Earlier this month, on a quiet night during the wee hours of the morning, we made big changes to a little website we like to call home. It’s been a long time coming, and we’re still making updates & adjustments almost daily!
HOMEPAGE IS WHERE THE HEART IS
If you were a fan of the old site, chances are you’ll come to love this one even more. The re-vamp has been an ongoing effort in collaboration with our friends over at UBD that started as some simple, vital site maintenance & quickly spiraled into the multifaceted re-build that’s live right now. We still have a lot of work to do & an endless backlog of awesome automotive content to share with you all, but over the course of the next year we’ll be growing the new northwestautosalon.com to include a ton of new features & functionality. For now, we’re starting with refining our navigation system to make finding the right services easier, as well as boosting the blog with new social plugins & additional viewing features so our readers will be able to enjoy our media-rich automotive experience much, much easier. Just click the image above & see what happens!
THE NEW HOTNESS
Nice, right? One of the biggest aspects of the recent website overhaul is all the changes we’ve made to the way users & visitors will be able to browse NWAS write-ups & blog posts. Before, we were working with a simplistic format that didn’t do much for the content we produce in-house, beyond displaying images; our previous site design offered limited space for on-page styling & didn’t play well with plug-ins, leaving much to be desired.
Nice, right? One of the biggest aspects of the recent website overhaul is all the changes we’ve made to the way users & visitors will be able to browse NWAS write-ups & blog posts. Before, we were working with a simplistic format that didn’t do much for the content we produce in-house, beyond displaying images; our previous site design offered limited space for on-page styling & didn’t play well with plug-ins, leaving much to be desired.
We’re breaking new ground with a more interactive post display that’s viewable in a “full screen” format, with scrollable captions and a navigation system that’s as easy to use as hitting the left or right arrow keys. Eventually, we hope to graduate to an even more flexible presentation system with integrated sharing / download feature for all our fellow photography fans, but for now, we’re working with what we’ve got.
We’re breaking new ground with a more interactive post display that’s viewable in a “full screen” format, with scrollable captions and a navigation system that’s as easy to use as hitting the left or right arrow keys. Eventually, we hope to graduate to an even more flexible presentation system with integrated sharing / download feature for all our fellow photography fans, but for now, we’re working with what we’ve got.
DETAILING SERVICES UPDATE
Another big change to northwestautosalon.com is our Services lander system. On the old site, we didn’t have a whole lot of possibilities for displaying all of the automotive service options we offer here at the shop beyond simple HTML tables for pricing, short hand descriptions & thumbnail images. Now, all our detailing, reconditioning, and wrapping services aggregate to once central location as soon as we publish them to the site. No more digging, no more dangling links. We can even rank services hierarchically by what’s popular or bump something to the top of the list if we’re running a detailing special, coupon, or deal! The services list is relatively standard issue aside from one very restricted area, but in the coming weeks we’ll be adding information about photography & imaging options for those of you who have been requesting photo shoots in the cyclorama. If you own a business & would like to be involved with NWAS, be on the lookout for dealer services, as well as product and brand representation opportunities.
Another big change to northwestautosalon.com is our Services lander system. On the old site, we didn’t have a whole lot of possibilities for displaying all of the automotive service options we offer here at the shop beyond simple HTML tables for pricing, short hand descriptions & thumbnail images. Now, all our detailing, reconditioning, and wrapping services aggregate to one central location as soon as we publish them to the site. No more digging, no more dangling links. We can even rank services hierarchically by what’s popular or bump something to the top of the list if we’re running a detailing special, coupon, or deal! The services list is relatively standard issue aside from one very restricted area, but in the coming weeks we’ll be adding information about photography & imaging options for those of you who have been requesting photo shoots in the cyclorama. If you own a business & would like to be involved with NWAS, be on the lookout for dealer services, as well as product and brand representation opportunities.
ON-PAGE ADDITIONS
When viewing a service section, each option or individual service listing has it’s own specific product page that will become even more tailored to display relevant information as we continue to build. We’ll have service-specific image galleries on page, and may even experiment with some multi-image overlays to give customers & visitors a better idea of what vehicles look like before & after they leave our facility. Additionally, each individual service page sidebars now contain a basic nav for finding related or additional popular services that our clients pursue when scheduling! The entire structure of our service system has been refined, too, so if you’re looking for something specific and already know the name, just punch in a URL like “northwestautosalon.com/services/product-name” and rest assured your browser will land in the right place.
When viewing a service section, each option or individual service listing has it’s own specific product page that will become even more tailored to display relevant information as we continue to build. We’ll have service-specific image galleries on page, and may even experiment with some multi-image overlays to give customers & visitors a better idea of what vehicles look like before & after they leave our facility. Additionally, each individual service page sidebars now contain a basic nav for finding related or additional popular services that our clients pursue when scheduling! The entire structure of our service system has been refined, too, so if you’re looking for something specific and already know the name, just punch in a URL like “northwestautosalon.com/services/product-name” and rest assured your browser will land in the right place.
JUST HOLLER
With our new website, getting a hold of NWAS has never been easier. In the past, we struggled with the pros & cons of an on-page contact form, and ultimately were turned off by the excess of spam we received along with the limited info option our form supplied on-site. We’ve updated our contact page to include a fully-functional & heavily filtered contact form that prospective clients can now use to reach out about scheduling and/or service options, as well as an updated map embed that will tailor location data specifically to the visitor who is viewing it. on top of that, we’ve added a fully-functional “utility” bar for easy access to our phone number & address for mobile users – you can even click through to browse popular #northwestautosalon or related content on our tagboard!
With our new website, getting a hold of NWAS has never been easier. In the past, we struggled with the pros & cons of an on-page contact form, and ultimately were turned off by the excess of spam we received along with the limited info option our form supplied on-site. We’ve updated our contact page to include a fully-functional & heavily filtered contact form that prospective clients can now use to reach out about scheduling and/or service options, as well as an updated map embed that will tailor location data specifically to the visitor who is viewing it. on top of that, we’ve added a fully-functional “utility” bar for easy access to our phone number & address for mobile users – you can even click through to browse popular #northwestautosalon or related content on our tagboard!
ONWARD & UPWARD
We’re happy to welcome some new faces to the squad, and the future is already looking bright for our talented group of automotive enthusiasts who like to call the shop home. Have a look at the updated team page to discover a little background on what drives NWAS, including a letter from the owner himself & a little bit of history on every member of the team. The only face not up yet is the one guy who is in charge of writing these posts. Is he even working?
We’re happy to welcome some new faces to the squad, and the future is already looking bright for our talented group of automotive enthusiasts who like to call the shop home. Have a look at the updated team page to discover a little background on what drives NWAS, including a letter from the owner himself & a little bit of history on every member of the team. The only face not up yet is the one guy who is in charge of writing these posts. Is he even working? Who knows these days.
LOVE FOR ALL THE SUBS
If you landed on the homepage, chances are you noticed the change to NWAS News — new subscribers will now receive a coupon code for 5% off any detailing service just for signing up. Rest assured, updates are about as frequent as features, and we try our best to never send SPAM!
If you landed on the homepage, chances are you noticed the change to NWAS News — new subscribers will now receive a coupon code for 5% off any detailing service just for signing up. Rest assured, updates are about as frequent as features, and we try our best to never send SPAM!
DOWN BUT NOT OUT
New inventory is on the way! The store is currently being re-designed from the ground up, from the overall appearance of our storefront to our shipping & checkout methods. In the coming weeks, we’ll be debuting new merch & re-stocking a selection of Gtechniq products. If you’re looking to grab some gear or stock up on products, make sure to tune in to our social media outlets for updates on the NWAS webstore grand re-opening & let us know if there is anything you want to see in-stock for future drops!
FAQ ATTACK
Some of you may have noticed a disappearance of FAQs during the transition to the new site, and for that, we apologize. Sometimes things get lost in the fray during a big move, and it’s best to just push forward. Fear not, our FAQs are coming back in full force, and will be found conveniently sorted under the “About” tab in the top page navigation. The wrap FAQ has already made a triumphant return, and we’ll be adding additional FAQs for XPEL paint protection, Prestige Film Technology & window tint, paint correction, mold removal, and more. Have a question you’d like answered or working on a FAQ list of your own? It might be asked frequently, so send it over & we’ll do our best to assist. It may even make the list!
Some of you may have noticed a disappearance of FAQs during the transition to the new site, and for that, we apologize. Sometimes things get lost in the fray during a big move, and it’s best to just push forward. Fear not, our FAQs are coming back in full force, and will be found conveniently sorted under the “About” tab in the top page navigation. The wrap FAQ has already made a triumphant return, and we’ll be adding additional FAQs for XPEL paint protection, Prestige Film Technologies window tint, paint correction, mold removal, and more. Have a question you’d like answered or working on a FAQ list of your own? It might be asked frequently, so send it over & we’ll do our best to assist. It may even make the list!
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
We’re looking forward to revealing something special in the coming weeks that may excite a lot of fans & fellow auto detail enthusiasts. As many of you know, the salon is more of a work space than a show room, and is strictly off-limits to the public. So, we’re opening our doors in a very omnidirectional way to give you all an inside look at what happens behind the scenes here at NorthWest Auto Salon. Keep your eyes peeled!
We’re looking forward to revealing something special in the coming weeks that may excite a lot of fans & fellow auto detail enthusiasts. As many of you know, the salon is more of a work space than a show room, and is strictly off-limits to the public. So, we’re opening our doors in a very omnidirectional way to give you all an inside look at what happens behind the scenes here at NorthWest Auto Salon. Keep your eyes peeled!
IN CLOSING
It’s going to be an exciting couple of months for us here at NWAS. There are a lot of incredible automotive events on the horizon for summer that we’ll be covering, and we’re excited to share fresh, new content & plenty of past-due features with all of our readers now that most of the essential website work has been completed. If you discover a mistake, typo, or find anything confusing about the new website, don’t hesitate to let us know so we can address the issue as soon as possible & get it fixed up proper. A polished web presence is incredibly valuable to our business, and we strive to present one with the utmost clarity & sincerity. Thanks for reading!
It’s going to be an exciting couple of months for us here at the shop. There are a lot of incredible automotive events on the horizon for summer that we’ll be covering, and we’re excited to share fresh, new content & plenty of past-due features with all of our readers now that most of the essential website work has been completed. If you discover a mistake, typo, 404 page, or find anything confusing about the new website, don’t hesitate to let us know so we can address the issue as soon as possible & get it fixed up proper. A polished web presence is incredibly valuable to our business, and we strive to present one with the utmost clarity & sincerity.
Thanks for reading!
You guys are the best in the biz and it was an honor to have been a part of this project!