As designers we agonize over the design of our own website. It has to reflect our approach and aesthetic taste. It becomes like a work of art - very personal, until we go slightly mad and lose all sense of objectivity.
This has happened to me, yet again, as I’m striving to develop my website:
Any comments or constructive criticism would be appreciated and if you wanted I could return the favour.
My immediate reaction is that you have oversimplified your intro page. There is nothing for search engines to latch onto that is of real meaning, beyond the headline. Nor to hold the site visitor unless he just wants to click examples. I suggest you add the first paragraph (or similar) from your ‘About’ page, at the least, to exemplify you commercial attitude and green credentials.
This would also take of some of the blandness off the opening page, without over decoration. Think of how you would view that initial branding if it was one of your clients, not yourself!
Overall, however I quite like the clean, understated styling.
HTH Colin.
On 18 Mar 2011, at 10:34, Mark wrote:
As designers we agonize over the design of our own website. It has to reflect our approach and aesthetic taste. It becomes like a work of art - very personal, until we go slightly mad and lose all sense of objectivity.
This has happened to me, yet again, as I’m striving to develop my website:
If it was me, I’d try a single text column to the left of realigned images. Also, although you’ve adopted the convention of using your logo as a link back to the ‘home’ page, I would prefer a navigation drop down for the ‘samples’ in the main menu. It’s more intuitive for the visitor to find as they move through the site.
HTH Colin
On 18 Mar 2011, at 13:52, Mark wrote:
… I need to think how to implement the change without loosing the simplicity of the homepage.
Thanks for your input. I think you make a very valid point about putting some ‘intro’ text on the homepage. However, I feel the homepage says a lot without having to changing it. It says what I do (branding and design and then the case studies below the title expand upon this) who for, and my business name suggests my unique selling point, that I ‘advocate’ my clients.
I appreciate what you are saying, Mark - however, as much as the human visitor can see what you offer, search engine algorithms look for semantic, textual content for indexing and virtually ignore the graphics. Your sparse HTML content will be read as a simple list of headings and, in my opinion, your site will probably be downrated. Providing you are using other means of promoting yourself that will direct visitors to the site, this may not be so much of a problem. Just don’t expect too much from ‘Googlers’.
Good luck, anyway, I hope the site brings you some good business.
Colin
On 20 Mar 2011, at 20:43, Mark wrote:
Hi Colin
Thanks for your input. I think you make a very valid point about putting some ‘intro’ text on the homepage. However, I feel the homepage says a lot without having to changing it. It says what I do (branding and design and then the case studies below the title expand upon this) who for, and my business name suggests my unique selling point, that I ‘advocate’ my clients.
A quick tip to see if your site makes any sense for a search engine is to use the Developer tools in Safari and turn off CSS and images.
Does the document (page) make any sense in this view, does it read well, i.e. is it useable?
It’s not so much quantity of text but quality of content and structure that makes a difference in google.
The usability of the page also works wonders with a reader who will be more likely to convert.
David
On 20 Mar 2011, at 22:28, Colin Alcock email@hidden wrote:
I appreciate what you are saying, Mark - however, as much as the human visitor can see what you offer, search engine algorithms look for semantic, textual content for indexing and virtually ignore the graphics. Your sparse HTML content will be read as a simple list of headings and, in my opinion, your site will probably be downrated. Providing you are using other means of promoting yourself that will direct visitors to the site, this may not be so much of a problem. Just don’t expect too much from ‘Googlers’.
Good luck, anyway, I hope the site brings you some good business.
Colin
On 20 Mar 2011, at 20:43, Mark wrote:
Hi Colin
Thanks for your input. I think you make a very valid point about putting some ‘intro’ text on the homepage. However, I feel the homepage says a lot without having to changing it. It says what I do (branding and design and then the case studies below the title expand upon this) who for, and my business name suggests my unique selling point, that I ‘advocate’ my clients.
Your sparse HTML content will be read as a simple list of headings and, in my opinion, your site will probably be downrated.
Arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, you are right, my site now has a Google Page Rank of 0. Last time I checked, a year or two ago, it had a rank of 4. Nothing has changed much apart from the design.
I noticed some sites with even less HTML content than mine have perfectly OK rankings, like http://www.glock-uk.com/
Can I keep the sparse design and up my rankings? Perhaps remove all the H3 headings and remove the link from the footer??