Updated website. Need advice

[nstacey]

Hi,

This isn't a new website, but I have made a lot of changes recently. What I need help with is the usability of the site. The site doesn't get picked up very easily by search engines and i'm wondering if I have made it too complicated. I am more than happy with the general look of the site, but it maybe has a 'thrown together' feel to me.

Any advice from you experts would be great.

My site is www.nolonstacey.com

[RicardoFL]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Nice design, a lot of work you had with it.

Its good to see people making efforts do jump over the fence to do more and better rejecting the "fast to be on-line" with no care about some design good looking.

Just a suggestion, change the color of your scrool bars to a more smouth cor according to the page/section.

Keep up the good work.

Ricardo

[nstacey]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Thanks Ricardo,

I did notice that the colour of the scroll bar seems to depend on the settings of the individual computer. Is this right? On my computer they are gray and match the page, but other computers show them as blue.

[aconstas1]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

The site worked really well for me. I see the scroll bars the same color as the rest of the page. Are those computer generated drawings? I see machines in the malls that take a picture and generate those type of pictures in a graphite form.

[nstacey]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

No, they are all my own work. Just a few pencils and a bit of paper! I'll take that as a compliment though!!

[SAman]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

WOW! Not only are you a great artist, but your site is so well done I would think one of those high dollar compnies had done it!! That must be the artist coming out again. I can only dream........

[SChajin]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Good job, very well done.

[aconstas1]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Very impressive. Well done.

[Patience]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Mama mia!! What talent. Beautiful artwork and beautiful site.

I'm afraid some of the font colors are difficult to see. For example: "click to visit my blog" Other than that, I see perfection!

[nstacey]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Thanks Mike. Believe me, there is nothing in my site that can't be easily done with blueVoda. I have no website experience whatsoever. I just knew what I wanted my site to do and trawled the tutorials and forums looking for how to do it. It certainly took time though!

Hi Vicki, I can see what you mean about the font colours. They stand out well on my laptop but I just checked on another computer and they are harder to see. I will address that.

[ace5548]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Very nice looking site. Looks like you won't become the "norm" for site building. I like it very much.

[Vasili]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

I remember when you first published.....my! You have done some tweaking!

When it comes to simpler sites (I am always happy to see the style defined, personally), the focus always gets thrown back to the finest of details, and the absoluteness of your construct: both of the site itself, and the configured relevancy that is paramount to providing a measurable "reference rank" to the SE's as they determine the value of the site as a credible resource for Client Searches......that's their whole job, is to throw the best reliable results they can "determine" to those who use the search engines!

Everything from proper titling of your images (for instance, you picture on your index page is named merely "pigs" when it would be more 'valuable' to expand on it somewhat: possibly "hand_drawn_farm_pigs_posing.jpg" or something....do you see the difference?) becomes exponentially more significant: Naming images and elements in addition to a reduced content helps build overall relevance in consistent bits that fit together perfectly, "stretched" a bit, but more important individually to the whole.

Mention was made about the use of text in scroll boxes.....this too, is a definitive detraction from the scoring of your Content. Even if you had 10 keywords on your page tags, the chances of them mirroring what the SE's bother to spider items (which is what your text is now considered) within an element (scrollbox or not, it is still seen as a "hard" element, as would be a button or an object) are considerably slimmer than if they were trimmed even more and left as plain text!
>> Therein lies the rub: when does simplicity and visual appeal become a construct of depreciation? To what extent is the purpose of the site* diminished from functioning properly? What balance is deemed appropriate for all parties (creator, Search Engines and their logic, Search clients, site visitors, site clients)?
If your website depends more on traffic being generated by your own traditional marketing and promotional efforts than casual and random surfers, then SE results are not as compelling to force compliance. If, however, your site is more than 30% dependent on whatever traffic is delivered via www positioning (typically seen in reatail sites, as there are more of them selling similar offers) and greater emphasis is placed on methods of conversion, then you will be forced to forsake much of your original design by adding rich Content and higher "scoring" elements within the construct itself (as well as a greater degree of absolute perfection of hard construct....the very precision of layout and what is used to "build it").

This very simple concept of "Perfect Page" is seeming incredibly difficult to describe, but so crucial to website recognition, promotion, and referential importance. I tend to believe that most "webbies" are myopically focused on "SE rank" rather than perfected site purpose and complete construct compliance: real results come to those sites that are deserving, and usually no sooner than 6-9 months....although it is possible to score high initially (mostly by artificial methods), but..... the key is sustaining it!

Content is King, but you can't reign without Rules (SE rules, that is! LOL) Perfect Page = Perfect Construct First, Then Perfected Content (relevancy)

But, like all the other long-winded posts I write from time to time, it is my sole "opinion" that I share, and you are free to choose your own path to success!

* Purpose of a site: like in any real, stable business geared for success, websites need a detailed plan, not only of static design, but of conceptual cohesiveness as well. Without a uniqeness that serves a viable function or need, a site is doomed to languish due to poor performance based on abstracts and not true importance. If a site is to do something specific, make sure it is clearly defined and enabled to perform it's "mission" and not confused with pervasive personal perspectives, which matters not on the internet as much as overall site acceptance and attributes!

For instance (to illustrate contrasting schemes), my site is totally dependent on offline traditional promotional efforts, to both keep the volume lower (manageable) and to allow for the quality time for each project.....totally a "non-compliant" site, but very successful nonetheless!

[Vasili]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Sorry! I got timed out before I realized I put a comma in the hyperlink to My Site....please! Take a look and see how it makes my point above: not only is the site "simple" but I have simplified the "purpose" intentionally, to get specific results...

[nstacey]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Thanks for the indepth reply Vasili. I'm not sure I understood all of what you said there, but I got the gist of it. I think the problem is that my website needs to be a lot of things; it needs to be an online portfolio, a biography, a shop, and needs to have enough art content to encourage repeat visiting. I can see what you mean about renaming pages and images - I never really thought of the effect the name of an image would have on searches.

[Collectors-info]

Re: Updated website. Need advice

Hi! Done a real nice job on your site. Would be nice if the scroll bars were the same colour. But I believe this is more to do with different browsers. I’m viewing in fire fox & they have a blue tint to them on my screen.
Something you may like to play with for another project at a later date is this bit of software on the link below. It’s still in its test stage at the moment, but can see it being very useful for many artists that wish to sell on line. Try the pay pal shopping cart link http://www.shozam.com/examples/index.htm

Good luck.