review please!

[vtsales]

I was hoping you guys could review my site and give me your opinions. Please think like a consumer as well as a business owner.

From a consumer's point of view what attracts your attention and what am I missing?

From a business owner's point of view would you be proud to call this site yours?

www.ReliableAmerican.us

[smixel]

First thing I noticed in the chinsy links on the left side, the ones that start with >>. Next, you have to read down the headers to find out what you do -- and that's not good.

From the business perpsective your site doesn't cut it, in my humble opinion. All of your links don't work, especially the past work and credential ones. You have a services page come up under two different navigation buttons, but it's only appliable to one of them. You have buried links in your copy that you haven't highlighted and can only be found by accident.

From a consumer perspective -- your site doesn't give me any confidence in your company at all. You offer me the opportunity, only because I happened to drag the cursor across a link, to select from all kinds of sloped tile, but no such information from the other types of roofing you say you do.

Hope this helps.

Kent Capener
http://www.capenerconsulting.com

[vtsales]

Duh! The links don't work cause it's a work in progress. Thanks for the advice about not noticing the links on the left side. What would you suggest as a replacement?

Not sure what ya mean about the service page coming up under two different navigations. Can you be more specific?

Which burried links are you discussing? All links should be a different color than the normal text. Can you tell me which links on what page?

Again the site is a work in progress so not all the links work. If you click services we offer, you will see all the types ofservices we offer and roofs we install. If you click roofing you will see more about the types of roofing we install.

Please be constructive offering solutions not just destructive comments.

[smixel]

On the page with residential construction services the word "shingles" is a link and not highlighted. On the site map the services link is not highlighted.

I would really like to see a slogan or statement in broad terms that tells the viewer what you are. I've attached a simple idea to show you what I mean.

Hope you take these more positive.

Kent Capener

[REdDemonSA]

Hi! I think your webdesign is pretty good. It's clean, easy to figure out, and definitely gives you that warm, all-American feeling.

Comment / suggestion, however, would be:

Remember that "fewer clicks are better." The guidelines I've seen say that a user should never have to click more than 3 times to get what they want, and every click is another chance that they will decide to give up and leave. So, deeply leveled navigation schemes are right out - you want to go with shallow.

So, for instance, on your Who We Are page - when I got there, I then had to choose from 3 more links before I got any information. Perhaps instead of the first link (Who We Are) leading to nothing but 3 more links, what about having the Who We Are page have very basic info on all 3 topics, with a "More Info" link on each that leads to the fully fleshed out page?

I.e.,
"Who We Are - In business for XX years, XX years experience......click here for more info"
"Call us at 800-555-5555.... click here for complete contact info"
"Service Area - serving the greater XXX area.... click here to see a map / area list"

Something along that line.

Otherwise, I think you've got the right idea. You're keeping it simple and clean, clear and easy to read. Friendly and informative, no obnoxious flashing animations! Great job and good luck!

[cwneri]

I think the site is fairly well done. I personally like the text links on the left, instead of graphics. Text links are much better for people who have a hard time seeing web sites, by default they look for underlined text.

Karen

[vtsales]

Excellent points of view. I will look into them.