>Website Testing / Revisions and updates occur once the initial draft is completed, here is some communication that gives an idea of the attention to detail that we go to ensuring you get the very best website.
Thought I would just give you a quick update on what I have been doing and some of the areas I have been looking at. I have made a start on my recommendations for the website and I have taken this right back to the beginning, I have attached what I have done so far as it is quite a lengthy document and I thought I would start feeding it through rather than send the whole lot at once.
Let me know what you think, I haven’t sent it to website support yet until you have had chance to have a look so I can hear your thoughts first. I think it is important to give the trade membership some priority in order that we can get up and running with the logos and get them on the website.
I have also asked my assistant to start working on a time line to get information regarding industry events, exhibitions and other notable dates in order that we can get organised in advance and know what is coming up, we can put some plans in place and this will give us all some direction.
In the meantime I am also doing a lot of research and reading to gather evidence and information that will be of benefit to us when people demand the facts and figures and need reasons to buy.
The first website example I believe is a good bench mark for reference and layout, I have spoken to a couple of testers and asked them to compare ours and this one and they felt that ours was good as you instantly knew how much the product was however this site was better as it was built on creating the need to buy.
It gets back to the old adage shout the benefits and whisper the cost, what I think is missing on our homepage is the question what is it and why I need to buy.
I know we are working to an approved framework / template within the website therefore I can only go forward and make suggestions based on opinion and looking at other business models.
Here goes.
The company name should be in the top left hand corner I am not aware of many websites who do not do this.
The logo should have the strapline below it. This would make the logo more integral and tighter for space.
That’s the left hand side of the header, Twitter Facebook etc. can be moved across, with the google translate all on the same line so that they do not dominate the page and that brings me next to the menu bar:
At the moment we have:
Home / Services / Gallery / FAQs / Clients / News / Contact
I am suggesting we add About, Video and Markets
Everyone starts with home but to go straight in with gallery indicates images and not what the product or the company is actually about, I would therefore suggest About and then have the list underneath as follows, this list is not exhaustive:
How it works, again might be simple but we need to make it simple
Why I need one – What are the Reasons to buy
Installation – full guide to installation plus print out of instruction if required
FAQs – Common questions and answers, part of the information and about us.
The next button is markets and what I would suggest with this is that we have a separate page with pointers for each of our key markets, some of the information will be similar but if a buyer believes we have facts with them in mind they will be far more convinced, so this list is also not exhaustive and we can add on as we target a specific area:
Factories
Hospitals/health
Schools/Colleges
Offices
RetailThe next button is news and this section is huge and can give us authority in our field as well as promoting ourselves, I think what we do with Twitter and Facebook at the bottom of the page is great however it’s information can be a little hidden and you have to go looking for it, also some people are not social media fans so we must not rely on this method to let people know news, it therefore needs to be up there in lights at the top of the page. For example we currently have a really good news video on Twitter but not to be seen anywhere else.
I have changed Gallery to Video as I think people will use this more than any other to understand the product, we have a lot of images and videos that can support our sales story and more to come, I think they need to be available to users within a couple of clicks and therefore by offering direction immediately at the top of the page is a good option
Contact is simply what it says it is though I do think our contact page is very large and the verification section I think might be incorrect at the moment as it says Verification. Please input the result of 3+3=?
I think we should have in the contact information page something simple as follows and then the boxes to fill in as there is nothing that annoys me more than having to trawl through a site looking for who to contact. This is the top of our page. This is the next section and we still haven’t got to a telephone number
At the moment we have email boxes to fill in, then a map and then the address/ phone number and I think this is upside down and that the map is too big, very few people will come to our premises to purchase and while it is good to show a UK location I think it could be brought down in size. I think it could be a good idea to have opening times and outside of these times can we offer an answer phone or divert to another phone?
So that completes the menu which as the main navigational tool for the site needs to be organised and easily breaks down information about the business so people can find what they want within a couple of clicks and in very quick time.
Next comes the BUY button and the telephone number for those people who like to pick up the telephone straightaway
It sounds a lot to fit into a header but this is not an unusual amount, the next point for discussion is the colour scheme, I know that we are limited with the corporate colours being the green and the red, however I am not keen on the black, it’s a personal thing and you can shout me down but I do not think that anything to do with health and hygiene should lead with black, also I’ve been to many seminars that tell me not to use reverse block white on black as people over the age of 40 suffer with diminished eye sight and cannot read the small print. If you search health products many providers go with blue which I think is an obvious choice as it relates you to water, being clean and healthy and it is also the colours of NHS, however I don’t think this will work so well with the green and red. It might be worth looking at green as the base colour as this is associated with a natural environment and is also considered eco -friendly and therefore healthy; I have attached below some information and reason why to use the colour green.
Most websites that are going green in their design, the imagery and overall style are either corporate sites or deals directly with the environment and nature in some way.
Once the colour of the site has been agreed I would like to discuss the home page itself and the information it gives or doesn’t give!