The gist of this website project:
This client had one of those cases where their site needed to convey a lot. There were (are) so many treatment options for potential clients, it’s hard to know where to start. The content was expansive. It needed to be organized, and easy to navigate.
I worked to create a whole new concept for their Surrey web design and development project. We threw out the ‘old’ and started fresh. I encouraged the client to think beyond what competitors were doing, and to be the one they wanted to copy, instead of the other way around.
The result was an updated website that helped to itemize their service offerings into fewer ‘major’ categories. From there, the idea was that users could navigate downward to find the service they wanted.
The other major issue that their old site had, which we wanted to solve, was that their size and calibre were not coming through. When we saw what their medical laser clinic looked like, we were amazed. No one would have known how ‘high end’ this family practice was by looking at their old website alone. That definitely had to be addressed in a new web design.
The client wanted to do their own content and updates. So, we made them a website they could use with a content management system in WordPress. This would also help their SEO (and they told me they got more inquiries after we launched, too!).
In a way, this was a simple website redesign for a Surrey, B.C. business. But in another way, it was set up to let the client ‘grow’ with their website over the years.
And, that’s exactly what we did. We continued to add new features to this site, to help explain the services better and better.
Click one of the images to open up a slideshow!
Creating a website to showcase a plethora of cosmetic services, with organized content and a branded design
When this client first found me on the web, they didn’t just have an old website. They had a website that needed to better showcase the services, and in a logical way. Their old site was basically using very simple lists to explain what they did. It didn’t do a lot to sell this company.
Later, I learned that they were a lot bigger, and more prestigious, than anything their old website was conveying. They were a doctor-led clinic, with several qualifications in their field. They had a large operating space, and the latest technologies when it came to lasers and other medical cosmetic tools. They could do a lot – from wrinkle treatments, to fat removal, hair removal, and more.
The problem is, since they had SO much to offer, and each offering could treat a variety of conditions, it was hard to figure out how to ‘think’ about the organization of this website. It was like there were too many options, which could cause ‘analysis paralysis,’ if you know what I mean. Decision fatigue, or the feeling of being ‘lost’ and not knowing where to start.
So, one order of business to take care of, after being hired as their web developer and design service provider, was to make it easier for site visitors to understand their offerings. I did this by limiting their services into 6 major categories, right on the home page. That was a start.
Later, I helped this client divide their menu so that a clear segmentation could be made between the conditions they could treat, and the technologies they offered. There was a lot of overlap on their existing pages. It was hard to tell if a page was about a condition, or a treatment option. And that was understandable – some treatments applied to multiple conditions, and conditions had multiple treatments. So, the new ‘streams’ would help to clear that up. It would also help with SEO optimization; by keeping pages about one topic each, we could better optimize for related keywords, and then interlink these relationships between topics.
This client had previously signed up for heat map tracking. By taking a look at that data, we noticed which pages were getting a lot of action. That indicated the information people really wanted to know. So, we displayed links to that information more prominently in the header.
Of course, in this business, the ‘sale’ is made when people ‘get in the door.’ The client needed people to call in, book an appointment, and visit them in person. From there, they could do the rest to turn these sales leads into customers. For that reason, it was crucial to have the phone number displayed largely in the header of every page, and to make contact info easily available. Their location was important too – so we put a map of their address in the footer.
Knowing that calls-to-action work, and getting someone to contact them was front-and-center as a website goal, I also included contact forms on every page. This was to make it easy for people to book a consultation, as soon as they were convinced by what they were reading. On every page, the goal was being targeted.
On the aesthetic side, I hired a web designer after coming up with a wireframe and content plan for her to follow. We helped this client by matching up their in-office brand colours and marketing materials to the new website design. The greens, brown-grey and gold-yellow were incorporated, along with a modern, sans-serif font scheme and a floral patterned background, for a little ‘spice’ of elegance.
In the years to follow, this client also requested new features, which we implemented as add-ons to the site design. For example, a new section on the home page to showcase a featured treatment they were offering. It had a video, convincing description and call-to-action button. We also created custom fields for the client’s treatment pages. This would help them easily enter info that people often wanted to know off-the-bat. For example, the side effects, the costs, the treatment plans, and so on. The fields would be a summary of the fuller explanations lower on the page.
To help with site speed, we also eventually got rid of a testimonial slider. Instead, we re-purposed the area on the homepage to tell people about the company’s advanced technologies.
This is all to say that, the web design and development of the site was able to evolve and adapt to the client’s needs over time. And, it still does!
Features of this local, cosmetic company website:
- Responsive web design and development in WordPress, using the Genesis Framework.
- Integrated colour palette to match the client’s existing branding material and interior office tones.
- Photography selection and formatting.
- Calls to action with custom-designed forms and a large phone number to increase conversions.
- Content organization by an examination of service offerings and heat map data.
- Home page video embed feature to introduce the clinic and convey its calibre.
- Large home page imagery to showcase the high-end interior of the clinic, helping users understand the quality of the brand.
- Newsletter sign-up form and location information included in the footer of all pages.
- Custom fields integration with a custom post type to showcase treatment technologies, and summary information, with icons.
- Widgetized home page, with a feature treatment section, including room for a video, a short summary checklist, and a call to action.
- Blog integration and categorization (part of WordPress).
Accolades from the client
Joyce is a great WordPress developer…. We will continue to use her as our SEO WordPress developer for our site. I can recommend that she is honest and trustworthy.
She is timely and takes time to understand your needs and has a focus on details on the site and to the look and feel of the site as if it was her own business whilst listening to the owners.
-Priti Shah, Clinic Director at BC Laser and Skin Care
Other work done for this client
This client hires me for ongoing maintenance, development and updates to their site (both for software and content). I also work with them on SEO and an ongoing copywriting project.