Hey y'all,

I've been working on my homepage content. Could I get a bit of feedback on the direction and content I have headed with this, please?

I still have tons to do, but I would appreciate your input/insights as to what I am trying to get across is coming across as cohesive, understandable, and maybe even relatable (<-is that a word? ).

I hope this makes sense what I'm asking. I'm cross-eyed!

Thanks a bunch! (Link to my site is under my signature.)

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites

Jules,

I get it but you may want to move your services to a separate page so as not to distract from your original message.

Also you may want to give a little blurb or intro to your becoming a VA quotes. They are just random in there otherwise.

I do like your message so far and the fact that you explain why VA is for you.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

I agree with Lee, you may want to move your services to a separate page but link to your services from your homepage as well. Something like "take a look at my services for more information" with a link. You also might want to add some bullet points in your homepage and shorten some sentences. Also, I like the quote but you might want to move it from the dead center of your page to the sidebar and maybe even include a photo of you on the homepage. Also if you are part of Twitter and other social networking groups, place them in a more prominent position with the logo.

I hope this helped

Caroline
http://cpstyle.ca

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Caroline Pigott
VIP Assistant Solutions

Jules --

Hello from a fellow Iowa native. Did you create your web site in Wordpress?

May I add you to my contacts?

Judy

Hi Jules,

First of all, I love your site design...very nice!

Your copy is off to a great start too. A few suggestions:

• Get rid of the "Welcome" line and lead with a compelling headline to cause readers to keep reading
• I would save your comments in the box for the About page and use that space for a glowing testimonial from a client or former employer
• I personally don't see anything wrong with listing a few main service offerings on your home page, but I would focus more on the benefits offered by each service (ie. save time with our admin tasks, save money with our proficient bookkeeping services, etc. etc.)

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Tammi Metzler ~ The Write Associate
Free call: "How to Write Email Subject Lines That Grab Attention!"

Originally Posted by leedrozak

Jules, I get it but you may want to move your services to a separate page so as not to distract from your original message. Also you may want to give a little blurb or intro to your becoming a VA quotes. They are just random in there otherwise. I do like your message so far and the fact that you explain why VA is for you.

Hi Lee,

With the list of services, that is just a short list of what I can do. I get what you are saying, and I was trying to not distract from the rest (didn't bold that area ). Hmmm...I will do some more thinking on this. Maybe shorter with a link...

Great idea about a blurb! I was trying to tie that part about assisting an existing in-house assistant by giving my experience. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean?

Thank you!!

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites

Originally Posted by CarolineCloutie

I agree with Lee, you may want to move your services to a separate page but link to your services from your homepage as well. Something like "take a look at my services for more information" with a link. You also might want to add some bullet points in your homepage and shorten some sentences. Also, I like the quote but you might want to move it from the dead center of your page to the sidebar and maybe even include a photo of you on the homepage. Also if you are part of Twitter and other social networking groups, place them in a more prominent position with the logo. I hope this helped Caroline http://cpstyle.ca

Hi Caroline,

Yup, my services will be listed on a separate page in greater detail. And linking to my services page I completely didn't think about. Given what Lee said, I will try to "shorten" what I said there, and also shorten what I said elsewhere, too. It was getting late, and I could have gone on and on and written a book!

I kind of wanted the blockquote to be under the previous paragraph to give a little personal information... Not good?

Bullet points. Gotcha!

Oh yes, I'll be adding twitter, RSS, and other things.

You did indeed help! Thank you!!

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites

Originally Posted by A_Virtual_Jewel

Jules -- Hello from a fellow Iowa native. Did you create your web site in Wordpress? May I add you to my contacts? Judy

Hello, Judy - always nice to meet someone my home state!

Yes, I had messed around with Wordpress in the past, so when it came time to do my new VA site (and the fact that I wanted a blog area) I decided to give it a go. I'm pretty pleased that I haven't had too much trouble customizing it for my uses (knowing HTML/CSS/php has helped a lot). Whew!!

Sure, you can add me as a contact.

Have fun here; you're going to love it!!

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites

Originally Posted by Write Associate

Hi Jules, First of all, I love your site design...very nice! Your copy is off to a great start too. A few suggestions: Get rid of the "Welcome" line and lead with a compelling headline to cause readers to keep reading I would save your comments in the box for the About page and use that space for a glowing testimonial from a client or former employer I personally don't see anything wrong with listing a few main service offerings on your home page, but I would focus more on the benefits offered by each service (ie. save time with our admin tasks, save money with our proficient bookkeeping services, etc. etc.)

Hey Tammi, great idea to ditch the "Welcome" - now I need to come up with something "compelling."

Okay, so y'all don't care for my little blockquote there. Dang. I was trying to relate to the paragraph above it and my angst with my previous J.O.B. and wishing I had known about VAs back then. I'll do some thinking on this.

Great idea about the benefits! Then I could add a link to the services page from there! Super!!

Aw, so glad you like my site! It means a lot to hear this!

Okay, off to implement all the great input from y'all!!

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites

Your website looks just great, Jules! Good work!

I was surprised, BTW, to read the other day some in-depth advice about SEO writing, and they recommended going ahead and putting specific products (in this case, services) on the home page. Not all of them, just a sampling. The idea is that someone searching for (e.g.) payroll services might find you because it's on your index page.

Also, SEO would dictate that you make sure your headlines and titles contain your keywords.

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

Originally Posted by virtual writing

Your website looks just great, Jules! Good work!

Thank you, Mary! I'm getting happier by the day with it.

Quote:

I was surprised, BTW, to read the other day some in-depth advice about SEO writing, and they recommended going ahead and putting specific products (in this case, services) on the home page. Not all of them, just a sampling. The idea is that someone searching for (e.g.) payroll services might find you because it's on your index page.

The content has changed since I first posted this topic. I was reading a Wordpress book that I got and it goes into SEO, so...then I got to thinking exactly what you said above about leaving a bit of my services on the main page. Man, if I ever get this done to my/our satisfaction, it's going to be a miracle. So much to think about! One good thing about using WP is that there are plugins that you can use to help with SEO e.g. adding your key words, etc. I'm gonna be finding these and checking them out. Hopefully that will speed things along.

Quote:

Also, SEO would dictate that you make sure your headlines and titles contain your keywords.

Yup, I'll be doing that, too.

Thanks so much for the input - we're on the same page!

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites

Originally Posted by Business-Bytes

Man, if I ever get this done to my/our satisfaction, it's going to be a miracle.

I don't think I'll ever be 100% happy with my web copy, LOL! Seems to always be a work in progress. But I guess that's a good thing because as your business evolves, so should your copy. Plus, the search engines do love fresh content. Okay, I'm off to take my own advice and update my own web copy!

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Tammi Metzler ~ The Write Associate
Free call: "How to Write Email Subject Lines That Grab Attention!"

I really like your website and your logo. The only suggestion I would have is to maybe add a link to the VA Calculator (if possible) in the "Saving Money section". You mention a few ways of how the clients can save money but it might be nice if they could plug in real figures to see how much they could save.

**I am being really bad in the typo area today. Geesh!**

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase

I guess I'm coming to the party a little late...but it appears that the homepage content has been completely removed and I'm assuming you're working on revising. I'll forward to seeing the "new" content.

I also like the theme/design of the site overall...however, I'm just wondering from a branding perspective about your choice to be SunRise Virtual Solutions but then to have a dark background and the brick-looking background behind your logo/taglines. I'm think that someone with a name like SunRise might have a brighter site with colors that are more aligned with yellows/oranges, etc. I love the name of your business and your logo, but I'm thinking you might make even more of a lasting impression on potential clients by matching your biz name/logo with a brighter looking site overall.

I'm not coding wizard or Wordpress genius but I'd imagine color changes should be pretty easy to do.

Just my two cents!

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

Originally Posted by JKVirtualOffice

I guess I'm coming to the party a little late...but it appears that the homepage content has been completely removed and I'm assuming you're working on revising. I'll forward to seeing the "new" content.

LOL - yes, I wasn't happy with what I had, so I'm working on that offline. I did get some very valuable input on what I had there that I really appreciated. I figured instead of wasting everybody's time, I would just re-do and then give a shout when it was completely finished. I was feeling like such a pest bugging folks with everything when in actuality it wasn't anywhere near ready. I let my excitement get the better of me.

Quote:

I also like the theme/design of the site overall...however, I'm just wondering from a branding perspective about your choice to be SunRise Virtual Solutions but then to have a dark background and the brick-looking background behind your logo/taglines. I'm think that someone with a name like SunRise might have a brighter site with colors that are more aligned with yellows/oranges, etc. I love the name of your business and your logo, but I'm thinking you might make even more of a lasting impression on potential clients by matching your biz name/logo with a brighter looking site overall.

You hit the nail on the head, Kimberly! That is exactly why I'm working on a whole different look and exactly what I was thinking. Even though I added the part about "bricks 'n mortar" on there, it still wasn't "jiving" with me. Thank you for your frankness! I have a tendency to like the "grunge" look, and that mostly leans toward darker colors, so I'm trying to peek over the outside of the box I get caught up in and go brighter to go with my SunRise "theme."

Quote:

I'm not coding wizard or Wordpress genius but I'd imagine color changes should be pretty easy to do. Just my two cents!

The colored background is actually an image file (it has a gradient to it that goes from darker to the mauve color); as is the navigation area. Not hard to change with Photoshop, but since I decided on a different direction, I'm not going to mess with those now.

Thank you very much for those "two cents!" (It's like you read my mind. )

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites