Good Day lovely ladies of VAF,

It's been a while since I was last on line here. I started building my free website yesterday and as I look @ it today it seems I may be missing a few things but I can't put my finger on it. I am an amateur still with the VA Biz and am in search of friendly expert advice! Would love to hear all comments so I can get this geared in the right direction.



VyAssist Draft Website

I really like the site. There are a few issues. First of all, on the Office page, the envelope at the bottom is covering up a word or two. Second, on the Pricing page, there is a typo (minte instead of minute). You have a great start.

The one thing I do not like is the sparkles when you are trying to read the Pricing, Services and such, but that is just my opinion.

I love the theme! It fits perfectly!

Dina Schoenfeld
Rosebud Virtual Services

Your site is very creative. I have to admit it took longer to open then I was expecting. I stared at a blank screen for a few seconds and if I wasn't reviewing it for you, I would have clicked away... can you make it upload faster?

I like to give just a quick reaction to the overall feel. I think there are too many fonts being used and some are kind of hard to read. Maybe consider just using two fonts, the main one that describes you and then another one, for all the services, pricing, contact, etc. Otherwise, it starts feelings messy. It is a super cute site though and the colors are great.

Also, while I am a huge fan of twinkling stars, I can't read text while things are moving on the screen. It just makes me feel anxious and distracted. So I didn't want to spend much time on your site. Could the stars just burst out once and then have a "still" site?

One other comment, the floppy disk image... I don't know anyone who uses those anymore.... Anyway that's my two cents! Good luck with it!

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Lindsay
www.writingthatsizzles.net

I agree with what others said here on the design - I like.

You might consider purchasing instead of using the free version of wix - I think a paid version doesn't run through the little wix intro at the beginning.

I always look at the code behind a site, so here's a little info:

If you run your site URL through http://validator.w3.org/ there are a lot of errors in the code (114). Of these one is the DOCTYPE, which is very important. Others are MIME Media Type, XML declaration, and XML namespace. The validator gives you help on how to fix these issues.

In the <title></title> tags, you should have your business name and maybe tagline there, not "Wix.com - Website built by..."

Just me, but I am not a big fan of tables for layout, because these effect how search engines react to your site.

Don't be discouraged by my comments here (my site has validation errors, too, that I will fix before going "live") - I really like the design you chose! You're on your way to a very nice site!

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

I too like the overall design of site. It's very bright and definitely looks different than many of the other VA sites I've seen.

I did catch the envelope too, the one that's over the text.

One thing I didn't care for are the "twinkles" that keep moving around when you go to a new page. It's really cute when you first transition but needs to go away after a few seconds.

I think you're off to a really great start!!!

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Kari Thevenot, Virtual Assistant
www.yourlefthand.net

Okay, I'll chime in, too. I like the creative design idea, but when I review it, my eyes don't know where to go when I get to your home page...it's pretty busy, but I like it, though, so I'm torn!

I agree with other comments of the stars flickering...it appears to be a bit distracting. Keep tweaking it and you'll end up with something you like.

I sort of agree with going with paid sites versus free...you tend to have more freedom with paid sites and the ability to build a site exactly as you want it versus being stuck with things you don't want in free sites.

Good luck and nice start to your site!

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Kathya Kalinine
http://www.emeraldvirtual.com

Overall, I really like your site. I like the desk theme, especially on your references page with the stickie notes & your contact page with the notebook paper. Clever!

I don't know where you are located, but your rates, after the first hour, seem very low to me. If your first hour is worth X amount, then why would you charge less for additional hours? I would consider a discount only when the customer commits to X number of hours per week or month.

Good luck.

Lezly

Hello,

I like the site. The layout is easy to understand.

I would run a spell check on the Rates page. First is not spelled correctly.

Also, I would suggest just keeping a flat rate for all hours and as Lezly suggested just give a discount for 10 or more and so on.

I would also make the rate page a little less verbose and just make it clear what the rate is. No need to give a paragraph on blocking out time. I don't believe that you need to say that. Further, it was confusing to me why you would block out time and then say in the same paragraph that the rate was different. So I'd suggest just making it clearer that it is X rate for X hours and X rate for X hours.

Work out blocked time during the initial consultation if the client needs you at certain times during the day, which my experience has been that it doesn't matter what time as long as the work gets done.

Sparkles are nice but should fade out after a few seconds.

Overall, great job.

Janine

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Dito to the above comments. I think your definitley on your way and with a little advise from the forum you'll be off making a successful VA business.

I love the desk background. Also, I agree the comments already listed. You should run a spell check on all the pages of the site. Also, at the bottom of the page - where the copyright information is location it only says company name... I believe you should replace this with your company's name. You might also include a rate amount for your blocked time, only since you have the hourly rate listed already on the site. This way the clients can see the rates and the price difference and it might have you have more blocked rate clients and hourly clients. Good Luck with your design.