Need some opinions, kudos, healthy criticism, etc. on our company’s webpage.
There is another discussion on this board that is debating WYSIWYG programs versus hard coding….I will tell you up front that our site is created and maintained using FrontPage…It’s what I am comfortable with and I wear so many other hats that I dont have time to hand code
Anyways, back to my request….i would love to know what you all think
link is http://www.gettum.com/ (if you use a resolution other than 800×600 or 1024×768, you will be asked to choose)
Keep in mind, we first created a website 5-7 years ago and it changes almost once a year….constant revisions…we also strive to keep our website consistent with our marketing (i.e. colors, overall message, etc.). Our website is only for the purpose of showing examples of what we are capable of and our company philosophy and how we operate.
Thanks in advance for your time.
Replies
Nice website, looks like you do great work. Portfolio to be proud of. Wish I had some jobs like that!
The things I wasn't crazy about: the logo looks amateruish. The name kinda sounds amateurish also, like Git'erdone Construction, or something. Is Gettum a family name? Gettum A$$. seems like a poor choice for a company name, to me. The blurry, out-of-focus pictures on the home page give me a headache. And the slogan, obviously designed to highlight distrust of other contractors, seems like a cheap shot to me.
"he...never charged nothing for his preaching, and it was worth it, too" - Mark Twain
Edited 3/4/2006 4:25 pm by Huck
Thanks for the comments Huck. It is a family name...not much I can do about that. But, when someone heres it, they wont forget it! And you are right, the logo is a bit out of focus need to upload a better one. Thanks again for your comments
At least on my system the scrolling text at the top is very distracting.And I can't check it on this browser easily, but it appears that you keep changing font size for the text body.Intro and Prcoess use one size, while About Us and Galleries use a smaller one.Testimonials use the large size for the text in the box, but the acutal customer comments, in itallics is impossible to read without bumping up the size a notch or two.And the comment on the home page to click on the links above to naviagate is condensenting.
I second the font comment. Intro and Our Process look fine. About Us and Gallery look small. Also, keep a consistent line spacing throughout a page, i.e. on About Us page, it look like 1.5 on top and just single space on the bottom.Format and layout look good, it keeps my interest.Joe
Really well done site. Clean, clear, not too self-promotional, but very positive. All in all, I would contact you if I were adding on.
Small opportunities:
1) Add your contact info (at least location) to the home page so visitors know right away if you're in their area. I know it says Central Indiana, but I was looking for the location with your logo.
2) make the before/after pictures larger or fade from one to the other automatically. The before pictures are too small to see.
-Don
DonCanDo,
Thanks for the comments. Both of your suggestion are being worked on. As for the before and after pics, I am trying to find a way to make them look good but still load fast. thanks again
View Image
That's a nice looking place.
SamT
I think your webpage should have more content on the homepage, and I virtually never see sites that have you select screen resolution.
So I would probably set it for 600x800, and put more on the home page, enough to get someone to look around. Not much interest is generated to me by the home page. Then you can have hi and low resolution pictures if you want.
Jg,
Ditto on putting more information on the homepage. Give visitors a reason to click on the links. What can you do for them? Why should they spend any more time on your site?
What is M.A.M.E?
On the GALLERY page, the 2nd paragraph contains the following phrase:
"These photos sets..." Make "photos" singular or delete "sets" entirely.
The site rendered well for me in Firefox, but the nav menu all kind of blended together. Were it my menu, I would make the font smaller and maybe even eliminate a link. (Do you really need the INTRO link or the LINKS link?) Could the information from these pages be incorporated into other pages? Changing CONTACT OPTIONS to CONTACT or CONTACT US would also help.
(Personal opinion warning)
1. I don't like scrolling text.
2. I HATE mailto links (like on your CONTACT OPTIONS page. This is actually more than a personal preference, because it can be a real PITA if the visitor doesn't understand that clicking the mailto link will open their default mail client. For example, on my personal computer, MS Outlook is set as the default mail client, even though I have never used it. This means that if I click the mailto link, Outlook opens. OK, fine, so I type my email. Try to send it, and it gives me an error because I haven't specified MY email address (the return address) or my POP3 or SMTP host. Now I have to figure out how to do that. Is a visitor going to want to spend the time, or are they going to get frustrated and leave?
Putting an email address in the body of the page is also an invitation to spam. Robots crawl hither and yon across the web, harvesting addresses wherever they can and taking them back to their owner, who then adds them to his mailing lists. If you're going to have an email address published on a webpage, don't make it a mailto link. Either leave it plain text and assume the visitor can copy and paste, or make it a link to a contact FORM, where the user can send you a message directly from your site. (Giving you the additional advantage that the user never leaves your site to go to an external mail client).
3. Yours is one of the better looking FrontPage sites I've seen. It's obvious that you've put a significant amount of time and energy into it. Keep up the good work!!
Edited 3/4/2006 10:11 pm by torn
You've got a really professional looking webpage. However there are a few things you could be doing to really make your site work for you:
1. First make the intro page your home page. Site vistors should discover what's in it for them the moment they visit your site. You have exactly the right idea going in the intro but it needs to be longer;talk more about all the benefits a homeowner can enjoy with a remodeled home.
2. Capture your vistor's email and contact information on your homepage. Not having an email sign up form could be costing you thousands of dollars in potential customers and is preventing you from folowing up with your existing customers. Get a monthly online newsletter and start showing people all the great work you been doing for your customers.
3.Take the navigation bar on top and move it to the bottom. In its place or using a vertical Navigation add more informative articles about home remodeling. This is a big step sure but you want your website to attract vistors with valuable information they are looking for. Reading about the company profile is helpful but finding great information about remodeling their home(eg planning, designing, financing) is even better. This is what will make your vistors consider your business when it come time to choose a contractor (i.e someone they already know of and comes highly recommended)
4. Include some of your testimonials on your homepage with pictures of your satisfied customers enjoying their remodeled homes. This helps build faster credibiltiy with your new visitors and demonstrates the quality of your work.
There's more you could do but it would take awhile to post it all. Anyway if you have any questions just ask. Good luck.
Somebody mentioned it in Stan's thread about 10 visitors per month for the average website? Although that sounds too low IMO, here's a link that many will find useful if your looking to get business on the web. It deals with the most important and often ignored requirement to be seen on the web when people search. Not only do amateaurs miss out, but many professionals too. http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-33,GGLD:en&q=title+tags
Nice page.
The font is somewhat hard to read and the small size doesn't help. The font here at BT looks good.
I also saw at least one misspelled word. It's possible to spell check all the pages at once with FrontPage.
Have you noticed what happens if someone is interested in your company and tries to cut and paste your contact information for use later?
http://www.koetterconstruction.com/koettergroup_history.asp Check out the graphics--at around 25k the file size loads quick and looks great. Personal, lots of information about the company. However, their font is also hard to read.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you all. I really got some great feedback and hope to start thinking about making some changes soon. Every suggestion that was made to me I agree with. I need to sit down with the rest of the company and get their 2 cents as well.
Hopefully in a few months I can repost on here and get some more feedback! Thanks again for your time and suggestions