Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

Dear jaephraims,

At the moment, each home page seems errily quiet.

Too quiet.

A little bit like the opening scenes of the move "The Village of the Damned", except, without the people.

Tell me. Does anyone LIVE in any of these places? Or are they all crammed into some kind of broom cupboard somewhere? Silent?

I'm kidding of course, it's just that looking at your home pages, no one that you offer great care for retired people who can either no longer look after themselves, or for whom some kind of structured long term care appears to be the better all round option than living alone or than living with family members.

In our dotage, my wife and I want to see people of our own age. We want to be reassured that there will be people like us around with whom we can chat, go for a stroll, share excursions with, perhaps even vacation with. Say, on a cruise. Yes! that would be nice!

But, were my wife and I looking to find a retirement home, our own little Dingly Dell, as Noel Edmonds would put it, we'd be put off investigating your services further by the unearthly quiet by the apparent absence of any other living soul. I looked at each of your sites and in the five or ten seconds I spent on each, I arrived at numerous value judgements.

Now, before you condemn me for having spent so little time on each site, hear me out. If I'm you're average punter, I'm looking for certain engaging elements to hold my attention. When i don't find them, my attention span drops like a stone and I click away from your site, never to return.

Poof! Gone ... Ála Tommy Cooper: just like that!

So, some points to consider adding:

Engaging copy telling site visitors what it is about your facilities that makes the most sense for them.

Video of guided tours of your facilities

Profiles of residents and "in their own words" testimonials as social proof.

Evidence of activities, events, and social get togethers.

Images of people, with photo captions that tell a wee story, and include a set of decent alt tags to help your search engine rankings.

Compelling reasons why your facilities are the best. Why do they stand out? What is it about your company?

Fewer pictures of empty car parks and blank facades.

Podcasts of reminiscence sessions or tales from residents about why they chose your facilities.

Written testimonials from loved ones of residents telling site visitors their thoughts, feelings, and desires for their Mum, Dad, great uncle or aunt, grand parent and so on.

All of this builds your credibility and engages people because at heart, we all want to be associated with people that remind us of ourselves. All of which will also help project the image of being professional, caring, structured, welcoming, warm, and compassionate.

You might want to include your residents and their families in your project, from the ground up. Ask them what it is that compels them to live with you? You might just find a few jewels that might otherwise have remained completely hidden.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Gary really hit the nail on the head. Your websites are all about what you offer, not about the most important single benefit your target audience needs and wants.

You really should have a professional researcher talk to people in your target audience (your current residents and prospects, as well as some who have rejected you and gone elsewhere). Then get a professional creative team to express your unique benefit -- that addresses their most important unmet need -- in your website copy and the supporting visuals.

I have to believe the most important need will be more emotional/from the heart than functional, and you've focused almost entirely on functional features. Put yourself in the shoes of the person who is visiting the site because they think they may need a residence soon, or perhaps they already do. What's on their minds? What are they looking for? What basic emotional need are they trying to satisfy?

jaephraims,

Both of the above responses are valid, it is worth doing what they suggest. I would like to add that before you commit resources and funding you should consider the audience. Who actually buys from you? Is it the individual who is intending to move in, or is it their offspring who does the selection?

My experience from working for a number of clients in the care home sector is the majority of enquiries come from the children of those who become guests.

Consider also that those who are looking for your services online are evidently competent online and would therefore need access to the internet. None of the sites say if Wi-Fi is available.

I would suggest the following course of action.

1. Research the users and decision makers and find out definitively who they are.
2. Carry out user experience reviews on all your websites.
3. Carry out remedial work to make them user friendly
4. Optimise the websites for the search engines (SEO)

At this stage you can invest your budgets into the promotion of the sites on line.

I have written a book on the subject, Internet Marketing How to get a website that works for your business, which is available from Amazon and many other book shop websites and the high street.

Remember,
There is no point committing resources and budget driving potential customers to your website if they cannot use it when they get there, conversely there is no point having the best website in the world if no-one can find it.

I wish you every success with your project Contact me if you would like further information.

Regards

Nigel T Packer

Good Lord! Where did all those typos come from in my post?
It seems I need to have a wee word with the proofreading fairy!