New Website Set Up. Comments Welcomed!

moggie4000

Hi all,

Just recently set up my new website and wanted to get some feedback from it.

Good/Bad criticism is welcomed.

Thank you for your time.

www.pitchmaintenance.com

Cheers

Moggie

DubTony

Nice one. Simple, straightforward and very, very clean.

The only criticism I have is that it verges on boring. It might be a little bit too clean. Does the job though.

I am not an expert on web sites. Simply a user

moggie4000

DubTony wrote: »

Nice one. Simple, straightforward and very, very clean.

The only criticism I have is that it verges on boring. It might be a little bit too clean. Does the job though.

I am not an expert on web sites. Simply a user

Thank you DubTony, yeah i was afraid of that myself, maybe it needs a small bit of flair!

BarryM3

I would move the main body of text to the left or at least centre it rather than having it offset to the right.

I would look at trying to use grass texture in the site.

This link might be of use to you

http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/text-effects-tutorials/create-a-spectacular-grass-text-effect-in-photoshop/

Axwell

- Site takes up full screen for no reason
- Main Content is aligned to the right of the screen
- Site is designed using tables instead off css and xhtml
- No SEO work done on the site for Google
- Twitter Image is Missing

It says designed by Leitrim web design, is that you?

RoadKillTs

The website is not great to be honest. I mean the text isn't even aligned correctly. The green font looks horrible and even basic SEO work has not been done.
I would go back to your "web developer" and give him a kick in the hole

Do you mind me asking how much you paid for getting the site designed?

stepbar

I hazard a guess you paid 99eur.

You pay for what you get. In fairness you don't really need anything fancy for the service you are providing. However you will need to do some SEO.

TheWaterboy

RoadKillTs wrote: »

The website is not great to be honest. I mean the text isn't even aligned correctly. The green font looks horrible and even basic SEO work has not been done.
I would go back to your "web developer" and give him a kick in the hole

Do you mind me asking how much you paid for getting the site designed?

Id have to agree with all you have said RoadKillTs. Dont know how any "web development company" could put their name to designing the site.

Sorry OP

The site uses fluid width layout, meaning that the width of the site expands to fill the screen regardless of whether it is 1024 pixels wide or much larger. This is a problem because on a big screen you see the navigation bar at the left, a big block of empty white space, and then the content to the right.

Ask your developer to set the width of the sidebar and center divs in percentages rather than pixels (he/she'll know what this means). By doing this, the content will occupy a certain percentage of the screen width regardless of resolution, rather than a fixed width that looks fine on small screens and awful on big screens.

kenbrady

moggie4000 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just recently set up my new website and wanted to get some feedback from it.

Good/Bad criticism is welcomed.

Thank you for your time.

www.pitchmaintenance.com

Cheers

Moggie

You have all the negativity above about the website layout. It's only a small few changes needed.

Forget about the design for the moment, as it's not that important. What do you want this website to do ? It's a brochure site, so you want people to call you and enquire about your service. Here is the main body text for your website that will do that.
You then need to market your site. Using SEO/adwords and traditional advertising.

Your team trains hard to be the best. We make sure they play on the best pitch.

Welcome to Ireland’s Best Sports Pitch Maintenance company. We have over 20 years experience in Sports Turf Management. We are a member of the Institute Of Groundsmanship

Call us on 1234567 to see how we can help keep your pitch in the premier league.

The FAI, Leinster Cricket Union, CUS Sports Grounds all trust us to ensure their pitches are a player dream.

***SPECIAL OFFER*** LINE MARKING OF SOCCER, RUGBY, GAA PITCHES FOR ONLY €75.00 PER MARKING. IF MARKED TWICE PER WEEK IT WILL COST ONLY €50.00 PER MARKING. (Machine & Materials Supplied)

Call now 1234567 to avail of this great special discount offer.

Axwell

kenbrady wrote: »

Here is the main body text for your website that will do that.
You then need to market your site. Using SEO/adwords and traditional advertising.

SEO is a big part of the way the text is written on the website, the body text should contain as many keywords as possible while still making sense. So it should mention the services he offers and other keywords. The tag line you wrote would be in the H1 tag and again should be written to contain particular keywords not just a snappy line. The text should be written for SEO to maximise its use not just written from a marketing approach where it sounds better.

While what you have written is better than what was there in terms of the grammar and marketing approach it doesnt improve in SEO terms on what was already there.

<H1>Irelands Best Sports Pitch Maintenace Company</H1> - this should be your H1 tag where you currently have the web address above the special offer

Welcome to www.pitchmaintenance.com home of Irelands number 1 company for sports pitch maintenanace, construction and preparation.

We are a member of the Institute of Groundsmanship and have over 20 years experience in Sports Turf Management working with organisations such as the FAI, Leinster Cricket Union and CUS Sports Grounds.

When it comes to pitch maintenance we are the experts and offer services in aeration, grass cutting, white line marking, fertilising and much more.

***SPECIAL OFFER*** LINE MARKING OF SOCCER, RUGBY, GAA PITCHES FOR ONLY €75.00 PER MARKING. IF MARKED TWICE PER WEEK IT WILL COST ONLY €50.00 PER MARKING. (Machine & Materials Supplied)***

Call now 1234567 to avail of this great special discount offer.


The words in bold are the keywords people are more than likely going to search for in google when looking for a company such as yours. The more of these in your body text the better along with proper page titles to improve the SEO of the website which will improve your listing position in Google. After that its down to word of mouth, standard advertising and possibly an adwords campaign.

kenbrady

Axwell wrote: »

The text should be written for SEO to maximise its use not just written from a marketing approach where it sounds better.

The best use of the text is to deliver the sales message and call to action.
There are lots of ways to improve seo and attract visitors to the site. You only get one chance to make a first impression in the first vital few seconds.

Axwell

kenbrady wrote: »

The best use of the text is to deliver the sales message and call to action.
There are lots of ways to improve seo and attract visitors to the site. You only get one chance to make a first impression in the first vital few seconds.

If they cant find the site on Google then the sales message and call to action are wasted. You need good SEO and site design to get them their first, then a good sales message can call to action to keep them there and get them interested.

OP - Based on the search results for pitch maintenance while searching on Google in Ireland your domain name and good SEO would get you on the first page and definitely in the top few results if done properly. There arent that many adword campaigns or companies offering the service so with a bit of work you could be up there in no time.

Atlas_IRL

Axwell wrote: »

SEO is a big part of the way the text is written on the website, the body text should contain as many keywords as possible while still making sense. So it should mention the services he offers and other keywords. The tag line you wrote would be in the H1 tag and again should be written to contain particular keywords not just a snappy line. The text should be written for SEO to maximise its use not just written from a marketing approach where it sounds better.

While what you have written is better than what was there in terms of the grammar and marketing approach it doesnt improve in SEO terms on what was already there.

<H1>Irelands Best Sports Pitch Maintenace Company</H1> - this should be your H1 tag where you currently have the web address above the special offer

Welcome to www.pitchmaintenance.com home of Irelands number 1 company for sports pitch maintenanace, construction and preparation.

We are a member of the Institute of Groundsmanship and have over 20 years experience in Sports Turf Management working with organisations such as the FAI, Leinster Cricket Union and CUS Sports Grounds.

When it comes to pitch maintenance we are the experts and offer services in aeration, grass cutting, white line marking, fertilising and much more.

***SPECIAL OFFER*** LINE MARKING OF SOCCER, RUGBY, GAA PITCHES FOR ONLY €75.00 PER MARKING. IF MARKED TWICE PER WEEK IT WILL COST ONLY €50.00 PER MARKING. (Machine & Materials Supplied)***

Call now 1234567 to avail of this great special discount offer.


The words in bold are the keywords people are more than likely going to search for in google when looking for a company such as yours. The more of these in your body text the better along with proper page titles to improve the SEO of the website which will improve your listing position in Google. After that its down to word of mouth, standard advertising and possibly an adwords campaign.

thanks for that

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

You need to make the margins on the sides bigger, maybe shade the outside boarder as well to focus the eye on the main message. Since the site is so new you should consider changing to a .ie domain, I think Blacknight are going them for a fiver at the moment. Don't mind the rest of them talking about an all singing and dancing optimized site, i doubt the competition is very high on "pitch maintenance". Just change your title tags to things people would type into google when looking for your service and build a few incoming links so Google can index you.

Outside of the design itself i think you're missing some obvious conversion enhancers. Think of the questions your customers would be asking themselves.

Where are they based?
Who can i call?
How much is it?

For example, i would imagine given the machinery needed you are restricted in your operating location - getting your machinery to the back arse of Donegal would cost more than the 75€ fee. So try to be specific, don't be the maintenance guy for everyone one. Be the North Dublin guy, if that's what you are. Asking people to think is a big no no.

byrne0f56789

Using Wordpress is the best way to build a website for a small/medium sized business. The templates are free and easy to customise. You can install it with one click if you have the right hosting provider. If you use an SEO plugin all the SEO tags are automatically taken care of. It's as easy as using this forum. Remember content is king and you should constantly be adding new content to your site for search engines to pick you up.

However, if your website gets you sales and you are happy than don't change it.

lion_bar

Hi,

Put your telephone number and email address on the top of your home page. It will save people looking for it.

Rather than have links to the GAA/Cricket/FAI, can you get a client testimonial page up there?

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

byrne0f56789 wrote: »

Using Wordpress is the best way to build a website for a small/medium sized business.

:rolleyes: There goes the whole web design industry, sorry guys, we've got a one size fits all template here. haha.

Bit strongly worded don't you think, care to make any sweeping statements on religions while you at it?

zAbbo

Whatever about the design, which is unprofessional - some work needs to be done on the message of what you are offering, and that doesn't mean sticking stuff in color, CAPS and bold.

The website is very poor at selling what yo do, and it would certainly be worth spending some money on getting even a 1 pager done correctly.

I think you need to look at answering the following:

Who we are
What we do
How much we cost
What cool stuff have we done
What people are saying about us
How to get in touch

All of which could fit on 1-2 pages, don't beat round the bush - market yourselves a lot better.

Feedback on SEO tips given above *may* be worth a very small % improvement in search rankings - but it won't make people pick up the phone and do business with you, my instant perception was unprofessional, small time, one man band...

Apologies if that sounds harsh.

swiftnet

The content of the site needs some work. Expand on the services you provide, listing the services you provide isn't enough, also some cost indication, previous work etc.. Creating pages that are content rich will help with SEO.

I would also provide contact details on the header of each page. There is an empty box on the right side of the header where you could put them.

There is also too much white, there needs to be some contrast between the content section, menu and background. Placing the content in the centre of the page would also look better!

You have the bare bones, needs some alterations to make it more professional!

pontovic

I would have the site redesigned and redeveloped by a professional.

CamperMan

stepbar wrote: »

I hazard a guess you paid 99eur.

You pay for what you get. In fairness you don't really need anything fancy for the service you are providing. However you will need to do some SEO.

This is not the original website Leitrim Web Design had created for €99. The client has altered the original design and layout of the site and looks nothing like the original, the client has since added their own content / style.

shoutman

CamperMan wrote: »

This is not the original website Leitrim Web Design had created for €99. The client has altered the original design and layout of the site and looks nothing like the original, the client has since added their own content / style.

Maybe you should ask them to take down the created by leitrim web design link on the website?

ab20

Just had a look at your website. Looks nice and neat and tidy. Gets the message across. But I think you are having a problem with it when it loads, the main body text is ranging on the right with a big blank space in the middle. Check it out and get it sorted before too many people see it. Best of Luck!

moggie4000

Hey all,

I've made a few changes since you last looked at the site.

Any areas i can improve on?

KJF

Hi Moogie. One thing I would recommend is cutting the size down on the images on the landscaping page. There's no need for images of those dimensions to be such a large file size. It slows the rendering time for the page.


http://tinktank.ie

moggie4000

Ok will do, cheers.

John368

Moggie

Someone said that your site looked boring. I think that might be a good thing as there are so many flashy sites about today, which are perhaps only flash and do not have any substance to the firm at all. So maybe less is more.

One thing I find most annoying about sites for small firms. I hope you do not mind me referring to your firm as samll My firm actually only has one person in it so maybe I am not one to talk. However, as I was saying the most annoying thing for me is when i look at a site and I find that it not up to date. I have found sites which have not been touched for years and addresses and tel numbers have not been updated.

I do not have a website because I do not want my competitors to see what I am doing. I can see the advantage of a website for you in your business, but I think you have to think hard about how much information you put on the website and be aware thatcompetitors able to get access to the site.

John

moggie4000

Cheers John.

I am total agreement with you as regards websites being updated, it is most annoying when they are left alone. I am updating my site as often as i feel the need to.

I think in my line of work, a flashy website is not required but that's just my opinion, i just want to get across what we do and how we do it, as simple as that!

Thanks very much for your input.

Moggie

EIREHotspur

Moggie

You said comments good or bad so let me be straight up.

This is a great website design.......for the 1990s!

It is what's called a brochure website that someone will visit once and not visit again.
I design websites and here is a few tips.

As your business is Sports Pitch Maintenance....then bigger photos are your visual selling point....don't just have them that size in your gallery.

Get a more modern design than you have at the moment.....that speaks cheapo production design to me. Bulleted points stuck in the middle of two pages?

You have a great CV of clients - FAI, Leinster Cricket Union and CUS Sports Grounds....devote a page to each.

They call it Web Design because Design takes effort and is supposed to look well and reflect an organization's skill/style etc.

Flash gets a bad rap because of the way a lot of bedroom designers use it but you cannot tell me that abc.com or rte.ie's iPlayer is bad web design?
Anyone who tries to tell you that your website is great knows little about Web Design.

Axwell

EIREHotspur wrote: »

Flash gets a bad rap because of the way a lot of bedroom designers use it but you cannot tell me that abc.com or rte.ie's iPlayer is bad web design?

Rubbish..flash gets a bad name in web design because it affects SEO. A site done in flash generally will rank poorly because Google cant read the content of the website with its spiders. Hence it cant associate it with searches and keywords etc. The reason abc and rte do well as you said is because they are already known and established. Also tv and media sites tend to use flash because of their content. A busines starting out however would struggle in the search engines if they had a site done in flash.

EIREHotspur

Rubbish......and before I start....where did I say he needed to build his Entire website in Flash????

Anyway....Adobe teamed up with Google & Yahoo in 2008 to improve Search results.

If you are not a bedroom web designer then it is easily achievable to set up a Flash Website for Search Engines.

If you need to learn how to do this (and obviously you were not aware you could) ....read Search Engine Optimization for Flash.

Axwell

Im well aware of it but if you look into it properly you will find that its only a marginal improvement. If you design a website in flash you cant get anywhere near the SEO you can from a standard xhtml website with css etc. Designing a website in flash is a bad idea especially for a new business trying to get ranked and while it may look all fancy and have all the bells and whistles it will never bring you anywhere near the same traffic a non flash one will. Oh by the way he said "flashy" as in fancy, he didnt mention flash, you did but since you did i commented on it.

EIREHotspur

As he won't be exporting to china then SEO isn't the be all and end all of his website.

A search on google ie......not google.com as he isn't competing abroad brought up two other companies apart from his in the top 10.
Therefore how many fully fledged pitch maintenance companies is he competing against in Ireland?

Dissing Flash because of SEO is a crock.......just because it takes a bit more skill to impliment.

Oh and btw.....flashy in Web Design terms means Flash.

Axwell

SEO for any website is important, without the website wont be found on Google. Considering the nature of his business he should be focusing on Dublin not the whole of Ireland, he isnt going to travel down the country and do a job for the same price. Maybe to someone who doesnt know much about web design "flashy" means flash, to those of us that do it can be jquery, ajax, css and plenty of other things.

To get the thread back on track and not bring it off on this path of flash and SEO that you have, at the end of the day the OP should be aiming for a clean professional site with good design which gets the message across of what he does and the services provided, how much they cost and how to get in touch. Theres no need for any bells and whistles but bad design will let him down as the site wont look professional, when you name big clients like the FAI etc your site should also look professional.

EIREHotspur

Agreed.....but not meaning to sound too unkind....this website falls way short of that.

It doesn't reflect his Professional Service he provides.