PDA

View Full Version : Please review my site



nealrm
02-02-2009, 07:46 AM
The new site is up and ready for review. Please stop by and tell me what you think. I would like comments on the navigation, speed, features and general appearance.

The site is geared towards selling real estate. So let me know what you think about how the properties are displayed. Also, the pages are setup to adjust to 100% width for all screens. Let me know how that works out.

Site Link: HouseViewOnline (http://www.houseviewonline.com/default2.asp)

rezzy
02-02-2009, 08:23 AM
Well first consideration, you homepage is using flash, so sure there isnt any need for flash to work. I dont have flash installed, so make sure I am not missing anything important.

The footer text at the bottom is a little to small, and is using the default color scheme, try changing this to some other color, to match your color scheme.

The acutal home pages is good. May add a few images on the main page, to help intice them. The additional photos is a nice touch, when I click inside or outside, is it opening a new page? On Firefox, it made a new tab and resized my window. Is this what you intended?

The photo viewer is well thought out and functional. This could be a space for a slideshow viewer, to spruce up the feel.

I also like the top 10 listing, how the hover makes a bigger picture appear. What is the top 10 based on?

The search listing, I really dont like. These type of navigation systems, where you highlight something then move over and get the part are always difficult and the scroll list doesnt help me to see the full listing.

Browser Results========
Take a look at the shots I took. When I ran it on my personal machine, using IE 6, it didnt look right, when I ran it from a website, it shows ok. So, I need to look into it.

KristineS
02-02-2009, 01:17 PM
Your menus are really, really small and at the bottom of the page. I get that the purpose of the site is to sell the houses, but you also want to make it easy for people to figure out how to list their house and how to contact you. Right now the site doesn't do that.

If most of the listings come from agencies that may not be a problem. Also, if your goal is to generate money through advertising and not through listings that may not be a problem. If, however, you generate revenue through adding listings to the site, than you might want to make it easier for people to figure out how to list.

nealrm
02-02-2009, 02:01 PM
Rezzy, KristineS,
Thank you both for the comments. I'm going to increase the fonts size and color scheme on the footer links. (KristinS, is that what you are calling the menus?)

Rezzy
- The flash shows some additional listings ad, other general ads and the current weather. The site is still functional without it.
- The top ten is based on the 10 most resently added listings to the site. Normaly listings are added once or twice a day, but with the latest ice storm that has not been possible.
- I like the idea of a slideshow on the listing page. I'll probably add it as a feature in the furture.
- I'm going to take a second (or fifth) looks at those right side menus. There should be a better way.
- I didn't see any snap shots. Were they attached to your post or emailed to me?

KristineS,
- We only accept listing through real estate agents. Questions from the public about specific listings are also routed directly to the agents. So having the public contact us is of lower priority. Question: Is the text below the slide show clear in directing sellers to contact thier real estate agents. Your comment makes me wonder if I need to reword that paragraph.

General Question: I have viewed the site using IE6 at home and away. The pages displayed very differently on the two computers. Are there different versions of IE6 that render pages differently?

rezzy
02-02-2009, 02:58 PM
General Question: I have viewed the site using IE6 at home and away. The pages displayed very differently on the two computers. Are there different versions of IE6 that render pages differently?

I am starting to get that idea. I viewed it on an early IE6 and it didnt look good, then I checked it elsewhere(IE 6) and it looks fine.

No I didnt attach the images, I will do that later on.

I think you should reword the top ten then, to recent listings. Its more descriptive. Top ten means something else to people.

Just H
02-02-2009, 04:25 PM
Hi Neal, I'm viewing in Firefox and seeing a few things right off. The changing ad is overlapping the house listings on the left and pushing the main content way down so the middle of the page looks blank until you scroll down. Also, when I click on say, Townhouses, that text is all running into the right column and the headings (like MLS No.) is not consistent and doesn't stay within the gray bar. These seem to be mostly version differences that I'm seeing on all pages.

In the middle under the changing house videos the red of that heading vs the smaller ones below looks much more orange. This matches the orange of the # of listings currently online but I think the same red or another color might look better.

I'm not a big fan of centered text as it's supposedly not as professional - I can see why you centered though because of the placement on the page. I'd still align left I think. This goes for property descriptions as well.

The image of the name of the site is pretty small and a bit fuzzy. I see you used a jpg. Generally w/ text, I find that gifs or pngs are much sharper. It doesn't seem to identify the site real well to me. The image for Open House is a little fuzzy too but not too bad.

I like the way you have quick searches to the houses by price range. It seems pretty straight-forward but I think it might stand out a little more if there were a dollar sign on the button.

The pop-up images on the top ten properties is a nice feature and helps the user to let them know by price, location and look of the house on which they want to click and look further. My only question on that would be, what does Top Ten mean? I see you answered that already but it's not clear looking at the site.

I think calling the sidebar Advertisements may turn people off. Maybe: Local Merchants or ??? I'm not sure.

Overall, looks pretty good and can see you've put a lot of work into it. Hope this helps.

nealrm
02-02-2009, 04:44 PM
Thanks JustH,
What version of FF are you using and what is your screen resolution?

Just H
02-02-2009, 05:09 PM
Firefox 3.0.5, screen resolution 1280x800.

KristineS
02-02-2009, 09:42 PM
Rezzy, KristineS,

KristineS,
- We only accept listing through real estate agents. Questions from the public about specific listings are also routed directly to the agents. So having the public contact us is of lower priority. Question: Is the text below the slide show clear in directing sellers to contact thier real estate agents. Your comment makes me wonder if I need to reword that paragraph.



You might want to reword that. If I understand this properly, and it's possible I don't, the text on the homepage is aimed at people who are on the site looking for a home because they want to move and are trying to sell their own? If the listings are coming from real estate agents, why aren't you talking to them instead of to the homeowners? I guess I'm a bit confused who you're trying to reach and why.

nealrm
02-03-2009, 07:03 AM
If the listings are coming from real estate agents, why aren't you talking to them instead of to the homeowners?
All the real estate agents in the area already know us and most use our services. Our advertising is now aimed are reinforcing the idea that we are the leading real estate site in southeast Missouri. The best way to do that is to have their clients (Home seller/buyers) tell them they want to be listed or they saw a home on HouseViewOnline.


If I understand this properly, and it's possible I don't, the text on the homepage is aimed at people who are on the site looking for a home because they want to move and are trying to sell their own?
The text is aimed at home sellers.

vangogh
02-03-2009, 01:32 PM
Neal I feel like I've seen the site before when helping with the css :)

First I'll echo most of the comments above. I'll emphasize to align the text instead of centering it. Nothing screams amateur more than centering the text for your main copy. Try to have most page elements align with each other in some ways. For example look how much cleaner the left column looks because all the images are aligned, etc. In the left column the centering works fine for the listings. Shorter lines of text and also because the images are aligned well breaking from the alignment works better.

The content on the site is very busy. When I first land on the page my eye isn't sure where to look. I realize you have a lot of information to present, but do you need to present it all as soon as someone arrives on the site.

The buttons on the top left could be turned into dropdowns, reducing them to two and making it more obvious what those buttons really do, which is refine a search for property. You could even combine it with the search in the right column.

You could also show the top 5 listings instead of the top 10. Maybe people do click those, but I would think more people would first try to narrow down what they're looking for through a search.

Your logo doesn't stand out for me at all. I've looked at the page several times in the last few minutes and I couldn't tell you what the company name is. I'd redesign your current logo and make it more prominent on the site.

The design itself looks tired to me. It's something I would have seen several years ago. There's nothing wrong with using an old design, but it probably won't help you stand out from your competition.

Looking at the page I assume the goal is to get someone to start searching through your listings. If so why not make that more of a focus. Instead of having small searches in the two sidebars why not create a larger search form in the main content area. Your home page could be little more than a search box and some drop down options to help people find what they want.

The current information you have on the home page reads more like an about page and a page to convince real estate agents to list with you. Neither really needs to be on the home page. Again assuming the main thing you want people to do when they land on the site is begin searching for properties, make that the focus. You could really move everything from the left column into the main column and move what's in the main column to links in the left hand column that point to a dedicated about page and a dedicated sales page.

That would make the page less busy and help people get to what they want quicker.

Is the weather really necessary in the right hand column. What does it add to the site. Is there anyone at this point that wants weather information that doesn't have some kind of weather application or widget right on their desktop. It seems more like something you added to fill space than for any specific reason.

Just H
02-03-2009, 01:45 PM
Just reading through Steve's comments and think that making the search more apparent and stand out - if that's the main action you want the viewer to take - is a very good point. I've searched for properties many times here in Colorado and want to point out one of the main sites I use and hopefully be of some help in your mission. Here it is: ColoProperty.com (http://www.coloproperty.com/)

I find it very easy to use, is clean and uncluttered, clear search options with different options to search by and clearly points the user to start with that action. Hope that helps a little!

nealrm
02-03-2009, 09:49 PM
Thanks everyone, I'm looking into how to incorporate your suggestions. I'm not sure how far I want to move from the current site. It is very popular and I do not want the shock the user base.

vangogh
02-04-2009, 12:43 AM
It is very popular and I do not want the shock the user base.

No reason you should change if the site is working. No matter what any of us think or say in the end what counts is what your visitors think and say. They're the ones who use the site regularly.

Is there a way you could ask them directly or at least a few of them to get their thoughts. They'll probably have some good suggesting based on how people actually use and interact with the site.

nealrm
02-04-2009, 07:46 AM
No reason you should change if the site is working. No matter what any of us think or say in the end what counts is what your visitors think and say. They're the ones who use the site regularly.

The site is getting dated and needs a face lift. Click on a link in my signature and stop by.


Is there a way you could ask them directly or at least a few of them to get their thoughts. They'll probably have some good suggesting based on how people actually use and interact with the site.
My plan is the have the site reviewed here for the technical aspects. Generally to make sure everything functioned properly and that is didn't miss anything.

Step 2 is a release to all the real estate agents in the area. They will provide feedback on the features, how the properties are listed, etc.

Step 3 is a beta release to the public. A notice will be placed on the current site stating "See the new HouseViewOnlie". I will have a poll on the site for feedback.

Step 4, replacement of the current site. The old site will still be available for those how wish to use it.

jem
02-04-2009, 09:45 AM
I echo most of the comments.

The one question I would ask is who is it aimed at and what action do you want them to take? Reading the posts it sounds (mainly) like home buyers and you want them to search for houses.

So, for example, when Barnes & Noble redesigned their site they ran a bunch of focus groups and discovered that VAST majority of people already either knew the name of the book or the author. And they quickly wanted to find it and buy it - they didn't want to 'browse' a la a bookestore. They streamlined the design so that it was really easy to do that. Obviously all the other 'stuff' is still there but you can get in, search, buy and be done lickitty split (sp?).

So I would say move your site to that paradigm - assuming they want to search, make it super easy (BTW love the fast-search buttons top-left). The rest of the text which is the main page should be somewhere else i.e. not front and center.....

And you don't need to do it all at once - a change here, a change there, soon you'll have it where you want!

I also echo the comment re capturing names/email's - I understand your primary biz model but "There's money in the list" - I would find some way to get that - the value of a list of active home searchers is (I am guessing) pretty good!!!

Just my morning rant - but hope it helps. Remember what they say about opinions....!!!
Simon

rezzy
02-04-2009, 10:18 AM
How old would you say the current look is?

Just H
02-04-2009, 10:21 AM
Neal, I'm definitely not saying you should throw the whole thing out either. I'm sure you know what's working. For me, I've done lots of house searching for myself and when I was working with a small team that did fix-and-flips. So just trying to point out some things on sites that I thought were great aspects when we were doing lots of searches. Hope we're helping - certainly not trying to tell you everything should be different.

As already stated, I think it would definitely help to get some feedback from your main target audience. They will give the best responses on layout, ease of use, clear search and navigation, what non-related items they like/don't like. Just keep asking and using what you can!

jem
02-04-2009, 10:31 AM
Neal

You have a typo in the URL on your sig (missing n) both in the text and actual URL

Simon

nealrm
02-04-2009, 01:43 PM
Thanks again everyone.

The suggestion are all good. It appears there is a small glitch with some early versions of IE6 that I need to work out, and maybe an issue with small browser screens. I also think i'm going to change wording a little, change the text alignment, rename the top 10 list and move some of the front page elsewhere. Once completed I'm going to release the trial version to the Realtors and get feedback from them on how the site functions.

@Rezzy - The site was founded 10 years ago. The layout has not changed much since.

rezzy
02-04-2009, 01:53 PM
@Rezzy - The site was founded 10 years ago. The layout has not changed much since.

Wow, I amazed but that explains alot of the growing pains with css layouts and the old stylings. The web 10 yrs ago was quite different then it is today. I imagine you have introduced a few features here and there but the site is indeed ready for an overhaul.

I also noticed its running ASP, does ASP have support for master pages, or use any type of templating engine. I know ASP.net does, but this is a more recent version.