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Gabe
02-28-2013, 01:21 AM
Hey everyone. I'd love your feedback on my website, did the design and copywriting myself. I've spent a year building a service that makes websites easy for small business owners and nonprofits.

My goals:

Fill in the gap in what's currently available (i.e. web designers, DIY builders, etc.).
Make it easy to read, understand and use.
Be obvious about what we do and don't do.
Make the website easy to navigate.
Put the important stuff front and center.
Offer high end security, hosting and customer service (expensive for us, but worth it).


In a nutshell:
The service combines website design, hosting and maintenance in one package. Template designs are used to give a professional look, but without the cost. The whole platform is built on WordPress. There are no setup fees and a 90-day free trial to help business owners see results and get comfortable with a website before paying. My target market is non-tech savvy business owners and non-profits that don't have websites or want to upgrade their current website.

I plan to launch in April, so the signup page links to a waiting list. More designs and integrations are on the way.

The website: Instant Business Websites - Just Add Content (http://justaddcontent.com) (justaddcontent.com)

In addition to the website review, feel free to comment on the services, pricing, copy, marketing angle, etc. I'd love to hear your thoughts, particularly since I haven't found much to compare this to.

Thanks, I appreciate your help.
-Gabe

vangogh
03-01-2013, 01:15 AM
I do think you nailed your goals. I can't tell from looking at the site how secure sites you host will be and I think the market will determine if you filled the gap you're trying to fill, but everything else looks like you achieved what you wanted to do.

Before I even read your goals I was thinking how readable the site is and how clear it is what you do. I didn't even need the prodding to notice both.

I'm debating about the hand drawn elements. They do give the site a more personal feel, but I'm wondering if that's the right approach. I'm not sure it's right or wrong, but since the focus seems to be on business sites I wonder if less hand drawn would be better. It did come out well. Also if you do want to get across something of the personal why not make the About page more personal? Why not tell us about you instead of the business. It feels like something of a mixed message where the visual leans toward the personal, but the content does't

The text in the images that show your pricing plans is pixelated. You might want to rework them. You could also recreate those in code if you want. If you do you could add some structured data around the pricing information for search engines. Check schema.org (http://schema.org/docs/schemas.html)

The built on the same platform trusted by… is a nice touch.

I'm assuming you plan on filling up the blog with more content. I'd do that sooner rather than later. Also the one post reads like a sales page. A less sales oriented approach would work better. Write about security, but not specifically your security. Write about hosting, but not specifically your hosting.

The designs you offer look good and I'm glad to see you show live demos. When you have more designs, I'd do away with showing the same design with different colors. Show the one design and mention how easy it is to change color schemes. You could offer a drop down to change color schemes in the live demos.

Hard to know about the prices. It seems fair, though it depends on the market. I'm sure some people will think it too high, but I can see where others will find it a fair price.

Overall nice job.

Dan Furman
03-01-2013, 01:54 AM
Ridiculously good.

I love everything - the look, the feel, the message, the pinpoint presentation (which lets you get away with the informal hand-drawn stuff, which I love as well.)

Well done. Put that website in front of as many people as you can.

Gabe
03-01-2013, 03:03 AM
Thanks James, I appreciate the feedback.



I'm debating about the hand drawn elements. They do give the site a more personal feel, but I'm wondering if that's the right approach. I'm not sure it's right or wrong, but since the focus seems to be on business sites I wonder if less hand drawn would be better. It did come out well. Also if you do want to get across something of the personal why not make the About page more personal? Why not tell us about you instead of the business. It feels like something of a mixed message where the visual leans toward the personal, but the content doesn’t

I agree. Something seemed off, but I wasn’t sure what. I’ve shied away from saying much about myself because I don’t have much of a design/development background, but I’ll figure it out. Maybe I’ll get a professional headshot or something. The line between appearing professional but still being personal is blurry. I wanted to inject a bit of personality rather than being another faceless corporate about page. You’re right though, it needs to be more personal with information about me. I’ll work on it.



The text in the images that show your pricing plans is pixelated. You might want to rework them. You could also recreate those in code if you want. If you do you could add some structured data around the pricing information for search engines.

Good catch. Originally I had them in code, but I couldn’t get the CSS to do what I wanted (particularly in being responsive) so I just took a screenshot and added in the rest…I guess it shows. I’ll work on it.



I'm assuming you plan on filling up the blog with more content. I'd do that sooner rather than later. Also the one post reads like a sales page. A less sales oriented approach would work better.
Thanks for pointing this out. This is definitely one of my weak points. I have a list of about 50 topics to write about, but I might just outsource them due to time constraints. I’m horrible at writing blogs. We’ll see. I’ll work on this.

Good points on the design demos as well. I’ll work on it.



Hard to know about the prices. It seems fair, though it depends on the market. I'm sure some people will think it too high, but I can see where others will find it a fair price.

Good point. This was one of the hardest decisions. I could probably cut the price in half if I downgraded the level of hosting, security and CDN I use, but I think it’s worth it. My goal was to be able to serve customer websites faster than 80-90% of other websites, cover all sites with Securi, and have performance monitored 24/7. It looks like when I get up to around 200 customers the scale will bring down the cost, but for now I just have to eat those costs. My main concern is that my target market won’t understand the value of these things even though I did my best to explain them in laymen’s terms, so I’m not even sure how much it matters. But I do know that if there was ever an issue with security, I’d lose credibility, so I just decided to invest in it.

Anyway, thanks for the insightful feedback. I really hope this solves the pain for the 50%+ of business owners still without websites. My research and surveys say yes, but as you said, the market will tell me if it does or not.

Gabe
03-01-2013, 05:11 AM
Ridiculously good.

I love everything - the look, the feel, the message, the pinpoint presentation (which lets you get away with the informal hand-drawn stuff, which I love as well.)

Well done. Put that website in front of as many people as you can.

Thanks Dan, I really appreciate the feedback. I tell ya, the website has come a long way since the early versions 8 months ago. it improved with each iteration based on what I learned from you guys, books, podcasts, articles, etc. Hopefully it keeps getting better.

BobbyD
03-02-2013, 06:41 PM
Hi,

Things I would consider:

- adding the red text to the "Easy, affordable, hassle-free" at the top Headline, connects the subsequent 3 sections visually.

- "Make anyone a webmaster in just 30 seconds" - will your potential customer knows what a "webmaster" is?

- "What We Do" is the 3rd section of the homepage (half way down) and usually the first thing a user wants to know. I think the order of the info could change.

Just a few random thoughts, I like the layout and simplicity concept. It's a rather easy read.

Bobby

Gabe
03-02-2013, 10:17 PM
Bobby, thanks for the suggestions.

-I've been trying to think of a way to connect the elements better, but haven't found way that 'feels' right yet. I'll keep working on it.

-That's a good point. I assumed it was a common, somewhat old school term, but you're right, I should validate that assumption.

-I'll take a look at this one.

Thanks for the comments bobby, I appreciate it. I'm glad you think it's simple

BobbyD
03-02-2013, 10:29 PM
Np, indeed the layout is clean & concise works :)

vangogh
03-07-2013, 03:59 PM
Originally I had them in code, but I couldn’t get the CSS to do what I wanted (particularly in being responsive) so I just took a screenshot and added in the rest

Here you go. 30+ examples of pricing tables (http://ginva.com/2012/05/download-30-free-pricing-table-templates-design-css3-psd-wp-plugins/) just like yours in html and css. Some offer tutorials, some offer downloadable code, and some are WordPress plugins.

With the blog you have lots of topics to draw from. Business, security, hosting, design and development. You don't necessarily have to be an expert to have a good blog post. You say you're not great at design and development. So learn more and blog about what you're learning. There will be plenty of people in the same stages of learning as you who will get a lot out of it.

Most blog posts don't have to be long form content either. The amount of information you presented in your first post in this thread is more than enough. Probably not the right topic, but it's enough content. How long did it take you to write? I'm sure before the day is out you'll have some thoughts about running a business. Don't just think about them. Record them. Write them down. That's how you start blogging consistently.

KristineS
03-07-2013, 05:11 PM
Very nice. I've started to hate getting asked to review websites because I look at so many of them and just know the company that put the site up isn't going to get what they want out of it. Your site is clean and states what you do very well. Your copy is grammatically correct and reads well, which is something so many sites miss! Very well done.

Gabe
03-07-2013, 10:08 PM
Thanks James, I'll check them out. Yeah, with writing the blogging articles I just have to jump in. Maybe this weekend I'll start.

Thanks Kristine, I appreciate the compliments. I've made a good number of the changes suggested James and Bobby in this thread and I'm working on some of the others. Hopefully it keeps getting better.

vangogh
03-13-2013, 02:10 AM
Yeah, with writing the blogging articles I just have to jump in.

Make a commitment with yourself. You don't have to write a lot. Pick one day of the week to publish a post and then honor that commitment. After awhile it becomes habit and the next thing you know, you're blogging regularly.

Harold Mansfield
03-13-2013, 11:42 AM
Overall I like it, but it's missing some kind of style element. Something that I can't pinpoint. It's almost like there is too much white space..like there needs to be a border, or a subtle line break between the areas..or maybe the image of the websites needs to be above the fold? I'm not sure. It's something simple that is not bringing it all together.

Other than that, it's a nice job.

Business Attorney
03-14-2013, 01:02 AM
My only comment is that I assume that you will have more than 4 design choices. That is very limiting. You don't need hundreds but I would think somewhere around 10 would give the prospective client a sense that he is getting something fitted to his particular needs.

Gabe
03-14-2013, 04:07 AM
Thanks James, good idea about setting up a schedule.


Overall I like it, but it's missing some kind of style element. Something that I can't pinpoint. It's almost like there is too much white space..like there needs to be a border, or a subtle line break between the areas..or maybe the image of the websites needs to be above the fold? I'm not sure. It's something simple that is not bringing it all together.

Thanks Harold. I agree, I've tried a few different things, but haven't quite found "it" yet, something to tie it all together.


My only comment is that I assume that you will have more than 4 design choices. That is very limiting. You don't need hundreds but I would think somewhere around 10 would give the prospective client a sense that he is getting something fitted to his particular needs.

Thanks David, I agree with you. I've been working on a few other options but haven't had the time to finish them up yet and post them. My goal is 10-20 designs so it's a decent selection, but not overwhelming.

I appreciate the feedback guys.

vangogh
03-22-2013, 12:41 AM
Overall I like it, but it's missing some kind of style element. Something that I can't pinpoint. It's almost like there is too much white space

I don't think it's too much space. Looking at it now, I think it's more that the space isn't being used purposefully enough. Most of the content is just thrown on the screen. Instead it should be better organized within the space. If it were me I'd set up a grid and place everything on the grid. At the very least though, elements on the screen should be aligned with other elements on the screen.

When I resize my browser so it's narrower I see everything is in a single column and centered. Once the browser gets wider some elements move into 2 or 3 columns and I think the idea was to keep the row of content centered. I don't think it works though. It would be better if most of the text were left aligned and then the left edges of the text were aligned with the left edges of other text above and below. The tops or bottoms of content should be aligned horizontally too.

Look at the pricing table. The middle column is purposely pulled out of alignment so it stands out, but look how the left and right columns are aligned horizontally row by row. Look how in the left column all the text aligns on the left edge. Now look at the right column and notice how the prices are centered. They don't work as well.

I think if you spend a little time making sure everything on the page aligns to something else on the page, it'll organize everything better and pull the whole design together more.

Gabe
03-22-2013, 04:09 AM
Haha, Steve you're brilliant. It's one of those things you never notice until someone points it out. And when they do, you notice how ugly it is.

It's not perfect, but I improved the alignment a bit and changed a couple of other things. I have a long ways to go, particularly with aspects of responsive design, but does it look better? Any other glaring ugliness? Hopefully I'll have more time in the next few weeks to improve it further, but for now I'm still working on some back-end stuff including the pay system. Inch by inch.

vangogh
03-26-2013, 03:22 AM
Well it is what I do for a living so I tend to notice these things. Looking at it some more I think you're trying to do too much. You're trying to make everything stand out, but what happens is everything starts competing with everything.

Here's something I created quickly to show the top of your page, aligned a little better and toned down a bit. I think it's still too busy, but hopefully you can see how a little bit of improvement can make a difference. I don't have the font your using installed on my computer so that's also different, but not because I wanted to change it, but because I didn't have a choice.

I took a screenshot of what I created. it didn't seem to want to attach itself at a decent size here so I just uploaded it my site and you can see what it looks like here (http://www.vanseodesign.com/temp/justaddcontent/just-add-content.png)

It was just a quick attempt to align some elements, but again hopefully you get the idea.

Gabe
03-26-2013, 04:57 AM
Hey Steve. I wasn't able to access the image, but I think I know what you're talking about. I'll work on it a bit more to tone it down and work on the alignment.

vangogh
03-26-2013, 12:03 PM
Strange. The link was working last night. I clicked it just now and got a 404 page. Then I copied and pasted the exact same URL and the image displayed fine and now clicking on the link works for me again.

Give it another try. If for some reason you get the 404 page again copy the URL and try to go directly to it.

Gabe
03-28-2013, 09:31 AM
Hey Steve, I see what you mean now. I'll try to give the design work another pass when I finish up the documentation and some other items. Thanks for taking the time to throw that together for me.

vangogh
04-01-2013, 11:36 PM
No problem. I enjoy designing things so it was fun to take what you had and play around a bit.