Feedback on the CSS Signs website
Rigo, thanks for posting this in the website clinic, and first of all, for a first website this is really good, and I mean that. I went through it properly against the four areas we use in the clinic, and then I rebuilt it from scratch so you can see where I'd take it next. Everything is in one public repo, so you can take the whole thing or just the bits that help, and there's a cheat sheet so you can run the same checks yourself on the next one.
What you already got right
You used real photos of jobs the company has actually done, Vesuvio's, Iredell Davis and the JP's Plumbing van, and for a sign company that's the most valuable thing you can put on the page, because it's the proof. The four-step process is clear and takes the fear out of getting started, you had an FAQ and a skip link, which most first sites don't, and you were honest that the hero image was AI and the form was a demo, which is exactly the right instinct.
Clarity: say what they do and where
"Be seen. Be remembered." could be any business at all, and you only find out it's a sign shop in Statesville from the small print. You also sold six kinds of sign, when the company actually does printing, banners, apparel, embroidery and logo design as well, so most of what they sell wasn't on the page.
So in the rebuild the first line says what they make and where they are, and there's a section on the thing that actually sets them apart, which is that a customer gets their sign, their van, their banners and their team shirts from one shop and one conversation.
Trust: proof before promises
The first thing people saw was an AI render of a CSS Signs building with "not an actual location" underneath it, and for a company whose whole job is making real signs, that's the one image that works against them. There were also no reviews, even though four good ones are already sitting on their current site.
We moved the real jobs up with the client names on them, retouched the light on those three photos without changing a single letter on the signs, and put the four reviews on the page word for word, with Sam Jennings from Clayton Homes of Sanford right under the headline where the claim is made.
Action: make it easy to call
There was no phone number anywhere on the page, and the only way in was a form that doesn't send, and honestly, most people looking for a local sign shop just want to pick up the phone.
The number is now in the header, the hero, the FAQ and the contact block, there's one clear "Get a free quote" button rather than several competing ones, and on a phone there's a Call and Free quote bar that stays at the bottom of the screen. Every service also has an "Ask about" link that fills in the form for them.
Experience: the small things people notice
The footer link pointed at 127.0.0.1, which is your own computer, so it was broken for everyone else, and the Vesuvio's photo was used twice. There were also a few things that make a site look machine-made, like small capital labels over every heading, glow effects and everything fading in as you scroll.
On the rebuild every photo is used once and the broken link is gone, and I took those machine-made touches out. The two things most customers come for, storefront signs and vehicle wraps, get most of the space, and the other six sit underneath as a shorter list. Then we checked it properly, so contrast, line length, tap targets on a phone, headings, alt text and form labels, and it passes on desktop and on mobile.
What to check with the client before it goes live
I only used facts from their own site and their public listings, but a few of them don't match, and that needs sorting before anything is live.
| Item | What I found | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Phone number | Their own site says (336) 774-7977, and the directory listings say (704) 585-8976. | Mixed numbers cost calls and hurt local search, so pick one and make every listing match. |
| Hours | Their site says 8am to 5pm on weekdays, and the directories say 9am to 5pm. | Same reason. I used 8am to 5pm from their own site. |
| Installation | Your version said they install, and their current site doesn't mention it. | I kept it in, so check before anything goes live. |
| Years and owner | Not published anywhere I could find. | "Family-run in Statesville since 20XX" with the owner's name is strong proof for a local trade. |
| More project photos | There are three on the page. | Ten real jobs across LED, monuments and wraps would do more than any AI image, so ask them for their phone camera roll. |
| The form | It's still a demo and doesn't send. | Connect it to their email before launch and send an automatic reply, the cheat sheet has the simplest ways to do it. |
Take whatever is useful, and if you get stuck applying any of it, post it in the community and we'll go through it together. You're doing really well with this, so keep going.
Dan
Design concept made for the NavAIgate website clinic, not the company's live website. Service photos on the rebuild are AI-generated illustrations; the three project photos are real work, retouched for light.