Need some Community help with my site

[Tinbucket78]

Hello:  

 I started my Weebly site just about a year ago and change it every fews months to try and keep it fresh. Not allot of availible info I can use considering it's a Save a Tower Clock site. I am trying to save and rebuild a 103 year old tower clock using salvaged parts off the old one and rebuilding it in my hometown 300 miles away. I figured a web site could be used to help keep people up to date on prgress which is slow to begin with. I wondered if the communtiy could give me some insite on what you think about the site? What it needs and what needs to go away. Any suggestions are welcome good or bad.

www.savewillardsclock.weebly.com.

Thanks.

[Becothy]

Ok the link you have supplied seems to be going to a 404 page. This link should work - http://savewillardsclock.weebly.com/ .

Not sure if you can do it on a free site, but change the 404 page to something that links back to your home page. It'll increase your footfall to the site overall in case anyone puts a typo in a URL to your site

Only personal choice this, but im not a fan of websites with Waffle/Hamburger menus, your's does however see to function well for the site on the whole though.

Some of the images seem to have a bit of the writing missing - See the high school challenge bit - The high school name is not full. Again not a big issue.

One of the main things I would suggest is to get your donate button on the home page for more of a call to action too. You have to hunt for it now and I assume this project needs donations?

Again - personal preference, but I prefer scrolling down a whole web page and not half and half. Maybe this is just me though.

I couldn't find a link to your facebook page? I assume that this is the one? https://www.facebook.com/savewillardsclock.clock

Put this on your front page too, it'll make it easier for people to contact you.

By and large a decent enough site though and content wise seems fine - Good luck with saving it !

[Tinbucket78]

Becothy: Thanks for your comments. i'll make the changes.

[AndrewD]

 Becothy mentioned customizing the 404 page, here's how to do it and you can do it on a free site:

* Log into your account at Weebly.com, open the Editor for the site you wish to edit, and click on the 'Pages' tab.

* Create a new page named "404" (without the quotes).

* Make the page hidden. To create hidden pages, please see:

http://hc.weebly.com/hc/en-us/articles/201994638-Manage-Pages

* Edit the page to add whatever message you want your users to see when they click on a broken link to your site.

* Make sure you publish your changes. Your 404 page will replace the default Weebly "Site Not Published" page.

And getting the donate button on the homepage is a must!!!!!

[Adam7 · Accepted solution]

It looks like you've got some great suggestions already, @Tinbucket78.  My personal recommendation- content is king, as they say, and rebuilding the clock tower is an amazing thing.  Why not try out some themes like Clean Lines or Impact which will help showcase your content in a more transparent way.

By the way, I also edited the link in your original post so it links to your site. 

[Tinbucket78]

Adam:

 Thanks for the reply!! I appreciate it!

[Gutter_cleaner]

Content is important. Slowly but surely it is getting more important than backlinks.  All you need to do is submit your site to about 3 to 5 dofollow directories. That's it. You will be amazed at the boost in your rankings. Yp.com, botw.org, and the crown jewel, dmoz. Make sure they are respected site . Do your homework. If you can get on yelp and get a couple of reviews, you will be on your way. Take care. 

[SusieO]

I really like the slideshow of old photos on the main page.  This is a very worthy project and I applaud you for your dedication.

As others have said, you need the donation part on the first page.  Also, I couldn't find how much you need to raise.  What about one of those "thermometer" type things that goes up as people donate?  

Do you have anyone who could inscribe maybe a simple name on the bricks?   That was done by a charity I saw once here in the UK and it makes a donation more personal.

Is there any way you could facilitate being able to donate online?  Does PayPal charge non-profit organisations for the use of its payment system?

Just a few ideas.

[Tinbucket78]

SusieO- Cool ideas and I appreciate the comments.

[Aevanyll]

Hi;

So I was looking at the site, and you may want to put a donation button up front and center.  Another thing, though, is how much is it going to cost to rebuild the clock tower?  How far have you gotten?  I see where it looks like there were a couple of estimates given, but it doesn't say how much those estimates came to be.

 Also, is this going to be a restoration of the full history of the clock tower, meaning it will be gear operated instead of motor-run, or is it just being reassembled but not fully restored?  These would be some good details to include.

I understand some of the details may be on the Facebook or other social media pages you mention, but including them on all sites would probably be a good idea.  And telling us how much has already been raised might elicit some more donations by showing that 'Willardites' actually are invested in the rebuilding of their clock tower.  You can also invoke some emotion with "look at this, we're close!" or "we're halfway there, we can do it!".

Hope this helps,

Aevanyll