website style question

I am having trouble deciding between two new versions of a website. The first one which is an alt home page has the pics in the middle broken up a little with some text in between:
http://www.framedestination.com/frame.aspx?id=alt_homepage

The second one has the pictures lined up in rows with all of the text below the pics:

http://www.framedestination.com

On one hand I can agree that having the pics lined up is a cleaner look and may make it easier for new customers to find what they are looking for. I feel the other version however increases the chances the customers might see some of the text they might otherwise skip. Of course, if the text does not really help make sales then you are just making it harder for
customers to buy for no reason.

One popular book about website design called “Don’t Make Me Think” actually says get rid of 50% of the words on your webpage and go back and remove 50% of the words again. From that standpoint I don’t need the additional text at all, let alone in a place where it can be noticed.

Any comments or thoughts from the forum?

Cheers,
Mark

Yes, I am with the other guys. I like the image plus the words for the visual learner. It makes it faster for them to zero in on what they are looking for.

I think this is way too much information for the front page. No one is going to do all that reading. Can you put more links in the navigationals on the left hand side. Most of the information below Gallery Pouch could go on another page. It is more likely to be read there.

In addition though, Mark, I'd put a little more white space between the paragraphs and the sections. Do you see how nice the bullet points look on the lower section of the page? Aesthetics help sell...I'm always adding breaks to my texts. Of course, you know about making sure your key words are front and center and and stuff like that, I'm sure. That is what the search engines are looking for.

I am part of an online community, ClickMillionaires.com, where they do a periodic "website tuneup", and all the members critique someone's website. It has been very helpful to me.

BTW, I never complimented you on your great url -- good job. You must have been in on this online stuff a long time ago.

geez -- I put some html into this text area and it really screwed up the page .. hope it makes sense now.

Replies

Mark Rogers August 19, 2010 at 6:48pm

Thanks for feedback. I have switched the alt page to the main page and made a few other changes and will make more later.
Cheers,
Mark
Connie Mettler August 19, 2010 at 5:17pm

The name of that site is certainly not perfect -- but it has really worked for me, if nothing more than the SEO value tips I have gotten. How else could a little site like ArtFairCalendar.com have gotten a #1 google rating? -- sure it is a very, very small niche, but the results have been invaluable for growing my online business.
Connie Mettler August 19, 2010 at 3:15pm

Yes, I am with the other guys. I like the image plus the words for the visual learner. It makes it faster for them to zero in on what they are looking for.

I think this is way too much information for the front page. No one is going to do all that reading. Can you put more links in the navigationals on the left hand side. Most of the information below Gallery Pouch could go on another page. It is more likely to be read there.

In addition though, Mark, I'd put a little more white space between the paragraphs and the sections. Do you see how nice the bullet points look on the lower section of the page? Aesthetics help sell...I'm always adding breaks to my texts. Of course, you know about making sure your key words are front and center and and stuff like that, I'm sure. That is what the search engines are looking for.

I am part of an online community, ClickMillionaires.com, where they do a periodic "website tuneup", and all the members critique someone's website. It has been very helpful to me.

BTW, I never complimented you on your great url -- good job. You must have been in on this online stuff a long time ago.

geez -- I put some html into this text area and it really screwed up the page .. hope it makes sense now.
- Mark Rogers > Connie Mettler August 19, 2010 at 3:59pm
  
  Thanks for the input Connie, and I will check out clickmillionaires. I think I ran across them before but the name kind of turned me off. I have been impressed with your website so a recommendation from you carries a lot of weight with me.
  
  Cheers,
  Mark
Mark Rogers August 19, 2010 at 11:18am

Chris, I am glad to hear you feel the speed was ok. Personally, I am not happy about it. I do pay extra to have good hosting that is fairly fast and that has helped, but I still need to do work on making the pages smaller. Interesting about the font, I have never gave that much attention and generally just allow default fonts but I will take a look at that. When I do text in pics I am very careful about using very simple fonts so the text continues to look ok for all sizes from thumbnail to extra large.

Jefnnifer, I agree the text at the bottom is wordy. I dont expect most people to read it, it is mostly content for the search engines and I have seen it help. Much of the content is actually offpage and you can see the links at the very bottom of the page are for that content. Content that is more useful to people and to search engines we try to put in our blog and newsletter.

I will definitely be switching to the alt page. It was not my personal favorite, but it is preferred by most.
Cheers,
Mark
Jennifer Donald August 19, 2010 at 7:35am

I like the 2nd one too-Its neat and organized, but the bottom is too wordy. Maybe put some of those highlights on different pages as you click thru the site?
Chris Hoyt August 19, 2010 at 7:19am

Observations:

Both sites are well done, but I prefer the second one.

A majority of the country still has dial up (me too) and older computers, (Windows 98) so it's good the sites load fairly quickly. You would be amazed at how many sites take forever to load. And the potential customer just gives up and leaves. My web guy said if a page doesn't load in 30 seconds with dial up, the customer is gone.

As far as your text, I agree it's too wordy. And the font needs to be different and a tad larger. It looks to me like a typewritten page.

Like I said, observations.

This reply was deleted.