New Web Site is Finally Up and Going

DR Buck · January 02, 2009, 02:12:53 AM

After getting tired of waiting for the wife (who does web work) to put up a site for my sawmilling service, I finally decided to do it myself. I had to find some easy to use software first, then learn how to use it. Well the results of my labors for the past week are up and going. Please take a look and give me your feedback. I tried to cover all the basic stuff a sawmill customer might need to know before they call me.

The site is Got Logs?

ellmoe · January 02, 2009, 06:44:25 AM

Looks Good! Congratulations.

Mark

crtreedude · January 02, 2009, 07:03:02 AM

Nice and clean, says what you do, clearly.

Now you need to get it found. A few suggestions.

Clean up your title and put more words. For example, your title on your first page should not be :::Got Logs::: but something like Custom Sawing in Fauquier County, Virgina

Then, on each page, expand the titles to have more info, make sure to put as much as appears sensible. The key idea, people don't look at the titles BUT THE SEARCH SPIDERS DO!!

There is much, much more I could write about, but I will let you read about it. Look into SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.

This is actually the most important thing - if the search engines can't find you, neither will your clients.

for what it is worth.

Burlkraft · January 02, 2009, 08:04:39 AM

Nice Job Dave 8) 8) 8)

Dan_Shade · January 02, 2009, 08:17:24 AM

Dave, I'd pull my street address off of there. Make them call you to find out how to find you.

It looks great.

David Freed · January 02, 2009, 08:26:02 AM

Quote from: crtreedude on January 02, 2009, 07:03:02 AM
Nice and clean, says what you do, clearly.

I agree with crtreedude. All the flashy stuff on some sites distracts people from what you are trying to say/sell/etc. I think it looks good.

What software did you use to make it?

isawlogs · January 02, 2009, 08:30:52 AM

Nice job Dave . Have you had anybody with dial up acess your site yet .
Looks good . I would also have my phone number , then again it aint to hard to find anybody anymore . Alls that is needed for that is a reverse check with number .

Cedarman · January 02, 2009, 09:22:36 AM

Nice location page.

DR Buck · January 02, 2009, 10:34:52 AM

Thanks for the input so far. I've taken your recommendations under consideration :D :D and made some changes to the site.

crtreedude - I've added a 'new' innocuous first line on the key web pages to help the search engines and not affect the look of my pages.

Dan_Shade - Good suggestion. It will for sure stop most 'drop-in' visitors. I've removed the street address.

isawlogs - Dial up ? Marcel, any customers in my area that are on dial-up probably don't use the computer much and are more apt to find my business cards hanging at the local farm supply stores. Washing DC is the high-speed INTERNET capitol of the world.

- My phone number was on the 'Contact Me' page. I changed the color and made it bigger so it stands out more. I also added it to the home page.

David Freed - The software is called "CoffeeCup Visual Site Designer" It's free for 21 days, then only cost $49 to buy. It's a 'drag-n-drop' web builder. Like any software, it took a few hours poking around to figure it all out, then it was easy. Their web is here - Coffee Cup

wi woodcutter · January 02, 2009, 10:42:07 AM

Looks very nice! Good job, best of luck to you.

crtreedude · January 02, 2009, 02:41:33 PM

You need to do it in the Title, not in the page.

Your current title on the first page says:

<title> :::Got Logs Home ::: </title>

Change this to be what you want the people to find you when they search.

(this is in the header code of the HTML)

Jeff · January 02, 2009, 03:11:17 PM

I know a real good way to get it to give it a real search engine turbo type boost. ;)

Dave, what Fred noted in your meta title tag, those colons will be detrimental to indexing.

crtreedude · January 02, 2009, 03:21:29 PM

Quote from: Jeff on January 02, 2009, 03:11:17 PM
I know a real good way to get it to give it a real search engine turbo type boost. ;)

Dave, what Fred noted in your meta title tag, those colons will be detrimental to indexing.

There is probably NOTHING that you can do to get into the search engines beter than what Jeff is hinting at.

DR Buck · January 02, 2009, 05:45:40 PM

Quote from: Jeff on January 02, 2009, 03:11:17 PM
I know a real good way to get it to give it a real search engine turbo type boost. ;)

Dave, what Fred noted in your meta title tag, those colons will be detrimental to indexing.

As I know almost nothing about building web pages or how search engines work........I'm all ears. smiley_bigears

pigman · January 02, 2009, 06:55:00 PM

Dave, good site. I am on slow dialup and all but the front page loads fairly fast. The fromt page is very slow only because the picture's file size are a lot larger than necessay for their pixil size. If you could resize those front page pictures down to about 25,000 bytes it will load real fast and not agitate the two potential customers in your area that are not on high speed. ;D

WH_Conley · January 02, 2009, 09:21:10 PM

My site got noticed real quick by the search engines. Within 3 days I was at the top of the Google search for one catagory.

Jeff · January 02, 2009, 09:40:50 PM

Quote from: WH_Conley on January 02, 2009, 09:21:10 PM
My site got noticed real quick by the search engines. Within 3 days I was at the top of the Google search for one catagory.

The Power of the Shameless Sponsor Link.

WH_Conley · January 02, 2009, 10:26:21 PM

:D :D :D

bck · January 05, 2009, 12:22:37 AM

One of the better sawmill sites I have seen. Nice.
I'm guessing you resized the pictures ? my slow dialup loaded them with no problem.

Fla._Deadheader · January 05, 2009, 11:06:41 AM

The site looks fine. 8)

Am I the only one to have to scroll across to see the whole pages, and, I have overlapping text in 2 different pages, where text overlaps text, and text overlaps photos ???

I tried to copy-paste, to show what I see, but, it just makes a list of the text, doesn't show the actual pages. ???

I'm getting into a website, and, would like to know what I am seeing, different from others, and why ???

Jeff · January 05, 2009, 11:52:17 AM

Harold, usually you can hit your print screen button to record what you are seeing on your "clipboard" Then open up outlook express, you should be able to paste the image in an email. You should see it at that point. Once you do, send it to yourself and you will have a sustainable copy of the picture. Thats the easiest way to do it.

Jeff · January 05, 2009, 11:54:34 AM

I should add, that what you are seeing is probably simply do to your having a lower resolution monitor and the page was created on a higher resolution monitor.

Fla._Deadheader · January 05, 2009, 12:37:47 PM

QuoteI should add, that what you are seeing is probably simply do to your having a lower resolution monitor and the page was created on a higher resolution monitor

Why do I only see it on Dave's site, when I visit many different sites without seeing the same problem ???

If I create a website, will it show up badly on other computer screens ???

Thanks for the tip of capturing the screen image.

beenthere · January 05, 2009, 01:02:12 PM

Just an observation, but the log size limit is noted as 36" diam, yet the Home page shows a fellow standing on a much larger log. Might want to have this pic of the max size log, not a larger one.

Larry · January 05, 2009, 02:09:19 PM

Quote from: Fla._Deadheader on January 05, 2009, 11:06:41 AM
Am I the only one to have to scroll across to see the whole pages, and, I have overlapping text in 2 different pages, where text overlaps text, and text overlaps photos ???

I see the same. The cause is your moniter resolution is set at 800 X 600...if you go to the control panel and change the resolution to 1024 X 768 it will look normal. I think what Jeff was saying. He could probably tell us what percentage of folks keep there tubes set thata way from the counter thing.

I keep my moniter at 800 X 600 because of old eyes...but Kathy has a big screen and she keeps hers at 800 X 600 just because she likes the layout better.

I like your site just fine DR_Buck.