Please review my site

[alex1030]

Good afternoon,

My site is www.personalinjuryresourcecenter.com. It is a niche directory site that I have just started. I would like some pointers regarding layout and some artistic input. I have purposely kept it no-frills for ease of use. But of course I am concerned that no one will actually use the site to locate an attorney.

I think I need to "beef" it up or make it look more customer friendly.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

-Alex

[Marincky]

Re: Please review my site

Alex, when I click on any of the 'States' buttons I get no pages? Are you aware of this?

Your header moves position from page to page.

From your advertising packages page, the frequently asked questions links can't be accessed.

The links on the left of each page are not uniform, you have buttons for the first few links, then like a drop down list for the others.

I think you need a good tidy up here, especially for a site of this nature, sorry.

[alex1030]

Re: Please review my site

Thanks for your input I do appreciate it.

I am wondering, rather than spend years learning website design just put up a template. Can I easily modify a template purchased here? I've purchased frontpage templates in the past, but it was very difficult to work with. Are the BlueVoda templates more user friendly?

Thanks again,

Alex

[MADinMelbourne]

Re: Please review my site

Hi Alex, have you tried a background color, I agree with the 'beefing up' and sense that with a strong background color.. perhaps something timber-ish to give it an educational/study feel, and the photograph on the FAQ needs clearing up. Shame the links don't work yet to the states, keep at it and post a thread when that's happened. Good on you for providing quality information.

[whiteshepherd]

Re: Please review my site

hi ... I think you are off to a great start ... with a bit more work you will be there ...

a suggestion on the FAQs link would be not to link your questions on the menu bar but link it to a main page and list your questions as links if you like.

another thing that would help is adding a border around your work area and centring your pages in the browser. another thing to consider might be to drop the wideth of your pages and that would get rid a lot of your open spaces.

good luck with it ...

[AJ113]

Re: Please review my site

If you are intent on keeping the site no-frills for ease of ease (A philosophy I personally subscribe to whole-heartedly) you will not a template, with a few tweaks you will be there, but the tweaks are important, because it is attention to detail that separates you from the crowd.

[AJ113]

Re: Please review my site

....sorry, I hit the 'submit' button too early. My observations:

Your menu bar has a capital 'H' for home but the other items are lower case. Change them to match, either all caps or all lower case.

Your links for privacy policy, terms of use and disclaimer are all dead.

The titles for the areas of practice are not aligned. Some are hard left in the table, others are indented. Align them all together, and consider removing the underlines, as it makes them look like links.

The drop shadow on the headline text makes it look messy and the font is not very inspiring. Play about with some alternative fonts to see if you can get something a bit more attention-grabbing. Similarly the header background is too plain, it looks like a rush job. Check out the free Voda templates for something a bit more professional.

Center the site pages. (Page propeties/check the center in browser box)

Try pulling the page elements together by putting a border around them. You can do this by drawing a square shape with no shading. Make sure the shape is on the back layer. This will make the pages easier on the eye and it will make the site look more professional.

Although your site width is set at 1000 it is actually a bit wider, I have to scroll in order to view. This is probably due to the header combined with the image being a bit too wide.

[alex1030]

Re: Please review my site

Everyone,

Thank you for your comments, I will implement them by the end of the week. I am excited and encouraged by the feedback!

I do want to keep the site fairly simple for ease of use. The less busy the better. Does anyone know where I obtain an interactive map of the U.S. that can be easily dropped into the site?

Rather than have my listings with "State Buttons" I will put a "clickable" U.S. map on the site. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!

-Alex

[SAman]

Re: Please review my site

Ditto on what has been said. You are doing great. You have something ( a black line or box on the left side of your home page, you might want to check that and get rid of it, then when you center it you should be ok. There are alot of templates in BV or you can save yours a a template then when you modify it for a different page just do a save as. The page needs aleast a background color. Good Luck!

[sedona]

Re: Please review my site

Hi Alex,

I just did a google search for 'us maps clickable' and a ton came up including this one. (Not saying it's the best, just an example.)
Good luck....

[Aki]

Re: Please review my site

The site definatey needs to look a bit more friendly. I like the logo thing at the top (very nice) but other then that the site feels a bit intimidating. Having white as a background makes it feel a little empty.

I also don't think the buttons suit your site (the buttons like nice but doesn't suit the theme).

Sorry if i came on a bit strong but because of the nature and industry of the site people generally have a very high expectation for a proffesional looking site. This is at the end of the day just my own personal thoughts though.

[alex1030]

Please review my site

Fellow Vodians,

Hello. I have made some updates and changes based on some very constructive criticism. And I would appreciate even more feedback.

My site is www.personalinjuryresourcecenter.com. It is an attorney directory for personal injury lawyers. I am in the process of signing up clients and building pages for the attorneys (so the links to the states are not up yet).

I am asking for a review of the look, feel, and function of the site. Any hints, tips or suggestions to make it better would be appreciated. I have thick skin and have no unnecessary author's pride, feel free to critique. I am, however, looking for suggestions and changes that I can implement myself.

Thanks,

Alex

[Vasili]

Re: Please review my site

Couple of things....

In your footer, if you add an extra "space" after your last typed character in the text box, this will keep your last line from appearing as "1.5 line spacing" ..... see how the last line presently is lower than it should be?

And, to address your issue of "traffic" and actually delivering a service for which you are charging for, you may wish to consider 'upgrading' from a no-frills format to one of becoming more of a useful "resource" to potential clients to capitalize on the increased metric value via Search additional Content would create: find/creatre an area to provide simple "Helps" or "guidelines" to aid clients in selecting the right type of attorney, simple explanations of terms, checklists for them to organize their documents and/or claim, etc. The more tools you provide visitors, the more important you become to them, and in the process of dispensing useful materials and knowledge, you elevate the site as a prominent "resource" to both visitors and Search Engines alike (and finding favor with the SE's will not only elevate your positioning but generate traffic as a result: more traffic means more opportunity to convert, thus serve your advertisiers, right?).
> Be sure to properly 'optimize' this content on each page to achieve SE compliance and greater metric value.

I am sure there are many available "resources" out there to model yours on, but be sure to model them and not plagairize them! They are, after all, attorneys!

[kacey36]

Re: Please review my site

Hi Alex,

I'm new to this forum and was just checking out your site. I know somone has pointed out that when you click on the states it brings you to an error page. I am new to website building but would that have something to do with the fact that your pages end in the .bvp extention instead of .html??

Keep up the good work.

Regards,
Karen