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Jambruins
08-03-2010, 04:00 PM
Please give me suggestions/adivce on my website. Moser Engineering | Civil & Structural Engineering (http://www.jmoserengineering.com). I am very new running a website so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

cbscreative
08-03-2010, 05:43 PM
Hey, James, welcome aboard. I'll leave room for others to comment on your site. I saw your user name and just thought I'd say hello.

lav
08-04-2010, 06:14 AM
I am very new running a website so any help would be appreciated Given your statement above I think you have made a good start, The header images I think should extend to the total width of the black bar you have (it looks kinda odd as it is). As far as your content goes Im sure what you have is just a start, my instant thoughts once I read through each page was that there is nothing that really sets you apart from anyone else, there is nothing that tells me why I should choose you as opposed to the next guy.

Explaining a lot more about the process of what you do and how it all works will add trust within the visitor that you know what you are talking about. Most people who would be looking online for your services would most likely be searching for more information and as it stands the info you have is not that much more informative than a small brochure or even business card .... I think you will find visitors leaving very quickly.

I would also have your links down the side of your page open in a new window so you arent just sending people away from your site........ thats all I can think of on the spot....

KristineS
08-04-2010, 01:33 PM
I would also agree that the pictures should extend all the way across the black bar at the top.

The main thing I took away from the site was exactly what Lav said. There's no sales copy there. Why would I want to work with you as opposed to another engineering company? Do you have smarter engineers? Have you received awards? Do your customers like you well enough to give a testimonial? What can you do for me that other companies can't, and how can you make my life easier?

I think the links on the right hand side are a great idea, but I would agree with Lav that it might be nice if they opened a second window. That way your potential customers could get the information that wanted without forgetting the site from which they came. You also might consider doing more of that sort of thing, provide people with a list of permits or licenses they'll need to get the work they want done, talk about the steps necessary for setting up a job, basically educate people about how to work with you in the guise of telling them how to make things easier for themselves.

It's a good start on a site, and I don't think it's necessarily bad, I just think there's a lot more that could be done with it.

vangogh
08-04-2010, 07:02 PM
I think you're off to a good start too. I see you're running WordPress and using a slightly customized version of the Twenty Ten theme that comes with WordPress. I agree completely with Jason about the header image. It was the first thing I noticed. Make sure it's the same width as the original header image. Otherwise it will look odd.

I too agree about the lack of content in general. As it stands now the site sees very empty and there's little reason to stick around or contact you. On your home page tell me more about you and your services. On your about page tell me more about you and your employees. Show me pictures of everyone so I feel like I know you. You probably have happy customers so why not get some of them to write testimonials and add a page to your site.

On your services page instead of just listing your services tell me a little more about them and also why I should hire you instead of some other company in town.

I'm going to disagree with Jason about the links in the sidebar opening in a new window. I generally think that's a bade idea, though it's ok to do it as long as you mention the link will open a new window. I'm also not sure the sidebar is the best place for them. It's encouraging people to leave your site so why not just create a page or pages and list the links there. Most people visiting your site aren't going to need or want to see that information (at least not right away) so I wouldn't make it so prominent. Better use of that space might be a contact form and/or a small biographical paragraph about your or the company.

Mostly the site needs more content than it has right now.

By the way I earned a degree in civil engineering (with a focus on structural engineering) a few hours west of you at SUNY Buffalo. One of my aunts went to school for teaching in your town too. Yes, I'm originally from New York.

wickedpro
08-15-2010, 03:52 PM
I think its awesome you are working on editing a wordpress template, that is a good way to start out. I am going to agree with everyone else and say you need more content to really fill out your site. But I also think you could work on your design more also. I think you could add more details also maybe some gradients. Just my two cents. Keep working on it.

Spider
08-15-2010, 09:29 PM
As an engineer, you are likely to be great at brevity. Unfortunately, that doesn't do well on the web, as the above comments made clear. I suggest you hire a copywriter.