New Website!!!!

[cgland]

Hey guys! I just upgraded my website. There are still a couple of tweaks that need to be made, but I think it turned out great! What do you think?

www.cg-landscaping.com

[SCgreenscapes]

Chris, the new site looks great. A real improvement from the last one. I like the flash intro also. The only thing i would consider revising would be some of the fonts for the large text. It is very legible, but would look more elegant or something with a different font. The only problem i had with the site is the snow on the "Snow Removal" page. it took so long to load that i thought that my browser had locked up. It finally started and looked cool, but some people may just close out the site if they think that it locked up on them.

All in all it looks killer and all the formating looks great. I can't wait to get mine rolling on along. i have been slack and not worked on any more of my copy.

later,

John B.

[MuirView Design]

Chris,

A few critiques. First, the scrolling words on the home page "Take a step...."

I would use a stronger deeper yellow. With the opacity on the background pic turned down, it makes the letters seem washed out. I personally don't like the look of the pic on the home page. I like the play on words, but the pic has no pop to it. Do you have a stair pic with some perennials in bloom that you could use in it's place? Or maybe, just take another pic mid july when those hostas are blooming. Just a suggestion.

Other than that, I like the layout better than the old site. I'm glad you got rid of the that oversized C&G that was on the old home page. It always struck me as blown up a little too big, to the point it started to look pixelized. Kudos to Jeff on this one...looks good. Can't wait to revamp mine.

[Andrew Hardscape]

Chris -

I don't look at content of other folks sites.

But I do look at it's search engine optimization. And buddy, your site has absolutely NO S.E.O. Which essentially means - your site is simply floating in cyberspace.

Now, if you just want your site to refer prospective clients - cool!

I used to just want our site for referring potential clients. But over the last 18 months - my train of though has changed. I could go on and on with the changes my company has experienced, but you jus never know who is lurking!

Chris, I would be happy to help you optimize your site. It's not really anything that can be done via text. But could be done via telephone. Right now, we're somewhat busy, but maybe on a rainy / snowy day or some evening we can chat. That is, if you are interested.

[MuirView Design]

Chris -

I don't look at content of other folks sites.

But I do look at it's search engine optimization. And buddy, your site has absolutely NO S.E.O. Which essentially means - your site is simply floating in cyberspace.

Now, if you just want your site to refer prospective clients - cool!

I used to just want our site for referring potential clients. But over the last 18 months - my train of though has changed. I could go on and on with the changes my company has experienced, but you jus never know who is lurking!

Chris, I would be happy to help you optimize your site. It's not really anything that can be done via text. But could be done via telephone. Right now, we're somewhat busy, but maybe on a rainy / snowy day or some evening we can chat. That is, if you are interested.

Andrew,

When you are looking at search engine optimization, are you "unplugging" the source code, or are you just looking at the wording used outwardly on the site?

Just curious?

[jljacobs]

Chris -

I don't look at content of other folks sites.

But I do look at it's search engine optimization. And buddy, your site has absolutely NO S.E.O. Which essentially means - your site is simply floating in cyberspace.

Now, if you just want your site to refer prospective clients - cool!

I used to just want our site for referring potential clients. But over the last 18 months - my train of though has changed. I could go on and on with the changes my company has experienced, but you jus never know who is lurking!

Chris, I would be happy to help you optimize your site. It's not really anything that can be done via text. But could be done via telephone. Right now, we're somewhat busy, but maybe on a rainy / snowy day or some evening we can chat. That is, if you are interested.

First of all, DO NOT try to talk to my customer and take my business away from me by spouting off about SEO. Floating in cyberspace, I think not, if you look up "C G Landscaping" on any search engine, he is at, or almost at the top, of the list...same as yours. I did try to use other keywords to search for your website and could not find it. I understand that there needs to be a certain amount of text on every page for these 'spiders' to rank your site, but to have extra paragraphs at the end of every page just to try to fool the 'spiders' may or may not work, but it certainly detracts from your website by having a great deal of unnecessary scrolling on every page.

Jeff Jacobs
Web Designs by Jeff

[Meanix]

Ouch!!!!!!!

[Andrew Hardscape]

First of all, DO NOT try to talk to my customer and take my business away from me by spouting off about SEO. Floating in cyberspace, I think not, if you look up "C G Landscaping" on any search engine, he is at, or almost at the top, of the list...same as yours. I did try to use other keywords to search for your website and could not find it. I understand that there needs to be a certain amount of text on every page for these 'spiders' to rank your site, but to have extra paragraphs at the end of every page just to try to fool the 'spiders' may or may not work, but it certainly detracts from your website by having a great deal of unnecessary scrolling on every page.

Jeff Jacobs
Web Designs by Jeff


Jeff,

I would love to explain some things to you. Feel free to call me during the day at (301) 416-2600.

Naturally, if you look up a business name - it will come up.

Lets say there is a business called 'Joes Race Craft'. Now if I go to any search engine and type "Joes Race Craft" and if he has a website - it'll come up!!!!

People shopping from scratch don't know who to type in. But they know WHAT to type!

But now Joes Race Craft specializes tubbing Chevy Novas in Springfield FL. So if his site is optimized and someone types "tubbing Novas Springfield FL" - he'll come up at the top.

If you type: patios reading PA - only the optimized sites will be at the top. Now, for the record, let me state - there may be some real estate listings that will surface as well, stating something like "gorgeous patio"

I wasn't trying to start a pissing match.

My site was floating in cyberspace too. Not for 1 year. Not for 2 years. But for about 6 years. Because I simply did not know better. It is a fact, that any site that is not optimized - is floating in cyber space. Last Feb I made some minor changes as an experiment. And in the next two weeks more changes will take place.

And extra paragraghs at the end of pages are a thing of the past, thanks to Hidden Div :) But thanks for pointing out sommething I experiment with :) I learn by doing. And when I learn, I like to know how, why, what, and when. And sometimes by doing certain things - one can get all the knowledge :)

I do not do web design, nor do I do SEO as a business. So I have no interest in taking anyone's customers! But if I was offering a service to the members of this forum, I would never type anything that is incorrect, or argumentitive, as that could make anyone considering using my services loose respect / trust for me.

Someone else allied to the green industry helped me out extensively with SEO.

He helped me for free.

And I owe much of our 2007 success to this person.

Since he helped me for free, I am passing on his good deed and helping others.

What comes around, goes around!

Didn't mean to ruffle feathers.

I'd love to discuss SEO with ya, Jeff. Call me!

[Andrew Hardscape]

Here is what is happening in Reading:


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=paver+patios+reading+PA

[SCgreenscapes]

Hey Andrew, I would like to see your site. What is it? I have my designer working on some seo and would like to see how it has helped you.

[Andrew Hardscape]

SCGreenscapes - I PMed you.



Something for EVERYONE:

Just about everyone with a website places their e-mail address somewhere on their site. I get about 150 to 230 spam e-mails a day. (good thing I have the spam folder!) And here is why - one of the worst things you can do is place your e- mail in this format: sales@paulyspatios.com, or paul@paulyspatios.com. The spammers are crawling our sites looking for these!

It is suggested that when you display your e-mail address that you do not make it a clickable link. This makes it harder for the spammers to capture the e-mail address. Let the user copy and paste it. Some experts have even recommended that you display your e-mail address like this:

paul at pauly's patios dot com.

Looks like crap, but do you want 150 to over 200 spam e-mails a day like I get?

COPYWRITES - Most folks copywrite dates are never current. You can insert a script into your page that will change the copyright date to the current year. That way you wouldn't have to manually update it every year.

[GroundScapes]

Website looks great Chris, work looks amazing, nice photography work as well, I commend you for that, its so hard to get quality pictures but you've done it.

Jeff, nice job as well, my favorite thing about the whole site is that it all seems original, doesnt look like a worn out template or anything.