SITE REVIEW: The London Extension Company

Hello,

Finally got this sort of how i want the site to look. It’s not quite finished yet still need to finish the photo page and links. Also needs a final check.

Just though i would post it in the review section to see what you guys/girls thought before i go into the seo/promoting side of the site

Thanks in advanced.

http://www.thelondonextensioncompany.com

Hi, I haven't posted in a while... school issues... anyways...

Here are some things.
Change the background, it really takes away from the content, its too busy. I like the layout, its really easy to nav. Only thing about the design is that everything is embossed, guessing you used something like photoshop, might not want to bevel everything, and the picture on the top is a little dark.

I like it keep it up

my monitor as home must be brighter becuase the pic at the top looks dark on my work pc but not so much on my home tft. Should be dark red although looks almost black?

Your color scheme just seems to be all over the place. I see a hint of red in the header, but its mostly black. The background is too distracting. And you have some sort of wooden background for your menu. Plus, that Welcome thing at the top left just looks like you're trying to fill space. I would definitely rework the header all together, I just dont think its working for you.

Another thing with the index page, if you can, make that image slideshow thing 1) move a little slower 2) have a fade out/fade in effect for the images. Its way too distracting the way it is now, makes it hard to focus on the content. You should also put a horizontal line before your footer (Copyright etc...) for a cleaner finish and to separate it from the rest of your other content. The rest of the site seems ok. Two comments on your code. Why are you using absolute positioning? And put alt tags on your images. I'd have to say you've done a good job though.

Include a site description on your index page. It took me a few seconds to figure out what the site was about.

I know your site isn't complete, but don't publish unfinished work. It makes the company look less professional. If you have to publish and it's not finished, just hide the sections that need to be completed until they are ready otherwise, don't publish until fully finished!

Your site is definitively lacking something. It doesn't draw my attention, after viewing the first page I got bored and wanted to leave the site. That's exactly what you want to avoid. You need to find something to draw the users attention right from the get go. Play around with the index page content. Think about how to arrange it to keep the user entertained. Create a contact us section and put what you have on the index page now there.

As for the photos section, I would suggest listing past projects with photos and point form descriptions of what you did. Rather than just posting some photos. If I were a possible client, I'd want to look at the photo of previous work and know EXACTLY what it is that you did in that photo.

MARKET YOUR COMPANY! WHORE YOURSELF OUT

Expand on your meta description tag, it's not very descriptive.

Your site isn't scalable, be careful, on larger resolutions it may not display properly (scrollbars).

Don't forget the alt tags for your images.

Try to not use inline font tags, instead use an external css file to declare your fonts. If you don't want to, then at least clean up your excess font tags.

i.e.;



GOOD LUCK!

seems okay in ff for me. I like the idea for the site really fun maybe the white inner background could be more to the site theme.

everyone's a comedian

I don't think they're trying to be funny honestly.

I didn't read 100% of what's been said but, I agree with just about all of it and, if it hasn't been mentioned yet, the flash file, with the images.. you could use some kind of transition. For instance, a simple fade would make that look much better to me.

good work on the site.

Except for the wide margin on the left and the slow loading (though to be fair I am on dial up).

Do not know if intentional but the dark colours very well contrast the bright photos you have. The depressing grey may be replaced for some equally dark colour but I think it contrasts the photos very well so they stand out and look all the more impressive.


crarketing.com

I don't think the navigation requires flash - simple rollovers would suffice.

But since you do have your navigation in flash - how about being a bit more creative with what happens on a rollover....because if its just going to highlight the text - as I said, a simple rollover would do.

"thelondonextensioncompany.com" a looong domain name, perhaps finding a more "short and sweet" version would be more convenient for the target demographic....(personal opinion).

The site seems kind of plain...nothing draws my eye anywhere - making it an un-interesting experience visually.

What for the same hyperlinks in the header bar (nice one) and in the lower right corner of each page?

Also: don't be afraid to have pages longer than the 768 length of some monitors... People like to scroll stuff, keeps their hands busy!

Overall, I would give it a 5, nothing that would give me goose bumps... But it's definitely better than some stuff I see around lately (and that people dare to have reviewed)...

Use justify for text alignment, use Verdana, Arial or Tahoma not Times new roman ...
As for the Photoshop work ... the bevel should be smaller and maybe use "chisel hard"

Not bad, anyway

Nice clean site for the most part. Maybe find some warmer more welcoming colors?

I would definately change the background though. Very busy and hard on the eyes, takes away from the cleanliness of the rest of the site.