Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have had this website for awhile and would like some feedback. I want to add maybe some more pictures or flash elements.

I am new at this and any help or suggestions is great! I want to change the way my company name is listed on the main page and cant figure this out. My colors for the business are burgandy,gray and black.

I wanted something modern and flashy... this is what I got. Any ideas? Thanks

 

www.preferredmedicalservices.com

 

 

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Tiffany Pietrowski,CMRS President/Founder Preferred Medical Services Tel: 978-373-4391 Fax: 978-521-1220 www.preferredmedicalservices.com

tpietrowski ,
I took a look at yout web site, I like the colors you chose for your web site. But yes I agree with you, you do need a re-vamp. I am assuming you sell medical services such as billing, so having images people, (customer service, faq page, Listing of your services and a client base) would be nice.
It would personalize your web site more.

One suggestion avoid the flash, although it looks nice, it can hinder your business search engine ranking. But if used correctly it can be a gift. From the looks of your web site, it`s a template correct?
Having a more personalized web site would definitely put you in the cutting edge.
Add more content, images, and a different layout.
Don`t get me wrong you are on the right path, just when I see the sides, it would be nice to have a thin (1pixel) Line outlining the web site. Right now it looks like it`s just hanging in the air.
I also see that you have your admin login hyperlink "get rid of it"
Fix the footer, and it would be nice to create a site map. The images on the bottom can come up, to the top or on the left. People are visual and want to see images.
These are just some suggestions. I also took a look at your source code and although you do have keywords, try using Key Phrases along with your current keywords.
Also avoid to much writing, you can actually create one more page with everything you have going on, on the web site.

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Edgar nailed quite a few things, couple other items to think about -

• please don`t use <em> for all of the text on the page
• avoid underlining text unless it`s a hyperlink
• feel the need to echo the call for a border of some sort
• have someone make the images look more professional
• keep it simple - you`ve mostly done this already, your primary purpose is to give people a reason to contact you about your services, don`t complicate that with flash or a flashy site - focus on the end goal
  

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chuck fuller

Chuck, I don`t think tpietrowski, knows that an <em> tag is. <em tags> are italizise But yeah.. That is another suggestion.


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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Sorry about that, I rush to provide feedback and forget about those things (they take on the properties of acronyms - you just assume everyone knows them - my bad!).

But yes, I was saying that emphasizing all of the text makes it, in my humble opinion, difficult to read. A <em> tag that emphasizes text should be used sparingly, as appropriate (so that the emphasis really means something )


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chuck fuller

I see the problem with the graphic at the bottom. I`m on Firefox, and it appeared to be a copy of the banner at the top, only cut off. Doesn`t need to be there.

The above comments pretty much summarize everything. What you could do, simply enough, is put a page background color or image. I was messing with the image thing, because usually they`re too big and take too long. When I created a 1280x2000px simple two-color fade in Paint Shop Pro, then saved it to JPG format, the entire thing was only about 30KB. So I used it as a background "image," and it loads almost instantly. But the fade looks nice.

You could do a fade from gray to burgundy, maybe?

I also think Flash wouldn`t do anything for you. You could reduce the font-size down a couple of points. I hate very small, hard-to-read sites, where the font is Arial 8 or 10pt. But this is too big. 10-point would work, or 12-point, not bold.

Could you fix the bullet points to more quickly highlight your services on the front page? That way the paragraphs aren`t as full of words and you get right to the point. The current bullets use asterisks, and you could at least use the < li > tag, right?

If you have something like Nvu or DreamWeaver, you could use some inline styles, or better, a CSS style sheet. That way,  you can adjust the line-spacing of the bullets, and change the symbol, margins, and so forth.

Given CookieMonster`s jihad in terms of What do you Offer, we came up with a fast phrase for our navy signal flag banners: "Anything you can spell, we can make." Now take a look at what you offer:


As a statement, that would convert to:


Does that really "offer" someone something? Can you change this, holding in your mind (not in the actual statement) something like, `Give us your...something...and we`ll...do something about it.`

Just off the top of my head, maybe "You treat patients, we`ll handle the rest." Something like that, but that reads more like a directive, not just a blah and passive signpost.

Thank you, all your suggestions are excellent but I am dumb when it comes to this. I had a designer do this for me and then I played around with it.

My first issue is my heading at the top, I really dont have a logo but this font is all wrong. I like the right side but thought maybe the pulse bars could move like they are working like on an EKG? Also the medical symbol was suppose to rotate.

As far as wording, I have no idea what to put and what should be on the main page. I had somewhat of a slogan but it wasn`t catchy and too long "Large enough to service you, Small enought to know you".

Alot of the MD`s dont get one-on-one with their billing companies and that is one thing that sets us apart from others. I didn`t put pictures of "people" on the website because they are not people I know or are affiliated with the company.

What did you think about the affiliations on the bottom of the main page? This is a bonus for us since most billing companies don`t belong to these associations. I wanted people to be able to click on the associations image and be redirected to their website. I REALLY couldn`t figure this out!

The other company was suppose to help with the wording and rephrasing and they didnt so I ended up with too much info and not enough emphasis on our "special" features to draw clients in.

I was going to add pictures of the software program on the services page but I couldn`t shrink them to fit in the appropriate areas. I hate the contact page but that is what they had as a format.

PLEASE...HELP ME! My clients are going to be referring me out and I want the most professional page I can get that`s cutting edge and stands out.

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Tiffany Pietrowski,CMRS President/Founder Preferred Medical Services Tel: 978-373-4391 Fax: 978-521-1220 www.preferredmedicalservices.com

The affiliations didn`t mean anything to me, since I`m not a doctor. But I would assume the target for your advertising is the medical office manager, not the doctor. If those managers know the affiliations, then by all means include them. I`d maybe put them on the About Us page, and only refer to them in text on the main page.

Beyond that, it sounds like you`re going to have to get some professional consulting help. I`d suggest searching the member profiles for marketing pros and web designers. Email them, ask them to look at your site, then ask for some specific suggestions. If you feel comfortable with one of them, go forward. Otherwise, find someone in your local area.

I doubt that in a single thread on a forum like this, that you`re going to get the specific direction and training you`re asking for. It`s just too broad a topic, y`know? :-)

Craig, I haven`t laughed so hard in a while. [CookieMonster`s Jihad!]

For the business owner:

Web design is complex. It`s multi-disciplinary. If you can edit the site yourself, then you can make some of the changes suggested in previous posts. The advice given here is very good. Craig hit the nail on the head with his advice on changing your heading.

You might try looking for copywriting articles on google.com.

:-) heh heh....well...you know those radical copy writers!