were meant to be vague because most of what I wanted to say was already said by other postings and from your site`s content you provide web solutions and database solutions consulting.  I assume you already know what the comments would already be. 
    I just wanted to stress not the obviousness of the design but the hidden worth of doing a site right.  Whether you`ve created the site for a local or national market, you need to bring it up to current design standards.  If you`re wondering what this is (because it`s ever changing), look at your competitors sites.  You don`t have to keep up but atleast start right.  You may be very knowledgable and good at what you do but if you`re consulting about web and database solutions but with your current site, you will not get many clients.  Again, FIRST IMPRESSION... They don`t know your skill level and knowledge yet. 
    Flash, html, css, php, asp, .net, whatever.. it`s all the preference of the site owner.  Whatever would work best for what their purpose of the site.
    My advice... scrap the site and start over.  If you can`t get a refund for the professional template that you`ve purchase... better to consider it a lost than to use the template and deter potential business.
    My apologies for being straight forward and I hope that you see the sincereness behind my comments.Peter2006-4-29 18:36:15
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    NuevolutionNuevolution subscriber Posts: 30 Bronze Level Member
    JHoover,here is what`s wrong with your web site. It`s tooooo simple. Your Logo looks like picture that was scanned. Instead of using Jpeg`s for your titles such as Web solutions, Database Solutions, and Instructional headers, try using true-type font, meaning write it in. Use a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) to change the face of the font. This eliminates the blurriness in your pictures.Secondly, you are offering MSACCESS? as your database of choice? JHoover, anyone in their right mind would have never offered MSAccess as their choice of DATABASE to offer their clients. MS ACCESS is just an EXCEL SPREADSHEET on steroids, you know what happens to an MS ACCESS database after 6,000 records? From my personal experience, it becomes unstable, Slow access to the database, you get alot of "ms access not responding" issues. So why would you offer this as your first choice?
    Why not use something like MYSQL with and build a front end application in Visual Basics? or create an intranet for your customers? something more reliable that you know even after 6,000 records the database still holds up.Secondly, If you are a web programmer/developer? don`t you think you could have put more work into your web site?Purchase a template if you feel like you need a more sophisticated web site. But then again, be sure that if you do get a client, that you will be able to define the needs for your customer and be able to deliver them a well though out web site.My assumption as this point is; and please forgive me if I`m being rude. You learned about web design by copying and pasting code from other pages to make your MYSPACE page look good. If that is what you did, trust me on th is one, there is more to web development and design than copying and pasting.Nuevolution2006-4-29 18:26:22
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