Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I need your help, my site is built, but I feel like it is missing some things.  One of the pages that I need to have is pictures of the cars that I have done.  (I do a lot of $150,000 cars).  But have not put it up yet.  What else do I need! 

What about an online appointment book so that people can just book the appointment?  Or is that to labor intensive for me to keep up with and is it impersonal?

Thanks for all the help!

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Tony Sorensen Performance Detailing www.performance-detailing.com info@performance-detailing.com tojealca@gmail.com

Hi tojealca,

Congrats on the launch of your website. Your idea of adding online appointment book is excellent; it is not impersonal at all. Your clients will be able book the appointment round the clock. It will be very convenient for your customers & prospects. Just you need to make sure that you get instant notification of each online booking ( eg. SMS notification to your cell.). Your web developer can offer you online booking engines that can display the available time for each day of month ( let’s say for the next 60 days) so that your customers can view the available time slots and book accordingly ( Same as hotel booking engines). Whatever bookings you make offline; you can feed into the online booking engine manually. If you want, you can add online payment option, too. So if any of your customers wish to pay in advance, they can. You may perhaps offer certain discounts if they pay in advance.

Alternatively, you can just add a simple online form which your clients can submit to book the appointment.

I visited your website. It is perfect to start with. I would, however, use a bit smaller font size. Adding pictures of cars, shop etc. will certainly add to credibility and will get you new clients.

Regards
Nat

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www.TeleBoost.com
Let Us Cut Your Costs & Boost Your Profits!

Nat,

Thanks for taking a look, the pic`s will be up, I just have to find the time to do it.  I did the site myself, so there is no web developer, grrr, that would be nice.  This was my first site I have done (I did use a template).  We never charge the same amount of money for the cars that we do the range is too great ($200-
$800) and I dont want to "pigon hole" myself in to a price if something more needs to be done on the car.  I think it is a good idea to have them make appointmets that way, I just wanted to make sure it was not impersonal

Thanks again for the imput!

Tony

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Tony Sorensen Performance Detailing www.performance-detailing.com info@performance-detailing.com tojealca@gmail.com

Hi Tony,

Congratulations on the website. Always an important and exciting step in
business!

As a new member, I decided to go straight to this forum since it deals in
my business expertise. And this is my first reply so I hope it is helpful for
you.

Aesthetically, I think your site looks great. Simple colors, clean design
and relative graphics. The information is straight-forward and direct
which is always the best path on a website; give a visitor what they need/
want quickly and effectively.

My suggestion comes in presentation of the information. Going through
each page on your site, my eye kept zeroing out the text into large
blocks/paragraphs without intuitively wanting to read past the 1st
paragraph. This is somewhat intimidating to visitors both interested or
just passing through. I would recommend a better breakup of the text
information and utilize a grid layout with specific information leading the
viewer to the most important parts of your site. Typical web page grid
layouts are a 4 square, a columed (2,3 or 4) or rowed format to give
priority to specific information. This being especially important on the
pricing page. Consider the use of simple tables or for advanced
development, CSS for the blocked information.

Also, I would try a graphic(s) that lead users into a specific page with
information especially for ensuring you get customer information/
inquiries like the appointment book form you`re considering. The home
page usually works best for this as it is the initial crossroad to all sections
of your site. Think of a graphic as a quick ad for your site. Consider a
"Contact Us for More Info!" graphic or "Check Out Our Competitive
Pricing", etc. You can look around the web and see other sites that do
this. It`s a good way to break up all of the HTML web text and not have
the important information get lost. As well, it leads the viewers to
sections you want them to view.

As for an appointment book online, that is a good idea. Just be sure you
have a support system in place to take care of inquiries or reservations
promptly and effectively. Keep in mind the feeling when you purchase or
reserve something online. Make sure your user/customer gets some type
of confirmation that their form went through as well as a way for both
you and the user to track the status of the submission. Always remember
that customer service is just as important if not more than an actual in-
person transaction. So any use of an appointment scheduler, item/service
purchase (ecommerce store or payment processor), should be handled
with reliability so that you establish an initial customer usage base
leading into return users and hopefully referral business.

I hope this helps or at least sparks ideas for future additions to your
website. Good luck!

Best,
Rick R.
Owner/Director of Media Design & Development

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------ Soulfre Interactive Media Group - Soulfireimg.com IGNITE YOUR PASSION - Custom Website Design & Development - Ecommerce/Content Management/LAMP Specialists - Website & Email Hosting Solutions - Graphic Design - Print Service

Do you feel that most of the advice has been helpful?

 

Let me know.

Design Ideas Marketing Associates

www.designideas.tv

Hi Tony,

One quick tip from a usability standpoint would be to make your links look like links.  Right now, they are the same color as your text, and have no rollover effect, whether that be underlining or color change.

I would also put more of your pricing on the home page, or at least a special of some sort.  Give visitors the information they need as quick as possible, or atleast use that info to draw them to other sections of your site.  The goal with any website is conversions, through sales, contacts, or referrals.

Steve


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Steve James Fresh Yields- a new media firm, providing ecommerce solutions, redesign consulting, web design, email campaign management, and internet marketing.

Steve,

Great point I will look in to that this weekend and when I make the changes, let you all know so you can tell me what you think!

Tony

 

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Tony Sorensen Performance Detailing www.performance-detailing.com info@performance-detailing.com tojealca@gmail.com

I clicked on your webiste and nothing... what happened??

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