13-03-09
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 | Power Member | | Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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 re: Property website review
Hi Mario
I know a lot of people have said this, but I have to applaud you for being brave enough to open your site up to constructive criticism. Of course, anyone who has a website does this every day. They just don't usually hear about the results directly, although bounce rates certainly tell the story if people do not like your design!
I like that you've utilised Joomla. It's a great little content management system. Customising it can be a bit tricky at times, but for OpenSource, it's fantastic. I've used it to develop some great sites for clients. Obviously you'll need to remove it from your footnote though as people really don't need to know your development environment.
OK, here are some specific notes about your site, which will hopefully help you along the way: - I strongly believe that Flash can be used with compelling results. However, definitely take on board the analysis people have provided, i.e. it's probably too large at the moment and thus takes too long to load. Here are some other specifics:
- The initial image seems to be rather squished so have a look at that.
- You need to review the grammar and spelling (I'm an editor and a designer so I cannot help but notice these things!) ... I believe there's a spelling mistake in 'puzzel' rather than 'puzzle' that left me ... All right, I won't say it. :-) You also mentioned something about building from the ground. It feels unfinished. I'd add an up as in 'from the ground up'. As another editorial remark, some of your phrases have full stops and others don't. Be consistent.
- If I were you, I wouldn't put the Flash show on every page; just leave it on the home page for that initial 'wow' factor.
- I'm using Firefox and didn't hear any music, but I'd certainly include a prominent 'shut up' button on the page if music is absolutely necessary. Most times, it isn't.
- I'd definitely include a sidebar with some recent projects and testimonials. While we'd like to think people sit on our site for hours pouring through every detail, the reality is we have about 12 seconds to make a favourable impression. If you don't give people a snapshot of what you do, who you are and why they should listen to you, they're gone.
- I would highly recommend that you add at least a phone number (with an area code as Karen, I believe, mentioned) to your main page banner, somewhere to the right of your logo (leaving ample white space, of course). Speaking of your logo, while it is very clean and has a strong look, it lacks a certain 'movement' and personality. Others have talked about this in greater detail so I'll leave this here unless you'd like to contact me directly for some specific advice.
- While we're talking about graphics/images, I'd suggest that you develop some great looking buttons that make your 'click here' and 'contact us' calls to action more compelling. Obviously don't go overboard, but you need to catch the eye.
- Someone (sorry, I cannot see all of the posts so I cannot list the name without tabbing out) mentioned that you've used a .com rather than a .com.au. I also think this might be a mistake if your clients are in Australia, which presumably they are. Keep the .com by all means, but also buy the .com.au and simply use a redirect from the .com so you don't run into duplicate content issues. People both consciously and subconsciously look at domains. It's all part of branding and it's important that you show your roots, especially in the current economic climate.
OK, I'd better close for now as I have two books to finish editing (and the rest)! Plus, I'm not trying to write War and Peace!
Good luck with your website development. Please keep us posted.
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