feedback, help, our new website almost finished
Discussion
Not bad, a bit "my first business website" though. That's your choice I guess. Technically though:
1. No ALT tags on the link button images. Not screen-reader friendly for blind users, may fall foul of the DDA
2. Drop-down menus don't work in Firefox.
3. Code looks horrid. Why all the blank lines at the top and all over the home page? Not very search engine friendly and wastes bandwidth. Not much, but not good practise. Too much reliance on meta tags for SEO.
4. Why does the home page title have all the "....." at the end? Ugly.
5. This text: "To give you a better insight into who we are and how we can be of assistance to you, please follow the links at the top of the page."
Not great. Say on your home page exactly what you do as clearly as you can. Maybe use bullet points, graphics, anything to be clearer. Better for people AND search engines. As a web user I won't read lots of text usually.
6. Basic SEO (but I admit I'm out of date). Your home page text should get your keywords in as early as possible. You have some in the ALT tag on your web address image (although WHY you have this there I have no idea - get your phone number in there instead IMHO) but others will be better and therefore get up higher in the search rankings. Get a blog on the site, update the content regularly.
7. Improve your text. You say "Welcome" twice. This text is (IMHO again) too fancy/indirect/obscured/self deprecating:
"This site will, we hope, provide you with all the information that you may need on our companies - whether you are looking for a storage facility, removal company, packing materials retailer....or maybe even all of these!
With our highly experienced team on hand during opening hours, we feel that we can handle any enquiry with the speed and professionalism on which we pride ourselves.
Our three companies work side by side, with M&G Transport taking care of local and international removals and Solihull and Redditch Storage providing the best in self access facilities to both domestic and commercial sectors."
It should (all IMHO) also be three logos with the functions next to them, not with the logos split out at the top and tedious text descriptions. Text could be, for example:
"Our three sister companies can meet all you storage, removal and packing materials needs, call:
- M&G Transport for local and international removals
- Solihull Storage for self access storage in the Solihull area (link to map)
- Redditch Storage for self access storage in the Redditch area (link to map)
If you need a more than one service call our specialist sales team on 000-00000 or email <link>"
8. WHY DO YOU HAVE THREE COMPANIES ON ONE WEBSITE? Sorry to shout, but why? It's confusing, you could end up giving customers the right run around. Have one number, one email, one website. Or three websites and link between them (also good for SEO).
9. If it's your personal business, get a picture of you. Get rid of "the team" (but do include a page about your employees, it makes them feel good) and have YOUR name there. And your phone number if you're brave.
I need a coffee now, PM me if you need more.
1. No ALT tags on the link button images. Not screen-reader friendly for blind users, may fall foul of the DDA
2. Drop-down menus don't work in Firefox.
3. Code looks horrid. Why all the blank lines at the top and all over the home page? Not very search engine friendly and wastes bandwidth. Not much, but not good practise. Too much reliance on meta tags for SEO.
4. Why does the home page title have all the "....." at the end? Ugly.
5. This text: "To give you a better insight into who we are and how we can be of assistance to you, please follow the links at the top of the page."
Not great. Say on your home page exactly what you do as clearly as you can. Maybe use bullet points, graphics, anything to be clearer. Better for people AND search engines. As a web user I won't read lots of text usually.
6. Basic SEO (but I admit I'm out of date). Your home page text should get your keywords in as early as possible. You have some in the ALT tag on your web address image (although WHY you have this there I have no idea - get your phone number in there instead IMHO) but others will be better and therefore get up higher in the search rankings. Get a blog on the site, update the content regularly.
7. Improve your text. You say "Welcome" twice. This text is (IMHO again) too fancy/indirect/obscured/self deprecating:
"This site will, we hope, provide you with all the information that you may need on our companies - whether you are looking for a storage facility, removal company, packing materials retailer....or maybe even all of these!
With our highly experienced team on hand during opening hours, we feel that we can handle any enquiry with the speed and professionalism on which we pride ourselves.
Our three companies work side by side, with M&G Transport taking care of local and international removals and Solihull and Redditch Storage providing the best in self access facilities to both domestic and commercial sectors."
It should (all IMHO) also be three logos with the functions next to them, not with the logos split out at the top and tedious text descriptions. Text could be, for example:
"Our three sister companies can meet all you storage, removal and packing materials needs, call:
- M&G Transport for local and international removals
- Solihull Storage for self access storage in the Solihull area (link to map)
- Redditch Storage for self access storage in the Redditch area (link to map)
If you need a more than one service call our specialist sales team on 000-00000 or email <link>"
8. WHY DO YOU HAVE THREE COMPANIES ON ONE WEBSITE? Sorry to shout, but why? It's confusing, you could end up giving customers the right run around. Have one number, one email, one website. Or three websites and link between them (also good for SEO).
9. If it's your personal business, get a picture of you. Get rid of "the team" (but do include a page about your employees, it makes them feel good) and have YOUR name there. And your phone number if you're brave.
I need a coffee now, PM me if you need more.
on some longer pages (eg http://www.moversandstorers.co.uk/mandgtransport.c... the background image/gradient stops.
it needs to be a seamless repeating tile or done it bit more cleverly (like blue as the page bg then a darker gradient fixed to the page bottom) - you web dev will know what i mean.
it needs to be a seamless repeating tile or done it bit more cleverly (like blue as the page bg then a darker gradient fixed to the page bottom) - you web dev will know what i mean.
The look and feel is ok.
However the HTML code and Java Script is terrible.
If you paid for this ask them to recode it so it's a lot cleaner.
It's been done in Dreamweaver which at the end of the day my granny could do it in.
(dreamweaver used by wannebie web developers)
The site wont do very well in the search engine because of the quality of coding.
Sorry for being harsh but its your business and you need stright advice
However the HTML code and Java Script is terrible.
If you paid for this ask them to recode it so it's a lot cleaner.
It's been done in Dreamweaver which at the end of the day my granny could do it in.
(dreamweaver used by wannebie web developers)
The site wont do very well in the search engine because of the quality of coding.
Sorry for being harsh but its your business and you need stright advice
Seems much calmer today. Better for it too, IMO.
The other thing I noticed was that now you have the "alt text" suggested by someone previously on this thread, the "alt text" now appears in a baloon on top of the menus, which is mildly frustrating.
TBH this is always going to be a compromise between accessibility for screen readers and search engines, and viewing/operational convenience for people using the menus.
I'd like to suggest a third way, but I'm not sure what could give you the best of both worlds for minimal additional effort.
The other thing I noticed was that now you have the "alt text" suggested by someone previously on this thread, the "alt text" now appears in a baloon on top of the menus, which is mildly frustrating.
TBH this is always going to be a compromise between accessibility for screen readers and search engines, and viewing/operational convenience for people using the menus.
I'd like to suggest a third way, but I'm not sure what could give you the best of both worlds for minimal additional effort.
Edited by dilbert on Friday 12th December 19:28
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