Website Redesign Archives - Page 2 of 2

In this blog series, we’ll touch on specific areas most websites struggle with. We will likely offend or shock you by calling you out. This is good. Our intention is to change the way you think about your website in an attempt to clean up the internet. We’ve evaluated thousands of websites and common themes have emerged that will assist you in your personal website journey.

The better question is “why should I modernize my website?” It is critical your website live up to some basic modern design standards, or you run the risk of losing revenue. Not just revenue lost from potential new customers, but existing customers as well.

The website world has shifted because of large companies like Amazon and Google who are constantly pushing the envelope of website capabilities. The bar has been set very high and all other businesses are forced to shift their mentality or get left in the dust by more savvy competitors. Especially if you’re a product company, you know that your e-commerce site is either excellent or antiquated. You must provide a typical user experience or customers will find somebody else that supplies the experience they’re accustomed to.

If you do much shopping online, you’ve already made the shift. You stay away from sellers that haven’t adapted. This point is rather obvious, so let’s touch on some other areas most people don’t consider right away.

Your Photos Suck

That was not just the header of the next section, that was an emphatic statement. Based on the thousands of websites we’ve seen over the years, the vast majority of websites include terrible images, which is a shame. Anyone with a credit card has access to millions of professional images from sites like:

iStock

shutterstock

BIGSTOCK We prefer BIGSTOCK for pricing

Use these! Stop skimping and trying to get by with photos from a five-megapixel camera. If your site looks cheap, your potential customers will know you’re cheap too. If you invest just $79.99 with BIGSTOCK, you get 50 professional grade images.

Use a Real Camera

I’m not suggesting you need to go out and purchase the latest Canon or Nikon for several thousand dollars, but some of our clients like to send us pictures they’ve taken using a smartphone with a cracked screen and a scratched lens. Just don’t. Really, it’s lame. Some of the high-end smartphones or even a $100 camera can take great pictures.

You’ll know if your photos were taken using a bad camera (or bad camera settings) when you blow up the picture on a computer screen and see that everything is pixelated. Pixelation makes photos look like the old 8-bit video games that were blocky around the edges. Always take the extra step to look at photos closely before trying to use them in a website.

Improve Your Photo Lighting

The largest difference between someone with an expensive camera and a professional commercial photographer is lighting. Without the funky umbrellas, reflectors, and light boxes, your images will be devoid of the kind of details required for a flagship image. If stock images do not suffice, hire a photographer that will capture unique images of your products, location, people and anything that matters.

If you insist on taking the pictures yourself, here are a few pointers:

I can’t believe I need to say this, but I see it all the time, don’t point your camera at the light source
Don’t take photos with a light behind the object so it creates a hard shadow directly in front of what you’re shooting
In fact, don’t use a super bright light that creates any hard shadows
The color of your bulbs will determine the color of your shot
Use multiple lights pointing from different angles to eliminate shadows and evenly light the object
If you’re serious, visit your local photography shop for pointers about lighting and how to properly diffuse it

Make Sure Your Photos are in Focus

People are way too excited about the photos they think are interesting and “artistic.” Any time I go to an art show, I’m shocked to see how many photographers are selling out-of-focus photos. They either took the photo from too far away using the wrong lens, or they just didn’t make the proper lens adjustments.

Some of the software in smartphones can help you cheat. If you’re using a high-end smartphone with a great camera, you can usually tap on the area of the screen you’d like to keep in focus and capture something decent. Again, double check the fine details by zooming in on the photo that was taken. Until you know things aren’t fuzzy, your work is not complete.

There’s no better example of the importance of focus than food shots. The details of the image below should make your mouth water.

Your Photo Composition is Terrible

What, in your opinion, makes for a great photo? That’s obviously a subjective question, but there are some basic rules to follow:

Clinical is old. Warm up and try to look human or people will find your competitor who already does.

Make sure people aren’t wearing a bunch of crazy patterns.

Don’t take pictures from far away. It increases the fuzz factor because you’re relying on zoom which can quickly degrade the photo. Accidental movement from far away makes photos ultra-fuzzy.

Keep the photo simple. Jamming as much as you can into a shot usually means you dilute the value of the most important part of the photo. If you do any research at all, you’ll find that the best ads, best photos, even the best graphic designs are super simple.

Some foods, like refried beans, look like crap. Seriously. Shit on a plate. You might serve them at your restaurant, but take photos of whole beans instead.

Consider your audience and what they want to feel when they look at your photos. If you have an amazing spa and you want people to feel warm, comfortable, and cozy, don’t put a picture of a big lotion bottle on your homepage.

Legal Concerns with Photos

Don’t ever use Google to find your images and assume you have a legal right to them. If you’re using photos without the right to do so, you’re placing yourself at significant legal risk. Copyright infringement for photos can be pretty serious and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in the most egregious instances.

There are ways to get around paying for images online, but the pickings are slim. Make sure the photos are available under a Creative Commons License. This isn’t full proof because someone can steal the photo, then post it online claiming creative commons licensing. That’s the risk you run for “free.”

Using photos of people that haven’t signed a photo release document is also a very bad idea. It may be a previous business partner, disgruntled employee, or even an estranged friend that decides to stick it to you with a lawsuit after a bitter breakup. Don’t ever use photos of people without written consent.

The Case for a Professional

Taking a timeless photo that can be leveraged for years to come requires know how, practice, and tons of shots at different angles with different lighting combinations. A commercial photographer has already done this many times over. They’ve been in the trenches taking photos of weird stuff like floors, medical equipment, uncooperative children and moving cars.

A true commercial photographer has studied and practices the science behind shutter speed, aperture, proper settings for various lenses, color temperature, light diffusion and myriad more technical factors that make a photo a photo. They also understand the convergence of digital and analog technologies and how they work in conjunction to capture something truly amazing.

If you’re on the fence about hiring a real photographer, consider what one of your photos would look like on a billboard. Would you spend thousands of dollars every month on a billboard using the image in mind? If not, don’t put it on your website, and pay an expert to get it right.

If you have some suggestions about helping people improve their photos, please share. We appreciate your input.

Three friends enjoying smartphone in a glasshouse cafe

As a business owner I am faced, almost on a daily basis, with the reality that we get by doing the least to get the most. When forced to choose which tasks to check off our list of to-dos, we shift other really important things to the backburner to make room for the things that seem critical. It’s a balancing act that somehow seems logical, but I know I’m not the only one that worries, “Gosh, I sure hope I’m doing the right thing.”

Most days I’m criticizing other peoples’ websites. Not in a negative way, but in a constructive way. I see a lot of really strange things. The things people decided to put on the backburner once upon a time. I talk to business owners and managers that despite their terrible website, lack of a real logo, horrible pictures and an overall ugly site are still overwhelmed with new and recurring business. These people very quickly try to shut me down because they hear the same tired approach to these businesses, “You don’t want more business with a better website?”

The response is usually, “I don’t give a $@&*!

Reason 1: A Website for Narrowing Your Market

In fact, there are some companies that need less business. I spoke with a gentlemen just the other day that doesn’t like his current website because it provides the general public too much access to his company’s information. He is hoping to eliminate consumer clients altogether and attract more commercial clients but his current website inhibits the ability to narrow his customer profile. If anything, he needs to turn his website into a pre qualification and client management tool where potential clients are vetted and only those with a username and password can gain full access.

There are other ways to maintain multiple customer profiles through access layers. One type of access would limit the customer experience whereas another access type would open up greater functionality and visibility into more data. This way you can control different customers in different ways.

Reason 2: A Website for Customer Service Management

Others I talk to need a website that functions not as a mere online presence, but as a tool for streamlining customer service. One of my new clients explained a tough situation where she is the point of contact for the service department at her company. She is accessible 24/7/365 via cell phone when customers need help. Can you imagine sitting down to open presents with your family Christmas morning- and the phone rings with a service call?!

A website can provide emergency customer service management without having to always answer a call. Customers can submit a form on the website to request service and multiple managers can receive an email notification. This way a joint decision can be made about who will solve the problem based on timing, regional constraints and other factors.

Reason 3: A Website for Recurring Orders Without Payment Processing

We have clients that only sell to other businesses. They want something with the look and feel of an ecommerce store without transaction processing capabilities. They don’t usually know how to articulate that what they’re needing is an ordering system. I highly recommend an ordering system for any company relying heavily on a team of people standing by the phone to take orders. It’s a waste of time and manpower that could be used on other revenue generating activities like marketing and sales.

An ordering system should include products that are purchased very regularly. It should be accessible using any device so clients can order as they please. Transitioning from a call system to an online system quickly makes loyal customers very happy.

Reason 4: A Website for Booking Meetings or Appointments

A digital calendar is a very important tool. If you’re a small business owner or manager that isn’t using a digital calendar, you are missing out on something that is super powerful and will radically change your life. As someone who is all over the place with meetings, appointments, photoshoots, lunches, games, concerts, etc., I can’t imagine not using one. It’s often difficult to change a habit like writing on a trusty sticky note or in a paper calendar, but if you’ve been relying on this antiquated method, you’ve likely already failed at executing some very important things. I don’t need to do much convincing.

With an online booking system, customers or potential customers can view your availabile times online and schedule an appointment without having to call or email. This is a particularly powerful tool for business models like salons, financial managers or on call services that rely heavily on gaining a commitment as quickly as possible. When someone books the appointment online, you can sync it with your calendar for fast, simple integration across multiple devices.

Reason 5: A Website to Limit Social Media Redundancy

Another good example is something like Facebook integration. Many people are wasting far too much time posting all the same exact information to their website that they’ve already posted to social media. There are tools that can be linked to your website so that a post to social media automagically shows up on your site as well.

If you are someone who doesn’t care that their website is broken and useless, take a second look at the technology that can be integrated as part of your site to make life easier or provide a better customer experience. You may be making money hand over fist and losing it just as quickly through inefficiencies.

How Do I Modernize My Website? Part 1 of 5: Website Photos