Feedback on our Laser Engraving website
Discussion
http://www.halolasers.com/
Hi Guys, If you would be so kind and check out our website and give me any feedback. Basically we manufacture Laser Marking machines and offer a Subcon service. We do a fair bit of work in the Automotive sector but we would like a lot more. Can anyone recommend any shows we should take a machine to, We did MACH and Southern Manufacturing but we missed out on Autosport. I suspect there is a big market sector we my be missing for these so hopefully the 'piston head' massive could give us some pointers, the best feedback always comes for outside the industry your in.
Thanks
Matt
PS Also just started with the social media, not a clue if we are going about it the right way and I'm skeptical of its benefits for a company like ours, so if anyone knows what they are doing and could check it out that would be grand!!
Hi Guys, If you would be so kind and check out our website and give me any feedback. Basically we manufacture Laser Marking machines and offer a Subcon service. We do a fair bit of work in the Automotive sector but we would like a lot more. Can anyone recommend any shows we should take a machine to, We did MACH and Southern Manufacturing but we missed out on Autosport. I suspect there is a big market sector we my be missing for these so hopefully the 'piston head' massive could give us some pointers, the best feedback always comes for outside the industry your in.
Thanks
Matt
PS Also just started with the social media, not a clue if we are going about it the right way and I'm skeptical of its benefits for a company like ours, so if anyone knows what they are doing and could check it out that would be grand!!
I'll be honest, so don't hate me! I'm not an industry professional but I have spent a lot of time reading about conversion optimisation and I'll hopefully be constructive, But i think it's terrible!
There's far too much on a page I don't even know where to look. It doesn't follow any structure that I'd expect from a website, which makes browsing awkward and to be honest I'd have bounced straight off the site.
I can't quickly easily tell what you do. Do you sell laser machines? Do you offer laser engraving service? Do you do both? Use the 5 second rule, show someone your page for 5 seconds then close it then ask them what it is you do/sell/offer. If they can't give you a rough idea then you have work to do, otherwise your traffic is just going to bounce off the site to another one.
I see a design and a sub contract tab but why do I want to use you? What exactly do you do, pictures of previous work?
Are you trying to sell from your website, or do I need to call you? It doesn't make it obvious. Every page needs one purpose, not 10. There's too much text, in too many places and often without pictures to break it up enough to make me want to read it.
The website needs a serious re-design with thought on what you want the viewer to do/read/look at. No one can look at everything at once.
It's not responsive either so doesn't work at all well on iPhones etc which could be a big issue. I know that 33.4% (at last check) of my sales on one website come from an iPad or iPhone, so a responsive site is a must for me, I'm assuming this will be fairly common for websites in general by now.
One thing I have learnt in this game is that you should expect EVERYONE to be dumb. If you cater for completely dumb people you can't go far wrong. Everything should be easy, why am I on the site and what do you want me to look at/do? why do want me to call you or order your product and I expect you to guide me through it so that I don't have to think about what I'm doing.
On a side note, can you effectively laser engrave text and logos into a black plastic square about 1cm by 1cm? (button for a lighting control switch). Small batch quantities, wouldn't need a large amount at once.
As a slight disclaimer, this is all easier said than done, achieving a clear cut purpose for every page and maximising conversion optimisation is no easy feat and I certainly haven't achieved it. However I think your site can easily be 100 x improved by way of changing a template, re-thinking the menu and page structure and making things a bit more clear on what you want people to do.
There's far too much on a page I don't even know where to look. It doesn't follow any structure that I'd expect from a website, which makes browsing awkward and to be honest I'd have bounced straight off the site.
I can't quickly easily tell what you do. Do you sell laser machines? Do you offer laser engraving service? Do you do both? Use the 5 second rule, show someone your page for 5 seconds then close it then ask them what it is you do/sell/offer. If they can't give you a rough idea then you have work to do, otherwise your traffic is just going to bounce off the site to another one.
I see a design and a sub contract tab but why do I want to use you? What exactly do you do, pictures of previous work?
Are you trying to sell from your website, or do I need to call you? It doesn't make it obvious. Every page needs one purpose, not 10. There's too much text, in too many places and often without pictures to break it up enough to make me want to read it.
The website needs a serious re-design with thought on what you want the viewer to do/read/look at. No one can look at everything at once.
It's not responsive either so doesn't work at all well on iPhones etc which could be a big issue. I know that 33.4% (at last check) of my sales on one website come from an iPad or iPhone, so a responsive site is a must for me, I'm assuming this will be fairly common for websites in general by now.
One thing I have learnt in this game is that you should expect EVERYONE to be dumb. If you cater for completely dumb people you can't go far wrong. Everything should be easy, why am I on the site and what do you want me to look at/do? why do want me to call you or order your product and I expect you to guide me through it so that I don't have to think about what I'm doing.
On a side note, can you effectively laser engrave text and logos into a black plastic square about 1cm by 1cm? (button for a lighting control switch). Small batch quantities, wouldn't need a large amount at once.
As a slight disclaimer, this is all easier said than done, achieving a clear cut purpose for every page and maximising conversion optimisation is no easy feat and I certainly haven't achieved it. However I think your site can easily be 100 x improved by way of changing a template, re-thinking the menu and page structure and making things a bit more clear on what you want people to do.
Ok so to much going on, on the front page, we build and sell the machines, they are not cheap and i would be surprised many people would look for something like this on and iphone, but you never know.
I will change the insure right away, well spotted, it been checked by several people and no one noticed that.
Has anyone got an example of a good website that sells capital equipment,
Most of our sales come from direct marketing, not the website but maybe thats why.
I will change the insure right away, well spotted, it been checked by several people and no one noticed that.
Has anyone got an example of a good website that sells capital equipment,
Most of our sales come from direct marketing, not the website but maybe thats why.
The "Applications" page bounces back to the index, and as other have said, simplify the index page, just have a rough paragraph and a pic of some fancy engraving, and people will then click through the rest.
It has also broken the golden rule of making noise, so stop the autoplay of the youtube vid.
It has also broken the golden rule of making noise, so stop the autoplay of the youtube vid.
Can't add much to what MrSparks has said, but I agree with him that you need to start again. I know that sucks if you've spent ages creating this new website (is that correct?), but in the spirit of failing fast you need to realise that it's going to take a tremendous effort to get that website up to a suitable standard. Fail now and move on to something much better.
Move the content to Wordpress and get a $50 template from ThemeForest - you'll instantly have a professionally designed website. Then focus on the content.
Do they sit on the internet looking for a particular machine and then buy at the best price, similar to consumers to Amazon? Or do they look for companies that can supply the right equipment and begin a buying process that might stretch out over several sales meetings? As you've said capital equipment I imagine that a lot of your sales have to get approval, go through a buying process?
Bear in mind that each of those sales processes requires a different type of website!
For such an important piece of marketing, may I ask why you haven't engaged a web design agency to help you with this? Do you do all your direct marketing in house too?
Move the content to Wordpress and get a $50 template from ThemeForest - you'll instantly have a professionally designed website. Then focus on the content.
matjk said:
Ok so to much going on, on the front page, we build and sell the machines, they are not cheap and i would be surprised many people would look for something like this on and iphone, but you never know.
I will change the insure right away, well spotted, it been checked by several people and no one noticed that.
Has anyone got an example of a good website that sells capital equipment,
Most of our sales come from direct marketing, not the website but maybe thats why.
How do your customers buy?I will change the insure right away, well spotted, it been checked by several people and no one noticed that.
Has anyone got an example of a good website that sells capital equipment,
Most of our sales come from direct marketing, not the website but maybe thats why.
Do they sit on the internet looking for a particular machine and then buy at the best price, similar to consumers to Amazon? Or do they look for companies that can supply the right equipment and begin a buying process that might stretch out over several sales meetings? As you've said capital equipment I imagine that a lot of your sales have to get approval, go through a buying process?
Bear in mind that each of those sales processes requires a different type of website!
For such an important piece of marketing, may I ask why you haven't engaged a web design agency to help you with this? Do you do all your direct marketing in house too?
The plan is to get a Pro to do a proper website, but finding someone good that doesn't seem to charge the earth then have excessive ongoing maintenance costs is the hard bit. TBH our customers are most likely to just fins us either via internet/word of mouth/show and then not even look at the website, they just phone in, we do an on-site demo, the demo's result in an extremely good conversation rate. I will have a look at word press or maybe revisit getting someone that knows what they are doing to have a go.
Thanks for the input guys
Matt
Thanks for the input guys
Matt
OP if you want to sell yourselves as a high end manufacturer then why don't you base your site on one by a high end manufacturer. Look at some big eng websites such as BAE, R-R, etc. and use them as a model.
An amateurish website would make me run a mile if it was my first point of contact. I appreciate in such a niche area recommendation counts for just as much but why limit yourself?
An amateurish website would make me run a mile if it was my first point of contact. I appreciate in such a niche area recommendation counts for just as much but why limit yourself?
TwilightJohnny said:
Oh and there's another 'insure' in the SubContract section.
I'm stopping now but my proof-reading service rates are available on request.
"First Class Recorded for a parcels under 2kg weight"I'm stopping now but my proof-reading service rates are available on request.
snigger
Your returns policy is out of date - as it stands customers have a year to return
Embrace vertical scrolling, while you've got a lot going on, it's all in a fairly small page area so it seems cluttered and fussy.
Personally I'd change it to a two column layout with lots of supporting images of work you've done, all of uniform size on one side, and the copy on t'other, and alternating which side has picture and which has text. Picture days a thousand words and all that.
More generally, spelling and grammar need proof reading, and I'd tweak the tone of what's written to less wordy persuasive stuff.
Also, the search box above the nav bar doesn't display properly on my iPad, just needs a bit more height.
Personally I'd change it to a two column layout with lots of supporting images of work you've done, all of uniform size on one side, and the copy on t'other, and alternating which side has picture and which has text. Picture days a thousand words and all that.
More generally, spelling and grammar need proof reading, and I'd tweak the tone of what's written to less wordy persuasive stuff.
Also, the search box above the nav bar doesn't display properly on my iPad, just needs a bit more height.
As others have said, you are trying to pack too much in on the front page.
Stick to simple icons/pictures which link through to pages with more detail for those who are interested.
You don't seem to have any examples of what the machines actually do on the front page - that would make sense to do.
You don't need to start again, just visit some competitor/similar market sites, work out what you like about them, and then do that on yours.
Thanks again, i will hopefully have another go next week, thanks for the proof read offer TwilightJohnny, but i think you should do your own site first. Its funny how easy things are to miss for example " If we find that the product has not been returned us in fully resalable condition" to !
or "Shipping And Handling Shipping is:" or "For orders mad from the UK to the European Union, 20% VAT is added. All other orders are VAT free." Mad ?? thats just one page
Genuinely not have a go TwilightJohnny, my point is something always gets missed, and its useful to have as many people proof read as possible.
or "Shipping And Handling Shipping is:" or "For orders mad from the UK to the European Union, 20% VAT is added. All other orders are VAT free." Mad ?? thats just one page
Genuinely not have a go TwilightJohnny, my point is something always gets missed, and its useful to have as many people proof read as possible.
matjk said:
Thanks again, i will hopefully have another go next week, thanks for the proof read offer TwilightJohnny, but i think you should do your own site first. Its funny how easy things are to miss for example " If we find that the product has not been returned us in fully resalable condition" to !
or "Shipping And Handling Shipping is:" or "For orders mad from the UK to the European Union, 20% VAT is added. All other orders are VAT free." Mad ?? thats just one page
Genuinely not have a go TwilightJohnny, my point is something always gets missed, and its useful to have as many people proof read as possible.
Quite - people in glass houses . . . . .or "Shipping And Handling Shipping is:" or "For orders mad from the UK to the European Union, 20% VAT is added. All other orders are VAT free." Mad ?? thats just one page
Genuinely not have a go TwilightJohnny, my point is something always gets missed, and its useful to have as many people proof read as possible.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff