I have been working on my website for over 4 years and have gone through a number of upgrades, expansions, and enhancements in that time. I think I have come a long way but I am still not satisfied, esp with my home page: http://www.calendar-updates.com.

I would like to convey to people the products and services that I provide. My current home page does that, if my customers read the page. Unfortunately, I feel that most people won’t read all the details.

I would like to graphically present a site summary on my home page, perhaps with a flash movie or something. I would appreciate any thoughts, suggestions or examples on how best to do something like this or any other ideas for improving my home page.

Also, feel free to offer constructive criticism on any other pages on my site. I will point out one thing – if you browse the schedules that I provide, you will probably like the MLB schedule presentations and suggest that I do the same for the other sport and holiday schedules. I am already working on that.

Try searching for your competition and see how they're achieving this.

I recommend a simple "USP" on a marketing graphic.

Go to www.dreamstime.com to find a good photo with space for text, then add your USP in that space and put it in the top "fold" of your site.

Then put your links to your resources under that graphic and people should understand.

Good luck!

__________________
Norio De Sousa
Free Resource for Small Business in South Africa

Thanks norio. Forgive my ignorance, but what does "USP" stand for?

USP stands for Unique Selling Point, the one thing that makes your site or product stand out from the rest or your elevator pitch where in a snapshot you can convey what you do, why you do, how you do it better and why anyone should have it over and above any other person's offerings.

__________________
www.researchbank.co.uk
Fortune Global 500 company profiles and databank

Well, I think the site is presented nicely, clean colors, simple layout. But when I arrive at your homepage, I have no idea what your product does. Absolutely none. I had to dig around to get a clue, and that was very tough. Only when I read the article in PC Magazine, did it make sense to me.

And once I saw that, I was impressed with the service.

For your homepage, I would recommend providing some introduction text that shares your story. Simply tell people what you do, and I think that will go a long way in getting them to use your product.

You do have the checklists in the boxes, but when I first look at your page, I don't see that immediately. If you want to use those tables, get rid of the "Welcome To Logo", put some intro text that will take up 4-5 lines, and then have your tables right below that text. Also, and I'm sure you've thought this through, but pep up the site a little with a little more color, and more photos, things that really make people feel welcomed into the site.

I think you have a great product, and with a little cleaner presentation, you'll do well. I think it's a great service, and if I used outlook more, I'd love it.

Does the service work with other email clients? I.E. for Macs?

__________________
We offer a total eCommerce solution with eCommerce Web Design using Pinnacle Cart

Research Bank – thanks for the info. I learned something new today.


Weslinda – Thank you for the feedback and suggestions. I found your comment about not knowing what my product does very, very interesting, and this is the exact area that I am looking to improve.

I “think” that I have explained my website clearly on my home page. However, it is sometimes very hard to step back and look at the page from a different perspective. Some things that are obvious to me certainly won’t be that way to a first time visitor, so I am trying to figure out how to best inform new visitors what Calendar Updates is all about.

I do like the idea of replacing the “Welcome To Logo” with something better. You mention replacing it with 4-5 lines of text. Do you think that would work? Part of the “Welcome To Logo” already says “Schedules and events for your Microsoft Outlook® calendar”, but I am not sure people read it. I was thinking of doing something with graphics that might get peoples attention a little better. For example, maybe a flash movie with some text. How do you think that would compare to just text?

As for pepping the site up a little with some more pictures and color, I do agree and have a few things in work. But I want to be sure that I don’t overdue it, and that what I do implement has a very professional look and feel to it. It’s time consuming to do this right, and I can use all the help I can get with suggestions and fresh ideas.

As for working with other e-mail clients, my schedules are provided in .pst format and will only work for Microsoft Outlook (Windows version). However, I do have some single item events provided in iCal format that should work with any modern calendaring application that supports the widely used iCal format. If you are following the NBA or NHL playoffs, check these out in the events section of the website. These items are provided free of charge:

http://www.calendar-updates.com/events.aspx