I have been working on a major update to the Closet Online site. I have just completed what I am calling Phase One of the rebuild. This involved redoing the home page and the department pages.

The home page had six blocks for the various departments with rotating banners representative of the merchants listed in the department. This gave a fresh look to the site if a visitor returned. Most of the visitors hit the back button when they were confronted with all the banners.

The main page was a very friendly place compared to the department pages. The old department pages were banner farms. Phase One did away with all of the banners. The home page now tells about the objective of the site and invites the visitor to explore a bit further. The department pages have entries for my various merchant partners with a listing of the products and services they offer.

The second phase will see the ‘More Info’ pages actually providing more info. I am still working out the format for this presentation. I intend to add an interactive element to the info pages in the form of a comment box requesting feedback by users of the sites. I will integrate this at all levels and try to get some user generated content to go along with the content that I provide. I will also refine the appearance of the site and try to make it a happier place. When complete there will be few if any banners on the site.

The third phase will be on ongoing addition of content both on the main site and in the blog. This will be the key to the success of the site. If I do this right and do a little off site promotion there should be a return on the time that I have invested in this major rebuild to this site.