Hello folks,

New portfolio site looking for feedback - good, bad, ugly - as long as it is constructive. www.skyrocket.com.au

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PAUL - SkyRocket Design Co
web design sydney northern beaches

Hello,
Very good site, quick to load, navigation is simple and effective. I'm glad to see you have not clogged up the pages with massive flash files, but perhaps a little more interactivity could aid it a tad.

One thing that niggled me is the pictures on the 'website design portfolio', the logos on each screen are cropped too close to the edge-this distracts the eye a bit. There are some nice logos etc, so make sure they are shown off, give them more space to breath and they will rest easier on the screen/page.

Also, on the 'services' page the indentation of the bullet points are off.

No major problems though, I like the site - I also love the Snapdragon site too.
Cheers
Chris

First of all, nice. It's always impressive when a web designer's page can resist a splash page and 2 MB Flash presentations, and your site has a very clear, easy-on-the-eyes design with nice, information-packed content. I think I would want to hire you if I were a potential client...except for one issue that seems to come up with potential clients a lot...fees...and how do you address them on the web page?

I'm wondering, is it a bad idea to prominently place a link to "fees" on the homepage, with a page devoted to sample projects and fees. I've seen creative services websites that do this, and while it seems like a recipe for trouble, the fact is, they're doing it and clients have a clear demand for it (understandable I would say). I've pretty much decided I'm going to put a fees page on my site (I'm a web writer by the way, not a developer or artist) but I'm not sure how far I should go (read further...)

I've actually written out a spreadsheet to calculate a quick estimate based on things like SEO, research time, number of pages (and the fact that as the number of pages increases, the per-page cost decreases). I was thinking of even just getting this formula scripted and putting it on the site...I feel it's unprofessional, but so many clients clearly want this. Besides, if doctors can quote fees upfront, why can't I?

Other potential-client-focused issues to possibly link to on the homepage: turnaround time, turnkey solutions such as coordination of the efforts of SEO consultants; confidentiality policy (much as bigger websites have privacy policies). Also, I'm getting a links page to do the whole SEO bit. Does anyone think that's worth it for "portfolio" sites?

What do you think?

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Review my site Web Content Writer
You can’t offshore content to Kerzblakistan--unless you want it written in Kerzblakistani.

That's a very good point. I deliberately didn't put my costs on there because they seem to be so liquid and customised to each job. I'm going to have a good think about this now though and maybe I will put up a page talking about fees and how I set price points and milestones but maybe not mentioning exact figures. What is the general consensus about putting fees & charges up on your website? Thanks for the comments folks.

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PAUL - SkyRocket Design Co
web design sydney northern beaches

skyrocket,

Very nice site. It's very clean and simple with good information. All things you need.

Just a few things:
1. The logo in the upper left, make a link to the Home Page.
2. As crazyfruitbat mentioned the lists are off, also on the Site Map page.
3. The Privacy Statement, Not Found
The requested URL was not found on this server.

These are very small things and not really bad at all.

As far as listing pricing information. I find that people are looking for that info. On my website design site I tell everyone straight out that I charge by the hour and the rate.

The Joliet Technologies site (my main gig) we had a long discussion about listing prices. Some of the managers had concerns about this because they thought it would be simple for our competition to see what we were charging and adjust their pricing accordingly. Which is true, however the price we list is our best price and if the competition can match that they should. 95% of our competition doesn't list prices for any of their products or services on their sites. So, in my view it gives us the advantage.

When I'm looking for information on the internet, price is one of the main things I'm looking for.

Very nice site,

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John Gierich
Marketing Director - Joliet Technologies
AC Variable Frequency Drive Systems and DC Variable Speed Drives and Controls

Jolietech,

Thank you for the feedback.

1. The logo in the upper left, make a link to the Home Page.

> Righto Jakob Neilson! ;)

2. As crazyfruitbat mentioned the lists are off, also on the Site Map page.

Yes - I've seen that and can't figure out why (any ideas?). Only happens in IE if I remember correctly.

3. The Privacy Statement, Not Found
The requested URL was not found on this server.

Yes again - I'm onto it. The site has only just gone live. Is there a generic one that web designers/developers use?

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PAUL - SkyRocket Design Co
web design sydney northern beaches

skyrocket,

Here's the Privacy Policy we use, http://www.joliettech.com/privacy_policy.htm
It's pretty generic and should cover your site.

Basically you want people to know that they are safe at your site and any information you may get from them will not be sold or given to anyone else.

Unless of course you are selling their information, then you will need something else.

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John Gierich
Marketing Director - Joliet Technologies
AC Variable Frequency Drive Systems and DC Variable Speed Drives and Controls