Hook, Line & Thinker newsletter, published by Troutdream Graphics - Vol. 1, No. 5 - August, 2002

Time for a makeover?

You have a Web site. You’ve had it for years. It served its purpose at the time, but what about now? Is it still pulling its weight or is it just lounging around the water cooler?

Your site should be a hard worker – a contributing team member. Here are some common problems with older sites:

• Bits and pieces have been added over time so the original structure no longer really fits the current content. It’s a like a growing family in an small house – you tack on a bedroom, then another bathroom and pretty soon, nothing seems to quite fit together: Every room has a different style and you can’t get to the family room without going through someone’s bedroom.
  
• It just looks dated. Those beveled, purple buttons looked pretty snazzy in 1997, but now they look like a polyester leisure suit.
  
• It doesn’t take advantage of more modern interactive capabilities. In the early days of the web, it was sufficient to simply provide information to the public – what we call “one-to-many” marketing. But the current capabilities of modern browsers allow a more personalized “one-to-one”approach. Interactive features such as questionnaires, e-commerce, database applications, “wizards” (small programs that guide a user step-by-step to a solution) or demos help visitors feel involved – they buy in quicker.
  
• And I saved the biggest for last: Your business objectives have evolved over time and the content no longer matches your mission. The market has changed, your business focus has changed – you know what your customers are looking for NOW and that’s not front and center on the site.
  

If you see your site in the list above, it may be time to for a makeover. Go back to your business or marketing plan: What are your current objectives for the site? Compare that to the site: what still fits? What doesn’t? Are there new features that might enhance your ability to serve your customers? Is it time to let them buy online rather than fax an order form? Lead them through steps to help them decide which of your services will best meet their needs? Offer an interactive demo?

What about navigation? Look at your stats to see if there are areas of the site that are getting little or no traffic. If those areas are important, you may need to reorganize navigation to make them more prominent. Or perhaps it’s material that is no longer relevant and can be eliminated. Is there a better way to organize the site to maximize ease of access? For example, do menu items for important sections like products and services stand out clearly over less critical sections such as site map and privacy policy? A little creative regrouping can serve to emphasize the important material.

Take a few minutes this month to review your site and see if it’s working up to its potential. No sense in keeping slackers on the payroll. And while you’re taking a few minutes, please take a few more to remember the lives lost one year ago and be thankful for the lives of your loved ones still with you.

If you have a web-related question, drop me a line. If I don't know the answer, I'll find out.

You can find other articles and past issues of this newsletter at http://www.troutdream.com/stories.html

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