Hi, I’m new to the forum and would appreciate any input on my website. www.laselleck.com. Thanks
I took the advise on adding a link where customers can click it to add there email address to have a .pdf Tips For Homeowners sent to via reply. However I’m trying to open the .pdf Tips For Homeowners to send and I get a error message. Is this .pdf still available?
Welcome, Larry – I’ve added you to my list!
Brett, I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I’ll try to track it down on my end, but could you send me a link or a screen shot or something of what you’re talking about? Once I’ve identified the item, I’ll see whether we still have it available for you to upload to your site (or link to ours) – thanks!
Hi again, Brett –
If you’re talking about the free homeowner newsletter, that’s something that your clients would sign up for through you, and then they’d receive free tips and articles each month.
If that’s not it, I’ll need some more information – thanks!
I think he means these: https://www.nachi.org/lead-capture.htm There are 4 different ones. You have to first figure out which one is right for you.
Just found this thread and would love a thorough review of my website… OptimizedInspections.com
Thanks!
I’ve added your name to my list, Bryan – thanks!
You’re on the list now, Donny – thanks!
Hi Kate,
Please review mine when you get a chance. Thanks
Will do, James – thanks!
I feel it’s getting close. 
You are correct, sir! 
But I’m not ready.
Frank we all think we are ready for Kate’s review. Then she does what she does so well and we all realize we were not ready. Keep up the great work Kate. My web site is going through an upgrade so will see what you think when my time in the hot seat arrives.
Too kind, George – thank you!
Frank, the site I’m reviewing right now (not yours) is pretty complex. As always, I hope my feedback (to be posted soon) will give you and other members more insight into what helps and what may actually hurt when trying to engage new business.
Yours is coming up very soon and, ready or not, I will go Godzilla all over it. WHOOPS! JUST KIDDING!!! 
Thank you Kate. Don’t be kind, that won’t do me any good. 
Hi, Darren (Taylor) –
Here’s my feedback for your homepage/website at http://kenoshahomeinspection.com/ :
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Your website looks professional in that it has some pleasing visual features. You provide ample information about your services and various add-ons. The problem areas lie in too many links, some disorganized links, some links that are unpopulated, errors in text, and combining or conflating certain elements that are either inaccurate or confusing for your prospects. My comments to follow address these issues.
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Your homepage tag displays the words “Kenosha WI Home Inspection,” which nearly duplicates your website address, although both are different from your company name (Advanced Property Inspection), but this is obviously advantageous for SEO. There’s no rule that says that these three elements have to match, especially if acquiring a certain domain name for your website proves problematic, so this is a strategic choice.
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On the main part of your homepage at left is your logo, which is nice and big. One thing I noticed in reading your homepage is that you continually refer to your company as “Advanced Home Inspection of Kenosha.” If that’s your actual company name, you can have your logo updated (to include “of Kenosha”) for free by our Member Marketing Department. Email Jessica@internachi.org for more information.
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I like the sky background behind your logo, too.
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To the right of your logo is your phone number, also nice and big, along with “Kenosha Home Inspector” by itself, and your address.
What’s missing is your complete NAP, which is your name, phone number and address. I don’t advocate using your street address, especially if it’s your home address, even if you work out of your home. Your family deserves privacy, and unless you’re seeing clients at your home, there’s no reason to feature it prominently above the fold like this. It’s also a different address than what you have listed on your “Contact” page (and “Avenue” is misspelled there), so you’re giving out conflicting information. At any rate, if you’re required by your state to provide your street/mailing address on your website, keep it on your “Contact” page (and make sure it’s the correct address).
What’s currently missing that you do need to add in this area are your name, along with your email address, in order to give your visitors options for quickly contacting you. So, rather than the line “Kenosha Home Inspector,” try this (bolded), which includes your bona fides:
Darren Taylor, CPI
InterNACHI Certified Professional Inspector
Wisconsin-Licensed Home Inspector #672-106
Including your CPI designation, along with your state license number, will immediately instill consumer confidence in your visitors and cause them to scroll down to read more. You also need to identify yourself by name on your homepage above the fold – doing so only at your “About” page isn’t adequate.
Speaking of your “About” page, that’s where you have a really nice photo of yourself, and it makes much more sense to feature it on your homepage. You could try moving your phone number up, inserting your photo, and then insert your name and other info either to the side or under it. Then, find a place in this area for your email address. As I mentioned, move your street address to your “Contact” page, but if you’re required by state law to have it on your homepage, insert it at the bottom, where you can repeat all of your contact information.
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Before I discuss your row of links, let’s keep moving down your homepage. The background under the text boxes is a revolving slideshow. It’s difficult to make out two of the images, but this feature is part of what gives your homepage a professional look.
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The text box on the left starts with a heading, with a house image under it, which is apparently meant to break up the text that follows. That’s fine, but you might choose a different image that shows more of the house, as this partial house with just a door is a little disjointed in the visual scheme of your homepage. (An option worth exploring might be using that space as a cutout with a window frame to reveal more of the revolving images behind it.)
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While I like your short sales message that appears to the right of that house image (because it’s very succinct), I need to point out that you’ve used the word “Kenosha” about ten times on your homepage. This kind of excessive keyword-stuffing can actually work against you SEO/Google-wise, and it also makes your text sound stilted and unnatural. The same goes for the state abbreviation of WI, which nets you zero SEO bumps, since no one is going to Google a home inspector using a state abbreviation. So, go through your text (or have some trusted word nerd do it for you) to delete the excessive mentions of “Kenosha” and delete all instances of “WI.”
Additionally, you or your designated helper should also correct all the errors in text and punctuation (such as “a thorough home inspections,” “3 days” instead of “three days,” etc.), as well as word repetition (using the words “provide” and “service” twice in the same sentence, for example), and the run-on sentences and sentence fragments.
There are also some issues with voice. By that, I mean that you should always address your visitors directly rather than in the third person (such as “if the customer feels they”).
Also, there are problems with how some of the text is formatted. For example, the small un-bolded numbers preceding the large bolded headings in red don’t look uniform because they don’t match. Find a different way to format these “five exceptional bonuses” so that there’s a more cohesive, blended look.
There are too many problems here and on all of your other pages for me to list, but errors in text (and formatting, where they appear) significantly detract from the professional image you’re trying to convey. Although home inspectors are required to write reports, few can also write engaging and error-free marketing copy, so you’ll need to enlist the help of someone who knows what he or she is doing; it will be a sound investment.
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At your item #4, replace the registered trademark symbol after “RecallChek” with the copyright symbol (unusual, but that’s how they actually render their name on their website).
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At your item #5, it reads as if you’re using HON’s own marketing text. Since you are not HON, you should swap out “our” for “their” and “we” for “they” so that there’s no confusion that HON is a third-party vendor. I do like your expandable links under that text.
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Update the copyright year at the bottom of your homepage in the horizontal red bar. Also, don’t split the copyright credit – the entire contents of your website are covered under your copyright, including the design – they are welded together. Change the second copyright notice to “Designed by Robert Humphries” (since, presumably, you paid him for his services in some way, correct?), and, optionally, include a link to his email or business website, but make sure it opens in a new window or tab.
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On the right side moving down the page, you’ve got a fillable form for a “Quick Quote,” which I’m sure appeals to price shoppers.
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Below that is the InterNACHI seal, which folks can click to verify your membership. It properly opens in a new tab.
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Below that is the CPI seal with the words “Wisconsin Certified Professional Inspector.” Since your state requires licensing for HIs, I would change “Certified” to “Licensed” for the extra punch that the word packs. Do delete the embedded code at that seal, which simply re-opens your homepage in another tab. If your state has a verification page for your license, you might embed that URL instead.
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Let’s return to the top of your page at the horizontal row of links. My initial observation is that they appear in their proper order, with one exception (which I’ll get to). However, while you have enough room in this black bar for all of these links, a few are seemingly redundant. Upon further exploration, a couple are actually devoid of content. My suggestions to follow will help you trim this fat. Afterward, you should increase the font size of the remaining links for better legibility.
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In your row of links, first comes “Home,” then “About.” Under “About,” you have a drop-down menu with eight choices. Not only is this excessive (because the fewer links and choices, the faster your prospects will decide to hire you), but most of these items should go under the “Services” link, which appears next. “About” is supposed to be about you and your company – this is what your prospects will expect to find. It’s also why you should change the name of this link to “About Me.”
a. The first drop-down choice at this link duplicates the main link title, so I would change it to “My Qualifications.” It’s simply not helpful to repeat link titles in a drop-down menu. At this link, you have two headings, “Current” and “Past.” I don’t like that because your past experience and education are important to your current licensure and training, but dividing them up this way implies that one is less important than the other. A better way to divide these up is how we do it for our members’ brochures: “Licenses, Certifications and Training.” Your license number would come first, then your InterNACHI membership, training and CPI should come next (and combine them without using the word “designee”), then your relevant work experience, and your formal/higher education last.
It would also be much better to list these bullets briefly and dispense with all the extraneous language. You want people to be able to read your information at a glance – they’re not going to take the time to read all this content, plus it’s difficult to find out just what your qualifications are without slogging through all this. You also refer to yourself in the third person (“Darren is a member,” “Darren graduated,” “He performed,” etc.), which adds more distance between you and your prospects, in addition to adding more text you don’t need on this page.
So, for example, instead of “Licensed home inspector in the state of Wisconsin. License # 672-106,” simply state “Wisconsin-Licensed Home Inspector #672-106” (without extra spaces or a period). And instead of “Darren graduated from college in 1991…” etc., just say “Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin (1991).”
You want a succinct list of items that resembles a grocery list as closely as possible because you want people to actually read it. Go through these bullets and lean them out to one brief line each, and correct all text and punctuation errors (such as “90’s,” which should be changed to “’90s” with the apostrophe at the beginning).
Again, your photo on this page is awesome, which is why it should be added to your homepage. (You can have it in both places.)
b. The next drop-down item at this link is “News,” which links to a fake “news” article in which you’ve interviewed yourself (as evidenced by your own name at the “byline”). This is a self-promotion tool that’s transparently bogus, and the worst thing is that it also bounces your visitors off your site and to the host site (Wisconsin Real Estate). I’d get rid of this link and transfer the information you have here to a new drop-down option under “Services” named “What You Can Expect,” and dispense with the interview-style format. Having an obviously bogus “news” profile like this is going to turn folks off, and it does zero to get you closer to acquiring an appointment. It’s a weak public relations gimmick that doesn’t work for you as much as it works for Wisconsin Real Estate so their website will get hits that belong to you. Plus, you’re burying this useful information on their website instead of featuring it on your own where your prospects would expect to find it.
c. The next choice is “Certifications,” which has only placeholder text. Again, any certs you have should be listed at your “My Qualifications” link. Delete this option entirely.
d. The choice below that is “Sample Report.” It’s great (I’d say essential) to include a sample report, but this needs to go under your “Services” link, not here. Also, there’s a different street address on your sample report than what’s on your homepage (and I’m assuming it’s yours because your name, license number and other contact info are also in that same space), so make sure your address is updated and correct throughout your website (and use only one).
e. The same goes for your “Agreement” choice, which appears next. Don’t confuse or frustrate your prospects by burying certain choices or links where they won’t think to look for them. Move this under your “Services” link, too.
f. The same also goes for your “Standards” option, which is next. It looks like you’ve either combined your state’s SOP with our SOP, or used an outdated version of ours, so be clear whose this is and update it accordingly. Do not make up your own SOP or additions to anyone’s SOP (including ours). There are also dozens of instances where words improperly run together, so this needs to be addressed, too. To the right is a box that says simply “Standards Sidebar,” which serves no purpose, so delete it.
g. The next option is “Testimonials,” and it’s a shame to bury it here, so you might consider moving it to a new stand-alone link at the top in the horizontal row of main links (as the last link before “Book Inspection”). Go through all the text on this page and clean it up (“Wife” should not be capped, commas are missing, etc.).
h. The final option in this “About” drop-down menu is “Pricing,” and, again, this one needs to be moved to under “Services” where people will expect to find it. At your pricing chart in each row under “Square Footage,” delete “SF,” which is redundant.
- The next link in the horizontal row at the top is “Services,” which has no drop-down menu. Move the items I mentioned from under “About” to under “Services."
At this link, bold the different types of inspections so that they stand out better. The little picture icons next to the descriptions simply add visually to the text, but don’t necessarily signify what the inspection types are. Where appropriate, you may want to cross-link the prices, while still having the “Prices” option in your new drop-down menu.
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The next link is “Service Areas,” and this should appear after “About Me” and before “Services.” Here you also have a drop-down menu of the six cities you serve, but not all the labels make sense (such as “Racine Home, WI Inspector”). Furthermore, at these individual links are lengthy bios about the towns. All this is unnecessary, and I’d be very surprised if anyone is taking the time to read it. This is another attempt at keyword-stuffing (especially the option titles), as well as just adding filler to your template. You should delete this link, or just have one page that includes a list of the cities you serve, along with a map. If I want to know the history of Racine, Wisconsin, I’m going to Google the Racine municipal website or look up Racine on Wikipedia. Don’t waste your prospects’ time, and don’t lard up your website like this. You’re not netting any SEO mileage this way.
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The next link across the top is “Galleries,” with a drop-down menu for two options: “Photo Gallery” and “Video Gallery.” Your Photo Gallery is great, as you have many photos with an informative caption under each that explains what the defect is (with the exception of the photo of a chimney with the caption “Lots of problems here”!^). And each photo pops out for better viewing. This is a great add-on feature that is helpful to your prospects.
However, there may be issues at your Video Gallery link. Make sure you have documented permission to use all the videos on your site, including the one from HGTV. They may be educational in nature, but this free-use aspect of U.S. copyright law does not extend to commercial websites, whose purpose is to acquire new business (i.e., $$). It’s a copyright violation, and you could receive an unpleasant notification from a copyright holder with a bill attached. (The embed URL for many photos and videos on the web contains code that tracks downloads.) If you don’t own or license a video, delete it. The exception would be any InterNACHI videos, which you’re allowed to use for free.
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The next link is “FAQ,” which has only placeholder text. Delete it.
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The next link is “Glossaries,” and you have seven separate glossaries listed in a drop-down menu. It would make more sense to change “Galleries” to “Galleries & Glossaries” and combine the two drop-down menus into one drop-down menu. This is all extra and useful information for the consumer that’s related, so keep similar information together for better navigation.
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The next two links at the top are “Interact” and “Contact,” respectively, and they sound like they serve roughly the same purpose. “Interact” is a strange term to use, though, since your website is a commercial website for services and not a gamer website, for example, where people would actually interact with each other. There are also three options in the pull-down menu under “Interact,” which are: “Ask Us” for general questions, requiring the person to fill out a form; “Survey,” which is for clients to fill out a feedback form; and “Referrals,” which has placeholder text. Move “Ask Us” and “Survey” to a new drop-down menu under “Contact” (and change that link title to “Contact Me,” which sounds a little more inviting), and delete the main “Interact” link and the “Referrals” drop-down option.
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Your last link is “Book Inspection,” which has an online form for prospects to request an inspection. Change the title of the link to “Request an Inspection” because this is not a self-scheduling feature (which many inspectors have on their websites) so that you don’t confuse (and potentially irritate) your visitors.
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Overall, the visual presentation of your website is professional. But once I start actually reading the content, things start to fall apart. You need to include your full NAP above the fold, combine and delete the links as I’ve suggested, and clean up the text at each page. A website that isn’t lean and error-free can be worse than having no website at all, so enlist the help you need to make your web presence tight, which will go a long way to inspire consumer confidence and new business.
Nice work Kate.
Hello Everyone,
I am a new Home Inspector in the Buffalo area. I recently built my own website and would love your feedback. The website is [http://allhazardshi.com](http://allhazardshi.com)
Thank you in advance,
Josh Imiola