Some of you may remember a few weeks ago I solicited opinions on my new website. The results were… not great, to be kind. I spent hours beating my head against the wall, links didn’t work right, pics were off center, pages viewed wrong for some users etc etc etc.
I got some very kind advice from a member here, Steve “FatRoman”, who tried to hold my hand a bit. I finally realized it was a lot like the threads here: “How do I wire my panel with nothing but a screwdriver and neon tester?” “How do I cope crown with an adze?” … the truth is I just didn’t know enough to get it really right with a reasonable amount of time and effort, so I turned it over to Steve. Considering the amount of work, and pestering he had to endure it was a bargain at twice the price and looks better than I could possibly have done on my own. Since I’m planning a big marketing push that is going to rely heavily on my site, it was hubris to think I was going to do it on my own and make the kind of impression I hoped for.
Thank you Steve… and to anyone here who needs a site contact him, he’s already an expert on contracting websites 😉
(Steve’s website: www.fatroman.com)
My brand new site: www.finecontracting.com
PaulB
Replies
Wow, that's a great upgrade from the original! The CAD Services link is broken though. And even with broadband the pop-up photo galleries are kind of slow. Not a deal breaker for me, but would be painful for many.
I my mind the key is it is very professional-looking and is a good representation of the image you want to portray.
Thanks for the heads up on the CAD link. Looks like the server didn't like one of our photos. That should be working for you as of this morning.Best,
Steve
Yep, the CAD link works now. The image drill-in is faster than the photos as well.
Looks great Paul! Big improvement (no offense) over your old site.
The pages loaded a bit slow for me and I'm on broadband, but everything displayed fine, links worked.
I like the color scheme and the graphic design--makes me think silver Lexus.
"This is a process, not an event."--Sphere
And I'm a legitimate certifiable Tool Whore.--Dieselpig
None taken, I know it stunk but it was the best I could manage on my own. The credit goes to Steve, but thanks to you both for the compliments...PaulB
Lots of nice elements. Some attractive transitions. Does run a bit slow compared to most sites. When I clicked on photos to see the larger image, I was surprised that it wasn't larger than it was...the enlarged image was almost the same size as the one in the slide show...found myself hoping for larger to see detail. Lastly, half surprised you didn't get a letter from Taunton about the site name. If figured they might be protective about Fine ______.
CloudHidden,Thanks for your input. Yes, in an ideal world those photos would be larger with more detail when you click on them. Those are the size we started with though, and we can't scale them up without a resolution loss. Going forward with new projects, we'll have larger images and Paul is going to try to get some new shots of these existing projects I believe.And since you are not the only one to notice, we'll have to think about doing something to speed the site up; perhaps by moving it to a new server. It seems the one at Network Solutions isn't quite up to snuff.Thanks again for your thoughts.Best,
Steve
Nah, they have no clout online. My old business had a website called: "atlanticfilmworks.com" and a guy in Holland created one called "atlanticfilm.com" and even admitted to me in writing no less that he was aware of my site but didn't think I'd mind. Couldn't get anywhere trying to get the site taken down. Now, if I started a magazine called fine contracting I'm sure I'd have my tender bits in a wringer in no time.
Anyway, thanks for the compliments... I can't take any of the credit, if it wasn't for Steve I'd still look like a hack.PaulB
I never saw your original site but a few thoughts on the current one. As a website, it is significantly nicer than most small companies would take the time or commitment to develop. I think a definite plus for you when folks have are faced with a few choices to consider in terms of who they will hire.
I do think it is a good website, but I would encourage you to keep tweaking it with an eye on always elevating the experience of a first time visitor. It does seem to be fairly slow compared to most sites I would spend any time exploring. I offer the following as tweaks from my perspective, which I hope may be helpful.
I personally found the home page image transitions with the squares to be somewhat distracting. I realize the designer probably thought it looked cool, but it made reading your text more of a challenge. I would opt for a more subtle image transition, or have thumbnails which only transition to the large image when hovered over. I was also not crazy about the text that would scroll up at the bottom of each image I was viewing in your galleries. It was a bit of overkill that you are reminding me on each image that it is your work. Maybe the text would be nicer if it appeared below the images, and perhaps could be something that gave a description of what was in the image.
No doubt something you are planning on doing, but I would try to get some additional jobs/content into your image galleries so that you have what appears to be a more extensive body of work behind you.
Hats off to you though on creating a good website. As a consumer I can tell you that having a good website does matter to me when I am exploring companies to deal with.
Not sure that i saw the old site, but the new one is a keeper. Just one comment: images, images, images. Keep documenting your finished work, and keep dropping images in. It's a pain, but it's also easy to get lazy about. And put in photos your clients want to see. Don't worry about impressing people here . . . we hate everything. ;)
ok, that was two comments . . .
Paul,
I missed the first site but I would add my compliments to this version. It is professionally done.
I don't have a site, but I think it is important to have it looking professional. I see local contractor sites that look homemade and they don't do much to impress me.
A couple of questions for you.
Did you take the photos? They are well done.
Any special advice to offer on taking photos?
I liked some of the wide angle shots for showing small spaces. Too often I end up with basically a shot of the bathroom door and maybe the vanity.
Can you accomplish what you want with a simple digital or do you need more sophisticated equipment?
Thanks.
Thanks, I did do the photos myself. I'm actually kind of embarrassed by them, as I spent 30 years in photography they should be better but the shoemaker's kids go barefoot ;)
I am still using film, mainly because the lenses I need (fisheye and PC) are incredibly expensive for digital and I just can't justify it. I use Canon and have the (IIRC) 16mm fisheye and the 35mm PC (perspective control) lenses, as well as 21, 24, 35 and 50. Just too costly to change to digital...
PaulB
Oops, almost forgot you asked for advice... here goes. 90% of the results are a function of lighting. For interiors, you generally want is possible (and sometimes it just isn't) some broad, even ambient light and some point light to highlight areas or objects. Keep track of your depth of field and use it to your advantage to either keep objects in or out of focus. Lastly, look carefully at the scene for distracting or uncomplimentary objects you hadn't thought of. Now, if you (God forbid) apply all of those things to my photos, you'll see they ain't all that hot ;)
Edited 3/30/2007 4:12 pm ET by PaulBinCT
Paul,
Thanks for the advice. I have some modest SLR equip (N80,one lens, and a tripod) and I like to dabble as a hobby. No fish eye, but I might see if I can rent one.
My current project is winding down and I am hoping to use it as a showcase for my work so I will invest some time in taking photos.
Thanks again.
Well gee that's only a bazillion times better than what ya had going before huh? When I saw your site before the first thing I thought was that you really needed to hire someone but I didn't say anything because sometimes contractors for whatever reason, either they're too cheap, or think that they can do everything sometimes just want to do their own websites. Seems crazy and you'd think they'd know better given how often we go to homes to fix up disasters like kitchens installed by computer programmers, or the deck built by the Wall Street stock broker, or the addition built by a dentist.
That site looks great and instead of being a liability which is what I thought you old site was it now an asset that projects professionalism and I think will help sell you jobs! Great job Paul and Steve.
View Image
A few issues:
1) In the "Ask the Contractor" box on the main page, the small sans-serif type on dark background is very hard to read.
2) What does Flash buy you? I get a "missing or out of date Flash" error on the main page. I can't download the latest Flash player because the computer I use doesn't belong to me. What am I missing? IMO, there's no reason to use Flash for still photos.
3) When I go to the slide shows, there's text under the picture that says, "Mouse over photo for more controls." but when I do, I don't see any more controls. This may be related to my out of date Flash player.
4) Seeing the caption sink out of sight and then rise again every time the picture changes is really, really annoying.
5) If I page through the pictures manually instead of waiting for them to change, it would be nice to know when I've seen all of them.
Thanks Dunc...
I think the missing controls are due to the Flash issue. We'll undoubtedly be making tweaks, so I appreciate the suggestions!
PaulB