Please rate my site.

zappleman · #1 11-11-2008, 08:16 PM

Hi all,

Im thinking my site is there or there abouts so would appreciate feedback and any tips on getting it Google friendly.
Thanks in advance.
www.z*****.co.uk

Karen Mac · #2 11-11-2008, 08:19 PM

I think ***** is gonna come get you! Thats what i think...LOL

Karen

Vasili · #3 11-11-2008, 08:34 PM

More important ....isn't there already a Registered Trademark? Especially since it includes an ***** in the Boorlean Wordmark, and is clearly defined in "Description of Mark."
The EU adopted internet laws based on US laws (and are inextricably meshed), and since VodaHost is in the US and thus your site is hosted in the US, you are required to comply.
Might want to seriously re-think things ..... especially if you are all about professionally offering "Branding" and identity services to others.

We've been cautioning peers for quite a long time now > http://www.vodahost.com/vodatalk/ebusiness-concept-development-talk/27988-copyright-trademark-servicemark-infringement-know-difference.html

You definitely have the gift of graphic creativity, and it flows over your site design as well.

Good job in keeping things briefed up, and tightly focused: just what demanding visitors are looking for nowadays. It also present you a double-edged sword when it comes to optimizing, in that your abbreviated Content should reflect a well-thought strategy of using key phrases woven into the text and site relevancy, and whether there is enough to do the potential job without looking awkward will be the challenge.

Additionally, you might be under the radar for now as far as the SE's are concerned, but when you strive for rank, you will undoubtedly come under the scope of the TM's registrant, who might possibly initiate legal action.

So, there really is much to consider about how to use a nice site design with the integrity you intended......

davidundalicia · #4 11-11-2008, 08:48 PM

A site that well demonstrates your business and capabilities.

Well laid out and good choice of colours.

Might want to have your pages open in the same window. people hate having to click so many time to clear their screens.

I like the 3 cases here, You might want to link each case to each case study...........

Hope the z***** brand is not going to be a problem, I assume that you have checked this out ?????

DarrenC · #5 11-11-2008, 09:30 PM

Great looking site!

Spelling error on contact page, stationery not stationary. Us office suppliers pick up on things like that.

Darren

zappleman · #6 11-11-2008, 11:27 PM

Thank you all for your comments, i have made a few of the changes already.

As for the trade mark, Im not sure there will be a problem as I am not passing myself of as this other company, I am in a completely different field of business and as for the trade mark, its completely different, in colour and I havent used an ***** at all within its design. Ok, I have an ***** on the home page but thats not part of the trade mark its purely to attract attention and make the brand memorable. If you think Ive got problems check this out!... www.z*****hosting.co.uk

Really appreciate all of your feedback. Thank you so much.

www.z*****.co.uk

zappleman · #7 11-11-2008, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarrenC

Great looking site!

Spelling error on contact page, stationery not stationary. Us office suppliers pick up on things like that.

Darren

Whoops, what am I like, thanks Darren. :)

davidundalicia · #8 11-11-2008, 11:47 PM

Your Home page is titled index........this will not get you anywhere with the search engines.

Choose a title that reflects the page contents and then open
page properties and place the title there.

Then within the same properties area fill in the info for your meta tags:

Choose 3 or 4 good keywords that are on the page......
use them within your title and page description.

The changes that you have made have now improved things for your future clients.............keep tweaking..............lol

zappleman · #9 11-12-2008, 01:25 AM

Thanks David. have had a go so hopefully Ive improved things.

www.z*****.co.uk

davidundalicia · #10 11-12-2008, 02:35 AM

Heres a quick view of results so far and only these 2 links were found:

URLs found in the page: URL - Times Found
Found 2 urls from where 2 unique.
http://www.z*****.co.uk/Contact.php - 1
http://www.z*****.co.uk/Services.html - 1

Meta tags analysis.
Title: Title relevancy to page content is terrible.
The Title relevancy to page content is 0%.

Description: Description meta tag contains no errors.
This tag contains 103 characters.

Description meta tag relevancy to page content is good.
The Description meta tag relevancy to page content is 67%.

Keywords: Keywords meta tag relevancy to page content is very poor.
The keywords meta tag relevancy to page content is 33%.

zappleman · #11 11-12-2008, 12:23 PM

Hi David,

This website stuff isnt really my domain(scuse the pun!) but Im learning fast.
Can you give me an idea what this all means and how to put it right or point me towards a tutorial or thread that will do the job??
Again thanks for your feedback.

Andy

www.z*****.co.uk

davidundalicia · #12 11-12-2008, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidundalicia

Your Home page is titled index........this will not get you anywhere with the search engines.

Choose a title that reflects the page contents and then open
page properties and place the title there.

Then within the same properties area fill in the info for your meta tags:

Choose 3 or 4 good keywords that are on the page......
use them within your title and page description.

The changes that you have made have now improved things for your future clients.............keep tweaking..............lol

1) You have too many keywords on your index page.
Just Choose 3 or 4 good keywords that are on the page and work them in to your title.
2) Use your new title as the page description in your meta tags(see above)
and add another small description afterwards.
3) Enter your 3 or 4 keywords (which must in the page content)
into the keywords meta tag.

4) Create a site map for the Search Engines (see tools - sitemap)
Provide a small discrete link on your index page to the sitemap file.

Publish your page again.

internetgeek · #13 11-12-2008, 10:53 PM

Wow! You have alot of people rating your site. I posted 2 hours before you and ask for help and had 16 people look at my post and no ones bothered to even leave a reply. Good luck with all the suggestions. Thank your lucky stars that people are giving you advice. :)

zappleman · #14 11-13-2008, 11:28 AM

Hi David,
Thanks for all the info.
Do I do this for every page or just the index page?

ps Already getting business from the site via google adwords and freeads!

Andy
Z***** Logo Design
www.z*****.co.uk

davidundalicia · #15 11-13-2008, 11:58 AM

Do this for every page that contributes to your sales or can attract clients.

Different content and different titles will help to get individual pages on the Search engines...........the more the merrier..............lol

Glad to see that your website is taking off..................good luck.

narobe · #16 11-14-2008, 08:28 AM

Well just as Vasili has told you, I also agree that you have graphic creativity, keep up the good work.
I'm not in to law but I understand that no company can sustain in a law court that they have the exclusive rights for an ***** symbol, what you can't do is copy a logo and I think that's not your case.

rangaz007 · #17 11-14-2008, 02:16 PM

Hi

Very nice professional & colourful looking site. Shame I didnt hear of you when I was designing my company logo.

The only thing which I can see, is on your pricing page at the bottom your price drop down box is overlapping the text behind it.

Overally a really nice site.

Thanks

pink_eeyore · #18 11-17-2008, 09:57 PM

You shouldn't have trademark issues unless you called yourself Macdesigns. McDonald's go after anything that resembles their name (they went after a place in the Ireland that called themselves MaC Coffees – guess who had to change their name?) and many times they win. As long as your product or service is different from an existing company and they can't prove how they lost business because of you, or that your company confuses their product in the minds of their customers they most likely won't spend the time trying to pursue you. In worse case, if it goes to court, and they prove how they lost money or name recognition because of you, all the courts will do is ask for you to change your trademark - first offense is just change your trademark, no money fines except court fees because you claim you did not know nor had intentions of infringement.

However, since your business is under US laws, and you want to have your z***** name trademarked for you alone, you need to apply and pay for it (http://www.uspto.gov/).

If you don’t want the hassle, and don’t care about being the only company in the US with your name than don’t worry about it. You can always apply in the future once you get large enough. If someone else also uses the z***** in the US but you can prove you started using the unregistered trademark before the other party did, the court will give you the rights and ask the other party to change theirs.

Unless your trademark sells your product like coca cola or Marlboro worldwide don’t worry about it because they have to spend thousands in each country to protect their trademarks otherwise anyone in Zimbabwe can call themselves Marlboro and sell something completely different and Marlboro won’t be able to do anything about it. Small business do not really need to concern themselves with trademarks or infringements as their business is usually locally and not at a large enough scale that can truly affect a different company’s profits…

Good luck with your site, it looks very professional!

zappleman · #19 11-18-2008, 02:13 PM

Thanks for all the information, very very much appreciated.
Will be enhancing the site further so watch this space.

Had a look at the dropdown box (google checkout) and noticed it is asking me to download a plugin further pushing the dropdown even further, any ideas?

Andy
www.z*****.co.uk

Karen Mac · #20 11-18-2008, 07:21 PM

Part of this is sort of correct. They dont have to PROVE a loss at all, just that the NAME is trademarked and that the design/logo/name is close enough to confuse a visitor or imply that its part of their own company when it isnt! This is why McDonalds wins obscure cases. Just displaying the "*****" along with your name would be enough to get you nailed..LOL

Not to mention this wont be FREE .. you will have more than COURT costs to pay. You will have their attorneys fees to pay if they win and YOUR attorneys fee. Youd be a fool to march in there and plead your own insanity! Ignorance is NOT a defense when it comes to the internet as the information is WIDELY available. It wont just be U.S. Law, you will be crossing into international law.

If you get indexed and start pulling traffic.. or they start seeing your name come up in searches for them in any shape or form (and big companies pay people to research up to 200 pages in the listings for keywords) You can expect to get a registered letter!

In any case its a nice looking site ... youve done a great job with the design. Most likely youll be ok for a bit either way, and they may not find you or see you at all but i wouldnt BET on it.

Karen

Quote:

Originally Posted by adir_sharon

You shouldn't have trademark issues unless you called yourself Macdesigns. McDonald's go after anything that resembles their name (they went after a place in the Ireland that called themselves MaC Coffees – guess who had to change their name?) and many times they win. As long as your product or service is different from an existing company and they can't prove how they lost business because of you, or that your company confuses their product in the minds of their customers they most likely won't spend the time trying to pursue you. In worse case, if it goes to court, and they prove how they lost money or name recognition because of you, all the courts will do is ask for you to change your trademark - first offense is just change your trademark, no money fines except court fees because you claim you did not know nor had intentions of infringement.

However, since your business is under US laws, and you want to have your z***** name trademarked for you alone, you need to apply and pay for it (http://www.uspto.gov/).

If you don’t want the hassle, and don’t care about being the only company in the US with your name than don’t worry about it. You can always apply in the future once you get large enough. If someone else also uses the z***** in the US but you can prove you started using the unregistered trademark before the other party did, the court will give you the rights and ask the other party to change theirs.

Unless your trademark sells your product like coca cola or Marlboro worldwide don’t worry about it because they have to spend thousands in each country to protect their trademarks otherwise anyone in Zimbabwe can call themselves Marlboro and sell something completely different and Marlboro won’t be able to do anything about it. Small business do not really need to concern themselves with trademarks or infringements as their business is usually locally and not at a large enough scale that can truly affect a different company’s profits…

Good luck with your site, it looks very professional!

Vasili · #21 11-19-2008, 12:25 AM

Whether or not the "*****" is displayed is of much smaller consequence than the fact the word Z***** itself is a Registered Trademark in the US, as per the Boolean Word Search I posted so you could see. *And keep in mind, I chose this one out of the three Registrations only because it had an ***** in it ....

Since you are hosted on servers within the US you are required to comply with US laws, and it don't get any simpler than that!
And Karen is very correct: ignorance is always indefensible, as the law demands each to perform "due diligence" as a matter of course in compliance and official filings (meaning it is up to everyone to fully investigate the propriety of their Business establishment, per US Commercial Code).

PS: It's not just court costs and attorney's fees .... a simple abstract for punitive damages based on a claim for any number of causes -- actual or potential (damage to reputation, loss of income, unfair business practices, etc.) could be levied for far more than you are prepared to comtemplate!
For instance ... say they file a $425 suit claiming infringement and a singular abstract claiming simple loss of potential income (very hard to disprove, if assuming negligence of performing due diligence based on no attempt to secure differentation), the minimum treble damages will be awarded using this formula: 13 months previous gross income averaged for monthly figure times 6 months = minimum award, and very rarely it is less than 12 months figure that is stipulated, as the maximum is 5 years. How much could that possibly be to risk without an arguable defense? Not to mention the fuss they can stir up with ICANN, possibly even forcing you to surrender the domain (likely, if they persue it).

Do what you want, but man-up to the risks and be prepared to deal with any reprecussions should there be any!
You could even be "pro-active" by sending a letter to them, stating that you intend to serve primarily clients in the UK, and just set your transactional systems (and pricelist) to the Euro or something to demonstrate your intent to specify a non-competing market ..... that would be the best demonstration of your "innocent" intentions! (And then keep their agreeable reply safe for eternity! LOL)

Sounds like a bunch of "jailhouse lawyers" in here, OMG!

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