My stringing business... Website progress. Comments?

[mikeler]

Took a quick look, on the About Me page you may want to change the text color from black to white so that it is more readable. Good luck with your business.

Originally Posted by Irvin

I am sure he has paid for the rights to use Roger Federer's and Andre Agassi's pictures on his website. 'Bottle Rocket' you did pay for those picture rights didn't you? You have heard of copyright infringement, haven't you?

Just in case you are not aware, photographers pay for the rights to use pictures of famous people and sell those pictures to others that want to use those pictures in marketing. Now if you take a picture of Roger playing tennis and stick it on your desktop there is no problem. If you use that picture to market something it is a different story. Trust me, you do not want some lawyer sending you a letter explaining this to you.

You know there is a reason you put Andre and Roger's pictures on your web site instead of John Dough'$ picture. Be honest with your customers and just tell the facts man nothing else.

Irvin

I was going to tell him check copyright before and ask permisssion (often if you explain you are starting they will allow use of pics and give you a release, but get everything in writing). Also check any use of trademarked/patented pics (say Babolat, Dunlop racquets, logos etc.)

[max]

Originally Posted by mikeler

Took a quick look, on the About Me page you may want to change the text color from black to white so that it is more readable. Good luck with your business.

The text is too small, as well.

Typically, the best visual impact will be black text on a white background, using a serif typeface.

[Bottle Rocket]

Originally Posted by origmarm

Looks much better. Overall a big improvement.

A few comments:

- Still took me a minute to remember you were in Kansas! I guess only people in that area will have the website address? "I live in KC on the Plaza" for example would have been enough. Or maybe "KC's home of the rubber band dampener" or similar...

- You might want to offer more than two strings in your price list. For me that's a big downside. Even if you only have one set of each in stock it's worth it I would think. So so many rec players I know ask for NXT or TNT it's ridiculous. Typically there's a "favourite" in your area.

- What's the turnaround time? Do you pickup/deliver?

- If it was me I would have someone take a picture or two of you stringing or similar to put on the "about me" page. Gives confidence.

Hope it helps

Cheers, Orig

I agree with all of the above and think you're right. Had some debate about the name for the business considering I am only local, but figured the upsides for leaving it open to expansion (unlikely) was advantageous compared to limiting it with some odd specialized domain name.

Thinking a small description/summary of everything might be appropriate for the front page, this might also be a good way to mention that I am in Kansas City. I'm on the Missouri side, actually.

Originally Posted by fortun8son

I agree with much of the above advice. Find another way to express the value that you give and your expertise as a stringer.
My local big box store offers PSGD@$20 and stringing labor only @$12!
I have had to find another way.
I stock reels of Sweet16, OGSM17, MCS, SPPP16L, and BHBR17 plus a few specialty strings and I tell them that MY strings are better than the strings at the store at a competitive price with a quicker turnaround and more consistent quality.
Things are tough here in Vegas!
BTW If you are THAT meticulous; spell it right!

Hahaha... Good catch on "meticulous"... Can't believe I did that!

I've found that the majority of players here with synthetic guts are perfectly happy with Prince Synthetic Gut W/Duraflex and are familiar with Wilson and will happily go with the Wilson Extreme (which I think is better). I haven't found a single person who wasn't ok with my string selection, especially after discussion with me.

However, I agree with you. I have a massive tennis store in my area and have access to most any string, so I should probably add a note about that.

Also agree with your first comment. I will think about ways to accomplish this.

Originally Posted by fortun8son

What about Racquetball in the winter?

Hmmm....

Originally Posted by mikeler

Took a quick look, on the About Me page you may want to change the text color from black to white so that it is more readable. Good luck with your business.

Done. What do you think?

Originally Posted by eliza

I was going to tell him check copyright before and ask permisssion (often if you explain you are starting they will allow use of pics and give you a release, but get everything in writing). Also check any use of trademarked/patented pics (say Babolat, Dunlop racquets, logos etc.)

Done! See my previous post.



Thanks guys! Really appreciate the input. I've made a few changes according to the comments above and of course, there are many more to come. I've also added a Facebook "Like" button, which somehow feels like some sort of odd milestone. If you'd "Like" me on Facebook while browsing through and catching my errors and missteps, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thinking of adding some things to the site (in addition to some other changes, which I should be focusing on), however, I really want to keep things uncluttered. I spend a good amount of time complaining about cluttered websites, so I need to control myself. Would an RSS feed showing AP Tennis results or something of the sort be too much? What about a listing of local USTA events and such? Is it a bad idea to let things wonder a bit? A page with all of those things, including weather? Or something?

[mikeler]

Much easier to read! Also, I noticed on the Services page, that last line is a little bit difficult to read where the text says "economical route" because it is black and in the shadow of the ball. Perhaps lift all that text up slightly or consider making that white as well.

[Bottle Rocket]

Originally Posted by mikeler

Much easier to read! Also, I noticed on the Services page, that last line is a little bit difficult to read where the text says "economical route" because it is black and in the shadow of the ball. Perhaps lift all that text up slightly or consider making that white as well.

Fixed (sort of?). Thanks!

I need some better pictures. The picture on that page has been causing me all kinds of problems. Hoping to take some pictures of my own (rubber band dampeners and strings and such, like the poor picture I have on the site's Facebook page). Currently too many tennis balls sitting around on the ground...

[GlenK]

I would change the font to white on the services and pricing page as well. Specially the font on the red back ground.
At least see how it looks. I think white font on red back ground is more visually appealing.

[Bottle Rocket]

Originally Posted by GlenK

I would change the font to white on the services and pricing page as well. Specially the font on the red back ground.
At least see how it looks. I think white font on red back ground is more visually appealing.

Agreed. Done. Going to try to deal with picture today so one text color works well...

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by GlenK

I would change the font to white on the services and pricing page as well. Specially the font on the red back ground.
At least see how it looks. I think white font on red back ground is more visually appealing.

Yeah, white tends to stand out better when sitting on top of an image or color.

[TenFanLA]

You need to change the racket pic on your home page IMMEDIATELY!!! That racket gives me (I'm sure others as well) the impression that your service, product, knowledge, etc. are way outdated, maybe something from the 90's. I don't want to use someone whose website gives me the impression that he is using a 90's stringer and Leoina 66.

[Bottle Rocket]

Originally Posted by TenFanLA

You need to change the racket pic on your home page IMMEDIATELY!!! That racket gives me (I'm sure others as well) the impression that your service, product, knowledge, etc. are way outdated, maybe something from the 90's. I don't want to use someone whose website gives me the impression that he is using a 90's stringer and Leoina 66.

Hahahaha. OK... Good point. I like the picture though and I actually couldn't identify those frames, thought it was pretty generic.

I'll if there is something else to use, but this might need to wait until I can take my own pictures...

Have made a few more changes since my last post, added some better email links and made some text/background/format changes on most pages.

[mikeler]

Home page, correct spelling: "Tennis racket tringing". I don't think you'll make much money with a "tringing" business.

From another string obsessed tennis playing engineer...

[weksa]

On the home page, there's a small typo, missing an "s":

Tennis racket tringing & customization located in the heart of Kansas City

[Bottle Rocket]

Originally Posted by TenFanLA

You need to change the racket pic on your home page IMMEDIATELY!!! That racket gives me (I'm sure others as well) the impression that your service, product, knowledge, etc. are way outdated, maybe something from the 90's. I don't want to use someone whose website gives me the impression that he is using a 90's stringer and Leoina 66.

Originally Posted by mikeler

Home page, correct spelling: "Tennis racket tringing". I don't think you'll make much money with a "tringing" business.

From another string obsessed tennis playing engineer...

Originally Posted by weksa

On the home page, there's a small typo, missing an "s":

Tennis racket tringing & customization located in the heart of Kansas City

Got it. Everytime I change something, I screw something up...

[mikeler]

You are getting there. Having fresh eyes on your own work is always a good thing. It's always easier for others to catch my errors than me.

[TenFanLA]

1. As stated before you need to put a more modern racket/string on your main page. APD GT, BLX, IG Speed, etc., something that modern players and kids can identify with.

2. You need to let the customers know that you carry all the major brands (if you don't, you need to.) Your website gives the impression that we only have 2 choices. 99.99% of non-TT players want the name brands that the pros use. They don't want no-name brand from a no-name stringer. If Big 5 or Sports Chalet started carrying Topspin, BHBR, B5E, etc., it's one thing. If you ONLY carry those, they will think you are weird. Offer them the choices of Babolats, Lux, Wilson AND more TT-oriented brands such as Topspin, Signum, Tourna, Polystar, etc. to show you have a more in depth knowledge of strings than the big store employees.

3. Why no phone number on the website? I never trust a company or a website with no phone number.

[Carolina Racquet]

After reading through the entire post I think there's some great comments.

I would ask you the basic question "What makes you different"? After all, many consider racquet stringing somewhat of a commodity where people are focused primarily on cost and convenience.

For instance, you can be different by offering an initial consultation for every client (not customer) that will better match their playing level, style and racquet type to the right string and tension. We all know big box stores don't do that. You can also call the client a week after their stringing to see how their racquet is performing and ask for any referrals, offering $5 off their next stringing if their referral leads to a client. In short, be different and position yourself as their racquet consultant who also appreciates referrals!

Concerning the strings shown on your website, I would classify them as "Featured Strings". That helps the visitor to your website understand you offer an array of strings, but you are just highlighting the two.

Keep perfecting it... This site has great potential.

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by Bottle Rocket

What do you guys think so far?

http://hstrial-briansrackets.intuitw...com/index.html

Lot's more to come!

My comments fwiw:
Hopefully you plan to buy a domain name and forward it.
You charge the same for Wilson Extreme SG and Topspin Cyberflash but the latter is more than twice as expensive as the former isn't it?
No phone number listed to contact you?

[nalvarado]

Ah another competitor. I believe Steve D mentioned your name to me.

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by nalvarado

Ah another competitor. I believe Steve D mentioned your name to me.

Can we see your website too?