Wahmmy.com Message Board

[Catherine]

I would be interested in getting some feedback on my website www.everythingplayhouse.com. I don't seem to be getting a lot of traffic, and it doesn't really look professional like this one. Any ideas?

[DrDave]

Hi Catherine, I took a look at your site and I have a few suggestions for you.

First of all, the image on the right hand side at the top of your page is actually 500x500 in size (although you are displaying it as 180x179), and over 300kb which is why it takes a second to load and doesn't show up right away. If you resized it to 180x179 pixels and then saved it, it would look more clear, and it would be a much smaller file size (should be around 15kb).

Something that may be contributing to the "amateurish" look that you mentioned in the other forum is the menu bar on the left hand side. Maybe you could try playing with different background colors for that menu and try it without a big border on it. Also, try changing the default colors for the links (blue, and purple for visited links) to some other variations. I personally find that the blue links on the dark green background don't really stand out and are a bit hard to read.

Instead of the border around the whole menu you could try just a solid line underneath each link to separate them. Changing <td align="center"> to <td align="center" style="border-bottom: 1px solid black;"> or something along those lines.

I am not saying that you should make all of these exact changes or that they will look better than what you have now, I am just trying to give you a few ideas to try out

You also may want to optimize the <title> tag of your website to include a few more keywords. For example, <title>Everything Playhouse - Find wooden play house kits, pictures, designs, and more</title> Those are a few keywords that I see people are searching for with regards to playhouses. Also make sure that you include lots of keyword-rich text on your pages. Try to target a few different keywords on each page.

I see that you have a links page which is good. Keep trading links with as many related sites as you can find. Also, get your site listed in as many good directories as you can find. I am working on a list of directories that I feel are worth posting to and I will try to remember to post the link to that list here when it is done. Of course you can submit to the Wahmmy Directory too

Finally, you might want to consider some more unique content for your site. If at all possible, offering people some free playhouse designs, detailed reviews of certain playhouses, and even some articles on building or decorating playhouses (or anything related) would be a great idea.

I think you have a great idea for a website and you are off to a good start with it! I hope my comments have helped.

(ps. I took the liberty of resizing and optimizing the image on your header for you. It is now 15kb.)

[Catherine]

Gee DrDave, this is a great site. Thanks for all your helpful advice! I will definitely try some of those tips. I hope you don't mind if I ask some more questions down the road...Oh - how do you know what keywords people are searching for. You mentioned some that I should include in the title tag - how do you know?

Thank you very much!

[DavisFPG]

I think your website looks good!
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