Website revamped.

hightechrex

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Columbia, SC
I just brought my site through a major overhaul; homepage is still mostly unchanged though. My clients love it; they love the user friendliness of the site (something i invested alot of time in). Have even started doing web design work for a few of my clients. I'm still reworking the site.. its constantly changing. But much of the change has come in the services section. It has been nearly completely redone; now i just have to change the wording and change things up a little more. What do you all think?

www.hightechrex.com
 
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Didn't you just post a thread like this a couple of weeks ago? And didn't you mostly ignore all of the criticism and suggestions in favor of the praise?
 
Constructive criticism here. I am not trying to be nasty (wouldnt take the time to look and write if I didnt care):

There is no flow, no connection between the elements so I am not sure in what order I am supposed to read it. The header navigation does not stand out over the usual text so its hard to see that it is navigation at all.

The icons arent sitting right with my eyes. I think they are too vibrant against the dark background and there are too many of them creating the "minefield" look that Dameize mentioned.

The site is trying to do too much at once and this is killing your "sales funnel".
Think about what are you trying to achieve with the site? Kill anything that doesn't achieve that because it just distracts them from the ultimate goal (which I assume is calling you and booking a callout)



To go down to a page level. I dont think the "Coming Soon" services are necessary. You either do them or you dont. Same with the Custom builds.

There are few spelling mistakes as well:
Front page - Marketing only has 1 T.
Rex Effect - Efficient is incorrect
Custom Machines - i's are not capitalized.

The "Submit Request" form is asking too much. It asks things like whether the client needs virus support, software support, hardware support etc.. but the thing is that clients wont know what they need. They dont know whether the issue they are having is virus related or hardware related. That is your job to determine where the issue is. I recommend just getting their name, phone number and address for this form.

The site seems to lack consistency. On one page a certain is graphic is a button that goes somewhere, on other pages it doesn't.

I think the biggest improvement would be to give it a solid "background". Not the brushed metal background but the grey it all sits on. Being too modular fragments the flow.
And make the top navigation stand out more, change the color, make it bold or something.
Kill any pages that aren't necessary, too much choice results in no choice.
 
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Bryce has given a detailed overview of it but just to throw in something else, try viewing it on an Ipad for a real shocking experience. It looks totally different again.
 
This site is a train-wreck. I don't understand why you've built it this way. It loads slow, the gray color scheme is just awful, and it looks like you've obtained most of your icons from a Google Image search.

You've always kind of brushed me the wrong way, perhaps because you seem to be very arrogant. This is the third time you've asked for feedback on your site, and every time we tell you how to improve it, you become defensive and try to justify your decisions. Why do you keep asking for our opinions if you're just going to ignore them and do it your way?

I'm sorry to go off on you like this, but seeing your YouTube comment pushed me over the edge. You are a child. I'm not sure how you expect anyone to take you seriously or look at you as a professional when you post comments like that. I certainly can't.
 
It loads slowly on my end. Some clients don't have the patience to wait. They will click that X button in no time.
 
Since everyone else was more detailed I will point out that some of your ideas are good and a lot of icons can work you just need them layed out properly multiple boxes like that just doesnt do it for me.
 
This site is a train-wreck. I don't understand why you've built it this way. It loads slow, the gray color scheme is just awful, and it looks like you've obtained most of your icons from a Google Image search.

You've always kind of brushed me the wrong way, perhaps because you seem to be very arrogant. This is the third time you've asked for feedback on your site, and every time we tell you how to improve it, you become defensive and try to justify your decisions. Why do you keep asking for our opinions if you're just going to ignore them and do it your way?

I'm sorry to go off on you like this, but seeing your YouTube comment pushed me over the edge. You are a child. I'm not sure how you expect anyone to take you seriously or look at you as a professional when you post comments like that. I certainly can't.

I don't understand where your going with that. I've actually changed just about 90% of what people have suggested. I've actually wanted to change the front page for a while now. Hence why I said that I hadn't changed it yet. Its the one page that has remained the same. And how is posting something repeatedly in the appropriate section arrogant? Plenty of people do it.. its not uncommon to change your site and ask for new feedback. And where did you detect arrogance? I spent the initial post saying that I was still changing the site and that it needed improvement..
 
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I just realised why it shows so bad on my Ipad, it's all flash on the front page. I'm no expert but I don't think that is good for seo, or is it? :o

edit - just seen you say you haven't changed the front page yet. I think it would be best if you finished the site then asked for an evaluation.
 
Constructive criticism here. I am not trying to be nasty (wouldnt take the time to look and write if I didnt care):

There is no flow, no connection between the elements so I am not sure in what order I am supposed to read it. The header navigation does not stand out over the usual text so its hard to see that it is navigation at all.

The icons arent sitting right with my eyes. I think they are too vibrant against the dark background and there are too many of them creating the "minefield" look that Dameize mentioned.

The site is trying to do too much at once and this is killing your "sales funnel".
Think about what are you trying to achieve with the site? Kill anything that doesn't achieve that because it just distracts them from the ultimate goal (which I assume is calling you and booking a callout)



To go down to a page level. I dont think the "Coming Soon" services are necessary. You either do them or you dont. Same with the Custom builds.

There are few spelling mistakes as well:
Front page - Marketing only has 1 T.
Rex Effect - Efficient is incorrect
Custom Machines - i's are not capitalized.

The "Submit Request" form is asking too much. It asks things like whether the client needs virus support, software support, hardware support etc.. but the thing is that clients wont know what they need. They dont know whether the issue they are having is virus related or hardware related. That is your job to determine where the issue is. I recommend just getting their name, phone number and address for this form.

The site seems to lack consistency. On one page a certain is graphic is a button that goes somewhere, on other pages it doesn't.

I think the biggest improvement would be to give it a solid "background". Not the brushed metal background but the grey it all sits on. Being too modular fragments the flow.
And make the top navigation stand out more, change the color, make it bold or something.
Kill any pages that aren't necessary, too much choice results in no choice.

#1 There is no flow, no connection between the elements so I am not sure in what order I am supposed to read it. The header navigation does not stand out over the usual text so its hard to see that it is navigation at all.

AGREED... The thing is everything I've tried to do to make it stand out failed. Tried different nav bars, mouseover effects, sizes, etc.. Many looked weird or didnt stand out at all.

#2 The icons arent sitting right with my eyes. I think they are too vibrant against the dark background and there are too many of them creating the "minefield" look that Dameize mentioned.

As far that "minefield" look which pages are talking about specifically? The home page or the services page? They are filled with the most icons.

#3 The site is trying to do too much at once and this is killing your "sales funnel".
Think about what are you trying to achieve with the site? Kill anything that doesn't achieve that because it just distracts them from the ultimate goal (which I assume is calling you and booking a callout)

Too detailed? In what pages exactly. I've been taking things out and simplifying it left and right so im a little lost there. Give me an example of what you think is unuseful.

#4 To go down to a page level. I dont think the "Coming Soon" services are necessary. You either do them or you dont. Same with the Custom builds.

I do all the services. It's just the pages themselves arent there. They aren't published yet.
 
As far that "minefield" look which pages are talking about specifically? The home page or the services page? They are filled with the most icons.
Front page.

Too detailed? In what pages exactly. I've been taking things out and simplifying it left and right so im a little lost there. Give me an example of what you think is unuseful.
The whole site, but specifics
Knowledge Base: If a client knew how to find information on the web that was appropriate to their situation, they would Google it and not call you. But they do because they dont know how to.
Lets say they DID know how to use a knowledge base, and found their answer and fixed their own problem. Thats a job you just missed out on.

Services and home pages are pretty much identical.
Most clients dont know that dust in computers is even a problem, so its not really a selling point.

The site is trying to sell service plans, you are highly unlikely to get one through the site. Service plans are something you usually need to sell directly to your client and tell them how it specifically helps their situation.

Rex Builds: If the client felt comfortable buying a computer through a site like this, they probably wouldnt do it through your site. They would most likely just goto Dell.com or similar.

You are giving them too much to do. Too much to distract them from reaching the end goal of giving you a call. Facebook, Twitter, subscribing to mailing lists etc..

A client wants to give you a call, they want to book a time, they want you to come out and fix their problem.
They dont want to fill in a form asking whether they want to add dust removal, PC tuneup, virus removal etc.. they dont even know what the problem IS. That is your job.

"Come here, fix it, bill me and go away so I can get back to work. I dont care about RSS, Twitter, Facebook, becoming a member, filling out the customer satisfaction survey or some points system. I want to know the number to call, a basic overview of what you do, where you are, what your prices are and thats it"

The site has been created from a technician perspective (Knowledge base is a good example of that) and not for a client.

I do all the services. It's just the pages themselves arent there. They aren't published yet.
If they arent published yet, no point having the link to them.
 
@Bryce

Rex Builds: If the client felt comfortable buying a computer through a site like this, they probably wouldnt do it through your site. They would most likely just goto Dell.com or similar.

I'm actually having an issue with that myself. I want to sell the computers that I get through equus and also do some custom HTPC/Gaming builds, but like you said they will go to Dell.com instead.
 
"Come here, fix it, bill me and go away so I can get back to work. I dont care about RSS, Twitter, Facebook, becoming a member, filling out the customer satisfaction survey or some points system. I want to know the number to call, a basic overview of what you do, where you are, what your prices are and thats it"

Thanks, Bryce. We all need to remember to think like a customer instead of a technician or salesman.

If you want to up sell or push additional services, it's best to do that talking to the client.

Best post I've read in a while.
 
what do you think?

I took many of the changes that the members of this forum suggested. what do you think?

www.hightechrex.com

And also... the logo doesnt match the new look of my site. So i have a logo contest setup for a new one.
 
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At first I was confused at what everyone was talking about.. until i checked my youtube account. But my account information was stolen a week or so ago after signing on to facebook from my girlfriend's computer. It was probbaly a phishing site or a keylogger because she was hacked as well. My facebook password, youtube password, technibble passsword, and my hotmail password were all changed. They even went on my facebook and posted statuses that were clearly not me. That youtube comment wasn't me and I havent even checked my channel in a few weeks : /
 
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At first I was confused at what everyone was talking about.. until i checked my youtube account. But my account information was stolen a week or so ago after signing on to facebook from my girlfriend's computer. It was probbaly a phishing site or a keylogger because she was hacked as well. My facebook password, youtube password, technibble passsword, and my hotmail password were all changed. They even went on my facebook and posted statuses that were clearly not me.

That explains a helluva lot!
 
That explains a helluva lot!

Yeaaaa. That was definitely not me. Not me at all.

Anyways...I went back and stripped everything down a little bit and made everything 1 2 3 as well as making the background a flat color (hopefully these changes will make it load faster).
I hope this in the vain of what many of you were talking about. I'm getting a new logo as well.. It doesn't work with my new scheme.
 
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