J Hill & Son: a website for a specialist Land Rover workshop

Start with what makes the workshop relevant

The opening names the vehicle specialism and the location. It gives somebody arriving from a search enough information to decide whether to keep reading. Servicing, repairs and diagnostics are stated directly, alongside a phone number and an inspection enquiry route.

That specificity is the part I like. A workshop can have a smart-looking page and still make the visitor hunt for the answer to “Do you work on my car?” Here, the answer is in the heading.

The workshop’s own pages describe its services and independent status. For a particular fault, availability or price, the next step is to speak to the business about the vehicle. The website gives that conversation a useful starting point.

Source: J Hill & Son Services: public website

Give the services room to be understood

The site introduces servicing, diagnostics, timing belts, suspension, engine work and general maintenance as separate routes. That makes it easier to begin with the job a customer recognises, rather than expecting them to read a long paragraph about everything the workshop can do.

A driver looking for help with a warning light and a driver arranging routine servicing need different information. Clear service labels give each somewhere to start. The fuller pages can explain the work without overloading the opening screen.

For another specialist business, I would make the same distinction using its own services. A list copied from a general garage template could miss the very work that makes the business worth contacting.

Make the location useful to a real visitor

Ruddington and Nottingham appear in the public introduction. The contact route sits alongside the services, so the visitor can move from identifying the workshop to asking about a job.

Local information earns its place when it helps somebody use the business. Keep the actual workshop location, contact details and any appointment arrangements consistent. A collection of nearby town names is much less helpful than a clear answer about where the customer needs to go.

This is also why I want to see a site on a phone. Somebody may be checking a garage while away from a desk. The service name and contact route need to remain readable and easy to reach on that smaller screen.

Why this kind of website matters to us

Flying Penguin works with small businesses whose knowledge is often very specific. A specialist workshop is a good example: the website needs to make that knowledge understandable to somebody who needs help, while giving the business a sensible enquiry to answer.

I enjoy working through that practical detail. What does the visitor need to know first? Which service should they open? What should they tell the workshop when they get in touch? Those decisions give the design a job to do.

You can explore the finished pages through the link below. Look at how quickly the opening identifies the workshop, then follow a particular service through to its contact route.

Source: Flying Penguin: our work

Try the same questions on your own website

Open your home page on a phone and imagine a new customer with one particular job in mind. Can they tell what you specialise in, find the relevant service and understand how to contact you? Follow that route yourself.

If you have to explain the page aloud before it makes sense, write down the missing detail. That is a useful place to begin a website brief.

• Visit J Hill & Son Services
• More websites we have built