Please critique my sites, thanks

pastor

I recently launched these sites http://www.childcaremanagement.net and a blog site www.childcaremanagement.net/Blogging. Could you please have a look and see if there are any obvious changes that I should make. I am thinking that I should merge the blog into the main site, what do you think?

I would be very greatful if you could please spare the time to look at the sites and give me your opinions.


Thanks a million.

Paul

Atlas_IRL

Hey Paul if you post it here you will get more replies.

NathanKingerlee

Hi Paul,
I'm not a web expert, but these are the suggestions I'd have:

On your website:
lessen the amount of white background.
some of your text/images seem a little blurry.
intergrate a facebook page into your home page, where your clients can interact with each other, with you, and have discussions, resolve generic issues, etc.
having your blog part of your website keeps traffic on your main site, but having a blogger/wordpress blog may get you more google hits - I'm not sure about that.

On your blog:
you've a nice background and simple layout.
have a very obvious 'return to website' button on your blog.
also have very obvious full contact details all over both your blog and website.
comments allowed on your blog would encourage more interaction?

unnameduser

Paul,

If you are serious about getting expert constructive advice perhaps you should post this in the Software and Web Development forum.

Your site will be picked apart to pieces but it is all constructive.

My initial reaction:
It's all a bit disjointed. There is too much text on the first page, way too spaced out, and font is too large. Perhaps great separate pages for the content.
Some images are blurred. The video is blurred at full screen view.
The links at the top left seem lost over there, might be better to enlarge them and perhaps center them.
The alternating images are different in size and I don't see how they quite relate to the topic (maybe thats just me)
You have a form for the helpdesk, maybe have a contact form as well. Also include contact telephone no.'s

You need to refine the text on the first page. Have a read of this.

tricky D

Logo first, then navigation.

Make the grey text darker for readability. Don't centre align the text in the main body, make it left align - that's what books and newspapers do because it's much easier to read, centered isn't.

Raspberry and other lifestyle graphics look pretty but don't actually do anything except waste valuable screen real estate. Dump them. Your handful of main selling points/strengths should be there in a list type layout addressing an issues, saying something about your solution and then a call to action. That's much more effective than a nice picture which just doesn't do the business of selling.

Most of the text is too big, especially the headings.

Logo and some other graphics look bad as they aren't sharp enough. I'd have little faith in your amzing logos offer as a result. Also 'amzing', use a spellchecker.

URL to childcare blog isn't a link and it is spelt wrong too.

Homepage is way too long. A demo page should be seperate.

CMS Into video. Is that yet another spelling mistake? Why is it the second video not the first???? Where's the first one??

MS Comic Sans looks unprofessional and bad.

Too many different fonts, sizes and colour combinations.

Why should I subscribe to your site??

Input box on top right, what's that about??

British, Irish and Related links take users away from the site. Why do you want to do that? Your endorsements/testimonials etc would be better there.

€99 is a great price, so why is it buried at the bottom of the page. I'd put it right up at the top where the raspberry pic is as it that's a huge selling pro. Free demo is also good to have but is also buried.

Need a contact form like the helpdesk as well as email address.

Testimonials page is empty but you have one on the homepage???

Thye blog should be integrated into the rest of the site. Thereis no point in having 2 different looks and feels and it just creates extra overhead and makes your brand inconsistent. The main site is WordPress anyway.

I'd be worried about Data Protection, security and child protection issues. I haven't seen this addressed on the site. At the very least, I'd want all data encypted and password protected.

Your site doesn't come up in Google for childcare management or creche management. You'll need to do a lot of work on your SEO.

childcaremanagementsystems.com is available, why aren't you using that??? So is crechemanagementsystems.com

You refer to your product as both childcare and creche management systems, which is it? Choose one brand only.

On the about us page, there's a link to 'Childcare Management System 2.0' which goes bold when mouseovered and then the whole paragraph jumps as a result. Undo that.

The product section is really the cart section. The product info should be there.

hth and good luck

AdMMM

Have to say that you've got some quality advice above.

happyeveryday

Hi Paul,
Only had a brief look at the website, agree with the above messages re font etc.
However i want to add one comment, what is your site meant to do, is it advertising kids play things, budget logos or is it your primary shop window for selling your software.
I'll be honest i wouldn't buy from this website as is, it looks unprofessional. You need to decide what your customers what to see.
Hope this helps, best of luck with it.

pastor

Hi guys

I really appreciate you all taking the time to look at my site. I am going to print out all of the comments and go through them one at a time and implement them.

I will start by moving the blog to the main site and move the product infomation to another page.

I will be back with version 2 and would ask you to look it over again.

Thanks so much.

Paul

MyBusinez.com

Hi Pastor,
As someone who knows a little about crèches and what they look for I have to say I like the way the text is big and easy to see on the website. That way you are hitting an 'all age' market. I find older people (some who own and run crèches) find it hard to read anything under font size 14. The layout is nice and simple. I'm not sure if crèche owners would have the time to read a 62 page instruction manual though. These things can be hard to use and that can turn people off straight away. If they see something that is easy to use you may have more chance of getting a sale. Just my 2 cents.

SheilaENN

I'm looking at the content & the writing...sorry, I can see what you're trying to do, but the wording sounds unprofessional and reminds me of some of those more in-your-face eBay adverts. I would get rid of the exclamation marks, avoid talking about "boring" tasks, left align the text as someone mentioned above,and group the information into recognizable blocks of "the business challenge", "features" of your product, and "benefits" to the user.

You should try running this past a copywriter if you can -- it's not expensive if they're just editing what you have already written -- and they can give you more concise text that clarifies what you're trying to say.

all that said, sounds like a useful product.