"I specialize in web and graphic design" This statement is in the second paragraph. If I were to click on your site looking for web design, I really doubt if I would read this text. Placing this statement in the header would instantly tell me what this site is about. In Internet marketing you have about 1-3 seconds to grab the readers attention before they click back out. Mike
Your site is certainly "simply refreshing"...with the design and color definitely refreshing to the eyes...great... i agree with drig you have to improve your backlinks...improve your link popularity as upon checking your google backlinks shows 0... i think what Mike meant is that put something on that banner that will say what exactly your site is...for visitors sake...you have to optimize your site not only for SEs but for your visitors...
I've expect to be accepted into about 40 directories very shortly - is that near enough? If not, which of those hundreds of submission threads is a good one to go with?