Wanna Rate Another Website

Master Mechanic

http://www.aiellocontracting.com

After 7 years I felt it was about time. It's still in its really rough stages, but I think I'm happy with the direction I'm going with it.

I'm fine tuning the mission statement and I need to add a lot more pics and the whole FAQ section, but its a nice start,

Larry

silvertree

Honestly, cut back on the little boy growing up to be a carpenter stuff. And the Mission Statement needs to be shorter, separate your statement from your service areas.
Remember its what do you have for the customer.
Too much red.
I like your story, but make it a small article away from your services.

Pictures are great.

Shorter MS one sentence if you can
We promise our clients clear communication and exemplary service.

__________________
Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
203K Loan Consultant Minnesota

Master Mechanic

I would love to cut back on the little boy stuff, but I think it drives the point that the trade is my passion and I knew it since I wa a little kid. Actually, every client I I tell about how I knew what I was going to be when I grew up impresses them and takes me a lot more seriously. A lot of guys in the trade go into construction because its there only fall back. Out of 100 contractors I meet in my area(philly metro) maybe 10 are actually true professionals.

My idea with my site is, less is more. I'm going the way of google on my home page. Simple, clean, and you can see everything you need without scrolling down at all on the home page. From research, you have 5 seconds to pull a potential client in. I can read my entire home page in way less than 5 seconds. Thats my goal, less is more, if I researched wrong, someone please let me know.

The red is a powerful color and with the white lettering makes everything easy to read.

Thanks for the feedback though, appreciate it

silvertree

OK, I understand the reason for the story, when your younger older people love that kind of stuff. I was building 2 story forts before I was 12. So I have a similar background.
The mission statement needs work.
White letters on red hurts some peoples eyes, maybe some of the other CT guys will chime in on this.
On the other hand, good luck on your business

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Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
203K Loan Consultant Minnesota

Mr. Mike

I hate it if you want the truth,

Very hard to navigate, if I was looking for a contractor I would want to see a page for a roof or an addition or what ever I am looking for. This website is more like an enlarged business card not like an office that prospects are hoping to look in to. An about us page and missions page is not a good intro page for people they want to see results or at least ideas and from the home page you can pick one of those to go in to or a gallery. It would be good if the home page as shown below had pages for each of the four things it says you do.




Less may be more like you say, but since you asked for opinions I can't hold back this is just an enlarged business card you need options on this page.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

Mr. Mike

-5

Sorry I just went back in and looked and I hate it again. The red/white don't work at all. And since all the pages are home missions and about us I jsut can't see you getting any jobs from having this website. People only want to read that stuff after they have decided to think about getting a price from you, they don't read that and then decide to get a price, I would think you were selling a book if I google for a trim guy and landed on that page, it would not make it 10 seconds. And the odds of that page being ever found by google are very slim.


I am trying to help, I swear my first site sucked way worse than any of yours could ever look.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

karunnt

Hi Master Mechanic,

Congratulations on starting a business.

One thing you can try is look up other businesses' websites and criticize them.

Look at other contractors, plumbers, hair salons etc. and see what it is about them that you don't like. Look at five plumbers, five hair salons, five lawyers etc. Then write these points down.

We are too close to our businesses and it's best to look at it from a customer's point of view.

For example, who knows what this means:

'Philadelphia Business # 36781 Commonwealth of PA HIC # 000815'

You should explain this and why it is important.

Just my 2c

Mr. Mike

Dang I feel to harsh, sorry I like the motivation behind your website I want to thank you for your prospects for trying to get out there and help them find you. I just want you to relook this over so that you can maximize the time you will spend building this thing.

I hope I was helpful.

__________________
Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

Master Mechanic

Thats cool, I have looked at many sites and what I'm gathering, it takes me a long time to find there number and name of there company. Or it looks like a half fast cookie cutter template that was thrown together in 5 minutes.

I've been in business since 2002 and if you read the about us and mission statement you would of found that out.

What I also do is research, a lot of research. Like I said in an earlier post, with our trade, less is more. People like to see the word bath or kitchen. What I do, I'm an home improvement contractor. I'm not overwhelming the potential client with a ton of info. People get discouraged with an abundance of info. I'm not a show off or I would have my video of me being on TV plastered on the home page.

All people want today is a contractor that is licenced, insured can speak english and can carry out a conservation.

I happen to work on higher end homes 650k+ so my work is higher end. I'm not looking for a 5k bath or a 10k kitchen. My average kitchen runs between 30-60k. My baths run form 10-30+K.

I just feel a contractors website is like a business card + an information folder. Most of my clients are well edcuated white collar professionals.

I guess my question should be, can you see my phone number and business name. After that, can you see what my niche is? If I get a lot of, well ya, but, it don't matter, I did my job because like I said also earlier, all I have is 5 seconds to make the person see my name, what I do and my business number,

Larry

buildpinnacle

Constructive criticism....hire a professional. I had a 'homestead' self site for 3 years and I was really proud of it. In reality, I never sold one job off the site. I hired Footbridge Media to design, host, and market my site about 6 months ago and have already sold enough business off of their efforts to pay for their fees for the next three years if I don't sell another job. We expect people to hire the pros when it comes to remodeling their homes, so why should we be so vain to try to save a few bucks and handle something as powerful and important as great web presentation. Maybe it's just me, but I would actually see no site at all than the blanket business card text sites like you get from the yellow page people. You need content, content, and more content looped in with easy navigation. If your site never changes or updates articles, etc. why would people come back....or recommend it to a friend. I want my website to be a tool for my potential clients. Not just an internet sales brochure.

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silvertree

Maybe your right, let us know how your website is doing in the future.

__________________
Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
203K Loan Consultant Minnesota

buildpinnacle

Funny, that is what I thought when I pulled your site up. Very template. Very cookie cutter. You have the right gear and drive to get on the net, just pull the trigger and spend some money. It will pay you back tenfold.

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Handymanservice

You stated:
"Thats cool, I have looked at many sites and what I'm gathering, it takes me a long time to find there number and name of there company. Or it looks like a half fast cookie cutter template that was thrown together in 5 minutes. Spelling and proper usage is very important!

I've been in business since 2002 and if you read the about us and mission statement you would of found that out. Be nice, you asked for help and then throw it back for him missing this point?

What I also do is research, a lot of research. Like I said in an earlier post, with our trade, less is more. People like to see the word bath or kitchen. What I do, I'm an home improvement contractor. I'm not overwhelming the potential client with a ton of info. People get discouraged with an abundance of info. I'm not a show off or I would have my video of me being on TV plastered on the home page. Is this factual research or your opinion? I believe if you look at a lot of the websites on this forum, information, and tons of it, is what most contractors customers are looking for. When was the last time you were looking for something, went to the website and said "Sh!t, why are they giving me so much damn information, I only wanted to get their phone number! I personally devour the information on websites when I am interested in something, I want to know everything I want to know, at 2:00 a.m. and then decide if I want to call them.

All people want today is a contractor that is licenced, insured can speak english and can carry out a conservation. ????

I happen to work on higher end homes 650k+ so my work is higher end. I'm not looking for a 5k bath or a 10k kitchen. My average kitchen runs between 30-60k. My baths run form 10-30+K. Working on higher end homes does not make your work higher end, your work does! If you are doing these jobs, you are really doing yourself a disservice with this site, you should have a bad a$$ site that rocks and is professionally designed.

I just feel a contractors website is like a business card + an information folder. Most of my clients are well edcuated white collar professionals.
You are not giving them an experience worthy of their education then. Build a site that caters to this clientele and you can only expect better results in the future.

I guess my question should be, can you see my phone number and business name. You didn't need us for that question. After that, can you see what my niche is? No If I get a lot of, well ya, but, it don't matter, I did my job because like I said also earlier, all I have is 5 seconds to make the person see my name, what I do and my business number,"
A website is so much more. It is too bad you feel this way, if you build a great site, you will be a resource for your clients. You will create a destination, possibly, for them to tell their friends about and do their research for future jobs. They will feel comfortable spending time on your site and feel it was time well spent.

silvertree "Maybe your right, let us know how your website is doing in the future."
Then again, Paul has a Point, good luck Larry.

__________________
"You can shear a sheep every year, but you can only skin him once!" Remember that when dealing with your customers and pricing.

http://www.yourhandymansite.com

StefanC

I think you could really benefit from a professional designer. You seem like you have a lot to say to the potential customer but you need an easier to understand way to convey it. I know of a designer who is local to you who would probably put something together for you for a reasonable price, she did my site and I'm very happy with it.

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www.sccustompainting.com

Master Mechanic

I guess "its really in the rough stages" was glanced over haha!

It's funny, I've been a lurker on Contractor Talk for a long time with a few posts here and there. I knew I'd get the most negative not positive constructive criticisim in these forums. Like I said, I'm looking forward to ALL feedback and the contractor talk's bubble of regulars would sure not let me down.

Also, if your giving feedback, click through, the 5 pages.

When I send the site to regular people, not contractors, they think its pretty clean and to the point.

Don't have much time this morning but, I agree, hire a professional. I have set aside around $2500 to hire a professional for the beginning stages. I actually tried to hire a few people to make the site, but every template they showed me, I hated. Thats why I'm making the site so the person I hire know what I want in the site. Gotta start somewhere. The best site I saw on here was the painter that also serves the same area I live in. I forgot the name of the company but I think its on the 2nd page of this thread. I wonder how much he spent to get it to where he wants. The only thing that rubs me the wrong way on this site is the stock photos! I just become detached from any contractor site that has it. Plus, being different never hurt anyone.

Like I said in my 1st post, its a rough template of what I want for my site. The colors, my logos, my literature, pics, faq's.

As for cookie cutter, I'm talking about the stock photos. Some stock photos look nice and all, but a lot more look cheap and turn me off.

I have probably over a year of work on the website until I'll be happy with it.

StefanC

Is it me? I'm local to you but all my photos are from my jobs.

__________________
www.sccustompainting.com

RidgeWalker

"What I also do is research, a lot of research. Like I said in an earlier post, with our trade, less is more. People like to see the word bath or kitchen. What I do, I'm an home improvement contractor. I'm not overwhelming the potential client with a ton of info. People get discouraged with an abundance of info. I'm not a show off or I would have my video of me being on TV plastered on the home page. Is this factual research or your opinion? I believe if you look at a lot of the websites on this forum, information, and tons of it, is what most contractors customers are looking for. When was the last time you were looking for something, went to the website and said "Sh!t, why are they giving me so much damn information, I only wanted to get their phone number! I personally devour the information on websites when I am interested in something, I want to know everything I want to know, at 2:00 a.m. and then decide if I want to call them."

Actually there is a lot of truth to his statement about being overwhelmed by information on a web site.

You have to walk a fine line by offering just enough information to keep people on your site AND drive them to take action, and putting way to much information on your web site that makes them paralyzed with information overload.

This is becoming more prevalent for online users as they are bombarded with tons of information. They shut down and end up making no decisions for worry that they will make the wrong one given the gagillion choices they are presented with.

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Master Mechanic

One last point. Do any of you have time to sit through a web site for more than 2 minutes? I don't. More content can backfire quick, unless your unemployed and have a lot of time on your hands, to be honest.

Most of my clients work 10-12 hours a day and don't even have the time to sit down for a minute. They relax when they go to bed.

silvertree

Hold on Bub!
You didn't get negative comments, you asked for the truth and you got it.
If you wanted compliments you should have posted something like "Tell me what you like about my website"
Actually, why don't you do that and see how that goes?

__________________
Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
203K Loan Consultant Minnesota

karunnt

1) The web site is really not for you. You are not going to use it.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_b...-must-ask.html


2) I've seen people spend more than 2 minutes deciding on what kind of coffee at Starbucks. But a 60k HI job? I don't know.

But if your site does not give what they want they are gone in two seconds.

3) Credibility.

If they don't know you personally (ie you are a stranger) then it is all about credibility. You have to design your site so they think that they can trust you.

If I am looking for someone to hire for serious money and I visit their site I want to know:

- do they have an address
- phone number
- name of people in the company
- photo of their office, people
- membership in associations, BBB, chamber of commerce
- work in their community, charities etc.
- spelling, grammar mistakes

http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html

I hope after quoting Stanford I don't come across as too highbrow but I see lots and lots of sites that try to be fancy and slick and don't do the simple things that make the biggest difference.





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