some feedback please

Without wanting to be too harsh, I think you could use some help with the design.

Get a better domain name (something people will remember, not things with random dashes and long names - drivechorley.com or something) from one of the big companies that have hosting with easy to use templates included. Won't be anything fancy but it'll do the job cheap and look tons better.

https://order.1and1.co.uk/xml/order...v.mybusinesssite&linkOrigin=Home&linkType=txt
 
Last edited:
The colours are poor and you need someone to copy edit your text; PR6 Chorley (on the first page!) needs a capital C, for instance. Several sentences run on to each other and shouldn't.

The domain name is hard to remember and even harder to type. Iaind's suggestion is a good one and you kill two bird's with one stone : the domain name and the improved templates.

Just as a complete aside, your discount for a 10 slot block booking hardly grabs any prospective punters by the ears. What is that? 4 or 5% or something?
 
thanks so far.
the domain name its a bit late now as i have obviously bought it :(
amended the sentence run ons.
price wise, i cant give them away i have got to earn a living, after all the expenses that are associated with driving schools i cant go lower than that for the area i am in its in-line with being lower that quite a few indis.
 
Why do you not make more of a big thing about the fact you are an AA Driving School?

Why spend all that money buying into a franchise and then not being able to take advantage of the main benefits of a franchise - pooled resources and support with marketing etc?

The whole reason you took the franchise was to become part of that brand yet until I delved into the 'About Me' section I was confused as to why there was an AA car on your website.
 
Is there not some sort of area you can dip into to take templates, graphics, logos etc from the AA themselves to make your site? Are you allowed to have a 'corporate' style AA website advertising your services?
 
Where do we start;

First off, please note this is constructive criticism, I've a lot of respect for someone willing to have a go themselves, I intend no insult in the following;

First mistake is the colours, I wouldn't use purple for a base in the first place, much less multiple shades of it, I'd suggest looking here: http://colorschemedesigner.com/

Second is the layout and the use of tables - now, there isn't much shame in using tables for layout for your first attempt, but if you're going to learn something, some may prefer to learn the correct way.

In terms of actual layout the border between the top two cells needs to go and get the AA logo in there somewhere, Navigation needs to be consistent (different text is different sizes etc). It also needs to contrast from the header. The next row is pointless, and that information could easily be included in the header.

Three column layouts don't really work for a small site IMO, I'd be inclined to have all main site navigation at the top, like you have and find other places to put external links (a links page, or in context somewhere). Also, you need to avoid "writing" in the navigation bars (Contact Mark Walsh Txt, or Ring) - you already have the phone number at the top. For the rest of the links on the left, if you absolutely must keep them, again, make them consistent and contrast to the rest.

Beyond that, ditch the font and use something like Arial or Helvetica, these are much cleaner and work with just about anything.

You also need to use more padding on content areas and the like.
 
I'm no expert but I use to design websites as a hobby years ago and:

URL - Biggest issue I can see for a start. That's a mouthfull and a half. You need something short and snappy. I don't think any potential learners are going to be able to catch that URL from your car when you drive past.

Second big issue - New Times Roman! That font can be used well in some circumstances. Your site it just looks wrong. It looks like something a Year 8 does on his first go at using frontpage and doesn't know how to change the font.

The pictures aren't great quality and aren't great pictures either. The one in the middle is uneeded.

In the top navigation bar the 'DSA Links' is in a different font to the others.

View counter is unnecessary and the 'free' underneath it makes it look unprofessional.

I'd go for a more suitable colour too.
 
Times New Roman is not an online font. Didn't get beyond that, and if I was a prospective customer, I'd have gone elsewhere. Sounds harsh, but that's the way it is. Times is reserved for pages that didn't load properly.
 
The_Abyss said:
and if I was a prospective customer, I'd have gone elsewhere. Sounds harsh, but that's the way it is.
Click to expand...

what is it as a prospective customer would turn you away from my site?

TS7 said:
I'm no expert but I use to design websites as a hobby years ago and:

URL - Biggest issue I can see for a start. That's a mouthfull and a half. You need something short and snappy. I don't think any potential learners are going to be able to catch that URL from your car when you drive past.
.
Click to expand...

there wont be anything on my car AA wont allow it. whilst i agree it is a little long, i wanted something that related to the school name.

unfortunately i cant use an AA logos on my site. the AA wont allow it due to corporate image.
 
So do you run your own driving school and are apart of AA aswell? Or do you just use the AA franchise as branding? As I thought the instructors with AA, Red, BSM etc are given all there work by there companies so you don't really need adervtise or look for your own?

Just curious, I have no clue how it's run.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom