Expressly-Yours Yearbooks teams up with Michel Godts for a picture-perfect website redesign

Posted 09/10/2007 in: Case studies | 0 Comment | Permalink

Five years ago, veteran printing company Express Press got a call from a school asking if they printed yearbooks. Soon after, Expressly-Yours Yearbooks was launched. They decided they wanted to market entirely online, so they created a website. The business grew. The message changed over time. And as time went on, the information on the site became dated, sometimes confusing, and in some areas, it had lost its focus.

Redesign for ease-of-use and search engine optimization

David Clar, President of Expressly-Yours, recognized the need for a website redesign. With the website at the core of Expressly-Yours’ marketing and communication strategy, it is critical that it:

• Makes it easy for people to use the site and find the information they need.
• Supports online and direct mail marketing campaigns, as well as search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
• Communicates better with the audience through current and relevant imagery.
• Reflects the quality and professionalism of his company’s work.

Working successfully as a team

Finding someone to redesign the site proved tedious. After reviewing literally over 100 designer websites, David narrowed it down to four to interview—even though he already felt that Michel’s site clearly stood out from the others. He provided everyone a site map for estimating purposes. Only Michel dared to question it and its base assumptions, pointing out the importance of the user’s perspective and their experience on the site.

“I really appreciated Michel’s candor. He was utterly professional and brought truly creative solutions and ideas to the table. I felt like he was 100% right every time,” said David.

From the beginning, Michel emphasized the user experience and perspective—from site organization to copy to imagery. To understand the market and the user better, Michel spent some time researching Expressly-Yours competitors. The results of the research, reflected in the organization of the new site, not only changed Expressly-Yours sales and marketing strategy, it also helped them to clarify and simplify how they talk about their services. In some cases, adding better imagery and illustration and combining information about processes helped people to visualize their options better.

In addition, Michel worked closely with their in-house writer to make sure the copy was web friendly. He emphasized needing copy written specifically for their audience of yearbook advisors at primary, secondary and private schools with very little knowledge of the printing industry.

Keeping in mind how critical SEO is to Expressly-Yours’ marketing efforts, he consulted with their SEO firm, Enterprise Design, to find out exactly what they needed to ensure the site fully supported their SEO efforts. Michel art-directed the writer to provide keyword-rich copy with strong headlines, subheads, and a good use of bullets to highlight links across pages. Frank Herkimer of Enterprise Design said, “The pages were so well-themed that it created a nice blank canvas for the SEO work I do. The internal linking structure was solid. I’ve never had a site delivered to me so well.”

David felt, “The process worked smoothly. I could tell that Michel really took ownership of the project, and am really happy he’s on our team.”

Positive experience, positive results

Though the redesigned site has only been live a short time, the feedback has been very positive. Expressly-Yours Yearbooks is sending out a direct mailing (also designed by Michel) announcing the launch of the new site and a laptop giveaway for a quote request. They anticipate solid results.

“The entire project took about six weeks and was delivered right on time. It was such a great experience from start to finish that I plan to use Michel for our other websites,” said David.

For more information

• Expressly-Yours Yearbooks: printing of yearbooks for schools, organizations,
  clubs, and teams
• Enterprise Design: search engine optimization
• Michel Godts eDesign: website design and consulting

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