Archive for April, 2007

We've made some changes to the look of YuppieChef.com after our new marketing guy told us that the old design sucked, our branding was up the pole, and we dress funny. Fortunately we're bigger than him, so we didn't have to listen to the last bit.

Here is what the site used to look like. It was fairly pleasing to the eye, but it wasn't sending the right message to visitors. We are trying to sell cool kitchen tools, but for the first 2 thirds of the home page there were no pictures of tools! We were using up space with a picture of two love-birds, some clever snow-particals and a sign-up form for our recipe newsletter. All stunning stuff that Shane had lovingly designed, but it appeared that we needed to ditch most of it. He cried a bit, but then agreed.

Here is the new design. Here is a list of the changes:

• The strapline changed from, "Free recipes, top cooking tools, tips and gizmo's for cool cooks and cool cook wannabes" to "Seriously Cool Cooking Tools for your inner Gordon Ramsey". This is the first text on the page in the pink bar at the top, so it's the first thing the search engines will pick up. Search for YuppieChef on Google to see how it uses that text in the description. The new strapline is a lot more focused on what we're trying to do - we sell cooking tools. For "recipes" and "tips" I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere.

• The "There is nothing in your shopping cart yet" used to be right at the top, but it's shifted to just above the main content of the site. We felt that the old position was too out of the way. It's important to have this text clearly visible so that people know they are on an e-commerce site, and not just a brochure type site like Makro.co.za.
• The logo has grown in size, and we've dropped "Cooking Good" from underneath it. It was a clever phrase, but it was too broad.
• The happy couple have been axed, and the space to the right of the logo now features a random product banner. We can use that to highlight new and featured products. Now one of the first things you see on the site is cool cooking tools, which is really the reason you visited us in the first place.
• We have changed the first square from having a boring intro paragraph, to having more featured products. We can now fit 6 featured products on the home page.
• Under the featured products we have a "browse by price" section. As our product range grows we are trying to make it easier to find stuff. Browsing by price has already proved to be a popular option.
• We have added a new footer which gives more ways of finding stuff:
  

We have implemented CrazyEgg tracking on the home page to measure what people are clicking on. We'll post the results when they look interesting.

The SA Postal Service didn't handle our stuff with the tender loving care we would have liked. [shock, horror!]

One of our clients sent us this photo.

Each racket has its own case and is packed in a very sturdy box. So, I guess someone chose to sit on it while taking his lunch break. We will be sending the customer two rackets just to say we are really sorry.

Our new BIG RED COUCH arrived today which is the first evidence of a Live Alchemy office revamp. When we are done entirely, I'll make sure we post some pictures.