Web design for Car Detailers

Fixed:



homepage03.jpg
 
Might i suggest, to use the rule of 3rds here? Allot 2/3 of space on the left, and 1/3 on the right. Put the recent wock and gift promo as well as the service special in the 1/3 then use the 2/3 space to express how happy they are i came to their page and all that messege from the owner stuff. You might free up some space to drop in another silhouetted image of a car, under his messege? use 1 vertical rule to divide the page OR use a differnt color background on the 1/3 section. This should eliminate the crazy lines all over the place and help establish the heirarchy and organization you're trying to obtain.
 
tssdetailing said:
Might i suggest, to use the rule of 3rds here? Allot 2/3 of space on the left, and 1/3 on the right. Put the recent wock and gift promo as well as the service special in the 1/3 then use the 2/3 space to express how happy they are i came to their page and all that messege from the owner stuff. You might free up some space to drop in another silhouetted image of a car, under his messege? use 1 vertical rule to divide the page OR use a differnt color background on the 1/3 section. This should eliminate the crazy lines all over the place and help establish the heirarchy and organization you're trying to obtain.
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Good suggestion. I'm trying to bring more attention to Jake's letter to his customers, and giving the letter its own column should do the trick.
 
This is a great thread. I'm loving how you guys are showing common mistakes by revising a typical site, trials/errors to find what works best, and everyone bringing in very good points on how to reel in that potential customer. Do you still plan on tagging in serviced cities at the bottom for increasing traffic? I'm curious on how you're going to integrate them without adding clutter. Keep up the good work, it's looking a lot better than when I first viewed the site a while back. Not that it was horrible by any means, but nowhere near the appeal it has now with simple modifications and organization.
 
rcrobbins said:
This is a great thread. I'm loving how you guys are showing common mistakes by revising a typical site, trials/errors to find what works best, and everyone bringing in very good points on how to reel in that potential customer. Do you still plan on tagging in serviced cities at the bottom for increasing traffic? I'm curious on how you're going to integrate them without adding clutter. Keep up the good work, it's looking a lot better than when I first viewed the site a while back. Not that it was horrible by any means, but nowhere near the appeal it has now with simple modifications and organization.
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Yes, we'll definitely tuck in the suburbs around Greenville into the bottom of the pages.
 
I read from left to right; top to bottom so if I was a customer looking for information, the first place my eyes go to is the top left and on the post above, all I see is a plea to see more pictures. The other page shown below at least says "Welcome", let me introduce myself; How may I help you.





PLEASE, PLEASE, understand that I have absolutely no clue as to what I am talking about, just stating my unsolicited opinion as I remember it :2thumbs:





602rwtq said:
homepage03.jpg
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Okay, the photo gallery is ready.



Fortunately Jake has enough good photos for a before/after gallery. This has a greater impact on customers than just after photos because they can SEE the effects of your work when they see "before" videos. This is true of click/brag threads, and it's even more true when you're trying to win over a customer.



The photos here are a good balance between size and function. They're large enough to see detail, but not so large that it makes the page a massive scrolling task.



I'd like to see about 10 more photos as Jake adds them. 20 - 40 is a good number.



And a note about photos. Line up your "after" photos in the same frame as your befores. The way to do this is to press "play" on your camera and walk to the same position you took your "before" pic. Then press "take picture" with a mental image of the "before" pic and line them up in your mind.



If the lighting or position of the car have changed from before to after, the photo is useless.



Take fewer pictures, but take QUALITY pictures. Your pictures should demonstrate something about your skillset--water spot removal, stain removal, metal polishing. Note Jake's photo of the stained cloth seat. It's perfectly framed and lit in both photos, and will get him customers that notice this problem in their car. Stop taking so many photos of shiny black cars. There's a billion too many of these out there.



gallery70.jpg
 
Set yourself apart from other detailers who just show pictures of shiny cars by posting pictures of work that SOLVE PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS.:



  • hard water spot removal on glass and paint
  • pet hair removal
  • carpet and fabric stain removal
  • extreme brake dusting
  • extremely dirty leather
  • dull, oxidized paint
 
So, does that setup above work better as a single page, or is it better the way I did it; each vehicle has it's own before and after page?



I am learning and applying the concepts to my own site and I thank you for your help and advice.
 
krzdimond said:
So, does that setup above work better as a single page, or is it better the way I did it; each vehicle has it's own before and after page?



I am learning and applying the concepts to my own site and I thank you for your help and advice.
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Single page.



If you break it up into multiple pages, your pictures won't be seen.



Remember that more than half of your visitors won't even click past your homepage. Those that do actually click past will usually only look at one more page. So we need to consolidate our information the best we can.
 
602rwtq said:
Single page.



If you break it up into multiple pages, your pictures won't be seen.



Remember that more than half of your visitors won't even click past your homepage. Those that do actually click past will usually only look at one more page. So we need to consolidate our information the best we can.
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This is true but I think it depends highly on the type of customer looking at your website. I believe the above applies mostly to the customers who fit into the 'general public' category, whereas auto enthusiasts who are very meticulous about their cars will thoroughly search the website and appreciate the detailed photos of each vehicle. I say this from first hand experience and nothing more/less as I've had probably 7 of 10 of my clients comment on how nice and thorough my website looks and they enjoyed reading about each car uploaded as well as looking at the photos.



I think a good compromise would be to start the gallery page with the basic before & after photos as seen 4 posts above, but continue with links to individual pages for the vehicles for those who are interested in viewing that.



This thread is really good as a general outline but at the end of the day, just like when choosing polishes and waxes, everyone needs to choose what clients they're after and determine what works for them.



Site looks great Jake!
 
Thanks Ivan.. And the rest of you guys as well. This is a big project and it's coming along great. Been looking at several buildings again narrowing the selections down. That and some great help from some great detailers I know things are shaping up better than even I expected. Robert keep up the great work.
 
OK, I am no expert. Here are my thoughts. I would like to see some before and afters pics of paint swirls. For all I know those afters may be how the cars started out and all you did was wash them. I want to know if you can fix MY swirls and I can only tell that by looking at sample swirls that you did fix.



Also the home page doesn't really say CAR DETAILING on it unless you start reading through the text. First thing I see is Auto Spa. What is an auto spa?



I do like it a lot though. Big improvement, very professional.



Scott Olendorf
 
Olendorf said:
OK, I am no expert. Here are my thoughts. I would like to see some before and afters pics of paint swirls. For all I know those afters may be how the cars started out and all you did was wash them. I want to know if you can fix MY swirls and I can only tell that by looking at sample swirls that you did fix.



Also the home page doesn't really say CAR DETAILING on it unless you start reading through the text. First thing I see is Auto Spa. What is an auto spa?



I do like it a lot though. Big improvement, very professional.



Scott Olendorf
Click to expand...



The photo albulm on the front page will be flipping through before and afters as well with a lot of swirls before and after shots. (you don't see it in the snapshots because it will be animated and constantly rotating through pics) I will probably incorporate a few more pics of the paint defects and actually start taking better pics all together of the exact same angle's (an obvious issue I've had in the past) Close just isn't good enough.



and there's a very very specific reason you don't see "Car Detailing" and you only see "Auto Spa" more will be revealed about that later through.. But trust me that was done intentionally.



And thanks. Robert is the go to guy for web redesigns.
 
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