Looking for a referral for website design

[ranchak]

Hi guys, I’m looking to have a new website designed. I would to see if any of you guys have any you can refer. I would like to use someone who has already designed a website for a machine shop, I figure they would better understand the content needed and make this a bit easier process. TIA

 

[implmex]

Hi ranchak:
How convinced are you that the content and the graphics on the website are actually going to be important?

Before anyone cries "HERESY" I have some experience to contribute.
I have two...one I built myself in Wordpress and one I took over from a customer who had built it as a virtual machine shop and came to people like me to actually do the work.

Mine was crafted as well as I could make it: here's a link:
www.implant-mechanix.com
I had a professional web guy craft the structure and I populated it with my own content.
It's a brag site and most professionals criticize it as "too wordy" but it's brought me steady business.

The other one is an utter POS for graphics and content...full of bullshit, bad grammar, bad spelling, crummy photos, that "marketing" tone I detest when it's aimed at me etc etc.
Here's a link:
www.vancouverwireedm.com

The second site has also brought me business...just about the same as the first site has.
Nobody gives a shit about the grammar and the spelling.
Nobody gives a shit about the crappy photography.
Nobody gives a shit about the bullshit in the text.

So before you get too wrapped up in the sales pitch of some web designer, be aware that much of what they peddle is to convince you to part with cash.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

 

[implmex]

Naaahh Thermite:
Truly, nobody cares.
Not in this business anyway.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

 

[implmex]

Hi again Thermite:
I'm certainly not going to tell him how to spend his money.
If he sees value in what a professional web developer can do for him, how could I have an objection?
If he wants to commit time and resources to it...fair enough.

Let me add one more tidbit from my experience though:
Some may know I partnered for a time with a fellow machinist I'd worked with.
Sadly it was not a successful collaboration, but that's another topic.

What's pertinent though, is that he was adamant he wanted a professional graphic designer to design the business cards and the letterhead , and absolutely refused to consider they could have any usefulness whatsoever if they were not professionally designed.

Every nuance has a meaning, every colour every font every card stock choice is SO IMPORTANT.
I call bullshit.

We spent a lot of money on those business cards...a LOT of money, and they were handed out at every opportunity.

You know how much business they actually brought in?...I don't know either, but I suspect not a lot.
I suspect not a lot because I never handed out business cards before, and never since, and I know the sales numbers from my business before, during and after.
I used to ask regularly "How did you find out about us?" and I cannot recall a single occasion when someone said "the awesome business cards".

Everyone, bar none, used to do Google searches back then, but no one read much if anything about the sites...the traffic went straight from the home page to the contact page and I got emails because I came up at the top of the SEO rankings and because I insisted on having the contact information on the home page too.
No one gave a shit about the font or the colour.

With the useless business cards the graphic artist made a great pitch, my colleague fell for it, and we got nothing for it.
Silly me for caving to something I knew was not going anywhere.

Could this be something of the same?
The OP will have to judge...I can only tell my experience.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

 

[implmex]

Hi again Thermite:
"Strokes and folks" I guess.
I'm all in for quality too, but not so much for the wanking bullshit that often passes for markers of quality.
You'll get no argument from me that the grammar and spelling should be good, that the information presented should be useful for your intended audience, that clear, well composed photos are better than fuzzy out-of-focus photos, that it should be easy to get in contact with you to buy what you're offering, and that SEO is still relevant.
Those are not high bars to jump, and you don't need a super expensive whizz bang guru to help you figure that out.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

 

[latheman78]

I just what to see what services someone provides, which I really find annoying is the keyword spammers when I am trying to find someone local. You have someone who says they serve every state in the USA and list them on their keyword spamming page. Another thing I have noticed that looks real bad is when someone shows examples of their work and the parts have mismatched knurls and chatter on threads. I think a nice website is most important if you want local business. If someone googles "Heat treater Los Angeles" and you are in the area you need to show up and your site needs to look good.

 

[implmex]

Hi Thermite:
I wrote: How convinced are you that the content and the graphics on the website are actually going to be important?
I also wrote: You'll get no argument from me that the grammar and spelling should be good...

These claims are not necessarily contradictory although a casual reader can be forgiven for thinking so.

In my first post I'm arguing my experience shows it's not that important, and customers don't seem to care whether it's good or not good

In my later post I'm stating that I personally prefer a website that's not an abomination.

I can build a nicer site that pleases me...that doesn't seem (in the machine shop domain) to matter to my customers.
So long as they can find me from the site and I say what I can do, all is fine, or so it appears.

I was pointing that out to the OP so he doesn't get too dazzled by the claims that it's terribly important to typical machine shop customers and believes too ardently that the money spent to make it "just so" is going to pay big dividends.
He can take that tidbit and do with it as he wishes, so if he likes a nice site and spends accordingly I'm fine with that.
Sadly, I have no idea whom to recommend or how to go about picking a good one, so I suppose it's time for me to shut up and not de-rail this thread even more than I've already done.


Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com