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I haven't been around here much lately as we are busy re-inventing our company. We have considerable experience manufacturing custom Architectural Signage Systems. We have decided to extend that capability to other sign shops large and small across Canada. To that end, this ad will appear in the July Sign Media Magazine to be released in a few days. It will link to a new section of our website named Wholesale Interior Sign Systems As with everything you spend a lot of time on, sometimes "you can't see the forest for the trees". For now I'm not worried about the "look" of the site, more the content. Especially the FAQ section needs to be updated with pertinent information. I would be grateful, as you are members of the target market I am reaching out to, if you could post some questions or comments you might have if you visited the site. I am still completing some cost studies, so pricing information won't be available for a few days yet.
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will I know that your company makes sign kits? I am not sure exactly what this new venture does from the ad.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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Hi Curtis. Thanks for the quick response. The sole purpose of the ad is to drive curious sign companies to the website. This is where they will hopefully browse and become fully informed.
quote: The sole purpose of the ad is to drive curious sign companies to the website.
I understand the idea. It's a good marketing idea. I am wondering though,, curious about what?
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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Curtis and Paul. I really appreciate and understand your comments. I have a feeling more of you have the same feeling. Although my intent of this post was to receive input on the content of the wholesale section of the website, I see I need to address the ad. concept. For our new venture, we decided we needed a fresh new "look". I commissioned a respected communications and graphics company to achieve this end. It was tempting to critique the artwork and content sent to me, but it was decided that I would step back and not interfere. We had a lot of communication leading up to the re-branding so I agreed to this. After all my whole intent was to get fresh eyes and strategies. I am a sign professional, not an advertising expert. Clearly, the ad is missing the mark by your responses, but the magazine comes out tomorrow, so lets focus on the content of the website. I solicit your input, especially in the FAQ area. I input a number of questions and answers last night and welcome any others you might have. Input on navigation in the site would be welcome too. As for the magazine ad., let's leave that aside for now if you don't mind. I really appreciate your input and I will update you on progress as inquiries start coming in.
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My initial reaction to the your main pages was, "Too much text. Where are the pictures? Is the site under construction?". As I burrowed down into the links I found really nice pictures in the PDFs. But, typically I wouldn't go digging that far. I think you need some nice images right up front to give people a reason to read.
The other concern I had is the compression on the graphics. The very first thing I did when I looked at your site was wonder what was wrong with the letters on the navigation menu. I wondered if the fuzzy texture around them was on purpose and then I realized it was artifacts from too much jpeg compression. Then I at the logo and saw how grainy it was. I think it's important to keep file sizes small, but these are two small. For the logos and text images I would try PNG format to see if it gives a better result. But, even the photographs in the wholesale section have a noisy texture from too much sharpening or compression.
I think the Standoffs Catalog is much more friendly and inviting than some of your website pages. It is the same basic design, but the text is easier to read and the pictures are really interesting. I have no current need for all those standoff, anchors and clamps, but I did scroll through the whole thing for the same reason I walk through aisles at Home Depot that don't have anything on my shopping list.
So, basically I think the category pages need more pictures.
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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Russ, I really appreciate your comments and I'll take another look at all those suggested improvements. I of course left the website to the last minute, so I've been throwing stuff down quickly. Once I get the content down, I'll work on fine tuning everything. Again, thanks guys for your time.
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My reaction was similar to Russ' Where are the pics. I opened some of the .pdf's and thought they needed more sign type to show the family of sign types you make.
My main job is architectural sign design, and many of my projects have 20-50 different sign types. I have always considered apartment signage architectural. I have been through a glut of apartment sign systems lately and the packages end up being just as substantial as a large office complex. Certainly more than just a leasing/id sign. Obviously you cant show all of them on a marketing brochure, but I thought you needed more.
I'm guessing they are still working on the design, but not feeling it... maybe as Russ pointed out, you have some issues with the images.
i don't use stock systems when designing, but a familiar with them. To me, an attractive site with enough info to reel me in is: http://www.takeform.net/
And I found it interesting to see some of the projects on here that show the family of signs in shop drawing form and installed: http://www.zumar.com/portfolio.php
-------------------- Rick Chavez Hemet, CA Posts: 1538 | From: Hemet,CA U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Russ and Rick. You are dead right about the images. I didn't know about that compression problem. I went into Corel where I set them up and re-sized them to finished web size before exporting instead of sizing them down in the export options. What a difference! Thank you, thank you. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of the original images here at home, so I'll save them tomorrow at the office, and continue on. I just did the home page for now.... did I say Thank you, thank you. I'm going to go though the whole site and review the images... probably on the weekend. I'm going to also take you suggestion about more pics, less words to heart. I've been working 12-14 hour days at the shop, so I'm too pooped to do more tonight, but I will.
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