Please can you Critique my website

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ladyvic

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2010
Messages
58
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Location
Faringdon, Oxfordshire
Hi

Just wondered if any of you would mind giving me some constructive critique on my website.

I know i am severly lacking in Gallery Pictures at the moment, but just wondered if there is somethings i need to include / omit or change

www.spoilt.moonfruit.com

V x
 
I like your site-it looks professional and clean.
However, I dont like the use of capitalisation used frequently on the hompage, it makes the sentences hard to read, also the writing on the homepage is quite small.
Lastly, it has been said on here before that having a hotmail address as your contact can look unprofessional (not necessarily my opinion), but apparently there are issues with emails being sent to the spam folder upon retrieval (do a search on here).
Otherwise, I like the colours and layout-easy to navigate.
Oh, just one question, you say you are a nail and beauty therapist, but I didnt see any beauty treatments offered other than nail treatments?
hth's
 
Hiya- looking good.

But email me the size of that banner/header on your homepage (with the logo on there) as it's ever so slightly blurry and we could get it pin-sharp if you send me the right size. :)
 
Hi- thank you so much for your comments really helpful and constructive - i have ammended the amount of capitals on the front page - think i just got a bit trigger-happy with the shift button lol

also with regards to the beauty treatments - it is somehting i will be offering but wanted to get the nails of the ground first off all as potentially more margin - do you think i should either amend the title to just show nail technician OR add a beauty tab and add comments such as "comming soon" and list a range of treatments i will be offering?

I also want to invest in Shellac - but no knowing my market at the moment im unsure in this. (ive just moved to a totally new locality but my reserch shows that no-one within the immediate vacinity offers this service)

thanks again for your help
V x
 
Some people might not even pick up on it, but you could do either. Maybe do a beauty tab and then put under construction on it.
 
Hi

its only my opinion but any sites with "moonfruit", "VP" etc just look cheap and nasty (although at the same time can be very nice!)

Your a professional business lady (or man), with a free website using online software, plastered with advertising from said online software company.

If I were you (and yes, I know I am not!), I would look into a website without adverts, etc. The very least I would do purchase a proper domain and see if you can use that. Most domains (£3 per year), come with a proper email address as well, and that would be a very good start.

Also, you "contact me" link on the left menu does not work
 
hi i thought your website was really good..
i agree about the hotmail part though.. it does look better to have [email protected]/com but accept for that it looks good
 
If I were you (and yes, I know I am not!), I would look into a website without adverts, etc. The very least I would do purchase a proper domain and see if you can use that. Most domains (£3 per year), come with a proper email address as well, and that would be a very good start.

Perhaps you could investigate to see if you can "point" a domain name at a Moonfruit website, as if so then you could buy a cheap domain from somewhere like 123-reg | Domain names | Domain name registration and update DNS or nameserver settings to point the domain at Moonfruit's server. It's possible to do that for a Weebly site, for example. Also maybe there is an option where you could pay extra to strip the Moonfruit branding off too?
 
I really like your name logo and your phrase!

I agree with the domain name the others have mentioned.

Love it though!
 
I love it, I want rockstar toes! Why do you have to live miles away from me!?

Might suggest add a 'spoil them' section and advertise you do gift vouchers? I actually haven't done this on my site but thinking about it.
 
hi everyone - thank you soooo much for the comments - really helpful and really constructive.

@jack and Ruth - i agree with you about using free websites, its just i had no idea where to start, ive had domain in the past and trying to bulid a site around it was a nightmare - i will definately look into that i did see one for 5.97 for 2 years hopefull like ruth says i can transfer it over. also moon fruit offer one for 10.99 so might be worth payign the extra and make it simpler to change if that makes sense.

@carl - loving the logo - thank you so much ill email you alter about the size

@zoe - spoil them tab is a brilliant idea - i can crack on with that straight away- i love the rockstar toes too - my new addiction im gel-ing and glitter-ing anything i can get my hands on at the moment lol !

thank you so much once again i really apprecite you all taking the time to look and add your comments

V x
 
the £5.97 will be a .co.uk domain (address) for 2 years, where the 10.99 will be a .com for just 12 months

Best off checking with the Domain Checker to ensure the name you want is available to purchase.

If you can afford it, get both, but if funds are limited, then .co.uk will work just as well
 
Hi

I dont think I will be flavour of the month again but here goes.

Starting from the top and working down.

url/domian name.

www.spoilt.moonfruit.co.uk

My initial reaction before I look at your site, the domian name reminds me of some exoctic fruit that has seen better days, not a beauty therapist.
What a lot of people do not understand is the only thing moonfruit (and any other free site for that matter) wants to promote is itself, defo not you or your site. To prove this the first thing you see when your site loads is Moonfruit and the dam logo follows you down the page.

In saying that I do not know what your intention for the website is, if its just for online prescence then fair enough, but I certainly wouldnt be giving out business cards with the said domain name on.

In your own words you said that you do not know your market....this is number one before you even go into business, never mind building a website.
Most people make the critical mistake of building the site for themselves not their potential clients, there are so many considerations when defining your Target market.

Lets for arguments sake say your Target market are women aged between 18-30, disposable income, etc etc, then you need to stick to this and create all your identity towards these women, not 40+ year olds nor 17 year olds, even though you may get 40 year old customers they are not your target, but hay ho thanks for the custom.
To work out what your target market do, where they go what they like can be very very expensive, so instead of paying through the nose for this type of information, use what you already have available to you...the tinternet....It is the best place in the world to cheat and use information that plc companies have paid masses of money for.

Magazines are always a great start as they all have different target markets and would of spent thousands researching their target....and this may sound stupid but Toyota spend more money on colour psychology than any other company, they do this because they know it is vitally important part of marketing.

Going back to magazines, I am guessing that Grazia is targeting more towards the same sort of market as beauticians, use this to your advantage.

Grazia Daily: Grazia Daily Home

The same as cosmopolitan their target is women aged between 18-39

fashion, beauty, sex, relationships :: Cosmopolitan

Look at their sites and copy colours layout etc etc.

Going into a different target for example look at Ideal Homes, their target market will not be the same as you and looking on their site you will see the same sort of layout but they have toned down the colours to the other two just mentioned.

Ideal Home, Britain's best-selling homes magazine

I could go on forever and a day about colours, and how choice effects the repsonse of potentials.

Going back to your site, you need to understand the foldline of a website, and what are know as "Grabbers" The foldline is the very first thing the client sees before touching a scroll bar, this is where you have approx 4seconds to grab their attention and make them read on and move the mouse to navigate. Your corporate image is not classed as a grabber....Customers in this day and age want bargains, savings
You are nearly there, if it was me building your site I would make the "Spoilt" logo 300x100px and have it in the top left.
Then the 25% off, make this the size as what your current logo is and place it in the same place as where your spoilt logo is...Thats your "Grabber"

Moving down the page the text is very dull against the background, aligned central, this does not make for good reading. Left aligned, go with what people are used to.

Top Tip. I havent checked the copy but the most effective way of checking for spelling mistakes is to read backwards, if you read forward your brain will pre-judge the next word and you unintentionally skim read it. Reading backwards makes no sense to the brain so you examine each word. Again I could go on and on about the importance of writing good copy.

I also notice you have in the write up "covering Wantage" etc etc, use google local to your advantage as you can use the set up and tell google the areas you cover and this will work with your organic/natural listings, make sure you tell google local the areas you cover and google will gladly put 2+2 together and will help with your rankings if people search for "Mobile Beauty Wantage" google will see you have that area, put you in the top for local and see the domain name appear in the organic listings too, so will pull you up from there.
This not only saves you space for proper keywords it makes the text more readable to the user.
DO NOT use google adwords to try and help your organic listings it wont work.

Think I have given you enough to go off so will leave it there, but I hope it helps.
 
Hi,

Thanks - i really appriciate your honesty and your time to leave feedback - i have amended the top page - moved logo over to left hand side and moved up the special offer text. - is this what you meant

have moved text to left alignment and changed colour to white to impact more against colours

i understand what you are saying about marketing and colour psycology - not very "au fait" with all this web deign malarky as totally new territory for me!

V x
 
Nearly, the logo should go in the place of
"Nails & Beauty with Attitude"

And use the whole space for the 25% off and the introductory offer of £10 for the rockstar nails. These are your "Grabbers" "Solutions to Problems"

I was looking for insperation the other day and this is a perfect example of grabbers being used effectively.

Home Page
 
The logo shouldn't go at all- the logo is your logo and is the main weapon in your branding- especially as its new and you're trying to establish it and yourself in the market place- its as important, if not more so than short-termist offers as its one of the best tools you have in getting yourself recognised and remembered- in this industry the website is an extension of your business, not a stand-alone entity.

By all means have grabbers in there (and you probably should, to give people a "call to action"- but do make sure you get the logo in there. It's mistake (and a common one) to bring corporate ideals to micro-business needs.

However- its the wrong aspect ratio at the moment (i.e. it's looking squashed) so let me know what size that is and I can send it over.

:)

p.s Bhh is right about doing your research! at least have mooch about on your competitions websites, see how they're doing on searches, is your site better? different? what do you offer that they don't and vice versa.
 
Last edited:
I too will echo what Extensionize says, you have to have your logo on there, and when it comes to brand recognition this is the thing that takes time and trust.
Like Extensionize with the VERVE logo this is what you need to be doing on your FB pages, Twitter, Here, anywhere shove the brand identity into peoples faces and build that trust.

But when it comes to your website and word of mouth...the best and cheapest type of advertising which would you prefer.

"I got a £10 introductry offer from this website" whilst customer is showing potential customer sparkly Nails
or
"This site has a great logo"

Which do you think is going to grab the WoM victim
 
I'm not saying it has to be either or. It has to be both. Either of them are near useless in isolation.
 
I'm not saying it has to be either or. It has to be both. Either of them are near useless in isolation.

I agree. Having a nice logo at the top with special offer details below (moving across the page using a bit of JQuery magic) has worked well for quite a few people.
 
I see what you are saying - but i actually like the logo bang in the middle of the page - right smack bang, as you see the the home page - 1) because as carl quite rightly pointed out that it is a new business, and
2) well, because i like it and i have a FANTASTIC kick ass logo that looks amazing.

Ive paid very careful attention to having both a phone number and an email as well as another tag line at the top of every page you open so you dont have to constantly scan for contact infomation - its there!
however i will add a call to action on there.

As far as the moonfruit is concerned - yes i take your point and i whole hearted agree - with the points ALL of you have made, however until thursday when i can purchase a domain name this will have to stay in place temporially (sp) until then.

in terms of design itself - id love to have more cerise pink and much more gradient shading but as im a techno-gyp this is somehtign i will have to have a play about with - as well as changing the hearts on the top left to the gradiet shading pink to match the logo and make it all blend.

Ive tried to be realuy careful with colours and font selection to get it as close to the logo design as possible and so the website has some kind of uniformity and flow to it,

Carl - sorry i have no idea on the pixels of the pic moonfruit seems to upload from "my documents" and then i use a drag n drop to place/enlarge on website - im sure there is another way but again i have yet to figure it out !
(never mind nails - reckon i need a crash course in web design lol!) :)

V x
 

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