Property website review

[visionjockey]

Hi all,

I spent the weekend overhauling my website.

I am looking to avoid the standard 'brochure' type site and create something a little more interactive for my visitors.

Also, being a new architectural practice I am looking to create a marketing system that doesn't rely on word of mouth and yellow pages.

I am also interested in hearing what you would consider important when deciding on an architect to design your building project.

Your comments on both the website and my approach is greatly appreciated.

Please note that some of the links are not live at the moment. I have yet to set up the survey on surveymonkey and my email list on aweber.


Here is the link

[BrightSpark]

I have never liked flash on a web site but even less on the front page. Flash does a couple of things, it takes some time to load, it can distract from the rest of the web site, you are limiting the site to only those viewers that have flash enabled and search engines can't do searches on it.

If you must have something changing on your front page then you would be better having images that change at least this way you can add alt text to them so that they can be found when searching.

Also I think your left hand side is too wide and the text is too small. Making it about the same size as your right hand side would look more balanced. Also keep your links up near the top because with your Starter Package and Schematic Design pages they drop way down the side.

Your Subscribe to our advice line here...! and Participate in our survey here...! don't have links to them but I take it that the site is still in test mode.

I notice that the site is hosted over in the US of A. You went for a .com domain and not a .com.au gives me the impression that you want to work outside of Australia.

[BeniCreative]

Hi,

I had a browse at your site. Thanks for being daring enough to put it out there for comment. I think it's good that you are steering away from the typical brochure style website but there are a few elements I would be careful about in this approach. As per the previous comments, I would definitely watch the balance. The left side bar being wider than the right sets the balance off a bit.

My other suggestion would be the background colour. The deep grey with the type in the light grey makes it a bit hard to read.

The design of a website is a lot of work so I encourage you to keep going with it. Another thought to ponder is the issue of priority. What elements would you like to stand out in order of most important to least important? Then create your site with those priorities in mind.

I hope this will be helpful.

Kind Regards
Bronwyn

[KarenC]

Just a note re phone numbers - PLEASE put the area code in on your website and all your stationery and business cards. So many people forget to put area codes in.

(For example, your prefix is the same as a Sydney area number and we also have a Coogee in Sydney.)

When phone numbers can be the same across Australia in different states, it makes calling people difficult if the area code is omitted.

Best wishes for your success in 2009.

PS You can always make the phone number/address details as a JPG or GIF file, exactly the same size as the rest of the text and use that if you wish for more privacy online.

[Susan Oakes]

I agree you are brave putting your site up for review. As there are many things to look out for when designing a website, the following checklist may help you. You can skip over the parts you do not want but it is really comprehensive and compiled by guys who really know their stuff.

Design Considerations
Browser Issues
Architectural Issues
Navigation
Content
Content Appearance
Additional Website Development Tips

Best of Luck

[ahortin]

Personally, I'm not totally against using Flash in a website. It certainly has it's uses. The way you've used it on your site though, could do with a few improvements.

First thing is that it takes quite a long time to load. I have a 30Mbps cable connection and still took over 10 seconds to load. The Flash file itself is almost 2MB in size, which is HUGE for a flash file, especially something that's doing a simple animation like yours. I'd also get rid of the background music. Unless there's a really good reason for it, background music that plays automatically when a site loads, is just annoying. Also, the 'clickable' area for the 'skip' button, is not over the actual text so you need to click below the word 'skip' to action the button. When you click 'skip' a second time, it starts the animation again. A bit confusing. After clicking skip, you only display the tag line, "Begin your journey today". A bit of an anti-climax really.

I agree with the previous posts. The left hand column is way too wide and the font way too small.

The white text on the bright orange is very hard to read. Also, I think the 'peachy' colour of the LH bar is a bit distracting as well, especially on the longer pages. I'd look at using a softer colour.

It's a good idea to keep your navigation consistent. You've got main navigation links up the top of the page and then also down the LH side. I'd have them all in the same position, either at the top or down the left.

The text on your 'Contact' page starts a lot further down the page than all the other pages. Again, this should be consistent across the whole site.

On your forms, you should indicate which fields are mandatory. A simple red '*' (asterisk) next to the field name is sufficient, along with a one line comment up the top of the form advising as such. Also, the form validation should also trim all the spaces prior to validating. EG. It prompts you to enter text in a field if you've left it blank, but it doesn't care if you simply put a space in the field.

You've got a spelling mistake on your 'Free consultation' link. It reads as "Book your Free consultaion here...!" (ie. missing a 't'). It'd be a good idea to remove the double-line borders as well. They don't really add anything to the link.

Maybe also have a look at updating the page titles to something a bit more meaningful.

Just a few things to think about...

Cheers,
Anthony.

[Carole]

I think the opening page looks brilliant and is well balanced.
The flash download is a bit slow for my liking. You have a spelling mistake here - receive(i before e except...)
I thought the flash was excellent.
All the best with this business.

[visionjockey]

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the constructive comments.

I am not afraid of putting ideas on the table for comment. It is part of what I do and an important part of the process to involve other perspectives.

Within the 'marketing' department of my practice I have two main goals.
1. To build a lead generation and converstion system.
2. To build a brand.

Notwithstanding the technicalities of a website which will be addressed (and of course the gramatical and spelling errors. It's my curse) here is my logic behind the website as it stands today.

As far as lead generation is concerned, the intent is to draw focus to the initial first steps in creating your building. Book a free consultation, commission us to perform a feasibility report (the starter package), commision us to create preliminary designs( schematics). Then lead to a full fee proposal to complete the vision.

The links to the left have been deliberately made insignificant as they do not form part of the lead development process. The standard about us, contact us, we are fantastic links do nothing to address the reason why someone needs an architect. They do not solve a problem.

I have deliberately down played the display of current and past projects because they have no relevance to your project. Each vision and the forces on your vision are unique to that project and result in a one-off solution.

I have deliberatley down played the name of the practice and put emphasis on the tag line ....Your vision brought to life! in attempt to build a brand. A "Nike...just do it". Capitilise on the emotion instead of "... here are the people and this are their credentials"

The colours are meant to be striking and memorable albeit a little too overpowering in this version of the website. The tri colour bar is an attempt to create a simple icon as a form of recognition. A nike tick.

The idea of the free advice line and articles are an attempt to engage the potential client. Aside from obtaining their contact details it may begin a non threatening trust building process which hopefully leads them to the free consultation,starter package and schematic design. The front end of the funnel.

I may be completley wrong with the direction. Please tell me if I am.

I love designing buildings. Unfortunately I cannot build them all myself.

It starts with a client who has a vision.

Keep the critique going. At least as an exercise on what not to do when trying to build a lead generation machine and brand.

Mario

[BeniCreative]

Hi Mario,

It's good that you welcome constructive advice. I love this thread as I get to chat about design which is what I love. Just a couple of thoughts:

1. When creating a brand / logo for your company it's really important that it is an obvious feature. It's not very obvious that the bars underneath actually form part of the logo. It is a good idea that the logo sits in a very prominent location like the top left or right hand corner and is set apart in some way.

2. The gray colour used for the background is too close in colour value to the orange. This means the colours are both equally as strong so they compete with each other for attention. It would be a good idea to deepen the orange slightly and tone the gray down a bit to create for a stronger contrast.

3. I would also set some boundary lines for your design. The orange boxes tend to swim on the page and have no border. I think adding a defined foreground and background would work well.

4. Also I noticed that you would like the very first priority to be the free consultation. At this point, the main feature is the flash presentation and it is overwhelming the attention. If you wanted to keep the flash, maybe you could include text about a free consultation within the the flash presentation?

I hope all goes well!

Kindest Regards
Bronwyn

[visionjockey]

Hi Bronwyn,

Thanks for the persepctive.

You have confirmed what I thought needed to be done with the current graphics. New versions are in the works.

Bronwyn and others..... What message did you get from the flash movie?

Would showing past projects I have designed for others and talking about how great the business is with all the industry awards we have received etc etc (the standard brochure site) have more weight than the message in the movie if you were looking for an architect.

Mario