www.rorke.com - Please help with review

bvi · #1 (**permalink**) 06-28-2004, 01:55 PM

Greetings,

I have a great opportunity to present my "wish list" to our clients for a site reorganization. For years, this site has ignored search engine optimization and existed for other purposes. They would now like to rank well for numberous keyword phrases. The site has hundreds of products, but three main divisions. (I think it could technically be three separate sites, as the three division have very little to do with each other) However, this isn't possible. They want to keep one main site. Withthis in mind, how does one effectively summarize thousands of pages in the homepage and/or select a few phrases to optimize for. What is the best navigation/idea for this massive site?? Your help would be greatly appreciated. The current design concept that may be chosed incorporates the homepage as a the choice option. once you click into one of the three choices, the other two disappear from navigation. It is simply too confusing to have the current navigation, as you will see. http://www.rorke.com

Thanks for your ideas and feedback...

<Mod edit to comply with Site Review Rule #1 - Masterpeace>

John D. Harvey · #2 (**permalink**) 06-28-2004, 04:01 PM

It's no big deal, but just so you know:

** The Site Review Rules **
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=47
#1. Make your domain name the subject of your post.

Wow! This is a big job, as you already realize. You have a huge site, so UI and organization of information are going to be your top priorities.

I'll point out right away that when I go to your site my eye doesn't know where to go. There's a lot of menus, button, banners, borders, and blinking things. There's also a wide range of colors and that's a little rough on the eye as well.

Here's some wide-ranging recommendations:

- Narrow your color pallete significantly. This will make it easier for the eye to pass over the page and focus on important areas. It's also more aesthetically pleasing.

- Cut back on the number of navigation options on the home page. There's probably some pressure to keep as much linked information as possible on the home page and every subsequent interior page, but you'll have to make sacrifices if you want users to actually find the information they need. If the site falls neatly into three categories, then present those categories prominently and then cut and / or scale back everything else. Users don't respond well to an information maze...

- You could organize those three categories under subdomains if that will make it easier for you to create three sites with different content but the same identity. Like so:
production.rorke.com
medical.rorke.com
publishing.rorke.com

- Lose the right sidebar button banners. To my eye, they all merge together. If you put one of those banners on specific pages with content related to what you're trying to promote, you'll have better luck getting people to click on them.

- Some of your best copy for search engines is tied up in graphics. I'm looking specifically at the the purple graphic banner at the top. You need that copy to be in spider-worthy text.

- Take a look at this site:
http://www.peoplesoft.com/
Here's a good example of a large site catering to a lot of different industries and business segments, but they manage to keep it clean and organized.

I hope this helps! Good luck with it!

All the best,
John

davidredwine · #3 (**permalink**) 06-28-2004, 07:03 PM

As a buyer of multimedia production platforms, here is my input.

Lets start with http://www.rorke.com/av/index.cfm

There is no reason I can think of to clutter subpages with information that should be concatentated on another page. Specifically, your contact information (at the bottom)should be presented by just having a simple "Contacts" link to your contacts page.

Second, on the front page, you have again repeated multiple lines of entry for your resellers on this page when you have ALREADY presented a button on the left hand button set. You don't need to clutter your buyer related marketing info with this information that is not pertinent to your target audience, the buyer. Yes I know that resellers are buyers but you should target this type of buyer in a "resellers only area" separate from your end-user consumers.

Placing that big block of news trivia ahead of the product information is off-putting. Since I was looking for what you do and what you sell, this news block of stuff really was just distracting. As a consumer, the first thing that I look for is whether or not your hardware/software is applicable to my project. After that I would go to your home page and search for a link "about the company" for press releases, and information on your management team and investor relations.

News stuff belongs in it's own page/section.

I liked the way you use just one block on the right for the most powerful news releases, and how the content in that block "marquees" or changes showing multiple news releases in the same visual block area.

I dont understand why on your left set of buttons on the http://www.rorke.com/av/index.cfm page, that you have included access to medical imaging and also digital publishing and pre-press. If I have already chosen to investigate your broadcast and post production product line, I would obiously not be interested in having these other product categories clutter my experience.

What you should consider doing is (whenever you click down into one of these subcategory markets) replacing the buttons on the left that don't apply with buttons that take you to applicable product categories. Here is an example of what I think the buttons on the left should look like in the http://www.rorke.com/av/index.cfm page.

HOME
Galaxi 16i
Image San
StreamMine
StudioNet FC
Galaxi 65
Industry Endorsements
PDF Library
News

VALUE-ADDED STORAGE, SERVER & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Listing this as a "Data Line Card" means nothing to me. I would stick to "professional services". The button labled "Rorke Data Information" should really read "professional services" or just "Services" and should not be on the subpages of other product categories

You do not need a button on the left side of every page with a "Bell Microproducts link" The one at the bottom of the page (that appears on the front page) that looks like "Rorke Data is a subsidiary of Bell Microproducts" with a textual hotlink is ALL you should use.....all the other Bell Microproducts buttons are just useless clutter.

Again, on the front page, I would move the large volume of contact data to a "contact us" page of it's own. You need only the "contact" link on every page. You don't need to repeat the contact data everywhere.

I don't understand why on the front page you simply repeat text that really is just a reflection of the buttons already on the left. If I were you, I'd go with a more holistic description of the company's mission and then provide the major categories as link buttons in a group. Something like

Rorke sells and services OEM approved storage solutions for the following Markets: (buttons)

Video and Broadcast / Medical Imaging / Enterprise / Digital Press

Their ability to provide service and installation worldwide, combined with state of the art engineering and testing facilities can ensure the successful implementation of any storage project or deployment.

Choose from the following list of storage technologies or visit one of our major departments above.

Array, RAID, Tape and SAN for Animation, Web Casting, Streaming Media, Audio/Video Post Production, LVD SCSI, Fibre Channel RAID, AIT, Magneto Optical,DVD Libraries for Radiology and Cardiology applications, PACS/ mini PACS, Medical IT environments, medical ASPs and ISPs, Professional installation, service and support. Microsoft Exchange environments, WORM media, EMC Centera.

Why do you repeat the same sentence over and over again on the front page? "Professional installation, service and support worldwide." It really deserves it's own button on the left or should be in the professional services page(s).

Professional Services is a fairly high margin part of the hardware business and deserves a clearer presentation.

Another thing you should consider doing is in lieu of using buttons labeled "Video and Broadcast / Medical Imaging / Enterprise / Digital Press
" You could take the cool images you have in each division and hotspot them and use them as portals into each division.

Use the Galaxy 65 ( http://www.rorke.com/stock/Galaxy65.jpg) and label it for "Broadcast and Post Production"

use the Big Storage box (http://www.rorke.com/stock/storagetek/powderhorn2.jpg) and label it MEDICAL IMAGING

use the Galaxy 12 ( http://www.rorke.com/stock/Galaxy12.jpg) for Digital Publishing

use the Sony Worm (http://www.rorke.com/stock/blast/sony.gif) for "Regulatory Compliance storage solutions"

I would put the stuff on "Rorke Data is an Authorized Partner of these Enterprise-Class Storage Solutions" on the front page at the bottom, INSTEAD OF on page http://www.rorke.com/enterprise/index.cfm

bvi · #4 (**permalink**) 06-29-2004, 11:28 AM

Thank you so much for your help and ideas. It has given us lots to think about and discuss. We are aware of how large the site has grown, and I assume other large sites experience similar happenings as more and more products/info/pages get added. All of a sudden the site is huge and not to it original plan. Sorry about not putting the URL in the subject. I try to follow guidelines. Again, thanks so much!