Dixieland Computers Site Needs Work

A computer retailer, in-house repair and networking company, Dixieland Computers of Bentonville has been around since the 1980s. Because the company is so well established, owner Bill Norwood said, he has not yet put much emphasis on its Web site, www.dle.com.

He prefers to do his marketing the old fashioned way, by pressing the flesh and offering personalized service to customers in his store. Norwood is also leery of going head-to-head with Internet e-tailers, whose costs and therefore prices can be killers for brick-and-mortar companies like Dixieland.

It’s no surprise then that our team of reviewers found some areas where the site, which debuted in 2000, could use some fine tuning. Although Dixieland may not be interested in totally revamping its Web presence, we do have some suggestions that might help with an upgrade that’s expected during the next six months.

At present, www.dle.com is a decent online brochure that outlines the company’s line of merchandise and competencies. Its best attributes are clear graphics, easy navigability and seemingly helpful information request forms. We liked the user-friendliness of it all.

One technician described the site’s marbled background as “very mid-90s,” and said its font sizes are distracting because they vary dramatically even on the same page. His biggest complaint, however, was that for a technology company that offers Web design, Dixieland should do a much better job of showing off its talents.

We all agreed that Dixieland, even without e-commerce, would serve itself well to spend the effort and money to make its own site as sharp as the ones it does for clients.

“There is no excuse for a technology company to have an amateur Web site,” the technician said.

We also noticed that the site’s copyright is two years old, so it’s probably time for an update.

Another technician said Dixieland should be more succinct in its message. And regarding the row of company logos at the bottom of its home page, are these Dixieland’s partners, affiliates or a list of the certifications its employees hold? Most likely, they’re the brands of computers Dixieland carries, but that’s unclear.

The office solutions link is really a rehash of several other areas in the site. We would also really like to see the Web design link lead to a few examples of the company’s work. Show us what you can do.