new website - any thoughts? - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

NAV · 06-12-2009, 01:39 PM

we launched our new website today. take a look and see what you think.

www.southwestcompanies.net

Thanks

NAV

Mr. Mike · 06-12-2009, 02:51 PM

My first thought was wonder what they do? Then I clicked portfolio and still could not figure it out.

My first thought's on this after looking and thinking about what you are trying to accomplish:

Seems you are proud of your office building/office you have, and you should be. I think you could have a better ending result of people visiting your site if you had workers working or projects you work on in your home page, instead of your building. Then place a big picture of your building on your contact us page or service locations or what have you.

SLSTech · 06-12-2009, 04:25 PM

Nice site but I have to agree with Mike about the "what do you do" part

It is not very clear - I would state clearly what you can do for the person looking at your site on the first page above everything else, then why.

NAV · 06-15-2009, 10:47 AM

well the list of services is under the services tab. If they are on the website they were directed there by a search engine for whatever service they were looking for.

so if they needed masonry restoration and found our link they already know we do that.

Thanks for the advise, we will see how this works out for us and re-evaluate it in a few months.

ModernStyle · 06-15-2009, 05:36 PM

Did you design it or did you pay to have it done ? I paid $200 for mine, www.ModernStylePaint.com

silvertree · 06-15-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ModernStyle

Did you design it or did you pay to have it done ? I paid $200 for mine, www.ModernStylePaint.com

Looks great, $200? You do your own content?

willworkforbeer · 06-15-2009, 07:00 PM

I like it, the get an estimate button is a little large though.

ModernStyle · 06-15-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvertree

Looks great, $200? You do your own content?

What do you mean ? Remember, I am a painter and unfamiliar with all of your fancy talkin' and such.
I sent the guy the pics and testimonials, wrote the " about us" section, and sent him the different paint manufacturer logos, he did the rest. He even found me free hosting with no banner ads, I have only seen it not online once, so its not too bad for free.
I didnt want to invest alot into a web site because I am not sure how much business in my area it could really generate, so far I have had 2 decent sized jobs off of it in the past 3 months, so I guess it already paid for itself.

Darwin · 06-15-2009, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NAV

we launched our new website today. take a look and see what you think.

www.southwestcompanies.net

Thanks

NAV

Phone number could be larger.

ModernStyle · 06-15-2009, 09:23 PM

You have a nice looking building and all NAV, the thing is it looks like most of your services would be done at the customers home or business, not at your shop. I would put a sample of some of your work, or a large company logo or something, the building just looks like there could be anything and everything going on in there, it doesnt make me think restoration or any of your other services.
The bulding looks nice and gives the impression of being established which people like, but I just think it would be better if the title page showed atleast a portion of what your company does and not just where the office is located. I would use a pic of whatever my most profitable and best selling service was and use that as the first page, with maybe a smaller insert of the shop on the fron page, or just move it to the estimate or about us section.
I dont know about the pics of the staff either, I never liked the idea of my pic on my page. Maybe I am just weird. I looked at one guys page on here and it was kinda crappy, but then he had a big pic of himself on it also, the guy was creepy looking. Just looking at his pic made me not want to hire him, he looked like a pedophile or something, I wanted to tell him to take his pic off of his page but didnt really know how you bring it up to someone that they look like a creepy sex offender. I dont know maybe I just have low selfesteam and am afraid that nobody will hire me if they see what I look like, I do have some issues ........ my wife told me so.
Maybe staff pics aint so bad, but I would definetly consider moving the pic of the building

silvertree · 06-15-2009, 09:59 PM

Low self esteem huh. Whats a painter need esteem for anyway?
Get one of those spray masks, they haven't done a slasher flick with a painter yet so it should work out well.

ModernStyle · 06-15-2009, 10:21 PM

We cant all be as pretty as you Silver.
My reason for not wanting a pic of me on my page is , besides being ugly, I take awful pictures, I mean I aint no prize in person but I look worse in pictures I think. Second off, half the people I meet think I am 25 not 35, which is great if you are trying to bang young chicks at the club, but not so great when you are trying to sell your experience and years in the industry. Third, I have alot of tattoos, some people might not give me a chance if they see the tattoos before talking to me. I know plenty of guys on here say they wouldnt hire a guy with tattoos, thats fine, I aint applying for a job with them anyways. My whole deal is I know I have them, I choose to get them, they are not jail house quality or anything, I am not ashamed of them, but sometimes I have to work with people who dont approve. I dont want a guy to look at my pic and dismiss me before he gets to hear what I have to say.

silvertree · 06-15-2009, 10:34 PM

I don't know what a lot of tattoos is, but I have 4 and one is a quarter panel if you know what that is. The kids love em and I just deal with the straights who don't. To each his own.
Your wife knows you better than anyone, ask her if she can do one of those glamour shot things for you. I'm not kidding.

jmda · 06-21-2009, 11:12 PM

Your site looks like all business no design. My site - is the opposite too much design not enough business.