Gavin Coates.com feedback please

[nighthawk]

Hey all,

I have re-designed my personal website to better reflect what I intend to do - freelance web development.

Any comments much appreciated, particularly on content, im still not sure if I am happy with it, particularly on the landing page - perhaps there is too much text, would summarising it a bit help?

Anyway, let me know what you think.

[cbscreative]

I didn't go very far to comment too much, but one thing struck me right away. Too many I's. Your content should focus on what the client should expect, how it will benefit them, and why they should choose you. Get client focused and you will do much better.

[vangogh]

The design isn't anything special, but it is professional looking and it's not like there's anything wrong with it. The site has definitely been developed well. Very quick loading. A few little details in the design could improve it. Pull a color from the header image to use as the color of your page headings. Use another color in an image for the bulleted lists. Overall it's a nice simple design that could use some finer touches

I know where Steve is coming from with the focus on "I" though I did read through all your pages and thought it read well. Certainly the "I" is fine on your About page. In this case your Home page is serving as a work related About page. I think it actually works. If you could mix in more "You" it might be better, but to me it reads well as is. In general you do want the focus on your visitor and not you. Here it read well for me, but I agree with Steve about taking the emphasis off yourself.

You should get the portfolio up soon. I know it's coming, but if a month from now it's still coming you'd be better to remove the link to it until it's there. I'd say remove the link now and then when the page is ready add the link back. The 'coming soon' message doesn't add anything and if left to long it says you may not finish what you started if I hire you.

On your Services page I would flip the order of the Services and Technologies. The technologies information is extra information. Most clients probably won't care. Your client wants an intranet and most won't care if you code it using php or asp. They just want it built. Nothing wrong with the info, but emphasize what the client gets and not what your skills are.

That last bit goes to what Steve was talking about above. Clients will want to know what's in it for them. Even with your services it's just a list of some of the things you can do. Lots of people can do those things. Why should someone hire you? What's the benefit to me of having an intranet in the first place and assuming I do want one, again why should I specifically hire you to build it.

Think benefits over features and think of what the client really wants to know. Put the focus on the client in your copy.

[rezzy]

The privacy policy link on the bottom is broken.

What is your target audience? Depending on who you are marketing to you may want to incorporate those skills you mentioned having.

I think adding some ajax animations/effects would be a nice touch. As it is now, the site looks kinda dry. Looking through the code, I see some descision that speak SEO problems to me. For instance, you main navigation is off an image link. Try changing this to CSS and adding a hover effect, or a nice ajax fading effect.