Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi Chris :-)
The site is pretty clean and basic. Where I had some grumbling is in the navigation (well, the copywriting too, but that`s normal).

For example: I`m on the home page. I click "Surveillance" or "Attorney Services" and go to those pages. But the top of the screen, where your logo is on the home page, now takes on the heading for that new page.

Ordinarily, this is a good thing. I`m always complaining that I don`t know where I am on a Web site. But in your case (no pun intended) I just had to "intuit" that if I clicked the top bar/picture (the LA skyscape), I`d get back to "Home."

I see no reason why you can`t keep your home page banner, including your logo, throughout all pages. Then perhaps have a basic H1 headline for which page you`ve sent your viewer to.

Of course a typical navigation bar would also help, but I`m looking at it "as is."

On the Attorney Sevices page, by the way, you`ve got text passing over the attache case to the far right-bottom. The "s" disappears (Firefox, Windows). To make your life easier, I`d try to make sure your content text doesn`t go over an image. It`s a bear keeping the contrast correct.

Ultimatley, though, I don`t see any particular sales pitch that differentiates you from every other PI. What`s special about you? What`s your "Unique Selling Proposition"---your USP?

I like that you have a testimonial, but it seems to be 1 testimonial, so you could make it singular. What you might consider would be having a targeted testimonial, always in the same position to the right, for each different page. So one might be for a surveillance, another for a process serving, with yet another for a successful missing person.

I`d like your links to be a bit larger, but maybe only because I`m using a high-resolution monitor. It was hard for me to make sure I was exactly in the right place to click a link on that front page. Again, navigation buttons would probably make life a little easier

I`m also liking the grayscale theme. Fits right in with the PI line of business. Could you bring that out some more, perhaps speak with an artist? As silly as it may seem, even today a private investigator carries all the mystique of Nick Danger, Spenser, Kinsey Milhone, et al. That might help with the USP as another small component. :-)

You may have some design/coding limitations becuase you`re using homestead, but watch the size of your image files.  For example, the image file on the contact us page is 125K+. Try to keep image files lower than 40K.

Also, make sure you have a different title and description for each web page

If you are not going to employ a "normal" menu for navigation, you should include a link to all your pages on the bottom... especially the list of your services.

Design wise... the big button-like links are not a favorite of mine .  Text links would be fine. Also, I suggest you add a mouseover effect for all your links (you do it at the bottom of the page).

~Roland

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Thanks for your time Craig, I am definitely going to implement some of  your suggestions.

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Chris Woodson
Investigator
Los Angeles, CA
www.wilshireinvestigations.com
(310) 464-1127

"Consults always free for Startup Nation Members!"

Thanks Roland, I am working to get away from the big buttons.  They sounded like a good concept in the beginning.  Thanks for taking the time to take a look.  

Also just a funny note: anyone looking for help with SEO this post made it to the top 20 in Google for my keyword term "Los Angeles Private Investigator"

Thanks,


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Chris Woodson
Investigator
Los Angeles, CA
www.wilshireinvestigations.com
(310) 464-1127

"Consults always free for Startup Nation Members!"

Startup Nation is crawled so continuously and in depth, it`s a fantastic source for visibility. Unfortunately, so few community members take advantage of that. :-)