Website Up - Thoughts and Critiques?

Hey Kevin, I'd start by changing up your landing page by removing your appointment button (more on that later). You do a good job of stating what you can do, but WHY does a customer specifically need YOU? This is the time you need sell yourself. What sets you apart from the next guy? You don't have to say you're the best but get me thinking why I want to go with you instead of the other guy or keep running my car through the $5 mechanized scratch gauntlet. The only benefit that catches my eye is resale value. You're now hooking people wanting to prep their cars, which is a good starting point. Think along those lines to broaden your audience. Since your main page is your first impression it HAS to make people keep clicking on your site (unless you have some reeeeeally amazing pictures to do all your talking). Have you tried Google Analytics? It gives you a really good insight on traffic sources, bounce rate, time on page, etc. I'm sure there's many sites that offer traffic info but I've only used Google's and I think it's pretty simple to view, a cinch to integrate and they have mobile apps to view traffic from your phone too.

You have a really nice shop and explain a lot of things for new customer that may not be familiar with detailing. I didn't click on all your links but did find "bereached" and "oremail" typos on your contact page and "garagekeers" on the FAQ. I'm very particular about my site and honestly, I may not catch typos right away. They usually pop up over the course of a few days. In general, if someone lets a lot of grammatical errors slide, it shows they weren't paying enough attention, which snowballs to a detailer paying attention (in this case) and you know the rest. Grammatical perfection shows a good level of professionalism on paper IMHO. On your 'About' page, you have the company listed as Davis Auto Detailers. Is this supposed to be different from 'Detailing'? I would eliminate the appointment button on multiple pages and just leave it on the 'Contact' page then pool everything here on how to get a hold of you. Some suggest to keep at least your name and number visible at all times along the bottom of your site. Being a visual person myself, I would add a small weekly chart for when you're at the shop, mobile, not working, etc.

I would try and reduce the occurrence of "extra charge" and "additional fees". You should charge accordingly and be upfront but when I see that on numerous pages, all I hear in my brain pan is a cash register ringing. For example, on your shuttle service, I would just list "Free shuttle service to (blah blah blah)". If a customer calls outside of that service area you can tell them the additional fee at the time, since it is assumed it is not free for him. I would also just make a general paragraph on "services done on a per-quote basis..." and eliminate the repetitiveness on the word "quote" for each line. It is assumed these are unique services that universal prices would not apply. I really like the "About" page showing your hobbies and side projects. Hope this helps and keep up the good work! :xyxthumbs:
 
Hey Kevin, I'd start by changing up your landing page by removing your appointment button (more on that later). You do a good job of stating what you can do, but WHY does a customer specifically need YOU? This is the time you need sell yourself. What sets you apart from the next guy? You don't have to say you're the best but get me thinking why I want to go with you instead of the other guy or keep running my car through the $5 mechanized scratch gauntlet. The only benefit that catches my eye is resale value. You're now hooking people wanting to prep their cars, which is a good starting point. Think along those lines to broaden your audience. Since your main page is your first impression it HAS to make people keep clicking on your site (unless you have some reeeeeally amazing pictures to do all your talking). Have you tried Google Analytics? It gives you a really good insight on traffic sources, bounce rate, time on page, etc. I'm sure there's many sites that offer traffic info but I've only used Google's and I think it's pretty simple to view, a cinch to integrate and they have mobile apps to view traffic from your phone too.

You have a really nice shop and explain a lot of things for new customer that may not be familiar with detailing. I didn't click on all your links but did find "bereached" and "oremail" typos on your contact page and "garagekeers" on the FAQ. I'm very particular about my site and honestly, I may not catch typos right away. They usually pop up over the course of a few days. In general, if someone lets a lot of grammatical errors slide, it shows they weren't paying enough attention, which snowballs to a detailer paying attention (in this case) and you know the rest. Grammatical perfection shows a good level of professionalism on paper IMHO. On your 'About' page, you have the company listed as Davis Auto Detailers. Is this supposed to be different from 'Detailing'? I would eliminate the appointment button on multiple pages and just leave it on the 'Contact' page then pool everything here on how to get a hold of you. Some suggest to keep at least your name and number visible at all times along the bottom of your site. Being a visual person myself, I would add a small weekly chart for when you're at the shop, mobile, not working, etc.

I would try and reduce the occurrence of "extra charge" and "additional fees". You should charge accordingly and be upfront but when I see that on numerous pages, all I hear in my brain pan is a cash register ringing. For example, on your shuttle service, I would just list "Free shuttle service to (blah blah blah)". If a customer calls outside of that service area you can tell them the additional fee at the time, since it is assumed it is not free for him. I would also just make a general paragraph on "services done on a per-quote basis..." and eliminate the repetitiveness on the word "quote" for each line. It is assumed these are unique services that universal prices would not apply. I really like the "About" page showing your hobbies and side projects. Hope this helps and keep up the good work! :xyxthumbs:

Thanks a lot for the advice, I'll dig into this and get this corrected and update some stuff, I see your points.

BTW, I grew up in Stillwater, and my parents live in OKC!
 
This is all great advice. As a serious photographer myself I'd like to suggest that you crop the Jeep photos much tighter. When shooting still objects (like cars) I would suggest that, going forward, you shoot more tightly so that only minimal cropping needs to be done. Make the car the star of the photo.

+1 I meant to suggest the same thing. His website has come a long way in just a couple days. Zoom in or get closer for those tighter shots. Watch the background if you can't blurr it.

Hey Kevin, I'd start by changing up your landing page by removing your appointment button (more on that later). You do a good job of stating what you can do, but WHY does a customer specifically need YOU? This is the time you need sell yourself. What sets you apart from the next guy? You don't have to say you're the best but get me thinking why I want to go with you instead of the other guy or keep running my car through the $5 mechanized scratch gauntlet. The only benefit that catches my eye is resale value. You're now hooking people wanting to prep their cars, which is a good starting point. Think along those lines to broaden your audience. Since your main page is your first impression it HAS to make people keep clicking on your site (unless you have some reeeeeally amazing pictures to do all your talking). Have you tried Google Analytics? It gives you a really good insight on traffic sources, bounce rate, time on page, etc. I'm sure there's many sites that offer traffic info but I've only used Google's and I think it's pretty simple to view, a cinch to integrate and they have mobile apps to view traffic from your phone too.

You have a really nice shop and explain a lot of things for new customer that may not be familiar with detailing. I didn't click on all your links but did find "bereached" and "oremail" typos on your contact page and "garagekeers" on the FAQ. I'm very particular about my site and honestly, I may not catch typos right away. They usually pop up over the course of a few days. In general, if someone lets a lot of grammatical errors slide, it shows they weren't paying enough attention, which snowballs to a detailer paying attention (in this case) and you know the rest. Grammatical perfection shows a good level of professionalism on paper IMHO. On your 'About' page, you have the company listed as Davis Auto Detailers. Is this supposed to be different from 'Detailing'? I would eliminate the appointment button on multiple pages and just leave it on the 'Contact' page then pool everything here on how to get a hold of you. Some suggest to keep at least your name and number visible at all times along the bottom of your site. Being a visual person myself, I would add a small weekly chart for when you're at the shop, mobile, not working, etc.

I would try and reduce the occurrence of "extra charge" and "additional fees". You should charge accordingly and be upfront but when I see that on numerous pages, all I hear in my brain pan is a cash register ringing. For example, on your shuttle service, I would just list "Free shuttle service to (blah blah blah)". If a customer calls outside of that service area you can tell them the additional fee at the time, since it is assumed it is not free for him. I would also just make a general paragraph on "services done on a per-quote basis..." and eliminate the repetitiveness on the word "quote" for each line. It is assumed these are unique services that universal prices would not apply. I really like the "About" page showing your hobbies and side projects. Hope this helps and keep up the good work! :xyxthumbs:

Really good stuff. I totally agree about the fees. Nobody likes getting nickled and dimed to death. Give a basic cost for a service if the car is smaller or larger quote it up front upon inspection or honor your basic posted price. I hate seeing all the up charges on so many detailers websites. Keep it simple.

Along the line of simplicity having a shuttle service is a great way to differentiate yourself but if you'r in the middle of a 10 hour paint correction job you may not be able to get away. Why not just say Shuttle Service available to the following areas....., please call in advance to arrangements. If you are not busy then provide the service. If you're busy with scheduled work you can explain it to potential customers.
 
Just finished getting the first revision of my website up and running. I'm a developer, have been for 15 years, so it's nice to not have to pay anyone for this.

I'm pretty happy with the look and feel, but I might be missing something since the detailing business is new to me.

I'm particularly interested in my detailing info:

Car Detailing

My prices are set and packages offered based on local competition as well as Renny's book. I am still a little unsure on the whole "maintenance" plan thing, so would love comments there as well.

I have not done a full review for spelling errors, doing that now.

Oh...I'm still working on getting some more pics up as well, so that page is basically empty.

Very Nice professional looking page Dave!
When I started I could not afford to go that route. But it's bee 17yrs & counting now. I still use ONR & Dri Wash n Guard products along with water & anything else I need to do the job.
DWG Pages
This portal coast me $10 a month & has done the job. I'm considering an upgrade, but I will still keep this.
Again Great site you have!:xyxthumbs:
 
Very Nice professional looking page Dave!
When I started I could not afford to go that route. But it's bee 17yrs & counting now. I still use ONR & Dri Wash n Guard products along with water & anything else I need to do the job.
DWG Pages
This portal coast me $10 a month & has done the job. I'm considering an upgrade, but I will still keep this.
Again Great site you have!:xyxthumbs:

You could spend the same amount of money or less and do a wordpress back end site and get it a little more "modern." I can make some suggestions on that side of thing if you'd like, but thanks for the feedback. This thread has helped me tremendously, and I think it shows that no matter how long you've been doing something, there is always room for improvement and learning! :dblthumb2:
 
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