Reviewing websites

[Petnanny]

I normally stay away from this section of the forum, since I do not feel really qualified to offer an opinion.

For example, I love a bit of flash and music, yet I am told that its a waste of time and not google friendly.

I love ease of use. Hate having to spend ages looking for right buttons to press, makes me head for the exit button.

I love the colour red, yet I'm told again that this is not good.

In short, what makes for a good website?

[Indizine]

There is no such thing as a good website where one answer fits all. The front end design, the content and the functionality should be geared towards the subject matter. If you are DIYing it, it's always going to be trial and error whilst you research, read up on stuff and practice on what works and what doesn't.

[sally]

I am certainly not qualified to do website reviews Petnanny but I am a consumer and there is no such thing as bad feedback in my book.

You said you don't like sites you have to search for the right buttons to press, so if you look at someones site and can't navigate it isn't that useful feedback for them?

[Petnanny]

I am certainly not qualified to do website reviews Petnanny but I am a consumer and there is no such thing as bad feedback in my book.

You said you don't like sites you have to search for the right buttons to press, so if you look at someones site and can't navigate it isn't that useful feedback for them?

Good point.

I have received great feedback on my website, old and new and think its a really important part of the forum. I have always steered clear of it however, since I didn't think my comments count.

Perhaps I should offer some input, but stress that it is from a real Jo Bloggs

[sally]

Go for it, it's Jo Blogg's like us that use these websites so may as well have our opinions .. like it not lol.

I actually think it's really important to get as much feedback as possible, there is nothing worse than people clicking aeway from your site and you have no idea why because you are too close to see the wood from the trees.

[Entro]

I think the Jo Blogg reviews are of more use than the webbyfella reviews quite often. The knowledge a J Blogg can pick up on a forum, critically combined with being able to actually see the wood for the trees gives an insight as to how the majority of customers might see the site.

As an example, grey text on white might look great on a designer's high contrast 28 inch Mac monitor but be a little hard to read on my 17 inch Acer monitor from Dabs in 2007, (extra dust coating, free).

[Indizine]

I have moved this thread over to web design as it's not Nina actually asking for a website review, it's discussion around web design itself.

[d30web]

Indizine hit the nail on the head your site has to be geared towards the user but then again you have to bear in mind that for you to get more users you must appear in the search engines hence the site has to be search engine friendly and the list of factors to considers goes on on.

[custardfish]

SEO vs Visitors? There's a happy medium which has to be met.

I have to say most clients these days understand (or have heard) about the need for SEO. Pretty much every enquiry we get has 'needs SEO' in it somewhere.

But there is still a lack of understanding as to what it really means or how much important it is to build a website that has the right structure, *content* and design to convert visitors into customers.

For me there is way to much emphasis on 'SEO' as though its the holy grail.

You need to be looking at bounce rates, time on site etc and ultimately conversions - which have nothing to do with SEO. High traffic just for the sake of it is pointless. (Although I'm not turning down -quality- traffic!)

Maybe its just me, but if I'm looking for a service I'll usually open up ALL of the top10 ranking sites. And I think with Tabbed browsing now the norm, and as users understand it better you'll find this is more and more the case. ie Where it's quick, easy and pretty instant to 'shop around' your search etc.

Once I have the 10 tabs open it's the design & content that sways me, not how well they optimised their H1 or ALT tags for my keywords etc.

[nickora]

You should check out chinese sites, their all over the place, have flashing images and rolling text all over the place and really like it like that.