My first website needs your help!

Hi everybody,
I have just published my first website, it still needs a few little touches and some info filling in, in the FAQ section, but I would really appreciate some feedback from the professionals..(that would be you guys).
I should say it was all done by my wonderfull hubby, I'm so proud of him, he is a carpenter by trade but he used all of his spare time to learn dreamweaver and built me the website from scatch.... gotta love him!
So 'ere 'tis.... as my grandfather used to say.... I would really appreciate it if you could take a couple of mins to check it out
http://faceartbytash.com/
Ok hoping I did that right.... Computers always succeed in making me feel stupid.

Thanks for your time and I'm looking forward to the feedback from the professionals (that would be you guys...hehe)
Tash
Face Art by Tash

Hi, I checked out your web site, and it looks good to me. Im not computer knowledgable, so my web site was done by a 'profesional', in other words i paid thru the nose for it, and it doesn't look half as good as yours. Way to go!

Hiya,

Just a few comments. Looks nice overall.

1. The butterfly background is too busy. It takes away from you design and it is hard for my eyes to focus on content. I would suggest white or other solid color. This will really make your website pop.

2. On the contact me page, I would put the contact forum at the top and the map on bottom. A rule of thumb is to put the most important stuff before they have to scroll down.

3. On the about page, I wouldn't bother with all the paint description. Just FDA compliant is fine.(But you may want to define this if it is not well-know in AU or find its equivelent.)

4. Double check over with a fine tooth comb. I did see some spacing errors(1st page after Mardi Gras, Firstly I should say , on the about page)

5. I would also put the "about" part first and the gallery below it.

Overall a great job. I know how hard these are to put together. I salute your bravery for posting here for feedback. I still don't have the courage!

Thank you so much for your feedback, I have been working with my hubby to fix all the little things..... I'm having trouble with the butterflies... My hubby likes them.... I'm trying to find a way to tell him to get rid of them without insulting him!
I have filled in The Faq's and noticed an error or two... note to self do no type up hard copies after midnight.
Some of the layout issues come from using a template.... I still may change this template in time as I've had a few issues with it but for the moment it stays....... the thought of having to start again makes me feel sick....lmao
So I would of used that animation on the home page but it wasn't happening for us.
Everytime I hand my hubby a list of changes he groans at me. I might need to give him a couple of days off. Well he's earn't it I think.
Thanks agian for your feedback I have taken everything on board and I really appeciate you taking the time to help me out!
Tash

Tash,

Great start to your website. I'm going to give you a real honest review because you've asked and I'd like to help. I'm not a web designer, but I am a graphic designer with over 25 years experience.

The goal of a website is to convey information to build confidence in your business so they'll hire you as well as have information on there that search engines will pick up so you get high rankings for your target market. Web design is really challenging which is why I don't do it.

I agree with Metina about the butterflies. They're pretty and cool, but that's not what your website is for. Many people make the mistake of using lots of effects and designs because they look cool and your program can do it, but they end up taking away from the purpose of the website. BE CAREFUL!

I actually liked your logo on white like at the end of your youtube video. It stood out way better than on black. JMHO. Magenta on black is also a bit hard to read a lot of text. I'd make some of your faces bigger on the home page as they really are impressive. Some people still have low resolution monitors, so the band of images will be hard to see. I'm also not a big fan of animation on a website. It's a bit distracting if they're taking time to read what you have there.

Web design is really hard to do, and I applaud you also for being brave enough to ask for feedback. Like Metina, I haven't been brave enough yet either Good luck!

Magna

The problem I have with the butterflies is that they don't match the overall colour scheme for the rest of the site... if you could find a background image that was closer in colours to your site, it wouldn't seem so out of place or distracting.

I agree that the logo at the top is hard to read on the black. The text under isn't as bad because it doesn't have the shading, but the logo (the most important part) is not brightly standing out enough.

taking a ride on this topic.....
what you guys think about my website?
I know it's a little page, but for now I'm waiting for more gigs to buy my own domain and a bigger website.

www.wix.com/artsyfaces/artsyfaces

Thank you

Your site is very cute, I love the colours and consistency of the site. My only suggestion would be to go through very carefully to check your spelling and grammar throughout the site. There were places where you had "from" instead of "form," "wonderfull" missing the Y at the end.... little things like that add up when you have a lot of them to affect the professional look of your site.

OK,
Atfer alot of frustrating talks my hubby has canged the butterflies to little twinkling stars........ then he wasn't happy with the template so now he's redoing it! That's the problem with perfectionists if you make one small critisism they have to redo the whole thing! It's ok because I've rethought some elements - the 'about' section is all wrong and I want to move the slide show/animation to the 'home' page. Think I'm sticking with the colour combo just cause purple and black is my thing..... and the purple we couldn't see at all so Magenta it is. (Also on a side note black is better for the inviroment because your computer doesn't use as much power in the display.... I read somewhere google is thinking of making all it's pages black for this reason)
I was having a laugh this morning when I saw an ad for building websites for $600 and they were saying that was the cheapest you'd find it!
Hahahahaha how about free from your hubby?
Should start hireing him out "Hire a Hubby" - he's a carpenter so he can fix everthing too! Could make alot of money....hmmmm! lmao
Camilinhaw - I had a look at your site too and I agree with Perry, it's very cute! - It should be perfect for what you need right now.
Big 'professional' sites can scare away clients who are looking for a friendly local........... it's a fine line.
Thanks Cat for your advice, I'm working on incorperating peoples oppinions with what I like, and what works ( read what we can make happen)
sorry this got so long only one more thing I have to say ....
html sux............ ahhhhh got that off my chest. Thankyou!

Tash

Thanks guys!