any suggestions to make this site better and get picked up by search engines would be greatly appreciated!
www.shedplans.com

bump to top....

really need some direction in which to improve this site.

thanks.

__________________
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trying hard to figure out this
website stuff. Everytime I think I
start to understand, someone changes
the rules......smile.
www.shedplans.com

will bump to top once more hoping for some
idea on how to improve my site.

__________________
~~~~ ** ~~~~
trying hard to figure out this
website stuff. Everytime I think I
start to understand, someone changes
the rules......smile.
www.shedplans.com

Pl keep the home link at the top.
Home page text is not matching to background color ( not links , other text at top )

Home page and other pages are not giving matching feeling. Backgrounds are different. Except the home page all pages are using white background. Try white in the home page also.

Your page title and page heading are not same in many pages. This is important for SE. Check this http://www.shedplans.com/gable.htm

FAQ page top title will look better if all are aligned left ( not center)

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Main page is different than the rest of the site. So, pick a single background. The image on the main image is distorted making me feel like the website is not as professional as I might have anticipated. Why not change the main page to fit the rest of the site? I'm not crazy about the choice of purples and blues for fonts on any pages. Also, the font for your navigation looks "cheap" to me. Every site needs some originality. Maybe keep it in the logo and make the navigation straight text links.

Thanks!
I really needed some new eyes to look at it and give me honest opinions like that.
Back to the drawing board here I see.

I visited the site this morning. A little better. How about a white background with black text? Are you sold the blues? I think the site would come across better with just a white background. Many of your images have white backgrouns and it would help blend them with the page better. Also, pick one justification on the main page. Makes it look out of balance.

I will make one simple comment that wraps everything up. "It looks like a patchwork quilt."

You have one color for background, another color around shed drawings with no border or definition around them, a gradation for the navigation that just kind of floats out there in nothingness...

Some copy is centered, some is left justified. Some is read and some is blue or black.

I say this to everyone, "Consistency keeps your viewer as much as the content." If your site is inconsistent in its layout and design elements, it doesn't hold itself together and people get lost in all the different pieces and can't focus on the content. You need to create one page that looks really good and is easy to read and navigate, then duplicate it for the rest of the pages.

I wish you the best. Good start, but you have a ways to go.

__________________
Scott Brinkerhoff - Art of Zen Studios
Web Design I Design Monk
© 2000-forever - All rights reserved by me - SO THERE!!

I agree with the other replies, the home page should have the same menu structure as the other pages. Also, the top text on the main page runs the full length of the page, I think that makes it hard to read. I'd also like to see more contrast in the color scheme. Blue on blue looks a little plain.

I would suggest putting the menu on the left and have more text about why I should buy your plans. Maybe a photo of a shed next to the photo of the plans, kind of like a before and after? I like that you have photos of most of the sheds.

So my index.htm page should be exact same format as the other pages?
hmmmmm ok.....
And black and white is more apealing to color?
I certainly am not "disagreeing" I am just surprised I guess.
I liked that menu background but if it is hurting me in search engines and format then out it goes.
Ok, changing it again.
Thanks everyone for the advice!

__________________
~~~~ ** ~~~~
trying hard to figure out this
website stuff. Everytime I think I
start to understand, someone changes
the rules......smile.
www.shedplans.com

Liked your site - think I need a shed for my cottage in Ontario so I found it particularly interesting. Had a spin through it in Mozilla - I use this browser because if something is buggy, it's sure to pick it up.

At first glance, I'd expand your home page's title tag a bit. It's too short. I'd also strongly suggest keeping page layout consistent on every page of your site (home page is too different!). Get more keyword-rich text into the visible text on your home page. In Mozilla, I had to scroll waaaaaay down on most of the shed plan pages to find the navigation (it's centered in its cell).

Excellent start - just beef it up and tighten it up.

NO, no, no, no, no...

You are misinterpreting the information you are provided.

The pages should all be the same in layout, whether you do it all centered (which would be the wrong way) or all like the first page (which would be the right way) you have to have consistency. And we are not saying that black and white is BETTER than color, we are talking about readability, and how the colors blend together. It is all about appeal and ease of use to the viewer.

Do me a favor. Before you go changing your site yet again, go online and look at your competitors sites. Heck, go to monstertemplates.com and look at all the site designs there. Look at coolhomepages.com and go to there e-commerce section. Or better yet, check out http://www.cwd.dk/ and visit there inspiration sections for e-commerce.

When you look at other sites online, ask yourself: what do they have that I don't in my site design? What do I like about their sites? How can I incorporate there elements into my site? Instead of taking our bits and pieces of advice and constantly changing your site, you need to know what YOU LIKE. Build off of your likes and style. Keep in mind that you have to make it simple to get through and purchase your products.

If you are having problems concepting your site and creating a functional UI (user Interface) than I suggest hiring a professional to help you. It would less stressful on you, and you would have a better chance of getting a functional and profitable site up quicker.

Best of luck.

__________________
Scott Brinkerhoff - Art of Zen Studios
Web Design I Design Monk
© 2000-forever - All rights reserved by me - SO THERE!!

oh don't get me wrong. This is exactly what I was hoping for, honest straight forward critics to my site.
It was too hard for me to look at it and be objective like you are.
But now, I look at it with different eyes. Last night after I read the comments I went and searched for templates and took a good look at my site and at the templates.
(funny you were suggesting that at the same time I was doing it *S*)
I think I found a simple clean looking template that I can really like. I will work with it and post a sample page or two and see what your opinions are.

__________________
~~~~ ** ~~~~
trying hard to figure out this
website stuff. Everytime I think I
start to understand, someone changes
the rules......smile.
www.shedplans.com

www.shedplans.com/start.htm
Ok I revised the pages.
Its a totally new look.
The original are still "live" on the net www.shedplans.com. The new look is up there but the index page is called start.htm, so that link on all the pages wont work.
Bruciew suggested the title tag is too short, but there is really only one thing people search for to find storage shed plans and thats "storage shed plans". Is a short title really a deterent to SE?

__________________
~~~~ ** ~~~~
trying hard to figure out this
website stuff. Everytime I think I
start to understand, someone changes
the rules......smile.
www.shedplans.com

^ bump

__________________
~~~~ ** ~~~~
trying hard to figure out this
website stuff. Everytime I think I
start to understand, someone changes
the rules......smile.
www.shedplans.com

Much better than the first run. Good job.

Two things to mention.
1. You really need a clean logo to replace that arrow at the top of the navigation

2. The wood store button at the bottom of the navigation does not fit the width of you side bar. I would suggest moving it to the main content area, or reducing it's size.

Keep going. Again, good job.

__________________
Scott Brinkerhoff - Art of Zen Studios
Web Design I Design Monk
© 2000-forever - All rights reserved by me - SO THERE!!

lyas,

This is a much better looking design for your web content than I saw in the beginning. Everything is uniform for each page and accessible.
As the Mod pointed out a logo is the only thing you really need. Unless that arrow IS your logo...then you should have the name of your company or something coming off of it.

Very nice turn around in design.

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thanks that arrow is not the logo... still working on what I want for a logo so left that in place for now.

and working on getting a correct sized image for the wood store link.

earlier someone mentioned that the title tag is too short, but I cant think of how to extend it. Does it really hurt to have a short title tag?

__________________
~~~~ ** ~~~~
trying hard to figure out this
website stuff. Everytime I think I
start to understand, someone changes
the rules......smile.
www.shedplans.com

Your title tag, as with your description and keywords, needs to be keyword and search term specific.

Here are two site to use for reference. ONe you have to become a memeber of, but they are both free, and work extremely well.

http://www.sitereportcard.com/ - overall complete site review

http://www.instantposition.com/seo_doctor.cfm - SEO specific. Great tool.

What you need to do is go here.
http://inventory.overture.com/d/sear...ry/suggestion/
Put in your search term and verify that the term you want to be found under is acutally used. Be as specific as possible. Then broaden out your term if there is nothing found under the specific term.

Once you have your search terms set, then plug them into the SEO-Doctor app at the site above and see how you match up. It will give you good guidelines to acheive optimum placement without SEO agency help.

Let me know if this does well for you.

Best of luck.

__________________
Scott Brinkerhoff - Art of Zen Studios
Web Design I Design Monk
© 2000-forever - All rights reserved by me - SO THERE!!

cool! thanks!!!.. bookmarking all this....
ran quick test on the first url.. will check out others tommorrow..


Summary Results for www.shedplans.com
Site Title: Storage shed plans
Site URL: http://www.shedplans.com
Date: July 19, 2004, 2:27 pm
Overall Rating: Perfect


Details Rating Summary
Link Check Perfect Broken links: 0
HTML Check Perfect HTML Errors: 0, warnings: 30
Load Time Check Perfect Load Time: 9.02 seconds
Meta Tag Check Perfect Meta Tag Warnings: 0
Spell Check Perfect Possible Misspellings: 0
Keyword Check Excellent Total words: 187


Search Engine Checks (click on a number to view results)

Google HotBot AllTheWeb AltaVista Lycos MSN AOL
Search Engine Inclusion 48 10 45 45 10 41 48
Link Popularity 18 3 1 1 0 3 18

__________________
~~~~ ** ~~~~
trying hard to figure out this
website stuff. Everytime I think I
start to understand, someone changes
the rules......smile.
www.shedplans.com