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REEL-WHEELS.COM – the call to action

Thomas Smith Productions offers graphics, editing, script writing and video production services.  The Reel-Wheels.com web site is a service of the company recently launched to fill a niche in the movie and television production market.  It is an online picture car database web site where vehicle owners can list their vehicles for film, television and commercial use.  Reel-Wheels.com is a subscriber-based service that eliminates the middleman by connecting the production company directly with the vehicle owner.

This web site is targeted at two groups of users, vehicle owners and production companies looking for picture cars for their production needs.
For the car owner we provide an inexpensive and easy means of putting their vehicle(s) in front of those responsible for finding picture vehicles.  For production companies, our goal is to put a world of vehicles at their fingertips. The best part is this service is free for the production companies. This is a searchable database making it easy to look for vehicles using parameters that fit the needs of the script.  We are working to build a subscriber base with vehicles all over the United States, providing a source for vehicles no matter where a company is making their picture.

I have built this web site myself with two initial desires.   First, I wanted car owners to be able to fill in the form and upload all the necessary data on their own.  It does that, though there are instances of subscribers uploading pictures that don’t exactly meet the descriptions outlined on the web site.  Secondly, I wanted the database to be searchable in such a way that a production person could look for specific vehicles that fit their needs.  That also works and there is also flexibility to add additional parameters as the database grows and production company needs become more specific.

Any critiques are welcomed and I am especially interested in ideas to improve the focus, communication uncertainty or confusion that may exist in the layout that hinder higher subscribers from following through.

Thank you.
Tom Smith

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Tom Smith Film It USA filmitusa@gmail.com www.filmitusa.com

First thing, the color choices are poor. You really should do white text with that dark blue of a background, for most that blue with black is an instant bounce from the site. Next, you really should do a darker red and use white text. This makes the text color consistent.

After the text i'd first make sure to consistently have borders around all sections, and then use a a solid, 1 px, black border. Dark gray may also work well and accent the blue.

I would also move your call to action matiral (links, buttons...etc) above all of the text but below the heading. Though obviously not for items like a next page button, but for things like your "enter" and your "search" buttons.

I'd also add your "subscribe" button in your heading, so its always in the same place on every page. You also need to make sure your heading itself is consistent.

Well, thats it for now, i'll let you know if i find anything else.

P.s. as a test i saved one of your pages and made the text white, as i suggested, and it looks a ton better. So i'd recommend doing that first before anything else.

Jarrod1937 - Thanks for the insight and suggestions, I appreciate your time.

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Tom Smith Film It USA filmitusa@gmail.com www.filmitusa.com

No problem, though if you're willing to pay i can do a redesign for you.

A site i run:

factorydirectcraft.com

My personal site:

jarrodchristman.com

I agree, the color and layout are not working. Lighten things up, and use some type of theme that incorporates cars/vehicles in a visual way; nothing about this says "Autos" when you look at it.

If I need to pay to list a vehicle, I might want some information first on the types of companies you have looking for vehicles, how often vehicles actually get used through your site, etc. In other words, what is the likelihood that my vehicle will actually be used, if that's possible to determine? What cars are popular with production companies?

Also, if I were a production company looking for a vehicle, I have no way of knowing how many or what type of vehicles you have listed unless I register. I would want some type of info letting me know beforehand what is available; not allof the car's information, obviously, but a general idea of what your car owners are listing and if it's worth my time to look around.

What is the unsubscribe button for? I don't see anything to subscribe to.

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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

M. Hall thank you for your observations.

I will look at the issue of visuals that can relate to the business of the website... thanks.

The types of vehicles desired by a picture are too varied to try and target, any need is based upon the storyline of the script and the vision of the director, as to how he wants the audience to relate to the character and what it says about that character.  The search engine used within this database allows picture car coordinators, transportation captains, etc to quickly look for vehicles in the database that could meet the specifications they are given and to show the director pictures of these vehicles.  That search will continue until a vehicle is found that fits both the director's vision and the producer's budget requirements.

The marketing of the website to production companies, and specifically those individuals with responsibilities for finding picture vehicles, is rooted in my 27+ years of working in film production management and the relationships I have developed during that time.  This is a targeted market and those within the industry are quick to share valuable resources with others in the same capacity on other projects.  This word of mouth is a viable and valuable part of our marketing strategy.

While there are many established studios and production companies producing film, television and commercial projects, there are also a large number of productions that are set up to produce a single project.  Having the resources to identify them and make contact is my principal duty and is more difficult to target using SEO.

The UNSUBSCRIBE button is for those with vehicles in the database who need to remove the vehicle for whatever reason, i.e. they have sold it, it's wrecked, etc.  Your observation does point out that it might cause confusion, perhaps a separate page for subscribers is needed and I will look at creating such a page.

Again, thank you for your comments, your experience has been most helpful

Tom

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Tom Smith Film It USA filmitusa@gmail.com www.filmitusa.com