Feedback requested

rgbartlett · #1 (**permalink**) 04-07-2008, 08:01

Hi,

I'm a relative newbie to A1, and having run my website for a couple of months now in it's current iteration I wanted to see how users perceive it. It's a template based site and being an in-house job it's probably not particularly great, but I think it's appropriate to my current budget! Please take a look at http://www.rgbartlett.co.uk and let me know what you think.

In particular I'm looking for;

Feedback from the SEO experts on relevance of copy, keyword scores, META descriptions etc.
Feedback from the designers on layout/colour
Feedback from everyone on 'would you?' (the most important question!)

Many thanks,

Richard

Greg Findley · #2 (**permalink**) 04-07-2008, 09:08

Hi Richard,

Some feedback for 2....
From a very quick look over I like the look of the site, and the overall design.

I would however try and pick out a few headlines/titles or the menu in the logo/background blue to try and tie it all together a bit more. I would also look splitting this image...

http://www.rgbartlett.co.uk/images/homepage07.jpg

Into two, so on the left side a gif as more suitable for the text, and on the right a jpg for the image. Also with regards to that image I think its a bit too light/subtle, makes it hard to work out that its an image of a globe with your logo on? next to Africa?

Perhaps you could think about a more relevant image of something IT related and your logo on? I know its probably been a bit overdone, but a key from a keyboard with your logo on would have an instant association with your services.

Hope that helps in someway,
Greg

RedEvo · #3 (**permalink**) 04-07-2008, 13:28

You could run through this basic SEO check list.

d

Mike · #4 (**permalink**) 04-07-2008, 13:48

superb list there redevo!

so simple....

Peter W · #5 (**permalink**) 04-07-2008, 19:09

Hi Richard

That's a very nice looking site.

In addition to the basic SEO checklist, I only have 2 suggestions:

Your logo in the top left corner should always be a link back to your home page.

Having only one testimonial looks a bit odd. Until you have 3 or more, I would temporarily drop this page.

admagic · #6 (**permalink**) 04-07-2008, 20:24

Two or three thoughts....

Maybe Im an old fogy but I found the text too small....and hard to read...

On the seo front, I would lose your name from the title tags in favour of your location, and some of what you do, you certainly want to try to rank for "IT services st neots" and "computer security cambridgeshire" or whatever.

Take a sneak peak at one of alvins sites, and you will see he lists lot of combinations of keywords at the bottom of the page.....

On the conversion front ...starting with "you" is subsidiiary to "why this"

And give a a list of benefits eg ".. one of the user benefits of a small rather than big company is eg "the buck stops here!" if you take us on, you have my number and my permission to call it 24/7 if you are in trouble" ...even we promise to turn up on time can help!

So start with a ticked checklist of what you do, and your benefits. (eg take a look at indizines site as an example)

And the advice I give to every one, give them a reason to sign up...
eg

How secure is your IT! take this quiz to find out...get them to answer no more than 10 multiple choice questions, then ask for an email address to send the report!!

Or simply a download guide....
"Do you make these deadly mistakes with security" or
"Five ways to speed up your system - without spending another penny"
....
And offer to do a free security audit to one company each week, that signs up for the guide (so you can cherry pick, and the half hour audit is your way in to critiqye the system)

rgbartlett · #7 (**permalink**) 06-07-2008, 11:31

Thanks all! Some of the things mentioned (logo on the top left) are ones I've already noted and wanted to do, the logo one is an issue as it's a DIV tag with a background url specified, and there's no text on it. I'm going to remove the background image part of the CSS and actually put the image in with an IMG tag so I can put a link on it.

Particular thanks to admagic, some very useful pointers there! I noted (from Clicky, love the Spy page

) that a few people looked but didn't appear to comment, I'll assume that's a good thing

Louise · #8 (**permalink**) 06-07-2008, 12:01

Hi Richard

I'm not a designer or SEO expert, so I guess that makes me number 3 on your list?

In which case, my response would be I really like the overall design and layout of your site BUT it looks far too grey and serious (personally, if I was looking for an IT company, I'd be espcially drawn to a more vibrant looking site as I'd - rightly or wrongly - assume that such a company would be able to explain their service/recommendations/actions etc., in non-geek speak to me (this would be top of my list of wants if I was employing such a company).

For me, your site looks far too monochrome and serious (i.e. connotations of big company targetting equally large companies). Considering your 'about' page details that you 'are' the business and therefore your clients are actually employing you as opposed to a faceless computer geek in a big company, I'd really want to see a more colourful, fun site which conveys more of your own personality.

Second point would be that admagic's advice is spot-on and I'd especially agree that you need a list of services/benefits to immediately stop someone like me pressing the back button (I had to click your services page to find out what you do as it's not at all obvious from your homepage - the 'thing' that most jumps out on your homepage is your name 'RG Bartlett IT services Ltd' but IT services to someone like me could mean anything really, couldn't it? I certainly wouldn't know it would encompass review, buying, installation & training. To be honest, I'd just think 'IT support', which is actually at the bottom of your list of services.

Finally, considering your testimonials page is the third link in a list of just 5 pages, I'd expect to see much more on here, to be honest. Maybe a case studies page from a range of different-sized client businesses would be more helpful in communicating what you do and how you do it.

Just read that back and it sounds quite negative, which I didn't mean it to be. I do like your site a lot - I especially like how easy it is to navigate to all the information from your homepage (without your homepage being too cluttered), but seeing as you've had such top advice from the experts here, I thought I'd give you some feedback from an ordinary browser. Hope it helps

Louise

rgbartlett · #9 (**permalink**) 06-07-2008, 16:20

Spot on Louise, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for (the third person on the list). No offense taken, it will all help. Will probably leave the site as is for now, but once the next contract has been won invest in an actual designer (of which there are several on here).

rgbartlett · #10 (**permalink**) 07-07-2008, 11:01

Changed my mind, I will actually be looking to make some improvements now, a lot of the feedback (now I've reviewed it all at once) can be acted on now, and the rest I can start brainstorming on for when I do look at a total redesign. Good feedback all in all though, forces me to think about marketing generally and how my services are presented. I also need to push a couple of people for the testimonias I'm owed!

Edit: Oh, the grey and serious bit is fine though, it reflects my personality