Please review my Information Technology Site

ShawnsITSolutions · #1 (**permalink**) 05-06-2008, 10:01 PM

Hello,
I own my own site which is listed below. It is a information technology site, that has many differet aspects such as free tech support, my web development and more.

Please review it and let me know what you think.

Shawns IT Solutions (Free IT Tech Support, Free Online Tutorials, Web Design, FreeLance)

Dcrux · #2 (**permalink**) 05-07-2008, 05:20 AM

First, it's not I + T when you only concern yourself with the "T." Next, I actually found myself checking for the copyright date -- expecting it to read 1998 or so. Labeling the navigation as "Navigation" is authentic, retro, "lets get our site up on the intertubes" website design. Unfortunately, this is the one retro style which isn't recommended.

Imagine my surprise when I find you "downgraded" Wordpress to the basic pre-blog look of the layout -- rather than modernizing to any number of Wordpress layouts.

It looks like it hasn't been updated in a decade -- which bodes ill for the web and graphic design you're trying to sell. ...And probably hurts your chances at quality link exchanges as well.

The copy on the landing page also reads like it was written a decade back. The welcome and introduction is quaint, but not particularly relevant web writing. Rather it comes off as "pawing the ground," and trying to come up with text filler content. The way you show the web user welcome is through showing respect for their time by getting to the point.

1) A unique selling proposition 2) Benefit-laden copy 3) Modern graphics

The "IT Solutions / Web Design" business is the lemonade stand of the 21st century -- you've got 50,000 competitors. Time to start acting like it and develop a competitive advantage. And while you can do any number of retro graphics styles, one of the worst combos is mid90s web design style for an IT solutions / Web Design site. That particular style choice sends a message you don't want to be communicating to potential customers.

It quickly becomes evident from taking an inventory of barely adequate IT or Web design sites there are a huge number of improvements which could be made just to get up to that meager minimum. Nothing about the site makes a compelling arguement for the IT or Web Design services you're attempting to sell. ....I'll call you if I find a '386 which needs fixing, but that's all.

davebarnes · #3 (**permalink**) 05-07-2008, 02:26 PM

Why do you run Google ads and risk sending people away?
Are YOU trying to sell visitors YOUR services?

arthurakay · #4 (**permalink**) 05-07-2008, 03:06 PM

I have to say that I'm not at all impressed, for a number of reasons. I'm probably going to sound mean, but a lot needs to be said here... so please take it as constructive criticism.

(1) Your main logo looks like a 7th grader did it in Photoshop. You need to be much more creative.

(2) Your color scheme is depressing... not only is it dark, but the colors are dull.
At least black/white sites have contrast - yours just sets me up for a nap.

(3) Your left-navigation links look terrible in IE7 and Firefox...
the arrow (background image i assume) is covered in some elements by the text itself.

(4) Don't center your text. It just looks amateurish.

(5) Why do you have an image for your copyright info at the bottom? You couldn't just make that text?

(6) You are trying to use CSS in both a CSS file and in the <head> tag... which is fine,
except that you really need to add some margins or padding around your text so it's
not up against the sides of your wrapper. It will just look better.

(7) Your code doesn't even come close to being W3C compliant...
you've got at least 65 errors on the homepage alone.

( 8 ) Is your blog theme is supposed to be the same? It looks terrible.

(9) Your forum also looks like... well, it just plain looks bad. Plus, you've got like 100 message boards, so it's no
wonder no one is participating. I wouldn't scroll down that far...

I could go on and on here... but I won't.

Here's my point - you supposedly sell website (and other) IT services, but I can't imagine anyone actually pays you after looking at your website.
- a bunch of sentinces aren't grammatically correct (HTML Content...)
- your images are amateur at best (Images...)
- you offer Flash? Where is it on your site?
- you offer SEO services? Could have fooled me looking at your source code...

If I were you, I would only advertise my services if I could show that I was worth the money. Your website makes me want to pay someone else... you've got a TON of work to improve

Uncle Dog · #5 (**permalink**) 05-07-2008, 07:21 PM

Ordinarily I'd try to say something positive but... you're seriously trying to promote yourself as an IT professional?

'Shawns IT Solutions' is crying out for an anagram.

davebarnes · #6 (**permalink**) 05-07-2008, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Dog

'Shawns IT Solutions' is crying out for an anagram.

I could not resist (what we do without computers?):
A Swinish Solo Stunt
A Swinish Lost Snout
A Sluttish Ion Snows

and many more, but I am too lazy to cut & paste.