screenshot for Gledhill Nursery on Mountain Road, West Hartford

URL: http://www.gledhillnursery.com

Their website does not reflect the wonderful Garden Center that they have. The website is in dire need of redesign and is a hodge-podge of old style web elements – likely Frontpage, which Microsoft stopped supporting in 2006. I cringe at reviewing the site because it is in such poor shape, although the information content is extensive and relevant and the pictures are beautiful.

Recommendations:

• Scrap the existing site altogether. Keep the text but move (copy and paste) into a more pleasing aesthetic.

 

• My suggestion is to convert the site into WordPress so that the webmaster can EASILY manage it using a web browser and the wordpress dashboard. This way you can take advantage of one of hundreds free themes to apply to the site and have a redesign completed with small amount of effort. Because I want to show that this can indeed be done easily, I spent 45 minutes to create an (incomplete) test site in WP. See it here.

 

• Many users now have large monitors, such as 1920×1080 resolution. The website should be contained so that it stays centered and does not stretch full screen width. The screenshot was taken 1280×1024, otherwise the text sits at the horizontal extremes.

 

• The photo gallery does not allow for any navigation from one picture to the next. This can be solved by using a free gallery program within the site to organize photos and allow them to be viewed more easily.

 

Email response time; PHENOMENAL! Email message was sent 11:08am 3/23. Received response in 6 minutes. It was a very personable response, which I appreciated greatly and now I know primroses cannot go outside here until May 1st.

Google Page rank: 3
Searched for “West Hartford nursery” and they are in top results, which is true if searching for “West Hartford landscaping,” and also on first page of results when searching for “West Hartford garden.”

Mobile site? Tested on iPhone. Blank first page due to Flash needed, but after a few beats the site offered me the chance to switch to a non-flash version. The non flash version worked well enough.

Currently hosted by Jumpline.com (Datacenter101, Ohio). Want to try a local host company? Click our SERVICES page for more info.

Overall impression: Needs to redesign / overhaul site.

screenshot for westhartfordyoga.com on Brook Street, West Hartford, CT

URL: http://www.westhartfordyoga.com

Very informative! Interesting to look at and good use of pictures that don’t appear to be stock photos.

Excellent integration of external registration website at https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/home.asp?studioid=3238 – includes up-to-date listings of series and an easy link back to the main site.

Recommendations:

• The NEWS page is dedicated to a past client with her testimonial and link to her obituary from June 2008. Consider moving this to a separate page and link to it and return to using the NEWS page for more current announcements.
• There is A LOT of information presented but it can be overwhelming to a first time site visitor. Consider creating a simple, START HERE page.
• Pare down or combine the link options in the main navigation bar. There are 17 choices in addition to the home page link. Even if only done for the home page, to make it cleaner for first time visitors.
• Clarify details where needed. For example, modify the NEW STUDENT SPECIAL on the Policies & Fees page to state it is valid for your first month of practice following the purchase.

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• Add “directions” to the contact link in the navigation menu as in “contact | directions” to make this easy to find. I often use my smart phone for last minute navigation and assume others do as well.

Email response time; PHENOMENAL! Sent 11:20am on a Friday — response received within 15 minutes and was personable. Came from an @comcast address instead of the @westhartfordyoga.com address. Use the @westhartfordyoga.com whenever possible. The owner or owners of @westhartfordyoga.com should want to maintain control over email addresses used on its behalf.

Google Page rank: 3
Searched for “West Hartford Yoga” and they dominate the first page of results. This was also true when I searched on “West Hartford healing arts” but did not show in the first 5 pages when looking for “West Hartford massage.” (I stopped looking after the 5th page of results) so if they want to be more readily found for massage they could make a few changes for SEO. (search engine optimization)

Mobile site? Tested on iPhone. No problems noted.

Currently hosted with LexiConn (Colchester, CT)

Overall impression: has all the information I would need in a good looking site.

Home Page screenshot for hallsmarket.net on Park Road, West Hartford, CT

URL: http://www.hallsmarket.net

It’s easy to love this site! It is well done, interesting to look at, easy to navigate and most importantly, it is updated regularly. The weekly circular is kept current. The site uses plenty of photos. I really like it.

Recommendations:

• Use the @hallsmarket.net email address instead of @gmail.com for added professionalism and name branding. You can easily forward mail addressed to @hallsmarket.net to your gmail account if you wish.
• Consider making the home page title more descriptive since it provides the first impression in search results. Currently reads, “Welcome to Hall’s Market of West Hartford CT” but for Google purposes consider modifying to “Hall’s Market & Catering of West Hartford CT”

Email response time; message sent 1:20pm 3/14. Received response 47 hours later. It was a very personable response, which I appreciated greatly.

Google Page rank: 2
Searched for “West Hartford grocery stores” and they are in top results, which is true if searching for “West Hartford meats,” but they are not on first page of results when searching for “West Hartford catering” nor “West Hartford deli.”

Mobile site? Tested on iPhone. No problems noted.

Currently hosted with Global Host, LLC (server located in Seattle with HOPONE)

Overall impression: Great site. Hope to review more local sites like this one!

Home Page screenshot for westhartfordmassage.com on South Main Street, West Hartford, CT

URL: http://www.westhartfordmassage.com

I liked the massage room photos and appreciated that the site listed services AND pricing on the Services page. One of the primary reasons I use local websites is to also get contact information, directions and hours. The phone number is prominently displayed throughout the site but directions and/or location map were non-existent. One complaint I would have as a prospective client is that Office Hours information does not state as to whether evening or weekend hours are available.

Recommendations:

• Provide map or basic location info, “conveniently located near WH Center…” and advise where parking is available.
• State whether evening or weekend hours are available, if ever.
• Elaborate on details for acquiring gift certificates. Can the process be completed by phone or internet? Consider showing a picture of what the certificates look like.
• Are credit cards an acceptable form of payment? If so, which ones?
• Respond to emails using the @westhartfordmassage.com email address for added branding/professionalism.

Email response time; 22 hours and came from an @hotmail.com account but the Subject stated “West Hartford Massage Contact Request” so it was easy to identify. I submitted a question using their CONTACT FORM at 4:15pm on a weekday regarding evening hours and credit cards acceptance.

Google Page rank: 0
Excellently placed when searching for “West Hartford massage” but many results returned and it can be hard to differentiate among them. Consider giving more descriptive page title to the home page. Currently reads “West Hartford Massage Clinic | Home” whereas “West Hartford Massage Clinic also offers Lypossage” (or something like this) would distinguish them a bit from the pack.

Mobile site? Tested on iPhone. No problems noted.

Currently hosted with ImageWorks LLC (via Cox Communications Inc, Newington CT).

Overall impression: Clean and useful. With a few informative additions, it could provide all the details I would be looking for as a prospective client.

Home Page screenshot for alittlesomethingbakery.com on Park Road, West Hartford, CT

URL: http://www.alittlesomethingbakery.com

I love that they have a large photo gallery of cakes but it is hosted externally at http://gallery.me.com/christopherbolton/100015 which was sometimes slow to load and has no link back to the bakery website.

Recommendations:

• Finish adding text to the “About Us” page or consider removing it altogether.

 

• Utilize a free website gallery incorporated directly into the bakery website instead of using outside gallery.

 

• The “Specialty Menu” page is really about additional cakes and could be combined onto the cake page.

 

• Add pictures and prices of menu items.

 

Email response time was less than two (2) hours! Excellent turnaround to my 2:20pm weekday email inquiry to confirm if closed on Sundays as site states. Also, it was from the bakery’s @alittlesomethingbakery.com email address so I could recognize it easily.

Google Page rank: 2
(No worries since I typed in “West Hartford bakery” into Google and they were first result returned).

Mobile site? Tested on iPhone. No problems noted.

Currently hosted with Hostgator (TX). Want to try a local host company? Click our SERVICES page for more info.

Overall impression: Sweet visuals with all the pertinent info given. Needs minimal design changes to be a great site.