IOT's web page

[IOTwebdesign]

This is the site I built for the company i work for. We are a printer service, supplies and sales company in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Be sure to roll over the "HP" "Xerox" etc buttons, it's the part that took me the longest to build.

It was designed for functionality, SEO and customer retention.

We've seen great results SEO and customer retention wise but I would love to get your thoughts on the design and functionality end ofit.

http://forgetpaper.com

 

[StephanieCordray]

I'm not going to critque it. Instead I'm going to say this:

Don't ever ask for a critque after a site has become a success. Webmastering is so highly competitive that someone somewhere will have something negative to say about it, even if it's a riproaring success.

Web design is part art, part technical know how, part marketing. A web designer or webmaster needs to be an expert in all these areas. However, it's the artistic part where most differ. Everybody has their own style and what is one man's art is another man's junk.

Some people can be quite cruel in a critique simply because they want to make you doubt yourself. I did say the field is highly competitive, didn't I?

It seems to me that you have accomplished your goals with this site. Be glad for that, make sure it's in your portfolio, and don't open it up to criticism to other webmasters who might want your job.

If you have great SEO and customer retention it follows that you have, at the least, good functionality, so don't sweat it.

 

[StephanieCordray]

Oh, and I need to add:

Congratulations on having such a success.

 

[IOTwebdesign]

i'm sorry, i should have clarified a bit better before.

Though is has been a success for our company (our industry is notorious for horrible web sites) I am more interested in the feedback on the design and functionality from a designers perspective. For our company I know that if we're acheiving success peoples likes and dislikes won't matter much as it pertains to this particular site.

but, that's the best work I've put out so far so I wanted critique from other designers so I could have some criticism to build off of for other projects I head into (one being a personal portfolio site)

From your post I can't tell if you're mad that i posted that or you were trying to help me by not letting other people tear down what I know is good.

Thanks for your thoughts and I definitely would encourage whoever has constructive criticism to post it because if it is valid than I can learn something or try something different next time.

 

[StephanieCordray]

I'm certainly not mad at you and I'm sorry what I said might have given that impression. I was more concerned about other people tearing down your work. It hasn't happened to me... I don't advertise for work nor worry about it overmuch because I'm not that talented, either. I have technical knowledge but not enough artistic ability (or so I've been told)... but I know several very successful and productive designers who have had to prove over and over again that they know what they're doing because they allowed others to criticize them to a point where they began to doubt their own abilities.

When this happens, a competitor can come in and steal your clients away. Being in a defensive mode already, you are hard pressed to come up with the confident answers that are demanded in such a situation because you lack confidence from being torn down by the same competitors who are trying to steal your clients.

Webmastering, web hosting, and other internet services are a dog eat dog world. Be happy and don't worry about what anyone other than your clients think.

As far as building for the future, you keep learning, stay current of the newest developments in the field, and allow your own creativity to guide you.

 

[zkiller]

while stephanie does have a point, here is my critique...

overall i really like it and see why it would be a success with your clients. it's clean, easy to read, loads fast and very easy to navigate. what i might have done different though is menu down the left side with all the links. i would have tried making each topic point expandable in order to shorten the overall lengh of the menu. not to big on the purple either, but i assume that's the company color scheme and thus their really isn't any way around that.

personally, i think you did a great job on this project and wish the best of luck with future sites you may take on.

 

[IOTwebdesign]

Thanks for the feedback. I like that idea about the links on the left. I wonder how I would achieve that while still keeping maximum SEO, sounds like a challenge, i like it.

 

[ian]

The site looks really good, I am not a fan of the orange color, but that appears to be part of the corporate logo/image, so nothing could be done there I guess.
1. I like how images of real people are placed on the site, wearing the iot t-shirt, shows it is a real bricks and mortar business, and not just another cookie cutter website, adds credibility.
2. I dont like how the navigation links go right to the bottom of the page.there should be at least a little white space at the bottom.
3. I dont like how the company name is iot technologies and the url is forgetpaper.com I find that confusing.

 

[IOTwebdesign]

forgetpaper.com is just one of our parked domains we have mirroring our main site until we build a site for that specific use. Our actual URL is iotsolutions.com and iotinc.com

thanks for the feedback.

 

[grayrabbit]

MICR Toner Minneapolis,, you got a nice site man,, keep it up