The NSS Mystery Surfer trawls the internet to find websites that have something interesting to say to the stone industry. This month he visited the new website of www.elbourn-architects.com

This month I was sent an invitation to look at the new website of Elbourn Architects in St Albans, Hertfordshire. So I did. And I have to say I was impressed.

I have not always been kind about architects’ websites. Some practices – or, at least, their web designers – are far more interested in showing how clever they are than delivering information. Such sites employ every gimmick going to try to show how avant garde the architect is but only manage to drive the visitor to distraction trying to find ways into and around the site. These sites are the antithesis of what a good website should be and only serve to show how self-obsessed the people who thought this was a good idea are.

Well, Elbourn Architects’ site is not like that. It does not over-do black backgrounds. It does not have bouncing icons that have to be chased around the screen. In fact, it has nothing to distract a client who is searching for an architect from finding what they are looking for.

Once, that is, they have found the site. It is not yet highly visible on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) , but that’s to be expected from a new site. If the designer’s SEO (search engine optimisation) has been carried out well, the site will probably move up the ratings as it gains traffic. Currently, a search for ‘architects st albans’ does not bring up Elbourn Architects on the first three pages of Google, although if you use the name, the website is on the first page.

Getting high up a list of architects is always going to be more difficult than getting high up a list of stone companies because there are more of them and there are plenty of online directories that want to list them.

One thing that indicates Elbourn Architects will move up the search engine rankings can be found on the contacts page, which has links to the architects’ LinkedIn page and to the RIBA website. There could be more, but a bit of networking always impresses the search engine algorithms.

Once you are on the Elbourn Architects site it is mostly a joy. The home page has a heart-sinking black background with a scrolling slide show but most people are not going to stay there to admire the pictures for long and once you get beyond that the pages are bright, human, simple to look at and have ample tier three links to follow up for anyone who wants more information than is available on tier two.

The information bar at the top that provides a menu to the different sections of the website has three levels of button, indicating the different kind of information available from each.

At the top is ‘Home’, ‘About us’, ‘Gallery’, ‘Projects’ and ‘Contact us’. Below that is ‘Clients’, ‘Schools Etc’, ‘Houses’, showing who the practice has worked for and some of its projects. Below that: ‘Testimonials’, ‘Services’, ‘Appointment’, ‘Fees’ and ‘Links’.

If a prospective client does not know Elbourn Architects, the first page they visit might be ‘About us’. There they find two, smiling pictures of Brian and Jennifer Elbourn. The internet is such a one-to-one interface that it makes a great deal of sense to make that interaction personal and there is no better way of doing that than including photographs of people. The immediate impression is that they are not hiding and therefore have nothing to hide. A friendly face gives customers and prospective customers a lot of confidence and encourages them to make contact.

And how open is it having a page called ‘Fees’? Too many companies run a mile at the idea of letting customers know how much anything is going to cost. It is always a mistake. They will lose more customers because people think it must be expensive than they will because it is actually too expensive. Nobody buys anything without knowing the price but some people don’t like to ask, which can lose you a potential customer at the first hurdle without you even knowing it.

Architects do not have a price list as such, but Elbourn Architects shows how the subject can be broached openly and honestly with examples. Take a look and you might get some ideas.