website revamp

Can I ask for your opinions on my updated website please folks. Spent the last few days working on it and getting good SEO for my selected search terms. I have also updated and included some new photos of us in action (so to speak). The photos in the "private garden header", I know are not great, but Im not overly concerned about that as I dont really push for private work, its just there as an extra work generator and I will get better photos taken and uploaded asap.

What I am really after from yous is this: Does the first impression you get from the site want to make you keep looking and scrolling/ reading through the site or not.

Bear in mind please, that I have targeted my site to the core commercial markets of our industry, grounds and housing estate maintenance, property managements and factoring companies etc, Im not a gardener.

Do the photos work, is my text saying what I need it to say ??

If you were a contracts manager for a factoring agent / property management company etc etc, would it make you phone M.I.B. Services to come and give a quote ???

Many thanks for your time

http://www.mibservices.co.uk

Replies

Chris Auld July 18, 2012 at 10:38pm

Just had a quick look through it Brian, the first thing i noticed is the menu on the left has very small text, quite difficult to read, or maybe its just my computer? Other than that its very good and certainly gives the impression of a professional highly skilled company.
David Benson July 18, 2012 at 11:39pm

the photo of the pedestrian mowing wants changing as the lawn is in a terrible state, the mower is leaving wheelings, the lawn edge is not straight, the manhole cover is proud of the lawn as you are offering lawn care its not a good advert
PRO

Brian www.mibservices.co.uk July 19, 2012 at 12:31am

Not sure what kind of mower you use, but in my experience all mowers leave wheel marks, except stripping mowers and hovers. Its not a lawn, its a communal grass area that surrounds the block of flats and the "soil" is nothing but hardcore stones and debris left over from the construction of the flats, save a sprinkling of top soil. I offer lawn services to private houses who are prepared to pay for a lush lawn and have it looked after.
The manhole was set proud of the grass during construction, just typical new build construction site housing developments. Nothing i can do about it.
But thanks for you input.
PRO

Brian www.mibservices.co.uk July 19, 2012 at 12:38am

Thanks Chris, the font size is as you say, a tad on the small side, its a template problem with vistaprint which im trying to resolve. Thanks for your input, much appreciated

Chris Auld said:
Just had a quick look through it Brian, the first thing i noticed is the menu on the left has very small text, quite difficult to read, or maybe its just my computer? Other than that its very good and certainly gives the impression of a professional highly skilled company.
PRO

Mick Gammage July 19, 2012 at 6:36am

I agree with the font size but you are addressing that issue

i would put the logos you have at the top of the home page to the bottom of the page, theses are important but go in the footer of a web site rather than be the head line

the photos of the guys cutting grass look fine but you can borrow my new turbo powered grass cutting machine photo if you want and it does not leave any tyre tracks ;)

which photo is the hallowed turf from 74 ?
Steve London Stone July 19, 2012 at 10:19am

I would agree with Mick about putting the accrediations at the botom of the page.

Also the home page goes on for a long time. People can switch off when presented with large swathes of information. Could you not break this down into seperate pages? There are also other areas of the site which contain large blocks of text, again IME people dont want to read big blocks of text.

I write the copy for our website and I will literally reveiew every word written to see if it adds anything. By doing this I can always trim my text right down.

My advice would be to go through and de-clutter it, be ruthless :)

Steve
PRO

Phil Voice July 19, 2012 at 10:26am

Brian

I'd lose the 'You can also find us here' list. Just put a simple link to a separate page containing these.

I agree with the others that the front page looks cluttered. I think you need a sharp but simple first impression.

Bring your menu to the top so a potential client may simply click through to a page explaining the services you offer. Add an about page. Add smaller versions of the logos to the bottom of the page.
PRO

Geoffrey King July 19, 2012 at 12:52pm

I believe your website should be written in the 'third person', instead of 'we offer', 'it offers' or 'they offer'.

I would think that your front page ought to be split into sub- pages, it is rather long.

You should consider what is the most important thing you want to say and put it at the top of each page.

What is your best service / most profitable

What is your best feature

What is your main benefit

Feature : MIB cuts grass

Benefit : You don't have to do

Feature : MIB are reliable

Benefit : You don't have to stress , need not worry
MB Groundcare (Garden Services) July 19, 2012 at 1:49pm

I would disagree about writing in the third person. Look at the big lawn care franchises like GT...they write in the first person and have very successful websites. I think general content and an uncluttered layout are more important factors. Do agree that there is too much 'stuff' on the home page though. Not only would splitting the info make it read better but from a seo point of view, google likes sites with plenty of pages of quality information.
Ian Olpin July 19, 2012 at 2:33pm

Brian,

I would keep the background colour green (or is it mint??), and the area within the black border I would change to white.

A lot of the logos have white backgrounds and these would blend in better, giving the page a much cleaner look and feel. The white inner page would contrast well with the green font and the green background beyond the black border.

The hallowed turf was ripped up in '77, shirley?! :)