One Talented Carpenter (OTC Homes), a custom home builder based in Troy, Illinois, came to me to take their one page website to a website that better communicated their custom approach to home building. After all if you are telling your clients you are all about custom details, shouldn’t your website reflect this? Their Craftsman style homes are truly all about the details and gorgeous – check out their website here: www.otchomesinc.com
Here is a breakdown of the key features of the new website:
- It’s responsive: No matter what device you use – smartphone, tablet or desktop – to view the website, the website will adjust to the size of your browser. No more pinching and zooming to try and figure out what that tiny text says. How does your own site look on a mobile phone?
- Fonts: The fonts I picked out for this website are specifically picked to compliment the fonts of their existing OTC Homes logo.
- Graphics: I designed 3 custom boxes that are used through out the website to show off 3 key features: Custom Homes, Photo Gallery, and Home Designs. I also designed a round graphic to highlight the fact that OTC Homes has been “building homes for 30 plus years.”
- Easy to update website: The website is built in the Content Management System (CMS), WordPress, which is super easy to update. There is even a mobile app, where you can type in blog posts from anywhere. Turn those unproductive times like waiting to get your oil change, into blog time.
- Custom WordPress theme design: Just like their homes are one-of-a-kind, so is their website design. I created a custom background that loads super quick, along with a custom color scheme and header design.
- Defined goals: Each website should have goals for what you want your visitors to do. In their case, they had 2 goals: to receive a Contact form via email, plus show up higher in search engines.
- Tips on showing up in search engines: OTC Homes wanted to show up higher in search engines for custom home building. To do that I walked them through the steps, also covered here in “Part 1: How to be Number 1 on Google.”
- One-on-on training: Each website I create I provide one-on-one training to explain how to use to WordPress. If you are close by, like OTC Homes, I provide the training in person. If you are across the country or world, I provide it via Skype.
- PDF instructions: I know it’s hard to learn everything within an hour. That is why I provide a PDF with instructions on how to make changes.
Here are the very kind words, owner Melissa Meise, wrote about working with me:
I cannot say enough good things about Becca and Bauerhaus Design. From our first meeting, Becca asked all the right questions in order to glean insight into our business so we could express, through our website, who we are and what makes our business unique. Becca encouraged me to be myself and reach our customers on a personal level.
She also respected my somewhat limited technical capabilities and (patiently) walked me through using WordPress and social media to our best advantage. Becca is readily available to field questions and offer support whenever I need it.
Becca genuinely wants OTC Homes to succeed and does everything possible to play her part. Designing the perfect website was only the beginning. Becca keeps me up to date on trends and insights so our website never gets stale. Since I am the IS Department for OTC Homes, she is invaluable by keeping me informed about my software and answering any questions I may have. She even anticipates software updates I may need to make in order to take full advantage of my capabilities. And Becca makes sure they get done – often times doing them herself for me.
Becca is supportive not only of my website but of my business as a whole, and has been essential in moving OTC Homes forward. I truly do not know what I would do without Becca as a member of my team. I highly recommend Becca and Bauerhaus Design to anyone looking to promote their business.
Does your website need a re-design, so its responsive and easier to update? Contact me at [email protected]