Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Attn. Web Professionals

I would appreciate all constructive criticism about my website www.consultmbr.com . I was recently advised by SUN members  (in a different forum) to change my web design. Therefore, I am considering a complete facelift.

My New York city real-estate consulting firm advises clients about effectively managing their property with regards to code enforcement. I am in the middle of expanding it to include additional services which will be outsourced (ex. parking violations, and 1031 exchange etc.).
The website was designed by myself in an attempt to provide information to my existing clients, and if they found it helpful, I want them to refer their colleagues as well, who will eventually use my services.
It was also my intention to free up some of my time with the routine phone calls, faxes (instead of faxing certain forms to my clients, they`re available for download), etc.

At this point I am not emphasizing on SEO, but if there are any suggestions I`d appreciate it.

Thanks alot

First impression ...

The home page is called HOME. Title it the business name.

The intro says "If you:" and then lists some bullets.
But it doesn`t finish, like "if you ___ then you need ____".

First, on the guarantee. You should allow that to show as a link. Otherwise, it`s just hanging there, not looking like it ought to be clicked. Looking at it again, I see it`s part of the "home" navigation button. I dunno...I get what you`re trying to do, but it looks a bit simplistic. I`d tend to shy away from the "sub-titles" in the buttons, unless you can get them to be pop-out menus. Otherwise it looks a bit cheap.

Then, there`s a weird sort of contradiction going on. At the top you say, "Our guarantee to you." Then, right below that, you say, "Nothing is guaranteed." I`d at least have some sort of distinctive space or layout so that it doesn`t look odd.

On your home page, the title of the content (I agree with Nikole on the page title) is "A New York City Real Estate Consulting Group." Is that the name of your company? I`m guessing probably not. You either should use the company name, or not have the title that way.

Last two bullets aren`t bolded or they`re in a different typeface, and again, as Nikole said, an "If" pretty much requires a "Then."

I`d change the first paragraph:

If your first initial is "M." that`s fine, but try not to use it excepting in the banner at the top. Most people, at least in the States, tend to think "Ben Reich." However, most Europeans may think the M. stands for Mr. (monsieur). So you`d say, "With over a decade of experience, Ben Reich has....etc..."

The navigation seems to be fine. It`s rather that the layout is a bit hard on the eyes. Lots of words, not so much white space. Still, it`s easy enough to understand what you`re doing.....I think.

Mostly, I think on your home page you should have a "call to action." That means, "Hire me to do......what?" Yes, you have the "contact us," but that`s not enough. There should be "Ben does all this stuff. He can save you bucks. Hire him and he`ll show you how."

Then, "Here`s how to hire Ben immediately." And then the stuff you`d need to get started.

Awesome! You see, these are things I didn`t realize. Very good points. Actually, the d/b/a/ is M. Ben Reich, does it make a difference, Craigl? Also, should  I take the guarantee page off the homepage and title it "guarantee-disclaimer" as a separate page? The jump to action, Should be on the home page or on every page through out the site? (it`ll take time to fix this) 

Nikole, I changed it already, Any additional advice?

I`m viewing your site with IE6 on a DSL connection.

I understand there may be some design and features limitations using Microsoft office live to create your website.

Some general comments:

• I do not suggest centering  all the text on a page like you have on your home page.
• Try to use the same font type throughout the site. For example your about us page has different fonts. And your "news" page
• Try to limit the variety of sizes, colors, and types of fonts... and apply the same formating throughout the site. That is, you paragraph headings the same fone size, color, style; your paragraph content the same..etc.
• Use bold text only to highlight something...not to make one paragraph separate from another (like on your home page).

The "M. Ben Reich" section in your header is a little askew from the background.

This may also be a Microsoft Office Live issue...but I would remove the "search the web" link/form at the top of your site.

Just some basic SEO things to think about when crafting/changing your site. The words you use for your links/menu impact search engine results. So, consider those words carefully. It is usually a good idea to determine the important keywords you want to target before your create your site...so you can work them into the navigation, and page titles, content, h1 tags....etc.

~Roland

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

Thanks Roland,

I`m really delighted to hear these points, more so from you, since it seems that you think you`re writing to an experienced web designer. I`m a novice at this, and I would need some clarification on your points in order for me to act on them.  
Do you suggest rather the block (adjust) style instead of center?
Which font do you recommend, and size? Paragraph headings as well?
What do you mean by "askew"?
The "search the web" box is not optional in the Office live basic account.

Did you read CraigL comments What is your opinion about the "a NYC real estate consulting group" issue?

MBR

The font size you have for the content is fine. Actually, since you did not specify a font size in px... like 12px, the viewer can resize the font to their liking (that`s good). I`m sure the formating that`s with the template/design you`re using has style for H1, H2, H3 tags.  You can try h2 or h3 for theparagraph headings.

Heading... I mean the top of the green block where the name is slightly higher than the background image and the bottom is also slightly above the bottom of the background image.

CraigL`s comments?  Nah, I never read his stuff     (Just kidding Craig)

I haven`t focused on the content so much yet...I`ll check it out

~Roland

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

The "NYC real estate consulting group" issue?

For me, this relates to your target market, keywords, and how you what to viewer to "see" you.

For example, if you what to have people find you via a web search using the words "NYC real estate consulting group" then those should be in the title of the web page.

In your heading, I took the NYC real estate consulting... as describing M.Ben Reich.

~Roland

-------------------------

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

I guess he was referring to that line "A NYC ... " while it was the heading on the home page before the word Specializing. You realize that I am constantly editing the page according to these critique.

The askew issue is just the look "I guess" part of the template.
The SUN team is fantastic!

I understand that the M. Ben Reich is your DBA name. But it should only show that once, in the banner. From that point forward, you should refer to yourself as Ben Reich or Mr. Reich.

On the issue of styles, and stylization: There`s a way to use styles in Web development, called "cascading style sheets" (CSS). However, for a novice, it`s not a good idea.

On the other hand, using Microsoft anything to develop a web site is problematic. What I`d do is download Nvu, from the Mozilla folks. It`s a very powerful web editing program (free), and you can grow into it as you become more experienced.

An excellent tutorial is the Nvu User Guide. Then you can visit the Web Authoring FAQ, for some really helpful stuff. I started with nothing, totally confused by everything. I tried other editors, but it wasn`t until I started using Nvu that things began to make some sense. Then, learning that I could right-click on a tag, down at the bottom on the status bar, that`s when I started to get it.

Centering should be for important quotes, messages that you want to call the reader`s attention to. Bold is for headlines. Otherwise, the content throughout the site should be the same font (like Arial or Times), and typeface (weight, like normal, bold, or italic). The content should be the same color throughout, with the headlines perhaps a different color.