New Website - Input needed

JoeMudder

I just set this up on my servers recently, still under development but is coming along. Anyone have any ideas or input on this?

http://www.wallmasterdrywall.com/

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WallmasterDrywall.com

Darren@Partners

Pretty extensive site. I would guess Google and amazon paying you some $ for the links, etc.? Did get error messages on a few of the links, though. But really a professional looking site. Kudos

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www.partnersconstruction-drywall.com

devol_drywall

Looks decent but I might make a suggestion & this goes for any of you guys who dont have the time or skill to build & maintain a website... use a CMS.

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

Most of the good ones are free & very simple to use & you can have a very elaborate, professional looking site in no time

Personally for contractors/small business I would recommend Joomla I've used it in the past & there are lots of add-ons & templates

Other good ones are Drupal, Mambo & e107

You can try demos of several different ones here

In my spare time I'm an online gaming enthusiasts & run multiple websites

http://wocen.org - which uses e107
http://www.evilterritory.com - my league which uses a league CMS
http://evilrtcw2.com - our clan which uses vbulletin (same as this site)

I do most of the design & maintain these sites so if any of you have any questions or need a little assistance feel free to shoot me a pm. I help alot of people with their sites & almost never charge anything as it it's more of hobby.

A+ Texture LLC

So are these programs for us to build our own sites, or to maintain them after the fact? I have been wanting to build one.

devol_drywall

both

joepro0000

Joe

Website looks a little amature. Font needs to look more professional. Take a look at mine, I built it myself - www.procopiofinish.com

JoeMudder

Content Management Systems aren't normally used by professionals.

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WallmasterDrywall.com

JoeMudder

Can you be more specific why you think it looks amatuer? I'm a professional web designer and I own ChosenWebHost.com. Can you describe which font needs to look more professional? Are there standards explained somewhere about what "fonts" have to be used by professionals?

I'm not sure on "your" definitian of "professional" could you elaborate?

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WallmasterDrywall.com

devol_drywall

I didnt say they were used by professionals, I said you could make a professional looking site with them & I can show you a gazillion business' that use them.

Custom Drywall Svc.

Mudder,

your website looks fine man. i think it looks very professional, my opinion at least. very informative.

JoeMudder

I know, and I didn't say you did. I was just pointing out that they aren't normally used by professionals.

Have a great day!

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WallmasterDrywall.com

joepro0000

First off- When a user goes to your website, the user's eyes scroll all over the page,and its difficult to find the main navigation. You have 2 different main navigations right next to each other. The logo and some other graphics a little fuzzy. Times Roman is very boring font, and amatuer. I'm being honest with you, I have a BA in Web Design.

A+ Texture LLC

I like em both.

brdn_drywall

man i kinda have to side with Joe his site is more straight forward and to the point for easy navigation and simple explanation of his services, yours if i was to stumble upon it i would be confused if you were explaining the complete history of drywall and it's products or if you were selling your services as a contractor.

brdn_drywall

what i mean is the average person looking online for a contractor probably isn't looking to be schooled with so much literature and information that they could care less about, but references bragging pictures and an explanation of what you could do for them so that their not navigating/reading through the site for hours trying to find out how to hire you, you have to admit it's pretty clusterf*cked in there.

JoeMudder

So glad to hear you have a BA. I work with a team on another site and answer questions for other men who have PhD's. I went to school also but I don't feel a need to post what I learned or what degrees I have.

Now that we have the nonsense behind us, possibly you can tell me what sites you have developed and how many hits per month they are experiencing? I had one site that I didn't have time for and after several months decided to go see what it was doing and found that the hits were over 471,000 per month.

I don't wish to discredit your education or knowledge, but there's something to be said for internet savy and understanding what people want. We can have all the degrees we are able to obtain, but without practical understanding of what people are looking for our web sites won't be popular.

In my experience, most people online don't give a rats hide, or do they even know what times roman is. They're looking for content and information that is easy to read and links that are easy to follow. I have my own web servers and chat network and have 8 domains that have been doing quite well. I just recently started to work on putting ads on them. Do you have any success with them? Since you have BA possibly you can offer some information about your success that might help someone like me that is just an average guy.

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WallmasterDrywall.com

joepro0000

Joe Mudder,

Read the book: Don't Make Me Think - by steve krug -

It will explain everything what I'm trying to tell you. I have done my fair share of web design, but have put that career on hold after my drywall business starting booming. Eventually I will have both running. But like explained above, your website is too cluddered and the design looks micky mouse. Please don't take it wrong, but try and listen. If you don't believe, ask post your site on craigslist and ask your local web designers from a scale of 1-10 what they rate it. I guarantee it will be less than a 6.

JoeMudder

Interesting, especially considering the number of hits it's getting already after being up for only about a week now. You haven't answered my questions however, possibly if you could do that it would give me clearer information than you have presented here. Try and understand that if someone avoids my questions it just really hard to substantiate their claims that they are a pro at this. Anyone can criticize, but I see it this way, if a person is a real pro they would be able to offer the information I requested and I believe it's fair since I would also be able to offer such information if I had given someone input that requested it. Hope you understand where I'm coming from.

Have a blessed day.

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WallmasterDrywall.com

Darren@Partners

I see the same thing happening here as when I put my own site up for review. I'll admit, I got defensive when a drywall / web expert picked at my grammar, etc.

Mine was designed to be basic. Some guy comes along, wanting me to promise dust-free, blah, blah, blah.

I wasn't looking to go out and invite disputes with clients over crap like, "your site said (fill in the blank). Kept it simple, period. Do I get a ton of hits? Nope. But it is there as a reference in all may ads, etc. And I admit, I know nothing about site design, but will eventually deveolp it further. Everybody who asks what people think of their site only want to hear "Cool, great job" but that isn't going to happen.

That said, the Wallmaster site is pretty impressive at first view. It does, in my humble opinion, have entirely too much content. And even my first impression was that it was pretty heavy on Google links and history of drywall. Heck, I signed up for your forum too(That is just a little over the top, don't you think?). Whole time thinking, is this a knock-off of DrywallTalk?

And an on-line store? What business are you really in? Drywall or e-commerce?

And none of this is to rile up Wallmaster. My main point is that if you ask for opinions, that is surely what you'll get. My other point is that I am amazed at how many drywallers are also learned web-design experts, that doing drywall until their web biz takes off (WTF?).

Okay, fire away.

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www.partnersconstruction-drywall.com

rebel20

Darren could not of said it better except looks like a do it yourselfer
Ask the builder (Tim Carter)
If I was looking for a pro here I would probably have taten all the tips and treid it myself