DeSantis Lansdcapes Launches New Web Site

DeSantis Landscapes announced this week the launch of its new Web site at www.desantislandscapes.com. With a dramatic photo gallery and movies introducing the DeSantis team and the company’s new maintenance alternative, DeSantis EarthSense, the site takes full advantage of various multimedia.

"This site really gives you a good feel for what DeSantis Landscapes is all about; what we stand for and what we're capable of,” says General Manager Dean DeSantis. “I'm very happy with it and visitors to the site will find it easy to navigate and full of beautiful landscape photos.”

DeSantis told Lawn & Landscape that early feedback about the new Web site has been fantastic. “Our site was fine before – it had all the facts and there were some photos – but we didn’t feel that it matched our company aethetic and the caliber of work that we do,” he says. “As we learned more about the technologies available, such as Flash and movies, we found we could really portray more accurate image of the company.”

Because the DeSantis clientele is mostly in the high-end residential arena, DeSantis says using Web technologies that operate on a broadband level works well. “We built the site for folks with broadband Internet connections, so if you have a dial-up connection the pages take a long time to load,” he says. “What we determined though, was that our clients were the type of people who use the faster connections and a lot more people are moving in that direction these days.”

The high-speed site opens with a Flash-based introduction, as well as a menu of links to more company information, including rotating landscape images and galleries that feature the company’s work. Additionally, a two-minute film featuring company Owner and Founder Tony DeSantis allows site visitors to meet the DeSantis family and staff. An “Our Clients” link features testimonials and thank-you notes from DeSantis clients. Additionally, another movie gives visitors a personal, almost first-hand view of the company’s new service, DeSantis EarthSense.

When looking for a company to develop the new Web site design, DeSantis says he received quotes ranging from $2,800 to $3,000 from companies that provide Web development services. Ultimately, the company chose Cuffe Advertising Marketing for the upgrade. Included in the marketing company’s fees are services such as changing out photos on the site. Adding additional pages at a later date would have an additional fee.

“The way our site is set up is very convenient – we can send the marketing company whatever we want to add to the site and they’ll take care of posting it,” DeSantis says. “I used to maintain our Web site, but it takes up so much time to get it how you want it, plus, I’m not trained as a Web master, so I was just feeling my way through the admin site, kind of in the dark on how to make a great Web site. By outsourcing our Web management, it frees up my time and we know we’re working with people who are experienced in digital formats and the Web.”

DeSantis says the company’s original Web site was created in 2000 and he has a feeling another upgrade may come in the next five years – or sooner. “Our company just passed the 50-employee mark, so we’re starting to think of new ways we can use our site for their benefit,” he says. “Everything from adding news, to creating an employees-only area of the site that could be used for training. That may be the next revamp.”

DeSantis says he’s pleased with the results of the Web site design and is interested to find out how many leads for new projects come in through the site. “We’ve developed the site with our clients in mind and we think they’ll find it very appealing.”