Best/Worst Ventnor NJ Website Design

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the websites for businesses, organizations, and associations located in Ventnor NJ. This article is intended to be a resource for business owners and website design companies looking to create a new website, or redesign a current Ventnor NJ website design.

In this article we have included the following information:

1. Brief Overview of the Town from a business perspective, and the need for a functional and beautiful Ventnor NJ website design.
2. Best Website Design examples in Ventnor New Jersey
3. High Potential Examples of Ventnor NJ Website Design that would do very well with some strategic design/development changes
4. Worst Website Design examples in Ventnor New Jersey
5. Simple Directory of Web Designers in Ventnor New Jersey, or web design companies known for their Ventnor NJ website design work.

Opportunity/Need for Ventnor NJ Website Design

Analyzing the current business environment and growth opportunities in Ventnor New Jersey

Ventnor NJ is a unique beach town at the Jersey Shore, sandwiched right between Atlantic City and Margate. Ventnor is more upscale than Atlantic City but offers less hustle and bustle than Margate. The businesses are mostly grouped together in one section along Ventnor Avenue and at another spot on Atlantic Avenue. The rest of Ventnor NJ is covered in beaches and houses- some summer rentals and other year-round homes for locals. The beaches are safe and clean, and bayside draws fishermen and crabbers, not to mention watersports enthusiasts. Summer brings mostly young families and Baby Boomers, but there is plenty to do for any age if you love the beach and sunshine. Playgrounds, basketball courts, and lifeguard stands are scattered around Ventnor NJ. A state-of-the-art library couples as a community center, hosting various events for visitors and locals. There are surfing classes and surf shops, restaurants and cafes, nail salons and boutiques all within walking distance of the beach. A jitney bus and other forms of public transportation are readily available and affordable. While the atmosphere in Ventnor NJ is far from commercialized, there are several successful businesses. Ventnor real estate has been booming, especially for the past two years.

Best Examples of Ventnor NJ Website Design

In addition to the most obvious features, there are many little things that make a website design great and effective. Top marks go to beautiful websites that have useful information AND are doing the types of things that make them attractive to Google, while also providing a positive user experience. Through our search, we came across  some good and bad local examples of Ventnor New Jersey websites. Here’s what we found:

1. Amazing Ventnor – https://www.amazingventnor.com

Ventnor NJ Website Design Grade B

There are so few websites associated with local businesses in Ventnor NJ, that our pool to pick from was abnormally small. The Amazing Ventnor website and the concept behind it grabbed our attention. This new tourism-focused website celebrates and promotes events and things to do in Ventnor NJ. The execution has room for improvement (especially with the homepage!) but there is plenty of updated content and the layout/functionality is modern. It’s clear that someone took time putting this site together, and at this point everything here is up to date. (which is more than we can say for MOST of the other local sites we found on the web.) This website does have a ton of info for the upcoming summer season, from concerts and festivals to vendor info. Musicians and artists can sign up to participate in these events via onpage forms. Unfortunately, the site seems like a work in progress because some areas are incomplete. Time will tell whether this website gets finished up and kept updated each year. It would be a great resource for the Ventnor NJ community, and it could certainly boost tourism if they approach SEO and content marketing strategically. Hopefully, the website won’t become abandoned and outdated like so many others we have seen. There’s so much potential here. Let’s hope for a successful outcome that benefits everyone in Ventnor NJ.

• There is an interesting hero image at the top of the homepage that pans slightly when you mouse over it. The photo itself wouldn’t be our first choice but the placement and display does effectively pull you in.
• Some of the elements lag, but they could be tweaked to load much faster.
• Mobile friendliness makes this website even better in our book, and in Google’s, too.
• Another thing this website could do is add some high quality outbound links.
• The SEO here is lacking, and we’d make that a priority in order to get on Page 1.

The Bad: There isn’t a footer, some other areas are incomplete, and there are empty “widgets” on the homepage. The website creator clearly used a stock template to set this up, which is not the worst, but if outsiders can tell it’s a template, it means they did something wrong.

2. Dr. Gregory J. Mowen, D.P.M.  – http://www.gregmowendpm.com

Ventnor NJ Website Design Grade B

This local Ventnor NJ podiatrist has a pretty nice website. It looks like it was launched this year, and the design is modern and responsive. Works great on mobile devices, and it has the elements that we consider must-haves in 2017 such as integrated contact forms, wall-to-wall hero image at the top, a call to action button on the homepage, and an organized navigation bar. This website is clean and professional, and there is a patient education index nicely put together. Beyond the content rich web pages, this website could benefit from a content marketing element hosted in a blog offering consistently updated posts to keep valuable content coming in, and rank the site higher in search engines. The ranking is definitely an issue worth considering if this local doctor wants to accept new patients. So many things can be done on the back end to increase exposure and climb the ladder of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and all of that equals out to more business. Compared to many other examples of Ventnor NJ website design, this is one is at the top. Our biggest design-related complaint is the lack of branding. The entire site is neutral, and logo (or lack thereof) is nondescript and really there’s nothing on the website to make it memorable or compelling. It’s pretty and it works well, so it’s a B grade from a user experience. But from a branding and marketing standpoint, there is much to be desired.

• This layout is good. It could be tweaked to be even better but it does the job.
• All the contact info is readily accessible, plus there’s a form to submit an inquiry.
• Mobile friendliness makes this website even better in our book, and in Google’s, too.
• No social media links- Either they don’t use it, or they forgot to add them.

The Bad: No branding, poor rankings in search engines, and no platform for adding consistent, high quality written content. This site (updated in 2017) is good for right now, but it’s only a matter of time before it becomes outdated and seemingly abandoned because there is no place for the podiatry office to post and share helpful information.

3. Island Gym –  http://islandgym.com

Ventnor NJ Website Design Grade D

The design of this website is NOT one of the best examples of Ventnor NJ website design. However, the depth of the content and the organization of their programs and related products definitely spares this website from a failing grade. It’s not good enough to be an A or B or even a C, sadly, but it’s got so much potential to be great- more than others we found in Ventnor NJ. Because this business offers to much and has a ton of relevant written content already online, we’re grouping this D-level site in with the best website design in Ventnor NJ. This has never happened before, but Ventnor businesses are not giving us much material, so we had to compromise! Island Gym is a well known facility with four locations in South Jersey. It’s clearly time to give this website a makeover. Not only is the site NOT mobile friendly, but Google and other search engines are ranking this site incredibly low considering its great reputation OFFline. The design is super outdated, only making use of the center portion of the page. The footer date shows 2012 as the latest update, but this archaic design is reminiscent of the early 2000s. Worst of all, this website is not responsive to mobile devices, so good luck using this site on a smartphone or tablet. This successful local business deserves much better than this! An updated website and even some digital marketing strategies would do wonders for Island Gym, and give people reason to explore their services online which would lead to more in-person visitors, as well.

• Someone clearly took their time to write up the content for these web pages. Another thing this website could do is add some high quality outbound links.
• What were they thinking, with this visually poor and overcrowded website design? It’s really awful. The website doesn’t support the branding, either.
• Everyone knows a mobile-friendly site is a MUST, but this one doesn’t work.
• Search Engines are having a tough time finding this website. That’s a problem.
• Visitors can click right from the homepage to this business on social media. That’s a good feature that every website should have no matter the industry.

The Bad: Visual design issues aside, the biggest mistake this website makes is functionality and ranking. Not being mobile friendly or search engine optimized is killing the potential this website has to reach people in Ventnor NJ who are looking for a gym. Even some of the links are broken and information in the FAQ is not up to date. This business needs would benefit greatly with a new website design and a strategic content marketing plan, not to mention backlinks and keyword optimization that would boost its trust score and ranking with Google! Competition is fierce in the beach town gym industry, and this website isn’t cutting it.

High Potential Examples of Ventnor NJ Website Design

There are a lot of websites that kind of fall in the middle. They’re not good, but they could be worse. Most of these “high potential” website design examples are placed in this category because they scored low on our evaluation, but the businesses themselves are so great that we see a huge opportunity for success. Here are the websites that we found in Ventnor that don’t stand on their own yet, but could be absolutely killer if they made the right moves.

4. Stella Restaurant – http://www.stellaventnor.com

Ventnor NJ Website Design Grade C

• Homepage is bare bones. Nothing visually compelling or interesting- at all. This homepage needs major work to minimize the bounce rate.
• Where is the helpful written content? These pages are missing the mark. Some of the sentences are not even grammatically correct. In a blog post that’s forgivable, but the web page content should be 100% accurate because that’s the most pertinent info.
• Some pages are incomplete, like the Special Promos page which has nothing on it.
• It’s not a mobile friendly website. Every modern website HAS TO BE responsive and viewable on various devices. Not only does it matter from a user experience standpoint, but search engines are now pinpointing and punishing non-responsive websites with lower rankings and decreased visibility.

5. Ventnor Coffee – http://www.ventnorcoffee.com

Ventnor NJ Website Design Grade C

• Initial thoughts: Great design here. It looks very professional.
• The layout is standard, and very similar to many other websites we’ve seen.
• The colors, fonts, and images all tie back into the theme and branding.
• Placement of photos was well thought out. It looks clean and well balanced. The only problem is we see the same photo on a few of the pages- as if they only had one good option so they used it for everything.
• The integrated forms make it easy and convenient to get in touch with them.

6. Michael D. Weinraub, P.C. – http://elderlawyerforyou.com

Ventnor NJ Website Design Grade C

• The website design that we see here is mediocre, at best.
• This website shows authority in the industry by providing some helpful links.
• We found a wealth of information through the pages of this website.
• While this site has a mobile version, it’s not the best layout for mobile users.
• It’s clear that this business wants to make contact easy for customers.

7. Design Nation – https://shopdesignnation.com

Ventnor NJ Website Design Grade C

• This business offers graphic design AND web design services, which is surprising to find being that their own design shows C grade level work. This site isn’t anywhere near the worst example of Ventnor NJ website design but it’s hardly one of the best.
• There isn’t much helpful info here- it’s hardly worth reading through them.
• An effective call to action is not vague and not obnoxious. This didn’t cut it. There are multiple calls to action on each page, which screams ineffective and annoying like an infomercial on late night TV.
• The integrated forms make it easy and convenient to get in touch with them.
• Probably the worst thing about this website, besides the empty pages and lack of solid design elements, is that Google doesn’t trust it. If they’re claiming to do web-related services, they’re got to get up to speed on search engine optimization and digital marketing for their own website first.

8. Cardinal Bistro – http://cardinalbistro.com

Ventnor NJ Website Design Grade C

• This layout is interesting and has a creative spin. It could have been better executed but at least it’s not boring and template-like.
• The call to action is effective- you can click to call or book a reservation online.
• This website is mobile friendly, so that’s helpful! It’s just very tough to read on smartphone. Probably the most important part of a restaurant website is the menu, and this website took the easy way out by posting pdf documents that are very hard to read- especially on a small screen.
• Not a bad choice of photos. They load fast and each one is relevant to the topic.

Worst Examples of Ventnor NJ Website Design

Choosing the worst websites in a town like this is painful. As a web designer in the Ventnor NJ area, I’ve seen these types of mistakes over and over that are wreaking havoc on these businesses and killing their SERP ranking. Some of these websites are so terrible that I’m assuming they came free and ready-made with a domain purchase. The mistakes are numerous and easy to avoid if you’re a web designer who know’s what you’re doing.

9. Sage Restaurant – http://www.sageventnor.com

Website Design Evaluation Grade: F

• This website design is a total disgrace to this chef’s Ventnor NJ restaurant. Really poor design and layout and total lack of valuable written content. Plus, it was created on Wix- the bottom of the barrel when it comes to DIY template website platforms. I hope she didn’t pay someone to do this for her, because the website is terrible.
• Beautiful images were chosen for this website’s gallery, but no one is going to get that far. One of two of these should be on the homepage without a doubt.
• The only evidence of “social proof” here is a photo showing this chef on a cooking TV show “Chopped” but that’s as far as it goes. That’s the most interesting thing about the site, but it’s underplayed and hidden on a page that usually gets the least amount of views. Missed opportunity.
• The website isn’t responsive or mobile friendly. Big no-no for 2017.
• Rankings are virtually nonexistent. What this restaurant probably needs most is organic search traffic, but this website is never going to help with that, as is. This needs an overhaul in order to function as an effective marketing tool for Sage.

10. Lisa’s Pizza – http://www.lisasventnor.com

Website Design Evaluation Grade: F

• This restaurant seems to be owned by the same owner/chef as the one above on this list. This chef must be VERY good at what she does, and has a lot of friends and press features, but sadly her websites are junk. Sometimes, people just throw up a website for the sake of having one, but a bad site counts against your business and will turn off potential customers.
• A professional photographer would make a world of difference here.
• Where is the helpful written content? These pages are missing the mark. We even noticed typos, which speaks to the carelessness of this website design.
• Visitors can click right from the homepage to this business on social media – that’s the one good thing about it. We haven’t clicked through to check her social media but the website doesn’t capture attention so visitors probably won’t bother.

11. Bubbies Bistro – http://www.bubbiesbistro.com/Home.php

Website Design Evaluation Grade: D

• Nothing here really draws the visitor in. The website design just falls flat.
• Despite the interesting vibe to this business, the design doesn’t match up.
• We came, we saw, and we left. There is no well defined Call To Action or button for next steps.
• Everyone knows a mobile-friendly site is a MUST, but this one doesn’t work. Worst part is, the footer date is 2017 which means this site may not be too old. They should have known better.
• This website gives the visitor at least two methods for contacting the business. That’s a good step, but having a onpage integrated form is the standard now.

12. Jagielky’s Homemade Chocolates – http://jagielkyscandy.com

Website Design Evaluation Grade: D

• There is nothing special about this website design, and it looks exactly like a template. Boring and stock. The logo and branding isn’t pulled through the rest of the website.
• Great for browsing on the go, this site is mobile optimized and works well.
• Even though we see a few outbound links, they could do a better job here.
• The most obvious problem here from a user experience is the hacked way they accept online orders. They ask you to make selections online, and the supposed is that the store will call to confirm and collect credit card information over the phone. They need to implement a real e-commerce option that is secure and user friendly, because this is not a good approach to online sales… at all.
• Testimonials are great to have but they have an entire page only showing TWO reviews. It sends a bad message. To start, we’d suggest either ditching the page and incorporating 2-3 testimonials onto the homepage, or collect a bunch of testimonials from customers and online reviews and populate this webpage.

13. Sea Le Vie Boutique – http://www.sealavienj.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Website Design Evaluation Grade: D

• The homepage is all wrong. It’s just a mess of things thrown up there from the logo that doubles as a hero image to a randomly place birthday club form. There is a large paragraph full of purple fragments and a whole photo gallery below. This site could use a design overhaul.
• Despite the interesting vibe to this business, and the cool edition of sewing classes and custom embroidery the store offers, the design doesn’t match up.
• This website could load faster with some tweaks, but it’s not too bad.
• Since this business uses social media, the links are somewhere on the site, but they should be placed on somewhere in the menu or footer, instead of hidden on the contact page.
• The built-in shopping cart via their Weebly template is definite not professional quality. These build-your-own-website templates are the worst for online shops,, because they’re not secure. Most customers notice when the website isn’t secure (https//) and they won’t enter their credit card info on a site that doesn’t feel legit.

14. Caruso’s Pizza – http://www.carusospizzanj.com

Website Design Evaluation Grade: F

• This website design is clearly a copy and paste “boxed” site that’s powered by a different pizza website company. The homepage is so terrible and lacks any branding. Very generic, not compelling in the slightest.
• The menu and layout should be smartly put together, but this one is a mess. You can’t even find the About page or Contact info from the homepage until you click through the menu.
• Social media icons have the worst placement ever- in the non-static footer at the bottom of a long, long menu. You have to scroll a long time before ever seeing it.
• This website is mobile friendly, so that’s helpful! It’s just tough to read on cellphone because the menu isn’t displayed in a very sensible way.

15. Sapore Wood Fire Pizza & Restaurant – http://saporeventnor.com

Website Design Evaluation Grade: D

• This website design is a total disgrace to this chef’s Ventnor NJ restaurant. Really poor design
• A professional photographer would make a world of difference here.
• This website is missing a chance at developing leads, with no call to action!
• So many websites are still not responsive, but at least this one is mobile-friendly.
• This website isn’t positioned for success when it comes to SEO and keyword and backlinks to help get exposure and organic traffic. Google didn’t rank it well at all.

Directory of local Web Designers serving Ventnor  NJ

Below is a profile of each website designer in Ventnor New Jersey (physical address is listed as Ventnor) or any web company who is known for their Ventnor NJ website design work.

While there is no shortage of business activity in Ventnor NJ, companies actively operating in this town are lacking in the area of effective web presence. This is a missed opportunity both for businesses and for potential customers. Most Ventnor NJ websites are poorly designed, and worse- they’re virtually impossible to find through online search.

To up your chances for success, get your Ventnor NJ website design set up the right way on the right platform, with an approach that draws targeted traffic. A beautiful website that’s supported with smart tools and a digital marketing strategy will drastically help your Ventnor-based business to thrive.

By Location: Best/Worst NJ Website Design