Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi everyone,

I recently discovered startupnation.com and I`m hoping that some of you guys might have some suggestions for our website - www.4translations.net.

We are a service business and provide language translation services, and although we`re based in Europe this website is designed for the US market.

Any advice or comments anyone may have in helping to make our website more effective would be highly welcomed. At this stage, I`m interested in hearing your opinions on everything - SEO, content, layout, etc. I really appreciate your time in helping us here.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Hi,

I`m viewing your site on a high speed connection with IE7.

Images: First thing... the file size of your header image is way too large, over 100kb. This makes the page slow to load. The file size should be a lot smaller especially since it is a mostly black and white image.  The blue text "satisfaction..." is a little hard to read

Navigation: When I went to your other pages...I did not see a link back to your home page. This is important..for the viewer to find their way back to your home page and can help in page popularity. It is also a good idea to have links to all your pages on the home page (could be at the bottom of the page).

I recommend employing some sort of mouseover effect for all links. It makes the site more user friendly.

Content:  Watch for spelling errors - especially since you are selling translation services. The text under the header image says: "With rates starting at $0.11 per souce word ..."

You should not underline text unless it is a link (especially since your menu  links are underlined). non-obligation  - in the last paragraph of the home page.

I like the idea of using icons for the steps (on the home page). I didn`t "get" or make the connection between "make payment" and the icon to its` left.

I would think the various languages you offer should be more prominently displayed.

What is an "A4" page?

SEO: Each web page should have a separate and distinct title. Preferably that uses one or two of your targeted keywords - different for each page. There should be more links from your keywords -  in the page content. Also, when you say click on the start now button... why not link the text "start now". Otherwise the viewer must look for the start now button and click it.... I know not a big deal, but us viewers are lazy.

~Roland

 

 

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Hey there :-)
I agree with Roland`s mention of the links. You could change what looks like a chemical beaker for Step 3 to an icon of a $ sign. Then for the bullseye in Step 4, a copy of the email envelope with the arrow going the other direction. (I`d have the arrow pointing down, out of the envelope.) For Step 2, have the arrow up, pointing into the envelope to symbolize "upload."

Since this is for a US audience, just call it a "simple letter-size page," and drop the reference to A4. Nobody in the States, other than perhaps the military, knows what you`re talking about.

More importantly, and also to the SEO topic, you have no headings in your content. The copywriting is average, but you really need to think about the "4-second scan" principle.

In a nutshell, it means you`ve got your viewer`s attention for about 4 seconds before they`re either hooked on your site, or click away. To do this, use bolded (black) headlines that tell your story even if you delete ALL the remaining content. Remember making outlines in school?

I should be able to blank out all the content on your page, and get the whole idea simply by scanning your headlines, looking at your pictures, and that`s it. The content is only there for SEO and to expand the headlines in case I didn`t get the point initially. See?

Having no navigation bar on the left, and no "Home" button was really annoying. And I`m not all that comfortable with white on orange tab titles. Not so easy to read.

Overall, it`s not a bad site, but it doesn`t reach out and grab me. I`d like the three books in your main image to be either separate click images, or a GIF with mapped clickable areas. Then I can click on the Spanish book and go to a page the tells me why you think you`re better than someone else in translating Spanish.

So, for example, you could put up a section in Spanish, then American. Let the viewer decide how accurate is your translation. Same for the other languages, see?

You also can remove a few instances of "cost-effective." Nobody cares. Instead, they worry about accurate translation of euphemisms, colloquialisms, jargon, and pop-culture terms. There`s no "sales pitch," in other words.

Another fun thing that might attract more customers, would be to have a page where someone can type in a phrase in any of the four languages, and get an online translation PLUS a phonetic pronuciation. If you can get people to interact with your page, they`ll likely stay longer and come back to visit in the future. :-)

The header was a little slow.

The term "A4 Page" doesn`t hold much meaning in the US, does it?

I like the 4 steps - very simple.

I don`t like "Click here" in the menu.

Your block that begins "With rates starting at ..." needs some right margin - it`s too close to the line. In fact, I don`t like that block - drop it and put it in the main section. That`s important information, and it shouldn`t be so small.

That large picture of the dictionaries doesn`t do a lot to add value or meaning.

To vwebworld, CraigL & nhgnikole,

Thanks so much for responding. Sorry for the delay in responding but I was overwhelmed with work for a couple of days, I`m sure you know how it is. Your comments and suggestions were great and I`m going to make sure they all get implemented.

Thanks once again for taking the time to help us out. I really appreciate it.

As a result of looking over your site, I went back in and started researching how to make mapped images. In Paint Shop Pro (like Photoshop) it`s actually not all that hard. You could map the books in your big, main image, so that when someone clicks each book spine or jacket, they`d go to a "how to" page that discusses that particular language. Talk with your Web developer about that concept: mapped images.

Imagemaps are a little 5 years ago - just don`t use them for anything important, because they are not good for usability or SEO.

I understand the older idea thing. But on this site, the stack of books is SO "in your face," it came to mind as a fast way to separate out the different languages as "product lines."