# My new website, still under construction though



## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

Hello guys! after being on this forum, looks like having a website of your own is pretty good thing  instead of coming to people with your laptop and showing them your work, I can just give them my business card with my website URL, and everything is right there.

http://NWDecorativePainting.com/

I started working on it over a week, I haven't put any content on it yet. Sorting things out to be posted, what do you guys think? any tips or suggestions? I know its still completely empty  but will be ready very soon. I'm using joomla by the way.


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

Man the pain and suffering of building a site. I don't miss it. Looking good though


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## Sir Mixalot (Sep 8, 2009)

Svyatoslav70 said:


> Hello guys! after being on this forum, looks like having a website of your own is pretty good thing  instead of coming to people with your laptop and showing them your work, I can just give them my business card with my website URL, and everything is right there.
> 
> http://NWDecorativePainting.com/
> 
> I started working on it over a week, I haven't put any content on it yet. Sorting things out to be posted, what do you guys think? any tips or suggestions? I know its still completely empty  but will be ready very soon. I'm using joomla by the way.


Nice start. :thumbsup:
What I see right off the bat is: 
1) Your phone number should be at the top front and center
2) If you can get a contact form on the side bar of at least your main pages that would be helpful too.


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

Sir Mixalot said:


> Nice start. :thumbsup:
> What I see right off the bat is:
> 1) Your phone number should be at the top front and center
> 2) If you can get a contact form on the side bar of at least your main pages that would be helpful too.


Agree about the phone number well our company isnt that big though, I will include those details in the contact us bar. We dont have our own office or anything, I got couple guys working for me, including cellphone number, not sure maybe once well grow as a company


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

ewingpainting.net said:


> Man the pain and suffering of building a site. I don't miss it. Looking good though


Man I like your website looking very nice! What is it built on? what platform joomla?


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

Svyatoslav70 said:


> Man I like your website looking very nice! What is it built on? what platform joomla?


Thanks, I wish I can say I built it but am relieved I didntvhave too. I got fortunate that I found someone who knows what their doing. 

It is Wordpress, and it still needs some work


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## PatsPainting (Mar 4, 2010)

ewingpainting.net said:


> Man the pain and suffering of building a site. I don't miss it. Looking good though



I liked it. Was frustrating as hell but chit it was fun when you got something to work and look right. Rewarding is a good word.

Svya - great look. Says class when you first look at it. The colors are nice.

Pat


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

PatsPainting said:


> I liked it. Was frustrating as hell but chit it was fun when you got something to work and look right. Rewarding is a good word.
> 
> Svya - great look. Says class when you first look at it. The colors are nice.
> 
> Pat


I agree, but just didn't have time to spend the billion hours to figure out how to achieve what i wanted. With family, business and BBQ it just got difficult and lost the fun of what I enjoy, writing! (Even though my grammer sucks) 
I learned all what not to do 1st, which took a lot of time, just didn't have it me to lesrn it all over to fix it. I still bdo a lot of the maintenance and tweeking, but also have someone to callbon when I'm stuck.


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

ewingpainting.net said:


> I agree, but just didn't have time to spend the billion hours to figure out how to achieve what i wanted. With family, business and BBQ it just got difficult and lost the fun of what I enjoy, writing! (Even though my grammer sucks)
> I learned all what not to do 1st, which took a lot of time, just didn't have it me to lesrn it all over to fix it. I still bdo a lot of the maintenance and tweeking, but also have someone to callbon when I'm stuck.


I used wordpress and had experience with it, but when doing some research, its not so good for gallery, it is the best for blogging though. For wordpress sites it really rocks! lots of features and nice slideshows. I have never worked with Joomla but decided to give it a shot. I was working in WordPress did a lot but some things I couldnt do there so decided to switch back to joomla  I might have 2 in 1 later on in the future  WordPress just for blog part itself, it does a fantastic job at that.


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

So far I am really pleased, the gallery is basically all I have left to work on. Been ao consumed with writing I kinda blew it off. Ill getvit going and would love to hear what you think.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

I like the layout and colors, nice start.

I agree about having contact info, whatever means you are using, right up front and prominent. Remember, people are usually impatient about wanting to contact a painter NOW. I suggest listing a number, be it land line or cell.

And remember, if they can't find you, no web site will do much good. Websites are not just a pretty face to display your work to those who have already called. They are there to direct new leads to you. Since you seem to know your way around the technology end, research how to successfully utilize SEO. 

What I found worked wonders for me, was to make one quick page for each town in my service area. Yup, almost 50 individual pages. Trying on each page to have the correct ratio of key words plus original text and a picture on each of those pages. 

I used Dreamweaver because of its template based design. I was out of work recovering from back surgery for about four months, so I put that time to good use. It's a long slow process for us non-professionals to piece together a decent looking site.


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## SouthFloridaPainter (Jan 27, 2011)

Since your in the beginning stages, you should make a "responsive" site, meaning it can adjust for all the different size screens being used nowadays...smartphones, tablets, etc.

More people are on those now. They will have to be zooming in and out and scrolling around to look at your site..and that's a pain.

There's plenty of Joomla themes that are responsive and retina ready.

Now..for my personal opinion. And I give this only because you asked what we think. Otherwise I would keep my mouth shut.

The site looks nice, but kinda "cheap" nice. Like the nicest free template you could find type of thing.

The template is almost three years old. By the time you get this thing done and in a coupe of years, this thing is really going to be outdated. 

If you get a new one, it will fix your "responsive" issues and give you a more modern look. 

Just my opinion.

Good luck with it.


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

SouthFloridaPainter said:


> Since your in the beginning stages, you should make a "responsive" site, meaning it can adjust for all the different size screens being used nowadays...smartphones, tablets, etc.
> 
> More people are on those now. They will have to be zooming in and out and scrolling around to look at your site..and that's a pain.
> 
> ...


Hello, thanks for your opinion, well this template isn't free, I am trying to customize it, yeah ill have to agree with you about the mobile devices, I haven't created websites for mobile platforms. This is my first time using joomla. Would be great if you could help me get started on where to start with mobile site building. I could just pay for someone to do it but that will be way of my budget. Thanks!


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## PatsPainting (Mar 4, 2010)

Svyatoslav70 said:


> Hello, thanks for your opinion, well this template isn't free, I am trying to customize it, yeah ill have to agree with you about the mobile devices, I haven't created websites for mobile platforms. This is my first time using joomla. Would be great if you could help me get started on where to start with mobile site building. I could just pay for someone to do it but that will be way of my budget. Thanks!


Don't know much about Joomla, but some templates "Responsive templates" are all in one type sites. they work on large screens and small ones like your phone. Not really a fan of them though as you loose content on the smaller screens. 

Just google responsive themes and you will see some samples of what I'm talking about.

Pat


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## Monstertruck (Oct 26, 2013)

ewingpainting.net said:


> I agree, but just didn't have time to spend the billion hours to figure out how to achieve what i wanted. With family, business and BBQ it just got difficult and lost the fun of what I enjoy, writing! (Even though my grammer sucks)
> I learned all what not to do 1st, which took a lot of time, just didn't have it me to lesrn it all over to fix it. I still bdo a lot of the maintenance and tweeking, but also have someone to callbon when I'm stuck.


I agree, you've got a nice looking site!
I'm at the same stage as the OP Svyatoslav, actually a bit behind him.
Just getting started with a logo and site setup after 15+ years of chugging along on 'word of mouth' advertising.
This thread has been a boon to me as many members have offered their perspective on a successful website.

btw That blackened salmon in your blog looked pretty sick!!!:thumbup: 
and those extension wands for pressure washers are a lifesaver.
We've had ours for a couple years now and who knows how many slips and falls were averted in that time.


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

Added a phone number on the logo  anything else I should do to improve? I will probably be hiring someone to design a mobile site for me after I load up all the content and finish it.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

I have a one story Ranch Style house @ 1500 sf of interior that I'd like to have painted complete. It's a three bedroom two bath with a small kitchen and two living spaces. Can you give me a rough estimate?

Nice site BTW.


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## upandown (Feb 15, 2012)

Good site but you need a lot of pages to get it work properly

Please look at my one it's not finished yet, maybe some good things of my site you can use it

Painters and Decorators Barnes | Westminster Painters and Decorators


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

upandown said:


> Good site but you need a lot of pages to get it work properly Please look at my one it's not finished yet, maybe some good things of my site you can use it Painters and Decorators Barnes | Westminster Painters and Decorators


Agree still working on it have a lot work to do. Are you using joomla or wordpress or something else?


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## Savdog01 (Aug 28, 2012)

So now you have to have a password to enter the site. That's creative but not sure how good for business this will be. Haha


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

Savdog01 said:


> So now you have to have a password to enter the site. That's creative but not sure how good for business this will be. Haha


haha lol well right now it is under construction its better to have it closed down than having it visible unprofessionally unfinished.

I am almost done with the site! well technically I was not the one working on it  my kid was. I am a total noob in those kind of stuff. We did close it down, it is advertised on our invoices and business cards, not a very good idea having it opened.

I am thinking of hiring someone professional to do some professional works on the website to make the text sound more professionally and get it all checked by the grammar. 
Also I need to organize all those pictures so my son can load them up on site, agh what a pain. Soon I am going to be done  to be more open on this community as well of the works our company does.


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

upandown said:


> Good site but you need a lot of pages to get it work properly
> 
> Please look at my one it's not finished yet, maybe some good things of my site you can use it
> 
> Painters and Decorators Barnes | Westminster Painters and Decorators


Nice website you got there! I like it, my is a bit weird looking I guess kind of unusual.


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## Svyatoslav70 (Apr 30, 2013)

Update:

The website is done  need to fix on services slideshow to make them mobile friendly. But overall the website is all done now  Feedback would be appreciated.


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