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Hi Guys,
I recently posted my latest design and unfortunately I'm not getting the client return I had hoped.
In years past I've done very well just from client inquiries gathered on the site. With the last two
incarnations I haven't had nearly the response. If anyone could give me any ideas it would be hugely appreciated.
http://www.pixelfusionmedia.com
Thanks,
Fearless
Perhaps your site is not reaching your clients.
I don't see anything wrong with your site, which by the way I think it's excellent.
Your problem must be search engines, "mouth to mouth", and marketing in general, I guess.
May be an intro with some message would help too.
What's that font you are using? I like it a lot.
This is my personal opinion, so no one flame me because I am flamming no one.
Your site is nice, I am not debating that. Where I see a problem is that its trendy, and 99% of potential clients don't recognize trends so they see things like that gothic type and turn away. I have no proof or research of this but its something that I am always concious of. I try to follow to the modernist ethos and keep it clean with no frills. That way I dont pigeon hole myself.
This may or may not be your problem, I just wanted to throw it out there.
good luck
I agree with the goth font...it might not look mainstream enough to garner the kind of general client attention that you are obviously looking for.
The site is very very nice though. Perhaps a little more colour, a little less goth, and a little more corporate look (think about targetting those clients that you covet so much) and you'll have a winner.
A website alone will not make you stand out. Go knock on doors...give out cards...talk to people. Marketing yourself is the best way to drum up business from my own personal experiences.
***Also, one bug in your site. On the Contact form, it looks like you did not embed any fonts in the dynamic text fields. For me, it looks like a super small (see: illegible) system font. Embed the font you want there just to clean up the site a little.
RH
Thanks so much for the reply guys. I've always tried to stay away from an intro because of load time issues, but maybe it would be a good idea.
I see what you're saying about the goth font. I'll definitely consider updating the look a little bit. I guess my main problem now is marketing.
Once again, thanks for all the comments guys.
I really really really recommend to not use an intro. Intros fall into three catagories or a combination there of:
1- Been done
2- Borring
3- Waste of time
If your website is meant to be a source of revenue you should not ever use an intro. A quick loading sequence always works well.
To the point:
Your problem is most likely because you are using a purely flash website. You have to create an html version of your site or use noscript pages with the content from each page that redirect to your flash page to get the search results you need. Google and other search engines no longer use the meta tags. Instead they read the content and the problem is that if all your content is in flash the search crawlers can not read your website therefore it will never hit.
Also once you do this it will likely be 2 to 3 months before your website will even appear on an engine like google, as the only way google receives new pages is by crawling and finding links from other pages that are already in their database.
This might not have anything to do with the lack of traffic to your site, but may I offer a quick comment about the design...
You have 3 distinct and different looks and styles going on here and I think you need to commit to one. I'm seeing a dark/goth look, a corporate/techy look, and a bit of a retro/vintage look with the wall paper. I suggest you commit to one look and go with it...preferably a look that is more pleasing to the common folk rather than another artist.
Just a thought for what it's worth.
first off, i really like your site. from my experiences, i wouldn't count on much work based on people coming to your site from a search engine. word of mouth, and some advertising in your is a better bet to generate new work, IMO. also, i get a disconnected sort of feel with the site. it's a very nice site all around, and would function perfectly as a portfolio site. however, i don't see you reaching out to potential customers. i think that stems from 2 things. one could be the imagery. it looks good, and fits into the style of the site, but isn't corporate by any means, and probably comes off as erie to some people. i'd look for some more inviting imagery. secondly, your home page never welcomes the visitor. all you have is headlines (without accompanying story), and the consult form. i'd spend 5 or 10 minutes writing out a few paragraphs welcoming the visitor, giving them a chance to get to know you, what you're all about, as well as what you have to offer them. it doesn't have to go into detail, you can do that in other sections, but right now i don't think someone who stumbles across your homepage gets any sense of who you are.
I guess the first question is how does this site differ from the site that recieved the good returns? Was the other site HTML? Was it more to the point? It's tough to say why there is less reaction.
A thought...
perhaps the photos in the slideshow are part of the problem. They're the strongest imagery on the page, and though they're all good shots with a nice tone and feel, perhaps they don't target the correct demographic--that of entrepreneurs who hire web designers. The subjects in the photos look more like art students than web design clients. I know that's totally subjective. But if your potential clients don't vibe with the people in the photos, they might think it's not the right place for them. Showing images of your work, or non people images might make the targeting less specific.
other things like having an HTML mirror would also help. Many potential clients still aren't up to speed with plugins, etc.