Tell me what you think so I can make up my mind?

[DominoITSolutions]

Hello guys,
Will you please take a look at my website and see where I can improve or just make it a bit better? I am using Google sites and administrating it by myself so need your critique on this.
www.dominoitsolutions.org

['putertutor]

I have to say that of all the "look at my site" requests I have seen in posted in the last few days, yours is the first one that might not need a total redo. Not a terrible start.

The first thing I would do is make the icons smaller. They are huge right now. The logos themselves are are clearly something you downloaded from a clipart site, and you ought to look into changing them out into something a little more unique in the future. For now, though, they will work, but only on a much smaller scale.

It looks like you have a logo, find a way to use that as your title on each of your pages, rather than the plain text title you have now. I also like your tagline "When your computer is crashing, we will be dashing" (might try "we'll" instead of we will though). Get that tagline at the top of the page, next to your logo. Logos and taglines should be roommates.

On your services page, you have too many logos/services. Almost everything you offer can be summed up into Repair and Setup. Clearly your services are much more detailed than that, but you don't need to make each thing you do a separate category. Try to work with just 3 main categories. If you like you can show some detail about the service options under each of those main categories. This way, after you shrink your logos and add services to fewer categories, your logos won't take up more space than your services.

Oh, and I don't think your customers need a "recent Activity" link that you have at the bottom of the page.

That's all I have time for now. Good luck!

[Cambridge PC Support]

Agree with pretty much everything 'putertutor said.

But, add a nice big phone number at the top of every page so they've got no excuse not to call you

And also, a tad too much whitespace for my liking.

[iisjman07]

#1 Thing: Make your phone number bigger & easier to find

[parker.casey]

For a google sites page, that looks really nice ...

[DominoITSolutions]

Ok shot thank u very much for all the suggestions, I will need to look at how it must be done with certain suggestions as I dont know much about websites haha

@ Parker.Casey thank you for the compliment.

@ iisjman07 I did what u said in making my phone number more visible for people to see.

@ Cambridge Support I know don't like the white space too much as well will need to find out how to make it better.

@ 'putertutor first thank u for the compliment, ok I will have a look at the logo's thought it looked cool and I decided to put it on ile make the icons smaller. I will definitely check for more customized logos for the unique feel.

I tried that but it is way too small and won't it clash with my first page with my logo? I will definitely put the tagline next to my logo thanks for the tip.

Can u give me an example of what u mean? With the below?

"On your services page, you have too many logos/services. Almost everything you offer can be summed up into Repair and Setup. Clearly your services are much more detailed than that, but you don't need to make each thing you do a separate category. Try to work with just 3 main categories. If you like you can show some detail about the service options under each of those main categories. This way, after you shrink your logos and add services to fewer categories, your logos won't take up more space than your services."

I don't know why it's showing a activity counter on the website ile have a look at that....

But thanks again for the advise made it much more simpler....

['putertutor]

Originally Posted by DominoITSolutions

I tried that but it is way too small and won't it clash with my first page with my logo? I will definitely put the tagline next to my logo thanks for the tip.

I'm not sure what you are talking about here. First let me clarify something as after I read my first post I see I interchanged the terms logo and icon. Your logo is the image of the dominoes and computer, and your icons are the images you are using as links to other pages. I'm sure you know what I meant, but I wanted to be clear. When I suggested you move your logo to the top of each page, I also meant for your home page, so you should get rid of the logo in the intro paragraph, and place it at the top of the page where it now just says Domino IT Solutions. You may need to shrink the logo down a bit. Then put the tagline under it. Do the same for all pages - logo and tagline at the top.

Originally Posted by DominoITSolutions

Can u give me an example of what u mean? With the below?

"On your services page, you have too many logos/services. Almost everything you offer can be summed up into Repair and Setup. Clearly your services are much more detailed than that, but you don't need to make each thing you do a separate category. Try to work with just 3 main categories. If you like you can show some detail about the service options under each of those main categories. This way, after you shrink your logos and add services to fewer categories, your logos won't take up more space than your services."

For example, you have 7 icons and associated categories on your services page :PC Troubleshooting and Repair; Virus Detection and Removal; Hardware/Software Upgrades; Internet Cleanup and Spyware, Adware, and Popup Detection & Removal; etc, etc, etc. Its a lot and there is a lot of overlap in those services - ie: "virus detection and removal" could also include spyware and adware removal. Internet cleanup could be a part of a tune up. These things are redundant and can confuse your customers. You could try just 3 categories: Tune Ups, Virus and Malware Removal, Repairs and Upgrades. From those 3 categories, I (your customer) will know you can help my machine run faster, fix it when its broken, and and remove that virus my dumb kid loaded. What else could I possibly need? Well, clearly there is more, but that's all most end users know or want to know about. Once they are in your shop, then you let them know about what other services you recommend/offer. Now, underneath those 3 main categories, you can and should detail specific services. IE: Under Tune Ups, you can state that you will clean up browsers, remove popups and add-ons that slow down their browsing experience, decrease boot up time, make the machine run faster, etc, etc, etc.

Oh, and making your number more visible also means that it should be at the top of the page. Do a search for computer repair, or any business for that matter, and I think you'll notice a common theme regarding phone numbers. Contact info, especially phone numbers, are at/near the top of the page (preferably in the top banner) and always obvious, meaning they are not just bolded/larger in the descriptive text, they are separate and easy to see.

Hope this helps.

[DominoITSolutions]

Thank you putertutor for the solid advice I am thinking of going away of Google sites and create my own website! I know it’s a big challenge but the juice will be worth the squeeze!

[Cadishead Computers]

I agree with everything that has been mentioned above.

Personally I would do away with the google sites. You could do no worse then purchase 16k's ultimate tech solution. It is a fully set up and go wordpress theme, with everything you need. Not only that, but you also get fantastic support from Jim.

One thing I have noticed with your current site, is at the bottom of your site, the sign in, recent activity part etc, a lot of this applies to google only.

I.E. Sign in. Signs you into your own google account.
Recent site activity, shows what you personally have done to the site and when.
Terms - applies to googles terms, and not your own terms and conditions.
Report Abuse - This could allow visitors to report your site maliciously, which in turn could really affect your site.

Also you can do very little in terms of seo using google sites.

The about us page, has 2 icons, one for home users, one for bus users.
Clicking on the icon simply brings up the same icon but enlarged. No other details are shown on the page.

Do you do any laptop repairs, ie dc sockets, keyboards, screen replacements etc?. If so mention those on your services page also.

I am amazed at the number of techs on TN, and other sites I have visited which do not specify they repair laptops. Laptops are fast becoming the only thing I repair in the workshop now.

I am also starting to look into repairing ipads, and will mention that on my site, as and when I start repairing them.

Is the site especially written for google chrome?, as looking at the page source, chrome appears all over the place.

I can not see any keywords or meta tags on the page anywhere. Unless this is because google sites does not allow these to be viewed, I cannot remember.

[DominoITSolutions]

I agree with all off you I’ve tried looking and solving the issue but it’s not working! I have a bit of experience with Dreamweaver will see if I can create a better site than Google sites!

It is really annoying that it’s so limited I can’t even do new themes for Google sites, the activity monitor I can’t even see that! I know I should describe my services a lot better than what I’m doing now, and i will do so with the site im going to create with Dreamweaver.