SITE REVIEW: cdmfinancials.com

Hello, I am a CPA by profession so I am very new to web design. The purpose of my site is to promote my services. My goal was to be as informative as possible and leave a positive impression on the visitor with the hopes that they will request more information. I appreciate all of your opinions. I want the site to be the best that it can be. Thanks in advance.

http://www.cdmfinancials.com

Definatley done by an Accountant.....no offense.

Here's a couple ideas.

Center the page
remove the black border
I would have the links down the left sid ebut that is jsut a personal preference, the top is fine.
Something about the grey background doesn't look right to me, can't put my fingure on it though.
I sent a test contact email......did it get to you?

DO we get a free tax return for reviewing?

Thank you for your response. No offense taken. I am working on the color scheme. It looked one way on my laptop and totally different on different monitors.

Thanks for the test email. I received it.

Well, the first thing that really caught me was that your site is not Mozilla friendly. It looks fine in Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Maxthon 2, and Opera 9, but it breaks in Firefox 2 and Netscape 9 - neither the black border around the content or the background image appear, the navigation area background disappears (though the buttons still retain their backgrounds) and the sidebars (such as the "Why Choose CDM" box on the main page) jump so far down to the bottom that you need to scroll down to see it. The backgrounds and black borders also break on the Client References page when viewing in Opera. That's not good.

The link to your Privacy Policy is broken on the Welcome, About Us, Services, Individual Services, Business Services, and Contact Us pages, as well as on the Privacy Policy page itself (it works fine on the FAQ and Client References pages).

Also, it doesn't validate - 11 errors.

However, that's nothing a little clean-up shouldn't fix. Visually, it's not too bad - like jflynn said, I'd clean cut out the black border, and centre the page. I like the links where they are though - I think they fit the feel.

I'd remove some of the space between the navigation bar and the content - the gap is a bit large. I'd also use a different font for section headers (i.e. "Welcome) - right now it looks a little out of place with your main header. I'd use maybe a size smaller, or possibly your regular font but bold - just so it's not quite that big. I might play with the font a little to - consider a smaller overall font (not font size, necessarily, I'm thinking actual font). I think it would make it looker a little cleaner and more professional (again, more fitting with your header image).

That's pretty much it - like I said, some minor fixes and clean-ups to get the code valid, a little tweaking so it's cross-browser compatible, and a few minor visual alterations (font-touch ups, centre the page), and it'll be great. It's certainly off to a good start - it feels very professional, in my humble opinion. Good work!

well I'd say hob and jflynn have covered pretty much all the main points, so I'd just add one - on the FAQs page, your FAQs are in default link blue - that color to me feels very much out of sync with the rest of the site. How about picking out one of the darker shades of teal from the right side of your header and using that to highlight the FAQs? this Yves Klein blue is just far too strong....

Otherwise I agree - it looks like a very nice site.

Also, I would strongly recommend a copyright notice at the bottom of the page!

The simplicity is good, so is the color scheme. I think it would look better if you centered the page. Then it looks a little more balanced, and there is not so much white space to the right.

Also I have to scroll down to see the box to the right. I'm using firefox 2

Other that that I think the site puts up a good image. You dont need a really fancy site for something like that. In fact, there are studies suggesting that a simple business site is better as it invokes a plain and honest projection of your company.

Try using some pictures and just liven it up a bit, I felt like I was looking at my tax forms

Thank you to everyone who has left a comment regarding my webpage. I have updated my webpage to include most of your comments (those that I could fix) Please let me know if this is better. I am still working on the validation errors. Thanks

I don't think the site needs a bunch of Flash or bright colors, but I do think it needs a little more life. A high resolution image or two, that is appropriate to the site could go a long way. Also a different and larger font and some rollover on the navigation, could help you out. The site looks very "rigid". You can still give it a corporate look and still be somewhat creative. The code and CSS are very clean and straightforward. They both almost validate. I would just add a sprinkle of creativity and you should be good.

here are a few corporate looking sites that I really like:
http://www.quo.com.au/
http://www.bracewellgiuliani.com/
http://www.tarponcoast.com/tc/

But I'm just a guy with a computer, an opinion and too much time on his hands Good luck!

Thank you very much c0mrade,

The examples that you posted were great - just what I needed.

Thanks again.

c0mrade?

What am I chopped liver? lol. I posted the examples. But you are welcome none the less.

Dear zaiah ,

I am so sorry. I read the message the wrong way. Thank you very much. I hope you get this message so that you know that I appreciate your input and examples very much

Thanks to everyone - I just wanted to clear that up with Zaiah.

Take care

The website is a nice start but it looks too plain. It needs more content