Website help Critique

Hi folks,


Big ask here. Could you critique my website for me , I know it aint perfect . I have build it myself due to lack of funds at present. it has been built in flash. not sure why i did but it remains in flash. i like it , I know some pages have different sizes text etc . im going to be looking at that today to try sort out .

We are trying to create something that will help make someone choose our services. im not sure if i am capturing that with the site, can anyone help.

T.I.C Solutions Ltd- Security and Surveillance Specialists

many thanks in advance.

Every sympathy with the web site building predicament; however, sadly I think you need a professional web site designer with SEO knowledge to do a complete revamp.

The people who "buy" your company at present probably do so because they already know you're good. I don't think you're attracting many prospective customers.

This is only my opinion, however:-

I couldn't get on your site without permitting the Flash required activeX (?) to run ... that was a small barrier that might have dissuaded a customer from continuing any further.

I found the Home page initially a bit dark and scarey. I understand why you use the colour scheme (your company throws light on what's dark) but if I'm the customer please don't frighten me. The man with the binoculars looked too much to me like a man with a gun.

I got distracted by the moving images - visually interesting but they weren't clearly linked to any marketing message and they shifted my attention away from the bits that could sell you (eg your services and testimonials sections).

I couldn't get the links at the top of the site to services, testimonials etc to open easily or quickly. The cause of the problem might be my computer rather than your web site but please check.

The text of the web site needed to be more focused on telling me how you'd help me solve whatever problems had brought me to you. You started doing this with the testimonials but didn't continue the process. Could you "see" representative customers from each of the customer groups you're addressing? I had the impression you couldn't.

Please proof read the text again as a few typos have escaped. The ones I picked up included "Although TIC where not our first choice..." and a few instances where upper case letters appeared where they should not have.

Didn't check properly but I can't see any evidence of SEO work .... isn't SEO work rather difficult with Flash anyway?

It's never nice to have work you've put your heart and soul into criticised; however, you want your site to make money for you and that is unlikely at present. I look forward to seeing Version 2!

All best wishes, Linda

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Linda,

Firstly many thanks for the detailed views. I dont do excuses never have. however this one time i am going to blame my inexperience. The unfortunete thing is me personally i dont have the computer know how, but at present i dont have the bank balance to pay for the knowledge and the experience so i have to trust myself to get the job done at the moment. My partners are also in the same boat due to them being old school dickson of dock green types.

The flash is an issue that has been brought up a couple of times now. i am going to need to look at an alternate. BUT financees are dictating matters at the moment. having just forked out for all licenses to operate at the moment have hit the pockets hard.

I would appreciate if anyone can offer some help and advice on the SEO stuff as to be frank i dont have a clue.

thanks oh i have changed the main image to something a little more suitable on the eye.

Dunno whether this would work for you .... could you negotiate monthly payments with your chosen web site designer? It would at least spread out the cost a bit.

Technically, this is what we did for Version 2 of our site - though the suggestion to pay by instalment was put forward by our hosting company (Version 1 affronted their professional standards!). We paid back the money over a year. The hosting company didn't normally offer this kind of arrangement but had known us for several years.

It might be worth your while asking for quotes from MLFers with the appropriate skills. You may be over-estimating what the cost of a decent basic site would be.

While you'll be able to improve on your existing site's performance to some extent, you'll have to work so hard to achieve small improvements the effort may not be worth it.

Good luck and commiserations, Linda

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Got to be honest, first impressions visually, I didn't think it was too bad. Its only when I looked at it more critically that you start to spot issues.

Top review from Linda and some very good points, so no need to repeat flash issues etc.

For a home built site I think you've done a pretty good job, but it is what it is.

If this is being run as a professional business and not a hobby, then is the website essential for the business? For some specialist businesses it isn't. If you're order books are full and trade comes as referrals or other offline sources, then don't worry about your site and it does the job.

But if you need your site to generate new business and convert visitors into customers, then I'm afraid you need some help, and you need to find some budget.

Linda's right, you've probably over estimated what the cost will be. You've got the content, you just need a simple template creating for you, something like wordpress would be ideal.

Plus any half decent designer would sort out an SEO plug in for you, making your site instantly more SEO friendly. I'm no designer but a simple 5 page site shouldn't cost much at all. You could even keep a similar look if you wanted.

If you are going to stick with the current site, then a place to start is: SEO 101 for laymen

As Linda says, there's been little SEO attention. Look at your page titles, these are SEO gold dust, so make them work for you.

Main thing to remember is regardless of who does your site, work out what key words work for you, or you think are likely to generate you leads, and optimise your site for them. eg what do people type into Google to find your services? If its surveillance specialists then you need to be near the top of the list!

If in doubt, check out and learn from your competitors

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cheers Steve
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Thank you very much for the comments. Im really happy to get constructive critism. Does anyone need their partner spouse followed? hehehe....

Right, if we see any suspicious parked cars outside the office, we'll know who's staking us out!

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cheers Steve
Forum Admin - teaboy and general gofer...

Forum Rules and FAQ's at a glance | Find me on Google+ | or even Facebook!

My Local Services - The UK and US Online Business Directory | JobsVitae - Recruitment Help and CV Creation

If you're here to spam, then expect a ban