Web Site Rating Expert : Vancouver Island, BC Canada

Retire to Nanaimo - Nanaimo Realtor - (9/10)

2005-11-29T14:17:00.000-08:00

Nanaimo Realtor Gary Bowen and wife Toni Bowen have made selling lifestyle an art form.

These two have made Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada into an Island Paradise both visually and with some very creative copywriting. After looking at this website, all of us can agree that we want to live in Nanaimo... RIGHT NOW!

Take a look at this website!

www.retiretonanaimo.com

One word comes to mind: WOW!

Major Points for:

Graphic Design Clean and Easy to Read
Colour Scheme Perfect for Selling the Nanaimo Lifestyle
Great Photography
Excellent Writing and Great Resource!

OVERALL SCORE = 9/10

9/10 - Graphical Look
9/10 - Functionality / Useability
9/10 - Originality
9/10 - Marketing Skill / Copywriting
9/10 - Search Engine Optimization Technique

VISIT THEM ONLINE: www.retiretonanaimo.com

Snyder's of Hanover - Big Holes!

2005-04-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

The Snyder's of Hanover prezel bakery website has a mediorce colour scheme (brown's & earth tones) as far as their branding goes but beyond that (and few good images) the website has some major drawbacks:

1. Lack of search engine optimization
2. Slow loading pages
3. Inconsistant looking pages (some links take you off-site to a yahoo shop)
4. Inaccessible/hidden navigation (that you have to dig for various pages)
5. INEFFECTIVE MARKETING COPY = no calls to action.

http://www.snydersofhanover.com

Overall Score = 2.3/10

Web Site Rating:

*Note: Ratings are based on 10 point sliding scale (10 best, 1 worst)

2/10 - Graphical Look

I think the marketing team that designed the website got lazy after they decided upon the colours (which are not perfect and do not offer enough contrast for the logo).

The first thing I think of when I see this site is: Cholocate, Wheat and Laxatives!

In addition the ad above the right navigation looks sloppy. The only thing nice about this site is the LOGO and the small navigation buttons (home, mail, faq, store).

Snyder's needs to clean up the look of their website by careful placement of the images. They should also lighten the colour of the background and reverse the existing contrast between the interface and background.

Also, lets improve the look of the inside page links. They are boring. ***SNORE***

2/10 - Functionality / Useability

Dang this website is slow. I barely waited to review it. The images are too large and the swap image navigation is probably the culprit for the slow loading.

I also did not like having to dig deeper into the site to find other information. You really have to look hard to get the nutritional information. Basically, if someone gets lost in this website it will take forever to navigate! How about a site map or breadcrumb links!

My biggest PEEVE about this site is the bakery gift shop (page/section) is hosted elsewhere on a Yahoo store page. The biggest indicator to me that a business is not PRO is the use of cheap looking e-stores that most people wouldn't take seriously. Find a web services company that can improve this!!! Your profit margins will increase!!!

2/10 - Originality

Admittedly, this is the best feature. Where else can you find a website dedicated to the production of Prezels and a website that is mostly brown?

OK I lied and I am being sarcastic. This website has no originality but after reviewing the content I can see that Synder's has the opportunity to easily brand and differentiate themselves as a premium prezel maker online... I can envision many themes, plays on history, campaigns, etc. based around their history and product line. They could definately have a lot of fun with it and make a lot of money promoting this product at the same time. Done the right way of course.

My advice: consider a spokesperson and/or mascot... Have fun with it people!

1.5/10 - Marketing Skill / Copywriting

I hate to ask it but, WHAT MARKETING?

For the love of PETE, please organize and streamline the text. There are many areas where you can put text together on the same page and use anchor links instead of more links!!!

For example, the main navigation button 'A Bakery Story' takes you to a page of more links. Simply place all the history information or most of it on one or two pages... Your main navigation should not be used to take you to more navigation if there is no information other than more links (make sense?).

4/10 - Search Engine Optimization Technique

You have a limited presence online but your GOOGLE page rank isn't too shabby with a 5/10 score.

You are missing some key ingredients here... i.e. Keyword optimization, meta tags, effective navigation and enough home page text.

Do you think this site gets great search engine results and quality traffic that didn't get there by accident?

Final Thoughts:

This website needs some major work in the following areas:

Interface re-design

Professional web site copywriting

Navigation improvements

Image optimization

Professional on-site ecommerce solution

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For help or solutions please visit the following links:

Internet Marketing Consulting
Search Engine Optmization
Affordable Web Site Design Services
More Affordable Web Site Design Services

Decode Systems: A What Not To Do Story

2005-02-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

The Decode Systems website it the perfect example of what not to do in all categories. Regardless of how good or bad their service is this website is not going to help Decode Systems generate business or get quality website traffic the way it should.

http://www.decodesystems.com/

Overall Score = 1/10

Web Site Rating:

*Note: Ratings are based on 10 point sliding scale (10 best, 1 worst)

1/10 - Graphical Look

There is none. It is a basic black on white background. There is no indication as to what the site is about. If people actually came across it in a web search most people would look elsewhere because this site looks unprofessional & boring and that will reflect upon the companies image. Decode needs to upgrade the look of their website immediately.

1/10 - Functionality / Useability

At least it loads fast. However, the navigation is confusing and leads to dead ends. As soon as you leave the homepage there is no site navigation. Visitors are forced to find the homepage to view other areas within the website. In some cases, you need to link deep into the website to find hidden information that most likely will never be found. With no site search this website gets a low rating for useability and usefulness.

1/10 - Originality

In a nutshell, there is no originality in this site - given the lack of graphics. It is no better thought out than the formating of word document.

1/10 - Marketing Skill / Copywriting

The content of this website is purely tech talk. Lingo that only the writers or some very expert people may understand. In order to sell consulting services a company should speak to those that need consulting (the non-experts) and in a language they will understand. In addition, there is little or no information about what Decode systems can do, no benefits, no service features, etc. It talks a lot about techy stuff but no real solutions are offered. I would recommend that Decode look at their core services and show them. As a person looking for services, if I made it past the lack-luster graphical approach, I wouldn't read past the first sentence before going to the competitions website.

1/10 - Search Engine Optimization Technique

Page title tags '<>', good copywriting, and backwards links (reciprocal links from other websites) are the three most important factors in SEO. However, none of these are addressed in the Decode website. For instance, the copywritng is saturated with techy keywords but it is not saturated with services keywords (the money-making keywords that generate business and new customers). In addition, the backward links are limited to a small number of sites (probably) designed by the same people and a few non-relevant low ranking websites.

Final Thoughts:

This website needs a complete overhaul...
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For help or solutions please visit the following links:

Internet Marketing Consulting
Search Engine Optmization
Affordable Web Site Design Services