Web Site Critique

Grumpy

http://www.reliableamerican.us/index.php

The above address is my web site in progress. It's in the very early stages and I'm progressing slowly. (Not a priority right now.)

Take a look at tell me what you think.

hatchet

I think it looks great. Only a few comments.
1. Think about putting all your pages in the root directory. Every folder you go deeper into your site such as www.domain.com/folder1/folder2/page will drop a point in page rank. Typically these are the pages that you will want to have the greatest page rank.
2. Along the same lines - (and I'm not sure if you're going to keep the splash page - would recommend against it because it has 0 content for search engines to spider) make your >>Home Page link a / instead of /index.php. Otherwise you will split your page rank between http://reliableamerican.us and http://reliableamercian.us/index.php. Disregard if you are going to keep the splash page.
3. Along with that - make sure all your inbound links have http://reliableamerican.us or http://www.reliableamerican.us for the same reasons as #2 above. I see in your signature you have www and the link placed above does not. A good example of this is http://diychatroom.com (pr0) and http://www.diychatroom.com (pr5) and http://www.diychatroom.com/index.php (pr4). So you can see the differences.
4. The design is very nice - but it reminds me of a real estate site not that that is a bad thing as it relates to some degree. That's just a general comment.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Grumpy

Splash page is only for now. I don't want the site open to the public yet. I should have said that in my original post.

All the documents in the root folder is impossible, though I plan to put the main pages there for just the same reason you specified. Theres simply going to be far too many documents to put all in root. I am trying to limit the number of sub-folders but sub-folders are going to have to be a reality just for orginization.

Your 3rd comment confused the hell out of me.

LOL I guess realestate is not such a bad thing... I could think of worse. I want a site that is easy to use, has alot of information, and is acceptable to a large audience.

hatchet

My site has everything in the root folder and I agree if can be confusing at times.

3rd comment....
Just a suggestion on how people link to you - or how you put links places that point to your page. In your original post you put a link which Google considers an inbound link to your site. That link does not contain the www. like it does in your signature.
Your site draws or increases page rank from all these links and increases your chances of showing up in a search. Links are directly related to pagerank which is directly related to your search engine results.
My suggestion was to just keep them all consistent. By keeping them consistently the same you will direct all the pagerank to http://www.reliableamerican.us - instead of splitting it between www.reliableamerican.us and reliableamerican.us and reliableamerican.us/index.php.

Along with that is to use keywords for anchor text. Instead of using the URL - use keywords like "Areaname Roofing and Siding specialists" - well maybe not that but keywords that you are targeting.
I agree with you on the real estate likeness not being a bad thing. The site is very well layed out.

__________________
Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Mark

Nice site Grumpy.... I knew I saw one of those houses before in the Ben Moore site... lol You should put in some pics of your staff or crew, people like to see faces too in addition to your values and mission. Are you using html to build the site or a web building program ? I used WebStudio and I like what I am able to do without learning html.... although the learning curve might have been easier.

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Mark

www.benmoorestore.com

Nathan

I like the site! Very pro looking...

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Grumpy

Mark, my company hasn't gone into business yet. I'm still an employee for another company. LOL the houses are images I bought at corbis.com anyone can buy them but since I have no houses of my own yet, I have none to show I am using Dreamweaver MX to build the site, with html tweaking. A few years back I designed website professionaly. It was my dream to be a site designer until I relaized there was ZERO money in it. I had to be a contractor during the day just to support my business.

Thanks Nate. I am working on the database backend right now so I can begin filling in more content. After I have the content, and the banner, I can remove the splash page... but I still won't be open for business yet. I need a dedicated phone line and a PO box until I can justify the rental of an office. I REFUSE to use my home address.

Guys is there anything I am missing that I should add? If you look at the sitemap you will see my overall plan for the site. Let me know if you think I should add something.

Floorwizard

jeesh Grump, I like your site, I want a new roof now, and I don't even own a house yet!
I like the letter from the president, I feel the same way about my company, and I love the way you stated things.
If you were to add anything, I would say that some things you have said about roofing on here could be included somehow in the site. Like a roofing 101 section to better educate clients on roofing so they can better make a good choice.

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

Grumpy

Flor definetly it's coming... after I finish up the database. I'm storing it all in a databse so it can be pulled up dynamically from various areas of the site seamless to the viewer, but if I make one change it effects all those areas instantly.

What you see is all static. The bulk of the site, what you don't see yet, will be dynamic... but I have to do it in such a way that google doesn't ignore me

I also plan to add a page for the manufacturers I use, which isn't yet in the sitemap. We currently get alot of hits for some of the manufacturers we have listed on our site... I want more.

In the next day or so I'm going to need your guys help on choosing a banner. I have a few prototypes.

Floorwizard

I assume an American flag somewhere in the banner

also, you could think of something that is reliable and American to use as a Metaphor. Like Old Faithful or high taxes

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"