Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

Nancy -

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but the site is very amateurish. While this would have flown 10 years ago, in the age where you can get a free professional template with hosting space, there is no reason for a site to look like this. It does not speak well of you or the business.

Also, in terms of your target demographic, how many Boomers do you really think are familiar with the term "Viosk"?

Also, I frankly have no idea what you are really selling without clicking around and even then, it isn't entirely clear. Nobody is going to take that much time. There is no unifying theme and one cannot quickly assess what the site is all about.

Again, not trying to be harsh, just honest. You might seriously want to consider utilizing a template as a start, or hiring someone to design it for you, using some design best practices.

With regards,

~ Jason

Jason's respons above is absolutely right. There is no focus and the site is too busy.
Make sure it is simle and clear to what you are selling.
Find some one to design it proffessionally for you.

If this site is designed for a business, it needs a LOT of work.

On the technical side:

First, clip art has to go. Nothing screams amateur web site like clip art.

Next, navigation of main pages should be listed in a constant manner, either a horizontal or vertical navigation bar. Navigation should appear on each and every page of the site so visitors can easily move from one page to the next.

The font is way too large. Looks almost like a Dr. Seuss book.

The layout has to be re-worked. Tables with obvious borders no longer work. The second column appears to be of no use.

Images with blue borders are passe. A simple manipulation of the image tag will eliminate that problem.

The colors chosen are not web-safe colors. If you chose your color palette from a PMS swatch book, the colors will appear much differently when viewed on a monitor.

From the marketing side:

What is the purpose of the web site? The home page is completely unfocused. First I see a link to a coffee house. Then I scroll down to find out what the definition of what a boomer is and other definitions of jargon unique to your brand.

If this is a site focusing on accomplishments of baby boomers, of which I am one, use that as a focal point for the home page. Janet Bongiovanni has a wonderful collection of artwork, absolutely stunning! That would draw the eye and make visitors want to delve into the site to see more.

Nancy Newman's page is another page that should be used as a focal point on the web site. Perhaps using a flash movie inserted in the home page to rotate and feature different "boomers'" accomplishments. The image nancy-newman2 is 864kb--way too large for a graphic on a web page. The image took over a minute to download on my Verizon wireless connection. Nancy's creations would be an excellent draw to the entire site. For instance, if someone was looking for information on her, the page they would land on would be a good gateway to the rest of the web site. Again, you have to have navigation that will lead visitors to the rest of the site.

Next from an SEO standpoint, you're not even CLOSE to being found on Google, Yahoo or MSN. There are not keyword or description tags in order for the "spiders" to find and index the site. On the positive side, you have some really unique words-Vaboomer, Viosks, reFIRE, reFIREE, etc. These are words that are unique enough to help place your site in high ranking on Google.

The images, once you get better ones, should also be optimized, meaning you should put in "Alt" tags, words that describe the image, using key words that you'll want potential visitors to type into a search engine.

On the positive side, you have a great brand opportunity. Baby boomers are a major demographic. No longer a 50-plus adults considered "over the hill" and ignored by marketers. So there's definitely a wealth of opportunity. It just needs some tweaking and focus.

Hopefully, these suggestions will help you get the site on track and make your business a success.

If you have further questions, please contact me a [Email address deleted by staff]

Best of luck.

Hi Nancy, i am perfectly covered from what all the others wrote and especially designerdawnnie that i believe gave you the exact point from both technical and marketing aspects and i agree 100%,
what i wanted to tell you is better not consider the template option cause it's not the best idea and from what i've seen what you need is to rebuild the website from the scratch not just a template (you need navigation, graphics, SEO. etc). But if you go on doing again by yourself i wish the best of luck. If you need any help (professional or not) you can contact me at [Email address deleted by staff]

I wish you the best Romilos