Website Design and Web Development Small Business Review

December 10, 2008 - TheAutoDoctor.com Website Design Review

Each week we select a web site on the internet to review the website design and other web development aspects to help both the website owner and you create the best web design for your business.

This week's Web Design Review will be of TheAutoDoctor.com a website that specializes in automotive repair for Honda and Acura vehicles.

Let’s start with several areas that we feel could be improved on this website design. The first thing that strikes you when you see this website design is the blinding BRIGHT RED background. When I first opened this website I wanted to immediately leave which I am sure was not the intent of the business owners. We also see a lot of different font styles that make it hard to read and find information. The outdated scrolling text feature is distracting and the font size used on the website could be difficult to read for some customers.

As you see in the thumbnail the site is not set properly being aligned to the left rather than being centered in the browser. When doing a web design you want to have the largest compatibility possible in terms of features, layout and overall functionality. If The Auto Doctor simply changed the background color and centered the layout, the web design would look much better. That said why would you only repair the radio when the engine needs to be replaced?

When you are designing a web site you have to keep in mind the usability of your website. Bright contrasting colors and very small text will make it difficult for some visitors to use the web site. Think about the goal you want your website to accomplish. Most business owners want to use their website to increase their sales and provide a professional image to their customers.

Fortunately, the Auto Doctor has A LOT of potential! One of the best things about the web site is its name. With the right web design, Kent and Charlie could turn this website into a money generating business of its own aside from their auto repair business, but more about that later.

Next we will take a look at the HTML coding. We can see that someone has been reading up on search engine optimization. Part of any good web design is to create a website that is not only professional and easy to use but also one that is optimized for search engine indexing. If you take a look at this website’s head information you will see that the title of this page is simply “auto doctor homepage” and the description offered for this page is too long. In addition, there are some repetitive keywords used which could be considered spamming by search engines leading to lower ranking or possible exclusion from being listed.

To correct this, you want to create a title that contains your most important keywords, but that is no more than 67 characters in length. You should always include a description using your keywords, but it should also be written so that it entices your target audience to visit your site. You want to keep your description around 150 characters in length and both your title and description should be unique for each public page of your website. Keywords are not necessary in a website, but our testing has shown that they do make a small impact. That said, if you are going to include keywords, you should be sure to only use keywords that you use on your page and never repeat a single word more than 3 times in your keyword meta tag. Remember, if you are using photos on your website do not forget to use your ALT tags effectively. You can use keywords that can help in placement and also allow your vision impaired visitors to better experience what your company offers.

Many businesses make the mistake of attempting to save money by trying to be everything for their company from the CEO/Owner to the Mechanic to the Accountant and even the web designer. However, in the long run this only costs the business more money due to oversight or lost customers. If your small business involves repairing cars for example, then you should put your full attention and effort into what you do best, making your customers happy by getting them back on the road. Then let the true CEO/Owner in you come out and let other professionals do what they do best. By hiring a professional web design company you can be confident your business and talents will be professionally showcased to the world bringing faster growth and increased revenue.

The Auto Doctor has a small website, only 7 html pages. In as little as 1 week and for less than the cost of a head gasket job, we could do a complete website redesign giving them the Professional image they deserve for a company that has been in business for more than 24 years.

The Auto Doctor Before:	What the Auto Doctor could be:

Professional Website Re-Design:  $400
Contact Form w/Return & Email:    $100
Total Price for a complete and professional website design: $500

Lastly, as I mentioned before, the Auto Doctor has a great name with which the owners could use to develop a website that may generate more income than their auto service business does. Case in point, there is a business owner that specialized in home maintenance and decided to create a website for his business to generate customers in his local area. Through some creative ideas and a great web design, this small business owner now generates between $10,000 and $25,000 per month on advertising alone. No, that’s not a typo, $10k to $25k per month! He now makes more money through his website than he ever did in his business. As a matter of fact, he stopped doing home maintenance now and only operates his web business. The owners of The Auto Doctor have the same potential with the right web design, planning and marketing.

LCR MultiMedia can help make your business stand head and above your competition giving you the most professional image in your industry! Get Started with your FREE no obligation web development quote!

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