Wanted: Website Review New loan website

[Nova]

This is only my second ever website built and the first time I have used Wordpress. It's not finished yet. I've still going to add a few more articles, try for affiliates and possibly Google ads, but what do you guys think?:

http://best-loans.org.uk/

Always happy to receive any pointers or tips.

 

[Alien]

Hi Nova,

Looks very promising, good luck with this.

I hope you don't mind me mentioning these things, I mean them all constructively.

Thoughts:

Top header logo - needs a different font? Not sure about colour and arrow image either? Maybe something more loan related here would inspire confidence in visitors?

Home page text - needs more. White space at bottom looks empty. Lose 'Home' and replace with suitable text - e.g. 'Best Loans, your slogan here' or even 'Welcome...'?

Our Categories Box - Blue background makes text weak (not good contrast). It's a neat hover effect, but personally I find this distracting. Personal taste though.

Low image quality (looks grainy) on right hand navigation ad blocks. Animated image looks a bit old fashioned?

Footer - why the dashes in "All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------" Also link the 'Terms & Conditions' title to the actual page?

Typos on Terms & Conditions page: "The website is protected by copyright laws" - needs full stop at end. "Interactive Advertising Bureauwebsite" - needs a space before 'website'.

Typo - Compare Loans page - "please check back in the near future." Capital P on 'Please'.

Contact Us page - I'd use a CAPTCHA form or you may get spammed.

Right Side Bar - Green text on the header titles <h2> tags looks odd.

 

[Nova]

Hi Alien,

Thanks for your suggestions, I do appreciate them. I am here to learn as I am new to building domain sites.

I quite like the header logo but will possibly look at playing around with it.

I agree needs a lot more on the home page. I need to find out how to make the text look smaller on "Home" and obviously change it to something like what you recommend.

"Our Categories Box" Its just a widget I thought I would try out. The contrast is terrible but I think once I add more posts the text will show up in white like "bad credit loans".

"Low image quality (looks grainy) on right hand navigation ad blocks. Animated image looks a bit old fashioned?" agree its just temporary and i don't really expect to rent out any advertising spaces, I just wanted to see how it looked. I will probably put pictures/ adds of affiliates sites in the four boxes if I manage to get any.

"Footer - why the dashes in "All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------" Also link the 'Terms & Conditions' title to the actual page?"

I cant seem to space out the wording without using the dashes. I want it to be split, I might need to look at some HTML code. The add footer text is on the theme its self but if I space it or use enter it looks good until you publish then all the writing is back to back without spaces.

Will sort out typos tomorrow, tiredness setting in now but thanks for pointing them out.

"I'd use a CAPTCHA form or you may get spammed." Where can i get this form and how do I add it?

"
Right Side Bar - Green text on the header titles <h2> tags looks odd. " agree but not sure how to change it. I guess I'll have to have an indepth look at the HTML?

I'm also not too keen on the basic look of the categories in the sidebar and the > bullet points but havent cant figure out how to jazz it up without installing a different theme?

Thanks for helping a newby out!

 

[Jamie101]

I'm on my phone at the moment so I can't have a proper look at it, but noticed you mentioned having trouble spacing something.

As far as I remember, use &nbsp then ; and then another one etc etc.

Hopefully that code doesn't turn into spaces, can't check here!

Edit - had to change this post a few times, hopefully it makes sense

 

[3rigena]

constructive criticism:


-too much whitespace in design
-looks kinda unprofessional
-absence of any trustmarks [credibility]
-absence of meta description [big chance for a good CTA]
- no h1
- add semantic markup, breadcrumbs

basically throw that piece of crap WP theme in the bin and get a new one. hire a logo designer [maybe look at 99designs]. Read up on wordpress SEO since that's your CMS of choice. you will need to, esp in the finance veritcal.

gluck w/ the site

 

[Nova]

Thanks any pointers and constructive criticism taken happily.

To be honest there are probably too many big hitters in the loan market and the lack of my finances probably mean I won't be getting it onto Google page 1 . however it's a good starter for me to play around and learn with.

I had a black theme that made it look slick and more professional, but I felt black was a bit depressing, especially when you consider its a site offering advice and possibly links to loans.

I'll look at other themes and follow your advice with the other pointers.

Regards,
Nova