Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello Forum:

Thanks for the Input.

Good luck to one and all.

 

 

Neil,

I think of a homepage like a 30 second elevator pitch: you`ve got to grab them and bring them in and then get into the nitty gritty once they`re interested.  Give your visitors a clear, concise, active one or two liner about what it is you offer.  If that interests them, they`ll read on to get more detail.  Don`t make your prospective client dig to find out if you`re right for them.  Give it to them up front.

In the same vein with the elevator pitch, when you step on that elevator with the president of that company, you want to be wearing your best suit and tie.  The same`s true graphically for a website.  You want to put your best foot forward.  I think strong colors like black, white, red, blue or green get your clients excited and interested about what you have to offer.  Before the company president hears what you have to say, he sees you first.  You never get a second chance to make a first impression.  So when someone clicks on your website, give them an unforgettable first impression.

To give your logo more pizazz, consider a graphic designer or even a site like www.logoyes.com.  A professional appearance can really sell a customer on your service.

If you have a chance, take a look at www.rdbelectronics.net.  The owner is a SUN member and his website started out about where yours is.  He asked us to critique his site and worked with a designer he found in the forums to really set his site apart from the competition.

Hope some of this helped.

Diana

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"Whether you think you can or you think you can`t, you`re right."
paraphrased Henry Ford

Niel-
Honestly- it needs alot of work. And I mean alot. I agree with what the other commetor said when he said it`s a 30 second pitch. The first 2 seconds here didnt` make a great impression on me.

Your website is actually a great example of all the mistakes I see and I detail it in an upcoming eguide called The Oops Book: The Mistakes Do-It Yourselfers Make To Their Website That Leaves Their Business For Dead.

You have pixelation of the logo. The typography is flat. While it`s a simple brochureware site, the navigation is not concise and clear-- you are scrunching up the site with all of those paragraphs and icons to the right. There is no clear focus or call to action. The navigation- while certainly cute- tells the visitor that this was created with MS Frontpage or Publisher. Not to mention you may be violating copyright issues with the SUN stock image at the bottom right hand corner.

Is there any reason why you decided to do it yourself rather than find someone who can work within your budget?

Ultimately- your website is to make a favorable impression on the visitor. It really doesn`t here. Sorry to be so brutal but just wanted to give honest feedback rather than sit here and say it looks great.

Great points, HDean.  I agree with them all and will add a couple things.

1) On Firefox 1.5, I see only half of the navigation buttons.
2) It needs to direct visitors to what you want them to do - a person from Mars should be able to see what you`re about within 5-10 seconds.
3) Give me more information!  I follow the shallow-but-deep theory; provide an upper level summary and then drill down with more resources.  Not everyone is going to use them, but they reinforce your credibility.
4) That acrobat icon is commonly used to download the reader (the program that reads the pdf), and people are conditioned for it to do that.  I would offer that list in HTML on the page and optionally as a PDF, giving people the choice of using what they prefer.

It`s always an iterative process... and kudos for putting it out there! 


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"It`s not work, it`s network!"

Portage Media Solutions
http://www.portagemedia.com
My Blog: http://www.interactivemediatips.com

Not a bad start, but needs some work. I also use officelive, and think that having links at the top makes it flow much better. I am using a 21" monitor, however, so that may change my perspective somewhat.

I agree with digitalvision as far as the acrobat icon and the information. Give us direct information as to what you want us, as your readers/clients/customers to get from your site.


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To revitalize your current business, or find the funds for your dream venture, visit www.TopItOffpromotions.com

For consultation and free advice, visit www.RICServices.com

Less is more.

Check out a site like 37Signals. You can go to the site, look around, and know instantly what it`s about.

I think the fear is that people won`t get what you`re doing, and so you have to launch paragraph after paragraph at them.

Did you see the spoof about Microsoft inventing the iPod?

This is a conversation, but your first page doesn`t have to be a deep-breath-and-then-pitch-until-you`re-gasping BLOT of content.

We`re gadgetco, and we make gadgets. Let me tell you about them. ---> links to more details. Just a few links. Not a mountain.

To me, the trick that will grant you the most experience and a better chance at a good, winning website design is when you sit down for an hour or so and surf the web randomly, paying attention to what sites are easy for you to figure out, and which are hard.

Take Amazon.com.  Do you really even SEE all that stuff on the first page?  Not really. You use the search bar. What if Amazon.com were set up to look like Google?

Trust in a gentle landing page, but draw people deeper into the conversation of your site quickly.

--Chris Brogan...



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Chris Brogan...
Chief Content Officer
GrasshopperNewMedia.com
chris@gnmnetworks.com
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