Dju Members Website Reviews

[Eskie 0]

Website review time once again and this time we have an almost finished site to crtique!

 

Ed Bray has almost completed his Website www.vibrant-sounds.co.uk.

Ed comments that:

... and, with the exception of one missing photo on the Standard rig page, and the upgrading of the poor quality photos on the compact rig page and large rig page I think it is pretty much finished (these should be rephotographed by the end of next week)

 

I seem to be getting a fair bit of work from the website already, but I would appreciate it if you could cast your critical eye over it, and any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

So please cast your beady eyes over his site and let's hear some opinions. Please do bear in mind though that the site does have some missing/poor photos.

 

Ed is planning on having his site finished by the end of next week and with help from you guys he can implement changes to the site and make any improvements that may be suggested prior to the photographs being available and his multi million dollar advertising campaign to inform the world of the finished site

 

[Welsh Audio Man 21 0]

Looks pretty good to me. Well done ed! :Thumbup:

[McCardle 1]

basic but informative :Thumbup: i would try and hide your email address in either an image or just include a form as i found out to my cost that you find your email added to spam lists if it is linked on your site

[Paul Smith 0]

A nice clean site and as I am sitting here with my English Teacher Mortar Board & Gown on there are only a few minor things that I feel could be improved:

 

this mobile entertainment from DJ Ed Bray supplies Disco and Karaoke

I feel a better word could be used here (can't think what though)

 

It is difficult to give clear fixed pricing that will suit all occasions and venues, and as all my clients will have very different requirements for their "Special Event" I am unable to offer a price that will suit every eventuality.

I think the bit in bold could be read as 'I can't offer a price to everyone' :shrug:

 

Karaoke can be catered for

When I first read this I thought there was something amiss but couldn't work out what it was - still can't exactly but how about 'Karaoke can be provided' or 'Karaoke fans (or lovers etc) can be catered for'.

 

and the potential risk of damage to the performers wireless microphones.

Personally I would delete this bit - it brings in something negative plus there's a chance that someone could expect some of this extra fee back if the microphones don't get damaged.

 

The main body text is (I believe) Georgia/Times or something similar - have you tried experimenting with other fonts. Your headings (poss Verdana?) are much easier to read.

 

Also have you tried changing the colour of the background that fills in the surplus area around the page - not that there anything wrong with what you have choosen I just wondered if you had tried others?

 

PS the photos look grand on my monitor smile icon

Edited November 20, 2006 by Paul_Smith

[BigBen 0]

Hmm, I'm afraid I'm not keen on this site. I'll start with my usual moan - where the hell is the DJ? Not one photo, even from distance, of the man at the centre of attention for four hours.

 

Why isn't your disco name at the top every page?

 

Next is the colour scheme - purple? Isn't that for chocolate?

 

I use Firefox so the pages display differently than with IE...and not as nice either. Cross browser support should be a basic check when publishing web sites.

 

The font is okay, maybe justify the paragraphs to make it all appear smarter.

 

Advertising your PAT services? Why not get another site and link the two?

 

On the plus side, the wording seems really good. Friendly, not too technical and re-assuring I guess.

 

None of this matters if you are getting bookings of course! You could have the best looking site in the world but if nobody visits then it's worthless!

[shakermaker 0]

That looks ok to me. Each to their own I guess. As long as you are happy with it then that's fine.

Do you have any customer comments that you could add?

I'll be re-doing some of my site shortly as I have learnt a bit more Dreamweaver over the last few days.

[C.S 0]

Derek Rikard would be proud of you young Ed ! Good site

[EdBray 0]

 

Thanks for all the replies so far (good and bad), I have taken onboard some of the suggestions and already made some changes. As the site was set up with a wizard, some of the things suggested are not possible to do immediately, but I am working on them.

 

Hmm, I'm afraid I'm not keen on this site. Sorry to hear that :sad: I'll start with my usual moan - where the hell is the DJ? Not one photo, even from distance, of the man at the centre of attention for four hours.

 

Have you seen me? Don't want to put people off, do I? Fair point though, it will be done.

 

Why isn't your disco name at the top every page?

 

Should be now!

 

Next is the colour scheme - purple? Isn't that for chocolate?

 

Visit to specsavers maybe tongue out icon , it's blue.

 

I use Firefox so the pages display differently than with IE...and not as nice either. Cross browser support should be a basic check when publishing web sites. Good idea, but not always practicable, I mean how many different browsers are there? and should I nip out and buy an Applemac as well to try all the browsers for that as well. Not trying to be flippant, just realistic.

 

Advertising your PAT services? Why not get another site and link the two?

 

Maybe a job for the future!

 

On the plus side, the wording seems really good. Friendly, not too technical and re-assuring I guess.

 

Thanks, I spent a lot of time on the wording, not trying to be too pushy whilst coming across as reliable.

 

None of this matters if you are getting bookings of course! You could have the best looking site in the world but if nobody visits then it's worthless!

 

I am surprised daily by the number of enquiries coming through from my internet contacts. Being listed in two online Disco Directories leads them to my website and from that a telephone call or email follows.

 

[brianmole 0]

Ed, I would look at using a different font, and a pic of you would be beneficial to your clients - they can be confortable seeing they have not booked a meathead to work their function!!!

 

On this page, I'm a little confused by your pli cert which appears to run from Dec 2006 to 2007, and what is the City & Guilds thing about? Should you not have a PAT test certificate there instead? :shrug:

 

 

Otherwise, looks very useful to a prospective client.... :Thumbup:

[EdBray 0]

Ed, I would look at using a different font, and a pic of you would be beneficial to your clients - they can be confortable seeing they have not booked a meathead to work their function!!!

 

 

On this page, I'm a little confused by your pli cert which appears to run from Dec 2006 to 2007, and what is the City & Guilds thing about? Should you not have a PAT test certificate there instead? :shrug:

 

 

Otherwise, looks very useful to a prospective client.... :Thumbup:

 

Hi Brian,

 

PLI certificate definitely says 16th Oct 06 - 15th Oct 07. Perhaps you want to join Rich in the specsavers queue Take your point about the Pat certificate I will change that.

 

Photo will be sorted, just saving up for the plastic surgery and liposuction tongue out icon

 

 

[brianmole 0]

Ed, I would look at using a different font, and a pic of you would be beneficial to your clients - they can be confortable seeing they have not booked a meathead to work their function!!!

 

 

On this page, I'm a little confused by your pli cert which appears to run from Dec 2006 to 2007, and what is the City & Guilds thing about? Should you not have a PAT test certificate there instead? :shrug:

 

 

Otherwise, looks very useful to a prospective client.... :Thumbup:

 

Hi Brian,

 

PLI certificate definitely says 16th Oct 06 - 15th Oct 07. Perhaps you want to join Rich in the specsavers queue Take your point about the Pat certificate I will change that.

 

Photo will be sorted, just saving up for the plastic surgery and liposuction tongue out icon

:aa Well, moles are not well known for good eyesight are they!

[digitaldistortion 0]

I won't comment on the content, visuals etc. (simply because I simply hate my own site, and am in the throes of redesigning, rejigging etc.), BUT using a co access and IE......the access times were atrocious. I gave up on the rig pages, even the front page took what seemed like forever to load!!!!!

PS. The company line wasn't tied up at the time, so the problems not there!!!!

[EdBray 0]

I won't comment on the content, visuals etc. (simply because I simply hate my own site, and am in the throes of redesigning, rejigging etc.), BUT using a co access and IE......the access times were atrocious. I gave up on the rig pages, even the front page took what seemed like forever to load!!!!!

PS. The company line wasn't tied up at the time, so the problems not there!!!!

 

Sodding typical, I ask for people to review the site and the company hosting my site are having problems with my bit of the server. I apologise for the delays, they are at the present time sorting it out (with a rocket up their ar$e).

 

[EdBray 0]

Now sorted :Thumbup:

[Steve_Mitchell 0]

Ed, on your contacts page. When you do the hyperlink for your email if for example you put

 

Eddie@Vibrant-Sounds.co.uk?subject=Enquiry from web site

 

When the clients click on the email link, automatically the email will put Enquiry from web site in the subject line. This way you know the enquiry has come from your web site.

[EdBray 0]

Ed, on your contacts page. When you do the hyperlink for your email if for example you put

 

Eddie@Vibrant-Sounds.co.uk?subject=Enquiry from web site

 

When the clients click on the email link, automatically the email will put Enquiry from web site in the subject line. This way you know the enquiry has come from your web site.

 

Steve,

 

have tried that, but as website was set-up using a wizard it doesn't seem to work.

 

Few changes made, couple of pictures added, including one of the ugly DJ.

Edited November 26, 2006 by EdBray

[Andy Westcott 0]

Ed, one point worth looking at:

 

Some of your images are absolutely huge as regards file size; For example, the small one you have on your pricing page weighs in at almost a megabyte!!

 

I'd look at reducing the number of pixels of the actual image to a reasonable number, and not force the browser to do the job. The image file size needn't really be above about 20Kb for this size of display.

 

If you have trouble doing this, I, or many others on here could do the reduction for you. smile icon

 

[EdBray 0]

Ed, one point worth looking at:

 

Some of your images are absolutely huge as regards file size; For example, the small one you have on your pricing page weighs in at almost a megabyte!!

 

I'd look at reducing the number of pixels of the actual image to a reasonable number, and not force the browser to do the job. The image file size needn't really be above about 20Kb for this size of display.

 

If you have trouble doing this, I, or many others on here could do the reduction for you. smile icon

 

Have reduced the size of the images, not down to 20k but considerably smaller than they were.

 

[Andy Westcott 0]

Ed, you've improved it a lot;

However, you are still falling into a very common trap regarding web page images.

 

Allow me to explain:

 

The image you are using now (using your pricing page example) has a true size of 400 X 300 pixels, but your HTML code is telling the browser to resize the image, and display it at 300 X 225 pixels:

 

This is the code segment concerned:

<IMG class=rsedit height=225 alt="" hspace=10 src="images/me2.jpg" width=300 align=left border=0>

 

For optimum performance all round, you really should be scaling down your image to exactly the same size as that dictated by your HTML code. Saves bandwidth your end and ours, and will make your page even quicker to load, especially if you use more agressive .jpg compression on the final image.

 

I hope I haven't confused the issue.....

[EdBray 0]

Okay Andy,

 

Just spent the last couple of hours using photoshop to resize every image on the website to the same pixel dimensions as required by the webpages.

 

Is this better?

 

 

[Andy Westcott 0]

I've had a quick look, and the images I looked at are now correctly sized.

 

I still think they weigh in a bit on the heavy side although the situation is far better than it originally was; I took the image of your medium rig and could compress it down to 19Kb with only a very slight loss of quality, so one day when you are bored out of your skull maybe have a go at this.

 

Using Photoshop, re-size as you've been doing, and when done choose the 'save for web' option. I like this way of doing it as you are presented with a quality slider marked in percent - I use and recommend a setting of 20%. Ensure you have jpg selected!

 

You could, of course, use the image as a link to a higher resolution image - 800 pixels wide perhaps, but personally I think your images are big enough to show what you want anyhow.

 

Another teensy weensy coding point:

Avoid spaces in your file names. Most of the time it makes no difference, but it is recommended good practice to ensure full compatibility. If some kind of division is needed in the file name for clarity, use_an_underscore.

 

I'll have another, closer look and see what else I can pick at!

 

Anyhow, good site, well laid out. :Thumbup:

Knocks mine into a cocked hat......

[YourBigEvent 0]

I'd look at reducing the number of pixels of the actual image to a reasonable number

 

Lose a few pounds and the photographs won't use so many pixels. :joe:

[vibemobilediscos 0]

looks good, on the multi-browser front, just for your information i use apple mac and on my safari (browser) all your pages load fine!

[EdBray 0]

Very many thanks to all those who responded to this thread.

 

I really appreciated all your comments, good :Thumbup: and bad tongue out icon , and have acted on a lot of them and made some considerable changes based on most of the recommendations and criticisms received.

 

I have changed the titles of my three outfits from "compact", "standard" and "large" to "standard", "large" and "mammoth" this was due to a couple of concerns from different clients as to the size and power of my compact outfit as although it has plenty of power (2x 12" 250 watt rms full range & a 15" 500 watt rms sub bass), anything seen as compact or small gives a negative connotation and even though this outfit would be more than suitable for their requirements in their chosen venues, it was seen by them to be "sub-standard" as the "standard" setup was the next sized rig available.

 

I have made many changes to the website over the last few weeks, usually after talking to clients and identifying what sort of things they were looking for and what had attracted them to my website (that will probably all change now they can see me first), and I have been surprised at how a simple word taken out of context (consciously or subconsciously) can make all the difference as to how a prospective client perceives something.

 

As those of you with websites will be aware, it is a ongoing process to keep the thing updated, new information, better quality pictures, adjustments to services, and even just changing the text in order to freshen the site and clarify details are all things that can be regularly improved, but for now, I am relatively happy with how it looks, reads and comes across to prospective clients.

 

Once again thank you all for your responses.

 

 

[stevemarshall 0]

Interesting website

 

Certainly the font needs looking at try something like Times new roman, maybe 14 point or higher

 

Make the font uniform, plain black is best, esp for people with glasses etc...

 

Also if you want to highlight the name that's cool, but get rid of the inverted commas, it's just bad grammar...

 

Also think of something other than Small Large Mega(and extra large...) a Mammoth had tusks apparently...Eskie has quite a nice touch with the Bronze Silver etc

 

And check this out should give you some ideas...

 

http://www.davidbaker.biz/services.html

 

Also to do with pricing, a website is a advertising place for your services, most people now sit and go through a number of websites to check on pricing etc...make sure they know how much you charge..otherwise they won't bother and go somewhere else...even if there is a general charge sheet on your site that's better than what is there now....

 

Things like

 

"Vibrant Sounds" carries a wide range of music of many styles and genres

 

Tells me nothing..give some examples of the music you play

 

You say you play

 

Rockabilly, Rock and Roll, Soul, Motown, Funk, give us some examples of artists:)

 

As to the e-mail address thing, try putting eddie(at)vibrant-sounds(dot)co(dot)uk that stops the nasty e-mail address robots from adding your address to their lists.

 

 

And on the page that says

 

To ensure an accurate quotation can be given for a specific event and venue, please contact me directly using the details on my contact page.

 

Put the link to your e-mail address!

 

In sales it's about doing something now not next week

 

 

And the most important part of an business is recommendations, most sites have letters from satisfied customers, scan some and put some on your website:)

 

Hope that helps!