Suggestions for Improving our Website

I was very impressed with the posts on the subject of updating and organizing new websites.

We are a non-profit company and our website (www.matcoserv.com) is fairly new. It is more like brochureware. It is not very interactive because we work in baby steps.

I would be appreciative to anyone who has any suggestions regarding the site, including making it a bit more interactive. Thank you.

I'm not an expert, but I think you need to consider your target "audience" and what they might want from your website. What do you mean by wanting it to be more "interactive"?

Interactive. When someone is reading you page they are interacting with your content. if you do not have helpful content, you waste this time with the customer.

Getting people to click on things does not equal a "productive visit"(depending on the site objectives). Give them the information they need to buy your services immediately. If you don't know what that info is, call your current customer base and ask.

A few suggestions:

Show people immediately why they would want to hire you. Put some benefits on the homepage.

Demonstrate how a business can:

A. cut costs - We are entering a slow business cycle for the foreseeable 12-24 months so everyone wants to cut costs. Show people how they can cut costs immediately in 2008 by using your services. Play this card fast and heavy on the homepage.
B. increase efficiencies or
C. increase sales/productivity by using your services.

Often a business can realize immediate savings in cleaning services using services such as yours.

(Remember too, business managers want to achieve all of the above. It helps their company and their resume. Give them what they need to do this.)

Who are your customers?

Put your phone number in your header. With a service like yours I'd have some immediate questions and possible concerns and would want a quick answer. Make it fast and easy for me to get a human on the phone.

Testimonials?

Highlight a case study on the home page:
"Company A was experiencing a negative X and when they hired us we not only addressed X, but uncovered Y and helped fix that too."

Ask your visitors to answer a few questions around their service needs to see if the two of you are a match. Some leading questions but intended to understand their needs ...email capture for future contact / quarterly marketing touches?

SHOW the visitor how they can save money using your services. Get prices from competitors and create a cost comparison chart for potential customers- put it on the homepage or have a "call out" on the homepage. Doing the research for the customer is a proven strategy. (Think Progessive Insurance.)

Design suggestions:
The site is too dark. Lighten it up.

hth

.

Thank you to everyone who answered the post.
An interactive site would include things like a donation page, an employment application, maybe an opinion page regarding their questions and concerns.

I'd recommend getting your current site up to snuff with valid code:

http://validator.w3.org/
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

After that, do a needs/goals analysis and sort out what your target market is. From there you can begin to work on the new updated design based on your findings.

I assumed you'd had the website a long time because it looks so dated. I was going to suggest you ditch it and commission a new one. Most websites need the occasional redesign, it's unfortunately something we all need to budget and prepare for.

The look of the site is old-fashioned, especially the drop shadows on rounded buttons and the attempt to squeeze the site into the same-sized rectangle on all pages. The design is all over the place, especially on the home page, with randomly-sized pictures and inconsistently-sized text bumping into each other. It's a mess, the sort of thing an amateur web designer would have built a decade ago.

The coding is terrible. The site was built using something called eSite Builder and the code is as bad as anything created by Front Page, with proprietary Microsoft code amongst the html. Surprisingly, the site doesn't actually validate that badly on some pages.

I don't recognise your pages' extension: what is a .nxg file? It appears to be something to do with Yellow Pages.

In short: sorry but I'd recommend you start again from scratch with a more professional website rather than try to improve this.

Hi matco.

Don't worry about being "interactive," worry about making your information as easy to find and understand as possible.

west7th gave you some great ideas regarding content. You have to put yourself in the place of your customer, like role playing. And there will be many different role playing scenarios of customer.
[ulist]Those who found your site after google search
Those coming to your site from business card
And those that are existing customers looking for data.
[/ulist]

I also agree with what blove8 said. Getting your code valid will not only help ensure your site works properly, but it will allow people with disabilities to view your site easier.

Finally, although some of what he said could have been said nicer, I agree with jasonking. You need to drop the redesign down to the essentials. Your site is very confusing right now. Your content is to spread out. You could probably drop your entire website down to a well designed one page site. Forget the gadgets.

Hope that helps.
-Chad
www.mstreetassociates.com

Chadharnish you're right, I could have been nicer, or at least a bit more tactful! I accept your admonishment.

Website owner, don't get disheartened, it doesn't necessarily cost a lot to get a website straightened out or redesigned. But make sure you get a professional (whether paid or a volunteer) to help you and insist the work is done to standards.

I'd be happy to give you some volunteer help to get started!

My name is Abie ODell and i am looking for assistance building our web site, our organization
is called one united resource and i am not the greatest web builder. any help what-so-ever would be appreciated.

thank you.
reply to; ourprogram2@gmail.com

Hi Abie--

You can take a look at our Learning Center articles on web building, which have a number of suggestions and guidelines to help you with your website. Also, feel free to let us know your organization's url, if you would like feedback in the forums, as you can see matco did on this thread.

Best,

Megan

Hello World!