Hello all,

I'd love some feedback, I've been slowly building my web-site! I know some of my borders are off, I am working on this !!!!
Any opinions were be great, constructive feedback is always helpful.http://prairiedogcommunicationsvirtu...m/default.aspx
Thanks,
Lara

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Lara
Prairie Dog Communications Virtual Assistance LLC

It's a good start Lara.

Here are few things I noticed.

You are using a different font on the about us page than the rest of the pages

I find the shading on the headings a bit difficult to read

The word "Would" in the first paragraph on the home page is a different size than the others; there is actually inconsistency in font sizes throughout, I'd fix that

You are using two different fonts on the spotlight on services page - I'd make that more consistent

I don't think you need a site map at this point, your site isn't that large

I love your logo and yellow and green colour scheme

I notice that your domain and web is hosted with Office Live. If it fits your budget you might want to consider getting your own domain and web hosting. There are a lot of low cost hosting companies out there. I think it looks better (especially on a business card) to have your own domain name rather than one hosted at office live.

Best of luck with your site.

You've made a great start.

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Julia

I agree with Julia, good start.

Here is what I noticed:

The highlighting of some titles is very distracting.

There should be more consistancy in the fonts and sizing. I was given marketing advice that you should use no more than two different fonts for your marketing materials.

Your columns on your home page need to be more defined.

Your FAQ page should be brought up to the menu bar. I actually found it quite by acident on your about us page.

On your contact page, I could barely see your submit button on your form and I am confused by the New Years picture and the local weather information

Good start and the colors and logo work for me. Good luck to you.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Hi Lee and Julia,

Thanks for the immediate feedback! Great comments, I will see how I can tweek fonts and columns. I have no graphic design background, what a challenge! How was my copy and content? I am a big one on message. Glad everyone likes the logo.
Do either of you blog on your web-site? Any suggestions on this?

Thanks Again for such great feedback,


Lara

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Lara
Prairie Dog Communications Virtual Assistance LLC

I think you've got a great start. Here are my personal thoughts on them - and please remember, I'm by no means an expert, it's just my personal taste:

• I love the name of your company - but I would shorten it when it comes to your URL that you choose. It may be very difficult for potential clients to remember.
  
• Your fonts need to be the same throughout the site, as does the size of the font.
  
• The highlighted text is very distracting. If your looking to create a different look within those sections, try defining the area by a box, or creating a slightly different colour for the background inside the area.
  
• Optimize your site by utilizing ALT tags on all your pictures.
  
• Rather than typing the full site out for your links, use HTML using descriptive words for your anchor text.
  
• The submit button on your contact form is half cut off.
  
• I too would remove the sitemap from your navigation. Perhaps change the sitemap to your FAQ page. I almost missed that page completely. I really like the graphic you have on your FAQ page though - AWESOME!
  
• I noticed a few punctuation errors - nothing that a quick proofread and edit can't fix though.
  
• The paragraph on your first page (the one on the bottom left) seems to be out quite a bit.
  
• I would also tighten up your colour scheme - you have quite a few colour combo's - I'd stick with two green colours and one yellow. (I really like the look of your greens and yellows too!)
  
• I like that on your front page you talk about what a VA is all about (since many still don't know what we do).
  
• On your service page, I would remove the information about VAs again since you talked about that on your main page. Use this section to define your niche, or expand on services offered, include a cost/benefit comparison of VAs vs employees, etc.
  
• I would take off your contact information from the About Us page and include it on your contact page. If you have some photos of yourself, or your office space, add them into your page too. It's difficult for strangers to trust someone they are likely never going to meet and it will help them to feel more at ease with you.
  
• The large S really throws off your spacing in the paragraph - I don't think it adds anything to the information so I would likely remove it.
  
• I really like the wording you used to describe how the business made you - very original!
  
• On your contact page, I would remove the New Year picture and the weather forecast - I agree with above posters - it is a little confusing. You can fill this page with your information and privacy policy.
  
• Since your contact form also has a box that can be ticked off for the newsletter, you could put something on your front page for people to sign up with separately so they don't have to fill out all their information.
  
• You may want to add to your first answer in your FAQ, or change the wording. It asks about training, but you only speak to services provided. If you ARE certified anywhere in anything, I would point out that VAs don't have to be trained at all and link to a page where you show your credentials.
  
• Don't forget to name your main page - right now it just shows up as Home.
  
• Are you able to change your keywords and description for each page? If so, I would add different keywords and a new description on each page.
  
• In the titles of the remaining pages, I would expand on the titles in the meta tags. Get some additional keywords in your titles!
  
• One last thing =) I think they have an option that allows you to get rid of the "power by MS Office Live" too.
  
  

Best of luck!

Just curious, but why did you not use one of the provided templates, or why did you eliminate the page width? Your pages are too wide - one of them uses a horizontal scroll bar in order to see all of the page. That's something most Web viewers don't care for.

They have some pretty good templates you can use with coordinating colors. You can also upload your own header/logo into a template. Using their template system would eliminate the variety of fonts also.

Also, as MondayMorn suggested - get rid of the "Powered by MS Office Live" by clicking on the options tab.

If you would like more help, please contact me from the privately. (I am a web designer by profession.)

Best of luck to you,

Jacee

Hi Lara,

Love the concept and your banner! I have to agree with those above, the text sizing needs to be more consistent and the shading on the headers makes them hard to read. You have great content going so far!

Best of luck!

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Kristi Bennitt
Virtual Assistant/Bookkeeper

Thank you Thank you ! Great feedback, I guess it's time to get back to work!

Lara

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Lara
Prairie Dog Communications Virtual Assistance LLC

Hi Lara! Good for you - jumping right in there. I like the comments above and probably what jumped out at me the most was the font. It should be consistent, definately.

Hi Lara! Doing a website is a ton of work. I did mine with a template and am happy with the way it turned out, but it will always be a work in progress. I have read the comments above and agree with the font remarks. Also the page width. Once you get them taken care of I think your website will be great. You have a fabulous base to start with. Good colors and content. Take it slow and don't get discouraged. Starting a business is a lot of work. Let us know when you have made some changes so we can see how great your website looks.

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Pam
www.adminetcetera.com