Web site

Hello all, I am looking for some professional insight on the web page I created. I have never done anything like this before and was wondering if you all could take a look and give me any pointers. I feel I am unable to truthfully critique my own web site. www.cprassociates.biz is the page. FYI, the name was a business name I already had registered when I was teaching CPR so I just rolled with it. I would also appreciate you "liking" the site. The more likes I get the better my standing will be on google. Thanks.

Frank

Ps: I have very thick skin so please do not hold back

When it comes to websites you need to determine the goal of your site? Options include:
Motivate people to call you for more information
Serve as a brochure
To Sell
Educate

What is your target?

I love the colors, art work and quotes. I also think it is very well written. I hope you get a lot of calls from it.

Well, you stated you need the unvarnished truth. I am not someone who will be a "customer" since I live in NC and I am still unsure of your purpose of your web site. If you are trying to interest me in selling/giving you my old computer you did not hit the mark. Now for some comments on what I did read on your site.

Many of the manufacturing practices of the past have been updated to improve processes to limit waste. These improvments were made by companies conducting for profit business. Your site makes me think you are trying to make me believe you do this just the satisfaction of cleaning up the planet. (This is in response to the statement on your site that "modern technology owes ecology an apology", what a crock. Perhaps this plays well in New Jersey but it reads like you are a teacher convinced that the student is non to bright.

Out lawing e-waste in the regular garbage seems like a more important item to be in the lead of the first page. Don't make it sound like the law was your idea or even one you strongly agree with. Just let people know it is the law and you are there to assist them comply with it and do it properly.

If you are a for profit business I would suggest you start out you page with something like "We are in the e-recycling business. We buy old/broken computers....etc and properly recycle the parts. We comply with all federal, state and local regulations on the proper proceedures for the recycling of these items. In addition we recycle crt's which require expensive proceedures so we must charge for this service. Well I was not nice but I am attempting to give a useful critique. Best of luck, Mike.

Mike, thanks for that,I too thought that I should place the regs somewhere on the first page, I will definitely make that change, and will look into reworking the language. Dee, thank you so much, I appreciate the input from all that have offered it.

They have a place like what you are doing by me. They do not pay for anything just want you to drop it off. Here is the website... http://suburbanminers.com/index.php

Spelling errors? I hate spelling errors, I will read through it again and make corrections. Thanks

Thanks for that site hobo, it looks good I will explore it further when I get the time

Ps: I have very thick skin so please do not hold back

It's bland like every other template website. Nothing really wrong about that though, you want it to be boring* unless you really start to use it as in how this forum is used. Take those generic pics off and replace them with interesting recycling related photos, preferably ones you took yourself, or got permission to use. Got a local sports team? high school? consider changing your color scheme to that.

Your landing or home page and sidebar need a one-click way to "Request a pickup" "send me an SMS" or something like that, and it also needs to mention your location and area you're willing to service. You don't want people contacting you from other states, nor do they really want to talk to you. Home page needs info distinguishing your location / service area.

The one worst thing about a company website is any difficulty finding a phone number. You might also advertise for SMS if you use a cell phone. You might even consider using Google Voice, makes it really easy to keep track of messages / emails, yet not always be bothered when busy. Put your phone number and email in big bold print.

Another pet peeve of mine is forms that ask for unnecessary information. Your contact form asks for Zip and State, if you have the Zip, you don't need to ask for the State.

You could get all of this on one page and do away with that other stuff.

Check how the page looks on all of the browsers you can, Mozilla, Opera, iPhone, Android, etc. Whatever you do, DO NOT EVER put a message that says "This site works best on MS Internet Explorer" or anything similar.

Now the real advice is this. Learn about meta words, and SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Include enough metawords to get yourself to the first page of Google in your area, but don't over-do it or you'll end up getting calls from Alaska.

After you've done all that, get Google to "Index" your page. They have a procedure where you request that they add you to the index, and then after that they'll periodically crawl your page again.

* Never add flash animations under any circumstance. Also never add any music or sounds that automatically play.

Originally Posted by hobo finds

They have a place like what you are doing by me. They do not pay for anything just want you to drop it off. Here is the website... http://suburbanminers.com/index.php

This site has a good angle, people ought not let loose of computer hard drives that have their data unless the recipient is trustworthy, figure out some way to take advantage of that. A guarantee of destruction might be a valuable service to businesses too.

fnord, I Loved, loved, loved your advise. I am online alot, I buy online and search for local services online. These were activities I used to use the yellow pages for but now do google type searches for now. I am easily annoyed by poorly designed web pages. I found your advise some of the best I have ever read about web site design. Are you in the web business?? Mike

Fnord: Thanks, I did research SEO and meta words and added my site to google, bing and another search engine when I was putting it together. I am now on page 3 of a google search. As for the colors, I like the green and the pictures I do plan on uploading some of my own but do not have any as of yet that are appropriate. As ofr data destruction I am looking into that, for now it may just be manual, pulling the HD apart and drilling through the plates. I appreciate your input, especially since as miked pointed out, you seem to have a better understanding of this subject than most.

RCA, took care of that spelling error. Spelling is a pet peeve of mine and I hate when I make mistakes, even though I do it often enough.

Originally Posted by fnord

Now the real advice is this. Learn about meta words, and SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Include enough metawords to get yourself to the first page of Google in your area, but don't over-do it or you'll end up getting calls from Alaska.

After you've done all that, get Google to "Index" your page. They have a procedure where you request that they add you to the index, and then after that they'll periodically crawl your page again.

* Never add flash animations under any circumstance. Also never add any music or sounds that automatically play.

Ref'n Meta Tags, heres an article I wrote about them .... http://www.onlineauctiontrader.com/metatags.htm (this is my site, if this isn't allowed by admin please delete [no relation to Scrap Metal])

No need to submit to google, just link your site using keywords instead of the url and as Google visits this site virtually constantly the indexing will start for your required keywords

I agree wholeheartedly with the flash and music comment..

If you need any help with SEO shout up, I am no expert and am self taught but that site above ranks number one for the "ebay templates" and number 5 for "free ebay templates", took a little work but no cost apart from some time...

Thanks miked, happy to help. Your Yellow Pages analogy is a good one, since Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. are what's replaced them and hardly anyone bothers with the Yellow Pages anymore. I'm not in the web business, but I have friends in the biz and I try to pay attention.

Originally Posted by fnd5055

Fnord: Thanks, I did research SEO and meta words and added my site to google, bing and another search engine when I was putting it together. I am now on page 3 of a google search.

Well done, as you play around with it over time, take note of what works. Making links to your page from other's pages helps as well.

Originally Posted by fnd5055

As for the colors, I like the green .

Nothing wrong with that.

Originally Posted by fnd5055

and the pictures I do plan on uploading some of my own but do not have any as of yet that are appropriate.

I get the "protect the environment" angle, but positive reenforcement takes longer. Negative reenforcement gets an immediate psychological reaction. If it were me, I might find a photo of a gully where people throw trash at night (I live in a rural area) or some other minor environmental disaster. Point out how you can help prevent that type of thing from happening. But there are lots of tactics to take, use the one that best suits you personally.

Originally Posted by fnd5055

As ofr data destruction I am looking into that, for now it may just be manual, pulling the HD apart and drilling through the plates.

This is probably the best approach. It's easy to make people understand that their data cannot be recovered from a drive once it is physically destroyed. It's also easier to prove your competence with a hammer, than with some more sophisticated method. That will be a comfort to anyone who is worried.

Originally Posted by fnd5055

I appreciate your input, especially since as miked pointed out, you seem to have a better understanding of this subject than most.

Glad I could help. Another suggestion is once you think you're done, get another person to pretend they need your services and try out the site, make not of and address any difficulty they have achieving their goal. It may sound silly, but I do this when developing software (I'm in electronics) and it often uncovers problems that I would never have noticed.

I'd also agree with the stuff on IntrepidMuppet's webpage. Especially the bit about the Title

...it is also generally used as a description for your web page in the search engine index and anyone reading the produced indexed page listing will easily see what your page is about if the title is clear, concise and to the point.

Now, yet another thing, is not to forget about the other avenues, mainly Facebook, make a facebook page for your business. LinkedIn maybe? and all of the location based services. Do you have a location? Or do you ever stage pick up events? Get on Yelp, and Foursquare, and anything else like it.

Whew, this is a lot more complicated than buying a YP ad. But at least it only costs time.