I run a small window cleaning business in Visalia, CA. I took several courses on Dreamweaver Cs4 for site design before I got involved with window cleaning and happened to stumble across Joomla at the time. Check out my site @ www.allclearpros.com and let me know if you have any questions. Setting up is ALWAYS the hard part. What’s great is that with Joomla’s functionality, you’re able to set up databases and other really tough to learn JavaScript that you normally can’t with your typical HTML editing programs. For ex. I was able to setup a Client and Employee database in about a week. Clients find it very professional. I’m somewhat new to this industry of window cleaning and have a whole lot learning to do. Let me know if you might be interested in bartering?
Nice looking site. One suggestion I would give is to increase the size of font by a point or two. It may be hard for some older folk to read, or for those who looked at the website at 2 in the morning and who had already took out their contacts. 
[COLOR=“Black”]Excuse me for sounding skeptical but I get the impression that your are advertising a web design service in desguise.
If I am wrong then I apologize and my advice would be to add your phone number so you dont loose any business when they visit your page as well as making your font larger like Micah mentioned. [/COLOR]
Hey Mainland, welcome to WCR! One thing everyone here needs is a website.
Hey photochef, you mentioned you got the impression that I was advertising a web design service in disguise.
I didn’t understand whether you were referring to my site or this forum?
I posted that I knew website design on this forum because I recall someone brought up wanting to understand “Joomla” (an easy to use but hard to install open-source content management system)
As for my site looking like an web design service by having no initial contact?..
Just simply hover over the “hello” tab and you’ll find our number.
But your right, I really do need to increase the font size. I hope not to lose first time visitors who have bad vision or can’t read small font.
thanks
[COLOR=“Black”]Like I said, excuse me for sounding skeptical, but yeah I was talking about the way I took it here in the forum. My bad, I didn’t mean to come across as being rude. Anyways I saw your number there I would problably make stand out more, maybe even put it in more pages like at the bottom of the residential and commercial pages for ex. I should mention that I like your FAQ’s page that looks cool.[/COLOR]
I am one of those, lets say, mature folks with bad vision, so yes the larger font is a great idea!
The first page is always what is viewed first, makes the impression and directs the curiosity to look at further information on the tabs. As a consumer, the very first thing I am interested in is, what can you do for me. So I look click the services tab. If at this point, I am impressed and interested, my next thought, what are the prices. You have the information listed under your faq’s tab, but I think it would be better to have a price tab listed separately or … include both the pricing and contact link on the service page How much do we charge?. If you would like to request a no obligation quote please [URL=“http://www.allclearpros.com/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=17”]Contact Us. I as a consumer, I want to know exactly where to go by a glance, what if I don’t scroll my mouse over the tabs?
Which brings me to the Hello tab. If I don’t scroll my mouse over the tab, how do I know your contact information, or about you? A consumer is not interested in a Hello at first glance. If it were my site, I would make sure that on each and every page, either my contact information is posted, or … that there is a contact link on every page.
As soon as I do get to your contact page, my eyes immediately focus in the center, not the top. I would post my contact information (Large Font) where you have “Drop us a line or email. We promise to get back to you ASAP.” and then follow with … or … “Drop us a line or email.”
Best Wishes! I certainly wish you great success.
Joie ~ N. CA
Is the pic on the index page a pic of bridge railing? I don’t understand how that ties in with a window cleaning website. If that is some sort of landmark bridge that everyone’s familiar with in the area, you may make a connection of some sort. When I first saw it, I was trying to figure out whether it was the top of a commercial building. Just my thoughts.
I am curious too!
Joie ~ N. CA
As Joie mentioned, your phone number & email should be on every webpage. The whole idea of a website is for people to get to know your company and to contact you. Make it easy for them.
You should probably use the word quote instead of estimate. And if your quotes are free, let them know it. People are attracted to the word “free”.
A service special page is always good especially with the economy in the toilet. People are being more thrifty and are looking for discounts even if $10 Off.
thanks. I’ll try to make use of most of your suggestions. I’ve only been in this business since last October (February of this year with this forum) and feel everyday I’m learning more and more.
[B]Ok, so I’ve updated the font, moved the pricing info under “services” and made a whole new tab for “Contacts”. I’ve yet to include a pic of myself (since I can’t seem to find a decent one) in the “about us” section but it is on my to-do list. I realize people tend to want to know the person behind the scenes, and it also adds a sense of trust.
Anyway, let me know what you think.
And thanks Joie, you seem like a very nice person.[/B]
Here’s the link again, www.allclearpros.com
The good:
The pages other than the “home” page are done pretty well. Make the “residential” page your home page
The not so good:
The whole design needs re-focused.
Why is there a search function and what does the client login function do? It’s a window cleaning site, not wikipedia.
When I go to the site all I see is the picture, I have to scroll down to see anything else. People don’t have time to look around. They need all your info in their face, right away.
I don’t know why but this image is holding back the page from fully loading. http://www.allclearpros.com/images/stories/intro_subtext11.png
I popped that url in to see the size of the image, which is fine. So I’m not sure why it’s not loading. One thing I will tell you is that you are better off removing that text from the image and place the REAL text inside a table. You will get zero SEO without text on your site. Use text whenever possible, only place large call outs inside pictures. IE CALL NOW.
Try it now, does it still not show?
The website looks really nice, BUT the search engine otimisation is quite minimal,… to be honest I reckon you’ll be getting less than 1000 page views per month with that code.
I design websites in my spare time,… my own domain got 1,246,286 hits last month alone simply down to good SEO.
There is no point having a website that looks good if no one gets to see it!!!
good point. thanks
