After having the same look and feel of our company site for about 2 years, I thought it was time for a fresh look.  The content and organization did not need to change a ton but I did have some good ideas to make better use of the space and provide a better user experience for visitors.

A few quick stats in the last month since the redesign…

Pageviews: +40.26%
Pages/Visit: +33.64%
Bounce Rate:  -50.51%
Average Time on Site:  +24.82

These stats are not skewed by anything since I haven’t written any blog posts, launched any sites, or had any other new links since the previous month.  These are based on average traffic.

BEFORE

AFTER

Some of the noticeable changes are

• 12 column grid based design
• Minimalistic look
• Enhanced navigation with subtle jQuery animation (with graceful degradation in IE7 and IE6)
• Current page indicator
• Info heavy footer (with contact and email newsletter signup forms)
• Removal of external links to recent projects
• Moved testimonials to About page sidebar
• Removed list of services

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After seeing Panic’s status board, I couldn’t help myself.  This was such a fantastic idea that I had to create one for CWS headquarters.  I knew that we probably wouldn’t have enough data to do anything nearly as informative as Panic’s but I still had a handful of things that would make my life a ton easier to see on 1 window.  This resides on a 24″ Acer LCD above my dual monitor setup.

Using the amazing project management platform, 5PM, I was able to pull all sorts of information necessary to create our project management status board pieces.  I love seeing when my people add a new progress note or if the “Other CWS Tasks” list gets cut in half.  I know stuff is being accomplished.

CWS Status Board Items

• Tasks assigned to me (via 5PM)
• Tasks assigned to others (via 5pm)
• Progress bars for tasks (via 5pm)
• Events in the next 7 days (via Google Calendar)
• Current time since we don’t have a clock (PHP)
• Current weather and tomorrow’s forecast (Yahoo Weather)
• RSS feeds for Digg, Lifehacker,  Smashing Mag, and Web Designer Depot (probably counter-productive)

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So after reading a few articles on Google’s Website Optimizer tool I thought I would do a little test with the CWS site.  Basically the website optimizer allows users to run A/B or multi-variant tests.  I won’t go into A/B (split) testing or multi-variant tests but I thought I would try 3 variations on text in a call-to-action button to see which one generated the most click-throughs.

The set up process took about 30 minutes to create the new buttons, pages, and inserting the necessary javascript code.  You install 1 piece of javascript in the original  and then another piece in the variations.  The 3 variations are below.

And now the results after letting it run for a few weeks.

As you can see the 2 variations have both outperformed the original at this time.  This simple test shows how useful this free service can be.  It will prove invaluable when testing call-to-action buttons, text, placement, forms, and just about anything else you can test.

This won’t be for everybody but for those that understand it, it can be another powerful weapon to greatly improve click-throughs and conversions.

I will probably let the test run a few more…

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Some time over the last week Connected Web Solutions officially turned three years old.  In these 3 years we’ve seen

• Countless (re)designs and apps developed
• Our first official product, alumLINK
• Clients have come and gone (I guess you can’t keep them all)
• The business has changed locations twice
• Worked in Costa Rica for a month (see www.mymovableoffice.com)
• A company car
• Annually increasing revenue, profits, and expenses (I guess the last is inevitable)
• A larger team
• And loads more but these are all that come to mind right now…

These 3 years have been a great learning experience not just in terms of web design and development but also in business and life.  I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all the clients and people that have worked with us in these three years.  Let’s hope the next 3 are just as exciting and successful!

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”

Leonardo da Vinci

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I am very proud to announce that we released our first official product on Monday this week.  alumLINK is an alumni networking and management app aimed at affinity groups.  I am in no way trying to compete with the big boys (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc) but trying to provide a way for alumni from a specific group to network easily without all that social network “noise” you see with them.  I know you can create Facebook or LinkedIn groups but I feel like this is overkill for the niche I am trying to reach.  Each instance of alumLINK is secure to its own group or team (unless customized otherwise upon installation).

3 years ago when starting the company I saw the need for this kind of product.  We had no good way of communicating with all the soccer alumni that went through my school.  We always thought it would be nice to have a way to communicate with all of them and provide job opportunities and a way to mentor the younger alumni or even current students.  alumLINK now makes this possible.…

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