Revamp Your Web Site With These Ideas

Your web site can make money. It's really possible.

The trouble? We are all familiar with our own sites, which makes it pretty easy to miss the obvious problems. Are people getting enough out of your site? Does it overwhelm with one element or the other?

We renovated a friend's site over the weekend. She is a very smart client who had a lot more information on the site than was needed. She agreed a lot of what she listed was there simply as a "...journal for her own research".

I told her "...we want shoppers to come to the site...give them a tease at what your company can do for them...then find a way to gather their information for follow-up."

These are the tips I gave her:

A. Strengthen overall "look" of site.
B. Edit the writing.
C. Add better graphics or less common font styles. Free fonts at:(http://simplythebest.net/fonts/)*
D. Add visual elements (photographs) Free photos at: (http://www.flickr.com)**

To do this yourself, print each page of your web based site.

1. Go through it and find the blank spaces and mark them with boxes. These will represent all of the "wasted space" on your site. Could these be strengthened with visual elements?

2. Now identify all font problems. Is the font too small? Too boring? Could the style be changed to reflect more energy or readability? Just try visiting a site offering "free fonts"* and you will see hundreds of choices available.

3. Most of us overwrite. By this I mean "...we write TOO MUCH." On several of my friend's paragraphs I even wrote "...too deep." This is because she was including concepts and theorems the common person would not understand. Most of the materials related to courses she offers. I convinced her to include these in the form of "Download a Syllabus" keys.

4. Now go to the free photograph site** and put in a key word relating to your site. You will probably see hundreds of photographs you can use free of charge. You've heard the cliche' '...one picture is worth a thousand words'. That truism continues to be heard because one photo can say what hundreds of words cannot.

At CNN video edit supervisors used to say "...we have more of a power to mislead people than to lead them." That is because when dealing in the visual realm, your choices are limitless. However, whether or not the chosen photograph or graphic confuses the viewer is a different story!

Experiment with these additions, then re-print the new design a couple days later and take a fresh look. Hopefully, you will increase your traffic on the site!