Pruning Your Site for greater results; 3 Sure Fire Design Tips!

Posted Friday, June 25, 2004

Trim down, tidy up, and tailor your site for making money!
This is exactly what Thomas Shaw wanted to do when he came to Worldprofit
Design Services with a request to re-design his existing site.
His original site was in need of re-organizing and re-designing to rejuvenate
his prospects and increase his sales.

Like many customers, who've added to their site over time, Thomas Shaw had a large amount of content included on his original site that needed to be condensed, re-organized and even removed. His original site housed a large amount of information that was not presented in a fluent and intuitive format, easily understood by his prospects. If your site is not easy to understand, this can be detrimental to your profits. Thomas needed a new design that would still allow him to display all of his main products and services, but without being overwhelmed with too much information. This is exactly what we achieved with his new site design.

Have a look at his original design:
(http://www.sovereignquestrealm.com/backups_02/)

Now check out the new and improved re-designed website:
(http://www.sovereignquestrealm.com)

The main page is now very straightforward and is divided into specific
areas designed to feature prominent selling products and important
information. This allows Thomas to draw attention to his most profitable items, without overwhelming his visitors with everything else that he is offering.

*** DESIGN TIP #1

- Knowing what your main money-making product or service is,
and prominently featuring it on your home page, is an excellent
way to decrease customer confusion, thus increasing your sites selling power.

In addition to condensing a lot of the main content information contained
on his site, we also moved the main navigation and reduced the number of
sections that were available. As you will notice by looking at the
redesigned home page, the navigation bar is now at the top of the page -
Prominent but not overwhelming. And instead of having 13 buttons or
sections to choose from, we replaced them with only 6 sections.

Reducing the number of sections that are presented to Thomas's, visitors
will actually increase his potential for sales. This eliminates the
risk of confusion that his visitors may experience when they are presented with
an abundance of choices and information.

Many web site owners make the fatal mistake of thinking that in order to
increase their chances of selling at least one item, they need to present
50 items. THIS IS FALSE! The more choice people have, the less likely
they are to purchase anything at all. The vast number of items to pick from will confuse your
visitors and they will more often then not, leave your site without having purchased a thing.
Don't confuse or frustrate your visitors by offering too many products or services, and
your profits will speak for themselves!

*** DESIGN TIP # 2

- In many cases, LESS IS MORE! Present your potential customers
with one or two benefit-oriented choices, rather than an abundance of
different selections. If your visitors' choices are limited, the decision
to actually purchase something becomes much easier and thus the potential
for sales skyrockets!

Another very important element that was added to his site was the animated
flash movie in the top right corner of his home page. This flash element
was a key addition to the site, specifically meant for drawing attention to
Thomas' feature product. With the inclusion of animation, combined with
real human photos, this animated adds the perfect amount of attention grabbing
excitement that makes a clear indication to his visitors that this is the
product they need, and this is how to get it!

We have successfully used this flash animation as an automatic tour guide
for Thomas' site visitors. Essentially prompting his potential customers
where to go, what to look at and how to get it. If the visitor has any
confusion about where to go, or what product they should inquire about,
this flash element has eliminated any doubt. We have made a clear and
concise indication to the visitor to click on this animation, which is
exactly what Thomas wants, in order to increase his sales.

** *DESIGN TIP # 3

- Use eye-catching elements to create excitement and energy in your
own site! Having a renewed excitement will rejuvenate your visitors and
will create an optimal buying environment for your potential customers.

Now with all these elements combined, this site has not only been redesigned,
but transformed into a totally streamlined, moneymaking machine!

Now here's the test. Have a look at your own site.

- Is it old, outdated, unorganized?

- Do you need animation to pull in new customers?

- Are your profits suffering?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, YOU NEED A SITE RE-DESIGN!
Bring back the sophistication and excitement in your site and your profits!

About the Author
Christine Graham is a member of the Worldprofit Design Team.
Remember, your site must be appealing in design AND make use of
tested successful marketing techniques. Let our expert design marketers
work for you!
Contact mailto:customerservice@worldprofit.com
or complete a FREE consult form at
(http://www.trafficcenter.com/properties/questionnaire.htm)