New website

[catftm]

Hello,

I am a pre-reg childminder but I anticipate being registered by the end of November at the latest. I am just waiting for my CRB checks to come back. I have just got my website up and running and would appreciate some feedback if poss.

Thanks
Catherine
www.campbellchildminding.co.uk/

Hi so far it looks good and informative, although have only briefly looked at it.

One thing I noticed was that you have stated 'if contracted day falls on Statutory public holiday, full payment is still required' that's fine in itself but if it were me, I would make absolutely clear whether I work them or not!

Bear in mind too that if you are going to be using the NCMA Contracts, there is now a section on them where it actually says 'If the childminder is charging a fee for a statutory public holiday, the service must be available for use'!

I have always been in receipt of fees for SPH if contracted day falls on them but do not work them, you can imagine my horror at receiving my new book of Contracts from NCMA and discovering this when writing out a Contract for a new parent so could not charge. I was absolutely livid. I am considering not using their contracts any longer.

On the Services page there are items that are centered and have bullets. I would do one or the other... not both, as it looks odd with the bullets all left aligned but the text centered.

I'm getting an image error at the top of the sidebar. Image appears to be spacer.gif

The heading looks strange. Are there supposed to be so many of the same image going across the page? I see a row of 4 then it drops to a row of 5. Browser: Google Chrome.

It is too wide - looks great on the big wide screen I use for work, but on my laptop you can't see half of it. 980px is about as wide as you want to go.

There are quite a few technical problems with the site: if you want a technical review you could ask over on Geeky Stuff, but it might be better to rework it all first (ditch the frameset and the spammy counter for a start).

Technical issues aside, I think the content is really good!

Thanks everyone, ill work on it a bit more. Much appreciated! I dont know whats going on with the heading i've tried loads of things to sort it out. It seems ok on some screens but not others. I;ve dont the whole site from scratch so a bit of a nightmare! Thanks for comments though

It is always a nightmare trying to get a website to display correctly on a variety of browsers and screens.

Suggestions:
Fix Width the main content section. Sites that expand to fill the screen are very hard to do well.
If using a banner image... make it one image rather than several images next to each other - as they won't align correctly in all browsers.
Avoid things like Counters... they are not useful to visitors. Webstats software can tell you much more info about your visitors. Google Analytics is free.

Try to focus on your visitor more. Try to think about what questions they would be asking and aim to answer those questions though your web copy (the text). It is hard though... I've been trying to do it for many years.

I thought it was very good, friendly photos and the children should have lots of fun doing arts with you.
The only things I noticed were:
The equal ops policy should be The Equality and Diversity policy.
The Activity rota sounds a bit set, don't forget to mention about child led activities and following their interests not just yours.
Don't offer sibling discount you may regret it if someone else wants the place especially if under age 8.
The food you are offering is going to get expensive if you don't charge, I would either charge or go up to £4 per hour as its hard to add it later.
The payment details aren't very flexible if you only except cash,You may find that people want to pay a cheque, I always get my dh to pay them in and don't forget you can often pay them in at night in some banks, can you not offer a bank transfer and will you except vouchers as you don't mention them and they are the easiest to be paid with.
Hope these help they're not meant as critisisms, and good luck.

Thank-you tat does help a lot. i will make some changes and think about what you said about the fees.

I have done a new website, much easier and tidier. The content is the same, see what you think? Thanks

leedschildcare.webs.com/

Hi,
Under "Services and facilities" there is a paragraph at the bottom that shouldn't be there, same on "About me". Oh, and there's no content on the "Policies" page.

Otherwise it looks really good, I wish you lived nearer to me! I'd use you!

I think the new site is better... though you may want to remove the advertising at a future point.

"There is lots more information on this site, so please feel free to look around. I welcome enquiries by telephone or email and you are of course very welcome to arrange a visit."

No telephone number, no click through on the word email. I would add those to that page... just to make it really easy for someone to contact you.

The page title appears to be Home. I've looked at the Webs.com system and I can't figure out how to change that without it affecting the Menu names. It's a limitation of the system... bit of a pain.

If you decide to go with the Webs.com system, make sure you put things in the Site Description and Keywords boxes, located in Site Settings.

For example a description could be: Catherine Campbell - Childminder in Stanningley Road, Bramley Town, Leeds LS?? - Providing daytime childcare, before school, after school care.

LS?? is where you put the first part of your postcode. So if someone searched for: childcare LS20 if you were in LS20 you would appear on the search listing.

Bottom of Services page contains some generic text that needs to be removed, as does About Me. Best to check all pages to make sure the text from the initial template has been removed.

Put some more information in the footer. For example key phrases that parents might search for, which are relevant to the content of your site: Childminder in Leeds providing care for babies, toddlers and school aged children.

I wouldn't bother with Links, Guestbook or Calendar. Especially as you are linking to NetMums and not MumsNet

The font on the Working with Parents page looks different to the font used on the other pages. Try to keep things consistent.

Thank-you Nannynick that was very helpful.

Thats really good, Would you like me to send my children in half term to test it out,LOL

Will you do a mimimum charge of 2 hours for after school children or do a seperate rate of £10 as You only state a minimum of 4 hours. You could also do a before school rate.