I was on my PayPal account the other day and noticed that they do have a “donate” option – so you can set up a donations button (call it a tip jar or whatever) that links to your PayPal account. That would allow people to select whatever amount works for them relative to the value they received from your site, and the financial resources available to them. I see some pretty high-level people with tip jars on their websites, so I’m sure it can work out!

Good luck!

I have a few ideas on how to publicize my website as suggested by some who had gone before me. I’ll be following recommendations from SBI as well. My main focus right now are to finish posting all my articles, edit/clean up as you suggested and make this website as professional as possible.

I’ll check out the book you suggested as well.
Thanks for your feedback and suggestions!! I truly appreciate these.

You bring up a question I’d meant to ask and forgot whilst I was doing the review: How do you plan to publicize the site?

If you’re really interested in learning more about how to structure a website that works, check out Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug. It’s a small book, but incredibly insightful about how websites can be as useful and helpful to their visitors – AND their owners! – as possible.

Let’s take a look!

The first impression I have is … whoa, blue!. It’s not a bad colour – I like blue – but it’s very bright, and that makes it hard to read the navigation bar on the left. For ease of navigation and discovery, I would seriously consider making the navigation bar less blindingly blue.

I’d also see what you can do to get the content centered on the screen. Left-justified websites are unusual, and tend to imply a lower level of professionalism. (Note I say “tend” – it’s dependant on other factors as well.)

Also, the first time I visited the site, I got a warning from my pop-up blocker. Not sure what that was about; I did go ahead and temporarily enable pop-ups, but nothing came up, and I haven’t seen that warning again on subsequent visits.

I’d feel more clear about what this site is about if there was just a bit more introduction on the home page before the bullet list of what the site covers. And I wouldn’t repeat the site URL in your introduction. Instead, use the actual site title, and consider bolding it: Your Unemployment Essentials. Say it loud and say it proud!

For that matter, why not make the site title (instead of the URL) part of the banner as well?

The bullet list is a repeat of your navigation. Either eliminate it altogether and simply invite people to explore the navigation or make the bullet list items clickable links to their topics.

If you keep the bullet list, consider bolding the topic titles. People typically scan websites, and making the topic titles “jump” will help them find what they need.

I like that you have your story as part of the site, and although for most sites I recommend moving it lower in the navigation, in this case I like it at the top where you’ve put it. For someone to believe that you have the material they need, they need to understand and feel a connection with your story.

However, one thing that’s significantly missing is … who ARE you? There’s no name or any other clue as to who you are. That means you take a significant credibility hit.

What’s with the link on “passionate” to SiteSell? I get that you’re an affilate of theirs (at least, I assume so – and you should be aware that it’s illegal by FCC ruling as of this past January to have an affiliate link without declaring it as such), but it’s a real downer there, and makes no logical sense in terms of the context. Also, do you really want people leaving your site right off the bat when they click on that link? They probably won’t come back.

On my display (Internet Explorer 8 running on Windows XP), there’s a missing image at the bottom of the “My Story” page below the last paragraph.

The “back to home page” link on each page can reference just “Home Page” instead of the site URL – that’s of relatively low importance, however.

Website design standards state that for ease of navigation, the header of each page should be a very close match to the link someone clicked to get there.

So when, for instance, I click “Employee Rights” and land on “Employment Laws, Employment Discrimination and You,” I’m a little confused. You might want to make sure your headers start with the navigation link text, even if you then include other content. So this one, for instance, could be “Employee Rights: Employment Laws, Employment Discrimination, and You.”

I’ll assume you’ve double- and triple-checked your facts. And I hope the disclaimer I see at the bottom is present on every page (I haven’t read every page in detail). You might consider incorporating the disclaimer into your home page in a more prominent position.

Also consider having someone proofread your content. There are typos and grammatical and punctuation errors – nothing huge, but enough to put someone off a bit. And since you’ve put a lot of effort and heart into creating this, you want it to look as clean as possible.

I understand that this site isn’t just for your own feelings of satisfaction in putting it out there. Still, I wish there was a way to move the Google ads out of the middle of the content. Is it possible to put them into a right-hand column, perhaps?

Also, consider other ways of generating revenue. Can you include a “tip jar” of some sort? I know there are little plug-ins available, don’t know if SiteSell offers them or not.

What’s your primary intention in putting this site out there? Is it to provide the information – or to make money from the links? Does your answer to that question change anything about how you’ve set it up?

I hope this is helpful, and please feel free to ask follow-up questions!

This is my first attempt to develop a website that hopefully people in transition like me will find helpful…
I’d love to get your feedback, suggestions for improvement.

Your website’s initial impression is calming and peaceful.

At the same time, it also feels a bit cramped to me. That’s coming from several elements:

1. The header graphic is out of proportion to the width of the content and the size of your headers. It’s so large that it takes up more real estate than it’s really entitled to – forcing your banner to take up more space on the page than it needs as well. I suspect one of the reasons for its size is the amount of detail in it – reducing the size would probably make it look unclear and odd. I wonder if redesigning your logo/header graphic is part of your redesign plans?

2. Your header font size is quite small. It makes the site feel not just cramped, but almost uncertain or unconfident.

3. Your font size is also a bit small. I know this is something I complain about on almost everyone’s site, and perhaps I just need to get my contact lenses or glasses prescription updated – but all joking aside, I really do think it’s important to consider readability.

4. Along the same line, and still in relation to the cramped feeling, the colour choices for background and content strike me as not being different enough. Readability really does take precendence over aesthetics (though they’re far from mutually exclusive!), and I would strongly urge a white background with black text for the primary content.

5. Finally, I think you can go to a wider column for your content.

On your Home page … I believe I mentioned in one of the other site reviews that asking your visitor questions on the Home page is off-putting. They haven’t yet decided if they belong here; they’re in exploration and feeling-things-out mode. Being asked questions – especially personal questions such as you pose! – can feel threatening and a bit scary. Don’t ask me questions right away; give me a sense of … oh, yeah, maybe she gets where I’m at … first.

Also, the three questions you pose are very different from each other. Who is it you really want to help? As someone feeling stuck, I don’t necessarily know that a therapist specializing in marriage is who I want to talk to … you know what I mean?

As a therapist, it’s crucial for you to establish a rapport with your site visitors right from the start – a sense of safety, of being understood. From your comments, I’m pretty sure you recognize that what you have now isn’t doing that.

Your navigation is clear – which is great! However, the options available aren’t helping me find that sense of safety. There’s no interim page … we go directly from Home to About, which feels like too big a stretch right in the beginning. And certainly Getting Started is way too big a stretch before I have that sense of safety.

The photo on your About page is great! For the first time, looking at that smile, I have a feeling that … hey, maybe she can understand, maybe I can find some help with what I’m struggling with.

However, the content here is too much about who you work with. That may sound odd, given that I’ve been asking for more about who you work with and being able to identify myself in your clients and the things you help them with, but your About page really should be about YOU. What draws you to this work? Where is the passion and spark and fire for what you do? What makes you uniquely YOU and how does that show up in your work?

Getting Started would be a great place to describe more about the process. How often do we meet, what can I expect in a session, do you ever do phone work… and so on.

What’s the purpose of the Resources page? Do you really need one?

In reading the Postpartum and Parenting section, I find myself wondering if this is actually your area of specialty? You imply that by having it on your site.

I wonder if it’s time to commit to a speciality, whether postpartum and parenting or something else?

I’m clear from what you’ve said that your site isn’t achieving what you want. And I’m also clear that it could be doing a LOT more for you – and that you and your work deserve that.

What is your deepest intention for your website?

Thanks in advanced!

You don’t specifically ask for a site review in your post, so I don’t want to jump in where I haven’t been invited. However, if you would like me to take a look, let me know in a reply comment. I’ll be happy to do it – and I’m going to be closing this post to comments in the near future. After that, site reviews will be more formal and – as Jen encouraged me to do in her post – on a for-fee basis!

Jen, when you have the resources for a redesign, you should jump on it. I see that it was designed by the firm Grace recommends, so I don’t want to step on any toes…but your site doesn’t grab me! I would like to see a photo or trademark graphic above the fold.

While I have an idea of what you do for your clients, it doesn’t seem clear right away. I would like to see something like, “I help you figure out your office so you can figure out your work!” or some direct tag line right up front.

I am sick of my site myself, so I may the pot in this situation! I hope my comments help.