reviews for car website

pflyboy · #1 11-04-2006, 01:23 AM

Here is our new and improved hot rod website. It has been changed quite a bit and moved to a new domain name. Opinions are welcome. Thanks!

Nick Pfannenstiel

davidundalicia · #2 11-04-2006, 01:29 AM

Would be helpful if you posted the address/url !!!!!!!!!

pflyboy · #3 11-04-2006, 01:30 AM

Oh yeah...duh!

www.cvhotrod.com

Bethers · #4 11-04-2006, 01:56 AM

First thing I'll say is that if I was using firefox and got to your page and it said you optimized for IE (and by the way, which version of IE did you optimize for?) I'd probably leave. I also think your page is wider than 1024 - just guessing - but since I have websites at 1000 - I don't hold with the necessity to be at 800 - but I also don't see a reason to tell people who don't have a clue that they can change their resolution that it's not optimized for them. (In other words, the average person at 800x600 doesn't know they can change it and have a better world and have no clue what you're talking about there).

Your pictures are nice and clear.

Personally, I don't like black backgrounds and they are considered a mistake for websites - which is why you see very, very few major websites with black backgrounds and many, many amateur ones with them. I think some get away with it - but in your case, with the small white type, it hurts my eyes.

You did attempt to center pages in the browser, but the 'cars' page isn't centered. And because the home page is centered to the pictures down the page, it appears not centered when I scroll down.

I'm guessing that you have a brick and mortar business - if so - your address should be at the bottom of the page with your phone number. And you need to optimize better for the regions you will be looking for your customer base from. Colorado is a big state with mountains all around. If I'm in Ft Collins and you're in Durango - I don't think you'd be close enough for me - and I don't want to search all over to find out where you are. You don't even have that info on your company page.

Also for the search engines - you need better page titles - and better meta. Remember on the keyword meta - that you can only use keywords there that are on THAT page. And you need to fill out the meta description on every page, written for the specific page.
You've got a good start - but I'd look seriously into re-thinking the black background to go with something that more people will stay around to read.

pflyboy · #5 11-04-2006, 02:35 AM

Thanks for the input. I would like to put the address at the bottom, but the problem is the business address is also our house address. I will definitely go back and correct the stated problems.

Thanks

scubadiver · #6 11-04-2006, 03:29 AM

I'm really into cars and I love what you have. I had a brand new 1969 Chevelle Super Sport with a 396, 4 on the floor, black on black. I loved that car and I raced her every chance I had.

Your site is nice but...I think you could do a better job with the photography. These are nice cars. Photograph them by themselves, with a simple background. It is great to see the interior and under the hood. I love it!

You've got a good thing going and I think you will do very well once you build a good reputation. Word of mouth is everything in your business. My mechanic is as important to me as my hairdresser! And I don't refer just anyone to either one of them either.

pflyboy · #7 11-04-2006, 03:34 AM

Thanks for the comments. I do agree with you about the photos. I hate "car show" photos. If you look at the orange 1932 Ford Coupe photos, thats what we are now shooting for. Thanks.

Bethers · #8 11-04-2006, 04:02 AM

Well, do you do business out of your home? I can't imagine that you can do this business without a location - so do you have customers come to the home? I think you have to have your address there.

And if you don't tell the world that is your home address, how will they know? But if you are against the address - you need the city and area you cover.

pflyboy · #9 11-04-2006, 04:06 AM

Yes. We have property out here. We modified our barn into a shop. It is all modernized. Concrete floors, car lifts, metal working tools, office, air compressor room, and full heating. Customers are more than welcome to visit the shop. However, they usually don't. I will name the area we cover, although some customers even come from out of state. Thanks.

choco777 · #10 11-04-2006, 04:17 AM

Nice cars and potential for nice site and Bethers is pointing you towards a well organized professional site. Myself if I were to ever seek to do business with someone on the net, one of the first things I'd want to know is , where they are.
If I'm buying something it requires shipping, if they work out of their garage I cannot know and don't care, if they can fill the order. About the black I agree. There are so many things and colors you can use for the content you have. Change it around, then you can actually come up with some good yea buts for the gurus like Bethers or perhaps Vasili.

naghosthunter · #11 11-04-2006, 04:33 PM

HMM I used to have 20 acres of land and had a barn that i converted into a store but i did not want to give out my home address so i went to post office and requested that they add my store/barn to an address or PO Box so they gave me both example say my home address is regular numbers and street 10 mockingbird lane the barn was 10 1/2 mockingbird lane so my packages came to my location but to the barn/store. and the PO Box was for my letters for the store. try that.
Jim

pflyboy · #12 11-04-2006, 06:38 PM

Thats pretty smart. We'll have to look into that.

Dream Lady · #13 11-05-2006, 02:51 AM

pflyboy..nice looking site. Can't really add much that what has already been said. I would like to see some flames/airbrush technique going on with your black background. Not much...just a little. Good luck and nice work.

LadyEye · #14 11-05-2006, 05:58 AM

I like your site, I found it very easy to click through, great job on the ease of navigation. I didn't encounter any problems downloading anywhere, just click. Entering the high speed area for photos, again no difficulty, once inside the page, I think the wording "Please Be Patient, etc......" could be taken off, I don't think you need it, you've already mentioned it for them to click in. I like the black, I think it goes nicely with the colour of your car emblem, very *****. You have a few places that perhaps the text is a little thicker than it should be, maybe take the bold off, try that or sizes, and the ariel font throughout works well, there are a few places you are using something else, you might think about making it uniform or. Your awards page as an example. I'm not liking the yellow text on that page, maybe use a fancier font for emphasis there instead of color. You have many links on your pages, I am thinking the size of the font for them could be reduced, might look neater, and yellow and purple are showing on the links, the blue is ok, but the yellow & purple, maybe change. Maybe set the properties for the links to all blue. It might be nice to see some frames around some of your photos, there are some great photos, nice! You might even think of incorporating a few pages of photos in a collage fashion, I see this would work really well for this. Your company page is a perfect example, I think it is really nicely done.

Great Job!! It's a Great Site!!

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