Please comment/review my website please

ElectricGirl

Please check out my new website for cheap online computer support and let me know what you think. Have you any ideas how to improve etc.. The Forum section is not yet completed so please ignore that for the moment. Thanks

www.budgetpcrepair.ie

tricky D

Design and typography are too busy on the homepage in particular, simplify it.

Centered text would be better in list format.

How do you fix 'Browser 404 Errors'?

What's with the ads at the bottom?

No proper info on who you are or a postal address. Important for trust and I wouldn't advise anyone to use you until that info is provided.

Endorsements and typical pricing could be provided.

Why have unsubscribe from newsletter? That should be in the newsletter. Where's the newsletter archive?

Allowing remote access has trust issues. You could link to a Logmein demo.

Your page URLs are 'ugly'. Get them into a descriptive format.

I wouldn't advise using white text on black.

You could do with a better logo.

ElectricGirl

Thanks Tricky - great feedback, I will look into all your suggestions. Do you thing supplying my business number also would help in respect of people trusting my site?

tricky D

Yes, very much so. It makes it look more professional.

ElectricGirl

Appreciated

oeb

Remove the rollover effect on the ul on the left, it's a bit confusing when they are not links, especially as it's the same behavior you have on the actual links above them.

Boxes on the right need padding.

Why is there PPC advertising on a professional business website? That would very quickly turn me off availing of a companies services.

Text looks bad in the main banner image thanks to compression, just overlay actual text over the background image instead.

Constantly altering the text size and colour on the home page makes it appear very inconsistent.

I would not dream of doing business with a company who did not list an address and phone number on the site. I would certainly never give them remote access to my machine.

I would maybe move the twitter and facebook links to the bottom of one of the sidebars, or the footer of the site. The bird in particular is inconsistent with the rest of the site.

The FAQ looks a bit too different from the rest of the site.

The grey font used in the forum does not have enough contrast against the background. This makes it very hard to read.

cormee

Just out of interest, how do you fix 'Browser 404 Errors'?

ElectricGirl

I don't know why everyone seems to be focusing on this but below is a few examples of how to troubleshoot and also browser 404 errors appear when designing a webpage so a developer could need help to find the cause of the issue

1. Retry the web page by clicking the refresh/reload button or trying the URL from the address bar again. The 404 Not Found error has been known to appear on occasion even if there is no real issue so a simple refresh will often load the page you were looking for.

2. Check for errors in the URL. Often times the 404 Not Found error appears because the URL was typed wrong or the link that was clicked on points to the wrong URL.

3. Move up one directory level at a time in the URL until you find something. For example, if www.w.com/a/b/c.htm gave you the 404 Not Found error, move up to www.w.com/a/b/. If you get nothing here, move up to www.w.com/a/. This should lead you toward what you’re looking for or at least confirm that it’s no longer available.

4. If you move all the way up to the website’s main page, try to run a search for the information you’re looking for. If a search function isn’t available, try finding your information by using links from this page to dig deeper into the site.

5. Test the page at www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com. Just enter the webpage in this online tool and it will tell you just that – if the site is down for everyone, or if the problem is on your end somewhere.

6. Finally, if all else fails, you may want to attempt to contact the webmaster for information on where you might locate the page you’re looking for. The webmaster of most Internet sites can be reached via email at webmaster@website.com, replacing website.com with the actual website name.

Cianos

Sorry if the below sounds harsh, but if you're serious about this business then it should be said.

The site looks terrible in terms of design and aesthetic. Overall it looks old fashioned and the colours are garish. There are no signs of original design or investment in design - which communicates a rushed, cost cutting job - which communicates lack of permanency and professionalism.

The logo doesn't communicate anything and isn't harmonised with its lettering.

There are several spelling and grammatical errors throughout the site.

You're using white/grey font on a black background which nearly always looks bad, this site is no exception.

You're using American English on a .ie domain...so your local customers will question whether you actually are who you say you are.

There is no visual distinction between normal text and text containing a link.

If your service is to offer remote computer repair, then you need a much better business identity if customers are going to trust you and give you unrestricted access to their machines!

If you invest in proper design, including a proper logo it will make a much better impression on potential customers. You should also be looking at how to leverage your reach through social networking sites and so on.

As Tricky said, you're presenting a solution that most people haven't heard of, and most will be nervous about. Your site needs to influence trust and reliability.

Best of luck, I hope some of the above helps.