Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I would like some feedback on my website, please!

www.cjojohn.com

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Carole O`John
Taxes & Accounting
cojohn@comcast.net
www.cjojohn.com

Hello taxgirl. The site looks pretty good. Only one thing I found strange... Why is your home page tittled "default"?



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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Very professional site, Carole (and I`m not just saying that because you spell your name with an E like me) I browsed throught the site and came away feeling like you really know what you`re talking about. Well done!

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Thanks, iouone2!

I changed the home page...thanks for catching that!

Taxgirl

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Carole O`John
Taxes & Accounting
cojohn@comcast.net
www.cjojohn.com

The site looks nice, aesthetically, but I`m not all that excited about the content. Everything is going on and on about "personalized service." I thought it was a concierge company!

First, although your home page title isn`t "default" anymore, it`s now just "home." That doesn`t get you anything in the search engines. You should have your tagline or at least your primary product in the title. That`s what Google will search, find, and index.

Additionally, at the top in the banner, under or next to Personalized Service, you should have a 10-word (or less) explanation of WHAT personalized service.

The bullets under the first paragraph are way too small for the overall typeface and font size. One thing I learned just recently, really comes in handy. Set your overall body text font to "small," which is basically the average in all browsers. Don`t use a point or pixel size, but a "relative" size. If you want, use "medium."

From that point forward, ALL font sizes should be declared in percentages of that body text. So an H1 heading would be 200%, an H2 heading 150% (or whatever floats your boat.

The bullets UL tag then can be 100%, making them the same size as the rest of your paragraphs. The P style could also be 100%. See? No matter what browser settings someone has, based on what they like, all your other fonts will adjust "relative" to the basic size.

The bullets under the two side-by-side headings likewise are too small to read. At least on my monitor (19" LCD, 1280x1024 resolution).

Even if you only change the first sentence: "If you thought that personal service was a thing of the past, let us show you how personable we can be.....and save you time and money in the process."

Maybe something like, "Let us show you why business accounting doesn`t have to be impersonal and remote. We`ll do it for you, or personally train you in whatever you`d like to know."

That`s not great, but at least it links "accounting" or bookkeeping with "personal service." That`s what`s missing, in my opinion. :-)

You need something other than "home" too.

Put something like "Carole OJohn - Taxes and Accounting - QuickBooks Service".

I like your site.  I like the color scheme and the way it is laid out with a couple of small exceptions.  1) On your home page your paragraphs are all over the place -- not left justified and the indents aren`t all the same amount. 2) You have three sets of bulleted items on the home page, which is fine, but I think it would look better if they were all in the same font and the same size.  They appear to be 3 different fonts.  3) The 5 bulleted items on the right on the home page don`t line up. 

Hope this helps.  If you get a chance, would you please look at my site too?  It is www.YourSoothsayer.com.  Thanks!  Keep up the good work and pat yourself on the back!
jillybeans

The font disparities bugged me too, like to see some consistency there.

The search box is placed in an odd location, and gets lost easily - put it in a more standard locale, i.e. right-side near the top, or within navigation.

I know it`s nit-picky, but those three white squares at top right were the first thing that drew my eye, and they do nothing. Perhaps find a better use for these, or eliminate something that draws attention away.

The logo and other images are pixelated, could use some professional treatment. It should also lead the site off, rather than the "Personalized Accounting..." which is a service description.

The code is pretty bloated - huge amount of font tags (which are deprecated), empty paragraph tags, etc. For example, this:

<p align="center">
<font>
<font color="#996600">
<font size="4">
<font face="Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">
<font>
<font color="#996600">
<font size="4">
<font face="Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">
<font color="#008a4a" face="Verdana" size="3">
<font color="#310500" face="`Trebuchet MS`, `Lucida Grande`, sans-serif">
Tax season does not end on April 15th. For most businesses, it`s an ongoing process that continues throughout the year. Tax planning and quarterly payments throughout the year&nbsp;can save you time and money at year end.
</font>
</font>
</font>
</font>
</font>
</font>
</font>
</font>
</font>
</font>
</p>

Could look like this with some stylesheet attention:

<p>Tax season does not end on April 15th. For most businesses, it`s an ongoing process that continues throughout the year. Tax planning and quarterly payments throughout the year&nbsp;can save you time and money at year end.</p>


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chuck fuller

Carole, overall I like your site. I think the color scheme is great; it makes the page look very professional. I would have to agree with the others though about the font disparities (throughout the entire site), as well as the paragraph justification. I like the way your "Corporate Tax" segment is laid out - I think that was the most professional looking part of it all. 

The layout template looks good, very pro.   Agree on the font thing, make your fonts consistent makes it look more professional, and the more professional the more people will trust you with their money.

I would put your logo in the upper left corner, right now it only appears on your home page.

There`s a lot of text on your pages too, I know it`s finance, and doesn`t lend itself to terribly exciting imagery, but some pictures of people resting instead of doing their taxes, or pictures of you with clients or even some cool diagrams to explain things would really spruce it up a bit.

Overall good job!




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