Hi Mark,

This looks like a good start to a site - it provides all the content I think you are trying to get across. Its nice to see a site using their 'About' page as their homepage, something that many other sites should be doing in my opinion.
My only criticisms would be design based - it feels a little bit dated due to it being a fairly static, fixed width and narrow site, as well as the faded browns and greens used across the site. Maybe some slightly more vivid colours, the use of an image slider on your home page and a bit more graphic/imagery on the internal pages of the site would help bring things to life a bit more?
------------------------
Alex Price
Director
www.web93.co.uk

I run a London based web focused digital marketing agency. I'm passionate about helping startups with their online presence. My advice is given free of charge and is only my opinion. Blunt? Maybe. Honest? Always!

Hi Alex,

Many thanks for your feedback here... It was more positive than I might have expected (LOL) I was interested to hear your comments on the About Us page as some (most) people feel this should be distinct from the home page.

I take your point about the design feeling quite dated and static and I am rapidly being impelled to the conclusion that an update is needed. I like the idea of an image slider to get a bit more motion going. I have also undertaken to get some video content which I hope will bring it a bit more up to date.

Thanks again for your feedback - it really is great to get other views on something I am probably a bit too close to.

Best wishes,

Mark.
------------------------
Mark Taylor
www.eriskay-associates.co.uk

No problem. I wasn't too sure from your post whether the site is new or has been up for a while.
The about page really depends on what information you feel its important to get across. When I say more sites should be using the about page as their home page, its really just to avoid pointless and empty home pages that just say 'Welcome to our site' and provide little else of use. The sooner you can provide the user with the useful and interesting content that they are looking for, the better.
Overall a refresh would be a good idea in my opinion - although you may not think it you'll no doubt find it will be easier than trying to modify and add to what you've already got. Adding images and video is one thing, making sure it fits into the site and looks right is another altogether!

Hope that helps!
------------------------
Alex Price
Director
www.web93.co.uk

I run a London based web focused digital marketing agency. I'm passionate about helping startups with their online presence. My advice is given free of charge and is only my opinion. Blunt? Maybe. Honest? Always!

Thanks again, Alex. I totally agree with the need to avoid meaningless content. The purpose of video is to articulate some of the ways we work that, for some reason, don't come across as well when you write them down. I also take your point about 'overall fit' - it's something we really need to work on - getting a clear and consistent message out there is fundamental. Thanks again for all your advice. Best wishes, Mark.
------------------------
Mark Taylor
www.eriskay-associates.co.uk

Hello Mark

I agree with Alex in that it is a good starting site, however there are a few improvements from a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) perspective that I feel would be if great benefit (aside from the points raised by Alex):

Continually updated content. Google loves this. Easily done with the addition of a blog, posting an article a week.

More links to affiliate/relevant company websites, and vice-versa if possible. Similar to that which you have for BNI and the Social Enterprise Scotland.

More media content. Videos, podcasts, images. Using Youtube for videos and integrating that into your website again will give big points in the eyes of google, and it gives greater user interaction/browse time on your site which also increases ranking.

Hope this helps

Hi Mark,

I thought it was very good. Well-organized. My only comment would be, if possible, to cut back on the content. Web viewers, in my experience, do not like to read; they like to see.
------------------------
Use customer testimonials to increase your sales
Learn more on vowch.org

Hi Dan,

Many thanks for your feedback... I take your point about cutting back on content, although some are saying that I need to include more - or rather update it more often... I am also adding in video content, which I guess could go one of two ways - LOL.

Thanks again,

M.
------------------------
Mark Taylor
www.eriskay-associates.co.uk

Hi everyone,

I was speaking to a web guy today and he suggested that there are 4 key things to consider:

* Look and Feel (ie is it a 'nice place'?)
* Clear messages (getting across exactly what you do, and for whom - giving them a compelling reason to buy)
* Visibility to search engines - this includes the way the thing is coded, the key words and how well it gets picked up by different search engines.
* Integration with social media - this allows the content to be continually updated.

This seems like quite a useful list but is it missing anything?

Again, I'd appreciate some input...

Best wishes,

Mark.
------------------------
Mark Taylor
www.eriskay-associates.co.uk

Hi Mark,

I like the website. Firstly, It has a pleasant, earthy, organic colour-scheme; it gives the impression of being the product of an enterprise which has its feet firmly on the ground. I think the content is presented clearly and logically, and there appears to be little, if any unnecessary clutter amongst the links. The level of detail is about right, and has what I would refer to as a pleasing economy to it. The graphics are clear as far as they go. My sense is that there might be scope for a few more of them to be interspersed amongst text. I particularly enjoyed the free strategic audit!

This looks like a good start to a site - it provides all the content I think you are trying to get across. Its nice to see a site using their 'About' page as their homepage, something that many other sites should be doing in my opinion.

From an SEO point of view I'm intrigued to know what words or phrases you expect people to use to be attracted to your site as there is nothing immediately obvious to me
------------------------

Ian

Hi Ian,

Many thanks for your feedback. SEO is something I really need to mug up on. Most of our work is in strategy and planning for business start ups, growing businesses and third sector organisations.

I had previously been advised not to labour key words too much as google doesn't like it. However, I suspect we can strike a better balance going forward.

Thanks for your feedback and please feel free to make suggestions - I'm learning a lot through this forum.

Best wishes,

Mark.
------------------------
Mark Taylor
www.eriskay-associates.co.uk

Your site title is the company's name which means that it will rank well in Google for people looking for the company but not at all for people looking for your service.

The meta description that Google publishes is "At Eriskay Associates we are focussed on enhancing performance in Start Ups and Growing Businesses. We help our clients achieve exceptional success by: ..."

Google again gives preference to words and phrases appearing earlier on in themeta description so you will rank better for the words "At Eriskay Associates we are focussed on" than what it is you actually do.

I don't know enough about your business to be able to write a suitable meta description for you but just switching the words around so that it reads "enhancing performance in Start Ups and Growing Businesses is what we do at Eriskey Associates etc" would help more with SEO but if it were me I wouldn't bother with the company's name at all as it's a waste of valuable words.

You need to think about what words and phrases people will use to find services like yours and try and work them into the description and also into the body text.

I was chatting to a factoring company who told me that they could never rank anywhere on Google for the all important word "factoring" and when I looked at their website it was very well designed and looked very nice but the word factoring didn't appear on it at all and I pointed out to them that Google wasn't very good at mind reading.

The difficulty that you may have is thinking like a potential customer when writing the copy as some of your vocabulary is rather buzz wordish - an example is your description above of appealing to third sector organisations as I have never heard the term before and haven't a clue what it means
------------------------

Ian

Hi Ian,

Many thanks for this - it's kind of a mini master class in keywords... I really need to get the copy sorted and will speak to my web guy about this. I do take your point about putting the key points early in the statement, but I have to say that I think the flow of the sentence is as important as the position of the key words.

I take your point about 'buzz words', although Third Sector clients will know exactly what the phrase means and, perhaps surprisingly, has been one of our more successful search terms. FYI, it applies to the not-for-profit sector but excludes government departments (ie voluntary orgs, charities, etc) - This is more prevalent in the UK than other parts of the world.

Thanks again for your feedback here, it's been extremely helpful.

Best wishes,

Mark.
------------------------
Mark Taylor
www.eriskay-associates.co.uk