need feedback

[ballparkcardsonline]

http://pulphosting.com/

any feedback would be appreciated

[jlgreer1]

Very professional web design and graphics.

You offer a large number of services in an appealing manner.

Load time with my dialup account was 1:50.

Jeff

[ballparkcardsonline]

Originally Posted by jlgreer1

Load time with my dialup account was 1:50.

Jeff

is that a long time?

[jlgreer1]

The load time is a little on the long side. Load time is one of the factors that Joe Burns considers in his Web Design Goodies book. Balanced with the graphics and information presented, I wouldn't consider it too much. I think you have a very good site.

Jeff

[MichaelA]

I will agree that your load time is a little on the long side. I have DSL and it took a few seconds which tells me that someone with a modem will be waiting for some time to see your site. A rule of thumb, especially if you are going to be doing any web designs is to keep your main page fairly low (under 15 seconds load time with a 56K modem). Once you have a persons interest, they will wait a little longer for other pages to load. The average person will wait approx 20 seconds and if a page hasn't loaded by then, they will hit "Back" on move on to another site.

You have a nice site and well laid out. It is obvious that you have really thought about it. Clean and spelled out just what they get with you. Your flash logo is your biggest draw on load time. Looks nice, but if modem users never see it... You might want to offer two entrances to your site. High Bandwidth for DSL, Cable, T-1 and Low Bandwidth for modem users. A splash page that gives the option of simpler graphics and the one that you have. If someone has dialup, they can select low bandwidth and will see your site in a simpler form (simple graphics).

I scanned your main page and it says you have 31 graphics for a total of 491745 bytes on your main page alone (html included). It will take an average of 98 seconds with a 56K modem (assuming they have a good connection). One example is "1.jpg" on your site. It is a white and grey line and I show it to be 2094 Bytes. I reduced that to a two color Gif and it got it down to 603 bytes. "8.jpg", I was able to reduce from 27,740 to 4088 with no loss in color or clarity.

Later this weekend, I can go through and reduce them for you and send them to you so you can see them and maybe switch some of your current ones out if you like.

[BLACK HAT]

I agree that the load time is too long. Viewing the page through both DSL and Cable, there was a noticeable hang time before the page fell into place. Mike's help in reducing image size will solve some of those issues.

Aside from the load time, the interface is nice but you have a few spelling and grammatical errors and that always sends a red flag up to potential customers.

The image head21.jpg has the word "Maintenance" spelled incorrectly and you do not need a comma after the word "Professional" in that image.

You do not need a comma after "uptime" in this sentence:

"We offer 99.9% uptime, and have a 30 day money back guarantee."

You do not need a comma after "industry" in this sentence:

"Our control panel is one of the best in the industry, and has over 39 scripts that can be installed with a click of the mouse."

You need an apostrophe on the word "children's" and actually this should be rewritten to exclude "out of the area", it is unnecessary.

"the childrens" should be changed to "their children's"

we also cater to the moms and dads that want to share the childrens special moments with family and friends out of the area.

I would change the word "carry" in this sentence to either "provide" or "furnish":

We carry a variety of software for just that purpose.....

The image sols.jpg has "PEARL" spelled correctly but it is not the type of PERL you specialize in, I am sure.

You have a single indentation beginning this paragraph that will look much nicer flush against your image, if you remove it:

You do not need a comma after "web hosting" in this paragraph either.

Pulp Web Solutions provides a broad range of Internet related services including programming and development, high end graphic design, web hosting, and a complete set of consulting services.

I hope this helps.

[Pulp]

Originally Posted by BLACK HAT

I agree that the load time is too long. Viewing the page through both DSL and Cable, there was a noticeable hang time before the page fell into place. Mike's help in reducing image size will solve some of those issues.

Aside from the load time, the interface is nice but you have a few spelling and grammatical errors and that always sends a red flag up to potential customers.

The image head21.jpg has the word "Maintenance" spelled incorrectly and you do not need a comma after the word "Professional" in that image.

You do not need a comma after "uptime" in this sentence:

"We offer 99.9% uptime, and have a 30 day money back guarantee."

You do not need a comma after "industry" in this sentence:

"Our control panel is one of the best in the industry, and has over 39 scripts that can be installed with a click of the mouse."

You need an apostrophe on the word "children's" and actually this should be rewritten to exclude "out of the area", it is unnecessary.

"the childrens" should be changed to "their children's"

we also cater to the moms and dads that want to share the childrens special moments with family and friends out of the area.

I would change the word "carry" in this sentence to either "provide" or "furnish":

We carry a variety of software for just that purpose.....

The image sols.jpg has "PEARL" spelled correctly but it is not the type of PERL you specialize in, I am sure.

You have a single indentation beginning this paragraph that will look much nicer flush against your image, if you remove it:

You do not need a comma after "web hosting" in this paragraph either.

Pulp Web Solutions provides a broad range of Internet related services including programming and development, high end graphic design, web hosting, and a complete set of consulting services.

I hope this helps.

good gracious, i have alot of work to do...lol. i really appreciate the feedback and never imagined it would be so thorough. as you can see, i'm using a different username...i'm ballpark too.

my wife has told me over and over that she needs to edit the site, i guess she was right (currently eating crow).

thank you everyone!

(currently eating crow).

Had to reply to this. Was it really Crow?

[Pulp]

Originally Posted by chipfryer

(currently eating crow).

Had to reply to this. Was it really Crow?

now that was bad

[Pulp]

ok, i took your advice and made those changes, thank you. i really appreciate the help...anyone looking for a good host? lol my front page is grammatically correct!

[Serra]

Your meta data is totally screwy. Here is the report from a meta tag checker:

From: http://www.scrubtheweb.com

- Note - If you want to know the best keywords for your meta tags .

• This Tag is 12572 characters in length including tabs, spaces and carriage returns

WARNING! THIS TAG MAY BE DISQUALIFIED!

REASON: We found the following keywords were repeated more than 3 times in the META Keywords Tag:

1. • The word web was repeated 319 times
   • The word design was repeated 216 times
   • The word hosting was repeated 204 times
   • The word site was repeated 31 times
   • The word page was repeated 29 times
   • The word templates was repeated 22 times
   • The word website was repeated 21 times

This techinque is called Keyword Packing and is associated with the porn industry. Most search engines that use meta data will ignore this meta tag.

You might also visit: http://www.ranks.nl to see what it says about your site.

Nice try, but you are about 3 years behind... there are better more current techinques than keyword packing.

[Pulp]

nice try? i don't even know what keyword packing is, i just got keywords from google keyword tool

[britbob]

Wow...

I would change that meta data for sure.

[Pulp]

done..i just took out the keywords

[Pulp]

Check it now? I think i made the neccesary changes to the meta. I really appreciate the feedback i'm getting.

[Serra]

That is perfect. You have the keywords you need, with very few duplicates. That is very good. I'd say the technical side of your site is perfect now. (Including your TOS, which is important).

Keep in mind that keywords are not used by Google, so you need to have a plan to get listed in Google. You are NOT currently listed in Google at all. The best and quickest way to get listed it to have someone who is listed in Google put a like to your site on theirs. (You can do the submit thing to Google, but that TAKES FOREVER!).

If you have a customer/friend who has a site in Google, just add your link to their site and in a few weeks you too will be listed in Google. (I did the submit thing and after two months got sick of waiting and put my link on a customer's site and in two weeks I was listed)

To see if you are listed in Google, search for http://pulphosting.com. If you don't see anything, you aren't listed. If you see only the domain name, but no details (text under the domain), then you have been scanned, but not put into the database (that takes a few weeks).

About keyword packing: That technique was developed a while back by the porn industry, so sites that use that technique are usually banned from Google and Yahoo. The corrections to your site should fix that problem.

On the artsy side, your side looks very nice and I like the theme. Very cool.

One more note, you are currently only using Paypal, I suggest that you go with Authorize.net ASAP. (after you get $1500.00 per month). That will help your credibility.

One a financial note: you are currently accepting YEARLY hosting contracts. Keep in mind that yearly hosting is VERY dangerous financially. People can in the 11th month claim you haven't provided them the service they expected and ask for a charge back. Using Paypal, you may find that you are at risk of giving away free hosting, plus pay a $30.00 chargeback fee. I suggest you only offer quarterly hosting for new customers and yearly hosting for people who have been with you for a quarter or more.

Authorize.net will cut down on those types of people because they tend to not authorize charge backs.

Personally, I don't offer yearly hosting contracts to individuals I don't know, only quarterly. Only my design customers get yearly hosting. I was turned down for a Compass Bank merchant account because I offered yearly hosting packages. That makes me wonder about yearly hosting, YMMV.

You should also offer mail in payments. That way you get a check. They can't fight that with the CC company!

Good job, love your site. It looks wonderful. I really like the girl with the orange. Good idea.

[Pulp]

wow, thanks for the great feedback. i just applied for a small business checking account at bank of america. monthly fee is $12/month. does anyone have any banking suggestions? also, $1500 a month? wow, i thought that would take forever.

[esl]

$12 a month? I don't pay a thing for my bank account.

[Pulp]

from where? is it a business checking? the only other place i know of that has a free business checking is suntrust but they started asking about where i registered my business....i didn't, so no account..lol

[Blondy]

Business checking accounts are always nasty with fees. Any business account is. We get punished for being a legetimate independant business, see?

[esl]

I have my account at a local bank. (Its a small one.) It works great for what I need, I can quickly transfer money to it.... no long waits.

It may be free because it is a military bank.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by Pulp

wow, thanks for the great feedback. i just applied for a small business checking account at bank of america. monthly fee is $12/month. does anyone have any banking suggestions? also, $1500 a month? wow, i thought that would take forever.

Compass Bank gave me free checking and a free merchant checking account (to hook to my merchant account). (150 transactions). I really love those prices!

So far, I really like Compass's service. I got an ATM card and a Visa card too.

Overall, I'm very happy with Compass Business Services.

If you need a merchant account or an Internet Gateway, email me.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by Pulp

from where? is it a business checking? the only other place i know of that has a free business checking is suntrust but they started asking about where i registered my business....i didn't, so no account..lol

That sounds like a bit of a problem. If your state has state tax and your don't charge it, then you can get in a lot of trouble. The sales tax people are not a good crowd to get pissed off at you.

You should register your business, get any required licenses and get setup to pay taxes, at the minimum. The worst thing about not paying taxes is the fees are normally much higher than the taxes owed.

[MichaelA]

Originally Posted by Pulp

wow, thanks for the great feedback. i just applied for a small business checking account at bank of america. monthly fee is $12/month. does anyone have any banking suggestions? also, $1500 a month? wow, i thought that would take forever.

Wow. I have B of A and don't pay a thing for my Business checking account. I do have a regular checking and savings with them. Do you have a personal account with them? If not, this could be why. I am also setting up Merchant Services through them. Costco also has some very good pricing on Merchant Services for members. Both of these beat Authorize.net, 2checkout.com and the others.

I will agree with Serra about yearly contracts by CC or PayPal for people you do not know or have not been with you for some time. All they have do do is wait until the 11th month and say that you did not give them the service you stated and they get their money back. Then it becomes up to you to prove you gave them quality service and they were satisfied with that service. And that could cost you more then what you were charging them for hosting in the first place. There are some people that know this little trick and they bounce from one host to another looking for freebies. For the most part, many of your clients just want good service, but one or two that just want something for nothing can cost you as well.

As for a business license. Grab it. My state, WA only requires that I charge WA residents any sales tax. This tax collected is deposited into my business savings (I at least get the interest.) and you will appear to be more professional. Years ago, hosting was only provided by a small group. Now, there are many hosts to choose from. I am licensed, registered and have my Business name registered with our state and have a Federal Tax ID and a Uniform Business Identifier number (UBI).

So let's say you and I both advertise in the same newspaper and have our ads side by side. I could almost charge twice as much as you do, but when people look at businesses that will be around, they will see that I made more of the effort to make certain of I will be in business 2, 3, and 10 years from now because I have invested my own time and a little bit of money into it. I haven't even had a chance to finish my website because I have been so busy getting people prepped to switch to me from another local hosting company (not licensed) and my pricing structure is the same as his.

To give you an idea of how fast this is going for me, just a little over two months and I am now expanding into dialup services, will be farming my own website and web design work out (yeah, I am that busy), leasing a storefront and hiring someone to operate that storefront while I line up another one in a bigger city and will hire help there as well. You don't need anything big. Just enough that someone can drop a payment by and come by to sign up for hosting or Internet dial-up. So if you have any question as to getting licensed or running without a license, I can tell you that first impressions mean a great deal to people still.

And the ironic thing of all of this? I am still learning it and can run it all from my computers at home or my laptop.

[eLIANT]

Just got access to this forum and am catching up on all the posts.


First line of text in "pulp_index_header" -
change PRFESSIONAL to PROFESSIONAL

Fourth line of text in "pulp_index_header" -
change MAINTAINENCE to MAINTENANCE

NOTE - if you're using a spell-checker to catch these errors, remember that spell-checkers (typically) ignore words in all-caps.