just updated my website,care to take a peek and leave feedback!

[smeeinit]

please!
twinkletoes

please have a look and sign guestbook!
ta muchly

Lovely website! Would be more than happy to send a child to you.

oh thank you!
hadnt updated it in a while so thought now was the time!!

Hi, my feedback:

The moving butterflies are distracting

the list going down the page, I expected to be able to click on them and I couldn't

I'd mess about and make the fonts a bit smaller maybe and space things a bit more, maybe using bullets or paras or something

good menu, all healthy stuff

have you got parental permssion for all photos?

I like mine to have their 'cooked meal' at lunch not tea

dont like the butterflies
agree with www about the list

www yes obviously have parental permission...

which list did u expect to be able click on?

have had good and bad feedback on the butterflies! but i like them so they stay!

I would standardise the capitalisation eg

Home about me

Also, I would maybe put something on your photo gallery about you having permission from the parents to put the photos up.

And totally subjective this one, but the first photo I saw when I clicked on the gallery was a fairground one and I think maybe some of the picnic/farm ones give a more cosy first impression? As I said totally subjective though.

Agree with www about the butterflies, also thought I would be able to click on your name etc (maybe it would be good to link that to your About me profile etc)

The list on the home page that reads down Nicola, Redbourn, Ofsted, Member, emergency

fair enough about butterflies

ok re photos, well done.

I find it easier when reading something in block paragraphs rather than centered (about me)

I like the sample menue and the activities, it looks like the DCs have a great time with you.

The colours are nice, and I liked the butterflies

I would have liked to see a photo of you, perhaps on your "about me" page

arr ok so front page a bit misleading being underlined.....will correct that.

mmelindt,yes hadnt thought of a pic of me....maybe i will get one done of myself with my own children and put on there,thank you.

anyone else?

Punctuation

I feel you need to add more to the Home page. Give it some content that the search engines can index.

I would expect you to be on the first page on google for a search like:
childminder redbourn

Try adding a few paragraphs of text which talk about being a childminder in redbourn, which schools you pickup from, that kind of thing so you mention the words 'childminder' 'childminding' 'redbourn' 'hertfordshire' and local school names.

If you have webstats enabled, then look at those to see what phases people who find your site have typed in the past, so you get a feel for the sort of thing that gets entered into a search engine.

arrr nick,thanks for that. excellent advice as always!

My name is Nik, I am a 36 yr old mum of 2 teenage boys. Kane is 18 and currently working for Halsey builders, a local construction firm in Redbourn. Sam is 16 and is training at Toni & Guy Hemel Hempstead.

I have worked in childcare for 6 years, 3 of these at local private nurseries.

I became a childminder in May 2005 and have never looked back!

I hold current first aid,child protection and food hygiene awards and am currently working towards my Herts quality standard award.

I am fully insured and am a member of the National Childminding Association.

I have an active role as a founder member of the "Redbourn rascals" childminding group.

I am also a fundraiser for the NSPCC and hold an annual event to raise funds,the latest being a Christmas fayre at Redbourn village hall in Dec 2007 where I raised over £338!

I was graded as "good" at my last Ofsted inspection.

I strive to offer excellent quality childcare in a home from home family environment where your child will feel safe,happy and part of my family.

Ok, my opinion (not as a child minder, but looking as someone who might be trying to find one):

Background is nice. Butterflies are distracting. I would say you need to choose between keeping them, with a plain background, or losing them. They give an amateur look to the site, which it needn't be.

I don't know whether your punctuation issues are because it isn't your strength, or if you were just in a hurry, but you need someone to go through with a fine tooth comb and sort it out. It is sloppy, and would put me off. There are just too many errors to do it on this thread. You need someone to go through it with you so you can change it bit at a time.

Your sample menu page has some serious underlining issues, and spacing issues. You need to change your spacing. Your underlining is the wrong weight given your font size, and the colour is all wrong. They need to tie in with each other. I would stick to the three main colours of your background, so that it is easy on the eye, and gives a 'corporate' feel. You are asking people for their money. You also have discrepancies in your font size, and some of your underlining is black, some purple, and others blue.

You need to make it clear that your 2nd child reduction is only in the event that the first child is full-time, as it can read that the first child can be part-time, but the second child must be full time. So someone could think that they can put their older child in for 1 hour per week, and then have their younger child full-time at the lower rate. It just needs to be clear & concise.

It's a bit pedantic, but I would switch the order of after school snack and breakfast to reflect when they occur in the day.

Your parental reference needs to be spaced so that it reads as a letter, with proper paragraphs. At the moment it looks like either a list of unrelated statements or a poem.

I think you either need to give your ofsted unique number, so that a prospective client could read your ofsted report, or put a link to it on your ofsted page. Neither would identify your address.

I hope you don't think I am mindlessly picking, but this is your business, and nice comments don't get you clients

The big number at the bottom of the Home Page... what is it for? Tracking visitors I expect, thus how you can see how they find your website, including search phrases. Can you make the number a lot smaller? Perhaps say 48 pixels x 8 pixels?

Good to see that your have your website link on your CIS online profile. I would expect that a lot of enquiries would come via that link, so the first page people see is HOME, so make that page as informative as possible giving all the key points, as not all visitors will go on to click links to other pages.

I would include your Ofsted rating from your last inspection on your home page, with link to the inspection report (use target=_new so it opens in a new window) Note: Ofsted's website changes quite often, so check the link every month to check that it still works.

erm thanks for taking time out to have a look lou

Prospective parents dont get my ofsted number until they visit me and only then if they are going to sign up......this is common practice,as although my address may not be showed on OFSTED website,my unique oftsed number can be and has been used to falsely claim tax credits.

i would want to see more photos of you and of your home.

i appreciate it's part and parcel of childminding but jeeez all the pick ups and drop offs make me think my child would be in the car all day.

yes nick its for my benefit,have tried to get it smaller but cant seem to!

TBH most of my mindees and enquiries have come through word of mouth. website is just there as extra info really!

ruddynora,we dont drive to school pick ups atall,whatever the weather!
if parents choose a childminder they generally expect that school/nursery runs are part and parcel.

I thought nurserys was spelt nurseries?

isnt that the garden centre type of nurserie??

No they are both ies at the end.

Lovely website though, very nice vibe coming through. Your menu is great. I would seriosly consider you if I were living there.

hence i didn't choose childminders.