Pretty much finished my website....

[neil_ross]

Ok its not a photography one!

Ive recently parted from my web design partnership and gone solo, its gonna take a while to build things up again but ive almost finished the front end of my website.

Ive gone for a simple clean look, all opinions are welcome!

www.enross.co.uk

[AndyStevens]

Clean is good - many websites are just far too busy. I like the design and it's easy to navigate - look forward to seeing the finished article and good luck with your new venture.

[neil_ross]

Cheers Andy!! Just need to get some more clients now!!!

Hi Neil,

Nicely laid out and easy to navigate - The first thing that grabs me being, who is your target audience?

Inviting potential customers who will be spending a monthly fee of 29.99 + , you are obviously looking at business / folk who have suitable turnover, income etc., I assume. With the number of free web site providers out there, I think you may need to define the/any advantages you offer in a more appealing way on the home page.

I took a brief look at the create process, which looks simple enough (albeit a bit ' cliparty'that may put some business folk off) - And I feel a few examples of hosted sites would be useful (accessed by thumbnail?) for people trying to determine their choices. A check these sites button on your home page to examples may help too.

Just my opinion.

[neil_ross]

Cheers Andy, target audience is new businesses, not had a site before and don't want the hassle of getting a bespoke site, I've based the monthly fee on what we charged in the partnership which seemed pretty well accepted, and we were charging design fees on top as we only did bespoke sites.

Thumbnails for example sites and portfolio are on the to do list, good point about selling the advantages more, I will ad that to the list.

Cheers Andy!

[F11]

Neil - I like the simplicity of your site but I also think it lacks a bit of professionalism about it. My son-in-law recently set up a web site for his business (check out www.globalitsolutions.co.uk) and I think visual impact is what draws most people into using a particular site for the first time. I know you said that your didn't want a bespoke site, but a little bit more investment might just pay off in the long run.

[neil_ross]

Originally Posted by F11

Neil - I like the simplicity of your site but I also think it lacks a bit of professionalism about it. My son-in-law recently set up a web site for his business (check out www.globalitsolutions.co.uk) and I think visual impact is what draws most people into using a particular site for the first time. I know you said that your didn't want a bespoke site, but a little bit more investment might just pay off in the long run.

Thats a nice site but a little busy for my liking.

Originally Posted by F11

I know you said that your didn't want a bespoke site, but a little bit more investment might just pay off in the long run.

Im not sure what you mean, my site is bespoke.

I completely agree that visual impact draws people in on the visit to a site, but if there is too much to read it will put people off.

Its a little worrying that the designer who did your son in laws site uses a free template for his own website, do you know how much your son in law paid?

Thank you for the input, its much appreciated, it still needs a little tweaking but its on its way.

[F11]

Sorry I don't really know any of the financial details. It is purely my own view that the website is visually attractive. How do you know that the website used was a free template is it obvious from the way it is viewing or have you seen this before somewhere else?

[neil_ross]

Your son in laws site doesn't seem to be done from a free template, but the people that built his site have used a free one for their own site. You can only tell by looking at the source code in website.

Its not necessarily a bad thing, its just worrying that they haven't bothered to build the css themselves.

[F11]

Does that really matter - most people wouldn't understand this would they? As long as the end result is a visually attractive site specific to your requirements that you are happy about the technicalities most people would be ignorant to.