Website Review and Suggestions

**HerbalHeight** · 08:39 PM

Interested in comments and suggestions about my first ever website which you can checkout at Increase height growth with HeightFX

Its a commercial site for a dietary supplement I developed myself that promotes accelerated height growth in growing adolescents using scientificly proven, all natural herbal ingredients

I designed the website myself (layout, etc.), I did all the graphics/images myself, and I wrote all the content myself.

However my friend did all the HTML/CSS/JAVA/PHP for me as I am not knowledgeable/competent when it comes to the coding side of things.

We also incorporate a cool little script called Highslide which you can see used in two different ways for the "Results Analysis" and "Join our Newsletter" links near the top of the mainpage, and then a different format of the highslide script below the product bottle image on the mainpage to the right of the "ORDER" link where there are 3 little glassy buttons, each of which opens up a cool little metallic window using the highslide script yet again.

The highslide scripts really cool and has alot of flexibility, I discovered it by accident and talked my friend into implementing it into my website to pretty-things up

Let me know whatchya guys think. Thanks.

**hartofalyon** · 11-15-2008, 06:42 PM

the only part i feel should be changed is how your different sections open a new window when clicked.

**JohnDiamond** · 11-15-2008, 07:13 PM

Good job!

I dunno if it's my resolution (very large), but I can't seem to be able to easily read the text. Light gray on white is not always easy to read.

I love the popups for the BGV and the analysis. They are neat and innovative.

I have to agree too though that the TOP menu should not open in a new window.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

**Mark Henderson** · 11-15-2008, 09:24 PM

Sorry but the whole site is sliced images, no real text. If you continue that way you will not get very far with the search engines.

I would look into having it coded by someone that knows what they are doing.

**GamingFreak** · 11-15-2008, 09:30 PM

First of all, VERY hard to read and hurts my eyes.
Secondly, the links open a new window everytime its clicked. Make the links internal.

**JohnDiamond** · 11-15-2008, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Henderson

Sorry but the whole site is sliced images, no real text. If you continue that way you will not get very far with the search engines.

I would look into having it coded by someone that knows what they are doing.

Silly me...
Now that you've mentioned it, I just realized that the text is just a big image... In that case, you are totally right, he needs to redo the whole site with real text, unless he doesn't care about SERP and that he will advertise his website manually.

**hartofalyon** · 11-15-2008, 10:21 PM

^ ha, i missed it too!

**HerbalHeight** · 11-15-2008, 10:44 PM

The mainpage is the only page where the texts images, we had to do that to get a universal layout on all browsers/operating systems, we tried text first but every browser gave a completely different screwed up layout, there was no way to get the layout I desired except to do that.

For SEO we inserted some "secret" links on the mainpage that are a white period that youd be hard pressed to scroll over (but a crawler will pickup), they lead to pages that are chalked full of far more effective keywords than the content of the mainpage has anyways.

Most the words on the mainpage are not the kinds of words someone would search for on an engine anyways that pertain to the product, so I didint have a huge issue with doing it as images. Again, it was the only way we could get the layout to be universal on all browsers, operating systems, and computer types. We tried for days trying to get it to be universal by using text, but it just wouldnt work. On some browsers the text would be three times longer than it was on others which would throw everything out of harmony.

All the subpage content is text as the layout is much simpler.

**HerbalHeight** · 11-15-2008, 10:54 PM

Why should the subpages open in same window? Any technical reason? Or is that just personal preference?

As my personal preference was to have them open in new windows. Not sure what effect that has on a crawler though.

Thanks for the feedback.

As to the gray text? its quite dark on my computer?? Its definetly not a "light gray" based on hue/sat/brightness values. I guess it would depend on what your monitor settings are at though (brightness/contrast).

Will the "secret" keyword page linked off the mainpage (which open in same window) be effective at getting a crawler to index good keywords? I mean even if the mainpage was solid text, none of the words used on it are very likely keywords people would websearch for. Whereas on the secret page, its filled with the best keywords I could come up with using various keyword tools and probing with my Adwords account and so forth.

Thanks guys. Keep em coming plz!

Does anyone think the fonts TOO small? I dont have trouble reading it at all, and the websites targeted for teenagers (not older folk with poor eyesight hehe).

**Mark Henderson** · 11:37 PM

Any good coder would be able to make the whole site in text and still make every page look pretty much the same in all browsers. I suggest outsourcing.

Oh yeah, who told you to do the 'secret links' thing? That's what we call black hat SEO, that will get you banned from all the search engines...

No offence but you really need to rethink a few things.

EDIT:
http://www.heighteffects.com/keywords.html - That is what we call a doorway page... google it. I can't remember who it was, i think it was BMW or mercedes, but they were using doorway pages on one of their sites and they got banned from google. Many people each day get banned for the same thing. The smart thing to do would be to remove this BEFORE google crawls your site.

**hartofalyon** · 11:55 PM

^ i agree. looking at your main page, it's not difficult at all to mark that up with html/css and have it display the same across all browsers. having actual html text rather than images goes beyond seo. visitors have to wait for your images to download. a few seconds could make the difference between your visitors staying and leaving. it's truly impractical. hire someone that's more experienced in the html/css department.

the grey text does look a bit on the light side, however, readable. that doesn't mean it's fine. you're falling for the same mistake many new designers face, and that is - if it looks fine on my computer, then it's good. the problem with that train of thought? - you're designing the site for your viewers, not for yourself. if some of your visitors have low end monitors causing the grey to appear too light/dark, what have you, then that's a problem and you need to think about that and cater to their needs. that's why it's so frustrating for web designers to have to cater for every browser the visitor might be using and ensure the site displays correctly across the greater percentage of them. you can't just say, it depends on your monitor contast/brightness as your visitors won't darken their monitors just to view your site. they leave.

having your different pages open new windows doesn't make sense. it may be your personal preference, however, understand again that you're designing for your visitors, not yourself. users don't like having "pop-ups" - good or bad. it breaks the flow and usability of your website. your users expect to have the new page open in the same window since that's the case with most websites out there. when they come to anything that's unexpected, they leave or they'll feel confused/lost within your site.

with font size, it's not just about having teenagers as your audience and old folks having poor vision. it's about readability. if the paragraph of text is too small to read easily, then your viewers won't read it, young or old.

with seo, do some research on proper seo methods.

**ricke46** · 11-16-2008, 02:10 AM

Everything about the site is annoying. HTML/CSS is your friend.

**email16** · 02:59 AM

You top header takes up too much of the space of the browsers first section. Think it to we a waste of real-estate.

**HerbalHeight** · 11-16-2008, 03:36 AM

ahh thanks for the advice on the black hat. Ive heard the term but never understood what it means. Does the term go beyond just what you spoke of?? What else is considered "black hatting"?

If on a page of content (take the education center for example) if I tucked white words (keyword phrases like from the keyword page) into the page with the content but white, say in the gaps between paragraphs, is that going to be considered black hat?

im going to darken the gray text tommorow on the mainpage and ask you all if its more readable for those who said they had hard time reading it. If it is easier to read ill have my friend implement the color elsewhere.

and by the way I tried testing the page on as many different computers and operating systems and browsers as possible before putting it up. Everything worked good except the mainpage.

I dont see how we could make the mainpage the same layout without using text. I know your talking about scripting and whatnot, but theres no way to make a browsers font size unfirom (microscopic differences in the spacing between each letter in a word for a particular font and so forth that result in the same sentence being completely different lengths between two different browsers or operating systems). Hows this possible at all? Because that is the issue that made it impossible to get things aligned properly when using text, each browser displays the same font with microscopic little differences in the text that after sentence after sentence result in pretty significant paragraph length differences.

Thanks again.

**HerbalHeight** · 11-16-2008, 04:05 AM

Also quick question guys, does the more time a certain keyword appears on a website (or page) improve its ranking in anyway for that keyword? Or is just 1 single appearance of said keyword the same as having 50 appearances of that keyword?

As to Mark; no offence taken, im happy for the advice. You cant expect to know everything the first time you do something right. Live and learn as they say. I still dont know how itd be possible to achieve the same layout and alignment of things on all browsers using text when you consider the issue with microscopic font display differences between browsers. Unless you can modify those differences (which I highly doubt), then I really cant see how it can be done.

My friend did everything for free, hes college student studying PHP development and whatnot, was wanting the work experience and since moneys always tight on my end after my manufacturing, trademarking, copyrighting, and patenting bills, I didint have much of a choice plus hes a good friend so I was happy to give him the work experience. Im happy with the job he did, he was able to do my every request except for the mainpage issue, we really did try everything in the book that he could think of to maintain the layout I wanted, nothing worked

**Mark Henderson** · 11-16-2008, 07:57 AM

OK, as for the text, it is honestly easier than you are making out. No scripting, no tricks, nothing. Using standard, tableless HTML and CSS would fix this problem.

The white text you are talking about, that nobody can see... YES, blackhat.

OK, blackhat. When you are thinking of these crazy ideas, think to yourself, is this going to give me a huge advantage over other webmasters. Am i trying to trick google into something? Yes? BLACKHAT. That pretty much sums it up. Google can not be tricked like some people think. It might only be a bot, but its a bot with a LOT of brains and experience in these situations.

You might like the links opening in a new window, but have a look around the internet at other sites. Nobody other than new webmasters do that. Why? Well, surfers are very particular. They are used to one thing and dont like it when something breaks the norm. If your site does something they are not used to, like opening new windows left right and center, they will stray away from your site.

You want the information on pages that look pretty much the same as the home page and they open in the same page. OR you could just make one long sales page like so many others do.

I know your friend made this for free, but when it comes to making money online, you have to spend money first. Quality never comes for free.

You are lucky there are people like us here that are willing to sit here and tell you all this. There are companies out there that charge hundreds of dollars per hour to tell you this stuff. It's like consultation.

I just hope you are taking it all in and will better yourself as a webmaster.

**full house** · 11-16-2008, 10:24 PM

wow! as for beginners. . . that's good!your on the right track dude!

**diskokid** · 11-20-2008, 10:44 AM

The overall design is good but very futuristic. If this si the audience you are targeting, then great. My only recommendation, change the design of the name, difficult to read. I had to read it over a few itmes to figure it out. Its important that your reader is able to relate to the name immediatly upon seeing it.

**grammapecos** · 11-20-2008, 11:11 AM

it doesn't look like a herbal site to me
it almost looks like a gaming site.
Maybe consider something organic looking

I like the layout, but for a different category