As web designers and SEO experts, we cannot overemphasize the importance for actual content on your site. Websites overflowing with videos, pictures or flash design often times look impressive but do nothing as it relates to generating traffic as the reality is that most Flash content on your site is barely seen by search engines and is actively blocked for mobile browsers. Signature Literary Agency based in New York, NY and Washington, DC, operated with a website that entire foundation was centered on Flash making it all but invisible to search engines and their robots.
The Old Site
Although it was elegantly styled with Flash from a design by Cynthia Frank Design, signaturelit.com was suffering from lack of textual content. The Washington DC based agency boasted a website that was verbose, void of SEO, and overly relied on Flash animations. Matters were made worse when it was discovered that the website was incompatible with mobile browsers since Flash is not supported.
The New Site
Simple, structured and elegant – these were the essentials Woodall Design wanted to accomplish. Our client’s request included staying close to the original design of a white theme with minimal design elements and focus on the content that they wanted to deliver to their visitors. The Woodall Design team worked with Cynthia Frank and opted for a three column layout with a left sidebar widget and a right navigation column. We devoted the left sidebar for displaying the three founding member’s snapshots that open up to a bio page for each person. Additionally, the navigation panel is packed into rectangular boxes with a bottom custom border.
Here’s a deeper look into what was accomplished:
- Responsive Design – In other words, we made sure the website maintains its integrity, layout and simple design irrespective of the browser size or the device used to view it. Completely mobile friendly, the website automatically readjusts as per the screen space available with the sidebars and navigation menus rearranging to ensure the body of the website is always visible.
- Modern Design – The website design primarily focuses on SEO compatibility rather than user interface. Search engines will find signaturelit.com an easy site to read and therefore rank targeted keywords seamlessly.
- Custom Agent Sections – Each agent gets his/her own section with a display of their portfolio and bio. The client can now manage this section without the need of a website designer.
- News Section – To broadcast news, internal policy changes, blog posts, latest published works by their authors we added a separate section to the website calling it “Latest News”, easily accessible through the left navigation panel.
- Custom Border – A bottom border was made for the website, which now separates every section from each other as well as being prominent under the website logo in the header section.
Existing websites usually involve minimum hassle. Generally it is a simple matter of creating the template or using an existing one in the arsenal and crafting it to suit the needs of the client. However, Signature Literary Agency presented a unique challenge with the Flash-based online presence, meaning it was devoid of reusable content. Migrating content that was Flash-oriented while observing time constraints was an uphill task but the real challenge was ensuring that the simplicity of the new site did not detract from company’s allure. We also managed to incorporate simple animations for many elements of the site that enhanced the elegance of the theme design without being distracting.
