As the saying goes, “the shoe-maker’s children always go barefoot”. So it is with websites. We have been so busy growing our business, that we have not had time to substantially update our own site in a very long time.

In an attempt to bring it kicking and screaming into the 21st century we have redesigned the page shell and paid much more attention to the visual subtleties of the page. Our goal was to create a clean and professional look that would reflect well on us, as well as to subtly control the focus of each page so that the visitor’s attention is drawn to the right parts of it.

We think we have succeeded on both fronts.

Here is our original homepage…

Its purpose is to get the visitor to click on one of the four distinct choices represented by the large blue medallions, or as a back-up to click the long light-blue button below them.

Unfortunately, the visual focus of the page is thrown off by the orange landing page optimization book cover near the upper right, as well as the strong full-color client logos near the bottom of the page (see the AttentionWizard heatmap below).

The new page shell follows more modern design conventions. It is fixed width (which allows for better control of the exact spacial relationship among page elements), and is centered against a more muted background color.

The content and organization of the page is essentially unchanged. The same four choices and back-up button are the intended conversion actions. But in the newly redesigned page shell the more subtle presentation of client logos and the removal of the book cover help keep the focus on exactly the right page elements.

Your feedback (good, bad, or indifferent) is welcome.