Question

Topic: Website Critique

Please Advise On Some Ways To Improve Our Website

Posted by kjhouston on 10/12/2010 at 7:57 PM ET 250 Points
Hello MP,

Please advise on some ways to improve our website.

Do the site provide good information?
Is the site user friendly?
What can we do to make the site better?

Thanks for your comments and feedback in advance.

KJH
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by iFocus on 10/12/2010 at 10:03 PM Member
    Are you referring to the site that is in your profile?

    JP
  • Posted by kjhouston on 10/12/2010 at 10:26 PM Author
    JP

    Yes, I apologize, in my excitement to get some feedback I forgot to post the link to our website.

    this is the link https://www.kkhouston.com
  • Posted on 10/12/2010 at 10:32 PM Accepted
    Kevin, your site is all about YOU. The words I, MY and ME show up on just about every page and in every tab. That's a bad way to make a first impression. It suggests that your ego is running the show.

    Think about what your services will do for the prospective customer. The "what's in it for me" factor should be the focus. Talk about the ultimate benefit for the customer (of doing business with you), instead of talking about yourself.

    If you can deliver an important benefit, people will become engaged in what you're saying. But if they are just spending time learning what you do and who you are, they'll run away fast.

    So the way to improve your site is to start from the customer's perspective. First identify the ideal customer ... your primary target audience. Then engage that audience by letting them know that you understand and are prepared to address their most important and pressing need. Use the words they would use. Demonstrate that you really understand their pain and have a solution.

    This isn't a quick-fix, by any stretch of the imagination. But it's the only one that will really deliver bottom line results for you. Putting more lipstick on a pig won't make it not be a pig. It's a waste of lipstick.
  • Posted on 10/12/2010 at 10:41 PM Moderator
    Sorry. My prior post was about the funky lightbulb section of your site. Then I saw you are into book publishing and website development too.

    My recommendation would be to have separate websites for each business ... and to make your pitch in fewer words ... easier to read pages. Maybe more graphics, easier to grasp the main idea. As it is you have way too many words on each page.

    Nobody is going to slog through all that copy to figure out why they might want to use your services. You have to be much more focused ... narrower target audience, single-minded focus on your key positioning benefit.

    And different websites for different businesses and target audiences.
  • Posted by kjhouston on 10/12/2010 at 10:49 PM Author
    Thanks mgoodman for your feedback.

    So I need to lay my motivational website out as if I did not design my ownsite?
    Such as "about kevin", "contact kevin" and so on...
    The re-write the text to say something like,

    "Kevin J Houston was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Kevin is youngest of two brothers and one sister."

    Something like that is what I am gathering that your are saying?
  • Posted by iFocus on 10/13/2010 at 12:21 AM Member
    Sorry to say but the design (Joomla?) of your website looks rather boring and amateurish to me, even beyond the home page. I'd entirely redesign it, keeping in mind that you offer a web design service. Also, your 'Managed Web Hosting Packages' seems largely overpriced...

    JP
  • Posted on 10/13/2010 at 3:20 AM Accepted
    When you let people critique your site be ready to take the good with the bad . But since you ask I can sense you want to improve and take your site to the "next level"(Man, I hate using that term). Joomla is a great CMS but out of the box is not that spectacular unless you use the components ,modules,extensions and plugins that make it great.

    #1 . I'd remove that "generator" meta tag . I see it as a big target for hackers who will attempt database injections when their crawlers find that tag.

    #2 On page SEO needs work and your homepage structure is not helping your SEO as it should. Some tips : Use SEF urls(I recommend JoomSEF) , use robots.txt, canonicalization(HTAccess mod is probably better than the link element) , subdomains vs. subfolders etc.

    #3 Off page SEO needs contextual links from related sites. You offer SEO services so this should be self-explanatory .

    #3 Site feels dated , Joomla is a great CMS to show off Web 2.0 and your design skills.

    #4 Site architecture/structure seems a bit convoluted for me. Try this in Google -> site:www.kkhouston.com and you'll see that Google indexed your directory more than your main pages.

    These are a few insights I hope they help I have more ideas but that will cost you :) . I wish you all the best and success on your endeavors.



  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 10/13/2010 at 8:45 AM Accepted
    Your home page is trying to span 3 subdomains, but because everything isn't well-integrated, it's confusing at best. Start with making the navigation more obvious on the home page

    Next, read through your website from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about you, and found your website accidentally. Can your words appeal to them? For example, in your publishing section, tell me about your "home runs" - a small author that you worked with who got on a best-seller list. Show me testimonials of people who've loved working with you. Only after I'm curious about who you help and how much others benefit from you/trust you am I interested in you.

    Your website business has similar issues. Why your business? What do you know that others don't? Why hire you instead of a local high-schooler to create my website?
  • Posted by kjhouston on 10/13/2010 at 5:59 PM Author
    Everyone thank you for you feedback.

    Just to let you all know I am a old school web designer trying to get back in the game and learning all the ends and outs of modern web development. So your feedback has been helpful.

    @JP, you gave you criticism about what you did not like but no actions for correcting any problems. Corrective criticism is better except if you offer correction to a known problem. Just some friendly advice from me..

    @ Karen, webmaster and Jay, I may contact you all on some business mentoring and business coaching (paid of course) if it's available to an up and coming entrepreneur trying to get back in to business for himself.

    Again thanks everyone. I will take all your advice and pointers to help me step my game up. A work in progress is better than NO progress at all...

    KJH
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