Working on it ...

[CADesign]

Thanks Van, that will help me out.
Looks like my site has gone from bad to worse ...
Somehow my fonts got messed up too
Had to revert to an earlier version while I make some changes.

Thanks to all for checking it out, it really helps.

Dave

[CADesign]

I've done a bit more work on my site.
I dded some pics and repositioned the text boxes to make them more uniform. My logo still needs work, I just need to get time to work with that so it has some depth and looks more professional.
The email addresses now are linked to open your email as they should be and I added a bit of information about my drafting and design background.

The site's not finished, by a long shot, but I hope it will do the trick until I get more time to work on it.

I'm open for suggestions and you won't hurt my feelings with criticism so please fire away.

Some things that I see:

The white background in the text boxes makes it a little hard to read.
The header is stock so not very unique.
the text is a bit to long winded and may lose anyone visiting the site.
The pictures may not all go together well.
In "About Us", my test uses "I have" too many times and perhaps would read better if I used "I've" in one or two spots and get rid of the rest.
I'm aiming for a professional but warm and frendly approach since my target is local and rural.
I tried not to use CAPS too much and did use my spell checker but I always miss something.

Thanks for taking the time to revisit my site.
Link is below my signature.

Thanks,

Dave

[KristineS]

Dave,

I still see a few grammar errors, commas where they don't need to be and stuff like that. I'm also not sure your About Us text is selling you and your expertise as well as it might. If you want a little help with the text, PM me.

Also, why is the tab About Us and why is the title on that page "Our People"? You say in practically the first sentence that your business is a sole proprietorship, which will lead most people to believe you work alone. I'd change those titles.

Design is not my thing, but I will say this, the salmon colored logo paired with the gray graphic looks funny to me. It's not a great color combination.

[CADesign]

Hi KristineS,

Thanks for taking a look and pointing these things out.
It sure helps to get another perspective!

I like your suggestions and may take you up on some advice on the text.
I'll go another round with making the changes that you have suggested then send you a PM to see what we can do to improve on that.

This is a learning process for me but it's fun as well. Having an online presence may bring in an extra client or two which will make it all worthwhile in the long run.

Thanks again for your help! It's appreciated.

Edit:
I took a look at the links that you have under your signature to get some ideas.
I sure like the clean look of blogs and will dive back into WordPress one of these days to see where that takes me.
My current site is, hopefully, better than my previous site, the next should be better yet.

Dave

[vangogh]

It looks like you've already made a few changes based on Kristine's suggestions.

I agree about the colors not quite working together. I think they do when they're in different locations, for example the menu, where the salmon and gray aren't directly touching, but within the header things seem a little off. It might just be the hard edges around the logo. The images in the header seem ok, it's more the logo that looks a little funny.

Maybe getting rid of the salmon color outside the oval. If the logo just sat inside the oval it might work better. It's possible the color will still look off in the logo in which case you might want to drop the background color from it entirely and if you drop all the background color you could then use a different color for the line work of the logo.

[CADesign]

The logo is definately going to get a make over.
I've been experimenting with using the logo as a layer so that I can use it as an overlay.
This way I can just substitute backgrounds to find what works best.
Funny how little things can become such time consuming tasks.

Look at it this way Van, I'll stumble around for the next 6 months trying to get it right then end up finally getting it right by getting a professional such as yourself to make it look easy. Maybe I'll learn enough in the meantime to be able to do some maintenance or at least edit the text as the need arises.

Actually, I'm pretty happy with the look of the text boxes on the home page now.
I don't like the menu at the top and can't seem to get rid of it with the template and online program I'm using.
I think I've got too many pictures on the left maybe I'll take one out there, seems kind of distracting.

Once I make some more changes that KristineS suggested and revise the logo I think I'll concentrate on learning some WordPress basics. I like the clean looks and have been noticing sites that use WP as I surf now.

Thanks for the input, it all helps.

Dave


No one told me this was going to be easy.
If I can get the logo fixed and

[LJLynch]

Hi Dave -

Looks like a good start. I like the About Us page where you introduce yourself, but I'd put your picture there rather than a teeny, tiny picture of who knows who.

And I would certainly add a section on who your clients are with some sort of testimonials - my site has audio from a few, with more coming. And I'd certainly include pictures of them as well. If they are businesses, you want to make this a win-win - you are promoting them at the same time they promote you. If you do audio, then make sure they are positioned as being smart and successful.

[vangogh]

I like the idea of using audio (or even video) with your testimonials. Anything you can do to make the person offering the testimonial more real to your site's visitors should help legitimize the testimonial itself and lead to it carrying more weight in the minds of potential customers.