A website review by Danny Wirken

This review on the website http://www.avis.com delves into the four key factors affecting the effectiveness of the website.

How good is the website’s exposure when a search for car rental is initiated in the web? How easy is it to navigate the site? Are the layout and visual effects effective in rendering the website the right appeal? Are the contents enough and appropriate for its clientele and other interested surfers/potential clients? Read on to know the answers to these questions.

Searching the Web

For whatever country you may want to rent any Avis car, just type in “avis rental” in the search box and you will be presented with millions of URL links. For Google, this is about 9,110,000 and for Yahoo, around 4,070,000. In both search sites, the company website appears in the 1-10 batch.

Not only that. Its country- or region-specific websites (e.g. www.avis.co.uk for United Kingdom, www.avis.co.za for South Africa, and so on), which are all under the Avis group of companies, also appear in the 1-10 batch and in the immediately succeeding batches.

Now in case the surfer has no idea about avis but would like to see options for “car rental” and type in those words in both search sites, what happens? Amazingly, the Avis company website would still be in the 1-10 batch of 173,000,000 and 86,600,000 for Google and Yahoo, respectively.

Its website has a very excellent optimization indeed; its web crawlers working perfectly well.

Navigating the Site

Once you click on the avis URL, the company homepage then opens. Another remarkable feature of this website is that you can go to specific countries or regions with Avis branches. You can even choose the language from among the three choices. Plus, whichever Avis website you are in, you can go to other Avis websites without difficulty.

Navigability is also speeded up by the lack of animations that usually slow down the opening of web pages. Instead, some selected graphics are used to improve its appearance.

Furthermore, the homepage directly leads to other important information one would want to read more. For instance, click on a box to know about rates and reservations, deals, programs, and so on. There’s even a search box, which is your fastest way to get into the page you need.

However, as this website means serious business, you cannot simply peek at, for instance, car models for viewing purpose only because in order to do so will need to undergo the reservation process. Quite tricky but wise.

The layout and visual effects, which are expounded in the next discussion, help give increase its navigability because they guide the users as to what to click so that they can go directly to their desired section, or even link directly to the next page they are interested in.

In general, all pages open nicely, neatly, and quickly. No sweat.

Layout and Visual Effects

As the homepage unfolds before your eyes, you will get the impression of a very organized page. The arrangement of the texts and visual tools employed in the website unify and give a distinct character for the website and for the company as well. Highly organized. Serious business.

Such distinct character not only gives the website a pleasant appearance. It also greatly contributes to company recall. Its simple, uncluttered look is so inviting to surfers and potential clients.

Avis has no fancy shapes or animations. Instead, the homepage consists of boxes that form groupings within the homepage, each containing important information for all types of users.

For instance, if you’re a frequent user, you do not have to enter another page to reserve or book your rental. Just fill in the information required in the “Make a Reservation” box. Although in order to complete the process you will be required to continue the next step by entering another page, the fact that you can begin your reservation at the homepage means significant savings in time already.

Plus, this homepage display of reservation section means greater exposure, something that is a big help for new users as well. Aside from that, new users will be interested to explore what Avis is all about since all the other topics are arranged neatly either on the upper band or on the boxes in the main body of the page.

The use of red is wise, because its contrast with the general background of white creates a contrast that catches attention. The font types, sizes, and colors are compatible with each other. In every page, “Avis” has the biggest size, and this is just right.

Majority of the pages are viewable in the computer screen, with only minimal scrolling down to see the entire page. Again, this is another pleasing look of the website.

The color schemes and overall design of the Avis main website is replicated in other Avis web pages as well as websites (country or region-specific sites). Uniformity reflects seriousness and success.

Contents

Complementing this neat and boxed designs are content compositions in short paragraphs. The website has tons of valuable information that is not tiring to the eyes. There is no burden of information overload because the contents are well grouped together and presented in a straightforward manner. Very professional.

As noted earlier, the homepage already gives the users the basics –reservation, a search box, information on latest promos – as well as gives easy directions to the other pages of the website that contain other vital information as well. These choices include rates and reservations, deals, renter’s guide, programs, and so on.

The “Rates and Reservations” actually consists of many pages, each page a procedure for making your reservation. If you’re a surfer who simply wants to view the cars available for rent, then you’re not so much in luck because the website smartly requires you to undertake the step-by-step process of making the reservation before you can reach the page where you will be shown car options.

Also, as an illustration of how big and professional this company is, there is a link for “My Avis”, a phrase that easily suggests membership for frequent renters. There’s also a page link for Customer Care, which contains information on comments/feedback, Avis contact numbers around the globe, accident reporting form, etc.

In addition, there’s an Affiliate program in the “Partners” page that will surely gravitate those interested to be part of the Avis’ successful business.

Summing Up

The Avis website has the simplicity, appeal, and speed that is reflective of the success of the company. Avis did really try harder. And obviously better than many other car rental websites.