New site design, input please!
 

We are working on our new design and sometimes I feel like it's not gonna go. Something erks me. What do you think por favor?

Here is our site now: http://www.dwhs.net

Here is the test page for the new design: http://www.dwhs.net/index-new.html

We want it to be simple, professional, clean, and big.

The new test site captures exactly what you're trying to get across (big, clean, etc)

but the font in the logo itself doesn't match the overall feel of the rest of the site. It's not as a polished, and sticks out a bit.

lol that is like our 20th logo there, it's really hard to to get it just right. But I agree totally.

exactly my thought. The site looks very nice, modern and clean, while the logo is eeew. Out of that, I'm not a fan of the "shake" in the boxes and bottom slider, but that is something more personal because I've a mild grade of epilepsy and that kind of things disturbs me

well, for starters, think about this: how does computer and technology relates to hand drawing sketches? There's simply no relation, just change the font for something readable, modern and elegant rather than "kiddie" drawing, graffiti or whatever :2 cents:

The new design is way better. The old design looks all cluttered and yep change the logo lettering. You very quickly get the drift of the services which you are offering with the new design

Yup, that's your problem for sure. Looks like a cheap logo slapped on a standard template to be honest. Also, I thought the first picture was Lionel Richie.

Looks like a very generic white label.

Stock images of Gap clothed people looking caring. No identity, no brand, no feeling. Lacklustre copy, unimaginative headlines. You could swop out the logo for ANY other hosting company and no one would tell the difference.

It's dreadful.

What makes YOU special. Why should I host with you? Why do you care more than who I host with now?

You must realise you are almost constantly trying to get people to switch from their existing host. So do something different.

If you're in Amsterdam or London, let's meet and talk about how to make your site stand out.

Damian

PS get someone with English as a first language to fix the MULTITUDE of mistake in the copy

http://crazyfart.com/wp-content/uplo...-photos-01.jpg

What Damian said. Other than that, it's awesome! :thumbsup

ADG

1. Redo the logo. It doesn't work with the new look and feel of the site.

2. Do something more with the footer. The stuff to the left of the email subscribe. It looks like it's just throw there because you couldn't think of anything more to do and gave up.

I think those are the last two steps that still need some work - after those are gone over you should be golden!

I agree those two areas are the worst of it, I also hate the shake and stock images.

Thanks for the details, the logo and footer will be changed for sure, also the images are stock photos and will be replaced with customer images and testimonials. Maybe one shot of the employees and if we found the right person a spokes model.

I also hate the shake too, we will get rid of that.

I always question how websites try so hard to sale their services on their website. If you look at the sites you mainly do business with they usually keep it simple yet professional and functional. I prefer to save the copy for banners and promos. I want this site to be functional, simple, professional, clean, and big. We will let our name, rep, and sales people do the rest.

Your right, the grammar is not checked and added by someone that does not speak English as a first language lol it just based on a conference call to our head designer. We will edit that as we go.

Good point but I also think you could also swap the logo with any host and no one one know lol expect for maybe that host with the cows in the background. We don't have a pig or a moon for branding just our name and logo and we are o.k. with that.

Our target is long term customers not people trying to get a free month promo. Most of our thousands of customers have been with us for 3+ years some for 7 or more. So trying to get customers to switch is not our target but a nice plus. We want people that want a long term partner that will be there every step of the way.

Thanks again for the feedback it is in the baby phase of the new design and needs lot's of love. :thumbsup

:1orglaugh

Old site is really terrible, I have no idea where to even begin reading on that one.

New one is way better, but still has a long way to go. For example, put accepted payment alternatives at the bottom of your page. It must be quick for a customer to see what payment alternatives you offer. And have a "special" on the first page, to get the customer started, see how dell.com does it.

New one reminds me of this:
http://www.sliiing.com/

I can see why lol

Ideally you can start anywhere lol

Great input, like I said I don't like sites that are pitchy but a little promotion on the main page can't hurt. And we should defibaly post that we take all major cards and paypal on the front page. Thanks!

Don't spell powerful wrong. It doesn't bode well for future business;)

I'm sorry it's just a pet hate when designers give you a finished product filled with spelling and grammar errors. Leave blank spaces if I have to fix all your mistakes.

We did that on purpose to exemplify that we are full of power. lol JK funny I was just checking the grammar and looked right past that. :1orglaugh

Overall, as a web developer myself, I can say that the site looks great. What I'd mainly suggest is to think further about what the target market is, because that's not very clear to me when I enter the site. Obviously it's hosting, but for whom?

You have to then ask who does godaddy or 1 and 1 host for? Hosting is for websites not a type but to put a website on the internet. The differences obviously are price but more seasoned internet vets will appreciate things like in house support, faster connections, and easy to use tools.

:1orglaugh lol what? is this a joke?

takes to long for the chick to come into view..

templates... $25 a pop....

Actually $63 gets your facts straight lol

I have seen your sites and you should check some out ;)

Get rid of the bounce effect is horrid, put your logo more mid level on the menu bar

i dont like the shape of the 3 boxes, there is to many odd shapes going on. i suggest keeping them square or having 1 rounded corner bottom right.

the delayed scroller at the bottom is not good, should be smooth.

cPanel based etc. those 3 bigger titles should match the color of the titles in the feature section. to much margin below the line and the paragraphs underneath those titles.

id have a shaded rounded bottom piece that fades into white on there also. to separate the 3 blocks from the footer more.

read more buttons, should not be another odd shape.

looks good but could have some extra work.

Thanks Meta, very helpful. I did everything you said except for the odd shapes, I like those. :thumbsup

The new design is great. For non adult hosting.

Sort out your own sites before telling people what you think they should do with theirs :Oh crap

Taken from your adultmarketing blog...
Typo mistake... KEEEP
English "If this is true" not "if it is true" it's a this not an it....

Tosser :winkwink:

I have seen that same design where the people are holding the puzzle on another designers site. Either some content is stolen here or the same dude who designed the site I'm thinking of is now designing your new site.

Look's better though :thumbsup

You need a contrast color.
Now it's boring as hell.

Your eyes need to bounce and dance a little on the page, something has to attract them.

Oh wow... :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Thanks,

It's a fotolia stock photo, I purchased a bunch of images from there.

We just purchased the logo as well

I didn't know it was a template, but beware with that, people who already saw that template may think you're just a reseller or an affiliate, so you may lose credibility there. And people looking for hosting may already have searched for templates for their site, so watch out, 2/3 clients paying 1 year of hosting might pay for an appropriate investment on branding

Sorry, but you misunderstand the meaning of Big and clean Website. You run a webhosting business, not a design studio or portfolio Website. Your design is missing infographics, important information that users will see getting there within a couple of seconds. Your objective is to sell! Explain that to your designer, do your home work, compare other successful websites.

Lose the images of the people unless they represent the customer service.

I don't think so, templates are templates just like a resume or a word doc. With 2.0 have the web looks similar. I think the stigma is gone, what's important is the function and image and what you do with the template. I have seen many 5-6k sites that are horrid at least with a template you know what you are getting and can change it from there. I would not gamble our companies image based on some web designers idea, we need to decide what we are going to use and go from there. Host Gator and many others are templates and they do just fine as we have for ten years with templates. But thanks for the feedback. We still need web designers but for the ongoing process, not for the template it's based on.

I really believe in transparency in this age, there is no room to hide and act like you are something your not. We are a 12 person team and own part of a LA data center, we are not web designers but care a lot about how we look :pimp most of our customers are new to the internet because we have awesome keywords and they stay because we have great customer service and hosting. It's that simple. I hope a template would not effect that.

Thanks I feel people want something simple it's a different age and informatics and too many details are turn offs. People want to know the price, the history of the customer, and if they are trusted and good at what they do. Our new focus is to boil down everything and get people through the sign up quick and easy. We used to have lots of flash and graphs and stats but our test groups always said they don't know what they are and wish they could just have a clear path to sign up. Trust more homework has gine into DWHS then you can imagine, we have been hosting over 100k domains for ten years now. That's pretty impressive for a 12 person show.

I don't like the images either, those will be rotated on a seasonal and promotional basis once we get the rest settled in.

We almost have the web hosting page ready: http://www.dwhs.net/index-new-blank.html any thoughts? Thanks!

nice and clean

new site is looking sharp! cheers!

The text is overlapping for me on 1920x1080 Firefox 6.0

web 2.99 all the way.

I like the new design... the old one seems, I dunno "compressed". The new one grabs you and seems more inviting... just my two cents.

i prefer 'output' over 'input'...

i don't like the new design, looks like a $5 template from templates site. very common.

Wow. Well done. You found one typo on my blog.

Here's all the things that are wrong with your site.

http://adultmarketing.co.uk/?p=210

Gary, you left school at 16, I have a degree in english. You trying to tell me how to write properly would be like me coming to Dorset and telling you how to sweep the road.

Yes, name calling makes you look so hard.

Gary, stop hijacking people's threads with your crazy little hard on you have for me.

By all means start a thread about the one typo you found on my site, but let other people have their own threads.

Doesn't matter if it's actually stock shot or it LOOKS like it's stock shot. Having pictures of people answering the phone and smiling, having pictures of server racks, having pictures or ANYTHING that another hosting company has on their site is boring.

Have pictures of things that people NEVER have on a hosting site. Thing different.

What if you could abstractly suggest your key strengths via beautiful, unusual photography?

Say one of your points is that people stay with you for a long time. How else could you illustrate that point? Some ideas off the top of my head

- stone henge
- elderly dog and strong looking war veteran walking on the beach
- someone riding in a classic car

Take a look at firstdirect.co.uk, an online bank, that uses interesting imagery.

I'm not really sure 'as we go' suggests a quality company. It would cost very little to get someone to go over it and make it look like you are serious.

That wasn't my point. Sorry I am not explaining it well. My point was the site looks generic. It looks the same as every hosting site. My suggestion from a marketing point of view is that you should strive to create something that is DIFFERENT. Something people will talk about. Something striking and interesting. If I could swop out the logo with your site and another hosting site and no one would know, then your site is a stereotype.

I can't remember suggesting your target market was people wanting to get a free month. I suggested that your target market will already have a host they have been with for some time. The role your marketing needs to play is to persuade that person who is probably happy with his host WHY they should consider switching and why they should switch to you.

People that want a long term partner already have one. IMHO, you're not after newbs that want a shared box. You are after experienced pros.

And experienced pros already have a host. That they are probably happy with.

Pleasure.

I'm not the one trying to find fault with peoples sites all the time. It's straight forward, it's you that's always saying you get it right, look at the quote below. Stating you have a degree, you sound like a cock, a smartarse, yet you make mistakes too... maybe it's time to stop your negative comments & give some positive feedback to everyone.



Name calling makes me look hard, like wtf!? I think you are a wanker, it doesn't alter what people think of me & don't start the bollocks about hijacking considering you have hijacked so many threads after I make a decent comment into a thread. Again, you are a tosser :2 cents:



@ the thread.... Chaze, I notice you removed the wobble on the 3 link images at the top... Fairplay but to be honest, I reckon there are so many people wanting hosting that you shouldn't always worry about what others think. You can find that 50 will love something & 50 won't.
The new design has at least the wider look which I think is certainly more modern with the larger screens being used these days :thumbsup

That is very touching man, symbolism about life and the universe. :1orglaugh JK great idea, like I said we are going to change those images for seasons and promotions frequently and your idea will definably be applied. :thumbsup

Yep that's what made us decide to move ahead, the old site was just to narrow for what is used now.

It's really nice having that extra space now, we don't have to cram a bunch of information in anymore.

I hated the wobble so it might of personal on that lol but mainly I just want it to be functional and clean! Not too worried if we don't win a Webbie with it.

Next I want to add a pop up for videos on the site. Basically next to each title I want a play button that pops up a video for what's on the page?

Do you think people will like having a video they can open to get information on the page?

Gary, the OP (that means Original Poster) ASKED people to criticise his site. So I did.

I also get PAID to criticise people's sites. It's one of the things I do for a living. Help people fix their sites and get them to make more money.


Find one quote where I say I always get it right. Stop lying, Gary.

Let me explain. When you resort to calling someone a name, rather than making a counter point it shows you have run out of any points to make. It means your are dim-witted.

QED

No, your posts alone dictate what people think of you because you can't afford the time to come to any shows.

Stop hijacking threads and I will stop pointing out when you hijack threads.