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34 | Kitchen & Bath Design News | May 2015 Portfolio of Designer Web Sites DIVINE DESIGN + BUILD; Wellesley, MA — www.divinedesignbuild.com How long ago was your Web site given its most current look? About a year and a half ago. Acadian House launched its mobile-friendly Web site at about the same time it opened its new showroom. "When we rebranded for the new show- room location, we also rebranded the Web site so everything would look the same again," says Angela Simoneaux Poirrier, v.p./designer. Do you manage changes internally or do you rely on an outside resource? Poirrier makes decisions about updates and approves content but has a Web designer implement them. "We do make changes quite a bit…such as adding a cooking class, mentioning an award, etc.," she says, noting that her frm is in the process of hiring a communications intern to help ease her workload associated with site maintenance. "I enjoy working with outside sources, but also like having control over the content. We want to keep Web site changes in-house from a branding perspective… to make sure our message is clear and stays cohesive." What is the importance of a great Web site? Aca- dian House is the only design/build frm in the city, so it's important that site visitors understand what the company is about, she notes. "We try to make it easy for visitors to understand what we do, without overwhelming them. We keep the site clean, but give them the information they need." As such, there are minimal main navigation tabs across the top of the page, with secondary dropdown navigation tabs pro- viding additional information. Is there something particular- ly unique/creative about your Web site? Acadian House makes it easy for visitors to locate and contact the frm. Multiple "Re- quest A Consultation" buttons are highly visible and readily accessible, while the company's phone number and address are listed at the top of the home page. "What we really want people to do is call, because we have a very high close rate when they do that," she ofers. Acadian House also has a relatively active blog. "It's impor- tant to be fresh," says Poirrier. "Our most recent blog is about the color of the year. Our blog posts get a lot of traction, and they help with our Google analytics." How does your Web site ft with your other online sites, such as Houzz, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.? Five social media links are given prominence on the home page, right next to the main navigation tabs. "If you have links to your social media sites, make sure to keep them updated," she advises. "Give people something interesting to look at once they go to these pages. It's a lot to do, but in the long run, it's worth it. We got a $60,000 job from a conversation that was strictly from Facebook. ACADIAN HOUSE KITCHEN + BATH DESIGN; Baton Rouge, LA — www.acadianhousekitchenbath.com How long ago was your Web site given its most current look? About a year and a half ago. "Our previous site was about fve years old," says Mariette Barsoum, CKD, co-founder/owner and principal designer. Do you manage changes internally or do you rely on an outside resource? Barsoum relies on a com- bination of both. "We'll make small changes, such as a change to the date of a seminar," she says. "Sometimes, even when we're busy, it's more ef- fcient to be able to make a small change rather than exchange e-mails back and forth with a Web provider to make sure content is accurate. How- ever, if we want to make bigger changes, such as add a page with links, we'll have our Web provider do that." What is the importance of a great Web site? "A Web site is about the only way for people to know who you are, to research a company to decide which one to work with," she says. "Almost every one of our customers has visited our Web site be- fore they've come in." Is there something particularly unique/creative about your Web site? Divine Design + Build keeps it simple and clean, eliminating a typical portfolio/gal- lery and lots of navigation tabs and menu items. "We took a diferent approach to our Web design," says Barsoum. "We don't have a gallery per se. Instead, the whole site is, in fact, a gallery with descriptions so visitors can better connect with the project. We like this design because we feel a traditional gal- lery forces people to make too many clicks to get to what they want." Instead, Divine's Web site ofers a simple menu selection of "kitchens," "bathrooms" and "whole homes." "We feel these are the three things people most commonly look for," she says. "Visitors don't have to weed through a lot of pages to get to what they really want to see." For example, if someone is looking for a kitchen, they look under kitchen. If they see what they like, they can click on "getting started" which outlines contact information, includ- ing showroom location, hours of operation, etc., all under one tab. "The crux of our Web site is projects," she continues. "We've taken out all of the ancillary in- formation and made our projects the centerpiece of the Web site." How does your Web site ft with your other online sites, such as Houzz, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.? "We use Houzz a lot," she says. "All of our projects are on both sites, basically mirroring each other."