new website

[snowcat]

Mine is a home job, theres allot more work I want to do (I hate the top banner for example the fonts wrong for the background) including some e-commerce stuff however time is always against me, I'm surprised how many phone calls I get from the site, so as said its best to try and get your site looking fairly decent.

Getting fonts and colouring correct really add to the appearance. Its a matter of spending the time and messing around to try and get the best from it.

 

[rtbcomp]

You must have a landline number on your website.
.........

Absolutely.

I have the divert code and mobile number set up as a directory entry on my landline phone.

 

[snowcat]

You must have a landline number on your website.
I would never deal with an outfit with only a mobile number as a contact.

You can divert a landline number to your mobile but deffo avoid just a mobile number.

I'm not sure thats true tho in Ag, as most people are out of the office All day, I never use my land line, and TBH I can not think of many people I deal with ever being contactable via a landline.

In fact I would say in Ag I'm more annoyed if I receive a land line no. as I know they don't want to be contacted, or they know naff all as there siting in the office all day.

 

[breezer]

Im a bit confused that its a mobile number but you have to ask for paul.

If i ring a mobile i expect to speak to the person im ringing. And if i ring a business i expect the person who answers the phone to be able to answer my questions. I know i may be askin a lot there in todays world...

I would get someone to spend half an hour going throug the site with you and correcting spelling and grammar - explain what you want to say and let them word it.

Jim

 

[Lewis Medlock]

Mine

Typo Snowcat, "Machineing services" should be "Machining"


Jim

 

[rtbcomp]

I'm not sure thats true tho in Ag, as most people are out of the office All day, I never use my land line, and TBH I can not think of many people I deal with ever being contactable via a landline.

In fact I would say in Ag I'm more annoyed if I receive a land line no. as I know they don't want to be contacted, or they know naff all as there siting in the office all day.

Then have both - a landline gives an air of permanency.

 

[TechnicAl]

i have looked into this and it is hard to find what bracket it falls into! have spoke to hse and they dnt seem to help much they just say there are no advisers anymore so you take the rules how ever you read them?? not much help from them!

to be honest most of the stuff i make is really strong thats why i get alot of work! so cant see having any problems plus the tractor dealerships that sell them dnt have problems either?? agri equipment is a slight gray area

The HSE wont help. They have stopped providing free H&S advice. Most of the drive comes from Insurance companies scared of getting their **** reamed by some ambulance chaser.

Would having it tested and stamped be a good selling point....The only one

just a thought and it doesnt cost a lot.

 

[snowcat]

Then have both - a landline gives an air of permanency.

My landlines my Home No. as is most peoples in the Ag industry, so it tends not to be handed out.

Its different in some industry's I know, but Iv yet to starve a winter yet by not handing out a land line, I cant even think of an instance when I was last asked, properly never.

 

[Paul.]

No landline on mine either, its never been a problem, on the odd occasion a new supplier has asked for a fixed line number for security purposes I just give my home number, with the mobile as the primary contact.

 

[astro_al]

I don't have a landline, and I honestly don't think it matters.

Snowcat, great weld pics, crap spelling! 'Aluminum'...? If a word ends with 'ing' you can knock off the last 'e', quite a few of those on your site.

Bean metal - honestly, it doesn't look very professional. Mainly due to the standard of the English. Perhaps you can get someone you know who is a bit better at writing to check it over? Punctuation and spelling need sorting, as does the actual copy (text) it scans awkwardly and doesn't sell you as a good communicator.

Also, I think you could do without the italic font used in the top menu, it is too small for a start. The other one gives a more professional look.

The website doesn't require any exclaimation marks, and certainly not multiple question marks. That is not English, that's what teenagers thumb into their phones. New sentences require capital letters, etc etc. There is a lot wrong with it, you might have proof read it before asking for opinions.

Overall, could be a decent simple website if it was given a bit of polish.

Good luck, Al

 

[Lewis Medlock]

Can't find any typos on TIG Paul's site


Jim

 

[astro_al]

Under our work, 2nd pic down, 'bade'.

Nice site though. Al

 

[Wozzaaah]

Under our work, 2nd pic down, 'bade'.

Nice site though. Al

Well spotted Hawkeye!
Agree, a very nice site, uncluttered and informative, nice high quality photos and generally pleasing on the eye.

 

[snowcat]

I don't have a landline, and I honestly don't think it matters.

Snowcat, great weld pics, crap spelling! 'Aluminum'...? If a word ends with 'ing' you can knock off the last 'e', quite a few of those on your site.

The problem is a rely on spell check, which of course is often incorrect, when it comes to spelling English and Languages Iv always been hopeless ever since school, and without someone pointing a spelling mistake out I would never ever notice, I can even struggle with three letter words, Something is missing in that part of brain, I hope my children haven't inherited it.

 

[garethp]

I get put off by businesses only having a mobile number, a sim card can be bought for a few quid and the number can be impossible to trace. Ar least a landline is tied to a physical location and give a bit more substance to a company or trader.

I suppose its a hard one to decide on - you'll never know if someone has decided not to call and has gone elsewhere.

 

[MattF]

I really tried resisting posting in this thread but...

Honestly people. The first and most important thing is the use of correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. Not just on a business website, but also on any business literature or correspondence, be it in either hard or soft format. That is the one area which can make any company look either professional or like a set of monkeys within the first few seconds of someone seeing it. It truly does make one hell of a difference, so correctness of language use should be dealt with before any other point.

With regards to the websites, the prime points to aim for are:

1) Simplicity. If it's not needed, don't use it.

2) Compactness of content and page load speed. If someone is waiting yonks for a site to load due to the use of either unoptimised or unnecessary content, they'll likely just think sod it and look elsewhere. If images are used, optimise them. With all content, if it isn't necessary, ditch it, (point 1 above). Flashy sites don't mean diddly. Better bland and informative than flashy and painful to navigate and/or use.

3) Legibility. Make it easy to view. Stick with standard fonts and set them to a minimum default size where they are easily read by people with less than perfect eyesight. Use simple colours too.

4) Spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Once a site is up and running in good, clean base form, then make alterations to the site to make it look a bit flashier, if needs must, but make sure the basics are all good first. Start with a foundation which is basically crap, and every addition made will just compound it. You'll be chasing your tail for ever and a day. Start with something usable and clean, and it's a simple process to correct any errors which may creep in later on.

The above is completely skirting the low level side of things which cater more towards search engines and the like, but if you can, also aiming to create syntactically? valid HTML and simple, relevant and concise content will also do you a world of good with rankings too.


Not meaning to sound like a grump on the subject, but honestly, good sites are worth their weight in gold. Badly composed sites are, however, just painful, in more ways than one.

 

[Paul.]

Under our work, 2nd pic down, 'bade'.

Nice site though. Al

Ya must have imagined that
Thanks for the comments, number one son put that together, its nice to know that 4 years he did at at uni weren't wasted.

 

[PTvor]

If you have a standard range, show some examples and say what the standard range is. Prices are nice, if possible, even if it's "from £399". Have you thought of giving the items in the standard range names, "The Dorchester", "The Gloucester" etc?

Are there different sorts of these feeders, Dairy, Beef, Calf, Sheep?

The photos seem a bit of a muddle, with a fireguard and a pile of drainpipe clips. The out of focus ones don't create a good impression. Use a tripod with a cheapish digital camera. If possible take them on a sunny day. Ever noticed the houses in bogroll ads are always in the £750,000 range and if they're selling sweeties they never show the packet torn open, it's always cut cleanly with a guillotine. You don't have to go in for total B/S, but it's hard to make something look inviting in the rain.

You could have another section like Feeders to deal with specials and repairs, such as the fireguard.

Captions for the photos would be good.

If I was buying a feeder, I'm not sure you would have convinced me about painted and thicker metal versus galvanised and thinner metal. Is there some special paint you are using or something about the way you paint them, five coats or whatever? If I bought one, would I expect to have to repaint it after a couple of years?

The text on the home page doesn't really scan, e.g "In a large fully equipped workshop to deal with the smallest to the largest of jobs,", just hangs there. "Modern" is a good word to work in.

With a website, you have to consider the audience you are addressing and what you want to say to them which captures their interest, and makes them feel that what you are saying is something they feel comfortable spending their money on, or at least investigating further. Make it easy and direct people - "Click here for feeders, click here for the Wrap Stack", and use hyperlinks rather than have people work out they have to go to the top of the page.

The worst kind of shop to go into is one where they probably have what you want, but there's nothing much on display and you have to ask for everything on your list. They then search about and tell you the price - which you probably won't like anyway.

Have a look at other websites doing the same kind of business, not necessarily metal fabrication, say, joiners making expensive hardwood doors. Which ones engage your attention and make you want to look further?

 

[MattF]

The problem is a rely on spell check, which of course is often incorrect,

You're better off trying to collar someone you know to proof read it instead. Even if you use a spell-checker, they can only catch spelling mistakes. They won't catch bad grammar, for example. If you know any pedants, collar one.

 

[c-k]

Just a small one for now, your site is at 1050px, if you can try put it at 800 or 980px,

or 100% if you can edit it that far with the free system, or it could already be 100% but your banner image to wide pushing it out,

Not everyone has big screens or able to changed there screen resolutions that far meaning they will have to scroll sideways as well as down, small but seen as very annoying,

Most free template editors are easy to play with for beginners, hour or two playing around and you can end up with good enough site