by Foster D. Coburn III | Feb 8, 2016 | Makeover, Web Design, WordPress
With most Web site makeovers, a company is simply seeking to improve their online presence. In the case of Kenn Cross Concepts, the business had also changed from interior and landscaping design services to one that also featured a furniture store. The goal was to provide a single site featuring the services as well as the new store.
There was an existing site that was attractive (see screen shot below). But it was not a responsive site that would render differently based on the device viewing the site. As such, it was hard to read on a mobile device. It was also designed so that everything fit into a small area and no scrolling was required.
In talking with the client, there was still a desire to have a site that required no scrolling. In general, horizontal scrolling is bad and vertical scrolling is a good thing. The right answer changes for each page based on the content on that page. We also had to suggest the client have more than simply a series of photo galleries that automatically cycle through pictures.
On the new home page (see below), there is a slider with photos that link to photo galleries of projects and the furniture store. But there is also information on the business. Lower on the page (not shown) is more information and a footer with a map, contact form and a connection with the company’s Facebook page.
The view shown here is what is seen on a computer. View the site on a tablet or phone and the view changes to fit the device’s screen. With the rising usage of mobile devices, this is extremely important. While there are pages of photo galleries, there are also pages (see below) that tell the story of the owner and the business.
Great photos are certainly important. But integrating text with photos is just as important. Search engines can see the file names of photos and “alternate text” attached to those photos. Yet the text displayed on the page can also help a page and a site perform better in search rankings. Plus it can help answer visitors questions and encourage them to become customers. With the makeover, the site now blends text and graphics into a a compelling integrated story.
by Foster D. Coburn III | Dec 13, 2015 | Makeover, Web Design, WordPress
When Karen Friend of Soaring Spirit Studio came to us, her Web site hadn’t been updated in many years. Part of the reason it wasn’t being updated was the difficulty of making changes due to the fixed design of the original site. Each page of the site was carefully crafted in Adobe ImageReady, a now discontinued product.
Our goal was to create a beautiful site that would be responsive and easy to update. While most changes would be made by Unleashed, we also wanted Karen to be able to add upcoming events and new pieces of artwork. Let’s look at the before/after of several pages. Click on any of the screenshots to see a larger image.
Soaring Spirit Studio Home Page
The home page on the original site (at left or top) is beautiful. But it was a fixed sized in all browsers and was not mobile friendly at all. Look carefully and you can see that some of the image pieces didn’t properly align on the right side making the right edge look strange.
After the makeover (at right or bottom), the home page is fully responsive so it looks great on all devices and it isn’t penalized by Google for not being mobile friendly.
Soaring Spirit Studio Artist Page
Once again the artist page on the old site looked great, but it was a fixed size. The new site features the pictures better as well as making the text more readable. Of course it is also responsive so it looks great on all devices.
Soaring Spirit Studio Contact Page
The original site didn’t have a dedicated contact page which is an important element on any Web site. A page was added with a big Google map, contact details and a contact form as shown below.
Soaring Spirit Studio Events Page
For an artist, having an up-to-date list of events where their art is shown is extremely important. The original site was showing dates more than five years in the past. On the new site, we decided that blog posts were the best option for telling visitors about upcoming events. Best of all, the artist can easily create the blog posts herself!
Soaring Spirit Studio Gourds Pages
Just like the events, photos of the gourds on the original site hadn’t been updated in a very long time. The layout was fixed and changes were not easy to make. Previews of the gourds were also very limited in size. Below are two of the gourd pages before the Web site makeover.
After the makeover, each category of gourds is featured on a single page and then large photos of each gourd are shown in a gallery. Adding photos to a gallery is quite easy so the artist can add pieces immediately after they are completed.
Publicizing Soaring Spirit Studio Pages
The look of a site is important, but it is equally important that the site is promoted so it can reach as many visitors as possible. Sharing buttons were added on each page so that visitors can tell others about the artwork on their favorite social network or via e-mail. In addition, SEO (search engine optimization) was performed on the pages so that they will rank better in the search engines. Previously there was no SEO at all.
Would you like Unleashed to makeover your Web site? Contact us with details of your project and we’ll get started!
