A New Website—or Maybe Just a Makeover

Are you tired of your dated website but not up to creating a new one? 

There may be a workaround

If your site was built in WordPress, in many cases we can apply a new design theme to achieve a complete transformation. I’m working on one of these projects now, and it’s a remarkably easy solution that dramatically extends a website’s shelf life. Rather than a new website, maybe just a makeover would be the right solution for you. 

My client is a small CPA firm with some specialties—that are not getting promoted

Their site is nearly eight years old. While the new theme is a significant improvement, there remains the matter of new content, images and improved navigation. In the last few years, new partners with unique specialties have joined the firm and it’s time to promote their expertise.

• Besides being a CPA, “John” has a real estate background, does appraisals and works with industry clients to put financial systems into place. Having been a real estate agent, he knows that financials can be somewhat chaotic for real estate industry professionals. 
• “Sarah” is doing some work as an outsourced CFO. She’s working with several of her clients to take a more strategic role. She works closely with the firms’ bookkeepers for day-to-day accounting, which frees her up to take on a more strategic role. Sarah is doing forecasting, putting financial systems in place, analyzing cash flow and taxes. It’s a win-win for clients and Sarah—tax season is relatively stress-free.
• One of the partners has a Ph.D. in taxation and years of experience. He also teaches a class at UCBerkeley. Time to promote this guy! 

Their old site was not showcasing their skills or expertise

My clients launched their site without a thought to SEO or attracting new clients. Like many of us, they were delighted to have it finished! But they know they’ve been missing opportunities. We: 

• Identified lively new images that are representative of their typical clients, and we updated the homepage slider, adding visual appeal and energy to their site.
• Rewrote their bios to showcase their wide range of experience. One partner works with international clients to keep them in compliance with US tax laws. 
• Developed case studies that showcase how they work with their clients. Working with a CPA can be intimidating. People want to know about timing, the process, what they need to bring to their first meeting. They want to know about confidentiality. 
• Updated the testimonial page so endorsements are fully fleshed out.
• Turned the business name into a logo and tagline with use of a more stylish font. It has more marketing presence now.
• Fleshed out the Yoast plugin on the backend to improve SEO.
• Added calls to action, making it easy for a user to contact them for more information.

A series of incremental changes contributed to an important website makeover

If your site is dated and not generating leads, rather than starting from scratch with a whole new site, think of a makeover. This might be a solution for you. 

Contact us at Top of Mind Marketing. We’re writers and internet marketing experts. 

Dated Website? Consider a Facelift

As websites have moved toward responsive design, many of my clients are confronting the harsh realities of creating new websites. In many cases, these sites have content that is no longer representative of their businesses. Their images are irrelevant, often small thumbnails, the navigation clumsy. But starting from scratch and building a new website is always a major initiative; it can be expensive and time-consuming.

Happily, there may be a relatively simple solution

If your site was built in WordPress, in many cases we can simply apply a new design template to the existing site that can achieve a complete transformation. I just finished a project that included this kind of facelift, giving a website a new lease on life and dramatically extending its shelf life.

The client is a husband-and-wife team of smart, savvy business brokers with 50+ years of collective industry experience and a high customer-service ethic. They had a canned website—the vendor provides content and infrastructure, but gives them a lot of latitude for customization. The content feed is very good, but my clients have never taken advantage of it (the last post was in 2013) or done much customization.

Their old site was becoming a liability

My clients are not marketing people, and they launched their site without really giving much thought to SEO, their marketing presence or how the site would look to a prospective client. They were relieved to get the site launched and be able to put their business broker hats back on. 

But now they recognized that their site was becoming a liability; they were missing opportunities to generate new leads, and they asked me to help them update it. This was a simple project, and happily, some easy changes have made a dramatic difference. It showcases my clients as industry experts, has good navigation and increased SEO value.

We made changes that help showcase their industry expertise

• Identified lively new images that are representative of their potential clients and updated the homepage slider, adding visual appeal and energy to their site.
• Rewrote their bios to showcase their wide range of experience, using their keywords throughout.
• Developed case studies that showcase my clients’ high level of customer service and expertise negotiating leases, dealing with government agencies, performing market analyses and business valuations.
• Updated testimonial page so endorsements are fully fleshed out and attractively displayed on the page.
• Turned name of company into a logo/tagline with use of a more stylish font, creating a more distinctive marketing presence.
• Fleshed out Yoast plugin on backend to increase SEO value.
• Added calls to action on all of their personal pages, making it easy for a user to contact them for more information.

None of these efforts by itself was complex, difficult or time-consuming, but collectively, they helped update a website that was uncompetitive. If your sit is not generating leads, rather than a whole new site, this kind of makeover might be a solution for you. 

Contact us at Top of Mind Marketing. We’re SEO and content marketing experts.