My Website's new look. Must be up by the 22nd! Please review!

[phaZed]

So, I have been re-doing my website for the past few months and I really do think that it is quite an improvement from my previous site layout, but is somewhat unfinished.. On the 22nd I am participating in a silent auction for my son's schools 50th anniversary and expect to have 1-3K people exposed to my brand and website as the computers I have donated will be the top money getters (A Samsung laptop and a slimline desktop), and my logo will be on a huge 50ft banner.

So, I could really use everyone's feedback to make sure there are no glaring or obvious errors or issues before I prematurely go live.

The NEW site can be viewed at http://www.aaronspcsupport.com/wordpress/
The OLD site is at http://www.aaronspcsupport.com

Things I know about as of today (3/11):
Front page slider is unfinished, only first slide is ready.
Bottom footer is empty.
Some images in sliders, on some services pages, are slightly different sizes in height.
Clicking on "Services" Main menu heading instead of a drop-down item brings you to a default theme page, not finished at all.
Email address on contact page is missing while I attempt to implement a spam guard type of PHP protection/obfuscation, or simply an image so it doesn't get scraped by bots.
The About Us Page is largely unfinished.
Customer portal has nothing listed under drop down sections except for the status check.

I hate to post this up as an unfinished project for review, I hate it when others do it - But I am really in a crunch!

 

[Abet Computers]

waste of time , both pages offline

 

[nlinecomputers]

WOrks for me. I like it. I would have more pictures in the silder but other then that looks good to me.

 

[phaZed]

waste of time , both pages offline

Site is up for me as of 10:54am 3/11/2013 ??? Has been all morning. Justhost is not reporting any issues...

 

[nlinecomputers]

I'll add that the items on the site seem laptop heavy. Like laptops is the only thing you do. Three of the items below the slider mention laptops or laptop issues.

 

[phaZed]

I'll add that the items on the site seem laptop heavy. Like laptops is the only thing you do. Three of the items below the slider mention laptops or laptop issues.

You are very correct, and that was by design. Most of my business is laptop repair and my top two keywords are #1 "Computer Repair" and #2 "Laptop Repair"

Unfortunately, "Desktop Repair" is a distant #30 somethin'! Very observant of you, and thanks!

 

[Easy Pc Repair]

I love the new look! The one thing that I don't see on your site is a big phone number. I had to look around a little for it maybe try to put it either in the slider or underneath it?

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

Very professional and attractive looking......Great!

Maybe I am working on 5 year old assumptions but I do not see how the title you have listed helps you without keywords/ SEO.

I us chrome and at least 3 of your headings/lines run together and are not readable.

I may be wrong but the guides I am reading say not to use Flash and avoid JavaScript....

I hope someone can explain or correct me on this.

 

[phaZed]

Hey Tony,

Thanks for the comments.. Lol, I'm gonna pull the 5 year old and ask "Which title for keywords/SEO are you referring to?"

I also use chrome (25.0.1364.152) and have not experienced any issues with lines running together? I have also tested with Firefox and IE without issue. Perhaps you have some third party blocking software or plug-in? What resolution are you at? If you have the time I would certainly like a screenshot (These types of issues are exactly the types of bugs I want to work out).
Everything on the site is jQuery, HTML5, PHP, and CSS so it is very SEO-minded and backwards compatible with almost everything. The site is also fully-auto scaling for phones, tablets, etc... and has the option for Retina (If I ever choose to worry about that.)
The main page slider is "Slider Revolution" (jQuery) and is fully index-able by search engines. It should work on IE 7+, Webkit browsers (Chrome, Opera, Safari), and Firefox 10+... and if it doesn't it will default to a static image.

 

[16k_zx81]

This is an excellent site. One of the best I have reviewed in a long time. You have done a great job.


dont like the logo. looks 'home made' seriously! consider getting one made? even a crappy $5 fiverr logo would probably inspire more trust from customers than that thing. It really screams 'dodgy'.

'angies list reviews' at base of page does not link to any reviews

'acrbo' logo does not link to anything

page load speed was incredibly slow for me. who is your host? Might be worth measuring it and shifting if it remains slow. This will affect sales/conversions.

the headings 'laptop repairs }| cracked screens |} virus removals }| DC power jacks' are not linked. link these as well as the little 'read more' texts. Customers will try to click on headings like these and it can be a minor accessibility/useability issue if they are not useable.

consider adding a call to action (ie "phone us now") to each accordion subsection on the "more laptop services" , "more desktop services" etc sections. When browsing the page, the main call to action goes off the fold and is not visible while opening and closing the accordions. You want to keep the directive right infront of your customer everywhere they are on the site, if possible.

(these services pages are excellent, by the way, exactly as service pages should look IMO)

there is no content under 'email aarons' section on 'contact' page

angies list logo/reviews link on 'contact' page not linked to reviews

consider putting a photo of you, your car, your premises, or some other 'physical evidence' of your existence on the 'about' page

customer portal is unfinished?

Excellent job. Main criticism is probably the Logo, which I think is probably losing you business. (seriously. its awful)..

Once the site is up, you have a lot of potential there for SEO work to make it rank. The basic structure is actually a very good basis for this, but in optimization terms there's still a lot you can do there if you want organic rank.

 

[rjframe]

The services main page needs content; at first I assumed you hadn't gotten to it yet but it's the only page I see lacking your content, so I want to be certain you know.

Other than that, I like it.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

here it is

You may be right, maybe it is something in my browser security but here it is below.

Hey Tony,

Thanks for the comments.. Lol, I'm gonna pull the 5 year old and ask "Which title for keywords/SEO are you referring to?"

<title>Aaron's PC Support </title> (it is my understanding that putting your keyword in the title increases SEO)

Below is the prt scr:

 

[phaZed]

dont like the logo. looks 'home made' seriously! consider getting one made? even a crappy $5 fiverr logo would probably inspire more trust from customers than that thing. It really screams 'dodgy'.

I started a 48 hour logo - so we'll see how that goes

page load speed was incredibly slow for me. who is your host?

Thanks for all the valid points 16k, your input is always appreciated. My host is Justhost. I think the load speed is due to the slider images being too heavy.. will see if I can get that trimmed up a bit.

The services main page needs content

Yes, still haven't gotten to it yet, but is on the to-do list

Tony,
I appreciate that screenshot! I can't seem to get any browser here to display like that, on multiple different computers. I'm at a loss as to what is going on there. +1 rep for that screenshot.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

You've got a lot of work to do on the SEO front if you want it to rank well, in my opinion you should do this before making the site live and letting Google cache it. Some thing I noticed:

- Titles, add some relevant keywords, computer <your location>, laptop to all your pages. Do you use the "All in One SEO" plugin I find it very good. Use about 50 chars.
- Descriptions, every page needs good descriptions otherwise Google will take content from your pages. Use around 150 chars.
- URL's, the current ones are poor, for example /services/laptop-repairs/ should read /services/laptop-repairs-<location>/ you get big points from Google for keywords in your URL's
- Image names, bulletBrokeLCD.gif & HeaderLogo2.png wont help you, LCD-screen-repair.gif & PC-Support-Richmond.png is much better for example. Give the images good alt text and give them titles.
- Front page don't just have the "Learn More" part as links have the widget title also.

I like the layout and colours very nice

Have you considered using Cloudflare, for improving the speed its free and excellent.

Captain

 

[phaZed]

You've got a lot of work to do on the SEO front if you want it to rank well, in my opinion you should do this before making the site live and letting Google cache it. Some thing I noticed:

Have you considered using Cloudflare, for improving the speed its free and excellent.

All valid points, and ya, your right, having Google cache up what is there now would suck. I saw the Cloudflare thing a while back but was on the fence with it.. maybe it is something I will consider now. Thanks for the input!

This upcoming weekend I have no wife or kid at the house and plan on hitting this thing hard. I have a logo being designed at 48hourslogo now and will be posting that up for review in a day or so. Meanwhile, I have had the most repair volume EVER in the past week.. not complaining, but it doesn't make anything website related easier!

 

[16k_zx81]

All valid points, and ya, your right, having Google cache up what is there now would suck. I saw the Cloudflare thing a while back but was on the fence with it.. maybe it is something I will consider now. Thanks for the input!

This upcoming weekend I have no wife or kid at the house and plan on hitting this thing hard. I have a logo being designed at 48hourslogo now and will be posting that up for review in a day or so. Meanwhile, I have had the most repair volume EVER in the past week.. not complaining, but it doesn't make anything website related easier!

In my experience, Google is very fast at recognising website changes and SEO optimisations. I have seen movement occur *very* quickly on long-established sites (ie a matter of days).

I would not be too concerned about getting the SEO locked down before going live, if you do not have time to get it optimised first. I think you will find it is quite ok to get it indexed and then to work on the SEO at your leisure. Its rank will adjust as you go.

 

[16k_zx81]

Thanks for all the valid points 16k, your input is always appreciated. My host is Justhost. I think the load speed is due to the slider images being too heavy.. will see if I can get that trimmed up a bit.

Yep. Try making them to the slider's specified size, exporting as PNG, and then running them through "PNG gauntlet" or similar to squeeze them right down.

 

[IJServices]

All valid points, and ya, your right, having Google cache up what is there now would suck. I saw the Cloudflare thing a while back but was on the fence with it.. maybe it is something I will consider now. Thanks for the input!

This upcoming weekend I have no wife or kid at the house and plan on hitting this thing hard. I have a logo being designed at 48hourslogo now and will be posting that up for review in a day or so. Meanwhile, I have had the most repair volume EVER in the past week.. not complaining, but it doesn't make anything website related easier!

I've tried CloudFlare and instead of speeding things up it actually slowed it down. My suggestion would be to find a different host. I would avoid web hosts offering unlimited space.

Since you are using Wordpress, use this plugin: W3 Total Cache. It helps a lot.

 

[16k_zx81]

I've tried CloudFlare and instead of speeding things up it actually slowed it down. My suggestion would be to find a different host. I would avoid web hosts offering unlimited space.

Since you are using Wordpress, use this plugin: W3 Total Cache. It helps a lot.

Caching plugins do nothing on initial visits, only on returns, as I understand it.

..

 

[Coastalbendcomputers]

I would recommend you increase the slide time for the Customer Reviews. I was trying to read some and couldn't finish.