Clean It Up

UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Tony Stewart on May 01, 2013, 06:09:25 pm

Title: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Tony Stewart on May 01, 2013, 06:09:25 pm
I know I am asking for this but can one or two of you please have a look at my website before it goes live and before I hand over my childrens inheritance to pay the bill.
A couple of spelling mistakes and grammar and lorem ipsum bits to tidy but it's the impression I need from you guys.
Difficult to be original as you have to have carpet and cleaning somewhere.

http://carpetcleaner-sutton-coldfield.co.uk/

The offers page is updateable if needs be.

Thanks in anticipation

Tony
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Dennis on May 01, 2013, 06:26:10 pm
Mike Halliday gets about.  ;D
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: derek west on May 01, 2013, 06:31:02 pm
nice website tony. if i had to be picky i would say get your own pictures on there, you've been at it long enough now to get a few of your self. and even pickier, not my colour scheme, but then i do wear pink so who am i to judge  ;D. but yeah great website.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Mike Gwilliam on May 01, 2013, 06:43:28 pm
Looks good to me and ready to go.
The only thing i would pull it on is the ''white space''  below the text on all pages except the home page caused by the left side bar.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: mark_roberts on May 01, 2013, 06:55:20 pm
Id get a pro to do it.

Mark
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Tony Stewart on May 01, 2013, 06:56:52 pm
Thanks for that..............same website designer as Mike's.
Derek You are right it's just that being on my own I completely forget to take any pictures of the things I clean etc. Designer has the stock photos so I will make a few more of my own.
It's the wording that I was concerned about but now it's the pictures!!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgh!
Perhaps you are right but I don't know any prostitutes
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: wynne jones on May 01, 2013, 07:00:38 pm
The set of pics at the bottom are far more eye catching than the stairs pic. I would use them as a banner at the top with your phone number right at the top in big type and with a call to action.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Mike Halliday on May 02, 2013, 07:11:24 am
It has everything a website needs but lacks any 'sparkle' the home page as it first appears is very bland, I don't think the photo of the legs has enough impact.

I would Change the leather picture, the photo of my sunburnt, bold head does not give the right message for leather cleaning....( Maybe leather repair)

Overall the website is fine, you just need to add your own pictures as you take them so people can see you
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Tony Stewart on May 02, 2013, 07:44:36 am
Thanks Mike............my mistake on the stock photos and I will get it tweaked and get some more pictures of my own in there as soon as I can.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Mike Halliday on May 02, 2013, 07:51:21 am
i think people think they need really profesional photos but I think a photo is either boring or interesting. its the same if its a professionally taken photo it still can be boring and a 'safe' alterantive.

if you take photos your self they tend not to be so perfect but are more interesting, like my leather photo it was just taken on a course at LTT by another carpet cleaner but its diffferent & interesting.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: james roffey on May 02, 2013, 08:17:26 am
Tony regarding proof reading you can read the same sentence twenty times and not notice spelling mistakes, getting guys on here to read it is a good idea i would also ask family to read it too.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Tony Stewart on May 02, 2013, 12:55:27 pm
Hi James .....I know 5 people are better than one and I was not hitting it up on the forum for praise just constructive criticism if needed.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Phil @ Extreme Clean on May 02, 2013, 01:20:04 pm
If anyone is interested in a website I know a lad he done mine very good I think £250 upto 10 pages £350 upto 20 pages and £450 if you want a shop page also take a look at the site he done me www.dryerfusion.co.uk and email me your details if interested i'l pass them on for you cleandry@hotmail.co.uk

Cheers Phil.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Garyj on May 02, 2013, 01:46:25 pm
I know it's not 'live' yet but the thing that stood out for me the most is the lack of phone number. Presume it will be going in the header at some point.

I like the site though.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: james roffey on May 02, 2013, 02:32:31 pm
Looks good, i have been told that if the first page has too much text which a lot of sites do then they wont bother reading it, we may find carpet cleaning interesting but most of the public don't, the site can have the info on other pages but don't scare them with a page of text on the first page they see, i am not saying yours is like this, the about us page is good but worth bearing in mind, don't worry too much about getting it perfect you will change so much and tweek it yourself for a long while after it has gone live it's exciting when it goes live though good luck  :)
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: garry22 on May 02, 2013, 04:49:50 pm
Quote
Looks good, i have been told that if the first page has too much text which a lot of sites do then they wont bother reading it,

Says who? (not having a dig at you personally, James)

I heard a lot of people make that statement but none of them have produced any split testing results.

One of the copywriters I trained with did get that result on one test but it was very much the exception, rather than the rule.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: james roffey on May 02, 2013, 04:57:20 pm
Quote
Looks good, i have been told that if the first page has too much text which a lot of sites do then they wont bother reading it,

Says who? (not having a dig at you personally, James)

I heard a lot of people make that statement but none of them have produced any split testing results.

One of the copywriters I trained with did get that result on one test but it was very much the exception, rather than the rule.

A guy who is involved in SEO, i must admit when he said it i thought, makes perfect sense, to me anyway.
Haven't  you found it yourself, you are looking on the net for something and suddenly you are hit with a page full of text and think, cant be bothered to read all that :P
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Joe W Brown on May 02, 2013, 05:10:59 pm
I tend to prefer websites with less text on the homepage I think. It dosnt seem overwhelming.

Simplicity is the key Imho.

Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Joe W Brown on May 02, 2013, 05:13:41 pm
That said, I really like your website.

Only thing im not keen in is the logo, lack of contact info & banner image as others have stated. I agree that one of the other images would be better suited.

Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Tony Stewart on May 02, 2013, 05:18:45 pm
I am not an expert ...... but I think that Google sees the landing page and uses that as the search.....hence the Carpet Rug Cleaning Hard Floor Cleaning words on the first page.......then it has links to the different pages. I may be wrong. I did my own at 123 reg and it looked OK to me but no one could find it, it took ages to load and was not mobile compatible. That is my understanding.

I agree with Gary about the phone number. On a mobile you cannot see the blue as against the green.......thought the green was softer on the eye and subconsciously sends the message of "green Eco cleaning without saying it"....truckmount being green....I don't think so!!
Also did not want the girl picture in the office. Want one girl on her own as it is a family company rather than a call centre.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: james roffey on May 02, 2013, 05:23:49 pm
I am not an expert ...... but I think that Google sees the landing page and uses that as the search.....hence the Carpet Rug Cleaning Hard Floor Cleaning words on the first page.......then it has links to the different pages. I may be wrong. I did my own at 123 reg and it looked OK to me but no one could find it, it took ages to load and was not mobile compatible. That is my understanding.

I agree with Gary about the phone number. On a mobile you cannot see the blue as against the green.......thought the green was softer on the eye and subconsciously sends the message of "green Eco cleaning without saying it"....truckmount being green....I don't think so!!
Also did not want the girl picture in the office. Want one girl on her own as it is a family company rather than a call centre.

Yes very good point when i looked at that girl it shouted big company/ call centre type thing rather than a family business. of course we all know it's a stock image but the public may see it as a company with lots of employees and if that is something you are not trying to convey then maybe you will want to change it.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: garry22 on May 02, 2013, 06:51:30 pm
Quote
I am not an expert ...... but I think that Google sees the landing page and uses that as the search.....hence the Carpet Rug Cleaning Hard Floor Cleaning words on the first page.......then it has links to the different pages. I may be wrong. I did my own at 123 reg and it looked OK to me but no one could find it, it took ages to load and was not mobile compatible. That is my understanding.

Tony, the spiders will follow a link and then look for your sitemap.xml file, follow the links from there and decide what the pages are about. I'm sure your designer would have built one.

You've got keyword rich anchor text links (a bit over optimised for my liking http://carpetcleaner-sutton-coldfield.co.uk/cleaning-services/carpet-cleaners-sutton-coldfield.html - just personal opinion) so they should find the pages.
Title: Re: Please give me a sanity check
Post by: Eric Lloyd on May 04, 2013, 11:01:55 pm
Site looks well laid pout, maybe a bit too much to read on the home page, so people have to scroll down to look at all of it. Before you lash out hundreds on a site, have you thought about doing your own? It can be done for nothing using Wordpress Responsive theme which can be read on a mobile or tablet as it changes shape. Have a look at this video I found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jv47_VIBOQ