Hello. Sorry to be a pain. I am a landscaper working on the border between England and Scotland (no I'm not digging it up or moving it!) and I have just built my first website. I used a template from the web and a free HTML editor and just experimented a little.

The Idea for my website is as a front page for my business and ideally I would like to attract local customers so I have tried to optimize my site for the area in which I live.

I have used the validation programs in the stickies and seem to do well. I've also submitted my site to google and added a sitemap and am in the process of building some back links. The site went online 6 days ago ( I sated designing it 7 days ago!) and is visited by googlebot but as of yet no index - I'm not sure how long it will take but it would be nice if it happened before the winter for obvious reasons.

I would greatly appreciate any tips that you could give me with regard to my site including it's speed( seems slow to me) and the overall feel. Do you think I am doing anything that would harm my future position?

Oh and the font.... waddayareckon?

Thankyou very much for your time.

BTW it's time to get those Potatoes in...
Landscapers Carlisle landscaping Cumbria,Penrtih, Landscape gardener Dumfries,Lockerbie, Block paving Carlisle

Very clean, simple layout and design so it's easy on the eyes. Maybe a bit dark for landscaping, however, as it seems somewhat ominous instead of happy.

Why does your site navigation change on every page? That is very confusing for a new website visitor. I was instantly confused as to where I was, where I had been...

You are missing one of the most important elements on a business website - Where are you? Give website visitors a physical address. (Your contact us image needs to be you, your team, your building - something personal!)

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Marcie Wolf
AlphaGeek Web Design | MarcieWolf.com

Thanks for the feedback. I think your right - especially the navigation. I need to tweak it to make it a little more intuitive - the links maybe should be around the same area so that the mouse pointer doesn't have to move so much too.

A little dark? It's very dark isn't it. I never really sat down and planned it it grew organically -
I wanted to get something up and running with a view to making changes over time. I'm not sure the graphic elements of the site are professional enough but I'm sorta limited in what I can produce.

Thanks for the contacts hint too.

Do you think that my site will take along time to be indexed by google? I've seen some business direstories that require a link placed on the home page before they list you - is this a good idea?

Thanks again
C64

I agree 100% with Marcie.

Use a pull-down menu so people can navigate from any page to any page. A company in the UK (JavaScript DHTML Website Popup Menu - Free for Non-Profits) makes a very good one and it is very easy to implement.

More photos. Can't have too many photos.

If you are aiming for global domination, then I think you need to consider moving Hadrian's Wall further north as a start.

Google has indexed 2 of your pages. Be patient.

Sign up with SheerSEO - SEO software, search engine optimization tools, tracking software, monitoring, google position, free seo software, yahoo, website promotion software to track your SERP rankings.

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Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac

Your navigation has no logic or consistency and left me feeling very lost. Your beautiful work is lost in a dark background that is depressing. You need to lighten it up and make your site have a cheery feeling rather than dreary. More of the page needs to be filled with the photo than with dark space and text.

The reference comment on the home page is out of place there. I would have a separate page for references and adding a name along with a photo of the work you did for them personalizes it and makes it more credible.

Also, in the text where you say "contact us for your free consultation and design," I would add a link to your contact page in the text. I moused over it expecting to be able to click to another page or an e-mail form and I think other users will expect the same. Suggest you have e-mail as an alternate way to contact you in addition to by phone.

Cindy

Thanks again. I'm working on it as we speak. I have a seperate stylesheet so it's just a case of seeing what looks good. I will have a look at colour schemes and may even redo the whole layout - I'm learing as I play around - this time last week I didn't know what a stylesheet was!!

I appreciate the critical analysis, I can't stress enough how much it helps - when I ask my other half she just says" it's fine" grrrr.
I cleaned up my code yesterday and It seems googlebot has seen fit to index me whoohoo!!
I will try to implement the ideas ASAP so you can all have another look.

Dave - I actually live on the "uncivilised" side of the border half-way between Gretna green and Lockerbie- it's great if you like sheep but a pain if you want to advertise in the likes of yellow pages as you have to pay for listings on both directories and the charges for crossing the wall back into England are severe.........
You have to ask yourself why did hadrian stop where he did??????
Ta!

You've done exceptionally well for an initial effort but:

1) Contact us must consist of more than a telephone number. Where are you located? Why not implement an email form?
2) Your target market is local, so you might do well to consider adding an "areas served" map.
3) Why not include some useful tips for lawn care, planting, transplanting, gardening, weed control? (FAQ?)
4) Give Google something to index and a reason for users to revisit the site. You need more meat and potatoes.
5) Consider that some users may wish to print a page and that they are not going to appreciate the dark background with white text.
6) As has already been stated, where you see paragraph text which reads "contact us", be sure to link it to your "Contact Us" page.

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Printer ink & toner cartridges in Canada | Integrated Web Payroll, Online HRMS Tools with Employee Time & Attendance

Excellent. Really appreciate those ideas. Was going to do the email but have not set the sytem up at my host and didn't want to give out my personal email address. The "areas served" is a good idea I really hadn't considered.

Seems the look of the site is grating on people. I wanted to keep it simple and coordinated so I guess it's going to mean an overhaul, I don't have a WYSIWYG so I have to do it by code. Maybe I'll have a look around for inspiration. I seem to see lots of sites that look like it took ten minutes and one iteration to do.
Once again thanks.

Oh and is it just me or does dubbya look like Elton John???

PS if I search for Landscapers Carlisle in Google I get 1st place!!!!! If I tpye landscaping carlisle I get 26th place behind 24 useless directories and such.

Keep building links and you'll pull that site up to the top 3 in no time!

Best of luck c64tapedeck!

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Printer ink & toner cartridges in Canada | Integrated Web Payroll, Online HRMS Tools with Employee Time & Attendance

It is you. See http://www.hodgepodgesociety.com/Ima...tts%20copy.jpg

Dubbya is [illegally] using a photo of Don Knotts, but we don't hold that against him [or her?].

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Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac