www.aheadoftheweb.com

spiderbait · #1 (**permalink**) 11-14-2003, 04:40 PM

Hello everyone,

I’d like to ask you to give me feedback on my new site.

It’s a new domain (only one month old) and I’ve only this week completed work on the design and site pages. So, being new my page rank is still a lowly zero in google, but that will come in time, I’m sure. I’ve been doing freelance SEO and web site design for several years, but only decided last month to take the leap, register my company and do it full time. So, I plan on being a serious player.

What I’m interested in is feedback for a few specific aspects, although I’ll happily receive your comments about anything to do with the site.

I’m hoping to present a professional image with the site and to convey a sense of competence and credibility.

Can you tell me if I’ve succeeded? Is there anything you think I should do differently? How do my client’s results pages seem? (a few are still unfinished)

Also, I’m concerned about cross-browser and cross-platform appearance (always my biggest bugaboo). How does the site appear on different browsers? Particularly different screen resolutions. Are the font sizes too big? Too small? Do you get horizontal scrollbars?

The address is http://www.aheadoftheweb.com

I’ll be happy to reciprocate with my own feedback regarding your sites if you wish. Just ask. The same is true for reciprocal links (I’ll post a request for that in the appropriate topic when I get the chance).

Thanks in advance,
Jade Burnside

<special thanks to Syren for the mod edit ;)>

info202 · #2 (**permalink**) 11-14-2003, 05:22 PM

your site is great... I feel that you have given your potential client enough information for them to make a positive decision. I viewed it in 800X600, and while the text appeared a tad big, it wasn't too bad...
all in all, a great site... (it's nice to see a site that is not done is flash - which seems to be the rage lately)..very professional looking, visually appealing and navigates very well.

spiderbait · #3 (**permalink**) 11-14-2003, 09:39 PM

Thanks Mary Ann, and coming from you this is nice to hear. I paid a visit to your site and was pleased to see how well ordered and structured your content is. You've got a very nice professional site yourself and it's got a wonderful friendly and approachable character to it.

Again, thanks for you feedback and best wishes,

jade

info202 · #4 (**permalink**) 11-14-2003, 09:50 PM

Thank you for the compliment... if you are interested in exchanging links, I would be pleased to trade with you....

spiderbait · #5 (**permalink**) 11-15-2003, 05:00 AM

That's great Mary Ann. I'll definitely take you up on that. Of course I'll have to create my links page first (it's on my to do list).

I'll get back to you soon,
jade

Leisa · #6 (**permalink**) 11-15-2003, 06:06 PM

I think it's a great looking site. The "Is this you" stuff could make some people cry out "Yes, help me!". It's great.

Take care!

spiderbait · #7 (**permalink**) 11-15-2003, 08:58 PM

Thanks Leisa,

your kind and supportive comments are appreciated.

May I just ask you though, does it strike you as professional? Credible? That's my goal.

jade

spiderbait · #8 (**permalink**) 11-15-2003, 09:00 PM

Thanks Leisa,

your kind and supportive comments are appreciated.

May I just ask you though, does it strike you as professional? Credible? That's my goal.

jade

Leisa · #9 (**permalink**) 11-15-2003, 09:07 PM

Yes, it does strike me as professional and credible. I think your presentation is done very nicely and encourages serious consideration and thought. Well done!

spiderbait · #10 (**permalink**) 11-16-2003, 11:30 AM

Great Leisa - thanks again

paultjdesigns · #11 (**permalink**) 11-16-2003, 12:35 PM

on initial viewing the purpose of your site is apparent but theres a bit too much white space on show. the colors could use a little more vavavoom!
theres lots of scrolling req'd too so how about cutting it into 4 pages. all in all though quite a nice site.
Hope this helps.

All the best,
Paul of TJDesigns.org

janeth · #12 (**permalink**) 11-16-2003, 01:16 PM

Hi spiderbait,

The text lay out and wording is great. I knew it would be from your post here you are very good with your words.

I'm not sure about the colors. That was the only thing I did not like they do seem to ba a little on the plane side.

That was the only thing I did not like. Everything else looks great.

spiderbait · #13 (**permalink**) 11-17-2003, 03:39 AM

Hi there Paul and Janeth,
thanks for your comments. You confirmed a nagging feeling I'd been having myself.

So, as a result, I've spent today tweaking the color over the whole site.

Would you mind taking another look and letting me know if you think this is an improvement?

As for the length Paul. I agree - it is longer than I'd like it to be, but I'm loathe to move any of that info from the main page and am hoping to find a different solution.

What resolution were you using? I'm concerned that the text appears even larger on low resolutions (I use 1280 x 1024) and that may make the pages even longer.

I'd like to figure out how to specify different font sizes for different resolutions but haven't stumbled across that particular trick yet. Got any tips or suggestions?

Thanks again to both of you,
jade

funbiz · #14 (**permalink**) 11-17-2003, 05:13 AM

Hi Jade;

I am your neighbour from south east Vancouver. You have a great site. Niece color scheme. I am also interested in trading link with you.

LiviLou · #15 (**permalink**) 11-17-2003, 09:22 AM

I liked it as well. It had loaded before I could even blink. It was very informative and for someone like me, I need as much info as I can get. It wasn't loaded down with technical terms that the average person couldn't understand, just plain everyday english. That is definitely a plus! I expect it to do well.

I'd also like to exchange links as well as have you check out my site. I'm always looking for ways to improve it.

spiderbait · #16 (**permalink**) 11-17-2003, 01:17 PM

Thanks Funbiz and ImaDunce,

I appreciate your spending the time and offering these comments.

Re: the links, thanks for the interest. As I mentioned to Info202 earlier in this thread, I'm going to have to create a links page and then I'll post a formal request in the oppropriate topic.

And ImaDunce, I already had a quick look around your site. It's very nicely laid-out and I do have a few comments. Do you have a thread for a site review so I could post those comments there?

luckym · #17 (**permalink**) 11-17-2003, 04:13 PM

Hello Jade,
Your site has a professional look, enough so that I saved it to favorites for future reference. I don't remember seeing a testimonials page, that might be helpful. Making the decision to spend $325.00 per month is not something anyone is going to take lightly. I'm not sure what assurances I would need to spend that ammount of money with your company. Something to think about.
I would appreciate any input on my site, www.nwhomesyourway.com. I posted on Sunday 11/16/03.
Thank you,
Lucky

janeth · #18 (**permalink**) 11-17-2003, 04:27 PM

Hi jade,
It looks like everyone else likes it but again the colors just do not do it for me.

Have you tried playing with any other colors?

But again it does look like I'm out numbered on this because I do seem to be the only one with the problem.

So unless you here more I guess just ignore me.

Greyhawk · #19 (**permalink**) 11-17-2003, 04:58 PM

Hi Spider.

I was impressed by your site and I might know how to help with the font size.

I am including this snipit of coding from my site to show you how it should look;

Welcome to Greyhawk Designs</font>[/b]</h1>
<p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Home

That is for the heading to greet people to my site, as you can see it is bolded and set to heading size 1, but the important line is <font size="2" face="your font, yada, yada, yada">

Try experimenting with the font size. It will cut down on the amount of scrolling one has to do.

I am also interested with setting up a link exchange, once I have the links page worked out.

Greyhawk

spiderbait · #20 (**permalink**) 11-17-2003, 09:01 PM

Hi there Greyhawk, Lucky and Janeth,

Thanks all for your comments. I'm really pleased that you're impressed with the site. I've been working hard to make it professional in appearance and content.

Lucky: I know what you mean about providing testimonials. That's the next phase for site development. I've got some references I'm going to use, but they're based on the same clients you can see results for anyway. And if you click on those clients' web sites you'll see my logo on the bottom of each of their pages so you know that I'm not claiming credit where it's not mine. But I hope to have actual verbatim testimonials soon :)

Janeth: I actually agree with you about the colors but have made a sort of compromise in order to convey a certain corporate image. If my goals weren't so heady I'd be happier with lots of bright and funky colors, but my target clients are actually fairly established businesses (with sales in the $ .5 - 5 million range) and they tend to be conservative and prefer to deal with more conservatively positioned firms. At least that's what my initial research indicates.

Greyhawk: Thanks for the suggestion about font sizes. I'm not sure how that would apply though. I'm using .css stylesheets and am specifying font sizes using pixels. On my machine the font sizes are already quite small (my screen is set to 1280 x 1024) and I'm hoping to find a way to have different .css specifications loaded depending on a visitor's own screen resolution. It seems to be the lower resolution visitors who are seeing larger fonts (because I'm using pixel designations). Are you suggesting I don't use pixels in the .css? Am I understanding you correctly? Anyone else know of an elegant solution to this situation? Please feel free to help me "get a clue." ;)

cheers everyone,
jade

JMac · #21 (**permalink**) 11-22-2003, 07:23 PM

Hi Jade-

I'm making a move, albeit gradual, to CSS. I'm sure you've seen www.csszengarden.com but another interesting place is http://www.hotdesign.com/seybold/30examples.html where they offer some CSS solutions and examples. On a site I'm working on right now, I wanted font size to be relative so percentage is the way to go - instead of something like:
h1 { font-size: 8px }

I'm using:
h3 { font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 85%; font-family: Baskerville, "Times New Roman" }

Replace 85% with whichever percentage is more pleasing to the eye.

Since you're obviously well ahead of me in CSS, I imagine this is something you already know - but, there it is, either way. :-)

What I like about the colours: very BC...a little granola, understated but still, always there in the background.
What I don't like about the colours: I like the colours for the companies that you are targeting! Orange (your links) is ultra hot right now - I use blue and (the same) orange in my print materials. Maybe a little spice though - just to highlight the important parts of your content. And the cream colour - not my favorite. But then again, it's like looking at paint chips - how many choices do I have??? :-)

Nitpicking of the moment: why is the word "methods" an extra space down from the rest of its sentence? (About mid-page, left side)

Overall, a very well done site. I like the logo - it meshes so well with the concept and plays on other ideas of business success.
An idea I came across recently really caught my eye. It was also an SEO firm but they discussed their exclusivity contract. If they were dealing with one handmade jewelry designer, for instance, they would not take on another simultaneously because of the conflict of interest. For $325 a month, I would want to know that my SEO person wasn't using the same techniques / keywords and so on, for my competition. That would add even more credibility to your already impressive content.

Have a great day and good luck!

JMac

JMac · #22 (**permalink**) 11-22-2003, 07:33 PM

Another idea that has been quite effective for me, while it doesn't fall under th