New Site!

[CH.Detailing]

On the bottom of the `recommended products` page, can you guys see the Autopia Car Care image? I`ve had some people tell me that there is no image there, but no matter what computer or browser I use it will show up for me...

[Concours.John]

Very nice! Easy to read and navigate. Not cluttered.
Autopia logo shows for me.

[CH.Detailing]

Excellent, thanks John!

Today I did some re-wording, fixed some spelling and grammar mistakes, resized all the images to their display resolution and re-uploaded them (a pain!), and corrected the spacing issue in the `packages` page. Next up is to update the code for the `contact` page, expand the package descriptions, add another image gallery, and get some more blog content published. Excluding my massive amount of time invested in the new site, the whole thing set me back less than $100! That`s one thing I can`t complain about.

[Concours.John]

Excellent, thanks John!

Today I did some re-wording, fixed some spelling and grammar mistakes, resized all the images to their display resolution and re-uploaded them (a pain!), and corrected the spacing issue in the `packages` page. Next up is to update the code for the `contact` page, expand the package descriptions, add another image gallery, and get some more blog content published. Excluding my massive amount of time invested in the new site, the whole thing set me back less than $100! That`s one thing I can`t complain about.

You did the site yourself? I have Web Easy professional 8 just cant figure which of the three I like. Your site still looks great!

[CH.Detailing]

Yessir! The site is based off a custom Wordpress theme that I bought, so I can`t credit for the whole thing. The only things I had to pay for was the theme itself, registering my domain at a new host (my previous host didn`t support Wordpress), and a small fee to completely transfer the DNS look-up to the new host as well. The amount of time invested is probably somewhere around 50-60 hours right now.

[Greg Nichols]

My inital criticism is that you need to raise your hourly for corrective work, you are doing work that demands more per hour than you have now. Think about it, but the workmanship you deliver is greater than your present rate

I might also make the "black boxes" more transparent so the desktop image is not completly lost, play around and see how it turns out.

Cheers,
GREG

[Concours.John]

My inital criticism is that you need to raise your hourly for corrective work, you are doing work that demands more per hour than you have now. Think about it, but the workmanship you deliver is greater than your present rate

I might also make the "black boxes" more transparent so the desktop image is not completly lost, play around and see how it turns out.

Cheers,
GREG

Greg is right,

Actually I didn`t think of this but it is an extended service. He is right. I`ve done the same thing myself. This isn`t something everyone is capable of offering. You are selling yourself short on specialty services. Billing and estimating may be scary but you do deserve to get paid for the work you do.

[CH.Detailing]

That`s what I did last year, separate rates for general detailing and paint correction. I found that most people didn`t understand the difference well enough and were hesitant to elect much correction work (which is what I prefer to do).

My plan right now is to really focus on better educating my clients on the actual process of what I do. I`m putting together some pamphlets and small informational spiral bound leaflet to give out, with the intention of getting the necessary information directly into their hands, rather than relying solely on the information on my website. Plus people like getting free stuff!

I`m hoping to diversify my rates again at a later date.

EDIT: I forgot to mention my absolute favorite part about this change over, Google Analytics! I thought the stat tracking that I was getting through my last host (webs.com) was good, but Google blows it out of the water. Being able to track not just site hits, but specific page view times, bounce rates, and average navigational flow is awesome! Takes a lot of the guesswork out of making a functional website by giving you direct feedback on how people respond to different design ideas and structure.

Did I mention how much I like it?

[Ecrissman]

As a photographer, let me say the images are first rate Conner-professionally done & executed. The website is simple and clean-hope you don`t lose track of that. Very elegant, business like & 100 over 100 professional. I realize it`s still a work in progress but keep doing what your doing. Really enjoyed the images.

I couldnt agree more the photography was quite impressive. To me it really added to the web site, very professional.

[Gurge]

EDIT: I forgot to mention my absolute favorite part about this change over, Google Analytics! I thought the stat tracking that I was getting through my last host (webs.com) was good, but Google blows it out of the water. Being able to track not just site hits, but specific page view times, bounce rates, and average navigational flow is awesome! Takes a lot of the guesswork out of making a functional website by giving you direct feedback on how people respond to different design ideas and structure.

Did I mention how much I like it?

I love Google Analytics as well. I get a daily email describing all the web traffic. How they got to the site, how long they spent there, what pages they looked at. It is almost like an addiction. I look forward to the daily email

I`m sure you were pleased to see how many visits you got in response to posting this thread

[Greg Nichols]

Here is something else I was thinking about, your site has me thinking

WATERMARK you photos, they will be ripped off they are too good looking not to........if you don`t watermark them.....I`ll rip them off

[Street Dreams]

Looks terrific, love the full screen images!

[CH.Detailing]

Greg, the home page slideshow images? Just TRY and steal them.

Thanks Dave!

[Greg Nichols]

I already did........

Cheers,
GREG

[CH.Detailing]

Well xxxx. That`s not supposed to happen...