'PRIMITIVE' WEB SITE GETS MAKEOVER
By Leslie Brooks Suzukamo
Makeover shows are all over television, so why not a makeover contest for Web sites?
A Hudson, Wis., home-remodeling company called Unique Techniques Inc. was judged to have the ugliest Web site in a makeover contest held this year by Lancet Software, a Burnsville provider of Web services and software.
Dan and Brenda Whipp, the owners of Unique Techniques, had built the original site themselves five years ago, but they knew they needed help because hardly anyone visited it.
The original site wasn't so much ugly as outdated. "It looked like a Web site you would have put up at the dawn of the Internet," Lancet spokesman Martin Keller said.
The home page was primitive, with sparse text on a white background, no graphics except the company logo and few live links. The links to vital information like the company's address and phone number were buried at the bottom of the page, out of sight until the user scrolled down.
After $2,800 worth of plastic surgery from Lancet's software developers, Unique Techniques' home page now features a photo of the company's work, an invitation to "visit our showroom" with the address prominently displayed, and live links for its products and services.
Click to see the new, revamped Unique Techniques, Inc. website.
Leslie Brooks Suzukamo can be reached at lsuzukamo@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5475.