Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

Steve,

You have two problems you need to fix: 1) Your website 2) Your PPC program.

Vevolution critiqued your website accurately, in short you need a new website designed, a rework as its called.

If you are running your own PPC program, that is the problem there - those days are quickly ending as it is becoming so competitive that to be successful you need a professional to at least get you up and running for 60 days. Otherwise you are wasting your money. It is art and science - so much more than just picking some keywords and developing a couple of rotating ads and sitting back waiting for conversions to happen - it doesn't work like that anymore.

Don't believe what you think or what others say - people will click on PPC ads, and they will buy; if your PPC is developed and managed properly, if your website is developed to lead people down the path of conversion, and if you make good use of landing pages.

Contact me if you would like to discuss this further, this is at least an hour long conversation to just paint a basic framework for you that you can understand.

I'm not a marketing professional, just a small business person trying to do her own marketing, too - but for what it's worth...

Your plain site design doesn't bother me the way it does Vevolution. If I'm looking for something specific and mechanical like a booster pump, I wouldn't expect the website to be fancy and 'high-tech', just informative. I did get the feeling, though, that your website was tailored more for residential/small user customers; perhaps rewriting your message on the commercial pages to address the specific problems of larger users would help with those sales. Maybe you'd even want to create a seperate webpage for commercial users.

I googled 'booster pump' to see the ad you spoke about, too. Have you considered moving 'Low Water Pressure Solutions' to the top line? If I were searching for a booster pump, someone offering me a solution would be better than someone just saying they are in booster pump sales (also the TW doesn't help, because I don't know what that stands for until I go to your webpage.)

Steve,
I agree with everyone about your site needing a more professional look ... however, I believe you need to start with the nuts and bolts, or your site may not ever be listed in Google ... look at this URL. On your index page alone, you have many HTML errors, and some appear egregious enough to turn away search engine bots as they try to index your page. https://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterpressureboosterpum...

Make sure that your titles are indicative of your page content. For instance, "questionaire" is not only spelled incorrectly, but from a search engine standpoint, doesn't really mean anything. Even "Booster Pump Questionnaire" would be better than what you have. Your main page should be titled something else besides "index”, maybe "Towle-Whitney Residential and Commercial Booster Pumps."

In addition to fixing your coding, there are several things you can do to help your site be listed in google (or improve your ranking on other engines). You can start here: https://www.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=357 or view the plethora of help topics at the Cre8asite forums (https://www.cre8asiteforums.com). Also, https://www.seocompany.ca/directory/free-web-directories.html will help you get started when it comes to getting some "back links" or reciprocal links from relevant sites (which helps your rankings. Not as much as they used to, but this is still a factor in your search engine rankings). Keep in mind they MUST be relevant or if you are ranked, your rank may drop.

But, getting people there is half the battle, and then you have to sell your product... which is where a professional-looking site design can come into the picture. If you have the funds, you might consider getting a logo redesign to start or at least like nelsonm said, remove the triangle.

Sounds like a lot, I know, but that is why there are so many web professionals who get paid for all this, because it is just so darn time consuming. When you're a web nerd at heart, though, it’s just play time :).

Best,

Jennifer
XPRT Creative

You could be number one on the search engines but what matters most is what happens when your prospective client gets to your site.

My clients say that I'm brutally honest when it comes to website reviews. This is probably why 90% of the projects that we design are website redesigns.

You talk about how other websites just add pumps to shopping carts or have disclaimers that don't help. Your current site truly does not separate you from these other guys.

... Looks home made. Especially the navigation area and the way the pages are laid out. First impressions are everything.

.... Why do you keep the header and the loose the header on other pages. It looks like some pages where added at different times

... Lets just say I had issues with Low Water Pressure and came to your site. I know you have trained professionals that can help me but what about providing me some help on your site. An educated prospect is both easier to work with and is more likely to act.

....You have three main target markets Residential, Commercial and Irrigation but you don't explain how you can help these markets, you just list the pumps available.

....On the Pumps page don't use underlined blue for the Titles. (ie. Conventional Tank Systems) Underlined blue is the way to designate a link to something. Your titles do not link to anything.

.... Customer testimonal pages just take up space. If you want the testimonials to add impact than spread them throughout the site.

https://www.waterpressureboosterpumpsmadeeasy.com/questionaire.html is too difficult. I have no idea what my current water pressure is or what I desire. I know you want the form to help qualify people but I would make it either more simple or give explanations. Also the fields for information should be lined up more.

....Home of the YIKES? What does this mean?

.... Swat the bee. I thought at first Bumble Bee pumps were actually a pump. Then I figured out it was a unique way of saying don't be a sucker. You could say
something brief about this on your home page.

You don't need a fancy site with FLASH and crazy animation. You need a simple redesign so the site is more professional looking, easy to navigate and informative.

I hope my comments where helpful.

Brian