Please review my 2 sites

All Forums >> [Web Design] >> Site Critiques

Message

rugrotts -> Please review my 2 sites (1/13/2007 7:20:14)
Hi I am just a great grandmother and have made a couple of sites on my interests. I hope you don't mind reviewing them as I am not a website developer. The first site is my genealogy hobby. My genealogy program generates all the data base pages but all so very boring so I went in to pretty them up and add a few other details. I used DWT's for only 6 pages as there are over 1000 and is impossible to attach them all. Also I am constantly updating it and the program wipes out my changes. The website is http://www.robinsancestry.com My second site is just starting so I don't have all the links up yet but thought I would get some comments in advance. It is my dog site. I have had to use frames to keep the music, and yes I know all techs hate music but doggy people don't mind. The only links that work at the moment are HOME, GUESTBOOK and RAINBOW BRIDGE. The site is http://www.reichmeisterrotts.com Thank you for your valuable time. Rob

jaybee -> RE: Please review my 2 sites (1/13/2007 9:18:07)
These are both hobby sites so whatever floats your boat. If they were business sites then by now I'd have a page and a half of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!s The genealogy site is OK, I'd prefer it without the music but hey that's me. At least you've given me a way to turn it off which is good. The design is quite nice and not OTT for the subject. The dog site................ I'm speechless. Splash pages annoy me, they have no use, are of no value whatsoever to search engines and just use up valuable web space, bandwidth and clicks. A splash page with a barking dog that you have to click to go any further is a pet hate (ha ha geddit?) Once in the site those darn barking dogs are everywhere. The music doesn't add anything to the site, it's not even dog related. You can tell it's your first real site. For some strange reason everybody's first site looks pretty much like that. Stuff in as many gimmicks as you can find. I have to say one you missed is falling doggy choc drops which I'm sure you can find on the web if you try. Heck if you're going for kitsch then really go for it. You obviously want something fun and I hope your visitors enjoy it but I have to say it's really not my cup of tea but well done for having a go. My Great Grandmother just knitted socks. PS. I love dogs. Just not barking ones on web pages.

rugrotts -> RE: Please review my 2 sites (1/13/2007 21:41:35)
Hi Jaybee Thanks for your input. No, the dog site isn't for everyone. Just dog breeders, puppy buyers and ordinary people. It isn't my first site. I had another dog site which I did about a year and a half ago. I dismantled it because it was just that. Just another dog site. I wanted something entirely different. I am not a sock knitter but a retired accountant and not new to computers. I had the first home IBM PC in 81 but used them for business long before that. Yes I am new to web design as I didn't have the time before I retired just a little over a year ago. I have almost completed a site for my dog club which I am president of. http://www.wcrc.org.au but it has a few "gadgets too. I have had a lot of compliments on it from the type of people that use it and that's what matters. I was mainly concerned with improving how the search engines would find them. I really don't like the "New age" business sites. I have stopped shopping over the net as it is just too frustrating trying to find anything. All these directories that takes hours to find just what you've googled for. The business sites now are geared just for other business people, not the average guy. Anyway thanks again for your input, we have entirely different views on things but that's what makes the world go round. Rob

jaybee -> RE: Please review my 2 sites (1/14/2007 6:58:36)

quote:

I was mainly concerned with improving how the search engines would find them.

Well in that case kill the splash page and put up a proper home page with content. What the site is about, what visitors can expect.

Work out the key search words and make sure they're used in the content. As far as the SEs are concerned, your splash page is nowhere. They like information they can use to work out what your site is about, no information, no ranking.

Your wcrc site is much more like it. The info is there up front and most important for me, doesn't keep barking at me. The only real problem with that one is that the graphics in the left bar could be cleaner and you seem to have two lots of metas in the page which won't help rankings.

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-au">
<meta name="keywords" content="Rottweiler, Western Australia, Rottweiler breeders, WA, Rottweiler puppies, Perth, Rottweiler training, Rottweiler photos, Rottweiler showing, Western Australia, WA, Perth, Club, Australia, West Coast, rottweiler club,rottweiler information, rottweiler dogs, rottweiler puppies for sale, rotweiler dog pictures, rottweiler rescue, about rottweilers, rottweiler clubs, raising a rottweiler puppy, breeders directory, canine, dogs, dog humour, shows, ethics, events ">
<meta name="description" content="West Coast Rottweiler Club of Western Australia Inc,Information on Rottweiler dogs, Rottweiler breeders,Rottweiler puppies, Rottweiler stud dogs, Rottweiler training,Rottweiler photos, Rottweiler showing, Rottweiler history, Rottweiler rescue, show results, rescue, humour and much more">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 6.0">
<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<!-- #BeginEditable "doctitle" -->
<title>West Coast Rottweiler Club of Western Australia Inc</title>
<meta name="keywords" content="Rottweiler, Western Australia, Clubs, Rottweiler breeders,Rottweiler puppies, Dogs, ">
<meta name="description" content="Rottweiler Club in Western Australia. Rottweiler Breeders and Rottweiler puppies.">
<!-- #EndEditable -->

</head>

I think my big problem with the barking dogs on your new site is that you can't turn them off as you can with the music. Anyone sneaking a quick look at your site whilst at work for example is going to get a bit of a shock when they arrive on the page and get music blasting all over the office then dogs barking when they try to move to another page. Maybe you could put a warning on there.

Page: [1]

0.046875