Looking at the homepage of Business Valuation Resources' shiny new website—a winner of a 2017 SIPAward for Best New or Relaunched Website—it reminds me of Dan Hanover's advice from marketing Access Intelligence's EventTech Conference.

He said that when they went from a copy-filled event homepage to one with impactful photos and the words, "Ready. Set. Register." in big letters, registration went way up.

Similarly, BVR went from a copy-dominated homepage where your eyes weren't quite sure where to go, to a colorful, screen-filling photo of people at work with these big words in the middle:

An easy-to-see Learn More box sits just underneath. Two alternate homepages offer similar looks with the headlines, "Business Intelligence at Your Fingertips. See how BVR can help" and "See what's trending in Economic Damages and Lost Profits."

The results? After about six months, they saw: a 29% increase in organic traffic; a 38% increase in website visits from people in other countries (helpful for their global initiative); a 20% rise in people visiting through keywords; and an 800% increase in demo requests!

Of course, there's more to BVR's increased interaction than a better homepage. Other improvements include:

• A new "Mega Menu Navigation" page that provides a clear list of topics for their audience, and allows the opportunity to upsell products with ads, buttons, etc. 

• A much improved Product Purchase Page. Again, the previous one was dominated by type with a small image of the product. The new page showcases a much larger image of the product with clearer copy and a much more distinct ADD TO CART box.
   
• A new comprehensive footer. (They did not have one before.) The headings include: Our Product Catalog (see the photo here); Free Resources; Who We Serve; About BVR; and Contact Us.
   
• A central "My BVR" page where subscribers can access all of their subscriptions in one place.
   
• Topical areas of interest so customers/prospects can easily find all of the resources they need on a specific area of interest in one place.
   
• Several blogs and ezines were folded into the new site. Previously, they appeared on separate WordPress sites.
   
• A quick and easy sign-up on the homepage: "Yes! I'd like to subscribe to the following ezines to guarantee I am current with the latest happenings in the BV profession."
   
• Up-to-date listings of Upcoming Training events and Latest News. If a company is going to have these listings, it's important that they are continually added to and updated.
   
• A true CMS allowing for timely and quick updates by their internal marketing team.

"[After] nine months, endless meetings and numerous Red Booth project plans, we successfully launched our new site," wrote Ronnie Nelson, BVR's senior marketing manager. "We were able to address our longstanding challenges and embrace modern web technology.

"We implemented an-easy-to-navigate 'mega menu' so we could include ads and optimize lead generation content. We built out the footer so that visitors could quickly find what they wanted. And, one of the most exciting additions is the 'My BVR' feature that at last puts customer's products all in one place, without logging into multiple sites."

Are you subscribed to the SIPAlert Daily?
If not, you're missing out on daily strategies, tips, profiles and case studies that can build your audience and increase revenue. To sign up, please contact Nevena Jovanovic.

Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 and SIIA in 2013 as editorial director…