Random Homepage Review (New Series)

We’re doing something new here at the Cavendo blog. We’re introducing a new weekly series: Random Homepage Review!

Perhaps I’ll work on the naming in the future, but it perfectly describes what this series is all about. I’ll pick an industry keyword (e.g. COFFEE), search Google for that keyword, pull up a random web site of an organization that is central to that keyword, and pick apart whatever I find.

Why? Most blogs, articles and books out there try to tell you what to do. That’s great – to an extent. To be effective, people must be shown what to do.

And what better way to show people good design and information architecture than by ripping apart someone’s web site?

No – I kid. There will be no ripping. Instead, I’ll point out what I think went wrong with the particular page (more than likely it will be the homepage) and where I think it can be improved.

With that said, I’ll actually jump right into the first Random Homepage Review!

The keyword I decided to go with this week is aerospace. Why not?

The page I pulled up is the homepage of Armadillo Aerospace (interesting connection).

So here we have two screenshots. One is Armadillo Aerospace’s homepage untouched by my hand. The second screenshot is where I just pick at it to point some things out. What follows are some brief recommendations.

Review

Click on a screenshot to enlarge it in a new window.

Recommendations

So what can we do to improve this homepage? First off, the design really isn’t that great. Not to be harsh, but it’s too plain and lacks the coolness factor that is often associated with the aerospace industry. But let’s drill down into specifics.

• Tie the logo and the character icon together. This helps people better identify with the name of the company.
• The navigation needs major work. It’s too small and just doesn’t stick out. The labeling also needs help. Does any expect to get "Paraphernalia" from an aerospace company? Maybe. But even so, use a simpler word. No one knows what a "Widget’s Corner" is either. And "Business"? What do these things describe? Why should anyone click them?
• The navigation is then repeated on the right side. Remove it. Put more valuable content there such as the nicely updated news from the bottom. This will also help reduce the needlessly long height of the homepage (keep things above the fold!).
• "Home" is a terrible title for the homepage – especially if it’s followed by "Welcome…". This text is meaningless filler. Put something more attention grabbing there. This is prime real estate. Use it!
• The introduction content is quite frankly boring. This is who we are..this is what we do..this is where we want to go. Major snoozer. Content on the homepage needs to be short, crisp and connected to the audience. This doesn’t cut it.
• The "SpaceAccess" is probably some sort of video feature, but it doesn’t stick out. In fact, most people at first glance won’t know what it is and will just ignore it. The videos can add to the "coolness" factor that I talked about before. Feature that stuff at the top! Make it direct and simple.
• Finally, update those old dates! 2007 is over. 2006 is definitely over. I commend them for keeping the news up-to-date, but the rest is falling behind. Stay with the times!

That’s it for our first Random Homepage Review session! Stay tuned next week as this is our new weekly series!

And if you want YOUR homepage reviewed, just leave a comment and I’ll be happy to take a look.

One Response to “Random Homepage Review (New Series)” (Leave a Comment)

1. Ron Nielsen says:

   February 12, 2009 at 9:45 am

   I own a technical services firm and an event planning/concierge firm in Northern Va. In addition to designing these two sites myself I manage about 100 more and would like to discuss a potential SEO partnership. Please review the two sites I’ve listed and let me know your thoughts.

   Thank you,
   Ron

   Reply