Please review my site - cratefordogs.com

Well, if you learned to do this all by yourself, it's not bad at all. It's a very simple site, but what I immediately like is that it is not cluttered with gratituous animations. It actually has text I can read. The font has good contrast against the background as well.

Looking at one page (Basics of Dog Training), You have a single <H1> heading at the top. This is good. Consider breaking up the text below by adding <H2> sub-headings. It makes it easier for visitors to find the part they want to read, and it is also good for search engines.

I am not sure that you want the "Leave a Reply" on every page, but if that is your intent, then so be it. How about adding an "About Us" page and a "Contact Us" page?

Since you have had disappointing traffic, let me mention a technical problem. Your site does not load at all if you include the www. Many people type this in automatically, and they will get nothing. You should ensure that requests for www. cratefordogs .com are redirected (301 redirect) to cratefordogs.com. Also, read the information in this Google link and implement the recommendations for more visitors:

Meta tags - Webmaster Tools Help

Reminder:

in this part of the forum you can ask only for a review of your design!
Nothing else - or it gets deleted!
And a ready made WP theme is NOT YOUR DESIGN - don't ask for reviews if you didn't design the site.

I don't understand what your method in thinking was when you decided to build it with something as heavy as Wordpress. It's only a 3-5 page design, I think you should have stuck with good old HTML/CSS and maybe a back-end basic CMS that just allows you to update the Dog Food / Dog Training pages.

Other than that, if this is all your work, not bad at all. I think the logo is a little basic, and Clip Art in professional websites is a big no-no to me, but then that's just my personal opinion.

I think red underlining on your link hovers is a little extreme I'd scrap it or at least go for a color that doesn't signify danger!

I also think absolutely every business website needs a way to collect email addresses and a way to contact you, so a newsletter and a contact form should be integrated.

Very nice site, I like the colors and it is easy on the eyes when reading. Good work.

Hi CyperPC,

I have some harsh words, I'm sorry in advance. But I think it is all fixable. Along with my criticisms, I'm giving you ways to fix it too. I'm new here but I've been creating web sites and web-based businesses for 15 years.

The language of it seems off to me. "Crate for Dogs" seems spammy and foreign. Normally, English speakers would look for "Crates for Dogs" with an -s at the end. See if you can get a better domain name that sounds more like something a native English speaker would say.

It's obvious you are trying to sell crates or links to crates, so the ASPCA logo seems like you're trying to trick me into thinking you are a charitable organization or that you are jumping on a bandwagon of some sort to try to tug at heart strings. Ditch it in favor of an authentic "About Us" to reassure me you're trustworthy.

The articles are devoid of photos or truly unique information - again, it looks like this site was made hastily by someone trying to get their foot in the door of selling crate-for-dog. Get some real articles written by experts (and make sure there are REAL pictures). Team up with a local shelter in your area to get some pictures taken and link to their site, or make some friends on Twitter - people love to guest post and I'm sure you could get a bonafide expert.

Hope this helps more than it hurts.

In addition to my comment above:

analyzing content is NOT design either... you can try but don't get surprized when it gets deleted!

[ read the rules! ]

I am not a warrior or part of this site in any way but I can simply see that this thread is in the wrong section. It should have been posted to an online marketing thread not a web design thread where SEO aspects are discussed and not just the template. there was no name calling: no direct abuse by saying someone is a jerk, just stating that jerks turn up to post garbage. I manage forums and know this is a big problem. This post is not garbage though, just in the wrong section. I can see a basic communication problem afoot here, nothing more.

On the site queried: it needs a lot of work. The content is not grabbing me and it lacks branding and a connecting message. Trust needs to be built. Why buy from this site? That is a rhetorical question as you need to ask yourself that. Dog training phrases are very competitive. It lacks content and the shop is too far down the page. hope this helps.