Open & Shut – Phase Two
The design phase
At the commencement of the project, our team sat down and put their heads together on a design concept engineered to work specifically towards increasing local search visibility.
The purpose of the design was clear: the design needs to communicate the same objective as local search, meaning optimal usability and prominence of the brand. When the user lands on the web page of the business, they should be given directions that lead them from their current location, to the front door.
The user should also have access to what other people are saying about the business, with the option of leaving their own input.
It should also be easy for the user to obtain contact details, as well as view products and services instantly from the home page.
After several meetings, we landed on a clean-cut, user friendly design that factored in all of the above points.
The features
The defining point of the website is the sidebars that frame the content. As soon as the user reaches the website, they’re instantly presented with the business title, address and phone number.
Towards the top-right corner of the header lies a prominent call to action segment, where the user can either ‘write a review’ about the business or ‘request a quote’.
Continuing down the right-hand side of the screen, in the sidebar there is an interactive Google maps widget allowing users to find the location of the business with ease.
The left sidebar also features a bit of interactivity, with an interactive viewfinder allowing the user to navigate through the O&S portfolio without them having to leave the page.
The two features we’re most proud of sit just underneath the content in the home page.
Underneath the introductory copy, we’ve implemented a V-Card using micro-format data, this is brand new to web development, so we feel lucky that we get to try it out in the appropriate context! The C-Card basically makes it easy for the user to download the contact details of the business. By clicking on the download button, the user downloads a .vcf file that can be saved easily in their favourite email client.
Next time they need to dig out the business contact details, all they need to do is view their business contacts in their email client.
The second feature is the testimonials, included directly underneath the V-Card. We have set up the testimonials so they are entirely user generated, but business-owner moderated. This saves the business owner having to manually source and generate testimonials for their website.
We created a unique form on an internal page, which we have linked to the ‘write a review’ call-to-action link on the home page. All that’s needed on the business owner’s end, is simply a nod of approval, the testimonial then goes live on site.
Conjuring up a decent amount of testimonials is great for the credibility of the business because it is encouraging brand transparency and greater levels of interactivity with the user.
Bit of a sneak peak
Unfortunately, we can’t unveil this yet – but stay tuned! We’ve got a preview coming your way!
The launch
Currently, we’re still doing Q.A on the project and adding our finishing touches. Full details of the launch will be outlined in-depth in our next post where we will shed some light on the live website, any website kinks we encountered as well as some of the client’s feedback.
