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Website Evaluation

British Listed Building Surveyor

British Listed Building Surveyor Competition

Website One

 

Features and Benefits

Clear, concise text

Professional, clean and clear appearance

Large photos and images

Fairly small size website

Badges:

Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC),

RICS Certified Historic Building Professional,

The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB)

Videos:

Uploaded also to Vimeo. Take a coffee break and watch a video, has the blue plaque type logo on a coffee to go cup at the start of some of the videos.

Average length a few short 60 sec other 3-4 mins. Longest 9mins How do you assess Damp in old buildings 108 plays

Engaging, with photos to illustrate what the Surveyor is explaining, also shows materials such as bricks, slates etc, explain issues.  Upbeat introduction and end music.

FAQs:

8 – could include more although key questions answered.

Blog:

Latest 7 March 2018, regular posts 1 or 2 a month

Social Media:

Twitter 580 followers, Facebook 355 followers, following 114,  Pinterest

Showcase:

Photographic record of examples of 23 Listed Buildings the Surveyor has worked on in England and Wales

Lectures:

Brief summary of 12 Lecture topics with eye-catching images to promote 1 hour lectures.

Services:

3D imaging system – allows you to scan around the whole room 360 degrees – very impressive

Keywords:

building listed, listed building repairs, listed buildings list, listed building register

Ad Copy:

Listed Building specialists Grade I, II* and II

Above the fold:

Compelling, informative text which sums up exactly who the Surveyor is and how he can help you with your Listed Building together with a large, moving image.

Buttons:

Clicking on his name takes you straight to the About me page

Clicking on the Blue plaque type image takes you straight to the Listed Building Surveys page

Navigation and User experience:

Simple, clear – says exactly where it is taking you so you don’t need to think just navigate to the area that interests you – has contact details clearly highlighted

Usability:

Site is performing excellently

Load Speed:

1.27 s

Content:

Engaging, Videos are informative, written in easy to understand format for their key demographics.

Negative areas:

Lack of prominent call to action at top right of pages – all at the bottom of the page reliant on website viewer scrolling to the bottom of the page!

On Home page the text gets lost against the timber-frame image

No example surveys

Age of website:

Domain registered in Mar 2009

Redesign 2018

Position of website on Google search page:

Number 1 natural search

Date reviewed:

12 March 2018

Website developer:

Valiant

Website Two

Two websites for same Surveyors

First website covers building and restoration work

 

Features and Benefits

Clear navigation

Good tag line – Everything you ever wanted to know about old houses – under one roof..

Medium sized website

Text rich

On page ads

Badges:

None

Videos:

Uploaded also to Youtube, 50 videos! Quite amateurish, shaky camera, footage of properties showing problem areas on average 10 mins in length. Some credited to Heritage House TV – www.heritage-consulting.org

Damp and Condensation:

17+ pages including case studies on this topic, text rich although some pages have few sub headings making it not so attractive to read

FAQ- covered in Knowledge Base:

If you want to ask a question that does not appear then there is an Ask a question section which they charge for £150 for telephone consultation.

News/Blog:

Not dated

Social Media:

Twitter 885 followers, following 200, Facebook 372 followers, Youtube 5415 subscribers

Building Condition Surveys:

Takes you away from this website to their sister site to book a survey.

Case Histories:

More related to restoration than to building surveys

Keywords:

dampness meter, what is a moisture meter, damp meters, electronic moisture meter, wall moisture meter

Above the fold:

The social media links take predominance over the content

Buttons:

Linking to social media presence

Navigation and User experience:
Usability:

Easy to navigate, helpful to have site navigation on for example Knowledge Base to the left side for pages within this section.

Load Speed:

4.91 s

Content:

Informative although large sections of text needs to be broken down with more sub headings to make it more attractive/easy to read.

Negative areas:

No call to action top right hand side

In March 2018 still has a Happy New Year message at the start of the Home page

Some images not loading

Home page very cluttered

Age of website:

Domain registered in Jan 2006

Position of website on Google search page:

Number 3 natural search

Date reviewed:

12 March 2018

Website developer:

Twoclicks

 

Second Website relates more specifically to Surveying

 

Features and Benefits

Heritage House TV channel

Drone service is an add on to surveys although not in dense city locations

Badges:

RICS

Blog:

Latest 26 April 2017

Social Media:

Same as Heritage-house

Keywords:

damp proofing house, damp report, damp and timber report, damp and timber, grade 2 listed houses, listed building grants, house materials, damp floor, grants for listed buildings

Above the fold:

Use of bold text to highlight/navigate to specific pages such as Surveys of Listed Buildings

Navigation and User experience:

Clear, easy to use navigation

Load Speed:

2.79 s

Content:

Generally, lacks a wow factor, a large amount of text and very little sub headings to break up the information.  Photos often at the bottom of the page rather than integrated with text.

Negative areas:

No call to action visible top right – all contact details at the bottom of the pages. Although when looking on a mobile device phone number appears top right.

Age of website:

Domain registered in Feb 2015

Position of website on Google search page:

Number 4 natural search

Date reviewed:

13 March 2018

Website developer:

Twoticks

 

Website Three

 

Features and Benefits

Sepia, old, established feel to the website

Clear call to actions top right

Small website with a limited number of pages

Badges:

RICS

Testimonials:

10 short, positive testimonials

Press releases:

Only two Feb 2010 and Jul 2009!

Social Media:

None – tweet button just leads to website link

Keywords:

Surveyors name Chartered Surveyors, Listed Property Surveyors, Historic Building Surveys, Quality Historic Building Surveys, Listed Building Surveyors, Listed House Surveyors, Nationwide Building Surveys

Above the fold:

Text not compelling enough

Clear call to actions

Navigation and User experience:

Easy to navigate

Lacks clear benefits of a survey, no clear USP’s.

Load Speed:

1.22 s

Content:

Lacks content

Negative areas:

NOT a responsive website

Locations – bit confusing, by clicking on them some lead to the same content just different map, others slight alteration to content – old SEO technique of including areas to try to attract business countrywide.

No example surveys

No photos/images other than the top header image

Age of website:

Domain registered in Mar 2010

Position of website on Google search page:

Number 1 natural search page two

Date reviewed:

13 March 2018

Website developer:

BT websites

Website Four:

 

Features and Benefits

Oldie, worldie feel to the home page with the use of photographs

Downloadable Flyer – no more really than a two page list of services they provide with emphasis of their selling points of:-

Passion for historic buildings

Advocates of sustainable management

Extensive experience

Clear areas identified where they can help:-

Building Surveying, Heritage Conservation, Project Management and Management Issues

Badges:

RICS, and RICS Certified Historic Building Professional, Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) and Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA)

Services: Heritage Conservation:

Disappointed with page as no more than a list of services but no explanation of what the services include.

This is similar in all the Services pages just a list but no further information – the emphasis on large photos and Call us – without a prominent telephone number and a Get in touch button that leads you to another page to complete a form to email.

Case Studies:

9 Case studies with a downloadable version also available.

Overview style with an example survey.

Aerial drone surveys:

Within the Case Studies aerial drone surveys mentioned but cannot see reference to this on any other pages of the website.

Articles:

Articles featured within the Building Conservation Journal although the most recent is 2013

Gives website visitor confidence that articles have been published.

Blog/News:

No section covering a Blog or News type area.

Social Media:

No links to social media although their main site has

708 Twitter followers, 301 following, 604 Facebook followers, 12 Google + followers, 89 Linkedin followers

Keywords:

No keywords available

Above the fold:

Predominance of photo and A Specialist Heritage Consultancy

Buttons:

Emphasis of example surveys – key selling point

Navigation and User experience:

Easy, clear navigation.

Load Speed:

6.41 s

Negative areas:

No prominence of Call to Action top right – phone number small at within footer

No in depth detail as to what their different services include.

Age of website:

Domain registered in Dec 2016

Position of website on Google search page:

Number 4 with Ad

Date reviewed:

19 March 2018

Website developer:

Digital Glue

Website Five

 

Features and Benefits

Domain name changed from stuartlittlesurveyor.co.uk to stuartlittlecharteredbuildingsurveyor

Very little content on home page

Home page dominated by large photo

Few pages – 6

 

Badges:

RICS logo as Favicon

 

Blog:

No dates to entries

 

Social Media:

None

 

Reviews:

Just four reviews

 

Keywords:

None available

 

Above the fold:

Totally dominated by photo

 

Navigation and User experience:

Small six page website easy to navigate

 

Load Speed:

1.35 s

 

Negative areas:

No Call to Action

Contact details only on home page and Contact page.

Lacks content

No example surveys

Little detail to the service provided.

 

Age of website:

Domain registered in Mar 2018

Previous domain stuartlittlesurveyor.co.uk domain registered in Feb 2010

 

Position of website on Google search page:

Number 1 PPC Ad

 

Date reviewed:

19 March 2018

Website developer:

Not identified

Website Six

Not specific to surveying

Features and Benefits

Excellent engaging photos in heading slider with strong text Your Great Day Out Starts Here, Adventure awaits…, Beyond the Classroom,

Good use of four boxes to capture attention to four prominent areas of the website

Good search facility

Comprehensive, large website with a wealth of strong content

Fantastic photos – photo rich website

Facility to sign up for event updates

 

Badges:

Year of Young People, App Store, Google play

About Us:

This section is laid out well further subdividing information with strong images that move slightly as you move your cursor over them.

Strong image library style What we do section

Visit a Place:

Strong search facility enabling search by place, type or postcode as well as by region or seeing what is close in location to the website viewer.

Strong sub-menu with sections for all you need to find within this section – very well laid out

Download App facility – made very easy to download and with a strong list of key features.

Blog:

Latest 19 March 2018, regular posts 7 or 9 a month

Social Media:

12.4K Twitter followers, following 1,768, 7784 Facebook followers, 4267 Linkedin followers

Learn:

Strong section further sub divided to swiftly take the website viewer to the particular area they are interested in.

Within the Schools section a strong search facility to a wealth of learning activities across a wide range of topics for ages 3-18. Well laid out and refining results filter enables a quick way to find the information the website viewer wishes to find.

Advice and Support:

Within this section Your Property – Owning a traditional property – Living in a listed building  – natural steps to guide the website viewer to appropriate webpage for their search with however on the Living in a listed building webpage it lacks photos/images which is surprising as the site is photo rich.

Archives and Research:

National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP)  – strong section with key elements in bullet point style list and link to Search the NCAP collection on the ncap website (this would benefit from opening in a new tab as it leads you away from the main website).

Heritage Portal:

Separate area of the website dedicated to Listed buildings decisions and designation records with clear search facilities divided by filters to swiftly deliver the search. The link would benefit from opening up in a new tab as to go back to the main site using the back arrow could take some time particularly if you have carried out several searches.

Keywords:

Historic Scotland, loch castle, castle stirling etc….

Above the fold:

Eye-catching imagery, strong text and clear four boxes to enable quick movement to the area of the website that the website viewer wishes to find.

Navigation and User experience:

Excellent navigation with clear sub menus which on a PC work across the page rather than in a dropdown style.

Load Speed:

10.7 s

Negative areas:

Our usual comment would be no call to action top right however as this is a website that is more focused on information and not necessarily requiring people to phone the number is most likely best placed within the footer section.

Some of the links that take you to other websites would benefit from opening up into separate tabs.

Age of website:

Domain registered in Oct 2015

Position of website on Google search page:

Number 1 natural search

Date reviewed:

23 March 2018

Website developer:

Not identified

Review

Website One 9/10

Website Two 5/10

Website Three 3/10

Website Four 7/10

Website Five 3/10

Website Six 9/10

 

Key Points

Key points to bring to the attention of our BritishListedBuildingSurveyor/Surveys websites viewers are:-

  1. Surveyors who specialise and are experts with Listed and Historic buildings
  2. Types of Listed Building surveys – both residential and commercial
  3. All Era’s, types and styles of Listed Buildings
  4. USP’s –
    • Independent Surveyors working for you and only you with your best interests at heart unlike the estate agent who is working for the vendor
    • Meet your Surveyor at the property to discuss any issues or plans
    • Free Example Surveys – so you can see the depth of our reports before you buy
    • Tailor-made Survey Reports ensure you are provided with the best survey for your requirements
    • 3D models can be provided as well as help and advice on extending or altering the property
    • Large quantity of high quality photos including aerial view 360 photos
    • Unique survey sketches to ensure you fully understand any issues or characteristics
    • System of coloured circles and ovals to pinpoint any areas of concern
    • Highly qualified Independent Chartered Surveyors with many, many years of experience
  5. Clear Call to Action to Phone Us on our Free phone 0800 298 5424 number
  6. Fast load times
  7. Clear, easy Navigation
  8. Testimonials/Reviews
  9. Ensure keywords are included on strong, relevant pages.