Opinions On Our Website

Aiken Colon

The alt tags on pictures is not required with Flash.

Personally I was impressed with the site. Providing you realize, and MDShunk put it best, you have a very fancy business card. Which is fine for the audience you are seeking. This site will probably never rank well, but I could be wrong. And I am guessing/hoping that ranking and generating new leads was not your intent in the first place. However, Google and adobe over the past several months have been working on getting flashed sites indexed better.

Your music will turn off some, but at the same time I think you are trying to market to that group. Because of the load time you already have, and possibly turning off people because of the music, I would consider taking it out. If you really want to track something like that. Get a good base line of hits after a month or so. Then get some good tracking software and see how many people leave the site during load time (music off would help that) and very quickly off your home page (music possibly), then do the same with the music off. If the numbers show longer times on site, and more page views with the music off, then kill the music for good.

As far as your load time, for what you have it is not overly slow. The problem is your flash introduction. You need to keep someone's attention while the site is loading in the background. Personally, I would come up with something else to show while it is loading. Don't ask me what that would be. I can't even draw a stick figure, and have to pay to have my house decorated........that is why it is not decorated.

Those past projects pictures are impressive, if I ever become a brain surgeon I will be calling you to set up my office

Good luck with the new site.

JJ

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SquirrelNmoose

Yes, this is a type of website, showcase and inform. But it will not Make new sales for you. There are a millions of contractor websites with pretty pictures and a list of what they do. There is no compelling reason (standard sales marketing) for a potential client to contact you vs. your competitor. Your Services page would make a better home page. It tells me what sets you apart and shows me if you provide what I'm seeking(emotional decision). Then I can go and see your work and verify your business and validate my emotional decision.

Most people make a decision to purchase any product first with an emotional decision, (I like that, that's a cool product, I need that, etc.) then look for reasons to validate their decision. Not the other way around (that's a good company, do they have something I want?)

So depending on the goals of your website you need to make a decision on marketing vs. informative. A website can have both where as traditional media is usually limited to one or the other because of cost and/or time to capture your audience.

I think this post has some good info that applies too.
http://www.contractortalk.com/showpo...6&postcount=15


The point I was try to make about the intro was that you have very limited time to capture a persons attention. I would chose not to use that time with an intro that most people will not watch or remember anyway. Call and ask some friends that have seen the site, what was in my intro, see if they remember?

Looks like your researching and asking the right questions to make it the site you want. Keep on it and you'll get there, it's like anything else, it just takes a little time and effort.

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rbsremodeling

Quote:

Originally Posted by aikencolon The alt tags on pictures is not required with Flash.

The suggestion of tags weren't for indexing. They were to showcase/inform people where the work was done. Bragging rights. He has an index of the areas he works in but it is not easy to navigate to.

The site is top notch

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SethHoldren

These guys have all given you some really great advice here in this thread.

So, you're going to add an offer and a call to action? Excellent.

Here are two more things I would consider if it was my website:

1. The intro, in my humble opinion, seriously misrepresents what you eventually find on the home page. The home page is sophisticated and "high tech." The intro gives off a "Tonka" vibe. I would change the intro for sure. (I almost clicked away during the intro because it looked so unsophisticated, to be honest.)

2. A website needs to make a human connection. Show them who is behind this website and this business. At the very minimum, put your face on the "About Us" page, and say: "I am X, and this is my company." I would put it on every single page if I were you.

You see, online marketing has to answer the ever-present question: "Who is behind this site?" That's what your visitors will be thinking above all else.

Make a connection, and you'll go far.

Very cool site, otherwise.

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CF Construction

Thanks for that suggestion.


By the way, I'm not Claudio, he's the owner and General Contractor of the company, but I definately understand your suggestion.

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Winchester

So, while using stock photos in your project gallery, what do you say if a potential client asks you if you have any references from these customers?

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SethHoldren

OK.

You should use a picture of whoever will be the name and face of the company. The "figurehead."

And you don't have to limit it to just the face of the figurehead. You can include, in a supplemental way, other faces of your team, happy clients, or even your pet. The goal is to humanize and connect.

Good luck making the changes. I know how much work that can be trying to put it all together.

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CF Construction

Our client's information is kept secret. If a potential client wants a reference from a particular photo based on what they saw on the site, we already have the permission of clients who wouldn't mind being used as a reference. Seeing how it's Miami (this was way before my time in this company), the company I work for has done projects for high profile people whom confidentiality is a must. From what the General Contractor I've been told tells me, they usually don't like being used as a reference, but the one time it was okay, it ended up being with appointed "house supervisor".....the one hired by the owner(s) to take care of the residence while they're away.


To this day, the main "reference" people like to check is to see if all of our documents are up to date (i.e. license, insurance, etc.) and to make sure we have no negatives coming from past clients (hence the reason why we became a part of the Better Business Bureau).

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CF Construction

What other elements would you, as the visitor like to see in this site?


We all know the issue about the music and loading time, as well as the lack of "call of action", all of which I'm taking very hard into consideration (already adjusting the lack of "call to action").


What would truly fullfill your experience in this site? I'm aware there's no possible way to cater to everyone's particular taste, but what could we do to make it be a better site?

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CF Construction

I just finished taking a look at the Marketing blog you have on your profile, it's quite informative. Based on what I saw in the videos and by your replies to this thread, I'm assuming I'm heading somewhat in the right direction (granted, a few changes still need to be made before declaring "mission accomplished"). I'm glad I ran onto this site by accident because in less than a week that I've been here I've come across some very good piece of information all throughout this website.

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rbsremodeling

Some of the best ideas are found by accident. light bulbs, condoms etc

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MALCO.New.York

Flash website????????????? Good idea on a GREAT host which you apparently do NOT have.

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dougchips

From your website's control panel can you find your "bounce rate"? How about your % of visitors that fall in the 0-30 second time on site?

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orson

Load time sucks, get rid of intro, just like everyone else said.

I thought the oddest thing was the gallery, some of the pictures were great, others were very poorly done.

Get rid of the clutter on countertops before you shoot, make sure lightbulbs aren't burned out, some of the pics are shot at really odd angles and seem to showcase the furniture more than anything else.

To sum it up, get a pro do do all your photos, other than that topnotch

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lawndart

CF Construction, are you using your website as a marketing tool to generate leads, or as a online photo gallery to show your customers?

SethHoldren

Thank you for your kind remarks.

There are some great folks on this forum who are dedicated to improving and learning.

(Also this place is always good for at least one good belly laugh per day.)

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rbsremodeling

what do you me where funny? What do you mean like we amuse you?

+ YouTube Video

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CF Construction

AN UPDATE REGARDING THE WEBSITE:


The website was relaunched last Friday, so it's been 8 days since it's relaunch. The changes are being made that I indicated earlier and that some of you pointed out. Since last Friday up until today, we've gotten 6 different calls from this site alone! We've already given 4 bids out of the 6 calls and 2 of those have been approved, the other 2 are still being evaluated and the 2 we have yet to bid, we are gathering the prices up as we speak (one involves building a house from the ground up, the other is doing a complete demo on a luxury condo out in South Beach and remodeling it). There's a reason as to why this site is not a major concern as far as being "tweaked" for SEO or whatever it is that I never touched on, but it's something that definately helps the site. These are brand new clients by the way and all the calls came from this site, no word of mouth. These clients and potential clients were thoroughly impressed by the website and one just made a minor comment about the load time, but overall they liked everything, including the music (I was a bit surprised by that).



Either way, any more recommendations are welcomed.

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Mark Daniels

Get right of the flash and music

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tinner666

Just an empty blue page for me. No pics, words or anything.

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