|
|  |
| |
|
| | The Minding Your Own Business Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | Views: 2471 | | Feb 22, 2006 2:45 am | | Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Jan Verhoeff | | I've read a lot of comments here (on various Ryze networks) about non-professional sites as compared to professional ones.
I've been building sites and working the internet for several years now, and I've seen everything from the mega ad sites wrapped a bodacious colors and huge letters to highly colorized poetry sites that just share a message and a lot of popups to ultra white stylized sites with tiny print and so much techno language it's hard to read through them... Makes me wonder what is professional and who determines what it means to be professional.
I've seen some very professional looking "template" sites that had effective copy and a good basic business to offer. They were obviously owner created on a budget, but they worked well. Some of those were free sites, set up on free servers with limited funds available, and were making money.
My question is - for those of us who can't afford to hire someone to create our sites, what tips would be most beneficial for us to put in our sites to indicate professionalism?Private Reply to Jan Verhoeff | | Feb 22, 2006 9:18 pm | | Jan: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Biana Babinsky | | Jan,
Let's start with these ideas:
- Your own domain and web hosting.
- Clean, clear, consistent design. Good color combinations.
- Consistent navigation.
- Web pages that are not crowded, and don't have 234 offers on each.
- Clear and concise copywriting.
Anyone wants to add to the list?
Biana Babinsky
Learn How to Market Your Business Online
http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/free_newsletter.htmlPrivate Reply to Biana Babinsky | | Feb 26, 2006 2:09 pm | | re: Jan: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
D Kai Wilson | | More content than advertising
NO MUSIC or flashing images dominating the page.
Tech that works - I can't stand it when I get warnings saying that (x javascript needs debugged) or you see an error message for PHP.
I also think that the colour combinations point is pushing it slightly - not every monitor 'sees' the same colours, even websafe believe it or not (I see it between my partner's laptop and my own monitors) so as long as its not GARISH - I don't mind. Clashing colours for certain things is also ok (given I'm a photographer and artist that might sound a bit silly, but sometimes using really good contrast, non matching colours that don't HURT the eyes is a good way to emphasise). Not to mention that colour is, to a certain degree, highly subjective.
:)
Its important though, to remmeber that not everyone has access to the means to do all of this, so its also good to make sure that those of us that are professionals in the design and webhosting business are approachable and can evangelise well :D.
Kai
http://kaiskorner.com
Blogging tech in the 'spherePrivate Reply to D Kai Wilson | | Feb 26, 2006 3:22 pm | | re: re: Jan: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Jerry Lim | | More content than advertising
NO MUSIC or flashing images dominating the page.
actually lotsa corporate websites are Guilty of the above!!
Private Reply to Jerry Lim | | Feb 26, 2006 3:25 pm | | re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Jerry Lim | | Hmm, would I dare call each and every person's Ryze profile a mini-website? Private Reply to Jerry Lim | | Mar 01, 2006 11:00 am | | re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Lily Robinson | | Fast page loads
Beneficial content
NO pop-ups/unders etc.
Nothing that traps you on the site(a site with a back button thats operable)
A site (if non-commercial) that offers everything pretty much free
___________________________________________________
Add your business to http://www.Wuraweb.com free. Private Reply to Lily Robinson | | Mar 12, 2006 2:25 am | | re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Kurt Schweitzer | | Jan,
In my opinion, the number one thing differentiating professional from non-professional websites is good design. By this I mean:
* Evidence that someone actually THOUGHT about how the site looks.
* Words and images that work together to convey the MESSAGE of the site.
* NO DISTRACTIONS. Distractions are anything that get in the way of the message, from poor font choices to browser-dependent coding to reliance on plug-ins to broken coding.
* Consistency, especially on multi-page websites. Each page should look like it belongs with the others.
On top of all this an EFFECTIVE website needs good copywriting in addition to good design.
Kurt SchweitzerPrivate Reply to Kurt Schweitzer | | Mar 13, 2006 2:42 pm | | re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Jan Verhoeff | |
I'm finding it more difficult to post pages on domain sites, not sure if it's the servers I've selected or what - but the pages I've posted pop up and are quickly replaced with the original data on their site.
I've contacted them and I'm not getting much help. This has been going on for a while now. today I pulled the site down - and am going to try to up load again. I am using their FTP upload service - any suggestions?
(BTW - Thanks for all the suggestions, I've incorporated most of them into my newly designed site.)
My domain is http://www.janverhoeff.com
Jan
http://janverhoeffonline.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Jan Verhoeff | | Mar 13, 2006 6:25 pm | | re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Sarah Lewis | | Hi, Jan—
It looks like there's something strange in the setup with your host. I'll be glad to help you figure it out over PM if you're interested.
SarahPrivate Reply to Sarah Lewis | | Mar 13, 2006 7:02 pm | | re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Reg Charie | | Hi Jan,
When I went to your site I saw a message:
www.janverhoeff.com
This page is parked at iDotz.Net!
This means that you need to change your name servers. (At the place where you
registered your domain name), to reflect the correct name servers of your
hosting company.
At the moment, your domain is using the name servers of iDotz.net, hence the
"parked" notice.
Reg
DotCom-Productions
Webmaster's Resource
MetaCryL - Business Promotion - FREE - 38 Days of eBooks.
0Grief - Zero Grief Hosting.
The Nothing Page - As it says, a place to do
nothing.
Private Reply to Reg Charie | | Mar 23, 2006 5:29 pm | | re: re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Jan Verhoeff | | okay - I have a couple of pages loaded and working correctly, but I'm still having trouble with them reading right on "netscape browsers" - they are all 'off the frame' on one, and the other one has some stuff overlapping on the screen. Monitor sizes seem to be the difference.
And my hair is falling out in a strange twisted pattern... ARGH
Jan Verhoeff
http://janverhoeff.com
Private Reply to Jan Verhoeff | | Mar 24, 2006 7:29 am | | re: re: re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Jerrilynn Thomas, Founder WomenPartner Int'l | | Hi Jan,
I'm jumping into the virtual conversation to say that your site looks great! I can relate to your wanting to pull your hair out. I've been building my mega site for the past few months. When I think that I have a problem solved, another one crops up. It's the nature of the beast.
Jerrilynn B. Thomas
International Virtual Women's Chamber of Commerce
http://www.ivwcc.orgPrivate Reply to Jerrilynn Thomas, Founder WomenPartner Int'l | | Mar 24, 2006 3:41 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Jan Verhoeff | | Thanks Jerrilynn,
I'm still uploading pages. I keep finding that specific sections of my pages don't translate from my page creator to the internet. So complete sections are missing from some of my pages (as you see them - like my shopping cart currently ARGH) but I'm slowly getting them translated so they show up. My newsletter signup is now visible and working :) I'm happy (for the moment).
I know I shall be a lot smarter about html when I'm done than I was when I started.
Today - I actually pulled an entire page off and copy pasted it to where I want the code (the way I want it) and it worked. I'm so impressed with myself!!! I've been dancing with my phone all morning!!!
But... it's still tax season, so I'm still fending off tax clients and accomplishing miracles for IRS too.... LOL
Multi-tasking at it's best.
Jan Verhoeff
http://janverhoeff.comPrivate Reply to Jan Verhoeff | | Mar 26, 2006 7:36 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Michele Lupino | | For those working on a really tight budget and can't afford much. I use www.freewebs.com you can use the free version or you can get the unlimited version for $4.95 a month. For those that don't understand the whole making a webpage and website they have really nice templates to use and you just put in the words. You can then purchase your own domain name they suggest godaddy.com or stay with the name they give you like I have. I have received alot of business from my sites. So I presonally don't think it matters if it is a free site or a professional site it is all about how you promote your business. Yes, shorter domain names are better but my clients all know my web address and I have alot of people who do so changing it at this time would not be a good move for me. But you have to figure out what is best for you. The only othr problem I see with freewebs is that if you are selling products your choice is Money orders, Personal Checks or Paypal.
Michele
Creme de la Little Creme Family AdventurePrivate Reply to Michele Lupino | | Apr 25, 2006 12:08 pm | | re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Andrew Lang | | For me the most important aspects are simple, but worth repeating:-
- compelling, easy-to-understand content that is accurate without spelling mistakes
- fast loading pages
- easy to navigate site
- avoid sound, Flash, and other gimmicks. It is no longer 1997.
- clear images
- don't put too much content on any page
- use plain English, avoid jargon
- avoid cliches - they give a tired feel to the site
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Andrew Lang
puresilva.com
Website Developer Private Reply to Andrew Lang | | Jun 04, 2006 10:56 am | | re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Ron Amundson | | It is common practice, that a plumber will often times have poor plumbing in his home, but there is no excuse for a business to have an unprofessional website. Doing so, when it comes to a business webpage is a credibility killer. If you sell widget A, then your page should be about widjet A, not a link farm for 50 million outfits selling everything but widget A. The same applies when it comes to services. If you provide coaching, don't advertise window washing all over your page.
A business webpage should reflect the capabilities of its owners, not detract from them.
The exception it seems may be SEO service firms. I've seen way too many with no SEO on their page, low page rank, and virtually no effort made to increase search viability. To me, this seems really contradictory to offer services, and then explicitly not use them yourself. Perhaps its an issue with protecting their IP, but it sure seems screwey. Maybe an SEO guru could jump in as to why this would be the case.
RonPrivate Reply to Ron Amundson | | Jun 04, 2006 4:20 pm | | re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Reg Charie | | Ron,
A LOT of SEO firms use "black hat" methods to achieve top rankings for their clients and are smart enough to not use the same on their own sites.
Competition in this area is high and competitors will sometimes resort to unethical methods to get competing sites banned from the search engines.
This also happens in the affiliate sales arena.
Michele,
There are a couple of problems using free sites.
One is the matter of credibility and trust.
If you are asking people to buy from you, then you must establish a certain level of credibility.
Using a free site tells people that you do not have the confidence in your business to invest the 5 bucks a month to have your own domain.
A good part of running an online business is metrics, or tracking the site's performance. To this end it is necessary to have good stats packages, which I doubt free sites provide.
Freewebs looks like a good deal on the surface but when you evaluate what you get, it is much less than you need.
RegPrivate Reply to Reg Charie | | Jun 05, 2006 4:03 pm | | re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Paul Powell | | Jan,
I am very design challenged, but I find that being myself produces the most effective sites. I try to be honest about what features whatever I am promoting has and pick colors that are not too distracting (but get attention) as many said above. Sometimes I wish I could be more flashy, but I really think that my non-professional pages catch people's eyes as well because they are not the same as everyone else. My main advice - be yourself!
Have a great day,
Paul
paul@ez-web-biz.com
http://moneygenerator.150m.com/Steps.htmlPrivate Reply to Paul Powell | | Jul 29, 2006 1:24 am | | re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
D&A | | Professional and Non-professional websites can depend upon your business needs and how much you can afford for your website as well as functionality required. Some websites do a great job with animations and depth in flash etc.. an may not have content or theme.
A simple website reflecting the needs of the business and easy enough for an average user to navigate may suffice and it may not matter if it is professionally design or not as long it communicates the theme and message along with the business needs.
Should you ever have any questions or need help feel free to contact us.
Rama
http://DadiAssociates.com – We build websites and provide business applications consulting
Also visit - http://IndiaOnlineToday.com – Online portal based in USA.
Private Reply to D&A | | Jul 29, 2006 4:05 am | | re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Jill | | There are alot of interesting comments here but what no one has brought up is that what you like is not necessarily what someone else likes.
For example:
Most of you clearly do not like flash. I on the other hand do and have a flash site.
Pictures - some people have pics of themself on their site. Great if it is a professional/business picture. But some of the pics out there? What exactly are you selling? If you don't look professional in that picture you are going to lose customers. Better to have no picture.
Ads - Me, I leave a page immediately when I see a tone of "google ads" and affiliate links because to me if someone has all this extra stuff on their site I don't take them serious as a business capable of standing on their own (yes I realize that you can make some money from those links but how many potential clients have you lost because they see your site as 1 big informercial and move on to your competitor's site?)
Jill
http://www.virtualprofessional.caPrivate Reply to Jill | | Jul 29, 2006 1:37 pm | | re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Jan Verhoeff | | Hi Jill,
I didn't realize this thread was still moving along.
I've been updating and revising several of my sites. I noticed your opposition to google. ads. I do have some on my sites. But many of my sites are selling product not services, so Sales is a big issue for me.
Content speaks volumes in the secondary businesses, and that brings in clients for google, and other products that require ads. Many of my articles are selling ONE product. They work.
I'm not fond of flash, but I also don't dislike it particularly. I feel there needs to be a specific purpose for it - not simply to "take up my time". If it's got a point - use it, if not, don't waste my time.
Several of the people who specifically dislike some certain aspect of site building, build sites that provide opposing features. That's called personal preference. I'm a writer, content is my JOY of Joys. So flash and other content limiting features probably are not going to grab my attention.
Then there are those sites that do nothing, go nowhere, and you wonder what they're up for.
Before I take it down to put up the 'real site' (which has most if not all of the same information on it and SO MUCH MORE) I thought I'd pass along my son's version of an advertising site. The content was ready made - all he had to do was "spiff it up, add color, and MAKE IT UGLY" because I needed an example of what NOT to do - for a client discussion. My son is 11. The site is http://brandyourmarket.com
Visit fast - I should be loading the new site by Tuesday or Wednesday. (Notice key words, links, etc. are much the same as the real site... But the Colors and Fonts are all that is jacked around. So, it's already getting some webcrawler action.)
Blessings,
Jan
Private Reply to Jan Verhoeff | | Jul 29, 2006 2:16 pm | | re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Colleen Connery | | As a marketing professional, I feel it's important to add to this string that most folks have replied with their own personal opinions. Jan, what we all think doesn't really matter. What matters is the audience (target market) in which the website was intended.
To Flash or not to Flash...that's a great question. Again, what does your target market for that website want to see?
All websites should have a "professional" appearance or you will loose folks. There's no doubt. But you can have a professional looking site that's clean, well written, SEO'd, and so on, without hiring someone, or by hiring someone to do basics for a low fee. There's always ways to keep a website professional looking, even if you don't have a lot of money.
Ads on the sites? Well, how does your target market feel about that for that site? I'm sure the answers to each of these questions varies depending on the actual site, it's content, and it's target market.
For example, we built a website for a plumber. They definitely don't need a flash site. They need it SEO'd very well. It's language on the site needs to be very direct and to the point without a lot of marketing fluff. And no ads because their tarket market is usually looking at their site at a time when they are in an emergency. It's a reactive sort of business, not proactive. So, the website is very basic. It works for them, and really well. It's not something that we've "designed" to look pretty, or get the award for best designed site. It's not...but it makes the client money, and that's all that matters.
We have another client who deals with making swimming pools, rock formations around pools...basically a beautiful environment for a big house. Their site HAD to be beautiful...that was the point. It had to be SEO'd. We contemplated ads, but realized for this audience it wasn't appropriate after surveying clients.
We have a client who's selling her first children's book. We had to use Flash elements, because the target market is kids. They love movement. We needed to use lots of colour, we used a solution that provided us with good SEO opportunities, and the content...well, it's about the book, not really marketing oriented, which is what works for this particular client and generating sales for her.
Every website is different. It's content is different. It's intent is different. It's target marketing (should be) different. So, why think in black and white (professional vs non-professional)? It's about what will make the most money for that particular owner/website.
I hope this helps.
Cheers, Colleen
President/Creative Director
CoCo & Associates, Inc.
www.cocoassociates.com Private Reply to Colleen Connery | | Jul 29, 2006 3:11 pm | | re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Jan Verhoeff | | Actually, what we each think and feel about web design does count, in that we attract clients who have similar values.
For instance, in my business, the majority of my clients want content on their sites. I've written a few minimalist sites, which were SEO'd very well, and get their share of attention, but most are content oriented. They also are SEO'd very well, and come very high on the list in search engines.
The bottom line is - you attract the kind of clients who can appreciate your work. So you work has to be 'appreciable' to your niche.
Ron, for instance has a dynamic site, for what he does, it works well. Your site is particularly appealing, although - even doing very similar types of work, I probably would not call you to do my site. I would probably refer clients to you when I realized that what I do isn't what they want. Because you offer something totally different.
The bottom line is - get the job done, meet the client's needs, and be effective.
The professional vs non-professional question was in reference to a lot of "complaints" from so called professionals who indicated that my sites looked like a mom/pop development did them. Well, I'm a mom/pop kind of business. I make a bit more, work fewer hours, but it's from home and I like my work. I've developed sites for several non- mom/pop businesses though, because my work is professional.
I love these forums... I get to brag, share, and compare, with friends! And I find so many similar companies to refer clients to when I don't choose to do the services or am overwhelmed with work.
Blessings,
Jan
Private Reply to Jan Verhoeff | | Aug 03, 2006 10:41 pm | | re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Simon Cherkasski | | To get the best of any advertisement (web site is a form of good interactive ad) it must show the advantages of your business.
Same as K-mart suit that will not necessarily compliment your body, and a tailor made one.
Templates are cheap solution same as K-mart clothing.
I have more then 25% of customer who all ready have "sites" and realize that its not working.
Some times if a template are good you can ask your designer to personalize for your needs, it will save you some money. Private Reply to Simon Cherkasski | | Aug 04, 2006 7:00 pm | | re: Jan: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # | 
Ande Carr | | I would like to add to the list. My website is not the greatest out there or near it I'm sure, but I was on a limited budget. What I did was start out with one thing and kept improving it. The first thing is to not be too hard on yourself starting out, it will take away from the fun of building your website. One of the things I did to improve the professionalism of my site was to look at other templates a find out what colors looked professional and what went well together. Then I looked at the layouts of other website and decided which layout would be the best for the info I was trying to present. I used the "Yahoo Pagebuilder" to build my website. You don't need to know html and you can't build a nice website quickly for free. Hopefully that helps, don't forget to have fun.
AT Private Reply to Ande Carr | | Aug 30, 2006 3:00 pm | | re: re: re: Professional Sites vs. Non-Professional Sites | # |
Beth Rogers | | First of all, your son did an EXCELLENT job of 'making it ugly'(LOL) - but it's amazing how many real sites look very similar to that one.
Besides all the other great advice already given here, I'd like to add something - make sure you check your site in different browsers, and get friends on different computers and operating systems to check it on theirs' as well. Sometimes a site can look great in one browser, and look horrible or not work at all on another.
I like the header you've got on your site- the lime image is a good choice for your tag line. Your color choices are unusual, but good - I think I might even go with the 'high impact' text color as your link colors- it certainly pulls attention to itself.
BethPrivate Reply to Beth Rogers | | Aug 30, 2006 6:40 pm | | General guidelines for website design. | # |
Reg Charie | | I've been doing sites for over 10 years and IMO
these are the rules to follow:
KISS - Keep it simple superman.
Content is king.
Here is what I do when starting a site from scratch.
I find out my client's keywords and do some research on
www.nichebot.com to find out how
many times in the last 12 months the term has been searced for. I also
investigate alternative terms to see if they would be searched for more often.
Once the keyword phrases have been decided the focus of the content is apparent.
I then work with the client to get the copy to present the keyword phrases to
best effect.
In this process we also investigate the domain names available.
If at all possible it is best from a SEO perspective to incorporate the primary
keyword phrase in the domain name.
We try to keep the domain name to two words and use a hyphen to separate them as
the search engines read hyphens as spaces and it defines each word.
Then we setup the hosting.
I host using my own professionally maintained co-located server in a $100
million server facility connected to a major internet backbone. Basic accounts
start at $5.95 and incorporate everything a successful site needs to host and
monitor visitor use. (metrics) My hosting supplies 5 different metrics programs.
Each account gets way more space and bandwidth than they will ever use unless
they get a "Super Hit" site. (In this case it is easy to upgrade.)
All user management is done in cPanel which gives access to all settings, stats,
and webmail.
Since the majority of my current work is done in the open source (free) content
system CRELoaded, I urge my client to strongly consider this platform.
Once installed and setup, and with a bit of training the client can add to or
modify their own site all without the need for a webmaster. (Sounds like I just
talked myself out of a job eh?) I have a work at home grandmother with
very limited computer experience running her own online store in it, so it is a
good choice.
Besides offering the client easy website modifications, CRE has many features as
it is built to manage customers, stores, articles, affiliate programs,
advertising, and more.
Once the platform is determined, (html or CRE in PHP/MySQL), a basic site is
setup, layout determined, (I favor full screen fluid displays), and colors
selected.
KISS> A small logo is preferred to maximize content display. about 100 pixels
high max.
Primary navigation along the top, secondary navigation to the top left under the
header.
The primary keywords are used in a heading tag in the header beside the logo.
This can be in the form of a slogan. This position is chosen as it is the first
thing the search engines read.
The client has, by this time, done the copy for the mainpage, which should be
written around the keyword phrases and structured to present the benefits first.
(To satisfy the "what's in this page for me" that visitors are looking for.)
If the page was selling "widgets" the first line would read something like:
"Searching for top quality cheap widgets?"
Then it would say something similar to:
We have every widget you can use at a price that cannot be beat.
The page would then list a sampling of widgets preferably in a bulleted list. If
not in a list, then as a description.
More descriptive text is used to bring the page to about 200 - 300 words. The
page is finished off with a call to action or links to purchase the
products/services.
Links on the site should be done in text. Graphic buttons are not good for the
search engines without a lot of extra work.
A professional site should have the main page, an about us page, (this page
discusses the owner, not the business), a contact page using a form and not with
the email address to click on), a privacy policy, terms of use, (if necessary),
shipping policy, and of course product pages. Each page has their own keyword,
description, and title tags incorporating the appropriate keywords.
If there are a number of products/services a general product description page is
warranted to make it easy for the visitor to choose.
Each of these pages has the appropriate tags also.
Once the site is done it is linked from a site with good PR, (Page Rank), so
that the search spiders find it.
In general, I frown on flash, will not use flashing, scrolling, blinking,
anything.
Animated flash just detracts the user from the content. If you are not going to
make it animated, then a graphic should be used.
(To Jan who said: "We have a client who's selling her first children's book. We
had to use Flash elements, because the target market is kids. They love
movement.")
While this is true, and pages should be done for the kids, it is the parents who
buy.
If a site is done completely in flash, then it will not get ranked in the search
engines as, for their spiders, it has 0 content. The same holds for pages done
in frames.
If you write for people and satisfy their reasons
to go to your site, the SEO falls into place with little effort and good search
rankings will follow.
Having a site that makes buying easy is most important.
Reg
First page SEO
results.
Content Management Systems, SEO, Design, Marketing, and
webmaster's resource .
MetaCryL - Business Promotion - We JV.
Interested?
 -
Zero Grief Budget Hosting - World Class Support
See my
Ryze Network, "Telling it Straight". Private Reply to Reg Charie | | |
| |
| |
