Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

1. The mouseover color for your left menu makes the link unreadable - blue text on black background. The same goes for the top right links (Dallas....).
2. I see this a lot... faded images that change to full color with mouseover. To me, it makes the site dull looking, plus the names "Austin, Dallas..." do not appear until your mouseover the image. Even if you keep the image faded, you should have the city names visible.
   
   I`d prefer to see a full color image with a different mouseover effect.
3. The list of cities... rather small font. Not a big issue though might be hard to read for some of your target market.
4. You site description tag - See the BEST DEALS instantly – we Ninjas pride ourselves on providing the most current pricing information on all rentals! Ninjas take the stress out of your search by providing instant research. Know that Apartment Ninjas are here to fight for your loyalty and guarantee the best rental search experience you will ever receive."
   
   Is too long and should be rewritten to better use your targeted keywords. There are a lot of "stop" words (the,  and...) which aren`t any help for SEO.
5. I`m not sure what the scrolling mp3 player is doing at the bottom of the site... if you`re trying to play music or a message, I could not hear it. If you want to play music, you should give the viewer the option to play or not play the music.
6. The "best Special" at the bottom of the page says "see details" but how do I do that? It is not clickable link.
7. The content section is narrower than the page width... you could widen the content and thus reduce the height of the page.
8. You might consider the order of the items on your left menu. "Site-map, resources, & employment.. could be at the bottom. Usually site-map is not in a main menu.
9. Terms of service and privacy links at bottom of page - go nowhere.
10. For you business, I would think you would more prominently display your contact information.
11. I think your top graphics are a little too big (in height). Remeber the point is to get your viewer to go to your content. Reduce the height of your graphic and bring up the content.

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The older we get, the more excuses we make for not chasing after our dreams. But truth is, goals are attainable at any age.

richard,

I looked at your site and I have to agree with Roland`s comments above.
I would also like to add that you may want to consider a professional logo along with a new color scheme (the blue is a bit bland).
I do like the photos though!
I just used a site that gave me a full review of our newly launched site and must say they provided some very valuable advice Website Review (may be worth checking out because I think you need to look this over in detail).

Best of luck,

Jen

As usual, Roland offers excellent advice.

I would agree with what he had to say and add a few notes from a personal preference standpoint:

1. If I were planning to use a site called apartment ninjas I would want two things: A clear reason to use you instead of someone else and personality. Actually, I guess those are the same thing. Your site gives me neither.

2. I actually like the lists on the home page, but think they are too far down to do any good. I would want them higher on the page, and as Roland suggested, a place where I can contact you, in case I actually want a human to help me.

As far as your web designer running you $150/hr. I`ll agree. NOT worth it, design-wise. He/she may have done an excellent job on the back end programming, but you need a designer for that front GUI, and better SEO. *smiles*

Good luck!