Website Up for Review

Sonnenblumen

All +/- feedback appreciated :

www.owenchubblandscapers.com


Tks

iii Stevo iii

I was actually on this site earlier on today! How weird is that!

I like the site. Has a dated feel, but it seems to work(possibly because of the large slideshow gallery on the pages).
There is a lot of text on the opening page:
This may be for seo purposes but it makes the overall appearance suffer somewhat.

Likewise for the 'driveways' page, alot of text but nothing drawing me to read through it.

tricky D

Anything to help out a fellow xbalt

The logo appears a bit jagged.

You could put your address in the footer for all pages.

Any testimonials available?

I would size the galleries down a bit on all pages so that main content text appears more above the fold.

Could have before and after comparisons in some of the case studies.

You need 'calls to action'.

Shop URLs are SEO unfriendly. Would prefer a more list-like appearance for the shop categories pages with more text description. Make the Add to Cart into an orange button.

Consider using facebook and other social media.

The content in Projects/Commercial is the same for the 2 projects.

Many of the galleries have the image nav in the top left corner. They should have the left/right arrows on the sides of the images like on the homepage.

Some of the page titles are too long and might be repeating keywords a bit too much.

Blog pages are way too long.

Cianos

Can't add much more to the above, but I'll try

The large white background for shop images doesn't look right. I see that when you click in to a product it gives you a detailed description of that product. Why not include this on the first image rather than requiring another click? If you want to make it appear more browsable, then you need a better navigation menu for it as tricky D said, and reduce that amount of white space because it looks too clunky.

On the shop page the phone number you list is a mobile number. This would create a level of doubt in a customers mind as they prefer thinking that there's a physical location they can go to should there be a problem, and they also feel that someone selling them something should be based in a physical location. So if possible I'd put your landline number in there instead. If this isn't possible I'd be more inclined just to remove the contact number from that page and link them to the Contact page instead.

Having the shop logo bigger and more eye catching than your company name/logo doesn't look quite right. Also the font for the shop logo should look more sophisticated and classy, and invoke the want and trust to purchase. It seems to clash with the well-chosen green tones and the quality photographs.

Given the amount of text throughout your site, I'd definitely consider getting away from the white on black colouring, because it's more difficult to read than the normal black on white. As Stevo said above, there is a lot of text which most people won't read. Having it there for SEO reasons is fine and the fact people read it or not doesn't quite matter if it doesn't diminish the design or make it less likely people will hire you or buy from you. But having it white on black makes it appear cumbersome and laborious to read, wich is enough to create a negative reaction to the overall visitor experience and could dissuade them from staying.

Sonnenblumen

Cianos

thanks for that very useful feedback. Noted.

dory

Looks good! I would agree with the person above that before and after samples are a very good idea.

chrisadam7

Why not include this on the first image rather than requiring another click? If you want to make it appear more browsable, then you need a better navigation menu for it as tricky D said, and reduce that amount of white space because it looks too clunky.
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dory

Also, from a customer point of view not website person; I have been trying to do up two gardens now for a while. I would love to get some professional help but it seems to be far too expensive. But that's just what I've been hearing, I've no real idea because no gardeners put up prices. If I could see some prices, for any part of it I'd be more interested.
Even for older projects, how much did they cost? If there was say a €500 package, or a €1000 package and I knew that would be the set price and I could get something done for that price.
Just my €0.02.

Sonnenblumen

dory wrote: »

Also, from a customer point of view not website person; I have been trying to do up two gardens now for a while. I would love to get some professional help but it seems to be far too expensive. But that's just what I've been hearing, I've no real idea because no gardeners put up prices. If I could see some prices, for any part of it I'd be more interested.
Even for older projects, how much did they cost? If there was say a €500 package, or a €1000 package and I knew that would be the set price and I could get something done for that price.
Just my €0.02.

I understand your difficulty, but in reality it is very difficult to quote rate card prices/package offers. Most professional garden designers/landscapers do offer an initial Site visit, free of charge. As gardens, access, ground conditions and indeed design can vary enormously, it is unlikely you can get an overall price without site visit. If you want to pm me some photos I could give you an idea on what costs you might expect.

None of the projects featured would be near €1,000;)

Sonnenblumen

Cianos wrote: »

Can't add much more to the above, but I'll try

The large white background for shop images doesn't look right. I see that when you click in to a product it gives you a detailed description of that product. Why not include this on the first image rather than requiring another click? If you want to make it appear more browsable, then you need a better navigation menu for it as tricky D said, and reduce that amount of white space because it looks too clunky.

On the shop page the phone number you list is a mobile number. This would create a level of doubt in a customers mind as they prefer thinking that there's a physical location they can go to should there be a problem, and they also feel that someone selling them something should be based in a physical location. So if possible I'd put your landline number in there instead. If this isn't possible I'd be more inclined just to remove the contact number from that page and link them to the Contact page instead.

Having the shop logo bigger and more eye catching than your company name/logo doesn't look quite right. Also the font for the shop logo should look more sophisticated and classy, and invoke the want and trust to purchase. It seems to clash with the well-chosen green tones and the quality photographs.

Given the amount of text throughout your site, I'd definitely consider getting away from the white on black colouring, because it's more difficult to read than the normal black on white. As Stevo said above, there is a lot of text which most people won't read. Having it there for SEO reasons is fine and the fact people read it or not doesn't quite matter if it doesn't diminish the design or make it less likely people will hire you or buy from you. But having it white on black makes it appear cumbersome and laborious to read, wich is enough to create a negative reaction to the overall visitor experience and could dissuade them from staying.

Cianos

I would broadly agree with your points on shop, clunky feel, and backgrounds. The Shop (and Blog) logos were intended to contrast with the more formal text of main site.

A particular problem to solve is how to improve the transition/slideshow of 30 photos/category with less fuss than clicking? The solution must also be easily updateable, so user friendly CMS rather than techie CMS would be essential.

Cianos

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

A particular problem to solve is how to improve the transition/slideshow of 30 photos/category with less fuss than clicking? The solution must also be easily updateable, so user friendly CMS rather than techie CMS would be essential.

Hey,
What do you mean by "less fuss than clicking?"

Cian

Sonnenblumen

Cian

Although re-positioning the < > on each photo would be better than the current way, I'd prefer to see a more automated slideshow for each category (which will extend over time) which user could control eg pause etc

The slideshow on homepage is simple and provides a quick overview, the specialist areas will require a more user friendlier automated (with manual control ) presentation of up to ideally 30 photos.

Cianos

I wouldn't advise approaching the Shop navigation by using a slideshow method.

You don't gain anything really from doing this. I notice that when I reload the page the first product changes. Even this can be confusing, as you need the user to intuitively know how to navigate the page and part of this is knowing where the 'beginning' is. (the back button is the most used button on the browser for this reason).

You don't have a lot of products, so effective navigation shouldn't really be a problem and should be easily achieved even though it's a sub-navigation menu.

I've done a quick mock up on how I'd structure it. Click here.

A couple of notes;

When visitor first hits the shop, there's a thumbnail page showing the different categories.

Clicking a category (either thumbnail on first shop page or the text in the side navigation bar) will open a page with thumbnails, price, and short description of each product.

Clicking a product gives you full info and option to add to cart etc.

It'd be nice to have multiple images of each product. Maybe where a lightbox pops up for viewing. I'd imagine that if someone is thinking of spending €1,000+ on a statue they'll want to see as many pictures of it as possible, different angles, close-ups etc.

You can add very obvious '< previous product next product >' buttons for quick navigation, but I'd consider naming them so the person knows they're staying within the category, so something like '< Deroma Repeat Trough Planter'. Although this may add too much clutter to the page. Try it and see I guess.

Make it easy to navigate back to the front page of the shop. Maybe a "All products" button at the top of the navigation menu.