This design, launched in December 2009, was an interesting project for Rowboat Media. We were called upon by this client to update their 90’s-looking direct-sales website for Medical Home Alert, and take it from a static HTML site to Thesis on WordPress. As the client had seen some slippage in Google rankings over time (from first page to second), a framework like Thesis with great SEO was a huge priority.

Since the product is aimed at seniors and their caregivers, we gave a lot of thought to how to create a pleasing and readable website that answered a lot of the questions potential buyers might have up front, while maintaining a strong call to action.  Based on the client’s research, we incorporated large font sizes, discrete navigation tabs and high-contrast colors for increased readability and navigability.

The client is using aWeber email marketing heavily for both inline contact and order forms, and dynamic lightbox and popunder forms to encourage blog subscription and brochure requests. He is also taking full advantage of aWeber’s split-testing capabilities to determine which approaches garner the highest conversion rates.

We found ourselves thinking through every single aspect of the project – each font choice, color, and placement of elements, with utmost care – and also having to keep in mind, “pretty isn’t necessarily what sells.”  However, when all was said and done, we like to think we accomplished both goals – a strong sales-oriented site that is also visually pleasing.

The client seems to think so, too:

“Cynthia went above and beyond the original scope of work for the site redesign by digging deep into the persona of who would be using the site.  She even went as far as to conduct mini-focus groups within our target audience to get impressions and reactions to designs and copy.  Most importantly, she listened and was very open to ideas on both the technology and design front.  She also pushed back with good ideas – it felt like a true collaboration and that I was getting the benefits of her experience while she was also learning from my expertise in direct marketing.  Our results are more conversions, higher rankings and a very flexible site for our business.”
– Bryan Stapp, Senior Alert Network LLC

It was a pleasure and an ongoing learning experience, and we have greatly enjoyed our part in successfully pulling Medical Home Alert back onto Google’s first page for its target keyword phrase!