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www.iis-fl.com

I am the president of a private investigations agency located in Tampa Bay area (FL).  My husband and I created this site and know it needs some work.  It is our first, so let me have it!

1. The goal of the site it provide info on our firm and services and provide our contact info.  We also wanted it to drive traffic to our business when a client performed a yahoo or google search - so far we are non existent in the engines. 
2. It probably took 8 hours to get the site set up & we had a friend actually produce the site.  I am in no way familiar w/ web design.

I really want to make this site rock & drive traffic to our business.  Any comments you have will be welcome, no matter how painful they may be.

Thanks in advance & I look forward to your reply.

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Denise Armstrong, President - Intelligence & Investigative Solutions, Inc.
www.iis-fl.com ~ darm@iis-fl.com

Well your site has been indexed by Google...that`s a good thing

The site does need some SEO attention. Every page has the same title...not good... each page should have a unique title AND description relevant to that page.

Also the site does not use H1, h2... tags to highlight important keywords/phrases.

You should also add a site map and google site map.

The content writing is very dry / boring . I would think one way to write your content is to say how you can solve a person`s problems...what solutions you provide.

Who is your target market.. is it local to Tampa, FL? Then location may be good to have as part of your page title.  The title you have now is the name of the company and I do not think people will search on those words.

~Roland

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

Visually, I might make the text just a bit larger so it is easier to read.

Your "Current Events" page is more like an "FAQ" page, which is a bit confusing since I expected to see something along the lines of actual events that might be of interest.

Personally, I think the main page is more of an "About our Staff" type of thing, where it should maybe be more focused on information pertaining to what you actually do. Sell yourself here.

Your meta tags need to be filled in. Unique titles and metas for each page, alt text in your images, titles in your links, H1 and H2 tags, etc.

And work on inbound links.


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

Hi Denise :-)
I think I`d try to make the paragraphs less wide. There are those visual studies discussed on several other Web critiques, about how the eye tracks on a page. If you have to move your eyes to far to the right, then back to the left for the next line, it gets really hard to read and stay focused. So make the left-right margins wider, and lines shorter.

As Roland mentioned, the copywriting needs a fair amount of work. Right now it doesn`t tell me anything useful, really, and sounds much like any corporate marketing meeting.

Your services page is too small in font size, and has too many things. Instead of just a list, you should actually try to sell some of the services. That would work, I think, if you sold the 5 general areas, and used the writing to include the various pieces listed below each heading.

I don`t understand why you have "Services," then "Specialized Services." I would think that ALL your services are specialized, no? If not, then I`d consider using the specialized services as your "unique selling proposition," to differentiate from all the other PI firms in the area.

If you`re one of the few firms and getting plenty of business, then so what? Just put up your contact info and be done with it. But if you`re struggling in a competitive market, then focus on those specialized services.

I rarely pay attention to "links" on a Web site. What do I care? I can get links on my own. They usually have no particular relevance to the site, and are just a way for the site owner to fill in space without doing any work. Maybe I`m different, but you could lose the "links" tab and I wouldn`t even notice.

Instead, if you DO have something YOU have written, and it`s useful as it borrows or quotes from some other site, then put a hyperlink into the content so people can follow your references.

I agree with Webline that the "Current Events" should be called "FAQ." As it is, I was expecting to see public engagements where your firm is sponsoring something or the focus (like a seminar or teaching event).

It`s tacky to have a "contact us" page, then not have a form. Get your developers to make a form, and lose the "send us the following information."

All in all, the biggest issue is content organization. If I were looking for a PI, nothing I saw on this page gets me all that interested. Yes, everything is there on a technical basis, barring the above comments, but nothing is there on a personal level.

Maybe PIs don`t want to extend a personal touch? I dunno...doesn`t the person wanting to use your business also want to get some sort of reassurance that they`re not crazy, strange, or overly-worried?

Thanks for the comments so far!  I am going to print out & rework some info.

Keep the comments coming guys - be brutal!

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Denise Armstrong, President - Intelligence & Investigative Solutions, Inc.
www.iis-fl.com ~ darm@iis-fl.com