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nlconsulting
05-18-2011, 09:48 PM
Hello everyone,

I was hoping to get some comments, criticisms, advice, etc. about my first website. I feel the wording may need some help and I am having some issues with a confirmation pop-up on my contact form. Anything offered is appreciated.

NL-Consulting (http://www.nl-consulting.com)

I want everything to be professional but casual at the same time. I want it to feel like I'm a person trying to do business with other people so I hate generic phrases and wording that sound business typical.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Nathan

KristineS
05-19-2011, 12:40 PM
I'm sure our web design experts will comment on the physical design, so I'll stick to what I know, which is the words.

Your home page text feels a little nebulous to me. I feel like there isn't really anything that I can stick a pin in and say that's why I'd want to work with this guy, or that's a benefit that my business can use. Your home page is most likely the first page that people will see on your site, so it's got to sell you. It doesn't have to be a hard sell, but it needs to have some sort of hook that will lead people deeper into the site. Right now, it doesn't feel like that's there.

Your services page, on the other hand, does give some tangible benefits and explains a bit about how you can help a business that works with you. If I'm a business owner, this is the stuff I want to see first. What can you do for me, and what can I get out of it?

I also don't see any text that address the issue of price. Do you have an menu of prices for different services? Do you price each job individually because each job is different? Do you offer package deals? All that needs to be addressed somewhere on the site, even if it's just to say that every job is different so every price is different. People need to know how that will be handled up front.

I'm not sure what the theory is with the article links because those lead people away from your site. The only way I would have article links that prominent is if I wrote the article or my business were mentioned in the article. If you just want to include helpful articles for people to read, I'd make a links page and put it at the end of your top navigation menu. There's no reason to offer people a chance to leave your site to go to someone else's site unless it benefits you directly. An article you wrote or that mentions you is a benefit for you. A random informative article doesn't help you as much.

Anyway, these are a few first thoughts. I hope you find them helpful.

nlconsulting
05-20-2011, 10:38 AM
Thanks for the feedback. I originally had the services as a home page actually but changed it at one point during the build. I think I can reword things on the home page to include a list of what I offer and a direct link into the services page for more info.

The articles will eventually be written by me and I wanted to keep them visible for when I get to that point. Until then I think I would like to keep them up even if it leads away from the site. My main selling point is actually that its not about me, its about whats best for the business even if that means them going somewhere else to get something that I can't handle.

As for pricing, yes, its going to be different per job. I will attempt to make that more prominent on the home page so that it is addressed early on.

Thanks again for the feedback so far. It was really helpful. I've got some work to do today =)

Spider
05-20-2011, 11:03 AM
Unless you are planning only to do busines with young people with 20/20 eyesight, I suggest a larger font. I would also like to have had some air to breath - the text is nicely spaced but the lack of space between the columns made me feel cramped and pressured (something I think were trying to avoid.)

The grandiose nature of some of your wording does not fit into the 'casual' category, and I felt there was too much 'I' and not enough 'you,' although I did not count them. I spotted one spelling error - acheieved.

The home page looked very business-like (again, not casual) but I was impressed. Do you think the blue coloring added to the official look? Would a more casual color serve you better?

nlconsulting
05-20-2011, 04:20 PM
Thanks Spider,

Spacing is an easy fix so I will work on that with a next revision as well. I think in terms of the "I" vs. "you" I'm going to be rewriting a substantial amount of the homepage to drive my selling points and focus on what I can do for other people instead of pushing what I want to do.

The color scheme I am a fan of. I studied art for a number of years and so I feel the blues are both calming and professional. I do want there to be a strong degree of personableness to the site but at the same time I have to maintain a degree of professionalism if I want to attract other business owners.

Thanks again for the help so far. It's all very appreciated. I will update this weekend and try to get more feedback on Monday.

tylerhutchinson
05-20-2011, 05:23 PM
I think it is a good basic site. I am in the process of getting my first site up as well in the same industry. Here are my thoughts:

Home page has a little too much on it and it is not clear on the main page what the company does. Also, it is not very eye catching or flashy.

Your about me is very vague and there really isn't much to prove your credibility. The thing with consulting is that you are trying to sell yourself. You site is very basic and does not give very many details on why someone should hire you over the thousands of other consultants.

I am not saying my site is great either. Take a look how I set mine up. Very basic (and not completely finished). My about me and services are broken down into a lot of detail and set in different pages (this also helps in getting better SEO). My main page is very basic and has flashier pictures with the different services.

I think it is a great site. Just add more info to it and get it to stand out a bit more.

Hope this helps. : )

nlconsulting
05-25-2011, 11:43 PM
Updated home page with current suggestions. I am also enlisting the help of a web design friend of mine to tweak the Contact and help me get some other pages off the ground. Thanks for the input so far.

Re-linked for those new to the thread: NL Consulting (http://www.nl-consulting.com)