Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

1. Much too much going on on the homepage. What am I supposed to do if/when I land there? Am I even in your target audience, and how would I know?

2. The name "PetChamber" sounds like a jail or death-trap for my dog. (Like a gas chamber.) I have visions of putting the cat in a microwave oven. Maybe you need to re-think (a) your domain name, or (b) the whole concept of a Pet Chamber of Commerce. ("Why would a pet need a chamber of commerce?") It's just not obvious, and you don't do anything to explain -- until the very bottom of the homepage (i.e., way below the fold).

3. Who is your primary target audience, and how will they find your website? What do you do to generate awareness? If your market is South Florida, maybe you should say so right upfront. Why make people work so hard to figure that out?

Karen: I've seen prior posts. It sure looks from her homepage that all the events are South Florida. Not sure why anyone from elsewhere would care about the organization ... at least based on what she has on the site.

I thought maybe she took our advice and narrowed the target audience to just South Florida.

And I wasn't wild about the gas chamber name before either.

Wow, PetChamber.org is indeed an awful name! I realize that is NOT at issue in this question, but I have to agree with Michael. My first thought was euthanization or a crematorium. Shudder.

The site is just too busy and confusing. I know that's not much help to you! If I had extra time available today, I'd poke around a bit more.

Hey, Karen! I sure hope that Hubspot is writing you a check for all the traffic you're sending to websitegrader.com! ;-)

The website itself doesn't immediately answer the key questions:
* Who are you targeting?
* What problem of theirs are you solving?
* Why should people trust your solution?

The problem you face is common. You know what you're selling, but people who don't know/love you don't. You've claimed the name of "Pet Chamber of Commerce" but that's ambiguous. Are you selling pet stuff? To pet owners? To animal lovers? Or something entirely different?

Start with the basics before you try to fancy-up your website, otherwise you'll be wasting your time & money.