Publication Date:
Wed, 2001-01-03 18:00
Article Image:
| John Naftzger |
STEP 1 - Do Your Research Find out what builders around the corner and around the country are doing. Look at their web sites. You can use a search engine such as Yahoo, Alta Vista, or AOL, or you can select "Choose/Find" at the top of each page on this site. Go to "Homes/Builders" and then select on someone like Homebuilder.com. Search their roster to find builders like yourself.
State and local Home Builder Associations and real estate books are also good places to find builder web sites. Most important, you should look at the sites for builders in your area. They are your competition and you can see what they are saying to their potential customers on their site. The more sites you look at, the better idea you'll get of what you like and what you don't like.
Take notes or print out pages of informational points and design ideas that you find important. Don't just look at what they are saying and the graphic appearance, check out how you "navigate," or move around various sites from page to page. Note how other builders handle the placement of navigation buttons for each page. Easy navigation is key to a good site design. A site that is difficult to get around on can be a very frustrating experience that will discourage a viewer from staying with the site or returning to it at a later date.
To start you off, here are two interesting sites that you might want to check out:
STEP 2 - Make a Plan.
You wouldn't build a house without a plan would you? Creating a web page is really a similar construction process. If you have prepared some thoughts as to what you want on your site, it will make the job for whoever actually does the design that much easier, faster and probably less expensive. Here's a simple way to develop and organize your thoughts. Let's start with some essential pages every builder site usually has. You'll probably want to add other pages as you see things you like in your research, but for now, let's start with these. The important part of this exercise is to let your mind go. Don't edit yourself and don't worry about your grammar and style. If it pops into your head, commit it to paper, at least for now.
Take three blank pieces of paper. Label the first one "Home", the second one "Projects" and the third one "Contact".
On your "Home" page list all of the things that you want to tell the viewer when they arrive at your site. Don't worry about design. This is your customers' introduction to you. Think about what you want to tell them about you and your business. Also think about what you saw on the other sites. How believable was their message? What kind of impression did it leave?
The second page, "Projects" is a gallery to feature your work. Tempt your future customers with pictures of completed homes or projects in process. Show models from your new development and give some information about that project. Include photos of and testimonials from satisfied customers enjoying their new home. Think of the projects you have done that are exciting or demonstrate your capabilities best.
You can use photos taken with a digital camera, scanned paper photos or in some cases, artist's rendition of homes. But beware: If you are going to use pictures, make sure they are of good quality, the Internet is not going to make a bad picture look good.
The third page, "Contact," will be used to have the customer contact you via e-mail for more information. Make sure you include information about your sales center address, phone and fax numbers and business hours. If you are not on a main road, a map might be helpful. Again, here is a good place to be reminded of what other builders did on their contact pages and how you felt about them. Look at this page through the eyes of a customer. You can ask some pre-qualifying questions here but don't be too intrusive.
Now you are started and as you expand your plan for your site, begin by creating similar thought pages with organizational headers for each new page. We'll deal more in the next article with the content you might want on your site.
STEP 3 - Hire a professional web designer
In other words, don't try this at home, even though there is plenty of software on the market that makes web site design easier for the average person. By the same token, your nephew might be very talented and want to be a web designer so bad that he will do it for free. But this is not the place for you to be a guinea pig, so find a pro to do it. Don't forget this is your business. What people see on the web is a reflection of you.
Local web designers can be found in your Yellow Pages or on the web at almost any search engine (look under titles such as "Internet", "WWW", or "Web Services"). Another good way to find them is by asking other local business owners who they used or recommend. Check out various web design firms the way you would a subcontractor. Look at and talk to several firms. Check out their work and talk to some of their clients. Use the plan pages you have prepared to tell them what you want to accomplish and see what their thoughts are or if they have ever worked with a customer with similar needs.
Prices can vary widely and you should be concerned if a bid seems very inexpensive. Like everything else, you usually get what you pay for, and a bad site can almost be worse than no site. Shop around but remember, people who actively use the Internet see a lot of very professionally designed sites. If your site is not up to their expectations, they may not stay to view it or worse, leave with a very unprofessional view of you.
Design considerations aside, there are a number of other important functions a professional can provide. They can help you get your domain registration (that's the name for your web site) and can help you get someone to host your site, which means they keep your site on their computer and handle all of the traffic. Your web designer can work with your photos to make sure the resolution is correct and that they download quickly. They can include encryption features should you want to sell plan books or other items over the Internet. They can ensure your hyperlinks to other sites are established and running correctly.
Professional web designers should also be able to help you get listed on the search engines, so people can find your site. They should offer maintenance services, which means they will make improvements, changes and updates to your site as you request. These services are usually an extra, but some designers have various packages of services they offer. Most importantly, remember that the work they do for you allows you to remain focused on your job-building homes, not web sites.
For more information, contact:
John Naftzger
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Sarata Corporation
Saratoga Springs, NY
Phone 518-581-0271
www.sarata.com [2]
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