Thread: Cleaned up my Act

So after listening to a marketing book about why people buy, and reading all
the tidbits here on Bhuz, I modified my website to be more personal and colorful. I even added a PayPal button to allow students to pay for classes on line. How am I doing?

Alamogordo, New Mexico,belly dance, classes, and Silver Dunes Dance Troupe

link is broken!

I think you have "www," instead of www. in your link.

fixed

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

link is broken!

Ditto

fixed!!!

OK, I can breathe a sigh of relief. When I read the title, I almost thought you were about to announce a moratorium from puerile anal bleaching and vagazzling humor! I was about to flounce!

Nice changes, though ..g.:

No worries..I will be a dirty old lady till my mouth stops moving.

Originally Posted by anala

No worries..I will be a dirty old lady till my mouth stops moving.

..l;,..l;, I thought you did something horrible, like become unfunny! Good thing I read this and found otherwise.

Anala, your Web site is much improved. However, I just want to throw it out there that I am writing an article right now on how to work with graphic elements on Web sites and printed materials, and I think you might like to read it. I'll post it when it is done.

i would check that wiki article every so often to make sure no one added something to it that you don't want associated with your site. ^_^

How do you manage to teach classes for $4-$5 ? Very large classes?

It is an embarassement...but the reality of a 32,000 pop town in a conservative Southwestern location that is the only town in a 100 mile radius. I am the only teacher here, so at least I am not undercutting someone else. I should have them beating down the door at that price, but no - the classes are very small. I struggle to pay the rent, and I am free.

Okay, class pricing is OT anyway. Here are my opinions. I am not an expert.

Reinforce content by lining it up. The picture and the paypal buttons on the left don't line up. The content on the right side is in 3 layers with 2 different center points. Your middle layer of centered text has a left margin which protrudes into the left 'column' and a different center than the text above and below it which confuses the eye even more. If it were mine, the only thing I'd allow to stay centered is the top right side.

Content of front page:
UL picture: consider having your picture face the direction you want the reader's eye to go. In this case, towards your page.

UR side: Papyrus font displays as a Times New Roman font on a lot of machines. Also - pretty lotus graphic is competing for attention with the graphic on the left, plus taking up space that you could use to lure customers in. Can it be moved somewhere else?

I'd remove the middle layer altogether, moving the city/state location up under your Studio name.

Bottom left: The buttons are same width as the picture, but they are not lined up because there is no left margin. And some of those buttons could be combined: Class schedule and Pay with PayPal button instead of two buttons. That Pay with PayPal button is a bit intimidating: pay for what? my mind says. Then I click on it anyway and -- nothing happens!

I'd combine the Studio and Location buttons and the Studio and Location pages. And add a few words to the studio page about the amenities: store, wood floors, mirrors - talk it up!

Bottom right: you don't need the 'Click Here to xxx' because 1) folks know how to click, so the line takes up valuable real estate on your front page without returning value and 2) clicking the 'Click Here' sentence does nothing! It is not a link itself!
The links themselves: If those links are good marketing for you, fine. But I'd replace that wikipedia link with a succinct paragraph by YOU that showcases what your studio can offer your customers. And try left-justifying them so that the eye is encouraged to follow them down.

Other pages: Short and sweet: there's no HOME link on any of them, not good! Also, the only page that has a real title is the front page. The rest of them have titles of 'New Page 1' showing in the browser tab. The eye does notice these things!

The contact button: A link that opens up an email form will often not work even though it seems to work, producing a potential customer who is wondering why you didn't get back to her/ him. Recommend that 'Contact Anala' links click though to a page that displays both email and phone number (if possible). The current contact link is a MAILTO: tag which includes your email address, so it is not hiding it from spammers and not working for some legitimate customers.

PS: very strong positive: your pictures! Not convinced that your background color consistently complements them, though.

It would seem that I need to use 2 computers to work this site over. It looks and works the way it is supposed to on my machine. Thanks so much for this breakdown..now to relearn Front Page (use it or loose it) and get the bugs out.

:) Thanks for taking the suggestions in the spirit in which they were intended .

Originally Posted by anala

So after listening to a marketing book about why people buy, and reading all
the tidbits here on Bhuz, I modified my website to be more personal and colorful. I even added a PayPal button to allow students to pay for classes on line. How am I doing?

Alamogordo, New Mexico,belly dance, classes, and Silver Dunes Dance Troupe

I like it! If you can make the videos come up in a pop-up instead of taking people away from your page, that would be great.

If she didn't want to do popups (which some people's browsers block) she could try adding target = '_new' attributes to her
a href (link) tags. This will open a separate window or tab so if the user closes down the outside link the source page is still up.

aaarrrggg!!! I am a wysiwyg gal!!! I dont "do" html. But I may have cleaned up the first page. I had forgotten all about the need for tables and cells.:) Thanks for taking the suggestions in the spirit in which they were intended .

Oh...and.....
:) Thanks for taking the suggestions in the spirit in which they were intended .

Wadda ya kiddin me? You take all that time to help me and type that long answer and I'm gonna flip my hair back and sigh? Oh, I dont think so!!!

Thank You!!!

Anala, did you see my article. ;-)

Where?

Found it....
and I have finished frying by brain on FrontPage for now. How am I doing?

Originally Posted by anala

... I should have them beating down the door at that price, but no - the classes are very small. ....

sometimes people let the price tell them the value of the product. for example you wouldn't shop for break pads at the dollar store.

Originally Posted by anala

... I should have them beating down the door at that price, but no - the classes are very small. ....

sometimes people let the price tell them the value of the product. for example you wouldn't shop for break pads at the dollar store. not that it's necessarily accurate, but it does play into people's perceptions of a product, and complicates the supply and demand curve with psychology.

In looking around, a very well respected dancer in El Paso is charging 8 bucks for walk ins and even less for enrolled students. El Paso is a huge city, and she is one of the most respected dancers there. I understand what you are saying, but this is the harsh economic reality in my area. I havent raised my prices in 5 years. I dont mind making no profit as it is not my "real" job, but jeez...I would like to break even sometimes.

Originally Posted by anala

In looking around, a very well respected dancer in El Paso is charging 8 bucks for walk ins and even less for enrolled students. El Paso is a huge city, and she is one of the most respected dancers there. I understand what you are saying, but this is the harsh economic reality in my area. I havent raised my prices in 5 years. I dont mind making no profit as it is not my "real" job, but jeez...I would like to break even sometimes.

i hope it didn't sound like trying to tell you what to do or anything like that, just food for thought ^_^

You're headed in the right direction Anala! :) Just get rid of Front Page as soon as you can. :-P

i hope it didn't sound like trying to tell you what to do or anything like that, just food for thought
No..no worries mate...
Just get rid of Front Page as soon as you can.
But I dont want to learn new software!!!!

Originally Posted by anala

Just get rid of Front Page as soon as you can.
But I dont want to learn new software!!!!

Anala, the stuff you are doing on your page is simply not that complicated. You are using the simplest set of HTML tags and that's really all that is necessary to get your message out the door. Frontpage tends to load up behind-the-scenes with completely unnecessary tags (left over from previous edits or non-CSS compliant versions? I do not know) making malfunctions more and more likely.
Dave Raggett's Introduction to HTML from w3.org is in three easy pages: two on HTML and one on stylesheets, and when you get done you'll know how to do everything you are doing now with Front Page. IMO

Great topic resulting in some very informative threads, Maurazebra's amongst others -- thanks!


Khalida