Critique My Website

[jonmd123]

I recently rebranded my business and created a new website. She's only about a month old, so I plan to continually tweak things as I get the time.

Let me know if you have any suggestions.

http://www.dreesperformance.com/

Thank you!

PS bonus points for finding grammatical errors.

[rdferguson]

I've only looked at it for about 30sec. I'm going to pretend that it's because a lot of people will only look that long before clicking away if you don't make them stay, rather than me having to go out in a couple minutes. Key things that stand out to me:

1) Graphics could really stand to be done up a bit. I think black text on white background is probably better than white on black. General polishing is needed.
2) The home page opens with what you don't do rather than what you do (eg "No gimmicks"). Focus immediately on what's in it for the viewer, rather than what they aren't in for. The NO's can come after the immediate YES's.
3) The about page focuses on features rather than benefits. Personal training, in-home training etc are all structures. But they don't say much about what the client actually gets out of it. I would consider setting up a page focused on one specific goal that a lot of your clients have, and another page focused on another goal, etc (while keeping the number of things to focus on fairly short).
4) With the contact form, I would consider giving people a clear reason within the form why they would contact you, eg "Contact me for your FREE consultation."
5) There's a testimonial on the front page. There are things you can do to make a testimonial better, such as including an attention-grabbing headline. For example, In Bold With Headline Formatting, "I Lost 20lb In ___ And Have Never Felt Better." Give people a reason to read each paragraph -- we don't like wasting time, and so we won't invest in reading a paragraph unless you've fed us a clear reason to first. Again with the graphics, the testimonial could really be prettied up a bit. I would consider putting it in its own textbox with a simple, neat border to set it apart from the rest of the page. The fact that you've got the client's name and photo there adds instant credibility, so that's something you've got going for you.

[jonmd123]

#1 I'm trying to figure out a way to have the canvas one color and the background another. I'm not the most tech savvy so I may need to outsource some of the polishing.

Good advice on #2 and #3.

I was actually going to do #4 today when I got a chance.

Thanks again.

[LostLlama]

GJ but I'm not too keen on the color-scheme. If I ever design my own site it will shy away from dark colors and be more..."uplifting" in its pallet. Rainbows, sunshine, and unicorns, ya know?

[WoofieNugget]

Nice facility, I am jealous of that.

In terms of the site, the font seems very plain and not professional to me - almost not authoritative enough if that makes any sense. Also, everything is fairly spaced out but then the videos are cluttered together and to me that just screams disorganization. Maybe have the videos on a separate page and tell people that they are allowed access to more if they contact you?

I hate testimonials right on a main page but that's just a personal thing. If you're going to have one make it a video one - it has much more clout.

Personally I have my blog articles right on my home page - gives potential clients immediate views into what you are all about and if they get hooked then they will read more.

[miliagee]

First off your facility looks awesome and I'm a little jealous. The pictures are good.

I do not like the lime green. It is a little jarring and distracting. Green would probably work if it was less "lime-y" In all honestly white or gray would probably look good. The red in all the pictures against all the green is a little Christmas-y
The black background and black text does not work. Can't read the text.
The font is not particularly appealing. It is just "normal" and plain. It would be worth while to bold titles if you continue to use that font. Particularly on the top tool bar. "Drees Performance Training" on the front page needs to be in a larger font.
If you're going to have testimonials on the front page make the clients picture smaller and have at least 2 or 3. The testimonial shouldn't be longer or larger then the text about your services. (honestly, quick glance I thought your clients pic was you for a quick sec until I remembered you are a guy) "Results based training" needs more details and needs to look less like a list or needs to be a longer list.

[BFJ]

I recently rebranded my business and created a new website. She's only about a month old, so I plan to continually tweak things as I get the time.

Let me know if you have any suggestions.

http://www.dreesperformance.com/

Thank you!

PS bonus points for finding grammatical errors.

i always struggle with getting too personal on other people's stuff without knowing the kind of result they're getting, but i got a few random ideas/comments:
1) be different and get audio or video testimonials
2) put up a logo
3) maybe get some people on Fiverr who are website experts to critique for you for cheap
4) ultimately judge quality by site visits or conversions on site - google analytics, pretty link can help with traffic, then i'm sure conversions on buying a package, calling u etc can be tracked somehow

[jonmd123]

Alright you vultures, I had the chance to play around with some CSS today and made some styling changes. I'll see if I can add in a border around the green font to make it stand out better this weekend.

[rdferguson]

Alright you vultures, I had the chance to play around with some CSS today and made some styling changes. I'll see if I can add in a border around the green font to make it stand out better this weekend.

It does actually look a lot nicer now. Still plenty of tweaks to go, but my eyes are definitely having a better time now compared to yesterday.

[TrendingUpward]

Jon,

I like the site. It is loads better than a lot of trainer run sites.

A couple suggestions:
Make your first statements stand out a bit more. This is your value proposition to new and returning visitors. This needs to draw them into the site, have them understand exactly what you offer and for who, and be completely clear.

"Results-Based Personal Training:

Scientifically based training and advice
Individualized programs based on needs and goals
Unparalleled service and care
Results - guaranteed"

The content is good, maybe be explicit about who you train (if everyone - say so!). and if you can make the text stand out more or be more styled, I think that would be great.

For further reading if you are interested, google 'value proposition examples' and look for the article at conversionXL dot com. (the forum won't let me post links...)

Best luck!

[LostLlama]

Still childish, really. Needta get away from the square-ish-ness. GL

[itseemsunlikely]

Nice effort if you're coding it yourself, although these days Wordpress templates are the way to go. Much easier and you can get a pro look super fast. Themeforest has a ton of cool ones. Or just use a free one.

The green is pretty bright, man. Like, I can't hear what you're saying because it's too loud bright. If you wanna go with green, sample from the floor of your main pic and mess with that until it's a good balance.

The main area has a box with rounded corners, but everything else has right angles -- doesn't mesh.

It always looks better to use a sans serif font for headings, rather than a serif font. And it's especially odd to have serif headings and sans serif body text.

Get a logo. go to Elance dot com and hire someone in a country where your dollar will buy good work for cheap. I recommend someone from S. America.

The layout of the front page is too busy. It doesn't know what it wants to do. You need to have something that catches people's attention immediately -- something that's featured nice and big -- and then funnel their attention to where you most want them to end up.

[Ronin4help]

It's a good looking site. It looks professional. People will have their opinions about color schemes and fonts but this is normal. No site suits everyone. What stood out for me was the 'hard core' feel it has. There are a lot of heavy weights displayed, even the client you are training is benching a weight that would scare away female newbies. She looks to be having a tough time completing the rep. There's some graffiti art on the wall and so on. You look like a versatile trainer so that's good but maybe consider some 'family friendly' props in the pics. Something that your grandmother would say 'that looks like a nice place to workout' to.