What's Your Web-Site Grade?

 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 02-08-2010, 09:05 PM   #21
David Festa
 
festerized's Avatar
 
Trade: Framing Contractor
Join Date: May 2007
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 2,018

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Martin feel better now that you vented, try Prozac

__________________
Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ

“Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”
festerized is offline  
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to festerized For This Useful Post:
msv (04-07-2010), SCCTrim (02-09-2010)
Warning: The topics covered on this site include activities in which there exists the potential for serious injury or death. ContractorTalk.com DOES NOT guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information contained on this site. Always use proper safety precaution and reference reliable outside sources before attempting any construction or remodeling task!

Old 02-10-2010, 05:34 PM   #22
Member
 
BaltimoreGuy's Avatar
 
Trade: I am a remodeler/builder working in Baltimore mostly doing whole house renovations
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Baltimore City, Maryland
Posts: 33

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Well, I did a couple of the things the websitegrader recommended and I got a 28 for a score. Beats a 4. I still can't figure out how to put a WordPress button and link to my blog from my website, I have no inbound links yet (duh, it's only a few weeks old), they recommend paying yahoo $300 or so to get into their directory listings (is this recommendation really required anyone?), and a few other kind of obvious things. I've been looking at lots of remodeling websites and blogs and I have to say, there is some really good stuff out there. If I was a sad sack sort, I could get a bit discouraged. But I'm not and so I'm spending time during the blizzard to learn a few things. If anyone wants to take a look and let me know what they're two cents might be, I've got thick skin (and a small budget), but it would be mighty appreciated. Thanks again, for all the awesome info on this entire forum. Peace, Chris
BaltimoreGuy is offline  
Old 02-10-2010, 06:13 PM   #23
David Festa
 
festerized's Avatar
 
Trade: Framing Contractor
Join Date: May 2007
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 2,018

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Balt site looks good
I created word press myself; I’m not ready to post just yet
I wouldn’t pay for links, create a “construction partners” page and have your subs listed with links to their web sites and Google local
__________________
Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ

“Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”
festerized is offline  
Old 02-10-2010, 07:15 PM   #24
Aficionado
 
noahweb's Avatar
 
Trade: General Contractor
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 84

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


dont pay yahoo. its a waste of money
__________________
Long ago, I’ve been told, God said, “Let there be Contractors. And so they never forget who they are in My creation, let them be damned forever to hire people exactly like themselves.” God called those people Sub-Contractors.
How Much Does it Cost to Build a House | Build Your Own Home[B][I]
noahweb is offline  
Old 02-10-2010, 11:00 PM   #25
Non-conformist
 
cbscreative's Avatar
 
Trade: Builder of businesses
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 825

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Chris, the fact that I remember Sad Sack kind of dates me a bit, huh? I suggest starting a thread of your own to get reviews, but I think you need 15 posts (maybe 25) to post links.

With a dedicated thread, you'll get a lot more responses for a site review.

I'll just make a few comments. First of all, I really don't think you need to give Yahoo $300. On the plus side, your site is clean and uncluttered, but perhaps too much. There is a lot of wasted screen real estate, especially with such a narrow design.

Since you appear to already be familiar with WordPress, my suggestion is to bail on Website Tonight and find a WP theme that you can create a site with. If you have the WT hosting, you'll need to upgrade it to regular hosting to use WP. You need to get free of WT because you'll never rank well using that. You can use WP with most, if not all, hosting companies, and it's not just for blogging. many business web sites are now built with WP.

Find something you like and you will have a lot more design freedom than you are getting now. WT is among your worst options.

As for a few site issues that stood out to me, the image on your About page is nearly 1900k (very slow loading). That needs to be web optimized and should be somewhere around 20k. The time stamp should be edited out too. Both are a simple process for someone with Photoshop skills.

You have text underlined that is not a link, so I would avoid that. Your blog link is not a link, so you definitely need to fix that.

I'd stay away from ALL CAPS like your contact form has, many users get annoyed by that. And simplifying your form is also recommended. All you really need to ask for is name, email, maybe phone, and a message section to provide details of their inquiry. You can get alll the remaining info on follow-up, so make the form less intimidating.

That should be plenty to start you out with, but a dedicated thread is still a good idea.
__________________
Steve Chittenden
Web/SEO Geek • Graphic Artist • Writer • Marketing Guy
One reason I know so much about the web and marketing is that I don't have to know as much about construction.
cbscreative is offline  
Old 02-11-2010, 02:05 PM   #26
Pro
 
Roberts Ren's Avatar
 
Trade: Kitchen & Bath Contractor
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Knoxville TN
Posts: 204

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


HOLY CRAP I thought I was doing good BUT **** no I got a 28% dammmmmmit did I boom that test I guess its back to the drawing board CRAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP PPPPPPPPPPPPPP
Roberts Ren is offline  
Old 02-11-2010, 03:28 PM   #27
Windows Plus
 
Kenny K's Avatar
 
Trade: Replacement of windows,siding and doors
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 244

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Quote:
Originally Posted by cbscreative View Post
Chris, the fact that I remember Sad Sack kind of dates me a bit, huh? I suggest starting a thread of your own to get reviews, but I think you need 15 posts (maybe 25) to post links.

With a dedicated thread, you'll get a lot more responses for a site review.

I'll just make a few comments. First of all, I really don't think you need to give Yahoo $300. On the plus side, your site is clean and uncluttered, but perhaps too much. There is a lot of wasted screen real estate, especially with such a narrow design.

Since you appear to already be familiar with WordPress, my suggestion is to bail on Website Tonight and find a WP theme that you can create a site with. If you have the WT hosting, you'll need to upgrade it to regular hosting to use WP. You need to get free of WT because you'll never rank well using that. You can use WP with most, if not all, hosting companies, and it's not just for blogging. many business web sites are now built with WP.

Find something you like and you will have a lot more design freedom than you are getting now. WT is among your worst options.

As for a few site issues that stood out to me, the image on your About page is nearly 1900k (very slow loading). That needs to be web optimized and should be somewhere around 20k. The time stamp should be edited out too. Both are a simple process for someone with Photoshop skills.

You have text underlined that is not a link, so I would avoid that. Your blog link is not a link, so you definitely need to fix that.

I'd stay away from ALL CAPS like your contact form has, many users get annoyed by that. And simplifying your form is also recommended. All you really need to ask for is name, email, maybe phone, and a message section to provide details of their inquiry. You can get alll the remaining info on follow-up, so make the form less intimidating.

That should be plenty to start you out with, but a dedicated thread is still a good idea.
my website has been hacked. There were outbound links going to some drug co. from my website. totally destroyed my google rankings had to have re indexed, they dropped a lot of links. now they did it with yahoo. any experts have experience with this and can help me with problem?
Kenny K is offline  
Old 02-11-2010, 03:52 PM   #28
Member
 
BaltimoreGuy's Avatar
 
Trade: I am a remodeler/builder working in Baltimore mostly doing whole house renovations
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Baltimore City, Maryland
Posts: 33

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Thanks for the input. I agree with the feedback. Good idea with the building partners page except that neither my electrician, plumber or hvac contractor have web pages. Maybe I'll find new partners. I hadn't thought about using WP as a web host or site developer. I know jack about html, css and the other alphabet stuff so without a template and a very user friendly dashboard I would be lost. Another question for you guys: the free online "phone books" for lack of a better term, like CitySearch, etc,. Should I be filling out applications for listing on all of those type of places? Thanks again. Peace, Chris
BaltimoreGuy is offline  
Old 02-11-2010, 04:04 PM   #29
David Festa
 
festerized's Avatar
 
Trade: Framing Contractor
Join Date: May 2007
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 2,018

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Have your subs go to Google local and create an ad, ITS FREE.
Post their Google local link and a business card on your construction partner page.
I signed for few free listings. It’s worth your time as I have seen an increase in my company’s web presence on local searches
__________________
Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ

“Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”
festerized is offline  
Old 02-12-2010, 12:26 PM   #30
Member
 
lbsrdi's Avatar
 
Trade: General Contractor
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Charleston, WV
Posts: 83

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Thanks for the link. My site is not the best. The grader says that I am missing a lot of things. I built this site myself using iweb, and I don't think i can add meta tags. If someone would look at my site and give me some suggestions I will be grateful. Any suggestions are appreciated.
__________________
Check out my pictures. http://www.caseysbuilding.com
lbsrdi is offline  
Old 02-12-2010, 02:36 PM   #31
Pro
 
carlsore's Avatar
 
Trade: Web Design Specifically For Contractors
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Qualicum Beach BC
Posts: 300

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Quote:
my website has been hacked. There were outbound links going to some drug co. from my website. totally destroyed my google rankings had to have re indexed, they dropped a lot of links. now they did it with yahoo. any experts have experience with this and can help me with problem?
How long has your website been up for?

How long were the crappy links present?

From what I can see you are still indexed with Google, although several pages back for most of your more important keywords. Be thankful the website wasn't banned because that's a battle you'd never win. What I would suggest is that you start building up some authoritive back links... Getting some "good" sites linking to you could quickly outweight any of the penalizations you received.

Sometimes Google will actually notify you that they have blocked searchers from your site because of malicious content. They do give you a chance, sometimes.

For authoritive links...? I would look into writing and submitting a few articles so some well known and ranked contractor resource/information sites, try to get a backlink, buy some text links from well known and well ranked local business directories, state directories and contractor directories.

That is just a start...

Carl
carlsore is online now  
Old 02-12-2010, 03:15 PM   #32
Non-conformist
 
cbscreative's Avatar
 
Trade: Builder of businesses
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 825

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny K View Post
my website has been hacked. There were outbound links going to some drug co. from my website. totally destroyed my google rankings had to have re indexed, they dropped a lot of links. now they did it with yahoo. any experts have experience with this and can help me with problem?
This is the result of either bad security with the hosting company, weak passwords, or both.

If it's the hosting company, obviously you need a new one with a good rep.

No matter how good the hosting, you need a strong password on your CP and FTP access to the site files. Strong is defined as a minimum of 8 characters and uses UPPER CASE, lower case, numbers, and symbols.

Avoid anything that can be found in the dictionary or is together on the keyboard (QWERTY or QWERTY123) are bad passwords.

I usually suggest a formula for creating passwords. For example, if your first house was at 471 Elm in Anytown, and you have no problem remembering the address, then a password like Anyt0\/\/n471E1m would be a strong and memorable password.

Just so you know, hackers use something called "password crackers" that go through the entire dictionary and the commonly used key entries like QWERTY in a matter of minutes. It's not hard at all for them to "crack" weak passwords.

You also want to be sure your computer is secure with firewall, anti virus, and anti malware. If you have malicious programs hidden on your computer, it's possible your keystrokes are being recorded and your computer could even be used for what is called a "zombie" which is connected to a network of other zombies for whatever purpose the attacker chooses to use them for. Some of the most dangerous computer threats are the ones that hide and don't provide any clue whatsoever that you have them hidden on your system.
__________________
Steve Chittenden
Web/SEO Geek • Graphic Artist • Writer • Marketing Guy
One reason I know so much about the web and marketing is that I don't have to know as much about construction.
cbscreative is offline  
Old 02-12-2010, 03:19 PM   #33
Non-conformist
 
cbscreative's Avatar
 
Trade: Builder of businesses
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 825

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Thanks, Carl. It looks like you got a post faster than I did. I was busy multi-tasking so it took a while to get mine created.
__________________
Steve Chittenden
Web/SEO Geek • Graphic Artist • Writer • Marketing Guy
One reason I know so much about the web and marketing is that I don't have to know as much about construction.
cbscreative is offline  
Old 02-12-2010, 06:34 PM   #34
Pro
 
Martin Co's Avatar
 
Trade: General Contractor
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: 7 oakledge rd. Wakefield, Ma.
Posts: 208

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny K View Post
my website has been hacked. There were outbound links going to some drug co. from my website. totally destroyed my google rankings had to have re indexed, they dropped a lot of links. now they did it with yahoo. any experts have experience with this and can help me with problem?

You've got a really nice looking website .. Do like Carl Sore and CBS have explained to you and you'll be on your way in no time
Martin Co is offline  
Old 02-17-2010, 10:15 AM   #35
Utah carpenter
 
cbrew's Avatar
 
Trade: Carpentry
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Utah
Posts: 31
Send a message via Skype™ to cbrew

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


What really matters is that you show up on the first page of Google. You can have a low website grade and rank high.

Apex Carpentry
cbrew is offline  
Old 04-05-2010, 12:05 AM   #36
Pro
 
kcbasements's Avatar
 
Trade: Basement Finishing
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Overland Park ks
Posts: 177

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


My grade is a 56 http://www.kcremodeling.com This is a site I built myself. A lot of time went into this.

A competitor's site ranks 59 http://www.remodelagain.com .

They have a much stronger web presence than me.

I'm not putting too much stock in the webgrader, but would really like to improve my site. What suggestions do you guys have?
kcbasements is offline  
Old 04-05-2010, 12:16 AM   #37
Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.
 
JumboJack's Avatar
 
Trade: GC
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Lakewood CA.
Posts: 3,660

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


73...Meh...
__________________
in texas with framing and cornish people will do it for 3.00 a foot. What do yall think about that? Just laber
JumboJack is offline  
Old 04-05-2010, 09:52 AM   #38
Member
 
MagicMike's Avatar
 
Trade: Local Business Marketing Expert
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 80

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Webgraders only value is SOME of the tips it gives you to improve (or consider) making to your site.

A high score doesn't mean much if you're not getting results. When a site is optimized for a particular keyword, you often see the results go up dramatically, but the webgrader score drop.

Its a nice tool to use as a VERY general guide, but as a number of people mentioned, I wouldn't get too hung up on it, since it doesn't speak to results.

I have clients with a very low webgrader score but their site is doing great in the search engines... not much correlation there...

www.ContractorWebMarketingExpert.com
__________________
Removed
MagicMike is offline  
Old 04-05-2010, 11:33 PM   #39
Pro
 
kcbasements's Avatar
 
Trade: Basement Finishing
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Overland Park ks
Posts: 177

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


I went from a 46 to a 81 ( http://www.kcbasementfinishing.com ) with only a couple of hours of work. It may not be that effective, but It is free and definatly worth my time.

Last edited by kcbasements; 04-06-2010 at 10:36 PM.
kcbasements is offline  
Old 04-11-2010, 09:28 PM   #40
David Festa
 
festerized's Avatar
 
Trade: Framing Contractor
Join Date: May 2007
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 2,018

Re: What's Your Web-Site Grade?


Website Grade
60
Moz Rank
2
Google Indexed Pages
47
Traffic Rank
4,204,795
Blog Grade
Not Graded
Inbound Links
156
del.icio.us Bookmarks
n/a

Haven’t spent much time keeping my site up to date, but it’s better than a few months ago
__________________
Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ

“Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”
festerized is offline  


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Is this a great site or what? DaVinciRemodel General Discussion 17 12-17-2009 10:10 AM
New to the site. siteservicesllc Introductions 4 12-02-2009 10:29 PM
Web site questions Roberts Ren Websites and SEO 2 10-27-2009 09:58 AM
Just found this site and liking it Larry D. Introductions 9 02-18-2009 08:56 AM
Web Site Critique? Carport King Landscaping 1 02-17-2009 04:04 PM

Join Now... It's Fast and FREE!

Privacy Badge
I am a professional contractor
I am a DIY Homeowner
ContractorTalk.com is for
PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTORS ONLY!

At ContractorTalk.com we cater exlusivly to professional contractors who make their living as a contractor. Knowing that many homeowners and DIYers are looking for a community to call home, we've created www.DIYChatroom.com DIY Chatroom is full of helpful advices and perfect for DIY homeowners.

Redirecing in 10 seconds
No Thanks
terms of service

Already Have an Account?