New website - Your opinions?

[yourdj]

Hi have just finished my website :) Just need to add t&c now.

Any criticism welcome as it all helps :)

It is a little rushed, so not all right but i will iron out the creases this week.

The pictures and videos are a bit crap as my good pics had my old company name on so im starting fresh and only done a few gigs since :D

Doing a daytime set up in a hall tomorrow to video and take pics to add to the website, so should be live by thursday ish.

Please note: I am dyslexic and my spelling is rubbish. I have used word, but there are probably some mistakes :rolleyes: . My girlfrind is a teacher but has not had time to read it ;) .

Thanks :D

http://www.yourdj.co.uk/
http://www.yourdj.co.uk/
http://www.yourdj.co.uk/

[Marc J]

Will give it a good looking at later, but the first thing that jumps out at me (or not, as the case may be) is the black text against a black background at the foot of your pages.

It's up to you if you want to gamble being blacklisted from search engines, but that's the right way to go about it.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Why is the font double spaced and smaller on some pages and bigger on others?

Also, your corporate rig doesn't really look very corporate. In my experience of corporates, you need to be a bit more discreet looking than that and maybe just have a plain front rather than a banner.

I like the front page though and the general layout.

[yourdj]

Will give it a good looking at later, but the first thing that jumps out at me (or not, as the case may be) is the black text against a black background at the foot of your pages.

It's up to you if you want to gamble being blacklisted from search engines, but that's the right way to go about it.

Wow that was quick!

if i get black listed can i get back on if i remove the text? There is also black text at the end of each page title just repeating the "dj wedding corporate dj" as thats my main intended markets. Can google tell the text colour and background colour :confused: as things are very intelligent these days. maybe they are homing in on this conversation :richie:


Why is the font double spaced and smaller on some pages and bigger on others?

Also, your corporate rig doesn't really look very corporate. In my experience of corporates, you need to be a bit more discreet looking than that and maybe just have a plain front rather than a banner.

I like the front page though and the general layout.

Thanks, I thought that but these are the only pics i have at the moment. I will change the set up several times tomorrow to match party, corporate, small set up and large set up etc. and video/picture each. Ta

Will look at fonts too.

[Marc J]

if i get black listed can i get back on if i remove the text?

Probably, but it's a pain, and could take months. Why not just play fair to start with? A good place to start would be relevant page TITLEs (they are currently all blank and so show just the URL), and your Keywords META tag seems to repeat the same thing 3 times :confused:


There is also black text at the end of each page title just repeating the "dj wedding corporate dj" as thats my main intended markets. Can google tell the text colour and background colour :confused: as things are very intelligent these days.

Any text which is either the same colour as the background or very close is risky, and could be automatically picked up. The golden rule is don't present different content to search engines and actual visitors. A well known banning is BMW Germany, read up on it here (http://www.othermedia.com/industry/google-bans-bmw-from-search-results-for-cheating,152,TA.html).



maybe they are homing in on this conversation :richie:
Who knows ;)

EDIT: More info: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

[One Vision]

Yes I agree with Marc, also am not too sure that having the text within the images is a good idea as they can take some time to load due to the size of the images.
I think the general design idea is good and works but just lacks that final appeal, pages are too long excessive scrolling in my view is a big no, no especially when dyslexic.
Sometimes less is more, its not how much text but how its worded in regards to keeping the viewer interested.

I would find a template that works to the kind of design you have/want and then work within them boundaries and don't try to cram too much in to each page, keep it simple.

Images, I wouldn't be too critical mate, for the type of images that they are I think they are quite good, clear and vibrant.
By the way I am also dyslexic but isn't a real issue these days unless large pages of text.
Ill see what templates I have in my collection to see what would work for you just to help illustrate a little better.

[rob1963]

Hi YourDJ,

I think it's a good site generally.

On the home page, you use a different, smaller font than the other pages. Is there any reason for this? Also, the double spacing demands a lot of scrolling to get to the bottom of the page. On my computer monitor, your home page is the height of about 8 screens!

Also, most pages on your site have a large blank area at the bottom, which I think should be removed, as it looks a bit strange.

On your contact page, the email query form has no headings to say what is required in each field. I assume it's name, email address & message, but I think you need to add the headings to clarify that, as the form looks a little strange at the moment.

Looking at your FAQ page, the answers to the questions are not very clear to read. I think you need a different font colour so they are clearer - like the questions are.

Finally, I notice that your basic package is suitable for less than 50 people, and includes a 1 kilowatt sound system. Isn't that rather excessive for up to 49 people? I'm just wondering if it will put some people off, as they might think it will be too loud for them.

Hope this helps.

:)

[Marc J]

Also, most pages on your site have a large blank area at the bottom, which I think should be removed, as it looks a bit strange.

Press CTRL-A and all shall be revealed :D

[rob1963]

Press CTRL-A and all shall be revealed :D

Wow Marc...I see what you mean!

[yourdj]

Press CTRL-A and all shall be revealed :D

:rolleyes: nice you can see everything :rolleyes:

I think i will add a general list of areas and towns we cover and a map for reference to the reader. generally people will type (town) dj i would imagine. what other keywords do you recon? obviously wedding, party etc.

This will increase the page length though? do you not think that the titles stand out and people will scroll to what they want?

What else can i do apart from increasing my pages?

I use a site builder, which automatically resets the text, hence the reason you cant see the email bit. Thanks :) It also deletes the titles, so i will add them at the end as its a pain otherwise.

I might scrap the text and image thing too which will make the page open quicker. Thanks :D

cant remember what else was said :confused:

Try control A on this one :D

This site has been live since 2004 and not been blacklisted:

[Marc J]

This site has been live since 2004 and not been blacklisted:



Which is why I said it's a gamble. You run the risk of being blacklisted and all the hassle that brings, only you can decide if it's a justifiable risk in your case.

[Vectis]

Have to say that I tried this once, well dark grey on black, font pitch 4 or something stupid, and although I wasn't blacklisted my ranking was seriously affected. I went from top 5 for my most common search terms to like page 3 or 4 :(

Luckily someone kindly tipped me off and I made good quite quickly and the ranking recovered over the next 2-3 weeks.

Might've even been Marc :beer1: