New website. Opinions?

Merk

Hi everybody just finished my first website for a friend a couple of weeks ago, and would like to hear your opinions and suggestions on how to improve it.

http://www.energyseal.ie

I realise the pages need pictures but getting content and pictures is taking a while, but hopfully I will have some soon.

Also if anybody knows of any free software for designing logos please let me know.

Thanks!!!

p

For a first website it's a good attempt, you've manage to put together a functional site.

However, for a professional business website, it's not very good at all. The colours are harsh, there's a lot of silly text characters that confuse. The font isn't suitable to the subject matter, and there's no logo or relevant imagery. Overall it makes me think the business is amateur.

I would consider buying a template and implementing that as it would make more sense for the business. For you, I'd keep learning & working on the visual design and i'm sure you'll get better & better.

Inkscape is an open source vector program that is useful for designing logos that's suitable for someone starting out.

Dave!

I'd agree with the above

The simplest thing you could do is get rid of the bottom navigation bar, as there is no need to have both the exact same.

It's good that you got a functional site up, but for a professional business I wouldn't be too keen on it

Merk

Ok thanks lads!

Agree with ya's both.
Will make a few (drastic) adjustments over the coming weeks and post the second version.

Cheers!

TheWaterboy

I wont go into the design side of it as its already been covered.

You need to add much more content - Most people are unaware what the BER is and also what they can claim through the government initiative.

A few months ago Kingspan had an excellent handout in all of the papers advertising their services and very clear and concise guidelines on what people could claim for and how to go about claiming it.

As well as been good from an SEO point of view, this information will help people gain trust in the service you offer as it demonstrates that you know your area inside out.

tricky D

Get a logo and a better graphic/page design

Put more info, a lot more info on the site for customers and search engines. There's lots of info on SEI which can guide you.

Get endorsements, recommendations etc.


Provide the important pieces of information that help people need to make a purchase decision. The main ones are:

• Why should I choose you? Put yourself in a customer's shoes - why you and not someone else? Give reasons, sell yourself.
  
• Where are you? I found out that you're in Monkstown but you don't say. If you don't mention this kind of basic info, prospective customers will just find another assessor who does.
  
• Costs? Probably the single most important piece of information you can give a customer, yet most suppliers are afraid to mention it. Give some typical/guideline costs.
  
• How long does it takes and what's involved?

Change your details on SEI site to the energyseal.ie brand. The other brand is poor with an email at Yahoo! and a website which has nothing.

You need to sit down and spend much more time on your website. You're in a competitive market but there's till plenty of opportunities to get business from the search engine space which is quite training oriented. So if you do your website right, you could get quite a bit of business out of it. However, you need to put a decent web presence together.