Improve the Main navigatioN

Current navigation:

Improved navigation:

The current website navigation is problematic for a number of reasons:

• It’s Not enticing

• With it’s outdated look and simple link style, it doesn’t sell itself or draw the user’s attention.
• It doesn’t target the website’s main target audience: visitors. Those people have one option in the menu, so it becomes pretty much useless to them.

They were looking for something that could accomplish two tasks:

1. Effectively demonstrate their capabilities and skill through easy-to-use photo galleries and great page content, and
2. Gather quality leads with an embedded contact/estimate request form.

The website starts with a simple navigation structure, making it easy for users to find what their looking for:

Each page of the website contains a simple contact form. This makes it easy and convenient for users to request an estimate, at the precise moment they see something they like.

The individual services pages also had concise, easy-to-understand descriptions of all of their capabilities, accompanied by thumbnails for quick page scanning.

Possibly the most important part of the website was the photo galleries, one for each service page. These allowed CRJ Construction to effectively demonstrate the quality of their work. When a thumbnail was clicked, a larger image would display.

They approached me looking for a cleaner, more professional logo – one they would be proud to place on business cards and print advertising. It needed to incorporate the business name, along with other visual elements that conveyed what they did.

Before:

New Logo:

“I’d really like to [insert dream/goal here], but life’s just too busy.” LIFE? Sorry to hear life got in the way of your greatest aspirations. If this is you, inhale now, because you’re not really breathing.

Excuse me while I take a breath…

It’s About Time

If you’re reading this, some of you are saying, “FINALLY!” Yes, I’ve been talking for a long time about starting an online book club. I’ve recently given up on my “busy life” excuse and decided to dive in headlong (recently = this morning, awake in bed).

I’ve known for awhile that I wanted to start a blog but had no real direction for starting. As I laid there (slightly annoyed I wasn’t sleeping), I started brainstorming, thinking about my areas of expertise – things people want/need to know. As a Content Strategist for a website development/design company, my thoughts quickly went that direction. I soon came up with so many topics and future blog posts my head was spinning.

Then, I stopped.

It struck me that I was making my personal blog into my work blog, and vice versa. I was bringing work home. Those of you who know me probably know how much this goes against everything in me, to the core of my being. [another deep breath]

OK, So What’s This All About?

Our introspective nature is what separates us from other animals – the contemplation of our own existence and meaning. That’s why books are so amazing. Every story and every character, their greatest flaws and most glorious victories, their deepest fears and hopeful dreams. See others encounter struggles and triumphs provides a window into not only their lives, but our own as well. We gain invaluable insight into the Human Condition.

Reading is becoming less of a pleasure and more of a nuisance for too many people in this world – myself included. We’ve stopped breathing in the wonderful words of the greatest literary minds who have gone before us. We’ve ceased to truly contemplate our role in this Life, where we all fit in, and just what other people mean to us.

Take a sad song, and make it better

This isn’t a rant about how bad things are. This is my dedication to making it better. My hope is that, through this blog, we can all gain a greater appreciation for books, poetry, and literature in general. We could all benefit by stepping out of our claustrophobic boxes into the fresh air of the creative mind.

So join in, read, and discuss. We’ve all got a lot to learn!