My Website needs some constructive criticism

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ifix4u

19 posts

Geek

#148876 3-Jul-2014 16:44

www.ifix4u.co.nz

I have not done any web programming before so I chose what is simple for me (wordpress)

In a nutshell, its a website about Heatpump Installations....

Once again I am a total novice at this stuff so please give me your opinions, they matter alot!

Basically what I have been doing is using adwords to try to promote the webpage, I am trying to get a video made up too, as I think this will get people to look at my webpage a bit longer

Also trying to set up a quiz for some electronic goods like microwaves, blue ray players

Am I working in the correct direction?

One of my hardest problems at this stage is sharing www.ifix4u.co.nz with other websites as I do not want it to feel like spam

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20164 posts

Uber Geek

#1079501 3-Jul-2014 16:52

Very slow loading. I would start by hosting it in NZ. Also no real branding or identity. I would suggest hiring a pro to come up with a proper coprorate image.

Coil

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#1079507 3-Jul-2014 16:54

Loaded OK for me.
Site layout is fine for what it is. I would re do the branding and some of the menu options.
Really you need a website that looks easy to use and gets the message across without 1000 pages trying to tell you why. People will most likely come with one motive. Thats to fix the heat pump.

Best of luck.

ifix4u

19 posts

Geek

#1079513 3-Jul-2014 17:00

Thanks for the advice so far, and I totally agree with rebranding

toyonut

1508 posts

Uber Geek

#1079532 3-Jul-2014 17:16

Loaded very slowly for me, mostly stuck on resolving so slow DNS perhaps? Where are you hosting it? It is a minor thing, but maybe get a hosting provider who will give you an email that matches your domain so your email is whoever@ifix4u.co.nz. Just a professional looking thing to my mind and free to cheap with most hosting providers.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

gzt

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#1079533 3-Jul-2014 17:19

ifix4u: www.ifix4u.co.nz I have not done any web programming before so I chose what is simple for me (wordpress) In a nutshell, its a website about Heatpump Installations.... Once again I am a total novice at this stuff so please give me your opinions, they matter alot!

For a total novice this is actually excellent work. Well done.

ifix4u:Basically what I have been doing is using adwords to try to promote the webpage, I am trying to get a video made up too, as I think this will get people to look at my webpage a bit longer

A list of common maintenance tasks and how to do it would attract more hits.

ifix4u: Also trying to set up a quiz for some electronic goods like microwaves, blue ray players

For what purpose?

ifix4u: Am I working in the correct direction?

Going in the right direction. Just remember that users will be googling for things like 'heatpump banging noise' and 'heatpump whine' and other heatpump failure symptoms or worries. Those are the things you need to say something about if you want users with problems to find your site. Also 'heatpump repair' I didn't see the word 'repair' on your site.

Also need to have information about what areas you will cover. Mostly people try to find someone close by 'heatpump repair pakuranga' etc.

SATTV

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#1079534 3-Jul-2014 17:28

I too found it slow to load ( orcon ADSL )
Also get rid of your @xtra email address, this is not really professional.

I know enough to be dangerous

hairy1

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#1079537 3-Jul-2014 17:34

Yep. Good. Clear and consise. As above. Maybe have your phone number at the top somewhere visible in the header or similar. Half the websites I visit these days are for the phone number.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1079539 3-Jul-2014 17:35

The one thing that detracts me the most, is the speed of your webhosting provider.

try loading up something like the street-view screenshot you have there, it comes down at painful speeds!

move your hosting to atlest a provider that offers sound performance, preferably to NZ/AU for best results.

make use of your domain for emails, you never want to get locked into an isps provided email service...

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

thorax

75 posts

Master Geek

#1079544 3-Jul-2014 17:50

It looks a lot beter than your old website [url=http://web.archive.org/web/20101015004627/http://www.ifix4u.co.nz/].

There are a ton of free templates out there if you want a modern look.

mattwnz

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#1079545 3-Jul-2014 17:55

thorax: It looks a lot beter than your old website [url=http://web.archive.org/web/20101015004627/http://www.ifix4u.co.nz/].

There are a ton of free templates out there if you want a modern look.

Actually in a way I think the old site looked better in terms of the design and colour scheme, and overall branding.

kingjj

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#1079546 3-Jul-2014 17:55

Loaded OK for me but could be quicker (100/50 Fibre). Have you used any tools to optimise your WordPress install? There are plenty of free extensions in the WP admin panel that can help improve your performance (WP is a dog in its standard config). Look at caching locally or externally. If you don't want to move hosts you could always use something like CloudFlare to speed up the graphics and DNS response (free CDN provider).

I agree with gzt, really good effort for a first timer!

Agree about changing the email address and at the bottom of your pages you've got a little image of a person next to the FB logo, perhaps change the mouse over text to 'About Us' rather than 'About Me'.

I see you're hosted by JustHost.com who use Hurricane Electrical for their backbone on servers hosted in the US. Cheap hosting (with the usual 'Unlimited' but heavily restricted mantra) but pretty far away from your target market in NZ.

Good luck

AidanS

458 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1079567 3-Jul-2014 18:13

As kingjj mentioned you should put your website behind a free CloudFlare account, that would not only prevent many forms of attacks but would also provide a CDN to locally cache the static content of the website so your users are loading the files from a location closest to them.

The old version of the website, I feel didn't look as good as the new one but it gave a clearer message. From the homepage I knew exactly what it was that the business does.

-A.

l43a2

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#1079570 3-Jul-2014 18:21

ill go along with what the others have said about the email, ISP email is a bad idea for business and the header image could do with some professional touches other than that the website is coming along nicely.

also just a quick note on loading times, they do say if the website doesn't load fast enough alot people wont bother looking around so loading times are important.

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#1079574 3-Jul-2014 18:31

As above. Slow to load but don't change providers yet - put it behind the free Cloudflare account and it will cache the site closer - in Sydney.

Good start, need a bit more content - just bullet points won't be enough to get good position in a search. But it's a start.

amanzi

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#1079575 3-Jul-2014 18:34

Hi - like others above, the site loaded extremely slowly for me - I would definitely recommend finding a cheap NZ host to host the site.
Some other feedback: (some of which is just personal opinion - take it or leave it...)

The top image looks like links - but these aren't clickable
The site has a responsive design, which is good, but the top image appears squashed when viewed on my phone.
The flyout menus in the navigation may look good at first, but I found them distracting and unnecessary.
Biggest issue is that there's nothing on your home page that says what you actually do. From your company name, it sounds like you do repairs, but there's just a link to installations in the navigation bar. Scroll down the home page and it's not sure what you're offering - sales, services, or repairs?
I'd remove the links to the suppliers' sites - instead if you click on Panasonic I'd expect to see a page on your site going into some detail about the Panasonic models you deal with.
As others have mentioned - get rid of the Xtra address. Get an email address on your domain instead. e.g. info@ifix4u.co.nz
Some pages have nice URLs (e.g. http://www.ifix4u.co.nz/why-i-fix-4u) and others have generic page IDs for the URL (e.g. http://www.ifix4u.co.nz/?page_id=25)
Actually, that last link is broken - it appears at the bottom of the page and also opens a new tab unnecessarily
There are some other broken links throughout the site, like: http://www.ifix4u.co.nz/installation-guide?page_id=831 which is supposed to be Recent Projects
And other weird looking URLs like this: http://www.ifix4u.co.nz/installation-guide?page_id=710 which is your testimonials page
On your special promos pages, there are no calls to action, i.e. "July special deal!" or similar. It's unsure if these are real promo prices or just your regular pricing.

Overall it's a great effort if you've had no prior experience, but you can definitely tell that it's lacking that professional touch.

Good luck to you.

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