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RemodelingGuy
Posts: 172
From: Houston, Texas
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/19/2006 13:21:03
I think you were CLEAR!
And truthful!
Thank you for your input!
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JimmyMac
"Your Local Hard Working Remodeling Guy"
http://www.StartRemodeling.com
jimmy@startremodeling.com
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dpf
Posts: 7121
Joined: 11/12/2003
From: India-napolis
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/19/2006 13:52:40
by my math, only 5 pages can get TOP 5quote:
have it indexed and in the TOP 5 in a day or two on GOOG
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Dan
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RemodelingGuy
Posts: 172
From: Houston, Texas
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/19/2006 14:25:51
Top 5 for what term?
Prob with a site like mine is that I have about 50 " niches " and getting number one in major search terms like e.g. home improvement is tough. Black Mold everything I rule in. Anything Remodeling - Interior, exterior, home blah, blah - I'm in the top 5.
Then I compete with contractor sites, home buyers and the lot!
6000 uniques a day - give or take a few, depending on the day -
My main point was that my front page is too busy, but it serves a purpose and is not my #1 entrance page by far.
Was looking for look and feel opinions and input like jaybee's.
I may be a tad whimpy about taking criticism, but I let it soak in and see that others opinions, especially those looking at it ( the site ) for the first time, are VERY IMPORTANT - CRUCIAL if you will.
_____________________________
JimmyMac
"Your Local Hard Working Remodeling Guy"
http://www.StartRemodeling.com
jimmy@startremodeling.com
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dpf
Posts: 7121
Joined: 11/12/2003
From: India-napolis
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/19/2006 15:22:45
quote:
Was looking for look and feel opinions and input like jaybee's. in that case, if I landed on your site, I would leave immediately- cluttered, junky, amateurish - if i was looking for professional information, the look of your site would turn me off.
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Dan
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dpf
Posts: 7121
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From: India-napolis
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/19/2006 15:25:53
quote:
Top 5 for what term? you made the claim - not me
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Dan
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RemodelingGuy
Posts: 172
From: Houston, Texas
Status: offline
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/19/2006 15:29:04
Oh well!
Guess we aren't going to grab a brew anytime soon!
Send me a link to your site and tell me how it's really done!
Being the Amateur that I am, I'm open to advice from anyone who must be as good as you are - when you get time to code in between the 6613 posts you've put on Thomas' site here!
_____________________________
JimmyMac
"Your Local Hard Working Remodeling Guy"
http://www.StartRemodeling.com
jimmy@startremodeling.com
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dpf
Posts: 7121
Joined: 11/12/2003
From: India-napolis
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/19/2006 15:57:24
quote:
Guess we aren't going to grab a brew anytime soon so I guess that means you only have a brew with people who tell you what you want to hear? You asked - twice - for the truth... and you got it.
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Dan
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RemodelingGuy
Posts: 172
From: Houston, Texas
Status: offline
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/20/2006 16:48:47
OK!
I cleaned up a about 6 inches of scrolling / moved stuff around and made some changes!
I hope that they are good changes!
Thank you for your input!
_____________________________
JimmyMac
"Your Local Hard Working Remodeling Guy"
http://www.StartRemodeling.com
jimmy@startremodeling.com
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RemodelingGuy
Posts: 172
From: Houston, Texas
Status: offline
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/20/2006 18:13:19
I found a site that has cached images of my site from years back!
I change. Play with everything and ask again.
I use this site for input mainly!
Am I bad or are you just trying to Cat-Fight!
Sorry that other's opinions are important and send me in different directions!
Respectfully!
_____________________________
JimmyMac
"Your Local Hard Working Remodeling Guy"
http://www.StartRemodeling.com
jimmy@startremodeling.com
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womble
Posts: 5526
Joined: 3/14/2005
From: Living on the edge
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/20/2006 19:13:50
RemodelingGuy, with the greatest respect, you asked for honest opinions, and that's what you've got. If there's one thing we're good at around here it's giving (brutally) honest opinions.
You asked Dan, and he told you. (and I'm afraid I don't think there was any need for the tone of your response). And I'm afraid I have to agree with him.
I remember your site from the last round of critiques, and I can't see an awful lot that's changed. If I was looking for information on black mould, while I'm sure I'd find it eventually, I doubt my eyes would be drawn to anything mentioning black mould in the few seconds that research has shown you have to make an impact on visitors when they first hit your site.
Yes, there are tons of sites out there that have loads of content, thinking of something like Amazon or one of the big computer stores off the top of my head, and they have a lot of content on their homepage, but it's structured with everything in it's place. They have clear and coherant nav and you can get a feel for where you are within the hierarchy of the site. They have active as opposed to passive white space and a logical site heirachy.
On your site I got a confusion of text blocks (a lot of which looked as though they were ads though I know they weren't), a confusion of different colours and styles of text that looked like they'd got jumbled up on the page, a strange sort of flickering of nav whenever I changed a page, and wherever I was on the site (I investigated a few other pages and found them equally as cluttered as the homepage) I couldn't get a feel for where I was within the stucture of the site and any sort of logical progression as to what I should click on next. Which nav do I use? The many hyperlinks? The tabs? The nav down the left of the page? There's no indication of where they're taking me to mostly.
The web's a strange place because unlike 'bricks and mortar' shops, online, you're launched onto a site and you have to find your way around blind - which is why clear and coherent nav and the use of white space is so important.
If you went into a 'real life' DIY store you'd enter by the door (clearly marked) and you'd see the checkouts (clearly marked) and all the goods laid out in a logical order, most likely in aisles and they're clearly marked with signposts as to what's in each aisle, often those big ones that hang from the ceiling so you can see clearly at a distance exactly what's where, and within those aisles smaller signs that identify sub-categories. There may even be a plan that shows you what's where, but if you get stuck and can't find what you're looking for you can always ask an assistant. On the web there's no-one to ask and you're reliant on the structure of the site to guide you, and if you can't find what you're looking for pretty quickly, you're going to get frustrated and hit the back button and try and find a site that's easier to find your way around. With your site, following this analogy, it's like going into the store and finding the delivery drivers just dumped all the goods in the middle of the store and you have to pick your way through the pile of stuff to find what you need.
Ask yourself honestly - if you didn't know your site, how quickly would you be able to find the information you were looking for on say for example cabinet accessories, or contact details for the company?
If you can't at least find a hint as to where you're heading in those crucial first few seconds, then you've probably lost a potential customer.
I don't doubt that you're good at what you do, but in all honesty if I were looking for home improvements, I wouldn't be looking on your site.
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~~ "A cruel god ain't no god at all" ~~
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RemodelingGuy
Posts: 172
From: Houston, Texas
Status: offline
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/20/2006 19:35:44
I knew I was in trouble when I saw a long and well thought out response like yours!
Was afraid SPOOKY would catch hold of this and SPANK me worse than my other Bud!
I'm working on the nav as we speak.
Basically making it ( The Section Areas ) larger and more coherent as a first impression!
I agree with those comments WHOLE HEARTEDLY!
I know from the bottom of my heart that my site WOULD NOT be a PR6 if I didn't hava all of the Crap ( stuff ) on the home page!
It's just a real heart breaker.
Trying to decide what comes and goes!
BUSY? You bet ya!
But I've managed to triple my uniques from this time last year!
BUT I HATE HEARING FOLKS TELL ME THAT IT LOOKS LIKE POOPY AS A FIRST IMPREESION!
Don't think that doesn't take a toll on me!
Looking for middle ground I guess!
Any suggestions in that direction?
Once again! My home page, although well travelled, is NOT in my top 5 ENTRANCE pages!
It's a search engine hound for GOOG!
I really, truly appreciate your input and thank you for the lack of " ice pack needed " posts.
Take a look at the left hand shared nav and tell me if it doesn't sectionalize things a bit better now!
I would love to have a nave in each page that gave me a :
home page > interors > baths > bathroom remodeling nav links, but --- And a BIG BUT --- I started building this thing 8 years ago and wish I knew then, what I know NOW!
Thank you for your input and I hope that you will provide more!
jimmy
_____________________________
JimmyMac
"Your Local Hard Working Remodeling Guy"
http://www.StartRemodeling.com
jimmy@startremodeling.com
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RemodelingGuy
Posts: 172
From: Houston, Texas
Status: offline
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RE: Busiest PR6 site on the planet! - 5/22/2006 0:27:09
I took a look at your site!
VERY Professional!
Shame about that PR4!
At least you're indexed.
See ya in six months.
If I had to do all over again, I'd change eveything.
But I started 8 years ago and "messed" things up 27 times before I figured out what worked!
Too late to change thousands of pages of content now!
I wish you the best of luck with your site!
_____________________________
JimmyMac
"Your Local Hard Working Remodeling Guy"
http://www.StartRemodeling.com
jimmy@startremodeling.com
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