Refreshed and re-focussed

[Spider]

Just uploaded a refreshed and re-focussed website - would appreciate your comments and advice. There are some bits I don't think I like so much but I'll wait and see if you don't like them either or whether there are other bits that need more urgent attention.

Fire away! >> FrederickPearce.com (http://FrederickPearce.com)

TIA.

[nealrm]

In general it looks OK. It load quickly with no errors.

I would look at the compression level you are using on the photos on title images. From the amount of jpeg artifacts, I'm guessing you are using the max compression. I would scale that back to no more that 50% compression. With today's higher resolutions screens clear photos are more important.

[vangogh]

My first thought is it's an improvement over the old site. You've managed to change things in a way the lets me know I'm still in the same place. This version feels less cluttered to me (I think dropping the background has a lot to do with that) and my attention is pulled more toward the content. Overall I'd say good job.

Now for those few suggestions for improvement.

While it's ok to indent each paragraph I'd drop the indent and let everything left align. It's more the convention online and unless you have a really good reason to break that convention I'd stick with the left alignment.

The paragraph above the navigation, "A Coach for business owners..." doesn't look right to me. I don't know if centering it across the top is the best choice. It becomes a long line of text, which gets hard to read. Also it leads directly into several other lines of centered text. (The links, the heading, the sub heading) Seems like too much centering to me. I'm wondering if it would work on the right of the header image. Not sure if that's the best place, but it's a thought.

I like the quotes by famous people along the right side. Fits well with your message of helping people get the passion back.

In the menu on the left I wouldn't center the section headings. I think they'd work better being aligned to the left with the links. You're eye has to move too much to follow what's there.

I'm mixed on the background colors you used behind the mailing list sign up and the two links on the left. (Time management and Make more money) I think there are shades of orange and green that would work better, though both as they are do help make those sections stand out. They do a good job contrasting with the overall background color.

I'd make the footer wider so the edges align with the left and right edges of the sidebars above.

Again I think it's an overall improvement from what was there before.

[Spider]

Thank you guys - good points. Will consider!

[rezzy]

Those were some good points Steven.

Spider, where those the points you noticed?

I have a wide screen laptop, and I like how your page fits my screen. Alot of websites, just dont do well on my screen because its so wide.

[Spider]

I have been promising myself a better picture for a long time. Must do that! Thanks, Neal.

Indented paragraphs. I'm thinking about it, VG. I think it looks more "correct" and therefore more professional, but I agree it is quite uncommon on the web. Where is the line between being distinguished and being an odd-ball?!!

The centered line of text immediately following the header was added for SEO purposes. (a) the menu takes up a lot of code space before we come to the main body text and this line is the first a SE spider sees after the header, and (b) because this is a link to my blog, the line changes every week or so on the Home page.

I liked the idea of placing it IN the header and have been playing with that. The background is too busy to take text on top of it but a black box section to the right to take the text balances out the black to the left. I will probably introduce that. Thanks, Steve.

This simplifies the top of the page and I am wondering whether to add a Nav bar and reduce the amount of content in the left menu column. This will also remove the need for the three centred links on most pages, reducing the excessive centering at the top of the page. I am going to give that a try to see what it looks like.

Regarding screen width, Rezzy - I have a pet hate of fixed width pages that have become very common. I also have a wide screen and find it annoying that I am forced to view the world in 3 x 2 format. Neither my fonts nor my page widths are fixed, and I try to make them full screen width viewable on any screen. I'm glad you noticed the effect.

The points I have some qualms about are the crazy font title on the Home page and the shadowed font titles on other pages (which is not seen with FireFox.) And also the rather bright accent backgrounds on the "Life" and "Wealth" sections. (I don't know if anyone noticed that the site is divided into four sections with different accent colors and different title fonts for each.)

[Spider]

Okay. I moved the text in question to the header as you suggested, VG. I think it looks much better. Thanks for the idea.

That has made the top of he page under the title banner much less cluttered - perhaps it is too plain now? I shall experiment with a navbar to see if it improves things.

[rezzy]

As I have learned, space is a good thing. It better to have to much space then not enough.

[Spider]

Have been experimenting with a top navigation bar.

I had wanted to add this because I am not getting as many pageviews as I hoped. I thought the left column menu - which is virtually a site map in itself on the home page and requires scrolling - was preventing people going deeper. A sectional menu at the top, I hope will encourage visitors to explore. And now the top has been cleared of other stuff, I can do it. The question arises - should I spread the nav bar across the full width of the page, center it, or have a shorter, left-justified bar? Or, even have a nav bar at all? I think the left justified looks better, but I put it forward for the SBF experts to consider (if you would be so kind.)

The Home page - here (http://frederickpearce.com) - has the menu bar, links are operating, but only the Home and first "Life" page has the nav bar installed.

What do think?

[vangogh]

The indented paragraphs are more suggestion than anything else. Indenting them can be considered a style choice, however do understand that online most people will find it easier to read your content if you left align the paragraphs. I think it looks more correct to you from reading offline and because that was standard for a long time. Even in print now you'll find paragraphs left aligned more and more. Again though it's not an absolute. The main thing it to make sure your content is readable.

I like how the text looks in the header, especially with the read more call to action.

The Be Satisfied... image doesn't look good at the moment. The text gets pixelated. I think you could easily have that text be text instead of an image too if you're willing to accept a more common font. Just making it big and red should be enough.

The navigation looks good. I think I'd align it with the left edge of the right column instead of the left edge of the page. It would even work centered given the rest of the design. Maybe even aligned with the left edge of the paragraphs too.

If you're interested I wrote a series of posts a few months ago on basic principles of design (http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/web-design/basic-design-principles/). These aren't the only way to define basic principles, but I find if you pay attention to the 4 principles I discussed your design improves immensely. They're pretty simple things and the book I mentioned in the intro post is a good read on design basics. It's not too expensive either. I think it's under $20.

[Spider]

Thanks again. VG.

I thought about it and I'm going to leave the indented paragraphs - let's just call it "my style." I'm breaking with convention a little anyway - indented paragraphs are not normally separated with a space. Fully-justified paragraphs usually are separated with a space. I have chosen both because I think they make reading doubly easier.

I didn't realise the 'Be Satisfied...' title graphic was pixelating - it looks fine on my screen. Maybe it's my eyes! I will work on that. Actually, it is a standard font called Random. I chose the graphic instead so I could make a slight change to some very thin lines but mostly because, although standard, I thought it not very common and perhaps would not display on all computers. Thanks for drawing my attention to the problem.

I tried the nav bar in various positions and decided to leave it aligned with the edge of the page. Reason - aligning it with any of the columns seemed to "attach" it visually to the columns, which I felt was wrong. Centering would have attached it visually to the header panel but this visual attachment was stronger when I aligned it to the edge of the page.

I read the introduction of your basic principles - very informative. I'll go back and read the rest later. Thanks for posting that.

After I install the nav bar on all pages, I'll take a look at the centered sub-titles in the lefthand column

[vangogh]

Yeah, don't let me convince you not to use the indents. There's nothing wrong with. A little different than web convention, but the main thing is to make sure your content is readable.

I think with the image you want to set anti-aliasing on the text. That smooths the edges of the letters out a little. You could definitely have the text be text though and still get the same effect.

I can understand about the navigation. Again I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here.

Glad you liked the intro to the post. For the posts after it I took a haphazard design and worked each principle into it so you can see the before and after difference. The final design is hardly a beautiful one, but it's meant to show how simply applying a few basic principles can improve a design. Hope you like the rest of the posts when you have a chance to read them.

[billbenson]

Thats a good post VG.

[vangogh]

Thanks Bill. I assume you mean the design basics post. It's actually an expansion of the first post I ever wrote online.

[Spider]

Cleaned up my random font title graphic. Couldn't find a mechanical/electronic way of improving it so did it by hand - one pixel at a time! Boy! That was drag! Took a few hours but I think it looks better now.

[handprop]

Hi Spider....I think it looks nice! The cowboy hat is just cool, all you need now is a big 50 ring cigar! LOL

Something to think about.

Ya know, I had been looking at your site a few times and pondering something. Given what you do for a living testimonials should top the list for people in the decision process. I'm not 100% sure how I would approach it but what if you tried a powerfull headline big and easy to read, simple font.......in the form of a strong question that would really get peoples attention. Then hit them hard with a great "Spider solution" ??????? I'm not sure myself how to explain it but I think you could really hook people starting with testimonials then moving on to other topics for content. Testimonials are great when used correctly and I'm just thinking how you could use it to maximize effectiveness. It seems like you have great content if you could direct them in a step-by-step fashion. People like step-by-step instructions and books, why not do it on a website but using testimonials........I don't know, just an idea I guess.

I find what you do for a living interesting and just thought I would throw that at you for consideration.

Mike

[handprop]

Hey, I was just looking at your website again and went to the business link. I found the following quote Owning a business is not supposed to be punishment, it’s supposed to be fun and exciting, right?

Are you stealing my lines Spider?????? LOL:D

Mike

[Spider]

I'll pass on the cigar, Mike - don't want people to think I'm Rush Limbaugh!

Thanks for taking the time to come up with the suggestion. I am quite skeptical about testimonials. I have some and hear they are supposed to be powerful sales tools but, frankly, they don't do anything for me. I never read them - even disbelieve them, certainly disregard them - when looking at other peoples' websites and literature. They can be too easily falsified and if they have letters of praise from people, there's a good chance they have letters of complaint, too.

However, as you would no doubt say, what I think of them is immaterial, the proof of the pudding is in the eating - stats show they work. Well, my stats don't show that, but that is possibly because I have not been using them to best advantage. I have a page of testimonials (not falsified, btw) plus I have snippets of stories (also true) throughout the website. Much more than that and I would feel like it was too gushing - and that's not me.

I have not tried your idea of a single strong question followed by a super solution. I shall certainly think along those lines to see what I might come up with.

I also feel people like a step-by-step process, and I have tried to do that with my website. Each section - Business, Life and Wealth - has a separate start page and each page flows on to the next and the next and the next, and they all end at the "sign-up" page where I invite the reader to contact me.

Re: stealing your lines - Yes. The page in question has been in existence for a while and says what you encapsulated in that line. Your line was so succinct, I thought it made a better sub-heading than the one I had there previously. So, I used it. Not stole it, exactly - you are still free to use it yourself! :D I hope you didn't mind.

[handprop]

No sweat Spider, I've stolen a couple things from you anyhow!:eek:

On the subject of testimonials

I know what your saying and I can see how you can think that but........

Let's brainstorm a little and bounce a few things off each other. Given what you do for a living I really think if we could come up with something good we could really get results. I was just driving back from a meeting and while listening to Elvis I had a thought, Elvis always does that!

For starters your right, testimonials can fail but why? My theory on this is because they are overused by everybody and most consumers realize it's easy to fake it. But what if we did something a little different?

I'm thinking video. I know what your thinking but just hold up a bit.

You site gets clicked on.......first thing they see is a killer headline that pulls them in like a magnet.........the headline has an interwoven message that relates to everybody, something that's really got teeth.........They click on the video below it.....another killer headline pops up but this time it has to do with an actual example of how you changed someones life or made them a sh$$ load of loot.

The video is short but packed full of points that really strike an emotional cord with the listener. Then it's followed up by strong solutions all interwoven with the testimonial of a person you actually helped. Basically, you both are in the video, with a little editing.

If done right you only need one testimonial. After that you identify a step-by-step process that leads to another video that gets deeper into the process???????

You with me on this or did I loose you to the masses. LOL

Mike

[Spider]

It's an interesting concept. Mike. I'm ready to play ball.

[vangogh]

The thing about testimonials is they work extremely well for certain personality types. There are some people who absolutely need to know others have had success with you before they'll commit to working with you. Other personality types don't need them so much.

I think the main issue people have with testimonials is a lack of trust. Some will wonder how authentic they are. A few things you can do to prove their authenticity is use a name, an image (or video) of the person making the testimonial and/or link to their sites (if they have them). You could also provide some kind of contact info for the person. Of course the previous would need the permission of the person giving you the testimonial. I think it's fine to link to their site without asking, but I wouldn't add a picture, email address, or phone number without asking first.

You also don't have to use someone's full testimonial. You can pull out parts of it and sprinkle those parts throughout the site where they're most relevant. If someone says you respond quickly when contacted added that bit to your contact page.