Opinions On Our Website - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

CF Construction · 11-18-2008, 07:33 PM

....our website just got a new look. It took about 2 months to have the site redone. It relaunched this past Friday. Please give me your input(s). The link is in my signature.

**Cole** · 11-18-2008, 07:36 PM

Way to slow to load, I closed it before it even loaded your index page.

mdshunk · 11-18-2008, 07:37 PM

Your website takes freaking forever to load, and I've got a screaming fast internet connection. Thumbs down right there, before I even get to see it.

rbsremodeling · 11-18-2008, 07:37 PM

Yeah that will never be viewed except by family and friends. I have blazing fast connection and I gave up

rbsremodeling · 11-18-2008, 07:41 PM

Ok I went back and tried it again the site is absolutely stunning but the music almost made me jump out my basement window.

I know your in Miami but the rave, trance, dance techno, pop annoying azz music has got to go.

and tell your web designer they can loose their Wazzup crap off your website

buildpinnacle · 11-18-2008, 07:43 PM

I waited for the loading. It did take a very long time. Get that fixed ASAP. Other than that the site was a clean representation and very professional. I don't see it as a sales generator as much as a credibility site for customers who go to it and say "oh they do look professional". There are no calls to action, etc, but that may not be what you are looking for.

CF Construction · 11-18-2008, 07:44 PM

Yes, I understand about the load time. The site however is flash all throughout and as RBS pointed out, we have an MP3 music file, along with another "voice" MP3 file. Our demo-graphic is and has been affluent individuals so we felt we should give them the best site possible to visit when it comes to potentially hiring us as their general contractor.

rbsremodeling · 11-18-2008, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CF Construction

Yes, I understand about the load time. The site however is flash all throughout and as RBS pointed out, we have an MP3 music file, along with another "voice" MP3 file. Our demo-graphic is and has been affluent individuals so we felt we should give them the best site possible to visit when it comes to potentially hiring us as their general contractor.

The visuals are top notch and the site clearly is setup for its intended audience. Kill the music and get it to load quicker and you have a masterpiece on your hands

CF Construction · 11-18-2008, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buildpinnacle

There are no calls to action, etc, but that may not be what you are looking for.

.....can you elaborate on that comment, it wasn't clear to me.

BTW, thanks for the input guys. I'm fairly new to the construction industry, only have about 18 months under my belt (the GC I work for has over 25 years), but I'm learning each day and eager to make this company become one of the premiere construction firms in South Florida.

mdshunk · 11-18-2008, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CF Construction

.....can you elaborate on that comment, it wasn't clear to me.
.

You haven't asked the visitor to actually do anything. It's just a fancy-ass business card at this point.

rbsremodeling · 11-18-2008, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdshunk

You haven't asked the visitor to actually do anything. It's just a fancy-ass business card at this point.

that market and customer base does not need the call to action. It will actually come across as tacky

CF Construction · 11-18-2008, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdshunk

You haven't asked the visitor to actually do anything. It's just a fancy-ass business card at this point.

Understood.

As I indicated, our demo-graphic is affluent individuals. We don't limit ourselves to those clients, but working in high end projects is what we've specialized in and where we've gained a reputation among other G.C.'s, interior designers and architects/engineers.

mdshunk · 11-18-2008, 07:57 PM

It seems to me, then, that what you need is a fancy-ass business card. You've succeeded. I think you have exactly what you need.

rbsremodeling · 11-18-2008, 08:01 PM

The only other thing I would note is to put the neighboors you work in, Boca, Miami, ocean drive, coconut grove, etc.

If possible also identify the pictures like

ocean drive kitchen
coconut grove bathroom
Boca raton remodel

CF Construction · 11-18-2008, 08:07 PM

RBS, I actually do specify the neighborhoods in the Services page, in the scroll down portion. The pictures have been labeled similar to how you just indicated for website optimization, but it's not seen. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but there is an option to shut the music out for those who don't want to hear it. It's located towards the right bottom corner.

rbsremodeling · 11-18-2008, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CF Construction

RBS, I actually do specify the neighborhoods in the Services page, in the scroll down portion. The pictures have been labeled similar to how you just indicated for website optimization, but it's not seen. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but there is an option to shut the music out for those who don't want to hear it. It's located towards the right bottom corner.

good then your good to go. I still say kill the music completely but that s just me.

I left it open in the background for a moment and it just annoyed the hell out of me.

I don't see it appealing to older individuals either

silvertree · 11-18-2008, 08:33 PM

Beautiful work, great photos. Slow load for sure.

The only problem was after listening to the music I was waiting for a call to action to buy poppers and ecstacy. To go along with the andronomous designers dressed in black, dry humping on the kitchen floor under the techno strobe lights.

SquirrelNmoose · 11-19-2008, 01:44 AM

What purpose does the intro serve?
Other than to make me wait to see what you have to offer?

Also, kill the music, it's not worth the people it will offend or annoy not to mention the people who surf while they are at work.

Flash doesn't have to be slow. That's poor programming. It's making a single clip instead of making several smaller components and loading them in the background or when called.

A call to action, like Call Now, Contact Us Today, Get Your Free Estimate Today, etc. yields approx. 30% higher contact from your marketing.

tinner666 · 11-19-2008, 06:01 AM

I never have soud on, so I don't know about the music thing. I only got a dark navy blue screen with an 'x' in the upper r. corner. I don't use activex either.

CF Construction · 11-19-2008, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdshunk

It seems to me, then, that what you need is a fancy-ass business card. You've succeeded. I think you have exactly what you need.

I greatly appreciate all feedback and criticism, be it good or bad, but I don't understand the whole "fancy-ass business card" criticism. I thought the main purpose of a website was to inform people of what you do and showcase some of your abilities? If I'm incorrect than I guess I totally messed this site up, but to my understading, this is the whole purpose for a website. I don't know what else would please a visitor like you to see not only in our site, but in other construction related companies websites as well.

I actually got the idea to have the site look like this from seeing a few websites that belong to architect firms. Many of them have a clean look and it just looked straight to the point, which I like a whole lot. I took that element and had other ideas in mind as well, to help our site be very distinguishable amongst other websites from the competition. I've seen many websites from other General Contractors and other construction companies and they all seem to have the same look and in some instances, they're just awful all around. We just wanted to offer a "fresh" look to all those who visit our website and break out from the "typical" construction company look that many people might be all too familiar with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Upscale

What purpose does the intro serve?
Other than to make me wait to see what you have to offer?

The intro serves no true purpose, but than again, the majority of flash intro's don't serve a purpose as well. It's simply an instant way to catch the visitors attention by displaying a brief "animation" prior to reaching the actual website. Our intro simply was done to show distinction and creativity. I thought why not encorporate elements from our industry (construction) and use it to "build" our logo? Especially, when elements of our logo clearly depict the image of a construction company. I thought that the intro was creative and a nice "play" with our logo.

Quote:

A call to action, like Call Now, Contact Us Today, Get Your Free Estimate Today, etc. yields approx. 30% higher contact from your marketing.

I truly thank you for pointing this out to me, which you definately are right. This was an oversight on my behalf and I'm glad you brought it up. Although it's a small oversight, it definately serves a huge purpose. Again, I greatly thank you for pointing this out. I'll have the website designer make an update on this immediately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanS

The structures being built every time you click on a new tab is neat but it does slow down the overall speed of the site. Also that is a lot of stuff to have on only 1 web page. What was the reasoning for not having pages besides the home page?

There are a few other pages other than the Home page. In addition to the Home page, the site includes:

About Us
Services
Portfolio
Contact

....all these are additional pages on the website, so I'm a bit confused as to what you mean by our site having just one page?

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvertree

The only problem was after listening to the music I was waiting for a call to action to buy poppers and ecstacy. To go along with the andronomous designers dressed in black, dry humping on the kitchen floor under the techno strobe lights.

I'm glad something good came about for someone who visitied the site, LOL

Overall, I thank all of your comments and criticism. The main criticism is the music in which I'm probably going to end up removing. That file alone does make the loading of the site at the beginning a bit slow.