Topic: New Site

Me and my friends are going to try something new to pick up some cash. What do you guys think? www.invisionbuilders.com

Ok, this is just a quickie, since it's late and I am overdue for sleep. I did feel the need to point out a couple of things though. Unfortunately, the things that struck me right away were rather negative.

I'll do this "stream of consciousness" stlye ala Suho...

1) what the hell is that blurry white and blue stuff, and why is it *so* freaking big??

2) what the hell is that cheesy photo of that guy in the bad suit....??

3) Why are these buttons so big??

4) what's up with the little squares?

5) Uh.....why do I have a vertical and horiontal scrollbar inside this window and *on* this window at the same time???? No need whatsoever for the scrolling inside the page. Either make it small enough that the wondow won't scroll, or make the page "normal" so that if it exceeds the window size, I only get *one* set of scrollbars.

I get dizzy with so many draggable controls for one space...

6) No doctype!! Cardinal sin.

7) No encoding!! Also a cardinal sin.

8) <font> tags? Nested tables? Iframes?? <center> tags?? In this day and age??

9) whoa! hosting...is.....by someone else? Why am I sent to another sight when I click on your "hosting" button. It's the same as the rest of the buttons...shouldn't it be the same sight? (also some really bad grammar on that hosting sight...)

10) pricing seems rather sketchy. Can't quite explain why.

...anyway, those are the thoughts off the top of my head. Hope it helps, honestly.

Well crap, there goes my gig.

Not too much to add to what DL said at the moment. I will say, though, that for this sort of site you really want to look as professional as possible. Spell check is a must, and having an English major read the text over is a good idea. As it is, some of your copy is, well, painful...

"Whether you need a company logo, banner, advertisement, or signature, InvisionBuilders will come up with the right graphic for you. Our graphic design team is dedicated to pleasing the customer, and that's what they do best."

What does this tell me? Well, that you do logos, banners, ads, and sigs. The rest is meaningless fluff and doublespeak. And I would recommend against mentioning sigs if you're trying to look professional.

"ballpark ranges"

The term you're looking for is "ballpark figures"--"ballpark" itself implies the idea of a general range. But that's not really the point--something like "estimates" would sound far more professional.

Just little things like that, really. Your copy goes a really long way in building your image. If your copy is clean and professional, your image will be clean and professional. If not, well, you know.

And I've been debating whether or not to say anything about this...

quote:

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Me and my friends are going to try something new to pick up some cash.

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Honestly, if that's the first thing that comes out of your mouth when you start talking about your new business, be prepared to fail. You may succeed, of course, but it is more likely that you will fail. It takes a very specific mindset to make a business work, and "trying something new to pick up some cash" isn't part of that mindset. I know that sounds terribly harsh, and I feel bad about that, but I also think it needed to be said.

You know, I just can't seem to write a pleasant review anymore. Terribly sorry about that.


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Suho: www.liminality.org

quote:

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Me and my friends are going to try something new to pick up some cash.

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Yep, bad thing to openly advertise. Plus it's not even grammatically correct.

I also have to pick on DL for a second here:

quote:

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(also some really bad grammar on that hosting sight...)

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Don't you mean site?

You'll want to cut/paste your text into Word or something and spell check it. Just scanning your pages I found a load of spelling errors like "overprised." For the sake of professionalism you should make sure you check the small things like this.

I don't like that the hosting page opens in a new window, there's really no reason to do that.

I also agree with DL that the header and the buttons are waaaaaaay too big. I mean, I run at 1600x1200 rez and it's absolutely huge on my monitor. I can't imagine what it looks like to someone at a more normal resolution.

The picture of the dude in the suit... Well, it's just out there in la-la land. At least use some kind of CSS float to get it inside the block of text.


:::11oh1:::

[This message has been edited by krets (edited 11-13-2003).]

I'd have to agree with both DL and Suho here.

I'd also like to add that most people looking for a web presence use computers to keep accounting records and do some word processing thus mentioning "scripts" is only going to confuse them and make them the target audience for your services are people who already build websites or are involved in the information technology industry above their needs.

Actually, most things about your site seem to be targeted towards people who are already web savvy to a degree. But if someone already knows how to use a HTML template and server scripts (which they can get for free at source forge) what's the point of your business? You "graphics" services, without any portfolio to win over potential clients, isn't looking too good with the rather luck lustre visual design of the site.

Oh and cheap prices aren't going to get you anywhere either. Any business associated with services that happen online already have a bad rep thanks to every other half arsed dreamweaver toting twit who's tried to run a web design business and fucked it up whilst screwing around their clients. You'll need to overcome this stigma and stand out among the sea of garage designers. Even if you are a garage designer (like me), try not to come across as one.

Define your target market and let your visitor know what it is be it small business, telecoms companies, InfoTech companies etc... If you already have InfoTech clients you can tap form that hosting company you seem to be affiliated with then target your business to the IT design market -- stuff like that.

Yes, I am being harsh but that's business for you. If this was just your personal website then I'd probably say it was a great effort, but for a web design/development business it falls way under par IMHO.

Krets - hey, come on now. I gave my excuse before I even started typing. You're not allowed to pick on someone when they set up the excuse before hand

That Aaron Hood speech text thing. What do you want to tell to your visitors with it? When i 've read it, I believed you made it up... There's no link to a company whatsoever...

Signature: My fanpage

Thank you all for your advice we know we still need some work and that is just a rough copy. We just wanted to get the layout done and setup. I haven't got to work on the site much, so that is why it is kinda rusty. My friend has done all of it so far. We realize the typos and they will be fixed, but thanks for your advice and input. I'm sure it will come in handy later on when we are ready to go public. I'll keep you guys up to date on the progress we are making and I hope you guys will still be so generous to give us your time to help us out like you already have so much. Thanks guys. I do appreciate it.
Duck
Jon Billing