Professional Sites vs. Homemade Sites

[herf96]

I have a site and was wondering if it truly matters along as the information is displayed.

 

[knabe]

your question is circular.

how will you measure what matters?

 

[herf96]

I am pretty sure that people can figure it out.  I will know providing people will vote which website is more appealing.  You can obviously tell the difference between the two.  If it does not matter to the voter if he or she looks at quality of the website or content.  Have you never looked at a site and said man it would be better if they did something else.  It is like color vs black in white when advertising in a magazine.  Does it matter to the viewer.  When the click on that site do they say this is great or do the flip to the next site like you do in the magazine.  Simple question not deserving sarcasm.

 

[The Driver]

I think that there has to be some eye appeal to the site. But do agree as long as the info is translated clearly i don't think it matters. As long as you have enough eye appeal to get the viewer to get to your information.

 

[knabe]

I think that there has to be some eye appeal to the site. But do agree as long as the info is translated clearly i don't think it matters. As long as you have enough eye appeal to get the viewer to get to your information.

i gotta say that eye appeal can be annoying and distracting. 

some of the best sites have low "eye" appeal.

after the first couple of visits to a site, the eye appeal can be annoying and delay finding/getting to information you want.

my favorite sites are short and sweet with access to pedigrees, registration numbers, etc.

you are right, some eye appeal is good, but too much is annoying.  the line between the two is a different width for everyone.

also, too much fluff on the entry page is annoying for dialup in rural areas.

 

[JSchroeder]

It depends on which professional you are talking about, the size of your operation, and your own skills.

Post the URL of your current site and you'll get a lot better advice.

 

[DLD]

It depends on which professional you are talking about, the size of your operation, and your own skills.

Post the URL of your current site and you'll get a lot better advice.

 

Very true.  But most of the time, the professional touch is well worth it.

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

It doesn't really matter to me. Homemade ones generally load a little faster. But the professionally designed ones can impress people a little more.

I made my own ranch website in raw HTML. If you're making your own website, you can use some of the codes from my webpage if you want to.

 

[LN]

It doesn't really matter to me. Homemade ones generally load a little faster. But the professionally designed ones can impress people a little more.

I made my own ranch website in raw HTML. If you're making your own website, you can use some of the codes from my webpage if you want to.

You made your page entirely from code?

 

[ZNT]

I think it really depends on what market you are trying to hit with your website.  If you are trying to sell the $20-30K calves, then it would probably we worth the money to pay a professional.  Part of that price you are charging includes the reputation and extra advertising expense a seller incurs.  If you are trying to sell in the $5k or less market, then  a homemade site that is put together nicely, and has really good pictures, is plenty good.  Good pictures is a key to a homemade site.  Our site is homemade, and I am completely proud of what my wife has created.  The layout is logical, and we strive to have good pictures that represent our cattle to their best.

 

[GONEWEST]

It depends on your market. Maybe you  can't please everyone. There is a reason that many registered cattle sights are "plainer" or maybe a better phrase would be more "business like" than show cattle pages.  In general, registered cattle sites are aimed at other breeders and adults, like Knabe. He wants precise information, nothing but the facts.  In general they are not as frilly, bright, in your face as the club calf sites aimed at kids who show cattle. A show calf operation wants to entice a kid to say "HEY DAD (or Mom) LOOK AT THIS!!!! Either way, a site that gives the notion that you have a professional operation is important to almost anyone. Think of a new car dealership and show room. They don't sell them out of barns and there is a reason for that.

 

[creativecattle]

I am in the communications business so I like website that are put together with some thought, but I agree the overuse of bold colors, music, etc, are distracting.

I think the most important thing is whether you go homemade or seek out a professional is updating regularly. That is what will keep me coming back.

 

[dori36]

i have to vote for the professional sites for a couple of reasons:

1.  I respectfully disagree that homemade sites generally load faster. I've found just the opposite.  Many times the site owners don't  know how to optimize photos and the site to insure that the pictures pop on quickly.  
2.  I've seen many homemade sites that only put up one looooong page.  You have to scroll and scroll and scroll to see all the info. Even younger people want to find what they're looking for quickly and not spend all day on one page.  And, lots and lots of text overshadowing pictures will be a turn off.  Like Knabe said, get the info on in as few words as possible.
3.  Some homemade pages don't load well or look good on some browsers.  I use either Firefox or Safari and I am frustrated at times when a homemade site displays pictures or text all over the place and on top of other info.  A site should be optimized to open and display properly on any of the browsers out there.

From my personal experience, and by analyzing the stats from my site, I find that about the longest people stay on a site is 3 minutes.  Most only stay about 2 minutes.  People are in a hurry these days and want to find what they want to find quickly and easily.  Having good buttons that are clearly labeled to take the viewer to the page they're looking for is important.

Anyone can measure/count page opens and time on them by using Sitemeter.  Go to their site and copy the html and add it to your site.  If you're site is professionally done in Dreamweaver, you can update it by using Adobe Contribute.  That way, you only pay the professional for the initial design and you can do the updating yourself.  Saves lots of $$!  

 

[JSchroeder]

Dori points out the main reasons to use a pro, especially the picture optimization.  Those are the things that are overlooked when you don't know any better.

Not to contridict but for tracking, use Google Analytics.  It's flat out amazing what you can learn about how your site is used once you start using it.  I use it for all of my sites and Jason is using it on this site as well.  It goes above and beyond the idea of hits and page views and shows you where your site is being used, what keywords are used to get there, what rank you are for those keywords on Google, conversion rates if you have a sign up page and set it up properly, what links people are clicking to take them away from your site, etc. etc.

 

[shortyisqueen]

I would vote professional as well for a number of reasons. The first being that there is more to your website than what you see on the surface. A professionally built website is coded so that invididual parts link to a list of formats that tell all the website how to act, making it faster loading and making it behave in all browsers.  In a non-professionally built website, the code that describes an individual part (the color of your font, for example) is embedded in each part. This means that, for every piece of font that is loaded, the computer has to 'check' on what color it should be, making it slower loading. This can also 'confuse' browsers so that the browser interprets the website in a way it was not intended to look...

Another large reason to get your website professionally done is something called Search Engine Optimization. If you type 'club calves' into a search engine, you want to make sure your website comes up. Most home-made websites are not search engine optimized, meaning you will generally only get traffic from a search engine if the person searching already knows the name of your farm. This limits your market to people who already know about you, instead of getting visitors that DON'T know about you but might be interested in your product.

As far as the look goes, the biggest names in the business generally have a professionally designed website. I would say that speaks volumes about sales generated by having a particular look. You want a website that portrays your 'brand' exactly the way you want to be seen. I would say that a site advertising club calves should look ALOT different from a site advertising purebred angus bulls - they have two entirely different target markets. A professional should be able to figure out your audience and build a site that appeals to the people that are going to spend money at your house.

That being said, there are some "professionals" that don't do these things well either - so its best to choose your professionals carefully!!!

 

[Freddy]

Personally prefer one that dosn't have the music , if I want  to hear a song I will pick the one I want to hear .......

 

[Jill]

I don't think WHO does it makes that much difference, what does make a difference is whether I can find it.  When I do a search you want your site to come up in the 1st 2 or 3 lines or be listed in Show Steers JMO.  When I get into a site if I'm in 3 minutes that would be a lot, I want to see your bulls, donors, winners and what you CURRENTLY have for sale not what has already been sold.  Quality of pictures is everything, if you can't interest me by your calf pictures it doesn't make any difference how good your site is, spend the time and money to get excellent quality pictures of the calves you have for sale.  SHUT OFF THE MUSIC!  In my book there is nothing more annoying than a website that plays music, when I browse I turn my volume completely down so I don't have to listen to it.

 

[dori36]

I don't think WHO does it makes that much difference, what does make a difference is whether I can find it.  When I do a search you want your site to come up in the 1st 2 or 3 lines or be listed in Show Steers JMO.  When I get into a site if I'm in 3 minutes that would be a lot, I want to see your bulls, donors, winners and what you CURRENTLY have for sale not what has already been sold.  Quality of pictures is everything, if you can't interest me by your calf pictures it doesn't make any difference how good your site is, spend the time and money to get excellent quality pictures of the calves you have for sale.  SHUT OFF THE MUSIC!  In my book there is nothing more annoying than a website that plays music, when I browse I turn my volume completely down so I don't have to listen to it.

Ditto to the music comment, Jill.  I just hate it when the site starts playing music and I'm scrambling to my preferences to mute it on my own computer!  Ugh!

 

[jason]

Here is how I look at it,  if you are in the business of selling club calves, you are looking for buyers.  In turn, buyers are looking to view your cattle and/or find contact information.

Always follow the rule, KISS, keep it simple stupid. 

No entry pages, especially no flash entry pages.  Have a link directory structure that is logical, have the same link menu on each page.

Reduce your image sizes, but make images linkable for larger version.  I preferably like to open the photo in the same window, instead of a new window to prevent popup blocking.

No music.


For SEO

1.  Content is KING
2.  I have always though keyword urls play a huge part in both yahoo's and googles rankings
3.  Page titles
4.  Meta tags
5.  INCOMING links
6.  Update info

 

[farwest]

What about a nice family pic of you n the other half n the offspring ?