OK, time to bite the bullet

Morristown · #**1 OK, time to bite the bullet** 06-16-2007, 09:59 PM

Time to ask for a site review.

I finally have taken control away from the developer who has been working on my site. There have been a number of changes, i think for the better since control was regained. Anyway, please look it over and let me know where to begin with the further improvements. Keep in mind that the main page, the Local Information will be pushed down below the fold once I can add IDX to the site.

www.jboyerhomes.com

Thank you,

Jim

jbferris · 09:57 AM

I like it! It's clean with a lot of white space (web 2.0 style at it's finest) and there is great information on the site. I've never been a big fan of scrolling text banners but I'm not really sure how I'd change that on your site. Also, I'd recommend integrating that photo in the top banner with the red background using Photoshop. More specifically, I would use the same color as the background as a gradient and have the color fade into the photo and increase the photo size so that it's the same height as the banner itself. If you didn't pick out the photo (developer?) and need a larger copy you can buy it at http://www.istockphoto.com. It's in one of my iStockPhoto lightrooms.

P.S. - Thank you for not putting a ginormous picture of yourself at the top of the screen. I know people might disagree with me on this but I personally feel that a picture of yourself in an immediate view area creates a distraction and takes away from the content of the page. My philosophy is simple: If you are looking for a date then put a huge picture of yourself at the top. If you're looking for buyers then put the real estate information in front of them first. The way you handled it in your design: top notch.

mkrotchie · 02:12 PM

Jim, I think the site has a ton of valuable information but I do have a few suggestions that might help you out. I think the header is a bit large for the information it contains and could be either smaller or filled with a bit more information. And this might be a personal gripe, but scrolling text just doesn't appeal to as many people as it used to.

You might want to think about placing the menu on the right hand side instead of the left so SEs will pick up the main text in each section first. I might be wrong but I think I remember seeing a post on REW about that very topic.

I see you said once you get your IDX up and running a few pages might look a bit different, but the homepage doesn't clearly indicate what exactly you do at first glance. It might be valuable to insert a paragraph or a few lines that say, "Hi, I'm Jim and I'm a Realtor.." so that visitors to your site will understand immediately what the purpose of your site is.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Jim also be sure to use the <h1> tag on your page; I looked through the source and didn't see any.

kid disco · 06-17-2007, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbferris

I like it! It's clean with a lot of white space (web 2.0 style at it's finest)

Web 2.0? No offense, but the site looks a bit more like web 1990s, to me...

Aaron · 06-17-2007, 01:45 PM

- Your Home Link - Make it link to "/" not /index.php
- Give your homepage a better <title></title>.
- I see you have a listing on the REW blogs - put that on your website.

- Get that IDX on there as quickly as possible.

webmaster · 06-17-2007, 05:58 PM

Lose the scrolling marquee
Integrate (If you are keeping this header) the left nav right into the header area.

Get rid of every link to a page that is "under construction" if those pages aren't created yet, they should not be linked to.

Access to available inventory as Aaron said (Your listings and IDX) probably the most important.

I like the font choice and size, also black on white - instead of creative it is functional, and actually the easiest to read - your users will appreciate that.

Taken away from the contractor? Oh dear! That doesn't sound like fun. We realize you are very new at this, and at the very least this shows effort and that you are really listening and trying to the best of your ability. Give it time and focus on functional instead of "fancy" - If your users can read it, navigate it and it presents the information they require in a palatable form they will contact you.

hmilesjr · 06-17-2007, 06:18 PM

I don't care much for the scrolling marque either. I would move as much of the font, table, and other coding info you can to your CSS. Depending on how much you want to change the site, you could loose the tables and use just div tags to define your site areas. You could also use the area to the right to add in some client testimonials within a light background color. Will you be adding listings online?

Morristown · 06-18-2007, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by webmaster

Lose the scrolling marquee
Integrate (If you are keeping this header) the left nav right into the header area.

Get rid of every link to a page that is "under construction" if those pages aren't created yet, they should not be linked to.

Access to available inventory as Aaron said (Your listings and IDX) probably the most important.

I like the font choice and size, also black on white - instead of creative it is functional, and actually the easiest to read - your users will appreciate that.

Taken away from the contractor? Oh dear! That doesn't sound like fun. We realize you are very new at this, and at the very least this shows effort and that you are really listening and trying to the best of your ability. Give it time and focus on functional instead of "fancy" - If your users can read it, navigate it and it presents the information they require in a palatable form they will contact you.

Thanks for the help. The scrolling text was not my idea and personally I really did not care much for it ether.

Let me ask you this, I paid the guy using Paypal, any possible reason you can think of that I should find my paypal information in the HTML of the website? I am just baffled.

Anyway, I will make the best of the situation and clean things up to the best of my ability.

IDX will be on the site soon though the exact date is out of my hands.

Thanks for taking a look everyone I appreciate that you took the time.

Jim