web design + marketing coaching

Website Refresh – Just in Time for the New Year

by amanda on November 11, 2011

I’ve been at this whole internet biz thing for 5 and a half years now. And every year I see the same thing. As the year winds down, so do many businesses.

That’s not to say that people are letting their businesses fizzle out because of the holiday season – but that people tend to worry less about their biz stuff because they want to spend time with family etc.

I get that – I feel the same way.

But at the same time, I see a lot of missed opportunity. Instead of the starting out the year with something new and fresh, a lot of entrepreneurs just decide to wait and START the refresh at the beginning of the year.

For me, this is kind of like my yearly ritual of decluttering (though, technically, I declutter multiple times a year…). I have this thing that my house, my business, my life have to be decluttered before the new year begins. I don’t want any of the old junk or baggage coming with me into the freshness of the first part of a new year.

Admittedly, the beginning of a new year is just a date. But it’s a chance to get a fresh start on several levels.

I recently did a redo of my friend Scott Power‘s website. He’s a super smart guy who has the very best financial advice. (Did I mention he was in one of the Pepsi Max 2010 Super Bowl commercials? Oh, and he played Matthew McConaughey’s dad in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past! How cool is that?)

But besides being a super smart guy with some seriously cool street cred, he has a website. With the aforementioned awesome financial advice. But it was boring. And it didn’t represent Scott at all.

That’s the original look over there to the right. Looks professional, easy to read and dull (no offense, Scott… ).

I got lucky with this one, because Scott wasn’t really sure what he wanted. He didn’t have clearly defined goals or preconceived notions, and that made my job a whole lot easier.

Here’s what I came up with:

The pic is less “professional” as pics go – but it’s WAY more accurate for Scott’s personality.

That was the one sticking point we had on the design. Scott had this to say, “The only think I’m not sure of is the pic in the header. I have headshots and the one I had on here before. However, that shot you grabbed of me has killed it for me in the past and I get tons of great feedback on it……I guess I’m torn.”

I was shocked that he was willing to admit that this pic has (in his own words) killed it for him in the past – but he was hesitant to use it.

If that pic has killed it, then that is exactly the pic to use!!! Photos that convey your personality are one of the keys to having a killer website.

Obviously we ended up going with it. I think it’s imperative that all entrepreneurs understand that more “professional” does NOT equal more traffic.

Actually, it most likely will end up having exactly the opposite effect.

So, does your site need a refresh? Get it done before the beginning of the new year, so you can focus on managing all the traffic you’ll have after your site is more representative of you, your personality and your business.

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