Wendy,
Wow. I sincerely hope that you did not pay anyone for this site. At first glance, it’s difficult to even tell what kind of site I am on. Your top banner is too small and Inspector Wendy’s Home Inspections gets missed. I don’t see a logo anywhere, this is one of the key things people look for when purchasing a product. If there is no logo, research indicates that the site is less trusted. When creating a logo, go with a professional company, do not use any form of clipart. Realtors especially recognize this and think the company is not well established. You’ve already lost the inspection. At the top of your page where your textual information begins, you should have information, I get none. There is nothing on this front page that would keep me on the site or entice me to click another page. The picture here is an amazing picture, completely irrelevant to home inspection. Your homepage is THE most expensive real estate, only the most important info should be here. You can keep these pictures, if you optimize and shrink them for the web. Your entire contact information does not need to be in the top right on every page. I would suggest moving this to the bottom and keeping only your phone number in larger text (as part of the banner) in the top right. This area is prime real estate, you want important info there always.
You offer a $100 discount immediately and another $25 to a charity for booking an inspection. Though a discount is a great idea, the text here makes it look like a desperate attempt to get inspections. You should not degrade yourself by offering $100 off. What is your inspection fee? Can you afford to offer that much off and still pay your time and expense in actually conducting the inspection? Keep in mind that people are paying for a service that they cannot do on their own. Like any service, you pay for the expertise and training of the person doing the job, not for the actual report or material etc. When you order an inspection, you don’t pay for the report or the book you get with it. Internet clients are not looking for the cheapest inspection, they are looking for the best value. They are paying for peace-of-mind. That is priceless.
Moving on to the inside pages, About Us: the text is too large to read in some places and changes from large and bold to regular to smaller and bold and small regular. You should have 2-3 standard sizes for the entire site: 1 Size for Page Headings, 1 Size for separating sections with headings and 1 size for general text. More than that, it looks unprofessional and too busy.
Your Page headings change from one page to the next, Contact is all Capitals and Services is not. Standardize and be consistent throughout.
All of your links open in the same window. This is not good. You want to allow as few opportunities as possible for a client to leave your site. If you open links in the same window, they are gone and chances are won’t come back, it’s a pain to have to remember to click the back button. Open ALL links in a New Browser window, this way clients are always on your site and merely close the window just opened. Your site is still up and you retain their attention that much longer. One of your links is an image, Best Check Inspections…the image is missing so it shows a red x. No one wants to see missing images, it looks like a bigger mistake than it really is.
I think your links on the right are in the wrong place. They should be across the top, in the top left or the top right, don’t put them below anything it makes them harder to find. When designing for the web, you have to design for clients. Clients don’t have time to think. If you make them think, they have already moved on to the next company. Design so that everything is intuitive, flows, is easy to read and understand and doesn’t take them away at any time, for any reason from your message and service.
After analyzing this site, I have decided to start a FREE web analysis service for NACHI member’s Websites from Inspection Depot. We will analyze the homepage of any site submitted. I will also be starting something I’d like to call Extreme Makeover: Web Edition. Wendy, you are the first recipient of this makeover. I think you need much more customization and help than your templated and again I pray FREE site will allow. I’ll do this quarterly, so start submitting your sites now. The next makeover will be given in January which will start off the first quarter. From then on, every 3 months I’ll get with the design team here and we’ll select the NACHI member most in need of a redesign. Email your submissions to cdemsky@inspectiondepot.com, I’ll announce the winner each quarter on the message board and they’ll have 24-hours to respond and accept the makeover.
