It's not perfect yet but what do you think??

[AboveParr]

My new website is pretty much finished - any comments welcome

www.aboveparr.co.uk

Please be nice to Minky though - he's a bit shy...

[Entro]

I like that template and for me it works: something a bit novel yet with some meaty content.
I think you should play less on the 'do you care' and actually list the services to give a clearer idea; in the words of a web guru "Don't make me think".
I'm not sure if you haven't overdone Minky. It's a bit cute for a business service so might be toned down. However, and conversely, if you do use him, use him boldly, have him in the header, part of your branding. Having a photo of an old fave toy is not really enough to people who have no idea about his endless charm.
There are one or two pics you can get off Microsoft's free library, or you could search one out, but a cartoon might be a stronger icon.

[GRD Credit]

Hi Sara

I come to this as a 'user' than a web guru but I like the look of the actual site

Couple of niggles.

When somebody says something along the lines of 'our knowledge of English is second to not many' it is probably just me but I start looking for spelling mistakes and grammer errors. There are some on the home page e.g.

Our long-term business aim is you make your business so successful that that we make ourselves “redundant” eventually.

We will work alongside you and help you with whatever your business need to grow,

To be fair I know you said it wasn't finished!

I have to confess also that having view the home page I don't actually have any idea what you do! It is only by looking further that you mention the VA services

Finally and please bear in mind that on another forum I contribute to my user name is 'Grumpy Old Man' I really really hate (is that strong enough!) when people have to tell me what a great sense of humour they have! If that monkey came up and said hello to me ever I would ...... something!

But that last one might just be me!



Geoff

[alexhughes]

I agree with entro it's abit too "child like" for a business service. I think this is due to the colour scheme, so I would tone it down a tad.

Also am kind of confused by your code, it begun using divs then jumped to tables. Also I would always try to put all javascript in external files just to keep your code clean for easier future updating.

Nice to see more using wordpress tho It is a great system to run on.

[Indizine]

I like the red and black top bit but below that it goes wrong as far as colour goes.

Can you add a bit more info about what you want from the review?

[custardfish]

The main problem for me is that you've specified 'Futura' as the 1st font in the font-stack. Most visitors won't have Futura installed but I have and its REALLY hard to read, especially the bold text! Terrible in fact.

If you really want it in there I'd keep it for the larger text - headers etc.

Basically its hard to read small. A lot (most?) 'extra' fonts aren't designed for on-screen readability at all but for print.

As Helvetica, Arial its fine - oh also put 'Sans-serif;' at the end of the font stack too - just in case.

[AboveParr]

Hi Sara
Finally and please bear in mind that on another forum I contribute to my user name is 'Grumpy Old Man' I really really hate (is that strong enough!) when people have to tell me what a great sense of humour they have! If that monkey came up and said hello to me ever I would ...... something!

But that last one might just be me!



Geoff

And I thought ALL Credit Control bods were nice people that must just be me then!

To be fair I'm not convinced about the sense of humour line, but I needed to let some people know that is is supposed to be a bit tongue in cheek - I have had someone on another forum take Minky quite seriously...

[AboveParr]

Also am kind of confused by your code, it begun using divs then jumped to tables. Also I would always try to put all javascript in external files just to keep your code clean for easier future updating.

Nice to see more using wordpress tho It is a great system to run on.

I'm sorry I have no idea what you're talking about I'll tell hubby that one...

I was really unsure about using Wordpress and thought it would produce a really tacky site, but I must admit it's been really easy to use for a non-teccy like me! (and hopefully it's not that tacky - except the colours)

I'm not entirely sure about some of colours and will change them as soon as I can find something I like better.

I've sorted out the font (well, hubby has) so that should be OK now.

As far as what I'd like from a review...
What info would you want to know if you'd already met me (and Minky) briefly and wanted to have a sneaky peak before you called me?
Would you just think I was barking mad or would you see the humour (ahem) in it? I feel very strongly about working with people that I can get on with and my humour is a little odd at times, but for people to commit to using me without knowing that is, I think, unfair on them!
BUT does it also get over the determined professionalism I have? Hopefully the blog posts in particular will portray this as time goes on.

I know it's difficult to "get" the Minky thing without seeing him in action. He started off as a BNI prop one morning when I had to take something in a rush so basically grabbed the first toy that came to hand. By the time I got there he was a client, with problems that my services could solve - he became such a hit within the group that he started getting mentioned all over the area - and grown men still ask how he is...

Maybe he should make a video???

[LOS Design UK]

Hi Sara

Had a quick peek so here are my initial thoughts...

1. I like the layout and colour scheme works OK IMHO
2. What is Minky all about? Tongue in cheek or not, it smacks of home worker trying too hard. I would not feel confident as a pro looking for a professional service. JMTC
3. Your tags need some work. Replace Above Parr PA Services in the title with one of your keyphrases coming first. Will help your SEO
4. Your tag line of virtually everything done for you is too generic. Add your main service/keyphrase in here, again, an seo improvement
5. Your landing page needs to be hardened off. Who is your target market, why would they want to use your services, what is you main aim? Enquiry, order, newsletter?

Hope you can gleam something from my two cents.

When I get chance, I may well dig deeper. As stated, the WP theme is goer for me.

Well done so far.

Regards

[AboveParr]

Thank you all for your comments - I have made some changes based on them...

In terms of the colour scheme - I'm still not sure. People seem to love it or hate it with no middle ground, so it might change over the next month or so...

LOS - your "home worker trying too hard" comment is really interesting and I'll definitely keep an eye on that one, partly because it's not the case - I have an office and staff! My clients tend to be small, often startup businesses who need practical help from someone happy to answer their "daft" questions.

I've added some content to try and convey this better but if that image continues I might have to start again from scratch...

My target for the site is to give information, most likely to people that I have met at networking events or similar (or whose curiosity gets the better of them following a forum post) - hopefully they will already have an idea of my personality from that and will have decided that I am, in fact, totally professional about work and yet approachable enough to well, approach I guess!

Minky has also made his first appearance in the blog, so hopefully things will start to take shape?