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Critique my website please


KnotStressed

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Daniel,

Please take this with a grain of salt as I am certainly not an expert on websites and have never owned my own business so I salute you and your efforts.

I had to resize the window to 75% to be able to view your entire web page which in turn caused the printed words to be difficult to read on some pages. (maybe because I'm still using windows 98 Prof???)

The out of focus background made looking at the web page in it's entirety difficult for my eyes.

I think if that search tool(looks very institutional) were moved to another location it would make the first impression more friendly.

I did like your photo gallery setup and contained alot of very nice photos. Maybe include some short video in future?

Good luck with the website :)

RL

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The whole site looked very professional and was clear and concise on my large screen monitor at 1920 x 1080 using Google Chrome. Great pictures. I didn't try the site at lower screen resolutions.

The site converts well on my mobile, a Samsung S2, which is important to many users who use their phones or a tablet more than computers.

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Not sure you need the search engine on the top left....you have a "tours" section.

As well, I think you need to rethink what you are selling ???

Are you selling a fishing guide service who also does tours and eco tours etc.? I wasn't clear if it was you that was doing the other tours or someone else?

I think, depending on who you are targeting, you need to be careful of how you represent yourself....e.g. hardcore fishing guide or general fishing guide who also does some tours on the side to make a few extra $$$. It's about branding who you are...

I think you can do both (above), but, the search engine makes it look (at least to me) that the site is going off your site and finding something else.....under your tours tab...maybe include....Family Outings and Tours I Run...

As well, you might consider adding some names or tidbits of info to the photos...those photos could be off someone else's websites for all we know (LOL)...just joking...but, a little snippet of.....This is Joe from Minnesotta, his first redfish, and one of 20 we caught that day....great meeting ya !!!

That kind of corny stuff, always makes me feel a bit more of a connection to the guide and site, vs. a picture...

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Not sure you need the search engine on the top left....you have a "tours" section.

As well, I think you need to rethink what you are selling ???

Are you selling a fishing guide service who also does tours and eco tours etc.? I wasn't clear if it was you that was doing the other tours or someone else?

I think, depending on who you are targeting, you need to be careful of how you represent yourself....e.g. hardcore fishing guide or general fishing guide who also does some tours on the side to make a few extra $$$. It's about branding who you are...

I think you can do both (above), but, the search engine makes it look (at least to me) that the site is going off your site and finding something else.....under your tours tab...maybe include....Family Outings and Tours I Run...

As well, you might consider adding some names or tidbits of info to the photos...those photos could be off someone else's websites for all we know (LOL)...just joking...but, a little snippet of.....This is Joe from Minnesotta, his first redfish, and one of 20 we caught that day....great meeting ya !!!

That kind of corny stuff, always makes me feel a bit more of a connection to the guide and site, vs. a picture...

X2

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Site loaded quickly and sharp photos. (Safari)

I clicked "tours" (because of what everyone said) and turns out that is mostly fishing charters. As a fishing guy who looks for charters when I travel, I would not click on Tours thinking it was fishing.

Easy to navigate. I like the ratings and comments, good intro to you Capt, many good photos. I think you have a solid site, except I don't understand 'tours' if I'm looking to charter to fish.

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Hi everyone!

I just wanted to thank you all for your valuable feedback on the site. I am the guy helping Daniel with his SEO and site design. I wanted to tell you what's changed and why we did some things we have kept.

* We changed the "Tours" at the top to "Charters & Tours" as well as the search function to "Search Charters" instead of "Search Tours." I also renamed each fishing "tour" to "fishing charter."

I am not in the industry so I wasn't sure how all that should be but after reading the feedback it was pretty clear that "charter" was preferable everywhere it was apt and "tour" was less preferable and more of a secondary word. (Thanks esp. to @Wanaflatsfish)

* I moved the search bar on the right side from the top above Facebook to the bottom. This search functionality is for the site and not just the tours. Say you go on a tour with Knot Stressed and you want to search your name later to find the writeup - this is the search bar you would use to find it. The top one is just for itineraries, charters and tours so it's slightly different. I think moving it down separates it from the "charter search" and hopefully gives its function a bit more clarity.

* @Ecclerigg - yes, the site is responsive so I'm glad it looks good on your phone. It should look pretty good on every type of device. I know @Reel Loco had some issue with sizing but I'm not sure why. For some reason the Win98 or their browser (an old IE? like IE7?) may not allow the smooth resizing of a responsive site. It should load and look good at 100% on most everything, though.

I considered but decided against separating Tours and Charters and just renaming it "Charters & Tours" because there are only a couple of each.

The site looks best from a graphic point of view with everything on one page and that will help the keywording and SEO as well. If & when Daniel decides to expand what he offers to more charters, more tours, etc. then we could possibly split them.

Also, I considered adding texts to the gallery but that's more what the blog will be for. As the site grows, the blog will take over the function of providing tidbits of "corny stuff" and personal details.

The site will be a work in progress as we add and grow it. Thanks for the info and help!

~Matt

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Looks good...

There are a few things that I would fix, just to polish up a bit...

The "About Me" page...

A few minor things I noticed...

Inconsistancy with the word Capt...

Some have a period behind it, at least one doesn't.

Abbreviation for South Carolina, most every where you have SC, this page has a Sc.

The capitalized O in of for the Baptist College of Charleston.

Again, these are just minor, and I am nit picky when I see things like this.

It's not just you, I do it on sites I have built in the past..

It's easy to over look things when you look at it over and over, a fresh set of eyes always help catch minor things like these.

I didn't really catch any thing like that on the other pages though.

Content, flow and layout look good...

Best,

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just went through the site myself and it is a great layout.

I would look into a few things;

Starting with the 'Home' page, as previously stated, I would change the blurry/out of focus immage. Also if you are going to put up some of the previous trip photos, I wouldn't use them in the 'Charter & Tours' page. It gives the impression that your trips are more of a party cruise rather than the image of catching fish. (even though the photo page shows the catches, someone might not look that far)

The 'Photo' and 'Reviews' pages are great.

In the 'About Me' page I find it to be more appealing if it reads as if you're telling me yourself, instead of it being in the third person.

Like I said, this is all just my personal opinion and I hope it helps.

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