Greyhawk,

I have visited your site and Sualdam's comments are good, except I am confused why he says your index page is 55kb. The first image, Various%20006.jpg, alone is 54kb and the logo further down the page is another 39kb. I estimate the entire page at over 130kb, way too large. The file size is important for load speed. In this age of broadband, the vast majority still use dial-up connections.

Yes, I agree that the title tag is a huge problem. It is probably the single most important tag on your index page. Change it to be brief using a keyword or two that someone would typically use to find such a site. For instance, "Tattoos by Universal Tattoo Body Art". Also, move it to the fist line after the initial head tag. Have the meta keywords and description tags immediately follow it, then the other meta tags.

Now, let's get down to your goal of not looking like all the other tattoo sites on the internet. I'm not sure how to accomplish this, as tattoo shops themselves are all pretty much the same, at least the ones I have personally seen. I think it would be better that you concentrate on the flow of the site. Here's what I would do:

Make the background color of the pages consistent. The index page is black, all the pages should be black.

Remove the image of the crew from the index page. Home and index are suppose to be one and the same. Your index file is your home page. Creating another page called "Home" is very confusing. Create another page called something like "Meet the Crew" instead of calling it "Home". Place a compressed version of the crew's group photo on that page. Then have the thumbnail shots of each member. (Side note: Can you get a better close-up of Lori for her bio page? She's a cutie.)

I would also remove the Google search feature, thus eliminating the problem with the logo. It's not that big a deal to make a Google logo with a black background, but I don't think the feature serves any meaningful purpose on your home page. Your site is small enough that it doesn't need a search feature.

Loose the Bravenet counter. I'm not sure why people have such a fascination with counters being on the page. Getting customers calling, visiting and e-mailing you will be a sign that the site is working no matter how many hits the counter receives.

Make the credit card logos smaller.

Oh, the subsequent pages linked from the index page have no real navigation other than "Back" and "Home". As I mentioned, "Home" is confusing. I would expect to be taken to the index file where I entered. Get some consistent navigation: Same links on every page to every main page on the site in the same place(s). I also would add a small image of your logo to the top left of every subsequent page.

Regarding your form: I would focus more on prospective clients rather than people who have already had work performed by you. The questions on the form would be better mailed to them. I doubt anyone is going to visit your site to fill out a feedback form. In stead of worrying about PHP, just go to Matt's Script Archive and use formmail. Place the form in a table, so that everything lines up properly.

I think you should focus on the curiosity factor of internet surfers. They probably are unsure of whether they really want a tattoo or what to expect. The tour is good, but the thumbnails are 10 times too large in file size.

Don't center all of the text. Your current file home.htm is a good example of a page that needs to be justified to the left. If you are trying to make points/statements, use aligned bullets in the center, not centering each line. The "after care" is another example where the text should not be centered.

By the way, the tattoos look great.

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DrTandem's San Diego Web Page Design, drtandem.com