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• 

  Lawncare-4u.co.uk October 24, 2009 at 11:24pm

  yes i agree,
  
  - that was quick !
  
  i always ask before/ or while i take a photo and say i might put it on my web-site. verbally they say no-problem and as i know them its fine like that.
  
  where are the photo's now i need them .......
• 

  David Beasley Garden Design October 25, 2009 at 7:30am

  Hi Robin
  
  Here's my views, don't be offended!
  
  * Navigation buttons at the top don't work, they get lost as soon as you scroll down - move to middle/side.
  
  * "Landscaping, Design And All Your Gardening Needs" - Title Case + sounds more professional.
  
  * The main image, does it really do you justice? - I suggest not, how about a montage of different sized images showing differant aspects of your service.
  
  * "Individually Work Tailored To Suit Your Budget, Tastes And Schedules".
  
  * Mowing = Turf Management
  * Strimming = Lawn Edging
  * Hedges = Hedge Trimming, Topping And Removal
  * Turfing = Preparation And Laying Of New Turf / Seeded Lawns
  * Clearing = Garden Clearance Works
  * Chain sawing = Tree Surgery By Qualified Arborist
  * Qualified tree surgery = ditto above
  * Garden design = Contact David Beasley (erm, I mean Garden Design And Consultations)
  
  * The images on your gallery - Contact all your previous clients next summer and ask to visit their gardens to take some new photos, put all your images on Flickr and annotate them (import them to LJN!) and embed them as a slideshow on your website.
  
  * Contact/Enquiries - are these not the same thing?
  
  Hope This Helps
  
  Dave
  
  P.S. don't judge what I've said above by looking at my own website http://davidbeasley.website.orange.co.uk/ - this is obviously done on a template, has a crap domain name and adverts etc. - all this will change next season when I rename and produce a funky new website on http://www.moonfruit.com/
• 

  Lawncare-4u.co.uk October 25, 2009 at 4:04pm

  David,
  appreciated . many thanks
• 

  Keith Barker October 25, 2009 at 9:44pm

  Put yourself in the client's shoes. Imagine you were needing to employ a builder/decorator/architect. What information would you want to know about them? Presumably you'd want to know:
  
  • who they are,
  • what they specialise in,
  • what experience/qualifications they have,
  • where they are,
  • examples of the work they have done,
  • customer testimonials
  • trade association memberships
  • pricing information
  • contact information
  
  The standard of the website design and the writing will reflect directly on how you are perceived.
• 

  GORDON October 25, 2009 at 11:17pm

  Hi Robin
  
  With regard to testimonials. Like you I think they seem fake etc and expect most are. but that type of advertising is so prevalent, Thousand and thousands of pounds are spent on testimonial TV advertising. Most is not as crude as would appear in written form but they must appeal to some people.
  
  I am nobody, but I would not respond to flyers or trade persons adds in the paper ( only recommendation ) but we all know people who do, perhaps some are now you clients.
  My point is, different mediums with different substances will appeal to different people covering all walks of life and social classes.
  Perhaps not to many, which could alienate some potential clients, Perhaps you should not even name them testimonials, for instance the title endorsements or appraisals may come across as more acceptable and sincere.
  
  I would be careful about excluding anything until some advertising guru of which I am sure will make themselves known advise to the contrary.
• 

  Lawncare-4u.co.uk October 28, 2009 at 1:33pm

  yes i agree - anyone else any suggestions ? im good at telling others/advising !!
  
  GORDON said:

  Hi Robin
  
  With regard to testimonials. Like you I think they seem fake etc and expect most are. but that type of advertising is so prevalent, Thousand and thousands of pounds are spent on testimonial TV advertising. Most is not as crude as would appear in written form but they must appeal to some people.
  
  I am nobody, but I would not respond to flyers or trade persons adds in the paper ( only recommendation ) but we all know people who do, perhaps some are now you clients.
  My point is, different mediums with different substances will appeal to different people covering all walks of life and social classes.
  Perhaps not to many, which could alienate some potential clients, Perhaps you should not even name them testimonials, for instance the title endorsements or appraisals may come across as more acceptable and sincere.
  
  I would be careful about excluding anything until some advertising guru of which I am sure will make themselves known advise to the contrary.
• 

  Rachel Mathews SGD October 28, 2009 at 3:31pm

  Hi Robin
  
  In my experience people don't really read as much as they look at images, so photos are essential! Especially good photos!
  
  A word of warning about before and after pics - it's obvious to you and I and anyone in the industry which is the before photo but not necessarily to the customer! If the first photo they see is of a fairly nondescript garden they might automatically assume that's the finished garden and you are not very good and quickly leave your site, without scrolling down the page further to see the after shots.
  
  I would suggest you photoshop in the word BEFORE onto the photo and keep the images smaller than the finished garden photos. Another way round this is to have a gallery page and a construction page, that way new visitors get to see all the pretty photos and if they are really interested they can click onto the construction page to see the before and after and how it took shape (I use this tactic on my website).
  
  As for how should it look - 2 things to consider - first is what type of customer are you trying to attract? Work out your ideal client and then see what type of thing is likely to attract them (some customer research can pay off here).
  
  2nd thing to consider is if you are doing it yourself or paying someone else. If you are doing it yourself it may be an idea to use a template. For a new site I'm developing I'm using Wordpress Thesis template and whilst it's not as easy as drag and drop - the formatting is done and it is very good for SEO (search engine friendly). Thesis isn't a free template but the customer support and free upgrades for life make it worth the money IMO.
  
  As for content - what would you want to see if you were looking to employ someone? I've been on a ton of marketing courses lately for a new business venture and to put it very bluntly, customers don't really want to hear much about you - they want it to be about them! What can you do to help them? In marketing terms what 'pain/problem' do you solve/take away?
  
  If you can work out what your ideal customer really wants and offer it to them with bells and whistles on whilst talking 'their' language you will be a winner.
  
  Hope that helps!
  
  Rachel
  ps I think by law you have to have your company name and trading details on each page (but could be wrong on that)
• 

  Lawncare-4u.co.uk October 28, 2009 at 8:27pm

  As for content - what would you want to see if you were looking to employ someone? I've been on a ton of marketing courses lately for a new business venture and to put it very bluntly, customers don't really want to hear much about you - they want it to be about them! What can you do to help them? In marketing terms what 'pain/problem' do you solve/take away?
  
  TRUE - my brother is doing it for me again so 'anything' (within reason) can be done.
  i agree about photo's - tells a thousand words, and yes 'its all about them' !
  
  thanks for your advice/input.
• PRO Supplier

  Helen Gazeley November 12, 2009 at 7:04pm

  Hi, Robin
  
  I've just come across this thread, so I hope it's still all right to comment and not too late.
  
  If there's one thing I do a heck of a lot of, it's looking at websites and there's definitely a "language" that users have become used to. So I agree with David about the navigation buttons. They don't work where they are. Most people put them under the banner (as with Landscape Juice) or down the left side, or both.
  
  You want to make the website as easy to navigate as possible. So don't make people hunt for the menu buttons and then realise that they have to hit their browser's Back button to get back to the menu. Put the menu choices on every page so that they can go from one page to another without going back to Home each time.
  
  As I understand it, having lots of internal links between pages also pleases Search Engines.
  
  Put your address and telephone details on every page. A lot of websites put the address and tel. no. stretched across the bottom of every page. But keep the Contact page as well.
  
  I like the banner Gardens 4 U. I think it's clean and bright, but it is quite large, which pushes the picture down so that part of it is "below the fold" on my browser, which looks messy.
  
  Try to keep as much information within the screen as possible, or make it obvious that you need to scroll down. I'd suggest putting in another page describing the services you provide, rather than listing them at the bottom of the Home page where they might be missed. The Home page could concentrate on the changing photos of your work, as David suggests, thus inviting people in.
  
  All the best
  Helen
• 

  Lawncare-4u.co.uk November 12, 2009 at 10:41pm

  thanks.
  its no too late as im doing a lot of changes / new site and have other site names/links to link maybe.
  cheers for comments !
  Rob
  
  Helen Gazeley said:

  Hi, Robin
  
  I've just come across this thread, so I hope it's still all right to comment and not too late.
  
  If there's one thing I do a heck of a lot of, it's looking at websites and there's definitely a "language" that users have become used to. So I agree with David about the navigation buttons. They don't work where they are. Most people put them under the banner (as with Landscape Juice) or down the left side, or both.
  
  You want to make the website as easy to navigate as possible. So don't make people hunt for the menu buttons and then realise that they have to hit their browser's Back button to get back to the menu. Put the menu choices on every page so that they can go from one page to another without going back to Home each time.
  
  As I understand it, having lots of internal links between pages also pleases Search Engines.
  
  Put your address and telephone details on every page. A lot of websites put the address and tel. no. stretched across the bottom of every page. But keep the Contact page as well.
  
  I like the banner Gardens 4 U. I think it's clean and bright, but it is quite large, which pushes the picture down so that part of it is "below the fold" on my browser, which looks messy.
  
  Try to keep as much information within the screen as possible, or make it obvious that you need to scroll down. I'd suggest putting in another page describing the services you provide, rather than listing them at the bottom of the Home page where they might be missed. The Home page could concentrate on the changing photos of your work, as David suggests, thus inviting people in.
  
  All the best
  Helen