Virtual Assistant Forums | Work from Home

TheProNERD · #1 (**permalink**) 01-01-2011

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of setting up shop and I'm making my website, trying to brand myself and I really need a fresh set of eyes to take a look at my site and let me know if it is clear as to what services I offer. Is what the company does clear?

Be honest....I can take it. I welcome all opinions. If you need a similar critique, let me know!

http://www.thepronerd.com

Thanks,

Jamie

VAF Admin · #2 (**permalink**) 01-01-2011

Your post has been moved to the Website Review Requests section.

Clerical Advantage · #3 (**permalink**) 01-01-2011

Hi Jamie,
Very nice professional look to your site. I love the logo, contrast color (I'm partial to green!) and the 'old fashioned' pictures. Great creativity.
There are a few things that I would change though. (I've attached a link to a marked up version of your home page so you can see what I mean below) Marked up image

First, instead of the uneven horizontal lines at the top, you might want to consider a box with a light colored background to really make it pop from the page and draw the visitors attention. You could use the color in the picture on the upper left hand side as the background color, I think it would work.
I notice that your description of a virtual assistant is almost exactly like the Wikipedia definition, so you might want to add a reference to Wikipedia below it.
You also lack a 'call to action' on the home page, something that will lead the visitor further into your site. For example, you might want to say "Find out what ProNerds can do for you" and link it to your services page.
And then again where you have the ProNerd products I'd box that in as well.
Also, the music that auto-plays? I'd set it so that it doesn't do that. You could still keep the option there but let the visitor choose to play the music, don't force it on them. They may be accessing your site from somewhere they wouldn't want the music to come blasting from their speakers.

Is there anyway to have the blog actually be part of the site rather than pulling in from blogger? A blog is a huge SEO benefit and the way you have it set up now much of the SEO goodness from the blog is going to blogger, not your biz site.
Of course, all of this is just my opinion and others here might have even better ideas!!
Overall I really like the professional feeling of the site. Great job!

TheProNERD · #4 (**permalink**) 01-01-2011

Tina,

Thank you for your detailed observations. It is exactly what I needed. There is only so many times you can look at your own site...without losing perspective.

I had trouble embedding the blogger. I may need to use a different service that can be embedded more easily. We made an iframe because it seemed like the best way to do it. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Yes, you got me. I should reference wikipedia! Good call!

Thanks!

Jamie

TheProNERD · #5 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011

Bump! I redesigned my site with everything in mind and finally came up with a different layout. I am very happy with this one. Thank you for your help!

Clerical Advantage · #6 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011

You're welcome! It looks great, I really love the handwritten 'note' and photo on the landing page, it gives it a personal feeling while still remaining professional.

Amanda1987 · #7 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011

I like the colors ect. but I have an issue with the letter on the front page, it isn't completely clear as to what you want from your clients. Sometimes when they land on your page they have no real idea as to what you do. Your best bet when writing content for your site is to keep in mind the most basic user and how you can state it in a way that they will understand. Basically spell it out.

Also, you want to use text instead of a picture, why? Because search engines index you based on the text on your website, and if you have an image instead, they wont find you as easily.

BlissTex · #8 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011

I love the layout. Where did you find your template? Heck, I may just hire you to do my website!

Business-Bytes · #9 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011

Hi Jamie,

I like the overall look of your site and the Weebly template you chose.

Here are some points you might consider:

I would remove the left-side column (.thebox div class) unless you plan to add something there.
I like your hand-written text, but it overlaps your photo. You could add padding (in the CSS) to the left and bottom of the photo to compensate for this.
Your menu doesn't stand out (I had to really look to see/find it) - maybe a different color and center it? Maybe incorporate your green a bit (see next point)?
The links in the text "Power" (love the use of the green color!) etc. aren't necessary because they are in the menu and just a tad bit misleading - when clicked on they take you to contact info, etc.
This is just a personal preference of mine to avoid spammers, but I don't publish my email address anywhere on my site - they can contact me via my contact form without giving out my email address. Something to think about.
Maybe change the name of your "menu" menu option to "services" or "services menu"? Just my opinion that it needs to be more descriptive.
In your <title>- Home</title> tags, consider adding your business name followed by "Home." (ProNERD Virtual Information Assistance | Home) Also do this for your other pages.
Run your site through the W3C Validator - there are errors and one warning in the template code that should be fixed. I always do this with sites to ensure they will display as they should in the major browsers. IE can be particularly "persnickety" (<--translated: a royal PITB!)!!

These are just a few of my thoughts - hope you find these helpful and not discouraging in any way.

You're off to a great start!

TheProNERD · #10 (**permalink**) 01-06-2011

Amanda, that's a great point about using text instead of the image. I am going to think about that more. Thank you for your input! I am limited within the bounds of Weebly.com and the parameters of their template. I have been wanting to switch over to Wordpress but Weebly is just soooo user-friendly and fun! Thank you for your ideas and I'm going to think about the letter more.