Hello and thanks for the question! I'll just be going through your
website a little and pointing out what I see. As just some general
background information, I'm a professional internet developer and I've
been designing websites since 1997. I'm also single so that'll
probably help put me in your customers position :-)
The first thing I see is a "mypageonline.com" banner. This banner is
both confusing and annoying. Because of it's position on the page, it
looks like the title of the page. I'm thinking..."I though this was a
personal site?! Now it says it's about web hosting!"
Secondly, I see a tagline that says "this site is a free service blah
blah". This is bad because I instantly want to click on the link and
see what else Green Web Design has done. You need to focus your
customers on YOUR website and what YOU have to offer, not Green Web's.
I suggest putting this link at the bottom of the page.
In light of the first two things, you need a clear title for the
website. All websites need clear headlines defining the page. A good
title would be "MidwestPeople.com - Online Personals". This tells me
where I'm at and what I'm doing here. Currently, you have no clear
title and it's confusing.
Your pictures look good, but your "enter site" button is dwarfed by
the pictures. Visitors should never have to "enter" your site.
They're already there! Change the button to say "view classifieds"
and make it more noticeable or take it out all together.
You have too much text on the website below the pictures. I don't
like reading text to figure out what I can do on at your website. It
should be evident by your the links and navigation. Anything over a
couple sentences is too much.
The feedback link should go at the very bottom of the page.
Why does your site only serve those states? It's the WWW, you should
be able to go global. If you want to only serve a couple areas,
divide the website into a separate site for each area. I suggest
making a map of these areas and posting it in a box that says "We
serve these areas". The list is a pain to read. I could look at a
map and know if I my state's on it in a split second.
Why do you have games? They really aren't of any benefit to me. I'm
here to post and view personals, not play games. Keep your website
focused on your main business.
Next, I clicked on the "enter site" button. Nothing came up. You
need to get this fixed. I don't even get an error message.
I then clicked on the suggest a feature link. This should probably
also be moved to the bottom of the page and away from the main
navigation. The main problem with it though, is that it's a mailto:
link without giving the e-mail address. A lot of people don't have a
default e-mail program so this link is worthless to them. Hotmail and
Yahoo users for example. You link should go as follows: "Suggest a
feature! E-mail us at: e-mail@address.com". Put the link on just the
e-mail address, not the text.
Your driving directions link just goes to a basic yahoo page. It's a
little confusing because I thought it was driving directions to your
business or something. This should not be in the navigation.
Navigation should only be for link on your site. Since this is a
Yahoo site, you should place the link in the body of your page, not
the text. It should read something like "Need to meet someone? Try
Yahoo's driving directions!"
For the contact link, please look at my above paragraph on the
"suggest a feature" link.
The help page is confusing because it totally changes the design of
the website on me. I think I'm at a different website. This page
does have a title though, which is nice.
The same things goes for the registration page as the home page.
Completely different design. Title is good.
Ditto for the Post Ad, My Classifieds and View Ads pages.
Your view ad page is done very well. Easy to navigate and understand.
The services page should not be on this website. And if you're going
to put it on it, put it at the bottom of the page, not on the main
navigation. First, you talk about web design. With no title, this
makes your website all the more confusing. Don't offer web design
services on a personals website. The advertising rates are fine. But
this should be under a link called "Advertisers" or "Advertise With
Us" and it should go at the bottom of the page. I can't stress this
too much. Keep your visitors focused on your core service.
From a customers point of view, I honestly would take one look at this
website and leave. It's probably not what you want to hear, but
that's what I'd do. I would leave because it's confusing and I'm not
sure what's going on. The website seems to be about a number of
different things. I only want to post and view personals.
My suggestions are:
- Get rid of the banner and Green Design link.
- Add a clear title that includes the name and purpose of the webiste.
- Take off the images and text on the front of the website. Take the
View Ads page and make it the front page. Show your visitors what you
have to offer right away.
- Separate your navigation into features and business. Business links
(like Contact Us and Advertising) should go on the bottom of the page.
Website features such as Registration, View Ad, Post Ad, etc., should
go at the top or on the left.
- Keep the color and navigation the same for the entire websites.
- Remove links that are not directly related to the website such as
Services, Driving Directions add Games. Add a link section if you
want to keep these links.
That's the end of my review. I would also recommend contacting a
professional firm and get a full site review. This will cost you
hundreds of dollars, but it will be worth far more than I can write
for you here.
Thanks for the question and if you require more information regarding
my answer, don't hesitate to ask for clarification. And if you find
this answer satisfactory, please feel free to rate it. Thank you!
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