I finally decided to take the plunge and have a website created! CAould Café members kindly comment on it - do you think its easy to navigate and is effective for my target market of birthday parties? I'd really appreciate feedback and comments! Thanks in advance! The address is http://www.bernardomagic.com

I would put more reference statements on, that's always a good thing. Also, it took a bit for it to load on my computer (and I have DSL)...so I worry about how long it would take for a dial-up connection to download it...sometimes customers who don't want to wait for a site to download will go somewhere else that's easier to navigate (I'm not kidding about the "convienence thing"...I had a client call me today simply because my yellow pages add was the biggest!)
Otherwise, I like it a lot. Nice graphics and nice upbeat music. Great colors and contrast!
Chris

Chris, thanks so much for your comments - much appreciated. I think the loading is a factor, but I think its because of the photos. Actually, here in Hk not much business done via web searches - the site is just to validate my services and also to give to my clients if they want more information. But I will bear that in mind and see if I can get it to load faster. Also, I will try to include more references, but I'm not too good at soliciting feedback - any suggestions how this can be done less obviously? Thanks again for taking the time...

Chris, I just visited your site and see what you mean about references and loading speed! Thanks for practising what you 'preach'!

MagicBern,

I just went to your site, it loaded within 8 seconds for me. Pretty fast for what all you have on there, I think.

I am not kidding, you have THE BEST website I have seen. I tried to pretend I was a parent and not a magician when I went to your site, and I have to say that if I were looking at 15 different magician's sites, yours would be the one that was memorable & entertaining. I LOVE the magic tricks! Do you design websites professionally?

Excellent job young man!

Love the photos too, you have some real photogenic audiences.

-Aaron

Aaron - I can't thank you enough for your kind comments! And also for the 'young' adjective - not bad for a 44 year old huh? But I got to credit my photogenic audience!!!

Actually the website was designed by a wonderful man named Jeff Walsey from Atlanta. He charged very reasonable and was very accomodating. All done within a week via email!
His website is http://www.atlantamagician.com

Thanks again!

HI
I checked out your web site with much eagerness as I am having my web site put together also. I have been searching loads of web sites (of entertainers) and have to say that yours is very good indeed. Its colourful, informative and fun. I love the photo section fading in and out.

Hope your site does well for you

chris

Bernard,
Well, apparently my DSL needs a tuneup and your site is loading quickly for others. As far as soliciting feedback, ask for it! After the show, there's that "relief high" that an event planner has because all the stress of planning is over, they've had a great entertainer and as a host, they look good. Before you leave, or when they come up to you as say something like "wow, that was the best show I've ever seen!", you simply say "thank you for inviting me! Wow, what a great comment! Would you mind if I used that statement to tell others about my show?" Then write down their comment, ask them how they'd like to sign it (some don't like their entire name mentioned, some do.....K. Smith, or Katrina Smith, then have the city they're in, or the company they're from, you get the point!).
Good luck and God Bless! Have a great time becoming successful!
Chris

It loaded slow for me too. But a good looking site.

It's tooo slooowww... took 3 minutes to load on broadband... I went and made a coffee in the meantime.
My advise to you is read a few sites on Internet marketing on the web. The first 5 seconds are crucial when people visit your site...
Regards
Mike

Thanks for all your opinions and I really appreciate your concernsa bout the long loading time. It really depends on what connections you are using to access the site. In Hong Kong, almost everyone is using 100MB Broadband connection and on average, my site can be loaded between 8-15 seconds. I don't envisage any overseas customers so I am unconcerened about the loading time.

I do appreciate the comments on the content and layout rather than just the loading time.

Thanks anyway to all members who were kind enought to make any comment - I take all of them in a constructive manner.

Wonderful page! Loved every bit - except for the music. I always leave a page as soon as the page starts to play music. But that's just my strong opinion.

Great photos!

/Ark

Arkadia, thanks a lot for your comment. As its my first attempt at a website, I tried to keep things as simple as possible. Perhaps I will see if I can include an option for the music....

Magicbern:Your site site is simply Great! I think 'Simple' is the key factor.That is so important for parents who want information quickly and concisely.The colors a nice also.
I have Broadband and it loaded in ONE SECOND(no joke).I really do not think the problem is on your end.All the best!

Rich

Rich,
Thanks for your kind comment - I also love the color scheme and the simplicity factor. Also, the loading time isn't too crucial. However I do agree that for some peopel it may well be their connection. I guess everyone has their pet peeves - like speed, music playing but I hope my customers won't be turned off by these factors and stay to surf my website and hopefully be impressed just enough to decide on my show.

As I mentioned earlier, in Hong Kong most of the birthday party market is conducted through recommendation. So my site is to give them more information and solidify their decision to hire me! Whether it works or not remains to be seen.

I have just tested the site on my laptop (different memory settings and modem settings)and with my main system and both loaded fine for me and fairly quick. Both loaded in about a few seconds time. I run a cable modem on my main system and saw no problems with it. Some folks may be experiencing problems with not somuch their cable modem, but with the system theyn are running the browser on. Just a thought. It loaded nicely for me.

If you are planning on using music, always keep your end user in mind. Give them the option to turn it off if they shoulddesire to do so.

Kyle

Thank you very much Kyle for going through the trouble. I have always followed your posts and the advice that you dispense to other members. I feel honoured to have your feedback. I will add an on-off option on the site for the music. However, I can do not much about the loading time and couldn't understand the discrepancies until you explained it so succinctly in your post!
Thanks again!

Yu are most welcome and I thank you for your complements and kind words. It is greatly appreciated. When I design a site or a logo for a client, I always must keep in midn my client's target audience. I think you have done a great job doing that. I just think giving the viewer the choice of turning the sound on or off is yet another step in really showing them that youcare about their browsing experience. Other then that, I think you have done a fine job here.

Kyle

It looks great.It loaded in a couple of seconds for me too. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think someone recomended the web designer you used recently on the ca'fe.

I love the look of pure Flash powered sites but they do have a few drawbacks:
Your site will be virtually invisible to search engines.
Some older machines don't have flash installed.
It won't be viewable on a lot of portable devices, which is something to think about with more and more people searching the net on mobiles and palmtops.
Programs installed for those with poor eyesight/viewing difficulties are not compatible.
The browser back button is defunct, doesn't bother me but I know it annoys some.


I sound like I'm having a right old moan but, in fact, I'm just listing some facts passed on to me when I my site relied more heavily on flash (it still does to some extent and am thinking of offering a flash free option on first page). When deciding whether to do a flash site it basically all boils down to what is more important; ergonomics or aesthetics.

George

MagicGeorge,
Sorry it took me long to reply. Thanks for your honest comments about my website -it's not a moan at all! To answer your questions, yes, the web site designer Jeff Walsey was recommended from an earlier post on the Café - but I can't remember the post! I'm not claiming originality for the discovery - but not a lot of people actually follow through on suggestions made on various posts. I did however and I'm delighted with the results!

Thanks for pointing out all the problems associated with flash software - I wasn't aware of it and just put my faith in the designer of my site!

Perhaps in the future the site will have an overhaul and if it does I am grateful to all of you who have taken the time to check out the site and give me advice on it - either publicly or through PMs. I acknowledge and thank you all.