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conservatorysurveyor
06-07-2011, 11:04 AM
Hi all

I've just launched my first website (conservatorysurveyor.co.uk) and i could do with some unbiased reviews. I know its not a real professional site but I'm just learning.
Thanks in anticipation

steve

KristineS
06-07-2011, 01:07 PM
The first thing I'd do is get rid of the Google ads on the bottom of your site. They're just an option to pull people away from your site, and they don't tend to make a site look very professional.

Also, what's the link to the Hot vs. Not Directory? I think you need to get rid of stuff like that as it detracts from your message.

vangogh
06-07-2011, 01:14 PM
Welome to the forum Steve. Here are a few thoughts after taking a quick look through your site.

Overall it seems fine. I won't say it's anything special or memorable, but it's certainly laid out well and presents a professional image. I'd think twice about the light text on a darker background. In general I don't have a hard time reading, but it's not as easy to read were it dark text on a light background, which provides better contrast.

The text on the home page reads too much about you and not enough about me. Put the focus on your customer. The second paragraph has a space to start which I assume is a type. I also think there's more info on the page than necessary. Some of it might work better on pages dedicated to the information. Your home page doesn't need to close the sale. It mainly needs to direct people deeper into the site where they want to go.

The planning page content could use some hierarchy. I'd like to see some headlines to make the page easier to scan. It looks like the content is mainly a list, but it's not presented as a list. It's presented as single sentence paragraphs with too much space in between. It doesn't come across as inviting to read.

The AdSense ads at the bottom of some pages looks cheesy and it's more likely to drive away some potential customers than make any significant money. I'd drop it entirely.

You might be asking for too much information on the quote form. I think a better approach would be a simple contact form. You can get the rest of the information later. If you do want to keep the full quote form at least offer a simple contact form as well. Usually the more information you ask for on a form the less likely the form gets filled out.

On the main pricing page I think more details would help. You don't need to show everything on that page, but a little more than the image and name would be nice. On the more detailed pricing pages the text is hard to read. You should set the text as text instead of being part of an image. That will improve the readability and also make the content readable for search engines. Similar for the table of prices, which also needs more space between columns and rows.

Speaking of search engines your page titles could be better. Other than your home page every page title should be rewritten. A page title of "services" isn't descriptive enough and won't help at all with search engines. A better title might be

Detailed Conservatory Drawings and Planning | Conservatory Surveyor

Your logo could be more interesting. It's fine being all text, but in that case maybe add some color. Right now it's looks drab as all gray and bold.

Hope the above helps.

tylerhutchinson
06-07-2011, 10:31 PM
First, lose adsense. Those are maybe acceptable on blogs but not professional websites. I think the home page is alright. A little too much detail on the company and somewhat overwhelming when you first go on. I would push a lot of that to an "about the company" page instead and keep the home page simple with a brief description of what you company provides with some nice design/layouts to draw the customer in.

I think the products page is good. What I would suggest in the quotes page is instead of asking your 20 questions, put a drop down of the designs you have on your products page and then supply an option of other for someone who wants custom with a section at the bottom for them to put free notes in. If I want a quick quote I do not want tohave to spend 10 min filling out that info.

Other than that I would work on SEO for each page to help get up on google. Just looking at the layout It looks like you can build and expand on it.

Hope this helps.

websonalized
06-13-2011, 01:29 AM
I don't like the dark backgrounds, I think it is difficult to pull off and still look professional (yours does not :( )

Also, I would do away with ads. Also, not very professional

DeniseTaylor
06-16-2011, 04:53 PM
Hi Steve

I agree with the above recommendations, but had some thoughts on the content itself.

From looking at your pages and choice of page titles, etc., it appears that your plan is to drive traffic to this site using offline promotions, maybe some advertising and/or Google adwords. Or perhaps this is just an online presence (brochure), but not really intended as a heavily leveraged marketing tool. Which is totally fine. Local businesses operate that way every day and it works.

Get a listing in Google places and find some ways to promote yourself online through local websites to augment your offline efforts. If you expect search engine traffic, you've got more work to do, which I won't go into here.

However, if this site is going to "sell" your services, it's a bit dry.

If it were me, I would get more creative with your content. Even if it might seem silly to you, creating an emotional impact works very well online. It pulls people in.

Just stating features like (and these aren't your words, just examples out of my head): "20 years experience," "financing available," etc., is flat and probably cliche. Unless someone is specifically looking for what you're selling, your site probably won't be very effective for lead generation.

It's not that you shouldn't state those things, but it probably won't make them eager to have one or even want to get more information.

What I would do on the home page, is describe what it's like to have a conservatory and the benefits of doing so. I don't have one, so I'm guessing, but that could be something like - and I would lay it on thick: :)

"Family memories created in a beautiful room that can be used no matter the weather. . . "

"A lifetime of value, not only for your family, but for your home's equity as well . . . "

"Peace and tranquility for sun filled days and quiet nights come from having your own conservatory . . . "

As I said, I don't know much about conservatories, so I'm guessing. But you're the expert and know how these structures are used and how people enjoy them.

Put yourself in their shoes and tell them why they would want one. Really work it and create mental pictures with your words. Make your grammar clean and your spelling perfect.

Then once you have the benefits down, including the emotions, lead them to "the click." Do this by carefully positioning links in your content for the styles, then pricing, then how easy it is to own one, etc. and finally onto the free quote form or contact information.

I know it's not that easy, but if you could do that, whoever sees your site is going to want to know if it's possible to get one. At that point, 80% of your sales efforts have been done for you.

And that's the power of a site that sells. :-)