Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

the site is easy to understand, easy to navigate and generally well done.

Here are points to consider:
1) this site will not bring you leads, it will only reinforce your professional status - which is probably about all you can expect.
2) i am not wild about the red color - blue would be more professional - my opinion supported by data.
3) I would like to see you offer something to get people to provide you some information, mailing list info anything.

I agree that red is not a confidence-building color. What I want to talk about, however, is the content.

Your copy reads like an annual report. There's no life or excitement. You're not telling me why I want to use you, or how you can help me achieve my goals. I'm not sure you understand what I'm looking for.

You say your goal is to inform, inspire, and motivate. Make sure your copy does that to the reader. You've got inform nailed down, and that's the least important of your three goal statements. You need to rewrite the copy to inspire and motivate me to use you.

For example:

Your lead sentence is weak; "Welcome to and thank you..." is a waste of valuable real estate. If you read that line as a link somewhere, would it interest you enough to click to see what the site is about? I'm guessing not. I would lose interest and go somewhere else.

You need to start with a strong value proposition. Your copy is focused on "Here's who we are, here's what we've done." That's pushing information at me. You need to allow the user to pull what they want. By that, I mean you need to answer the questions they have about "What's in it for me?" when they get there. Answer the resounding "So what?" before they ask.

It's not until the fourth paragraph that you start to say anything about how you can help me. Start with that. Unfortunately, you're talking about your goals, not mine, so that paragraph still needs to be reworked.

Your home page needs to sell you all by itself. So does each other page on your website. Right now, your home page just asks people to review the site, and if interested, to contact you. That is a very weak call to action, and it is asking too much of people. a C-level exec will never read your entire website.

Give them a good reason, right there on the home page, to pick up the phone and call. You can do that by having a conversation with your reader, telling them what they want to know, instead of just telling them what you want them to hear.

Brin,


Personally, I think the sire is rather wordy. Perhaps all the words need to be there, but it intimidates me (even though I can read). One way to help with this is to use headings. This will allow people to scan the text and find the parts of interest, otherwise they just might leave before reading any.

I agree with others that there needs to be a testimonials section or at least clips on the various pages. Let your past clients help market you some. Events seem to be somewhat in the who's who category so dropping names could be very helpful.

I would make sure that there is contact info on every page. It seems to be everywhere but on the home page (where I would look). I know it is in the text, but I like it separate like on the other pages, where it is easier to find.

Hope this helps,
Mike