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ok...i don't mean to be super critical here, but i'm gonna state it. WHY is it that so many MT's sites are visually appauling?????? i am a graphic designer and have been working in marketing for years. as an MT i have searched and searched the web for various massage sites. sites by an individual MT to small practices, from spas to corporate america massage sites. i have come across only a handful that visually keep me on the page.
might i make a suggestion? less is more.
one of the biggest issues i see on sites is that they are crammed with content expecting the visitor to read through. some sites have one page that just scrolls on indefinitely. other sites have poor navigation/organization. and then some just throw anything and everything on the home page. once you do this you risk losing your visitor's attention.
i'm not advocating having only pretty pictures. but a well thought out photo with minimal content which motivates the visitor to take action by either going to another page, calling you or emailing you will do far better than putting everything on your site and hoping your visitor finds what he/she is looking for.
i'd love nothing more than to see our profession become a powerhouse in the medical industry. and as such we need to make the most of the web. but to do so we need to present ourselves professionally and that means polished and organized.
do a search for yourself. compare some medical websites to your own and then decide...is your website really presenting you in the best way possible.
(sorry if this offends any...it is not directed at any one)
let's use our safe haven here to share our sites (i'm working on getting mine up and running) and brainstorm with constructive feedback.
might i make a suggestion? less is more.
one of the biggest issues i see on sites is that they are crammed with content expecting the visitor to read through. some sites have one page that just scrolls on indefinitely. other sites have poor navigation/organization. and then some just throw anything and everything on the home page. once you do this you risk losing your visitor's attention.
i'm not advocating having only pretty pictures. but a well thought out photo with minimal content which motivates the visitor to take action by either going to another page, calling you or emailing you will do far better than putting everything on your site and hoping your visitor finds what he/she is looking for.
i'd love nothing more than to see our profession become a powerhouse in the medical industry. and as such we need to make the most of the web. but to do so we need to present ourselves professionally and that means polished and organized.
do a search for yourself. compare some medical websites to your own and then decide...is your website really presenting you in the best way possible.
(sorry if this offends any...it is not directed at any one)
let's use our safe haven here to share our sites (i'm working on getting mine up and running) and brainstorm with constructive feedback.
Views: 1393
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lisa on
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i agree. i had to do a double take to see if i was still on the right page. :) it looks a lot better!!!
can i ask why the globe as your image and not something more global/massage image? i just feel like that's such a big part of what you see immediately that it doesn't convey massage that immediately. just a thought. if you gave me the dimensions i can always shoot you an idea.
Laura Allen...yours is coming along nicely as well. i like the photo treatments now. they pop instead of just blend into the background. on my screen some weird thing is happening where your books start listing. i'm getting a black line from the book across the text. not sure if that's just my computer being wacky. and thee info underneath the books...i think it's white?? it's really hard to read.
ok time to work on some design stuff for my site under construction. :)
Erica Olson said:Wow, Mike! That looks so much better and so much more professional!
I'm still not a huge fan of the blinky text and some of the colors are a little, ah, vivid, but it looks SO much better! Easier to navigate, too.
Mike Hinkle said:
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Permalink Reply by Emma Torsey on
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Ha Ha!..That's just right for Lisa!!
Rick Morgan said:
My wife found this one day and when she see's people who are breaking all the rules with the website or are asking for basic advise she shows them this. It's a funny way of getting the message across but when you PLAN out your site, follow the rules and it will be good.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Hinkle on
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That is a pic of the glass globe Award I was given by the group of kids from Texas in 2007 at the Festival. It is embedded as part of the template. I have a continually evolving page. I have had probably four different index pages. I move around the country and the site does too. I hate it when the page gets boring. I feed information constantly to the site and also Massage news . Org, my online massage magazine.
My major asset and problem (can you have both, be the same?) is I really like to do things that get the job done.
Lisa said:i agree. i had to do a double take to see if i was still on the right page. :) it looks a lot better!!!
can i ask why the globe as your image and not something more global/massage image? i just feel like that's such a big part of what you see immediately that it doesn't convey massage that immediately. just a thought. if you gave me the dimensions i can always shoot you an idea.
Laura Allen...yours is coming along nicely as well. i like the photo treatments now. they pop instead of just blend into the background. on my screen some weird thing is happening where your books start listing. i'm getting a black line from the book across the text. not sure if that's just my computer being wacky. and thee info underneath the books...i think it's white?? it's really hard to read.
ok time to work on some design stuff for my site under construction. :)
Erica Olson said:Wow, Mike! That looks so much better and so much more professional!
I'm still not a huge fan of the blinky text and some of the colors are a little, ah, vivid, but it looks SO much better! Easier to navigate, too.
Mike Hinkle said:
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bwuahahahaha that was hilarious!! Hey Emma it's a good thing Trevor's not THAT good or i might find my photo chopped into a video!! :)
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i think if you're looking to make this thing globally successful you're gonna need to at some point settle on one main graphic for the page. you can always keep it fresh with the colors and content you're putting on it. but the one main photo i think should be branded so people know right off the bat what it is they've stumbled upon. I
MO you need a main graphic that speaks globally, massage and perhaps can have an area within it that changes per where you are. but the main image needs to be the same so that you start building a brand. if you keep changing it up (which is what i'm assuming you referring to when you say you've had 4 different index pages) you will never gain a brand. and with what you're doing i would think that would be priority number one in building the expo.
again...just my opinion
Mike Hinkle said:That is a pic of the glass globe Award I was given by the group of kids from Texas in 2007 at the Festival. It is embedded as part of the template. I have a continually evolving page. I have had probably four different index pages. I move around the country and the site does too. I hate it when the page gets boring. I feed information constantly to the site and also Massage news . Org, my online massage magazine.
My major asset and problem (can you have both, be the same?) is I really like to do things that get the job done.
Lisa said:i agree. i had to do a double take to see if i was still on the right page. :) it looks a lot better!!!
can i ask why the globe as your image and not something more global/massage image? i just feel like that's such a big part of what you see immediately that it doesn't convey massage that immediately. just a thought. if you gave me the dimensions i can always shoot you an idea.
Laura Allen...yours is coming along nicely as well. i like the photo treatments now. they pop instead of just blend into the background. on my screen some weird thing is happening where your books start listing. i'm getting a black line from the book across the text. not sure if that's just my computer being wacky. and thee info underneath the books...i think it's white?? it's really hard to read.
ok time to work on some design stuff for my site under construction. :)
Erica Olson said:Wow, Mike! That looks so much better and so much more professional!
I'm still not a huge fan of the blinky text and some of the colors are a little, ah, vivid, but it looks SO much better! Easier to navigate, too.
Mike Hinkle said:
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Permalink Reply by G. Anthony Muro on
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Lisa, provide me your professional opinion on my web site. www.body-rejuvenation.net Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Mary G. Wakeman on
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I receive positive responses to my website; it is clean, simple and not cluttered - continually under construction.
www.beyondthebellyrub.com
Mary
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Permalink Reply by Erica Olson on
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I like it! I particularly love your business name. :)
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Permalink Reply by Rachel Sheard, LMT, NCTMB, CIPI on
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I'll add my site to the discussion: www.rslmt83.massagetherapy.com It's one of ABMP's free websites. Has worked well as far as getting me found online, but I am becoming more and more frustrated with the work involved with maintaining it via ABMP, and am on the lookout for a new website host and will opt to get my own domain at that point.
I would like to put up some personalized pics, but my ABMP site is stubborn and just won't do it for whatever reason.
The things I DO like about it, is that it's clean and simple. I've just started adding the badges to it, and I'm almost reluctant to do even that... Don't want it to grow into a cluttered design.
And yes, I know the top pic is not on 2 of the pages... can't figure out WHY. I DO know how to fix it, but it means completely re-creatiing those pages, then deleting the ones that aren't working right, and I just don't want to go through all that trouble!
The hosts I'm thinking of using are Weebly, and now thanks to reading these posts, maybe WIX. I'm looking for cheap (inexpensive, not quality of course) hosting and new domain, easy to use, and simple template designs. Any other suggestions for me to check out are welcome.
And thank you so much for doing this for us Lisa! What a great help you have been!
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Permalink Reply by Hillary Kate Arrieta on
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Hey Lisa!
I think I got over looked! I am currently working on my site- any help would be great!
www.wholehealthdallas.com
thanks!
Hillary
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Okay- I have changed my business and and domain- so here's the new domain
www.gaiabodywork.com
Still updating the text-
thanks
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