The New RedFly Marketing Site Design - What Do You Think?
We have been working on our new design for literally months now. With an abundance of new clients it was always given low priority and ended up at the end of the pile.
The new site is now 100% completely Wordpress. All pages, blog posts and forms now only use the Wordpress page templating system and backend. Who says you cannot get Wordpress to look … not like Wordpress? The redesign was done as a result of tests using the fantastic session recording software Clicktale.
The site is only in phase one of release and there will be some teething issues. If you notice anything let us know. Thanks to Darren and Jeremy for sending us all the “just do it” message and kicking us into gear. Special thanks to Arnold and Calin who have worked tirelessly on the new design and implementing it into the Wordpress system.
Finally, the largest request so far was to change my photo from a soccer hooligan-esque photo to a more….. appropriate image.
What do you think? Like it? Hate it? We’d love to hear your feedback.
** An interesting side note. The site was down for 45 minutes while we moved the database across. Google seems to have indexed and cached the “hang on while we upgrade” splash page, replaced our site description with the ODP description. Rankings for most core search terms have dropped too. It will be interesting to see how long that lasts.
**** A quick update. It appears that once Google “recached” our site our rankings came back. In fact, they have improved quite a bit! Thanks a lot for everyone who got in touch for your concern.
September 10th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Great looking new site Dave. The soccer hooligan photo look great IMO. Congrats to you and your team.
September 10th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I’ve always been a fan of the old site. I think this is just the next level. It’s fresh and new - I like it!
Tom
September 10th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
@ Daryl, much appreciated. I think clients get a small shock when they see me, this just makes it easier. Onwards and upwards :)
@Tom, thanks for stopping by. I think you were a fan of the content, not the stale design ;) I miss your…controversial website header too!
September 10th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
The new design looks stunning! What about the rankings? Are those back? …Haha Stupid Google…*runs away*
September 10th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
@ Amit, thanks. No, not yet. From experience not too long though. As soon as the cache is updated things should be fine.
September 10th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I don’t remember the old look that well but this new look is STUNNING. It’s one of the nicest site upgrades I’ve seen lately and that’s coming from a woman that hates red! So that says a lot! ;-)
I’m taking the plunge and working on a new cleaner, upgraded look for 5 Star right now too, so you are giving me courage to finish up all the changes.
September 10th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Thanks a lot Linda. A lot of people have said that (bbout red) but it would be very difficult to use another colour considering our name! :)
September 10th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
It looks great. Really crisp and clear and easy to use.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
i also agree the new design is stunning. i think it looks great, and i noticed it immediately! i prefer the photo switch too, although i wouldn’t say the old one looked hooligan-ish
September 11th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Hi
I like your new design very much, it’s really different to the usual Wordpress crowd and looks very professional.
I hope your Google rankings will come back soon.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Well done on the roll out. I love the new pic :)
Yeah the design looks fantasic. Props to everyone involved!
September 11th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Simply beautiful. Nice, clean, & glossy. But I think the Free Quote & Online Marketing PPC buttons are a bit off colored from the entire theme.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Very nice redesign Dave et Co.
Off Topic..
I thought there was a full RSS feed on this site? Have you altered your RSS settings recently or is it just me?
September 12th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
It’s a very smart, clean design. Same comment as Phillip Tran in that “free quote” and “online marketing” colours aren’t quite right.
Funny about the photo …I’ve been a subscriber for a while and when noticing your old photo it wasn’t what I’d expect. The new one is very Ronan Keating!
September 12th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
@Cormac: Before Dave answers, here’s my bet ;)
He’s installed the new Wordpress 2.x.x and he’s using the More tag on the main page. When you use More tag with WP2.x it cuts your feed also (this is BY DESIGN, and a complete disgrace).
The way to fix this is install http://cavemonkey50.com/code/full-feed/#download
How’d I do, Dave?
September 12th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Alastair, you are spot on. We need to use the < --more--> quicktag due the the formatting on the main blog page and the cavemonkey plugin does not work correctly with the latest version(s) of WP.
Currently looking for a workaround.
September 12th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Dave, it’s working for me under these conditions:
I manually upgraded (file-by-file) to latest WP
I’m using v1.03 of FullFeed (not 1.04) - maybe he’s broken something.
Partial posts on main page: http://www.logon.ie/internet-marketing-blog/
Full posts in feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/logon-internet-marketing-blog
Here’s the contents of FullFeed 1.03 so you can diff. Be warned, the fix 1.03-4 was “password protected posts appearing in feeds” - I don’t use them so it’s ok.
function ff_restore_text ($content) {
global $page, $pages;
if ( $page > count($pages) )
$page = count($pages);
if ( is_feed() )
$content = preg_replace(’//iU’, ”, $pages[$page-1]);
return $content;
}
add_filter(’the_content’, ‘ff_restore_text’, -1);
September 12th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
@ Christine, thanks for the feedback and latest link to our FF tool on your blog.
@ Danielle, Thanks a lot for stopping by. I thought it looked OK, but hte people have spoken!
@ Frank, thanks, that is exactly what we were trying to achieve.
@ John and Phillip, I will look into that. Apreciate the feedback.
September 12th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to get back to the blog homepage when I’m reading a blog post. The only link back to the homepage is the one in the top right hand corner.
I expected the header graphic to be linkable to redflymarketing.com/blog or a text based link under the header graphic.
September 12th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Brilliant design Dave! I always like the old design but this new one is by far a lot better. Job well done to you & your team.
September 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Cormac, that’s actually a great point. I’ll get the header image linked.
Gavin, thanks a million for the feedback. As I mentioned, the old design was getting old and did not portray the size the company has grown to. It’s a fairly substantial change but needed.
September 15th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Dave, love the new design. Very cutting edge and Web 2.0. It really shows you and your team are serious. And thats a much better photo, you don’t look like your going to steal anyones car! lol
September 15th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
HAHAHAHA, Thanks Dave! I have actually always had that problem. When I was younger going for interviews it has even been mentioned. I just had to turn on the charm and show them it’s what’s inside that counts!
Appreciate the comments on the design too. The look we were going for was “semi-web2.0″ if that makes sense.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Design is nice, but the 3D logo is really the icing on top! Well done!
(Where do these people find designers like that!? :)
September 17th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Thanks Andrija for the comment and thanks for stopping by. The design was done by our in-house team (As mentioned in the post).
September 19th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Dave this is one of the finest websites I have ever come across in my whole career. I reached to the website accidentally I was conducting some research. When I reached on your website I invested almost 4 - 5 hours in total just browsing the website.
I must salute to the designing team rather the whole team of RedFly Marketing. Keep the good work going it gives me strength to think in right direction.
My best wishes are with a great company.
Thanks,
Amit
September 20th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Thank you Amit for your comments. I am glad the site has been of some value to you so far.
September 21st, 2007 at 8:03 am
Dave your site is unbelievable! Seriously top notch! The design is sweet and your content rocks also - I hope business is going well, an operation such as this deserves it!
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:28 am
Thanks for the mention of ClickTale in your blog. Would you like to do a case study discussing how ClickTale helped improve your design?
Regards,
Tal
Co-Founder and CEO
ClickTale
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:43 am
Hi Dave, hope all is well. Just spotted the redesign now, have to say I’m very impressed. You even spruced up the picture of yourself. Is that you or Michael Owen? :-)
I will be exploring the site more over the next while.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Hi Marc, thanks for the kind words.
Dave, the picture I used before was taken when I was backpacking somewhere in China or Hong Kong a long time ago. An updated image was certainly needed but Michael Owen? That’s a first!
PS: When are you going to hand AKA over to me? ;)
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Dave AKAs my baby, can’t be handing that over, Unless someone was to make me an offer I couldn’t refuse… Ah no seriously though, its gona be a big plus on the old CV when I go looking for a new job in a few months, without it I’d be just another smoe.
By the way on the homepage when you mention Redfly Studios, have you intentionally not linked to it? If so what’s the logic? Not to take potential conversions away and if visitors really want to visit redfly studios then they’ll search for it anyhow?