Need suggestions for my business site

Here are the two different basic versions Ive made so far... Im not sure which design to go with, or even if i will go with these. I havent worked on either much, but I finally realised I need to get this thing done.

Let me know what you think

EDIT-

www.lexingtonfixit.com < this URL has changed to a new page. The old one is no longer up.

http://www.lexingtonfixit.com/lexfixit2/

Note-

All of the text is pretty much "beta"... I havent went over or revised anything since I made the intial pages. Not to mention the pages arent even done... anyways. Dont correct me on spelling or grammer or anything, just try to tell me something I should do instead of something I did, etc. Ive been making "simple" websites for a while... since I was about 10 years old, I cant do anything amazing though.

i dont know how to say this nicely so here it goes
there isn't much of a design anywhere, weither you're talking about the overall site or simply your trademark. the colors no both arn't very appealing, the 2nds colors are better than the first but thats not saying much . try to picture what would impress you if you were looking at a computer services site and go from there. hope i didn't lay it on too thick

those colors are dark, they arent very vivid, plus ive found that black backgrounds aren't very professional looking when it comes to business sites. Try sticking with a white background, either that or a really light colored grey, or light blue. Your second layout looks a bit better with the lighter blue, but it should still get lighter. It also needs more color. That's all I can pretty much say for right now, the layout is just looking dull and needs to be more vivid. Sorry for sounding so harsh.

just curious- is this an already established business or one that is just emerging?

AoL_Is_My_EnEmY said:

Sorry for sounding so harsh.

Click to expand...

like you said, you've only dabbled in design so no worries

The business has been around for about 2 years, but we havent had a website. We are going to start advertising with our website url in place for people to look at. *shrug* Im nubly when it comes to website making.

Ive never tried to make anything that looks professional, so I was kind of at a dead end when I started making this site.

Im going to make a few more "light" designs and post them up.


Are the colors just bad? The overall "design"?

Also, I wouldnt know what a computer services site would look like... Ive always fixed my own computers =p.

just curious iif you are listed with kentucky BBB or just file as a consultant? i wasnt able to find you on bbb list, but anywho. I liked the color on the second one, however I would make the background white, but the color you used for the lettering and logo look ok. Also, on your hyperlinks, i'd keep them blue as well but make the lettering white, it'll pop more. I'm a big fan of the drop down menu on them though, always helpful instead of having to load another page. you might try using s simpler map, possibly white on that blue as well.

I did a few little things, but you can see how little clean images make it look nice...just suggestions though.

original


revise


p.s. thats lexingtons skyline i found through google and edited into gradient. also the car could be better. let me know if i can help, booss is gone foor the next two weeks, so i;'ll have some dowtime to play on photochop.

Ya, I like the look of that blue on the white. I might make a design simlar to that now that Ive seen the white. I have been working on another design that looks alot better for the past hour.


Also, we arent registered as a business yet. My dad ran the business up until a few months ago and he didnt register. I will be doing that before I start advertising and getting alot of customers so I dont get in trouble. =).

EDIT
This is a version of the one Ive been working on... are these colors friendly enough? Is the "layout" with the frames decent enough looking? Obviously its not done, but just what do you think of the basic idea of this one? Let me know, thanks!

http://www.lexingtonfixit.com/2/index.html

I think you're starting to move in the right direction, but the bright blue is too saturated IMHO. I'd tone it down some, you don't want it to be day-glow... just prim and proper like an upscale business.

yeah the new version is much better

you may even wanna go white as your background, it just looks cleaner in my opinion.

business sites should always be as clean as possible, to project a proper image to your customers.

personal sites can get crazy as you have probably seen because some people have crazy personalities and they show it in their design. personally, i made a site that was a tad off-the-wall and didnt like it so i made a cleaner site that focuses on content more than how "cool" my graphics are and so on.

Here's a quick and dirty design that I put together in a few minutes. Not the best in the world, but you might be able to get some ideas from it.

http://www.animeguru.com/lexington/lexington.html

Alright, check this one out again.

I got a professional site making friend of mine to give me his opinion, he said this one looks pretty nice and could definitly work. Your thoughts?

http://www.lexingtonfixit.com/2/index.html

The only problem I have is that a few things arent exactly the right size in Opera browser when comparing to internet explorer.

anyone else when they click on "links" and "contact us" get this

Im still working on it... =p.

Those pages are just copies of index.html, I havent uploaded the completed stuff yet.

Go check it out, let me know what you think.

http://www.lexingtonfixit.com

Also, can you guys take pictures of these two pages... they show up really akward in internet explorer, but perfect in Opera.



http://lexingtonfixit.com/Pages/cucomplete.html

http://lexingtonfixit.com/Pages/links.html

Just a note that both of these designs stretch all the way on 1152x864 resolution.

Consider that the average user runs at the windows default of 800 x 600, and that anyone needing your services most likely falls under "average user".

800 x 600 resolution means that the average display for web browsers is approximately 770 x 440. Keep this in mind when designing pages.

You can make it a dynamic page that appears at 770 wide no matter what setting you are at, or shrinks well to look good at smaller resolutions, too.


Secondly, there is WAY too much text on the front page for a business.

You should have: a menu that stands out immediately, a logo and a slogan such as "Computer Service that comes to you!" or "servicing the Lexington and surrounding areas" or some sort of combination. You MUST make people want to dive deeper in a matter of seconds. On the current site, or any of the ones I have seen, there is either too much to read on the first page or not a a clear-cut menu with notable options.


BTW: remove the links section. links are not a professional menu item! Why would you want to advertise for someone else's business?

I was going to put good places to buy products and such under links. Anything they may want to purchase, etc.

*shrug*...

Also, I made it to where it stretches to the size you have it... so that it will work well at alot of resolutions.

The middle part shrinks when your resolution is low...

Erm...

There seems to be complaints about each design. I cant get it right. Whats wrong with the text? It tells what Lexington Fix IT is. If I made a page that was built for "super low" resolutions, then it would look like crap on higher resolutions.

Also, 99% of computers nowadays ship with either 17inch monitors or 17inch LCDs. They all have a "default" resolution on them of 1024x768 or 1280x1024.

Theres alot more newer computers than older ones, but I can understand that those people with horrible ones would be calling to get an upgrade, etc.

I just cant win with designing this site. lol.