Maybe Your Website Doesn't Need a Redesign

I've written about a lot of redesigns here. Often, someone comes to me with a website that isn't performing well, and it's clear that there are usability issues, major design issues, obsolete coding, or other issues that mean that a complete redesign is the best option.

Not always.

Appsolute Media's Kosher Cookbook for the iPhone had a website that didn't have the allure their app deserves. You can see, looking at the "before" picture below, that it had no clear call to action, and in fact that it was hard to tell what they were selling. In tests, visitors were confused and didn't explore the site.



The "after" shot at the top of the page is the same design, and uses the same basic navigation, but it's enormously more effective. The change was in the content.

I rewrote their main points in a way more suited to the web, we changed out the images for some that made the nature of the product clearer, and it's a complete transformation -- with content changes only.

When this works, it's an economical approach -- a few hours instead of a dozen or more. If you're saving up for a redesign, consider whether a content-only makeover might do the trick.

Labels: budget, web content