When people visually understand the purpose of your website they can respond to its style and navigate intuitively towards the actions that you have established.
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Success! Website Make-Overs and Redesigns
Frances Rapport, Re/Max Plus Agent
Existing Site Update and SEO Review
Frances and I worked together on her first website in 2008 (on the left). Traffic reports from her Google Analytics were very low and it was time for some new agent pictures as well.
In the site update at right, the style is retained - but with subtle improvements. Changing the color palette to a professional (but still feminine) silvery grey, and using a sans serif font for the titles, create the impression that Frances means business. Adding a gradient to the blue behind the images in the header also helps the page breathe and feel more natural. The "folder" style of the page is updated to be more realistic with the addition of a paperclip graphic holding Frances's photo to the page.
Close attention has been paid in our SEO review to utilize things like page headings, page titles, keyword weight and page content. You can see that in the original site the heading on our home page was simply, "Welcome home!" - cute, but not very meaningful. In our updated home page, we introduce the site in a more confident tone and we use some good keywords, "Frances Rapport - Associate Broker serving the Rochester community...". Existing content has been refined and keywords have been pulled to make effective headings on each page - helping readers to navigate to the information they want and helping search engines index our content.
Ed Hinkley Studio
Website Redesign
Ed's website (on the left) was not utilizing space very well. Content was anchored in the upper left corner of the browser window. The effect on the photograph, meant to welcome the visitor to Ed's Studio, is that of a destination that can never be reached. Links to the two sections of Ed's website were also organized in a way that was difficult for the reader to recall as they navigated the site. Ed liked everything about his original sites style so I worked with the original palette and photographs for his update.
In the re-design at right, the minimal style is retained with muted colors and sans serif fonts. Using scripting and CSS positioning the "walls" on either side of the door now host dynamic content. On the left, one of Ed's paintings hangs with current show information. The image and information can be updated. On the right, Ed's current class schedule is posted. That content can also be updated. Instead of deleting the background from the photo - we kept the whole image and did a little photoshop. This gives some texture and depth to the muted grays. The image file size is still about 70kb so load-time is not compromised.
Navigation is on the bottom of the screen and the two sections of Ed's website, his studio and the art instruction service, are clearly defined. This logic is followed throughout the site.