by David Brown
Certified Content Marketer
Logion Web Design
Certified Content Marketer
Logion Web Design
It All Started with a
Google Search
When Linda Springstead, owner-director of Dancewell Ballroom, searched online for a Portland webmaster, she found me at the top of her Google search and contacted me about Internet marketing.
After some discussion, we decided that her ballroom dancing website needed a major makeover to increase traffic; and the site needed to be more engaging in order to convert visitors once they arrived.
On her existing site, some pages were not accessible from the navigation menu, and it lacked a best standards approach to integrate design with functionality and user-friendly navigation.
When Linda Springstead, owner-director of Dancewell Ballroom, searched online for a Portland webmaster, she found me at the top of her Google search and contacted me about Internet marketing.
After some discussion, we decided that her ballroom dancing website needed a major makeover to increase traffic; and the site needed to be more engaging in order to convert visitors once they arrived.
On her existing site, some pages were not accessible from the navigation menu, and it lacked a best standards approach to integrate design with functionality and user-friendly navigation.
Although Linda was on a tight budget, we worked out a fair
pricing structure for a custom site, and then an ongoing monthly retainer for
Internet marketing.
Best Usability for
the Dancewell Ballroom Logo
Usability studies have shown that most people scan and read web pages in a pattern of the letter ‘F’: starting in the upper left corner, then across and back, down and then across again, then down. So, the best placement for a logo is in the upper left corner of the page, and we made sure to place Dancewell’s logo in the top left of their site. Next to the logo we created a banner for the header area with a stunning Tango couple and Portland at night in the background. The tall buildings interfered with the logo area so we reversed the image to move the buildings to the right. If anyone notices, we advised our client to say that Dancewell Ballroom is turning Portland around with its dance programs.
Usability studies have shown that most people scan and read web pages in a pattern of the letter ‘F’: starting in the upper left corner, then across and back, down and then across again, then down. So, the best placement for a logo is in the upper left corner of the page, and we made sure to place Dancewell’s logo in the top left of their site. Next to the logo we created a banner for the header area with a stunning Tango couple and Portland at night in the background. The tall buildings interfered with the logo area so we reversed the image to move the buildings to the right. If anyone notices, we advised our client to say that Dancewell Ballroom is turning Portland around with its dance programs.
Before and After
The photos below show before and after screenshots of the website. Below the header is a personal greeting with Linda's photo that always has a current date above it, a Facebook widget for updates of dance events, and four featured categories that are the most used by new site visitors: Getting Started, Calendar, Group Classes, and Private Lessons.
The photos below show before and after screenshots of the website. Below the header is a personal greeting with Linda's photo that always has a current date above it, a Facebook widget for updates of dance events, and four featured categories that are the most used by new site visitors: Getting Started, Calendar, Group Classes, and Private Lessons.
The navigation makes extensive use of the drop-down feature,
allowing for a build out of web pages to address all of the relevant areas of
information including dance styles and videos, what to expect in a group class,
beginners information, and a calendar of dance events and classes.
www.DancewellBallroom.com
Increased Web Traffic
www.DancewellBallroom.com
Increased Web Traffic
Dancewell Ballroom now is at the top of Google search
results for major dance keywords in local search, and the number of site
visitors to Linda’s blog has exceeded 11,000 in the past year. When they added
a new location for the majority of
classes, we started and are continuing a focused campaign to ensure that Google
knows about the address change. In addition to making the changes on the website,
Google Places, and Google Plus, we also made sure that the footer of every page
had a schema, or rich snippets, with the new address change.
Authored by
David Brown
David Brown is a Certified Content Marketer and an award winning Internet marketing consultant. As owner of Logion Web Design, he has been in the SEO and content marketing industry since 1999. He is the sole author and publisher of this blog, Likes, Tweets and SEO, and also is the owner of Dentist Webmaster LLC, launched in 2013. He offers consulting and is accepting qualified accounts for monthly advanced SEO and content marketing services.
Subscribe to this blog in the widget top right, to be sure that you receive the next post by email or RSS.
David Brown
David Brown is a Certified Content Marketer and an award winning Internet marketing consultant. As owner of Logion Web Design, he has been in the SEO and content marketing industry since 1999. He is the sole author and publisher of this blog, Likes, Tweets and SEO, and also is the owner of Dentist Webmaster LLC, launched in 2013. He offers consulting and is accepting qualified accounts for monthly advanced SEO and content marketing services.
Subscribe to this blog in the widget top right, to be sure that you receive the next post by email or RSS.