Friday, July 25, 2014

Website Review: Hookah Shisha



Business: Hookah Shisha: Selling hookahs, hookah pens, and a variety of hookah products


This is an e-commerce website, focusing on hookah products, obviously.

They don't have a nav bar, all of the categories of the items they sell are listed in a left hand column, which you can scroll down by scrolling down the entire page.

There's a lot of info listed here - plenty of FAQs on the health aspects of hookah pens (if you smoke fruit flavored liquids, that of course is a lot healthier than nicotine!) how old you have to be (18) how to operate the various hookahs  - from the full size ones (over 3 feet tall) to the tiny, portable ones known as hookah pens or hookah sticks.

There are also videos, testimonials, oh, a wide variety of information for you to check out!.

The site suffers from a lack of paragraph breaks.

 

Website Review: Fife Towing - Seattle towing company



Business Name: Fife Service & Towing
URL: http://www.fifetowing.com/services

This is a nice website. Everything designed to be easy to find. The nav bar across the top consists of Home, Commercial Towing, Services, Redeeming a Vehicle, Coupons,  Blog and Contact.

Their blog seems to be updated once a month - and has some good tips there.

Their services are for both normal car owners and for commercial vehicles - i.e. over the road trucks. (And they do tow away for the city, as well.)

They tow cars, motorcycles, 5th wheels, motor homes and containers.

But they do more than that - although this isn't easily seen - just on their services page.

They'll unlock your car for you if you lock yourself out, do pull starts deliver fuel to your car, change your tire, and if you've been a bit too wild and crazy and ended up in a ditch, they'll winch you out.  This Seattle towing company does it all.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Website review: Mr. Sparky of Seattle


Company name: Mister Sparky
URL:      http://www.mistersparkyofseattle.com/                                                                 
Business: West Seattle electrician

This is a nice website - very much an electrician's website, with bright yellow and red colors. Has a slider going across the top offering their on-time guarantee; their promise to be clean, friendly and courteous; and the assurance that they take the qualities of applicants seriously - not everyone off the street is hired to be one of their electricians.

The nav bar across the top is simple to use: About Us, Services, Products, Guarantee, Blog, Appointment, and Contact Us.

Perhaps I'm an old fuddy duddy, but I don't like drop down menus that don't drop down ALL the menus. For example, if you click on the About button you get a drop down for Testimonials. Well, newbies to the net (and even oldies like me) might not realize that the About Us button, clicked on its own, takes people to the About us page.  All sites that I've visited do this - if there's a drop down the top button isn't listed - annoying.

Website Review: Luck's Food Decorating Company

Website Title: Luck's Food Decorating Company
URL: http://www.lucks.com/

There is a general myth that boys like blue, and girls like pink.  Well, I have to say that I really, really don't care for pink, or tan.....or whatever the colors on this site are.

There are lots of delectable edible images on the site. The buttons on the other pages are extremely large... you have to click twice to get to where you want to go...

It's a wholesale e-commerce site, so of course only companies can log in and purchase. Individuals looking to buy items are encouraged to go to their local stores.

They do provide decorating tips for all.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Website review: Pac Rite Inc.



Business name: Pac Rite Inc
URL: http://www.pacriteinc.com/

Pac Rite Inc., produces and sells shipping tubes,  label cores (those small cardboard circular thingies in the middle of a roll of packing tape, or on a roll of sticky labels or something of that nature, and concrete forms - which just means that they recycle concrete somehow into light weight tubing, and converting cores - something I don't actually understand, but I *assume* it means they can produce cores to any size and shape that their customer wants. (Hopefully - and presumably - their potential customers understand this terminology.)

They also do concrete forms. It took me a while to figure out that, too, I have to admit, until the word "forms" clicked. So they do circular tubes strong enough to hold concrete, for businesses that want to make concrete columns or things of that nature. 

Shipping tubes and label cores are within my understanding, and since they produce 100% green products, and can produce these products in a cost -effective way, their prices are reasonable.

Website Review: MIchael Atkins Law



Website title: West Seattle Attorney: Atkins Law Group
URL: http://www.westseattleattorney.com/

West Seattle lawyers include attorney Michael Atkins, who performs family law, estate law, and personal injjury law.  Well, not him alone, obviously, presumably he has several associates who specialize in each particular avenue.

The site is attractive to the eye and pleasing. Nice simple nav bar at the top. Below the fold the branches he specializes in are listed again in more detail. There's a free consultation form, and a Google map.  Simple and elegant.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Hookah Town: Electronic hookah sticks


Hookah Town (url http://www.hookahtown.com/)  is a very "busy" site. It's an e-commerce store, selling a variety of hookahs, from the full size version to the tiny, portable hookah sticks (also known as hookah pens).

The logo is teeny tiny in the left hand corner - very easy to not notice. Their left hand size nav bar needs some work as well.

Other than that, it's a typical e-commerce site. They've got about a hundred products, such as replaceable cartridges for the hookah pins, or new hookah sticks if you prefer the disposable kind.

Hookahs have been used for centuries to vaporize nicotine in order to smoke - you may have seen Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes smoking a hookah in a turkish bath in one of his episodes, and kids will have seen the caterpillar in the 1950s Alice in Wonderland smoke a hookah and blow smoke rings. (He's doing this in the book as well).

These days, people who are concerned about the harmful effects of nicotine will use fruit-flavored liquid cartridges instead.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Website Review: Premier Roofing


Nashville roofing companies include Premier Roofing.

URL:
http://www.premierroofingtn.com/ 

Their nav bar consists of: Home, About Us, Services, Blog, Photos, Testimonials and Contact Us.

They do roofing for both residential and commercial (i.e. business) roofs.

The do new roofs, re-roofs (i.e. tear off and recovers) repairs, and gutters and downspouts. They will also remove debris from the roof.

Premiere Roofing is one of the local Nashville roofing companies - which means they know all about Tennessee weather.

They're accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and are on Facebook and Twitter. Although they have a Pinterest button it is not yet active.
 

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Website Review: Budget Rooter

If you're looking for plumbers in Mason County or plumbers in Pierce County, one plumbing company that services in all areas is Budget Rooter.

I liked these guys immediately, when I saw (under their sponsorship tag) that they offer discounts to the military and to senior citizens.

But more than that, they're really involved in the community, sponsoring local kids sports teams, for example the Blue Jacket’s baseball organization and Pee Wee football.

And of course they offer plumbing services too. They give free estimates, so if you're looking for plumbers in Mason County or plumbers in Pierce County, it might be worthwhile giving them a call to see what they can do for you.

They use their blog for customer testimonials rather than for fascinating articles on local plumbing issues,  but I suppose it's one good use of the space!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Website review: Snowater Lodge, Mt. Baker, Washington


If you're looking for Mt. Baker lodging, think about Snowater Lodge.

I certainly am.

Next year, I'm going to travel through all fifty states, and I'm  making my plans now. So I've been spending a lot of time on the web, searching out lodgings in the various states near the places I want to visit.

Snowater lodge is located on the Nooksack River, "surrounded by beauty" according to their website... but without internet!

Well, you can't expect internet in certain remote areas, even in the USA> so that's no problem.

I'm up for a little beauty.

I looked at Mt. Baker lodging and decided Snowater was pretty attractive = not to mention I like the name.

If you're planning on going to Washington State, chances are you'll fly into Seattle, From there, the mountain ranges are your oyster!

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Website review: Chris's Country Essence



One feature I'm going to add is to do website reviews as well as blog reviews, and we're going to start with Chris's Country Essence, a site that offers a variety of products from the honeybee, from beeswax candles to bee pollen enriched products.

These days, "natural" is in.

I've been reading up on the Paleo diet, for example, which advocates us going back to the diet are Stone Age ancestors used.  And this was *before* land cultivation came in - so no grains, no corn, no bread, etc.

But the science behind it seems pretty sound.

Then there's organic and natural stuff like beeswax pillar candles, or cute little beeswax candles in the shapes of teddy bears, beehives, or even bees. (Pretty large bees, obviously - pretty scary if they were real!!!!)

According to the site, "Chris's Country Essence is the leading supplier in Bee Pollen Enriched products, a very fast growing category of body wash products. Bee Pollen Enriched products come unheated, unfiltered, and unprocessed; this leaves bee pollen enriched body wash and shampoos with all of the natural enzymes, vitamins and minerals!"

So, if you're looking to remove today's excessive additive-stuffed products from your shelves and your lives and go back to natural stuff, check out this site.


Website review: Thrive Nutrition



Thrive Nutrition is a site dedicated to helping people improve their health by finding out what they eat and modifying their diet. Nutritional therapy is the key here.

URL: http://thrivemindandbody.com/main/

Location: Seattle, Washington

Business: Local only

The nav bar consists of Home, About, Blog, Services and Contact buttons.

From Janice's website:

The key when consulting a nutritional therapist is to understand what works best for you and implement a strategy that calls on the body’s natural propensity for wellness to bring about the desired results.
It's an attractive site, lots of photos of fresh fruit and vegetables.



Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Website Review: Benton Development


Benton Development is a Seattle custom home builders site.

Their nav bar consists of Home, About us, Photo galleries, Services, and Contact us pages.

Their services page lists a great deal of what they do:

Architectural design of the house
Permits and inspections
Foundating and concrete
Framing
Plumbing
Electrical
Roofing
and of course permits and inspections


On their About us page, they list a great deal many more services.

In addition to building new homes, they also remodel older homes, and build on additions such as decks and patios.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Website Review: Turtle Trove Ancestry



Website: Turtle Trove Ancestry
URL: http://www.turtletroveancestry.com

In business since: 2012

This is a nice site. I particularly like the fact that their logo, the turtle, has a shell in the shape of a heart.

They are ancestry researchers, who specialize in preparing the family tree book. Basically the book just puts together all of your family history, including photographs and other interesting objects, and prints several nice copies to give out to relatives.

Their nav bar consists of Home, About Us, Services, Links, Upcoming events, Blog and contact pages.

The links page has links to heritage societies, like the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons and Daughters of the Oregon Trail, and so on.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Back in business...

I have to apologize to all my loyal readers who have been waiting around, wondering where my blog reports were!

Well, I'm back in business and will be reviewing at least one blog a week from now on - hopefully more than that.

So please stay tuned.