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Hi all, please take a look at www.bsetukhosts.co.uk? It's my fisrt effort so please be gentle! I know there isn't much in the way of database content, but that will increase gradualy. I was hoping more for advice on look/layout/functionality/information I should include. As you can probably tell I've got a bit of experience working with Database driven content but have little knowledge of design etc.
Thanks
Sorry all, it would help if I type the URL correctly! It's www.bestukhosts.co.uk
Well being gentle as you requested, my advice is, hire a designer. Start over and get a pro to build the site, if you're serious about a hosting biz. Many of your clients are going to be web developers looking for a host they can recommend of resell to their clients, and you won't get many nibbles with a site that looks like that one. Particularly because the biz you've chosen is so overflowing with competition.
There is no design there to speak of. Too much text. You sorely need some graphics to highlite your most important selling point. Let us see immediately what you offer and where we can go to find out more about it. What makes you unique and why should I transfer my domains to your partners. What is your personal recommendation based on your personal experience.
Offer us an interesting FAQ page where we can get some useful information about web hosting and what we should be looking for in a host. After all, if we're on your site, we're there for information. We want someone with authority and knowledge to lead us to our dream come true. Let us know that you are that authority.
We have about 5 seconds to grab the reader's attention and after that we've lost them and they won't be back.
In your 'find a domain' page I have to email you with more information? I think not. There are plenty of places I can go to get the information I need immediately so why should I wait a day, 2 days to hear back from you?
Your site colors are not very friendly. You need to lighten things up. It's dreary in there.
I hope you don't take this a s site bashing, it is intended to help you move your site forward.
This brings up an issue I see pretty often. Having both a Business and a CS degree, I see a bit of a trend that programmers build sites that are design challenged, but work great and designers build sites that are functionally challenged, but look great (this is a generalization, since I know a designer with an graphic arts degree that is very technically savvy.) I tell my Web Design students to find their strengths and let someone else do the other parts. Personally, I consider myself a pretty lousy graphics/photography person, and I let my clients know it!
Yes, and like any generalization there are always exceptions, but I've observed precisely the same thing as you have, to the letter. I can usually tell by this time, as soon as i open the site, which of the 2 designed it. And when the site is a visual masterpiece, I've come to expect poor code, and vice versa.
My visual observation is the page is way to busy ..... to much text and not enough visual capturing details like colour and pics ...
Also not easy to navigate and find stuff ...
but fabulous first attempt ... tweak, modify and test ..