This is a website for a copywriter (my husband). The blog will, of course, actually have at least one article on it. It was rushed and I'm not really good at design, but we can't afford to hire anyone; still not sure it's finished. What do you guys think? (Please don't look at the actual code! It's a mess at the moment and I'm out of practice)

http://glyphic.co.uk

 

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by rhubarblover

Ok a few quick thoughts.

Get rid of the text shadow, it make the text blurry.

The row colours look very bland, try using some lighter shades of say orange or blue or green.

Black text on the darker background meets accessibility requirements  but it's still quite hard to read. Try a lighter background colour.

The red text in "Some of the things I do" won't be good for anyone with poor eyesight as it will go blurry.

The header text "Running your own business..." doesn't really sell me anything. Lead with the need, tell me how copywriting can solve a problem I (might) have.

 

Thanks for the feedback, BlueDreamer, it's much appreciated

Are you viewing on desktop or mobile? I did notice the text shadow was less subtle on mobile and had concerns about that in particular, but I honestly thought it wasn't really noticeable on larger screens.

Can't seem to get the colours right 😕 I was trying to go for more normal and formal-looking than my usual design choices. I'll experiment a little. It's a shame about the red text, I did like that, but definitely see what you mean.

We'll have another look at the copy tomorrow.

Bin the whole introduction. People already know they want a copywriter, that’s why they landed on the site.

list the types of work, link to examples, add testimonials and put the telephone number and contact details on every page.

Bin the SM links and you don’t need a blog.

The site is very bland. If you aren’t good at design pay someone to do it for you.

And glyphic suggests glyphs which a symbols not words.

And add a picture of Simon next to the contact details. It adds trust and will help conversions.

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by fisicx

Was looking on desktop (Mac/Firefox).

If you're stuck for colours try https://mycolor.space -  add your primary colour and it'll give you a few palettes to try.

 

 

59 minutes ago, BlueDreamer said:

If you're stuck for colours try https://mycolor.space -  add your primary colour and it'll give you a few palettes to try.

 

Thank you, will try it out.

7 hours ago, fisicx said:

Bin the whole introduction. People already know they want a copywriter, that’s why they landed on the site.

 

He's planning on doing cold emailing, so they wouldn't necessarily.

list the types of work, link to examples, add testimonials and put the telephone number and contact details on every page.

This is partly why he's doing the blog - he hasn't done work for anyone yet. I will put the email link on each page then - phone isn't an option though, due to a disability.

Bin the SM links and you don’t need a blog.

This goes against all the advice I've read (SM = social media, right?).

The site is very bland. If you aren’t good at design pay someone to do it for you.

I know We thought maybe the lack of images is part of the problem; what do you think? As mentioned in the OP, we can't afford to pay someone else.

And glyphic suggests glyphs which a symbols not words.

Other people thought the name was okay. We've already spent too much time on names as it is, so it'll just have to do. I do feel the name makes sense too, being as symbols came before words.

And add a picture of Simon next to the contact details. It adds trust and will help conversions.

Will see if I can get a good one

Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

20 minutes ago, rhubarblover said:

He's planning on doing cold emailing, so they wouldn't necessarily.

If he is cold emailing the email will be offering copy writing services so if they click the link they will now be a warm lead.

21 minutes ago, rhubarblover said:

This is partly why he's doing the blog - he hasn't done work for anyone yet.

Still don't need a blog. You just need examples. Call it case studies or something but don't make it a blog.

23 minutes ago, rhubarblover said:

This goes against all the advice I've read (SM = social media, right?).

What advice? You want people to come FROM social sites not go to social sites. You want them to be on your site, be impressed and then getting in contact.

Simple solution to a boring site is go get a nice theme. That's what I do (I'm rubbish at design as well)

Apologies about not replying properly at the moment, I'm too tired, but we made some updates to the website. Haven't figured out a colour scheme we prefer yet.

http://glyphic.co.uk

Oh, there's going to be a photo on the contact page but we haven't got one that's suitable at the moment.

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by rhubarblover

What’s changed? Looks the same as before with just a few colour tweaks.

look at the site on your phone. The whole screen is filled with the homepage blurb. And you need to scroll to see all of that. It’s just not needed at all.

3 minutes ago, fisicx said:

What’s changed?

 

Top bit of text removed and the text underneath brought up, call to action added at the end of paragraph, slight change in positioning on desktop sizes. Custom bullet points added on suggestion of a friend which I thought added at least a bit of visual interest.

Nope, on my phone it looks the same as before

It must be a cache issue - I've checked myself and it shows the changes. 

Checked again and it still begins: "I'm Simon - a copywriter."

There are lots of 'so what' statements. for example: "Some emails are important. They have to be persuasive, compelling and engaging." What am I supposed to do now? How I do I know if an email is important? Which emails need to be engaging? Do I use Simon every time I write an email? What exactly does Simon do for me? Does he need access to my email messages?

Each service needs its own page. This is where you give the examples and case studies (when they happens).

Whats the difference between content writing, website copy and copyediting. Aren't they all just flavours of the same thing?

You don't need a blog - you need the list of services. And you need to be able to access this from the main menu.

Back to the SM thing - neither icons link to anything useful. So bin them both unless the target page is going to generate leads.

 

 

logo text is very weak  - not only the poor contrast of tomato soup against that blue - and remember that orange/red on blue can be scintillating where the combination can appear to pulse - and the weight is too light.

first paragraph needs an m-dash (or n-dash if you prefer) not a hyphen 

menu is so short why not simply move it onto the next line below the logo for mobile

remove the text shadow

 

get in touch button is clunky, white border 1 or 2 px 

Go right back to the beginning.

What is Simon's marketing strategy? Has he identified target clients?

You mentioned emailing companies (under GDPR you can't market to people) so I assume the email will be tailored to each target. Which means you will be offering them a specific service. If the email is read and they are interested they will reply or follow a link to the website. The link needs to land on a page for that specific service. It should detail what is being offered, provide examples along with expected increases in business. As a copy writer he should easily be able to produce 600 words or more for each service. Long copy sells much more than short copy. Structure the page to include lists, imagery, examples, video content and so on. Make it something worth reading.

Remember, businesses don't want a copywriter. They want more business. A copywriter is a means to achieve this. So sell the benefits rather than the service itself. Simon is irrelevant.

Hi all. I'm sorry about the late reply, there have been some family issues.

We have updated the website, trying to take into account all the advice, although some changes will need to be implemented at a later date. How is it looking at the moment? www.glyphic.co.uk

Apart from some icons and colour changes it doesn’t look any different.

It all goes wrong in the introduction. There is no need to tell me Simon is a copywriter. Your marketing strategy is to send out emails so they already know what he does.

And he still hasn’t written and content describing each service.

Note also that the icons are huge on a phone.

And the blog still isn’t needed.

'Morning, Fisicx Thanks for looking.

Quote

Your marketing strategy is to send out emails so they already know what he does.

True, though he's not just sending emails, and I'd like to think he'll get traffic from Google at some point.

'Some of the things I do' describes services, but we are going to add a page for each service when they're ready.

The blog is needed for SEO, I think.

Regarding icons: hm... how big should they be? I thought they looked all right, but I am quite inexperienced at browsing the internet on a phone.

Edited March 8, 20197 yr by rhubarblover

Forget Google that’s not going to happen for a long time.

You don’t need a blog for SEO, just just need lots of content. The more pages the better. Examples of his work, citations and testimonials is what Google wants.

People browse using phones a lot. On a phone the icons need to be a lot smaller.

Because you have the huuuge introduction, the important stuff gets pushed down below the fold.

90% of website design is getting the content right. The last 10% is making it look pretty.

(statistics may vary but you get the idea).

Tell Simon to get writing. 100 pages of content is 100 different ranking opportunities.

And google is looking for an address, phone number and email. It’s an indicator of a real business.

Nobody cares about Simon. All they care about is getting their copy written. That’s what needs to at the top of the homepage.

4 hours ago, rhubarblover said:

The blog is needed for SEO, I think.

The use of a blog for SEO is about related keyword / topic targeted content, articles about themed topics of interest like for example the Moz Blog. So it's not the actual "blog" that does the work, content is content, any page can rank. If starting a blog make sure you have a plan, all articles must be read worthy, maybe articles covering content consistency, top mistakes e.g. https://neilpatel.com/blog/seo-errors-ecommerce-websites/.

Also factor in some kind of review timeline to go back over old articles and make sure the facts are still up-to-date. Also make sure you cite trusted sources / further reading and their authors, for a visitor to feel comfortable they need to know this is not based on just your ideas but on real research with proven methods.

At the end of the day Simon has a chance to educate potential clients to his ethos and approach, backed up by tangible evidence and the client can trust you enough to make contact.

Just my 2 pence worth as always.

Two things from me:

1. The home page hero text doesn't  really "sell" the product, I think you should "lead with the need" then explain how you do it For example your heading might be something like:

"Do you want to engage your customers?"

The follow up with how you can help:

"Hi, I'm Simon. I can help you with the right words to help you add brand value and drive sales growth."

That might look like this:

Do you want to engage your customers?
Hi, I'm Simon. I can help you with the right words to help you add brand value and drive sales growth.

 

2. You are still using text shadows, looks aweful, makes the text go fuzzy on my screen!

I wouldn't even begin with that.

I'd go straight in with the services.

The only people who will ever be visiting the homepage are those needing a copywriter. So all you need to do is sell the services.

Those wanting to know how to write great product descriptions or a newsletter or whatever will be landing on the inner more targeted pages. And it's from these that you then provide the CTA to get help.

This is why you really need to get the marketing strategy fixed before building the website. If you know how you plan to do the marketing you can then create the content. And after creating the content you can begin to build the website.

At the moment you have put the cart before the horse and focussed on the UI rather than the UX.

PS: I also see the text shadow - it does make it look blurry

 

Edited March 8, 20197 yr by fisicx