Hey everyone,

http://www.magicparties.com.au

This is my website I have whipped up from my iPhone app over a couple of nights in my spare time. It is about 20% complete, but I am looking at your initial thoughts on my general layout, colours, graphics & logo.
I got the logo professionally created from an online logo designer (I added the top hat from a clipart file), and got a professional cartoonist to draw me.
I am yet to incorporate photos/videos of me performing on my site.
I also need to edit & proofread all of my text, it needs quite a bit done before I advertise the site.
the only active link so far is "party tips".
Any constructive thoughts thanks?

Scott

The header is too large. You need more content above the fold. Also, I would change the font of the text in the navigation bar (cursive-ey font is difficult to read sometimes). Put he reviews in bold font - you want those reviews to stand out.

Josh

Thanks Josh.
I just googled what the "fold" is, and learned that it comes from an old fashioned term about newspapers - the content above the fold is going to get 80% or more attention than what is seen below the fold. Likewise in a browser, scrolling down.

I have a bit of resizing, font editing and changing around the layout a bit.
Thanks a lot!

Ok, here is a test upgrade with the advice I have been given.
http://magicparties.com.au/Test1.html

Any more comments about it?
Thanks

Photos and video are quite missing. Also I wouldn't waste the header with those logos. I'd put that graphic image of you there before those logos, but photos would be better yet.

Thanks Mindpro, I'm yet to get some quality photos taken and uploaded, I'll be placing them on the site.

I'll probably be changing the clients logos to the testimonials section again.

Scott,
Let me start by saying congrats on getting a domain name and having a logo designed, that's a great start to marketing yourself.

The website, as it is right now, looks very homemade and old, in my opinion. There's really not much to say, there isn't much of anything on the site. Not many pictures, most of the links don't work, are you just asking for suggestions on the layout?

The color behind your text boxes doesn't match or compliment the color of you logo/header/drawing, so I would reconsider those colors.

The size and location of the main logo, header, and navigation are inconsistent.

The font on the party tips page is difficult to read. The text in general needs help. Begin by asking yourself what the purpose of your website is. This will help you focus your text.

When it comes to our business, I think photos and media are the most helpful in selling our services. You need to put up photos, not only of you, but of shows you've done, venues you've performed in, etc.

I'd highly recommend hiring a professional to design your site, especially if you're serious about the business aspect, which it appears you want to be. There are several professional designers here on the Café who have offered incredible deals for designing websites. I'd enlist their services, I think you'll find having a good website to be well worth the money.

Good luck!

I think you have incredibly big feet...just an observation - lol.

DearWiseOne has given you some good advice. My initial impression is that the site looks a little washed-out. I don't think the white background is helping. The changes you've made thus far have been big improvements and I think if you keep at it, you will eventually have a good page. Consider what colors are predominant in your props and costume. Are they reflected on your page? Fonts also convey a message. They can be fun, they can be formal. The fonts on your first page were a little "girly", so it's good that you changed them. Think about what sets you apart from your competition and use your site to convey that to your potential clients.

Are you designing this site on Wordpress or another platform or is someone designing it for you?

Also, I'd lose the logo of yourself all together on the right side of the page. This really adds nothing and doesn't explain your brand or character as well as it could. Why not add a "Quick Info Request" form or something else to capture visitor's emails instead.

Building a website is a tough process, but visit some sites you like and get some ideas.

One more thing, get a professional to do your header. I have someone I use who designed my header and my birthday party package graphic for $60 total and they are great!

Some great info already mentioned.

stick with 1-2 fonts - do some research on fonts. verdana or Arial are nice choices over the over used Times new roman
pictures are worth a thousand words!

less text.- write what you want to say - then try to write it again but eliminate 20% of the words. then do it again. Or higher a script writer, or get a proof reader to re write it. the key here is to say what you want to in the least amount of words.
I remember a story about Ivory soap - when they made the new floating soap they were looking for advertising. one person gave this long winded explanation of the soaps properties. but the advertising agency could not use all those words. then one person said "so basically "it Floats" so they took the 30 some words and turned it into 2 words!! and sold a bazillion bars of floating soap!

Colors- your color combinations don't do anything for me or for you. it is hard to read the text and the colors don't compliment anything.
too many colors as well.
there is no "theme" to your site.

some one mentioned things looking a bit "girly" and that was the same thought I had.

it might be helpful to spend some time looking at other magician websites and see what you like and what you don't like.

the biggest thing to keep in mind is that you want your clients to easily get the message and find the info they are looking for.

the other thing to keep in mind is to give clients a reason to come back to your site.

one of the things we have (still working on) on my site is a trick of the month that they can come and watch each month and see me perform a new trick.

my samsandler.com site was recently completely revamped and a few more things to be done.
we also created a whole new site for my new show Deafinitelymagic.com and that is finished. we want to do some more with it but its up and running.

feel free to take a look.
while your at it I would also recommend doing some google searching for website do' and don'ts - you will find a plethora of info out there.

good luck and have fun with it!!

sam

Thanks for your replies everyone. I am best off getting it professionally done.

Sam, great website. That type of work is far beyond my design skills, I don't know a lot about it. I tried to colour coordinate the logo with the background column colours. I think I'll enter it as a contest to one of the freelancing websites - they look good.

Sometimes trying to save a bit of money doesn't go very far! After all, magic is my part time/weekend hobby.

Thanks again.

Try to put links for your facebook/twitter accounts (if you have)
check my site http://www.hadyakiki.com how I include them without using the standard like box of facebook and twitter

Hady