Website redesign or website makeover always get me excited. Who doesn't love the transformation and the Before vs the After right? And what's more exciting is this time it's for a very talented interior desiginer of www.NikoleStarrInteriors.com. Every interior designer needs an effective website to showcase their amazing designs so they can bring in more clients and transform more beautiful spaces.
If you look at my portfolio, you see that I've designed various types of websites/industries and it is very diverse. I have yet to niche down because I want to explore and see which industry I want to serve and have the most fun with.
Last year, I really..really..really wanted to design a webstie for an interior designer. I dreamed, I prayed and manifested. So when Nikole reached out, I was OVER THE MOON and felt honored. Her design portfolio is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous, luxurious, bold yet elegant. I couldn't wait to help her take her website to the next level and impress her prospects!
If I compare this project to a home makeover, I can say that the transformation is from floor to ceiling.
We started off by identifying her brand colors, the look and feel, challenges that she's facing with client's communications, what pieces to automate, what content to create, website structure, keywords she wanted to be known for and much more.
For her brand colors: we went with Atlantic Blue which is her brand signature color, Heather Gray and White to give a light, clean look and feel.
Before we see the transformation and the After, let's look at the Before. When Nikole started her business, she created the website by herself but it's hard to spend time to maintain as her interior design business grew. She spent more time at clients' locations and got busy designing homes. In the meantime, her website needed to have her portfolio updated. At first she was going to redesign her Portofolio but after she saw the transformation of that page, she decided to give a full website makeover a go!
You see, her Before version isn't bad but can it be better? Absolutely yes. There were many things missing. We added many pages that were not there before to provide a better user experience. There's definitely a LOT of work/communcations between Nikole and I to keep track, asking questions, getting content for each page but trust me it's so worth it.
The first thing we did was tackling - the Portofolio section.
Portofolio:
With interior design websites, portofolio is like the heart/soul/front door of your business.There was something I found to be an area of concern. The list of project was very long which could make it difficult for her website visitors to navigate especially on a mobile view.
We decided to clean up this area and keep this area tidy in order to add more breathtakingly gorgeous interior design projects in the near fuure. Nikole also wanted to remove some very old projects so we retired those, renamed projects, set up 301 redirects, created a main Portofolio area and subpages for each project.
My thought behind the design of this page is I wanted to create a WOW factor when someone landed on this page. Her portfolio was the place where people get to see her style. Instead of showing photos of the projects alone, I chose the photo of her sitting at a desk in one of the room she designed. That's a powerful shot!
The rest of the page features her most recent work. I added the hovering effect that shows 2 different rooms from the same project to make it fun and interactive (click play to see this page in action).
Contact:
The Contact page on most website is underutilized and that is something most people don't even realize.
If asking the right questions, your contact page can be SO VALUABLE, effective and possibly reduce a chance of getting spammy emails or prospects who aren't serious about your services. Wait! What??
Most of us simply put a contact form on the websites. While it may work well for some, it can do so much more IF you strategically plan what information you want people to provide. This will not only save time but also avoid the back and forth. You have the info you need upfront and have a better understanding of what your prospects want, it can help you better prepare for your client calls or screen those who aren't qualifed or not a good fit for your business.
So on Nikole Starr Interriors' Contact page, we ditched the old form and replaced with a more specific list of questions pertaining to the type of project that her clients need help with. This also helped Nikole save time to get all the neccessary information for the Discovery Call.
When her prospects click a "Submit" button, they will be directed to another page to let them know what to expect next (which also saved her time from having to reply to each individual email to let them know what's next).
About:
The face behind every small business matters. If you're comfortable, I HIGHLY..HIGHLY..HIGHLY recommend every small business to put their face with the name.
The About section is where you can share so many different things with your audiences. From what inspired you to start your business, your journey, your passion, awards, your dreams, goals and all. Don't limit yourself to just one thing.
The About section is the place to share your story and connect with your website visitors in a more inimate way.
Services, FAQ, Consultation and Our Process:
The clearer the information you provide, the more clarity your prospects will have about what you have to offer which potentially helps them make a decision quicker.
Have you ever seen websites that provide such thorough, detailed information and have ALL of the answers to your questions? Doesn't that make your life a lot easier?
Now think about the time when you read something and the website barely has any info and you have to contact them, once..twice or more to finally have the info you need to make a decision?
From a business owner's perspective, as much as I love communicating with my prospects and clients. That isn't very productive to have to answer the same questions over and over and over. From a client's prospective, I want to have enough information to make a good decision right here and right now!
With Nikole's beautiful interior design work and her talents, I had no doubt that there's a list of clients and prospects want to have her transform their spaces. Hence she got many..many inquiries about her services and how it worked. We can just copy and paste the same information to the email but what if there's a more productive way to do so?
Also, don't be afraid to say who is a good fit for your service and who is not. By the end of the day, we know not every client/customer is a match so it's okay to make it clear upfront.
List everything that your prospects and clients want to know on the website so they get all the answers they need.
I won't lie, this is a LOT of work that we all dread. Who would have the time to sit down and work on such content. Perhaps after having to answer the same questions for months and years, it's time ;)
Testimonials:
Let me tell you that social proof never fails! We rely more and more on reviews this day and age. It's hard to go out and purchase something without reading product or service reviews. Let your happy clients shout from the rooftop to let the world know how amazing your business is.
Why don't you let your happy clients share their amazing experience and help bring in more amazing clients to your business?
Nikole Starr Interiors and her team have done amazing jobs over the years and her clients are such great testaments of her design talents and work ethics.
My thought behind the design of her Testimonials section is that I want to feature her project AND her clients' experience side by side. People can relate and reasonate in so many ways. Some prospects may be in the same situation as her clients when it comes to finding an interior designer that they can trust who has a sense of style that they like.
Now are you ready to see Nikole's full website transformation? It's live over at www.nikolestarrinteriors.com. I can't wait for you to check it out. If you're an interior designer looking to have a website built or transformed, I'm up to the challenges. It would be an absolute honor to bring your style and vision to the world :) Thank you for reading.
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