Web Site Cleanup Services: Before/After Case Study
Equine TLC Care, Inc.
EquineTlCcare.com is a Maryland-based business that cleans, repairs, and repurposes horse blankets. It is located in an area densely populated with horses and horse enthusiasts, and so the business is booming.
The owner originally purchased a do-it-yourself template plan with Godaddy. The results are on the left hand side, above (click to see a larger image). Problems?
You bet there were problems.
- Indiscriminate use of multiple font sizes, colors, and faces. Godaddy generated these into <font> tags which are deprecated (no longer in use by web standards).
- No navigation system
- Extremely long, unwieldy page (user had to scroll down 4-5 times to see the entire content)
- No visual organization of pertinent information.
- Current sales mixed with discounts, mixed with repair prices, mixed with new services - really difficult to find what you're looking for.
- Printable PDF for drop off form for blankets - double column and aligned sideways. The customer could not fill out the form online, but had to print it, fill it out by hand, and then use scissors to cut the form in half.
What's better now?
- Clear navigation system at the top of the page
- Content sections visually spaced out and titled appropriately
- Primary content visible "above the fold" - need to only scroll once to view entire contents of home page
- Separate printable page for directions
- New PDF generated with computer fill-in capability
- Logo sized down and optimized for fast loading
- Standard set of font colors, sizes, and face established
- A central style sheet governs the entire look/feel of the site
- A new 'favicon' (small icon that appears on the right side of the address or in the tab visually identifying the web site)
- The code is clean and validates according to W3C
- It's more appealing to the eye!