John H. Lutz III

911 Naudain Ave. Claymont DE 19703 and 6920 Roosevelt Way NE #207 Seattle WA 98115
Accepting interviews for: PA, NY, NJ, DE, MD, DC, VA, CA and WA.
Resume: www.johnlutz.com/resume/ecommerce/index.htm
Cell: 206-713-8182, E-mail: jl@johnlutz.com

Before/After Page View Comparisons

The below page view comparisons highlight brand image improvements, improvements in readability, improve- ments in usability and improvements in the overall effectiveness of these pages in their use as the marketing tools for my previous employer's business. For optimal viewing of the before and after versions of these pages, it may be helpful to print this page, then open web browsers showing this web page on two adjacent computers: one for the old versions, one for the new versions.

Original Versions: 6/15/03 Updated Versions: 12/22/05
   
Home Page Home Page
  1. Appears to be highlighting the fact that the online store is not functional.
  2. Uses "To find out how you can benefit from ayurveda, click here" as a sales tool for the entire business: school, clinic and nutritional supplements.
  3. Highlights free book.
  4. Middle of page: Three one sentence links about the business' three branches.
  5. Provides links to program details, no information about the programs on the home page.
  6. Links are using AYU abbreviation rather than the word ayurveda.
  7. Lower links in strange centered format.
  8. Useless medical disclaimer content (from a marketing standpoint) at the bottom of the home page, and the bottom of all of the site's pages.
  9. Black stripe below upper green navigation: not utilized as a highly recognizable navigation area for consumer preferred site content categories.
  10. Left navigation: useful, though the e-news signup link was non-functional.
  11. Right navigation: nice graphic, but search engines do not recognize graphics, for the most part (in regards to search results, unless you are conducting an image search).
  12. Right navigation to online store: links on the right of the home page to the online store lead to page that looks good, but the online store was not functional at the time.
  1. Highlights the spa gift certificates available for purchase during the holiday season, recent newspaper articles and school's educational programs.
  2. Uses extensive home page content to achieve search engine recognition and eliminate the need to click links to other pages of the site for introductory information about the business' products and services.
  3. Highlights a strong brand image and the scope of products and services offered offered by the business.
  4. Middle of page: Provides a welcoming opening paragraph and details about the four current branches of the business.
  5. Provides multiple links and program details to the school's courses - the highest income generating products for the company.
  6. Links use terms such as ayurveda and ayurvedic (rather than AYU since search engines primarily look for words not abbreviations).
  7. Expanded lower link section helps navigation and search engine recognition.
  8. Medical disclaimer content removed from all pages and linked to as a separate web page.
  9. Black stripe below upper green navigation: utilized for navigation to highly preferred content sections (give away content - popular with site visitors; search engine recognizable content). The site achieved #1and first page rankings on Google for ayurvedic recipes, ayurvedic news, and ayurvedic health articles. Web pages in these content sections all have links to the school's courses.
  10. Left navigation: upper graphic unchanged, e-news signup feature fixed - a very important feature, as the business was always searching for new contacts (as prospective students for the school). Other new site sections added below the left graphic navigation: online course registration, read past newsletters (search engine recognizable content), current student message board (members only area).
  11. Used text navigation to highlight the site's product categories. Words within links are easily recognized by search engines. I would have liked to redesign both the left and right navigation ares to include combinations of graphic and text navigation formats - but my work on this project was primarily focused on Internet marketing, rather than graphic design work.
  12. Right navigation to the online store: The online store layout is pretty basic, though very usable. Upon reviewing the company's initial web hosting service, I suggested that they switch hosts (saving the company about $300 per year) and utilize the MIVA shopping cart (a very popular cart at the time, and still very popular). I researched web hosting and shopping carts for 1 week, and chose CIHost - the first web host which offered HIPAA level compliance (an advanced level of security required for handling patient medical data) and a Top 25 host on the Internet. This decision worked out very well.
  13. Other notes: Notice the scanned in newspaper articles located at the top of the home page. These links were visibly added to the home page to add legitimacy and brand image. I posted both the text (searchable by search engines) and the graphic version of these articles online. Also, I ordered and co-wrote the Ayurvedic Training Program Highlights listed on this page, after suggesting that this content be added to the home page.
Mission Statement of the Business Mission Statement of the Business
  1. Hard to find and hard to read. Located at the bottom of the Invitation link on the school's main page.
  1. Easily found at the top of the school's main page. Bullets and bold text utilized for emphasis. Rewritten for increase readability, clarity, brand image and impact.
School's Main Web Page School's Main Web Page
  1. Same as the site's home page...no useful sales content...so visitors must utilize links and continue to look for useful content. No branding happening on this highly important web page.
  2. No comparable content.
  3. "Invitation" - is the Introduction to the Business link name. The content of the Invitation web page could definitely use some editing.
  4. Order of links on this page:
    Invitation, Brief Course Details, Faculty, Board of Advisors, Highlights, and finally the Course Description!!! How may links did it take to get to this information??? Too many!!!
  1. Powerful brand image used to lead off this highly important page for the business. Picture of the business owner teaching with the most popular author in the field. Links under the picture highlighting the fact that both gentlemen pictured are doctors (enhancing brand image), Dr. Svoboda mentioned as a member of the Board of Directors of the school, Dr. Shanbhag mentioned as the Director of the school. Powerful mission statement, very readably presented.
  2. Middle of the page: Direct links to upcoming course and seminar details and purchasing options...including online registration for both the courses and the seminars.
  3. "Invitation" link is renamed to "Welcome to the Ayurvedic Academy" (utilizing search engine and consumer recognizable words within the link). ***Print and compare the Invitation and Welcome pages - word for word - to see an example of my sales copy improvement/ writing skills and my brand image improvement skills. Note: The accreditation information content on the updated version of this web page is written in the exact wording required by the Washington State educational program review board, as the Master's degree is actually granted by the school's partner school in Florida.
  4. Links to the Detailed Course Description easily accessed from the site's home page and from the school's main page.
Level 1 Course Description Details Level 1 Course Description Details
  1. Content outdated by 2 years when I started work on the project.
  2. Only one option was available for taking the course.
  1. Content updated and current. Individual courses of the educational program now being sold separately as $450 shopping cart items. The Director insisted that they would never sell. Two individual course sold within 2 weeks of being added to the online store. Added suggested reading items links to the individual course descriptions. Page reformatted for increased readability. Online registration developed and multiple online registration links were added. Developed the Academic Policies and FAQ page as a primary sales tool for the school. Payment options link added to the page. All course payment options and fees were added to the online store. The web site is now actively selling the school's programs, not just providing some some information.
  2. Four different options are now available for taking the course (individual courses, 11 weekend format, three 1-week format, distance learning). I started promoting a distance learning option - which now accounts for 20% of school's enrolled students. There were few if any distance learning students before I started work on the site.
Academic Policies and FAQ Web Page Academic Policies and FAQ Web Page
  1. Not much in place when I started work on the site , except for the information listed on the bottom of the Level 1 course details web page.
  1. I developed this page content into a separate web page and a primary sales tool for the business.
Level 2 Course Details Level 2 Course Details
  1. The school had previously taken 1 group of about 7 students to India for about $600 each.
  2. Level 2 course not very well developed.
  3. Minimal details online, since the school was having trouble selling the Level 1 course.
  4. Level 2 course was not providing income or the opportunity to travel to India.
  1. This year, the school took 20 students to India at $5400 each for a Level 2 Certification course. Last year the school took about 13 students to India for the Level 2 Certification course ($5,400 each).
  2. Level 2 and Level 3 course (Master's degree) now well-developed and are generating significant income for the business.
  3. Full course details available online, online registration available, suggested reading items available.
  4. Business owner can now visit family in India once per year as a business deductible expense!
Online Store Main Page Online Store Main Page
  1. Nice look, though the online store was non-functional at the time.
  2. Lower navigation: somewhat strange format.
  3. Disclaimer listed on all pages.
  4. Top shopping category (right navigation): Today's special - a single product available at 30% discount for a total retail price of $11.90.
  5. Minimal product categories.
  6. Full product list only available from shopping main page (the product list link at the top of the page).
  7. 50 products available with an average retail price of approx. $17.00.
  8. Total online sales: $0.00
  1. Basic design was preformatted by the shopping cart program. More graphics can be added, though since the cart's page design is somewhat hard to change, this would take quite a bit of time. Advanced graphic design time was not allocated by the business owner.
  2. Minimal lower navigation in place, designed this way intentionally to keep visitors on the shopping pages of the site.
  3. Disclaimer linked to from all pages.
  4. Top shopping category (left navigation): Current Specials: Combinations of popular products bundled together to raise the average sale per transaction. High margin items also included here. Average retail price: approx. $102.00.
  5. Many product categories, enhancing the visitor's ability to find a product category and product of interest.
  6. Full product list easily located from any shopping web page (A-Z Product List shopping category).
  7. Over 200 products available with an average retail price of approx. $345.00.
  8. Total online sales: approx. $25,000 with over $450,000 in new student enrollments generated primarily through web based Internet marketing efforts.
Online Store, Current Special Page Online Store, Current Specials Page
  1. One "current special" item listed.
  2. Retail price: $11.90
  1. Over 30 items listed.
  2. Average Retail Price: $185.02.
  3. Items available for sale include:
    1. An "Intro to Ayurveda" 3 book bundle package leads off the category (defining the product mix and site content to consumers).
    2. Admittance to an upcoming (school promoting) lecture: $175
    3. Many "bundles" of popular products grouped together to raise the site's average sale per transaction. Product bundles with "consumer friendly" names: men's and women's bundles, detoxification bundles, etc.
    4. Distance Learning courses, average retail price: $450. I broke the 11 session, $4,500 course up into 11 individual courses and installed online systems to sell these individually (mostly on my own time, as the boss felt that the courses would not sell online; two $450 courses sold 8 days after being posted online). This single course format was so successful, the school began offering other courses as 2-day intensives - the additional $220 items listed here.
Medical Clinic Main Page Medical Clinic Main Page
  1. Basic clinic main page, not much branding going on.
  2. Strange zigzag layout on the credentials web page, and no recognizable links to this page from the clinic main page.
  1. Still a pretty basic page, with some new, user preferred and search engine recognizable content added. We did not focus on this section of the site much, more on the school's web pages, direct marketing to new prospective students and the online store's selection of products.
  2. Improved credentials web page.
  3. New related pages: clinic info page, conditions treated link, what to expect during a visit link, insurance coverage information, pricing, health history form (needs work), and directions.
Examples of other new web pages produced: Online Admissions Application
  Master's Degree in Ayurvedic Science
  Dosha (Body Mind Type) Information, Quiz (JavaScript math feature never added for tabulating quiz results) and related shopping lists: User and search engine friendly content.
  Health Article Main Page: User and search engine friendly content.
  Recipe Main Page: User and search engine friendly content.
  Detoxification Article: Leads into detox product sales, a popular product category.
  Health Fair and Graduation Highlights
  Holiday Gift Certificate
  E-News Signup Page
  Privacy Policy


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Other Writing Samples and Internet Marketing Examples:

  1. Writing Samples and Internet Marketing Examples main page.
  2. Sample E-newsletters: I had design, writing, and final editing responsibilities for all of the business' e-newsletters.
  3. Hard Copy Brochures and Mailers: I had design, writing and final editing responsibilities for all of the business' hard copy mailers. Utilized a graphics designer to occasionally help produce these - as I was primarily responsible for generating web traffic. Developed the 9000 member Outlook contact database from scratch. Utilized Word/Excel/Outlook mail merge feature to generate hard copy labels for mailers. Printed labels by zip code to reduce mailing expenses.
  4. Sample E-mail Replies: Directing questions back to content on the web site, as mentioned on Item #4 of the Writing Samples and Marketing Examples web page, which discusses the importance of generating a high number of page views per visitor.

 

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