Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have just finished creating my website for my interior design business.  I would love to have had it professionally done, but that just isn`t in my budget at this time.  This site is intended to work as an online brochure.  My major concern is with layout and content.  I know I can`t have all the bells and whistles, but I would at least like my site to stand on its own.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. www.ricklundyinteriors.com

Thank you,

Rick

I will give you this ... it`s one of the better DIY jobs I have seen in terms of overall design.  I like that you tried to keep it very simple.

The confusing thing is the landing page. Most people wouldn`t click on the picture to enter. I would put the second page text on the front page and do away with one of them.

The other issue is the pictures. The setup is nice, but the pictures are taken at odd angles without enough lighting. And then I think you are compressing or saving them oddly, because they seem pixelated (where the straight lines appear jaggy). I think if the meat of your site is the work, you need to find a way to showcase your work in the best possible light. The pictures on the home page are also a little small.

All of your pages are titled "Home". You should give them complete titles, like "Rick Lundy Interiors, Interior Design at Affordable Prices > About Us".

Hope this helps.


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That PHP Girl
Small Business Essentials
Latest Post on SUN: New Facebook Pages - First Impressions

Oh, there are more pages than the frst page!

You see, when I first checked out the site... I did not click on the photo, so I thought the one page was it! So, definitely drop that start page.

You may have just changed the dimensions of some of your images???
Also, I see a watermark on two of the images...which leads me to believe they are copyrighted by someone else.

I assume when I`m on an interior design site - the images are from the designer`s work.

You might just add the link to your blog to the main menu.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

That`s not pixellation, that is aliasing from using a low-resolution point and shoot camera or more likely a screen capture.

You need more and better composed photos of your work.  If I were looking for a designer to help us select furniture and decorations (I am, but we`re in Massachusetts), I would want to see more examples of your style and tastes. 

Had I not read the other replies, I would not have tried clicking on the photo. 


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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

Hi Rick--

If you haven`t yet done so, list your business with local search engines/guiides so that your company/product/service comes up when people do a geographic search for what you offer.  Most of the basic lists are free of charge.

Here`s the link to the article with detailed instructions:
http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/local-search-marketing-guide

And, I`d also encourage you to include some meta tags to make your site more search engine friendly. Nikole`s suggestion about page titles is a good place to start. Here`s a meta tag generator that I use for some of my sites: http://www.invision-graphics.com/meta-tag-generator.html

Warmly,
Donna

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Donna Gunter, Internet Marketing Coach
http://www.OnlineBizU.com
Get your gift for StartUp Nation members, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit

Personally, I like the simple look, which you definitely have, and the colors. Having said that, if you are a designer, try to use some of your design skills to make it stand out without being overblown. Use that first page to inform and impress the viewer.

You definitely need more images of your work, maybe categorized by room type, building type, etc. Make them as high quality as you can, with maybe brief descriptions.

Maybe move your phone/fax/email info higher up....they get kind of lost way down at the bottom, and they`re fairly small.

The sitebuilder program doesn`t do you any favors for SEO. I would definitely recommend having the code redone, when possible.


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

Thanks for the reviews!  The current pictures are placeholders until I can drum up some business.  I also want to add a "portfolio" page when I have some more work to show.  Unfortunately, the last firm I worked for would not let us take any work for our personal portfolios.

I will get rid of that first page, I now see how that can be a problem.  Vwebworld, I tried to add the blog link to the navigation bar, however this program would only let me navigate to pages on my computer, not another website. Boo!

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, your knowledge is truley invaluable for us starting out.

Rick