Help needed on new website changes

LauraOrlagh

Hi everyone,
The reason I guess I'm asking for help here is that we're a relatively new company who offer a totally unique product which already helps a lot of companies; However, our main problem is that we're new and we need to get the word out there about our product as it is a totally new concept and an idea which could save Irish companies thousands every year.

I mainly need your help with regard to our website, I'm just wondering do ye think ye fully understand what we have to offer from our website or are we not explaining it to your satisfaction??

Also (I'm not sure if I should be putting this in the Marketing forum now) but do ye think we are marketing it in the correct manner? We have a Google Adwords campaign and have been working on SEO and so are just waiting for Google to pick up the new changes.

Also any other advice regarding our website would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance for yer help.

(The website is in my signature block)

DoMyBooks

Hi Laura,

I was on your website after you posted on another thread and it took me a few minutes to figure out what it actually is your selling. Its not immediately clear to me that your selling acess to an online course.

At the top of the page it says "Credit control course, Credit control trainging exercises" But these aren't what you actually are selling. Maybe its just me flying over things without paying attention but its worth considering.

Hope this helps. I have the exact same problem with my own website to be honest and Im going to make some large changes to it soon.

Ralph

LauraOrlagh

Hi Ralph,
Thanks a million for your feedback, it's exactly what I needed. You see we are not actually providing an online course... we are providing a course which is only delivered via the internet.. the idea is that you print your course off at your own desk for your convenience yet I think as you have just suggested - people are mistaking it for an online course which it is not.

Your feedback really has helped because obviously we aren't being clear enough in the objective of the site. Thanks a million for your help and if you want me to help you with anything don't hesitate to ask (PM me or email)

Thanks,

TheWaterboy

Hi Laura,

Just some quick observations.

I think there is too much text on the home page - Very overwhelming and impossible to know where to start reading.

Regarding your SEO.

The title of your page in my opinion does little for helping your site in Google - Who would search for "Credit Control Covered" or "Avoid Bad Debt".

Google will never be able to get to any other pages other than your homepage and pricing page as the menu links are all images. It cannot spider through image links. Place URL links for all the pages somewhere else on the homepage - usually the footer.

Your keywords are formatted incorrectly also - You have the following:

<meta name="keywords" content="Credit Control Courses", "Credit Control Training", "bad debts", "cashflow problems" />

You need to put all your keywords within the one set of " " tags and put an apostrophe between them.

You need to put a privacy policy somewhere on the site - you are accepting information from people so it is good practice to display a privacy policy.

No information on how the tutorial is delivered or what format it is. Is it emailed or delivered online etc.

Id highly recommend making it possible for people to purchase the tutorial online. Would make it alot more beneficial for the customer.

LauraOrlagh

Thanks Waterboy,
Some very valuable suggestions made there which I will definitely take on board.

We do in fact deliver the Tutorial via the internet, our clients pay and we grant them an access code which allows them to print their own copy, but maybe this is not clear enough on the website - I'll have to look into it again.

Regarding the SEO stuff - I'm not at all up-to-date on all the technology surrounding it so thanks a million for your helpful suggestions and I'll get onto my webdeveloper regarding the same.

Thanks a million for your feedback and helpful advice

tricky D

TheWaterboy wrote: »

Google will never be able to get to any other pages other than your homepage and pricing page as the menu links are all images. It cannot spider through image links. Place URL links for all the pages somewhere else on the homepage - usually the footer.

Google won't have this problem, it can read and spider through those links just fine. However, you're right about duplicating the links at the footer for SEO and so as to not have to scroll back up long pages.


The homepage needs snappier text and proper calls to action.

What is the format of the tutorial? Sounds like a PDF you print out but can't be sure. Why isn't it a printed book?

You have a subsection page after the contents, but how do I get a code? Why not give a sample chapter anyway?

Why do the forms have borders on them?

There are loads of books out there on credit control, why should I get your tutorial when I could pick up a half dozen books instead?

LASTLY AND MOST IMPORTANT: TAKE YOUR BANK DETAILS OFF THE SITE IMMEDIATELY

Overflow

There is way too much text on the main page which might just throw first time users straight off the page. You should keep it simple and straight to the point (what your selling), something that will grab users attention straight away. Then once you have the users interest make it easy for them to find more information on your product/service.

Regarding SEO i would agree with most of the points made above. I notice you mentioned in another thread that it was designed by a company called Spiralli and recommended them. So be honest, after checking out their site, for a company that advertises that SEO is one of their services, they have not done a very good job, of course only if this was included in the project spec with them. Also i think the site looks a bit dated you should do a bit of research on the latest design trends. Heres some site for inspiration and research:

http://www.cssheaven.com/
http://www.cssbeauty.com/
http://www.csselite.com/

Here is a good article on current design trends:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/14/web-design-trends-for-2009/

The above site is a very good site for info regarding, design, seo and all other things web design related.

Here is an example of a good site offering a service, it gets straight to the point, you know what the site is about, what there offering within the first few seconds of visiting the site. There is a big green button to sign up, in your case this could be a More Info button, you could also put a Purchase button right next to it for return visitors. This site is what i mean by modern design trends, one of many trends. Now it may not be everyones taste but it sticks to good/modern design principles.

https://money.strands.com/

Also do some reading on SEO optimization on the Google website:

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

Hope this helps somewhat