Dju Member Website Reviews

[vokf 0]

DJBogie has asked for a review of his site.

 

Please provide constructive feedback on technical and commercial aspects here!

 

http://www.djbentertainments.co.uk

 

 

Many thanks,

Jason (vokf)

[Dukesy 0]

I'm using IE7 and on a quick perusal, the site is neat and tidy.

 

A couple of pictures here and there would likely break up the page content - make it more interesting for the reader / potential client.

 

Fortunately, I learned first from the homepage where you are based because on the disco and karaoke pages - I had no idea where you cover! smile icon

Later, I read the FAQs and learned more!

 

Actually, on the FAQs, I would feel a little unsure of the two 'questions'

Why are you cheaper than some discos?

Why are you dearer than some discos?

 

Why not just say - Why do your fees vary?

I'd also place the How much do you charge? question at the top of that 'Cost' paragraph.

 

I'd seriously edit OUT the electrics in picture one on the gallery. There's also a blurred image - personally, I'd get rid of it.

 

Out of interest, on the prices page, the opening line says: "Due to the nature of the industry..."

If I was a potential client and asked - "What is this nature?" How would you answer? smile icon

[Gary (GDK) 0]

One thing that sticks out straight away is that your photos arent watermarked and on your Gallery i think it should read

 

More picture's coming soon

[mattmcc 0]

Hi

 

Well done on doing your web site. It's harder than people think, especially the text.

 

A few things that I would look at if I was you:

 

- Keywords and description. These are two sections in the header section and these are the first ports of call for a search engine. They should contain keywords that are associated with your business. Expecially try and get words or phrases that occur in the text of your page. This might seem like redundancy but it helps your scoring/page ranking on things like google. As I said you've done well with your text so reinforce it for the search engines

 

- Next put more descriptions into the alt tags. Similar idea to the keywords and description.

 

- More graphics. Your need more pictures. People are used to seeing a lot of graphics now a days. They expect it. Even a single graphic per page will brighten it up.

 

- You use a spacer from a site called www.350.com. Spacers tend to be single pixel, transparent gif files. Why not copy it or create your own and save it to your own web site host. By referencing a site that's not your own you will introduce possible delays as you then have to wait for 2 sites to respond.

 

- Do a search for 'Search Engine Optimisation'.

 

Well done on what you've done so far. Like I mentioned earlier it's harder work than people think.

 

All the best

 

Matt

[gadget 0]

I'd seriously edit OUT the electrics in picture one on the gallery. There's also a blurred image - personally, I'd get rid of it.

 

I'd agree with that one, it would fail a PAT test too !

 

 

David, who did have a website but its down atm...

[TonyB 0]

Use this modified version instead?

 

[Revelationroadshow 0]

Just a couple of points from me.

 

1. On your "disco" page you have a picture of your ig and on the Karaoke page a stock photo. Personally I would get rid of the rig picture and either go for another stock photo, or change them both for crowd or singer shots.

2. Get rid of the equipment page. The only people who are even remotely interested that you have a pair of SRM450's will be other DJ's

3. The phone number on your contact us page - get rid of the animation as it makes it harder to read.

4. Why use an aol email address. You obviously own the DJBEntertainments.co.uk domain, so use the email address that comes with it - makes for a much more professional image

 

Otherwise I do agree with the earlier comments. Well done on your first home grown site. You will change more times than you know over the next few years until you get to a point where it is exactly what you want, so don't be afraid to do that.

[ryandio 0]

There are a quite a number of spelling and grammatically errors throughout the site. I would advise passing your text through the Spell and Grammar checks in Microsoft Office before uploading to your Web Site.

[Kingy 0]

There are a quite a number of spelling and grammatically errors throughout the site. I would advise passing your text through the Spell and Grammar checks in Microsoft Office before uploading to your Web Site.

 

Especially the apostrophe. Which is a very common mistook. tongue out icon

 

The only thing I would add is in the FAQ's you should not state "we don't like to see peoplew being ripped off"... that is a bad statement to make in my opinion.

 

Other than that...very good effort.

[vokf 0]

I'll comment on the technical side - the above gramma/content comments are valid, and I can't add anything extra other than echo the "more pictures" point made by Dan.

 

 

No DOCTYPE for the pages. This helps the browser determine how the render the page.

This should be on the 1st line of the HTML (if you can edit this).

Something like;

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

(based on the code you've got - this should be right)

 

This is used by browsers- if you don't specify the type of document (there are many others!) then the browser will guess, and sometimes this will lead to undesired results.

More modern designs may use XHTML1.1 Strict

 

 

The page TITLE (the title in the browser) is not SEO friendly. Try to describe what the page contains in the title, ensure the title contains keywords that are on the page content.

Your homepage could be "Mobile Disco and Karaoke for the x, y and z area" - obviously, this is a top-level page, and pretty generic.

 

The other pages should have a more specific title ie;

"Photo gallery of mobile disco birthday parties and weddings"

 

You should also edit the "meta description" to suit on each page.

The "keywords and description" are NOT used by google to assist page ranking.

However the description is used when displaying your site as a search result. If you don't specify it - Google will try to build it from the content on the page.

 

 

You should be able to create email addresses on your domain. You should be able to forward this to your aol account (if you don't want to be checking multiple addresses).

I'd suggest you'll find it easier to have a completely separate email address for you disco.

 

 

If you don't get any stats for your site, consider adding "google analytics". (search for it on google).

This will provide useful stats on your visitors, and possibly some measure of any advertising.

Adding this is fairly simple, and is basically a case of pasting a few lines of script (that google supply).

 

Cheers!

Jason

[Dream Catchers 0]

Spelling mistakes - you use finnish instead of finish throughout your faq page.

 

I would expand Buckie to "Buckie, Banffshire" or "Buckie, Moray" as at first I thought you were using slang for Buckinghamshire.

 

Are you actually a multi op or do you just run one disco? The images suggest only one disco. Be careful of false advertising.

 

Jim

[disco4hire 1]

The first thing that needs doing is to do is make the site search engine friendly, at the moment it has no meta tags at all, and therefore it's essentially invisible to the search engines, so no one will find it. The web building software that has been used (350.com) has the facility to add the meta content, so it should be a simple task to correct this omission. TIP if you visit the home page of the sites that come out top in google, using the search terms you would like to be found using then 'right click' and 'view source' you will see the meta content they have used (which has obviously worked) I wouldn't advocate you copy it word for word, but it will give you ideas on what to use yourself.

 

Once that has been done there are several other aspects of the site that need attention. For a start, you need to get better pictures, the ones being used at the moment won't get you work, they will lose you work. A good picture is worth a thousand words, the next time you have a gig in a top venue, get some decent pictures taken, a good venue can boost your credibility so use it.

The editorial content need rewriting, personally I would recommend you moderate some of the claims you make, they don't ring true. Do you really have several DJs working in the business, could you handle a product launch for a multi national or do the sound and lighting for the students union Christmas party with 1000 guests? To claim you can, when in all probability you can't, is unprofessional and will destroy the credibility of your site, including the bits that are factual. I think you genuinely have decent kit that can handle all the jobs you are offered, it would be a shame if visitors to the site didn't believe it.

The 'prices' section needs a rethink, it's giving out a confused message, check out some of the other DJ's sites to see how they've handled this common problem, you may get some ideas on how to word it.

It's already been mentioned, but be sure to run any copy you write through a spell check before uploading it, if you know someone who would proof read it for you, that would be even better.

Finally, don't take any criticism personally, it's been made to help you, not hurt you, good luck.

[djbogie 0]

hi guys, thanks for all ur tips so far, just away to print it all off and got through them then do various changes to the site, once ive updated bits n bobs ill let yous know

 

 

thanks again

 

 

never thought it would be so hard making a site

[Andy Westcott 0]

OK, here's my take on the site so far - please take my criticisms in the manner in which they intended:

 

Firstly, I disagree with this:

...at the moment it has no meta tags at all, and therefore it's essentially invisible to the search engines, so no one will find it.

Untrue, basically. Meta tags aren't needed - Google will index plain text as long as it knows it's there, and it would know about it by incoming links. Not to say Meta information is not a good idea - generally it is, especially the description.

 

Right - the site itself.

First impressions were a nice clean layout - for an information site like this I think it's important to keep the clutter to a minimum, which you've done. Watch those apostrophes though - 'discos' and 'nights' (home page) are plurals and therefore don't have the apostrophe.

 

Little bit confused by this phrase:

We can also supply Event Sound and lighting for all private and corporate functions.

A bit confusing, and unnecessary it would seem.

 

On your 'Disco' page:

that has developed into one of the best, if not the best around.

You can't legally say that anymore. :nono:

 

Our equipment is regulary maintained

Two 'l's in regularly.

 

our DJ's...

Are you a multi-op? If not, sort that one out.

 

Your 'Karaoke' page:

...and have performed at some of the biggest venues

Have you? The Albert Hall? Wembley? Watch those statements - they may bite you one day.

 

at least 5 microhpones...

Spelt 'microphones'.

 

Your Gallery page:

Nice photos - showing the disco from the audience side for a change, not just meaningless dancers. Well done.

 

'Prices'.

If the page is called that, why no prices? Personally, I'd find that very frustrating.

Maybe a guide? Perhaps the price for an hypothetical gig at a local venue to run from 8 - 12?

Or rename the page to something less misleading.

I'd like to see a landline number there too, not just a mobile number.

 

'FAQ'

We require 2 x 13 amp socket with 13 amps spare capacity.

Wassat mean??

I notice a lot of your answers are pretty ambiguous and don't really answer the question at all - go through them and have a look.

Here're some examples:

What music do you play?

You haven't answered the question.

 

What do your DJ's wear to gigs?

So - what can you wear? Tux? Jeans?

 

On a technical note, the code is very messy with a lot of redundant snippets of code littering the pages, but unless you have some understanding of HTML & CSS there's little you can do about that - one of the prices you pay for using software such as the one you use. Not a major issue, but it will increase the time it takes for the page to stabilise and display.

 

Hope that helped a bit. smile icon

 

[vokf 0]

Untrue, basically. Meta tags aren't needed - Google will index plain text as long as it knows it's there, and it would know about it by incoming links. Not to say Meta information is not a good idea - generally it is, especially the description.

 

 

Agreed here also.

 

re: DJBogie

The Meta Description will help - but won't give a higher ranking. Its used by Google in the results listing.

Page title should be good, and content (text) well help. Incoming links from other Mobile DJ/Karaoke related sites will also help.

 

Meta Keywords USED to be used (Altavista days etc), but there was little to stop people spamming their Keyword entries with incorrect data for the page.

Some of the top entries on Google don't have keywords listed in the code.

 

As you've linked to the forum, I'd suggest adding your url to your signature here - one more inbound link from a site with lots of fresh content.

 

 

If the site is new, it will take a while to be indexed by Google (etc), this will vary but typically a few weeks.

To see any results will take a few months..

 

 

Jason

Edited November 17, 2008 by vokf

[djbogie 0]

One thing that sticks out straight away is that your photos arent watermarked and on your Gallery i think it should read

 

 

as im quite new how do i watermark the photos?

 

regarding the meta tags im completely lost away 2 do some research

 

 

graham

[vokf 0]

as im quite new how do i watermark the photos?

 

regarding the meta tags im completely lost away 2 do some research

graham

 

Hi Graham,

the watermark comment was from "WotUWnt2Hear".

The danger about leaving them not-water marked, is that someone else could use them on their site.

 

I personally don't worry too much, but if its a concern, you need to edit each image and put a simple "copyright xyz" on each image (then save/re-upload to your site). If you don't have a suitable editor, PaintShop Pro (not free), or the free "Paint.net" (which will work fine).

 

 

The meta tags are some non-visible bits of information in the code of the page.

They are used by browsers and search engines/robots. In the olden days, (pre-google), these WERE important, but search engines use a better approach to deciding the importance of the page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_tags

 

 

Note (inside the above article): "With respect to Google, thirty-seven leaders in search engine optimization concluded in April 2007 that the relevance of having your keywords in the meta-attribute keywords is little to none[3]. "

also;

"Search engines began dropping support for metadata provided by the meta element in 1998, and by the early 2000s, most search engines had veered completely away from reliance on meta elements. In July 2002 AltaVista, one of the last major search engines to still offer support, finally stopped considering them[2]."

 

I would strongly recommend adding a decent page title (which appears in the browser title), and then a description (a short description of the content on the page).

I suspect the tool you used to create the pages will allow this.

 

From looking at the changes you've made to the site - its looking much better, and from these simple changes, you will stand a much higher chance of getting bookings.

 

If you do this to each page - use a different title (which should reflect what is on the page) and a description (a longer version of the title!)

 

Cheers,

Jason