It was time for an overhaul…..

Hi everybody!  It really does feel good to be writing weekly posts again.  Last week, I talked about the debut of my new website.  It’s not 100 percent perfect yet but it’s getting there.  I mentioned that the point of rebuilding my website and moving from Zenfolio to a WordPress site is because you get so much more control with WordPress.  Zenfolio is good image hosting site and that works well on the surface.  If you just need a place to host your galleries, I definitely think Zenfolio is for you.  If you get to the point where you need to have a but more control of SEO and want more customization, then I think you should look into a WordPress site.  There are endless options out there that you can use to make your page stand out from the rest.

After doing a LOT of reading over on The Modern Tog, I realized that when I put together my old site, I didn’t really do it with a plan in mind.  Jamie Swanson uses an example of how when you walk into Ikea, you’re led through the store with a purpose.  The planners had an idea of what they want you to see the minute you enter the store.  That’s how my website should appear.

A website should guide you through the process and lead you to a place that brings you value.  That’s the major thing that I feel my site was missing.  It was just…..kind of……there.  It didn’t provide any real value.  If you happened to stumble across the site, it basically showed you some stuff, gave you some info on my pricing, and has a contact form if you wanted to get a hold of me.  Now, it guides you through a process of determining what you are looking for.  Everything on the website now serves a purpose.  The site is built completely with my prospective clients in mind.  Here is a quick down-and-dirty of what I considered when building the site:

• Who visits my website
• What are they looking for?
• What do I need them to know about my business?
• How did they find me?/Where did they come from?
• What do I want them to do before they leave?
• Out of everybody who might visit my site, who is the most important?

Once I had a firm grasp of the answers to those questions, I was well on my way to putting together the site I really wanted to show clients.  Those bullet points are the foundation of the website rebuild.  Next week, I’ll get into some of the design principles that I implemented to make the website more efficient.

As always, that’s for stopping by and spending a few minutes with me this week.  I hope the info I’m giving out about what I learned during the rebuild helps you make your site more impactful.  I’ll see ya next week!