My Website, give your input please

Labster

Labster

New member
So I finally took the plunge after all this time getting my website done. Anyway, I hired it out and I couldn't be happier. It's still in the works but you'll get an idea of what it's going to look like. Feel free to provide constructive criticism.



Mirror Image | Mobile Auto Detail
 
Since you are the closest one to me...I'm having trouble grasping your concent on your website...to me, it looks like a large 'name tag'( i'm weird like that)



1.You have done some amazing cars...but ill pass along some info that some other guys told me about my website...I see one picture of a car...for all I know or anyone else knows...you could have just taken a picture of it and put it on your sight. Not saying that you didnt do any of them, show maybe 4 pictures of each car...

2.Home Page, I understand its still a work in progress...what do you plan on putting on that page? This is the first page people will see...if its not impresseive, they wont go any further on your site.

3.Contact Us page needs more...find a form for people to fill out. People actually take the time to fill them out...I have one on my site!



Check out my site and see what I have...I designed the whole thing...



Remember, this is all constructive criticism...and you are good at what you do...show it!
 
Thanks for the input. The water mark indicates it's my property and there will be a tag on the bottom of the gallery that states that all the cars were in fact detailed by myself.



The homepage is still in the hands of my developer. He has some ideas for it. There will be a form on my contact us page. The entire site still needs finished so it'll be a little while yet.



Once again, thanks for the input.
 
My pleasure...I knew your sit wasn't complete...mine isnt either...i'm always tweaking it here and there...



Goodluck and I hope more people chime in...
 
You can tell from the car's backgrounds that it is the same location.



Also on your header image, with the source code:



<table width="800" border="0" align="center">

<tr>

<td colspan="5"></td>

</tr>



<tr>

<td colspan="5">
browsebar.jpg
</td>

</tr>
Click to expand...



Change it to



<table width="800" border="0" align="center">

<tr>

<td colspan="5"></td>

</tr>



<tr>

<td colspan="5">
browsebar.jpg
</td>

</tr>
Click to expand...



By adding (border="0"), it will remove that border around the image logo since you have it linked.
 
I'll let my design guy know. Thanks! I haven't designed a site in over 5 years and things have changed since then.
 
The basics are there. All you need is the grabber for the home page(what ever that is??). Your designer will get you there with your imput I am sure. Your site also answered the questions that I had while reading through your site. It certainly is a good start for a work in progress.
 
Here is two things I would change, and I'm trying to come from a customers point- of-view here...







Vehicles in exceptionally filthy condition are subject to higher prices, which will be discussed before services begin.
Click to expand...



To me, and maybe only me, this statement sounds really unproffesional to me. It is something I quicly noticed because I too am looking for a nice way to say what you did. If I were a customer expecting you to come wash my car for a certain price bracket, but you told me it would be a little higher, this statement would come off as an insult to me. There is lots of people out there that have different definitions of "clean", and I know exactly where you are coming from, but I think the statement is just a little to bold.



Again, this is only my opinion...











Also, I would recommend more pictures, of more detailed things eventually. You should set yourself apart from car "washers", and push your name as a car "detailer".



SHOW DETAILS.







G2G to the doctor, gonna add some more stuff later...
 
I noticed that the text/content on each page just seems to "float". You don't have a defined boarder between the website "Page" and the "Background", so it looks a little funny to me.



Using a different color background, some sort of drop shadow behind your main website page, or just a plain old 1pt border help will keep the text from "floating" in the background. Hope that makes sense.
 
Maybe some before/afters?



Its almost Paul Dalton like (except you probably got paid for the cars on your site) in the fact that there are no real sun shots.



Show off what you can do because others can't do it, but this is just my opinion.
 
I'll come back later and check it out some more. One thing I did notice however - for some reason the home page picture turns me off. Seeing someone sitting on a stool/chair gives off a sense of laziness, to me at least.



TH0001 said:
Show off what you can do because others can't do it, but this is just my opinion.
Click to expand...



Quoted for truth!
 
A couple suggestions to help with search engines...

1. Use META "description" and "keywords" tags on all pages.

2. Replace the current text on the front page with a sentence or two describing your business' services. Make sure to use a lot of buzzwords like "detailing", "Ohio", and the cities you service.



On your contact page, you shouldn't list your e-mail address. There are a lot of malicious bots that scan for e-mail addresses on webpages for spamming purposes. So I recommend you take off the e-mail address and make the form multipurpose: contacting you and requesting a quote.



For your quote form on the contact page, the checkboxes for "What is the condition of your paint?" should really be radio buttons as you only require one of the options to be filled out. I wonder how necessary the "Country" field is and how often do you need 2 lines for a street address since I assume you're interested in their physical location and not their mailing address. Less fields makes people more willing to fill out the form.



Hope these help,

Kyle
 
Looks good to me. The only comment I would suggest is in the About Us section. One of the things I try to sell is lease turn ins also. You highlight that and that's a good idea but don't forget those who either own or have longer term leases. I like to convince people to have me maintain their vehicle over the course of it's life with them as the owner/lessee. I'd add a comment about frequent maintenance to try to get them to return on a more frequent basis. Just my observations but it looks good!
 
Slightly larger font with more spacing would be great. The older one gets, the harder

things are to see. And i'm sure many of your clients with more disposable income will

appreciate it. Larger pictures with explanations of each stage would be nice too.

Maybe some close up pics showing a nice reflection would be cool; wetting the floor

helps. How about your logo printed/made so that it reflects/spells correctly on

the close up pics? Kinda neat...
 
You need to get some testimonials up on the webpage. Look at Zaino's website as an example. Loads of them.... Why do I need them? People are skeptical if they have not done business with you, therefore they will believe what others say about you before they believe what you say about you. Its easy and smart marketing. You have alot of after shots but you need just as many before shots. Then people can see how good you are. You also need a "guarantee" up there. For example."Our business philosophy is customer satisfaction. We believe you will be thrilled and delighted with our work, however, if you are not we will do everything possible to correct it. If you are still not happy, you don't owe us a dime." This is called "risk reversal". In other words, they know you will stand behind your work and not have to worry about getting a bad job.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. As of right now, the homepage is far form complete. That's the under construction look. I'm going to have my guy take care of getting a nice picture of one of the cars I've done up there with a small description of my business. Thanks again for all the input, shows that I have a long way to get before I make my niche in this industry but it's all about learning after all, isn't it?
 
Is that lift a backyard Buddy?



1) Center your Service links on the Services page. Not the work below just the upper links and the link at the bottom for quotes.



2) Seriously consider another font. I prefer Calibri, however it may or may not be the solution for your site and tastes.



3) About Us, should only be About you and your shop, services, history, etc. Facts should be added on a Facts page.



4) When you ask "What is the Condition of Your Paint? " a link to a description of each might be appreciated by customers that do not have our background. An example of this can be found at KBB.com when they ask the same about the condition of a used vehicle.



5) Any photo with a professional detailer (laborer) working on a car will seem significantly more professional if they are wearing a Mirror Image tee, three button golf/polo shirt, or turtleneck. Be sure to use your colors and to keep the logo respectable. Don't blast the logo over the shirt like a road sign. Just something clear, easy to read, not too large, concise, and thread-sewn (not screened) over the shirt pocket area and maybe on the sleeves. On the turtle neck place the logo on the turtle neck as well. Also, hats in a promo photo are a no no, unless they display company colors and logo. It is generally preferred not to use hats in promo photos at all.



Overall I think you have a nice clean site. Good work! My compliments to your designer.
 
In pictures that feature you and the car, you should be wearing a "Mirror Image" shirt/uniform.



Either a Polo or Silkscreened Under Armor style shirt.



Looks professional.



Also, on the home page where you have images that flash, start with one with "you and the car", then the next with the car "staged". Stage the car in front of a very nice home, or cool location around town (ball park, pavilion, large water fountain etc etc). The pictures should relate to finsihed outcomes, not your manual labor.



Also, more pics of reflection in the paint. Maybe reflections of neon signs, or other cool stuff.



How about on the gallery, instead of a bunch of thumbnails, you list the types of cars. When you click on "Ferrari 355" then all of the before/after/staged shots appear.





It appears you have a "whale" for a client! excellent!



Stage this guys cars in cool places, dont have shots only in front of or inside his garage.



Good luck.



Keep us posted
 
Nice Setup! You've got the Ohio license plate colors goin' for you on the front page! Love the gallery on the site, one of the best ways to sell your business, I cant wait to get an "on site" gallery for our stores and if I knew anything about IT, I'd do it!!



Maybe, try and break your pricing down by vehicle??? I know personally as a consumer I dont like variability in pricing so, maybe find price points for the vehicles by size and/or color.



Lastly, more pics of the detailing being done INSIDE the shop/warehouse! If were shopping for a detail and saw buffing or wax application being done outside, I'd personally shy away. Just a thought.



Best of luck!



a_
 
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