Hi Chris,
Quentin had some very similar feedback... thank you. I`m going to post a similar response to the email I sent him in response to your message and request everyone`s thoughts...
QUOTE (ChrisDavies @ Nov 5 2008, 09:26 PM) I like the top-nav too. Only issue might be with a very large logo like that is you push a lot of the rest of the content `below the fold`. That`s a lot of important real estate you`re giving up. I can tell you have Google Webmaster Tools setup, and I`d strongly encourage everyone with a website to get Google Analytics setup.
What size do most people have their computer monitor set to? I find that while the logo is large, I can see a majority of the content below it. My screen resolution is set to 1440x900 pixels and my browser is typically maximized. Is there a specific screen resolution that I should design to? or that most developers design to?
QUOTE (ChrisDavies @ Nov 5 2008, 09:26 PM) One suggestion, get rid of the ads. Your website exists for one purpose, and the ads interfere with it. I can also tell you that you`re never going to make enough off those ads to make up for the people you lose from your site and business.
Regarding Ads, I debated whether or not to put ads on the site. In all honesty, they generate 0 revenue, but rather I initially put them on there just to see if I could figure out how to do it... I am SO used to seeing ads on websites now, that part of me thinks that when there are ads on a website, the viewer actually focuses more on the content because they recognize the ads - I have no scientific data to back this up of course, but I know that`s how I work... I also feel that the ads add a small touch of "professional" feel as a large majority of website have ads out there... Thoughts? I may have overdone it with the ads, as they`re on the side and the bottom of every page, but I didn`t feel that they cluttered up the website too much...
Do you think that ads will actually deter an investor? Do you have any data to back up something like that? Not to be critical, but I love statistics and I`d really like to know how ads affect a user online?
Does the average person online actually know that if they click on an ad that the website they`re on is getting paid for it? I have a feeling that most don`t know that or care for that matter, but again, that`s purely my opinion and based on no facts whatsoever...
QUOTE (ChrisDavies @ Nov 5 2008, 09:26 PM) One other suggestion is to keep using keywords. This includes the URLs you have. Your Fundamentals page could be /real-estate-fundamentals.html which will help you out. Besides that, you`ve got lots of decent content on it. Keep building out pages with fresh unique content!
My site is php driven and thus the url`s are typically index.php?page="type of page". I do understand what you`re saying, but that would require a complete reorganization of my templates...
Anyways, thanks for the feedback, it`s appreciated. I like to hear more debate regarding ads if there are other web-savvy people out there...