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Critique my website

visual800

visual800

Active Member
BAM!!!!! could it be any larger? The one thing that jumped out at me was you had no borders around the site, it was just too damn big for my liking. filled up my 27" screen from side to side, sorta distracting
 
Dennis422

Dennis422

New Member
Find the script for the galeries. I hate when you click to see the image open up in a different window/tab.

Also, for some reason, you font choice in "Signs & Graphics" is just bothering me. It is just too big and it missing something (BTW, I hate when I need to choose a font when working on a design)

I would completely connect "E" and "Z" in your logo. That little notch is just catching my eye.
 
peavey123

peavey123

New Member
Why critique it 3 years after it was made? This feels like a troll, but I'll bite.

-I would like to see a single column layout here with map at the bottom with your contact info. Not a static 100% width. Float your elements so that your website scales and adjusts to browser size.
-Give some life to your links. Have them change colour when you mouse-over.
-Look into webfonts. Get yourself a nice font. It's not the early 2000's anymore you don't have to use Times or Arial.
- I don't think you need links to everything you've done on the web. but whatevs.
- You could use PHP and split your page up. To header, body and footer. This way your page won't re-load when you click on something bringing the user to the top of your page everytime.
-or you could get a HTML template all set-up for all devices, includes fonts, scripts everything. That's what I'd do. Especially if it's taken you 3 years to get this far.

Lots to do man.
 
J

jen.reelez

New Member
Hi visualeyez :cool:

I think you need to ask assistance from the nearest web designer/developer,
too much details to discuss and change..
I'll be practical, for a faster modification of your website.

And may all be well for your website.
We'll be waiting for the update. :Big Laugh
 
artbot

artbot

New Member
it's not very good. the photography is bad. at least color correct them. the temp is off on all of them, exposure too. and it lacks a dynamic happy "do business with me!" feeling. lose the black, lose the map. put a great (i mean professional) photo of you are your crew from a boom angle or something. the photo of your shop looks post-rainstorm with dead vines on the left. it's really drab.
 
V

visualeyez

New Member
I'm not trying to be traditional here. We make signs, and upsell to as large as possible. Why would I use a 18x24 corex for my header when a billboard costs the same?

I use Handel Sans for "Signs & Graphics" ALL CAPS because nobody else does and I like it. I own the Adobe Font-Folio as well as 3,000 other fonts and chose this one with nobody breathing down my neck. Haters gotta Hate...

I used Arial on the website, with no CSS because it works very well, and 9/10 people cannot differentiate it from the almighty Helvetica, and 8/10 people don't even know what a font is. So as far as SEO goes, keep the font-snobbery away please. My target market is not other Graphic Designers, it's Joe Schmoes White Van New Business.

As far as the links page goes, you might want to take a look into the SEO benefits of "back-linking". All those stupid links improve the credibility of your site, which is more heavily weighted than meta tags for page ranking. Also note the descriptive "alt" tags on every single image. Much more important than the font they are displayed in.

And as far as page margins go, I would love to glean some of the knowledge you speak of. In the era of smartphones, tablets, and everything else; I can either "pinch-zoom" or "CTRL + Scroll Wheel" and re-define any Page Margin to my screen in seconds. Go ahead and waste your time on that "antiquated" design element.

If you are still reading, darn right it took up your whole screen. The site is a static 1400px wide. Any HD screen will have 1920px to work with. If 1400px took up your whole 27" screen, you probably have it set to HD Zoom or some other BS because I actually set my screen margins for HD devices that are running normally, and still have 260px of negative space per side.

Thanks for the TYPO comment however, that was helpful. Everybody else, Stay Lame. (haha, j/k, thanks).
 
Tim Aucoin

Tim Aucoin

New Member
"Critique my website"...
"Oh, but don't tell me that anything is wrong with it, otherwise I'll just defend any constructive criticism comment you make, because I actually (think I) know what I'm doing. I'm just asking you to critique it to drive more traffic to it!!" :banghead::banghead:
 
Last edited:
peavey123

peavey123

New Member
Did you really want a critique? or just argue with us on why your site works for you.

You basically put down your potential customers by saying they won't know the difference. Guess what, they do. Every other site they go to is clean, easy to navigate and read doesn't contain Arial and Times. lol

Also, I'm no SEO master but back-linking doesn't have the weight it used to have and you gotta do it right. Content is king now not links to a directory. You have 90% crap links to your whoisdomain, yellowpages and other directory sites. I saw one legit article. No value to your customer. Pretty sure that's considered a link scheme and a violation of google's policy. FYI Also, looks weird to your customer. IMO.

Here from google webmaster page.

"Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.

The following are examples of link schemes which can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results:



  • Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link
  • Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking
  • Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links
  • Using automated programs or services to create links to your site
Additionally, creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines. Here are a few common examples of unnatural links that may violate our guidelines:



  • Text advertisements that pass PageRank
  • Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass PageRank
  • Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites. For example:
    There are many wedding rings on the market. If you want to have a wedding, you will have to pick the best ring. You will also need to buy flowers and a wedding dress.
  • Low-quality directory or bookmark site links
  • Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites, for example:
    Visitors to this page: 1,472
    car insurance
  • Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites
  • Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature, for example:
    Thanks, that’s great info!
    - Paul
    paul’s pizza san diego pizza best pizza san diego    "
 
Dennis422

Dennis422

New Member
Backlinking.

Links to your site........ GOOD > YES

Links from your site........ GOOD > Does not matter much for rankings
 
SignManiac

SignManiac

New Member
I too was actually going to make some suggestions but after reading your defensive reply I'll just cut to the chase and say it sucks.
 
Kentucky Wraps

Kentucky Wraps

Kentucky Wraps
Additional "critique"

"My target market is not other Graphic Designers, it's Joe Schmoes White Van New Business."

So...Joe Schmoes don't care about design? (lame)
Also, your site is very "square" feeling. (boring)
You should put time into making "buttons" for customers to click rather than just the text. (lame)
Your photo gallery for flags, stickers, printing etc have no thumbnails. (lame)
The galleries that do have huge thumbnails open a whole other page when you click (annoying)
 
DesireeM

DesireeM

New Member
Obviously...

Step 1: Hire a graphic designer.
Step 2: Hire a programmer.

...Because you are obviously skilled at neither.(haha, j/k, thanks)
 
D&Tgraphics

D&Tgraphics

New Member
Wow. What a response. Why even ask for a critique if you think that you rule? I just posted a website critique earlier this week and had a bunch of "critiques" given. I took them, made some changes, said thank you and moved on. Don't be an a$$hat.
 
C

CanuckSigns

Active Member
visualeyez said:
I'm not trying to be traditional here. We make signs, and upsell to as large as possible. Why would I use a 18x24 corex for my header when a billboard costs the same?

I use Handel Sans for "Signs & Graphics" ALL CAPS because nobody else does and I like it. I own the Adobe Font-Folio as well as 3,000 other fonts and chose this one with nobody breathing down my neck. Haters gotta Hate...

I used Arial on the website, with no CSS because it works very well, and 9/10 people cannot differentiate it from the almighty Helvetica, and 8/10 people don't even know what a font is. So as far as SEO goes, keep the font-snobbery away please. My target market is not other Graphic Designers, it's Joe Schmoes White Van New Business.

As far as the links page goes, you might want to take a look into the SEO benefits of "back-linking". All those stupid links improve the credibility of your site, which is more heavily weighted than meta tags for page ranking. Also note the descriptive "alt" tags on every single image. Much more important than the font they are displayed in.

And as far as page margins go, I would love to glean some of the knowledge you speak of. In the era of smartphones, tablets, and everything else; I can either "pinch-zoom" or "CTRL + Scroll Wheel" and re-define any Page Margin to my screen in seconds. Go ahead and waste your time on that "antiquated" design element.

If you are still reading, darn right it took up your whole screen. The site is a static 1400px wide. Any HD screen will have 1920px to work with. If 1400px took up your whole 27" screen, you probably have it set to HD Zoom or some other BS because I actually set my screen margins for HD devices that are running normally, and still have 260px of negative space per side.

Thanks for the TYPO comment however, that was helpful. Everybody else, Stay Lame. (haha, j/k, thanks).
Click to expand...

I think your site is amazing, it's everything one could ever hope for! Don't change a thing.

Is that what you wanted to hear?

It looks messy and unorganized, SEO is one thing, but SEO only gets people to your site, if you site looks like garbage all the SEO in the world won't translate into a sale.
 
TammieH

TammieH

New Member
Another thought, when taking photos of your jobs, take your time to frame them nicely and make sure they are square,
especially those you feel look good enough to post on your website.

When you are proud of a job you did, take your time to take nice photos as well.
 
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