Microsoft Office Live Small Business Community

Hi everyone!

I've been reading your posts for a couple of weeks while building my website, and it seems like everyone here is very supportive. I'm finally done except for adding my logo, which should be done tomorrow. Now I'm looking for any advice or feedback that you are willing to share. I am truly a beginner and I'm pretty much HTML challenged, so I used mostly the tools available through the software here.  My site is: www.payitff.com.  I am looking forward to your comments and constructive criticism.

 Thank you!

Hi momtrepreneur,

I think you did a great job!! Nice color combination, and everything looks very well-organized. I love the whole idea!! Interesting subject to read about. I think you should make a Links page and try to get some reciprocal links that can benefit your cause. Maybe educational websites? Someplace PTA  Moms would be looking. You need to get yourself posted where people can see what you're all about. Your off to a great start :). I wish you well with your site :)

Gypssy

http://gypsyribbons.com

Thank you for taking the time to look and to give me great advice. I have to say it means a great deal especially coming from someone in your profession who is also creative (I looked at your website as well :)  I will have to do some research on getting reciprocal links--sounds like a great idea!  Thanks again!

Thank you for the kind words :).You can search for sites on your own that are somehow related to your website and check to see if they have a links page. They usually state their procedure for exchanging links. Its not hard to do, and if you need help you can always come back here and ask . An easy and safe place to start is www.LinkPartners.com. I've been a member there for a long time. Its free to join, and they don't make you link to anyone...your choices are totally up to you. I know they have an Education section and one for Organizations. There might be more categories you're interested in as well. Take a look at the site when you have time. Just click on Search at the top of the site and all the categories will come up. You can read everything over yourself, but its basically a safe, non-obligation linking site. All thats required to get links is giving a link in return, and the choice is yours whether to link to any of the sites or say No if asked. Sites can say No to you as well, but most people are there to get links. Just an option to check out. I really think your website is great and it just needs to get out there and be seen to start traffic flowing . Good luck :)

Gypssy

 Wow I think you did a great job. Would you help me? How did you get your 'width' on your page? I was in the same position as you. A complete newbie and I think I have come pretty far but still feeling a bit challanged on making it look as professional as possible ... Any congratulations on your site -- I am going to go back in and look around a bit closer. I love the concept:)

My site is  www.promiseinmypocket.com 

Hello, I only had a minute to look at your site, and it looks great.  One comment is that the Product Stewardship link on the home page would be better if it opened in a new window.  Going to Wikipedia for a complete definition is a good idea, but using a new window will keep the people in your site.  I look forward to looking around the site more later.  Best wishes.

You brought up some excellent points. Thank you so much for the detailed feedback.  I agree with you on many things especially the information being moved to the "About Us" page.  That would make more sense.

 Also, it's funny you mentioned information in my header, because I am having a horrible time trying to insert my logo into the webpages. The problem is that it has a white rectangle background all around it that won't go away. I tried to use Microsoft Publisher to make the background transparent then saved it as a picture in both JPG and PNG, but when I upload it to my webpage the background still shows up white!  Any advice? I am completely frustrated!

 Thanks again

After reading your post last night I did a little web searching to try to find relevant sites. I was able to find a couple, but I am going to try your Link Partners tonight.  Thanks again for the great advice!

agree with everyone. Nice color combinations! good job

Thank you!  I feel so good about getting all this advice! I know exactly how you feel. I am still having a hard time with many things, too. Right now it's my logo.  Anyway, changing the width of the page is very easy. You just go to the Site Designer tab and choose "Options" it is over to the far right of the toolbar and looks like a sheet of paper with writing on it. Once you get in there you can choose 2 different page options, mine is 100%.  You can also choose how you page will be aligned, mine is center. 

Hope this helps you. I am going to check out your site later tonight.  This is harder than I thought but it's fun, too!  Good luck with your work, and if I can help you in any way I will. It's almost funny saying that...:)

Great point! Again, exactly the kind of advice I need.  I will work on changing that tonight. Thank you for looking!

Thank you--and wow you're site is awesome!  The things you make are beautiful, and I plan to check back when I have more time. (I have a little girl who is 7 and would LOVE your stuff.)  Also, I have two questions, first what is copyscape and how do you get it? I noticed you have a great-looking watermark on your pics, too. Did you create it? Second, I don't know much about Copyright, but I noticed it at the bottom of your screen. What is copyrighted. Did you hire an attorney? Sorry, this is a little in detail so if  you'd like to email me rather than posting these answers here it is up to you. anne@payitff.com.

Thanks again

Hello again, I would make the same point about the "Pay it Forward" link on the second page - have it open in a new window.  I enjoyed reading the history of this remark as well as the rest of your site.  I still ended up with the question, how is money generated?  Apparently, you have buyers for the electronics you collect?  Then, you turn around and share the money with local participating schools?  Is this project unique to Michigan?

I think I would like more clarification about some these questions.  If this is not unique to Michigan, you might include links to folks in other states with similar projects.  I, for one, would like to know if there is something like this in NY.  Again, best wishes to you.  This really sounds like an everybody wins idea.

I will fix the second link as well, thank you for pointing that out.

As for the idea, it is not unique to Michigan, however, there are not many businesses like mine as far as I can tell through my research. There are quite a few companies that actually recycle, but they typically operate online only and don't have anyone "on the ground" so to speak. There are some small fundraising drives going on at local schools and churches collecting ink jet cartridges and cell phones, but nothing on a community scale. I saw a need for this because many people still do not recycle. At this point it isn't because they don't realize the need for it, but rather it is not often easy nor convenient. 

Money is generated by selling these items to the actual recyclers--yes. We have been researching the most reliable ones for months. My sister and I would like to become the "Goodwill" of electronic waste in Michigan. Eventually we would like to help cities organize an annual e-waste recycling day so that we could collect other items that do not have monetary value to prevent them from going into our landfills.  We have many great ideas for the future.  New York would be a phenominal area to do something like this.  The population and industry would definitely support it on a much grander scale. Take a look at the website greenmouse.com. This is the only other business that I could find that is similar to mine but not exactly the same in many ways. This is for the most part a very new idea, and you're right everybody wins...hopefully!  If you would like to talk more about it please feel free to email me anytime anne@payitff.com. By the way, you wouldn't happen to have any advice about my logo problem above would you?