Looking for web critique

18 Apr 12 2:28 pm

I won't cover the positive points (which are many) because they don't need remediation), just what I see as problems. Except to say that the general "Look and Feel" is professional and the color scheme effective at looking different than most without looking at all bad.

Home page:
Where am I? No page is marked as "Home". Stick to web standards, don't invent your own. Give visitors what they have come to expect from other sites.

Difference between "Solutions" ("Services"?) and "Expertise" ("Methods"?) is unclear to me.

Offer and Main Head: "Why repeat the same costly mistakes? ...When outstanding solutions are within your reach? These questions of yours are not an offer, not a true Unique Value Proposition.

That is, they do not answer the prospects top of mind questions, "Why should I buy your service?" and "Why should I buy from you and not your competitor?". Basically it states a problem and doesn't provide a solution. Or the solution is delayed until after the visitor decides to take the action of clicking. With no solution given immediately, there is less incentive to take any action - except for desperate visitors willing to click just to find out what they should have been told already. This may help account for high bounce rate.

You have only a few seconds to clearly express your UVP and you don't do so in those few seconds. In fact the time delay of waiting for the presentation of the 2nd part of your headline makes this even worse.

Subhead: I'd separate out the first statement and the Guarantee statement, not squish them together. Use the "Only 1 thought per paragraph" rule for web writing. Web page visitors don't really read (until they get very involved) they scan.

That first statement is an unsubstantiated claim. Quality claims must always be proved immediately and nearby. Your stark choice is to promote the idea that you lie or to promote the idea that you tell the truth - there is no in-between.

Something like an independent study of your business with a chart, a testimonial, a client list or such is needed as 3rd party proof (no one believes the claims of the business owner). If you fear making the home page too "busy" (it's quite clean and minimal now - congratulations!), add a link to your proof and clearly label it as proof.

Then you present 2 equally waited calls to action. You never want to force visitors to have to decide between 2 actions. One or the other must be the natural choice and be emphasized. The 3rd choice "See Diagrams" is less emphatic - good.

There's no obvious way to return from the window opened by that "See Diagrams" link. Needs a "Close this window" or some such link back. With no back arrow and a large new window, your home page may be hidden underneath, leading to confusion.

The "Take the do it yourself marketing test" has no link. I guess it refers to the "See Diagrams" box/link below it - but that's unclear to me. Perhaps enclose them both with a small white border? or move the statement into the top of the "See Diagrams" box?

Lack of credibility and trust symbols. Again, I hate to clutter the home page, but you need some credibility symbols. Also, for trust you should show a physical address (usually in a footer). Google also want to see this. A phone number is part of that which you have done, but that's not enough by itself.

No freebies: "Social Engineering" tells us that if you give a valuable free gift to your visitors, they feel obligated to you (whether they want to or not). So, you should offer some kind of summary solution that fits most businesses - or otherwise do a serious free value add. Right now, the home page is valuable to you - but not really to the visitor. make sure they get something really good out of it and they'll be much more willing to sign up to your mailing list, knowing from that experience tha they can expect value from your mailings.

Please see this Persuasion article from Scientific American Magazine:
The Science of Persuasion

The pen image is too prominent, such that it makes the email sign-up somewhat invisible. I'd keep it, but make it considerably smaller. Also maybe make the "join our mailing list" font larger.

"Submit" is always a nasty choice for a button label (although it's also unclear that it IS a button). "Submit" suggests that the visitor should give over their will to yours for evil purposes - like "You WILL submit - we have our ways!".

That use of "Submit" on button labels must have been started by a programmer. Technically It DOES submit data to a web server - but the connotations are not one a marketer would ever want to make!

I didn't delve much into the other pages, but did notice some minor grammar issues, like on your "Solutions Page":
"The only thing that distinguishes between a producer and another is who understands customers in a shorter time, who designs smarter parts and adapts faster to newer technologies."

That word "Only" means one and only one - then you list 3 separate items.
Here and on the home page bullet lists would be better for scanning (not reading) web visitors.

Also, I noticed that your have "B2C Environments" listed twice, where one should be "B2B....".

That's all I have time for this morning - hope it helps...

Oh! You asked for a 1-10 score: I say 7... Very high marks for Visuals, but somewhat weak on some marketing implementations.

_jim coe

19 Apr 12 7:10 am

Thank you for valuable feedback. You made valid points which I will consider to optimize the site.

jimcoe wrote:I won't cover the positive points (which are many) because they don't need remediation), just what I see as problems. Except to say that the general "Look and Feel" is professional and the color scheme effective at looking different than most without looking at all bad.

Home page:
Where am I? No page is marked as "Home". Stick to web standards, don't invent your own. Give visitors what they have come to expect from other sites.

Difference between "Solutions" ("Services"?) and "Expertise" ("Methods"?) is unclear to me.

Offer and Main Head: "Why repeat the same costly mistakes? ...When outstanding solutions are within your reach? These questions of yours are not an offer, not a true Unique Value Proposition.

That is, they do not answer the prospects top of mind questions, "Why should I buy your service?" and "Why should I buy from you and not your competitor?". Basically it states a problem and doesn't provide a solution. Or the solution is delayed until after the visitor decides to take the action of clicking. With no solution given immediately, there is less incentive to take any action - except for desperate visitors willing to click just to find out what they should have been told already. This may help account for high bounce rate.

You have only a few seconds to clearly express your UVP and you don't do so in those few seconds. In fact the time delay of waiting for the presentation of the 2nd part of your headline makes this even worse.

Subhead: I'd separate out the first statement and the Guarantee statement, not squish them together. Use the "Only 1 thought per paragraph" rule for web writing. Web page visitors don't really read (until they get very involved) they scan.

That first statement is an unsubstantiated claim. Quality claims must always be proved immediately and nearby. Your stark choice is to promote the idea that you lie or to promote the idea that you tell the truth - there is no in-between.

Something like an independent study of your business with a chart, a testimonial, a client list or such is needed as 3rd party proof (no one believes the claims of the business owner). If you fear making the home page too "busy" (it's quite clean and minimal now - congratulations!), add a link to your proof and clearly label it as proof.

Then you present 2 equally waited calls to action. You never want to force visitors to have to decide between 2 actions. One or the other must be the natural choice and be emphasized. The 3rd choice "See Diagrams" is less emphatic - good.

There's no obvious way to return from the window opened by that "See Diagrams" link. Needs a "Close this window" or some such link back. With no back arrow and a large new window, your home page may be hidden underneath, leading to confusion.

The "Take the do it yourself marketing test" has no link. I guess it refers to the "See Diagrams" box/link below it - but that's unclear to me. Perhaps enclose them both with a small white border? or move the statement into the top of the "See Diagrams" box?

Lack of credibility and trust symbols. Again, I hate to clutter the home page, but you need some credibility symbols. Also, for trust you should show a physical address (usually in a footer). Google also want to see this. A phone number is part of that which you have done, but that's not enough by itself.

No freebies: "Social Engineering" tells us that if you give a valuable free gift to your visitors, they feel obligated to you (whether they want to or not). So, you should offer some kind of summary solution that fits most businesses - or otherwise do a serious free value add. Right now, the home page is valuable to you - but not really to the visitor. make sure they get something really good out of it and they'll be much more willing to sign up to your mailing list, knowing from that experience tha they can expect value from your mailings.

Please see this Persuasion article from Scientific American Magazine:
The Science of Persuasion

The pen image is too prominent, such that it makes the email sign-up somewhat invisible. I'd keep it, but make it considerably smaller. Also maybe make the "join our mailing list" font larger.

"Submit" is always a nasty choice for a button label (although it's also unclear that it IS a button). "Submit" suggests that the visitor should give over their will to yours for evil purposes - like "You WILL submit - we have our ways!".

That use of "Submit" on button labels must have been started by a programmer. Technically It DOES submit data to a web server - but the connotations are not one a marketer would ever want to make!

I didn't delve much into the other pages, but did notice some minor grammar issues, like on your "Solutions Page":
"The only thing that distinguishes between a producer and another is who understands customers in a shorter time, who designs smarter parts and adapts faster to newer technologies."

That word "Only" means one and only one - then you list 3 separate items.
Here and on the home page bullet lists would be better for scanning (not reading) web visitors.

Also, I noticed that your have "B2C Environments" listed twice, where one should be "B2B....".

That's all I have time for this morning - hope it helps...

Oh! You asked for a 1-10 score: I say 7... Very high marks for Visuals, but somewhat weak on some marketing implementations.

_jim coe

19 Apr 12 7:41 am

@affil96754 - Which post are you referring to as Spam?

If you would like to report a spam post, please use the yellow button with a dash underneath the post you would like to report as Spam. That will be sent to the forum moderators to look into.

20 Apr 12 3:54 am

Your website looks good and professional. No doubt, the overall graphics fit well with your target market- B2B and B2C.

Regarding your problem with high bounce rate, I guess you may want to explore more your content, site usability, and communication gateway for your visitors.

Your homepage for example, should have better impact (not just graphics-wise) but also more on content. You may want to add something that will offer your visitors benefits. Perhaps giving example of a common problem for clients and how you can help. It is not enough that you introduce your Company offering this and that. From the homepage, your visitors should immediately see how useful your Company is.

Additionally, you may also want to add a video on your homepage. You can actually put the above suggestion into video, or perhaps create a video on how your company works like solving solutions, getting results, and so on. Besides that you may also add client's testimonials in the homepage, if not create another page for testimonials.

A blog page is also essential. Putting up a blog will open up avenue for communication with your visitors. Here, you will likely know what they are looking for, what they need, and so on. This will also give you an idea on what else to improve in your site so you can convert more sales.

Check out Mark's post on increasing your conversion rate here as well. It may help. :)

Good luck!

23 Apr 12 8:47 am

I agree about adding a forum. Once I collect all contributors' views, i'll proceed with modficiations. Thanks

macdalangin wrote:Your website looks good and professional. No doubt, the overall graphics fit well with your target market- B2B and B2C.

Regarding your problem with high bounce rate, I guess you may want to explore more your content, site usability, and communication gateway for your visitors.

Your homepage for example, should have better impact (not just graphics-wise) but also more on content. You may want to add something that will offer your visitors benefits. Perhaps giving example of a common problem for clients and how you can help. It is not enough that you introduce your Company offering this and that. From the homepage, your visitors should immediately see how useful your Company is.

Additionally, you may also want to add a video on your homepage. You can actually put the above suggestion into video, or perhaps create a video on how your company works like solving solutions, getting results, and so on. Besides that you may also add client's testimonials in the homepage, if not create another page for testimonials.

A blog page is also essential. Putting up a blog will open up avenue for communication with your visitors. Here, you will likely know what they are looking for, what they need, and so on. This will also give you an idea on what else to improve in your site so you can convert more sales.

Check out Mark's post on increasing your conversion rate here as well. It may help. :)

Good luck!