malfunction Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I can see where Si is coming from; it looks to me like you asked for feedback but you are so convinced that you are right that even when presented with 100% of reviewers here stating the site looks like crap you reject that and continue on a lengthy diatribe about how your concept is right. That's OK, you can do what you like with your site, but there's not much point asking for contributions from the community if you are that committed to your original design and vision that you exclude all else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 (edited) I certainly dont exclude all else, but there is more to a website or a business than a theme which does nothing for a client. Talk to me about client flow, about sales flow, and even as wdele suggested that i remove some text. I may or i may not remove that text and not because it could or could not offend, its because its the truth. The CEO's of the big boys or even 2nd-4th tier hosting companies pad their pockets for expensive vacations and "well to do" items when the economy is suffering they continue to get rich. That is a fact, not an opinion. And as i said i am not opposed to anyone making money, but to litterly rape the consumer when we know its not right is foolish business. So why not get off the theme issue and focus more on the flow of the site and sales funnel which guides clients through the sale process. The reason i am not budging from my theme is for the same reason that car commercials play baby boom music, and for the same reason that many companies try to grab the attention of those born between 1946 and 1964. I honestly dont want the young consumer to be the majority of my business, when all they focus on is "is it designed for mobile" i dont plan to go mobile, never will unless i just am forced to. I want the consumer that drives an old chevy to work or an old mustang on the weekend. I want the consumer that knows who John Wayne, and The Rat Pack were, where customer service reps knew you by first name, and all of that. Im not interested in business from china, or africa or any third world countries. As a matter of fact until just the last few weeks my business was ONLY for Canada and USA clients and i just recently removed that requirement as i wanted to attract UK and that part of the world. The reason why, well my host is finding out right now why. Because he did business all over the world from anyone anywhere and now he may in fact have some real issues coming to bite him. Of course that could happen to anyone but doing business with third world counties IMO increases the risk beyond my confort zone. Wdele - you say you cant focus or concentrate, lets talk about that. Many sites i have looked at have ads all over the place on their home page, sometimes to make it in this business you have to subscribe to promos and they want it on the front page, above the fold. So what do you suggest, just reduce the amount of logos, reorg them, make them smaller... lets talk about that in your reply because that i am willing to move to make changes on. Think about it this way, when was the last time you went to a dive restaurant that was run down and had a horrible store front but yet the food was out of this world. I think consumers are smart enough to realize that pictures and pretty glittery things dont have anything to do with quality or stability. thanks Edited July 3, 2014 by durangod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdele Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 (edited) I may or i may not remove that text and not because it could or could not offend, its because its the truth. The CEO's of the big boys or even 2nd-4th tier hosting companies pad their pockets for expensive vacations and "well to do" items when the economy is suffering they continue to get rich. That is a fact, not an opinion. And as i said i am not opposed to anyone making money, but to litterly rape the consumer when we know its not right is foolish business. It doesn't matter if it's the truth, you may only think that. I have had big problems in the past with saying those things. Be careful with what you put online .. So why not get off the theme issue and focus more on the flow of the site and sales funnel which guides clients through the sale process. The reason i am not budging from my theme is for the same reason that car commercials play baby boom music, and for the same reason that many companies try to grab the attention of those born between 1946 and 1964. I honestly dont want the young consumer to be the majority of my business, when all they focus on is "is it designed for mobile" i dont plan to go mobile, never will unless i just am forced to. No, it's all about the theme. Without a good theme we can't talk about "flow of the site"... "Why not get off the theme issue?" You asked what you can do better and as everyone suggested, do something with the theme... I want the consumer that drives an old chevy to work or an old mustang on the weekend. I want the consumer that knows who John Wayne, and The Rat Pack were, where customer service reps knew you by first name, and all of that. Im not interested in business from china, or africa or any third world countries. As a matter of fact until just the last few weeks my business was ONLY for Canada and USA clients and i just recently removed that requirement as i wanted to attract UK and that part of the world. Okay, but even they won't be attracted. I know because I have very much experience in marketing. Wdele - you say you cant focus or concentrate, lets talk about that. Many sites i have looked at have ads all over the place on their home page, sometimes to make it in this business you have to subscribe to promos and they want it on the front page, above the fold. So what do you suggest, just reduce the amount of logos, reorg them, make them smaller... lets talk about that in your reply because that i am willing to move to make changes on. Even if you reduce the amount of logos, if you reorg them, if you make them smaller .. your theme won't be better because of that - you need to change everything, as everybody already suggested. Think about it this way, when was the last time you went to a dive restaurant that was run down and had a horrible store front but yet the food was out of this world. I think consumers are smart enough to realize that pictures and pretty glittery things dont have anything to do with quality or stability. Consumers are not smart enough for that - if the website is beautiful, the client area is well organized, but the products are crap .. it doesn't matter. I have many experience with internet marketing as I already said and I know that a great business with a crap website will have less customers than a great website and not good quality. You will have to change your whole theme, because with this you will not get any customers - even if your products are great. I understand what you're trying to do but it's not going to work out this way; you need to change your theme, even if you are looking for a completely other target audience. Also, I see a lot of spelling errors, and a lot of typos. And this: http://www.durangodaveshosting.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2, well you know? They do! The product itself may not be of good quality but it certainly makes your hosting company grow... It comes down to this: if you don't change your whole theme, you won't get any customers. Accept it. Everyone is trying to tell you what he says but for some reason you refuse to do something about it .. honestly, I for one have said what I want to say and I've come to the conclusion that this guy is not able to take constructive crit but is on some sort of attention deficit egotistical ride and enjoys 'countering' what anyone else says - just so he can justify his 'I'm gonna do it my way and to hell with the rest of the world cos you all suck and I'm much better' attitude. My status: UNSUBSCRIBED from this thread (can't bear to see any more of his crap in my inbox) some people just don't want help or guidance. This is one of those people. I kind of get what Si is saying. He could say it 'better', but he's right. I can see where Si is coming from; it looks to me like you asked for feedback but you are so convinced that you are right that even when presented with 100% of reviewers here stating the site looks like crap you reject that and continue on a lengthy diatribe about how your concept is right. That's OK, you can do what you like with your site, but there's not much point asking for contributions from the community if you are that committed to your original design and vision that you exclude all else. That's what I'm trying to say. Instead of refusing our criticism spend your time doing something with your website. We can tell you again and again what is the problem, but you won't accept it. I recommend not having a discussion, and that a moderator closes this thread: I don't think the topic starter will accept our criticism, we might as well stop telling him and let him run his business without customers. Good luck with your hosting company and I think my post is clear enough... Edited July 3, 2014 by wdele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 Fair enough.. if i decide to change things i certainly do thank you all for your input.. If i dont i only have as you said myself to blame if things dont work out... In any case a agree time to lock and close the thread and let it be. PS. i have been going through the site and correcting spelling errors, i will get them all eventually. Im not the only one ya know, lots of sites have them, look at the opensrs site and their TOS, lots of um..... But i will get them all hopefully by the end of the weekend. Its easy to come up with a long list of sites that look dated and yet people still spend their money there, why, because it fills a need. I guess i missed that course in college where they told everyone the only secret to success online was a good theme and no spelling mistakes... DANG!! Thanks all.... Mod Please lock this thread now, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdele Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Fair enough.. if i decide to change things i certainly do thank you all for your input.. If i dont i only have as you said myself to blame if things dont work out... In any case a agree time to lock and close the thread and let it be. PS. i have been going through the site and correcting spelling errors, i will get them all eventually. Im not the only one ya know, lots of sites have them, look at the opensrs site and their TOS, lots of um..... But i will get them all hopefully by the end of the weekend. Its easy to come up with a long list of sites that look dated and yet people still spend their money there, why, because it fills a need. I guess i missed that course in college where they told everyone the only secret to success online was a good theme and no spelling mistakes... DANG!! Thanks all.... Mod Please lock this thread now, thanks. That's the spirit! I wish you many luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infopro Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I see no need to close this thread. Original designs like yours deserve some respect. Back in the day, many people had websites, just like this. Well, sort of. The reason i am not budging from my theme is for the same reason that car commercials play baby boom music, and for the same reason that many companies try to grab the attention of those born between 1946 and 1964. I honestly dont want the young consumer to be the majority of my business, when all they focus on is "is it designed for mobile" i dont plan to go mobile, never will unless i just am forced to. I want the consumer that drives an old chevy to work or an old mustang on the weekend. I want the consumer that knows who John Wayne, and The Rat Pack were, where customer service reps knew you by first name, Dave, most of this quote describes me, all but the old chevy, mine is fairly new, and red. You are being forced to go mobile whether you want to or not. /http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/11/08/why-your-business-needs-a-responsive-website-before-2014/ Your site(s) does nothing for me, Dave, and I like red. Comments such as those posted by this friendly community in this thread are indeed, helpful. Seeds get planted, new ideas grow from them. Good luck with your sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 (edited) Thanks IP and everyone, spoke to a friend of mine, he has me convinced to try it for 6mo, if not one client then i can always go back. so im looking at this one http://www.whmcsthemes.com/whmcs-templates/free/your-host/ if it is customizable, if not ill find one that is.. I dont want one that has a million brothers and siters out there lol. Edited July 3, 2014 by durangod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 InfoPro i just noticed also that the image is my old site, well that was my original motorcycle site that i had to keep open so i converted it to a feeder site, it pretty much just sits there, its not my main thing anymore. Was that image taken using a tablet? I have never seen it on a tablet before i dont own any of that kind of stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlew2 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Good to see that my old boy request was taken care of LOL. My guess would be alot of the nay-sayers are the younger crowd that likes all the glitz and glamour of the day now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infopro Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 InfoPro i just noticed also that the image is my old site, well that was my original motorcycle site that i had to keep open so i converted it to a feeder site, it pretty much just sits there, its not my main thing anymore. Was that image taken using a tablet? I have never seen it on a tablet before i dont own any of that kind of stuff. Most do though, and I think that's the point here really. SS was from an iPhone 5S. Site looks just like that on iPad air, only a bit larger. BTW, here's my red car: /https://twitter.com/InfoprosNetwork/status/424336418115035136 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdele Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 (edited) Thanks IP and everyone, spoke to a friend of mine, he has me convinced to try it for 6mo, if not one client then i can always go back. so im looking at this one http://www.whmcsthemes.com/whmcs-templates/free/your-host/ if it is customizable, if not ill find one that is.. I dont want one that has a million brothers and siters out there lol. I think your friend gave you a good advice - - - Updated - - - BTW, here's my red car:/https://twitter.com/InfoprosNetwork/status/424336418115035136 i want have now : ( plz gimme u car i like Edited July 3, 2014 by wdele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 (edited) nice ride.. here was my red bike before /http://www.durangodaves.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/mybaby2.jpg and after /http://durangodaves.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/bike1-150x150.jpg if your curious here is what happened.. /http://durangodaves.com/blog/my-motorcycle-accident-in-arkansas-recovery-blog Edited July 3, 2014 by durangod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdele Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 (edited) So yeah... Edited July 3, 2014 by wdele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 yeppers, lots happened since then, some for the better some not.. still waiting on our wonderful US Gov. i guess i should update that blog this weekend sometime as to the latest, some of it will make you shake your head at the utter foolishness and incompetence of those running our GOV and health services especially SSI. But ill put all that in the blog not here, back on topic i suppose. I loaded that template, its not bad i like it i guess, however i probably wont use it as it is intended. Its intended to use as a replacement for your home portal page (i use portal) but what i will do is use it to replace the outer shell of my site. The html pages that i have as a shell over WHMCS. If it will let me do that, if not ill force it lol.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 i spent most of the day doing photoshop, a whole lot of photoshoppen to get this like a wanted. Im close but still have to finish the index, then make a template for the rest of the pages. After that it should pretty much be copy and paste and then move it into the live root to fire it up. (i even ps's the led lights on the new server images lol) came out nice. But i thought i would share what i have so far, no real links work but its just the index almost done with it. new site... /http://durangodaveshosting.com/newsite/index.html original template before any mods.. /http://www.demo.whmcsthemes.com/demo.php?systpl=FreeTheme2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 we have converted we have all the major pages done, we just need to do the little site options but we are up and running on the new template. Took about 2 days for me to photoshop, code, setup and get it live... if you dont remember what the OLD site looked like here ya go. This was the snapshot they took on may 17th (before i made it all black background but its ok you get the idea) https://web.archive.org/web/20140517060256/http://durangodaveshosting.com/ So wdele and everyone, good, bad, start over, great improvement ????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdele Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 (edited) we have converted we have all the major pages done, we just need to do the little site options but we are up and running on the new template. Took about 2 days for me to photoshop, code, setup and get it live... if you dont remember what the OLD site looked like here ya go. This was the snapshot they took on may 17th (before i made it all black background but its ok you get the idea) https://web.archive.org/web/20140517060256/http://durangodaveshosting.com/ So wdele and everyone, good, bad, start over, great improvement ????? That's a great improvement! Suggestions: Make your WHMCS in the same style … it's kind of annoying that your site is completely different Change or remove the Comparison page… when I talked about other companies like that the image of one of my businesses was completely screwed up ... The three links below your USP's, make them go somewhere (e.g. Support Chat to the Support Chat ) But it's a 100 times better! Edited July 5, 2014 by wdele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 Thank you sir, 2 and 3 done.... maybe i can just change the background color to the portal and make it look somewhat like it.. i really would not prefer to use the portal version of the new template if i can get away with it, i have so many mods and it would mean having to redo all of them.. Maybe a portal color change is enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 ok i switched out the icons on the portal for the new icons and changed the background. so that is closer to the same look as the front home page. i maybe do a bit of tucks here and there but at least i dont have to overwrite my templates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 here is the bundle page /https://durangodaveshosting.com/billing/cart.php?gid=11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex - Arvixe Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Good luck with your venture, I really do hope it works out for you regardless of the design style you opt for. Honestly though, your homepage is to busy that I am not sure where to look. Nothing really grabs my attention to get me to signup and there is a lot of text to be read in my opinion. I'd try cut down on the text, cut down on the images and focus the design more into what makes your hosting unique, why should we signup with your company vs another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 yes thanks i was looking at it earlier today and i need to cut down on the text. Some of the images must be there because i am on promo and affiliate programs and some of them say the image must be above the fold (first screen no scroll) and that space is limited. But yes you are right, i need to focus the visitor on a direction and funnel. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kargh Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) I gave up reading all the replies halfway through page 2. I visited your site, looked at it for about 5 seconds, and my thought was, 'This guy is a - Removed -, or selling some illegitimate product / service.' When you've been around the web for a long time (and it is possible you have), you being to notice a pattern with - Removed - sites. They all plaster you with unending information. They overwhelm you. They try to do everything possible to make themselves look legitimate. Now, I have no doubt that you're trying to run a legitimate business but the first impression of your business, for most customers, is going to be your site. If your site screams - Removed -, people are going to run away. I'd be surprised if analytics didn't indicate that most visitors never make it past the first page and their duration is on the short side. With that being said, if it is working for you, great! We all have to find that combination of what works. Good luck with your endeavors. -- Jess Edited August 2, 2014 by Infopro Modified Post by Request Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durangod Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) I understand the site is not for you, however i am a lagitimate business licensed and all of that. I ask that you please reword your post without the S word in it. People will see that and misunderstand your point. It is also prelude to defamation of business intent and character of which i do not appreciate. And could cost me business. I ask that you not use words like that S word to describe such things as people will get the wrong impression, and those are pretty strong words for someone that spend very little time on the site. Please adopt your text and remove the S word and also stay professional. It is not my intention to overwhelm anyone with informaiton, i provide that information which consumers need to know. Many companies post great things on their front page and leave the explaination to come later in the TOS or when the client has a ticket and then finds out its not all peaches and cream. Maybe that is the way others do business but i do not. And i have not for the 7 years i have had my online business. I am very upfront, very transparent, and i like for consumers to know exactly what they are getting rather than leave it to guess work. If that means i have too many words then thats ok, i would rather have too many than not enough and then they get mad at me because they were not informed up front. It is the way i do business, and nothing on my site says anything impression wise or otherwise about the S word. Thanks. Edited August 2, 2014 by durangod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malfunction Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Cool, there's been some progress since I last checked in. Starts again with a free/cheapo theme, jams it full of so stuff I have to scroll sideways on my MacBook. Outdated Portal theme with a gruesome striped background for the inner pages. I give up. I suppose it's better than it was, but unless you are catering to partially sighted visitors I recommend the following two steps: 1. Hire a designer 2. See #1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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