First Website ever!

[texaschimneypro]

I just opened my own chimney repair business and don't have money to pay someone to build a site for me so I just made my own. Never made a website ever so please review it and give me some tips and advice.

http://www.texaschimneypro.com

[aj_nsc]

Looks nice, especially for your first website. My only suggestion is to get rid of the ugly image-navigation and just use plain old text links instead - it would make it look a lot cleaner, in my opinion.

[donatello]

Looks nice, especially for your first website. My only suggestion is to get rid of the ugly image-navigation and just use plain old text links instead - it would make it look a lot cleaner, in my opinion.

It will also help your SEO.
Great job for your first site.
My first ones looked like absolute crap.

[Dill]

I like your site a lot -- you do a good job of getting information to your customers. If I'm ever in Texas and have a chimney problem, I'm coming to you!

I had a few comments that you can take or leave as you like...

1.) I'm not a big fan of animation, so perhaps my opinion biases my outlook, but I think a static banner would work a lot better here, instead of the flashy one you have. Well, instead of the two you have. I would at least consider removing one. I guess my main concern here is that your banners are really only flashing your brand name and URL, without any pictures of chimneys (or of you and perhaps your staff, for that matter). So instead of associating "Chimney Pro" with chimneys and hard-working people, I'm seeing an animation that doesn't tell me anything more than I already know, and I think if you keep the animation, you should do more with it to show your customers who you are, not just what your name is.

2.) I'm not sure your icon of Texas adds anything to your website, and I think the fact that it's moveable does even less. Perhaps it's just that I'm from Oklahoma and cringe every time I see that shape : ) ... but I think your contact information will make it clear that you reside in the Houston area, and you don't need anything larger to tell that to your visitors.

3.) Speaking of contact info, I also think you should make it more apparent. Maybe you could consider removing the second animation and replacing it with your contact info. If I'm searching Google for "chimney repair Houston", I'll probably be going through a lot of sites (one of which is yours), and if I see your name and number immediately, it'll make my job easier and I can give you a call. You should also probably have your e-mail address listed on the main page. I guess what I'm thinking here is: who are the visitors to your site, and why are they here? Your site isn't going to get a lot of hits from Digg or StumbleUpon. Your site is going to get hits from people looking for a chimney repair service. So try to think about why your users are here and what they're looking for. Contact info is probably a big one... the logistics of the job (price for labor and parts, expected time), etc. . It's also good that you have a FAQ...

4.) ... and one suggestion I have about that is to provide links to anchors on the FAQ page so that you have a set of questions A, B, C at the very top, and then users can click on the specific question to get the answer further down the page. As it stands now, I have to do a search of the page to find the answer to the question I might have, which takes time I may not be willing to spend. Also, your contact info at the very bottom of the page doesn't show up (you say, "If you would to schedule service or have more questions please contact:", but the info doesn't show up. But I know it's there, because it's in the source).

5.) On the "Services" page, the very bottom part of the services you offer is cut off. I can tell it says "Mantles" and "Water Seal", but that's the first thing my eye moved to when I opened the page, so you should consider fixing that.

Good luck, and I think it's a great start!

Cheers,
Dill

[texaschimneypro]

thanks everyone I do greatly appreciate all of your helpful comments. As I said before, first site I ever made and I am still teaching myself but, I am going to try and implement your suggestions as soon as I figure out how.

[Quidam]

Nice site. The menu could use some work though (in my opinion).

[texaschimneypro]

Ok guys I been workin my but off trying to make some changes and fix up my site taking your opinions into consideration. Please take a look at it now and let me know what you think?

[texaschimneypro]

So guys I have been working on my site and seo for the last month since I first posted on here. Thanks for all the advice from everyone! My site has come along way from where I started and you guys have been great. I am ranked in the top 10 for many of my keywords and am still working on getting higher. It has been alot of work and I now understand why it costs as much as it does to pay someone to build you a website and do seo.

Here is the link if anyone wants to see what it looks like now:

http://www.texaschimneypro.com

[donatello]

I think it looks fine for what it is supposed to do... convey information to your customers and potential clients.

[god0fgod]

I see one problem.

I've attached a picture.

[texaschimneypro]

Weird because it doesnt display like that on my computer or anyone else I know???