It All Starts with a Great Headshot!
Tom’s old headshot was dated and lacked strength and personality, confidence and approachability, so he asked us to help update his professional business brand to highlight his character and showcase his expertise in the highly technical world of aerospace.
Time to Shine!
See Tom's new headshot on the official NASA website.
Why Tom Chose Blossom Blue Studios
"I chose Blossom Blue Studios, a branding team with a unique combination of marketing experience coupled with photography and website design expertise to create the right branding message for my customers."
~Tom Barerra
First Impressions
First impressions are everything and people go to great lengths to ensure its a memorable one. Think of your website like an interview and your homepage is your first impression. It's the first place people land when searching for your product or services. Your homepage should be simple, straight forward and aesthetically pleasing. When your customer lands on your homepage they should know right away what your company has to offer.
Another key component in having a user friendly website is to have a simple and intuitive menu with concise categories. You want to make it easy on your client and have their web search be a pleasant experience, not a frustrating one.
Tom already had a logo that he liked which contained the UCLA blue so we went with a complimentary color palette of grays and incorporated the blue just a tad when we could. With the new website we went with an eye catching motion video of clouds that was inspired by the aerospace industry. We also condensed his mission statement so that it would read more clearly. Underneath are clickable links to his three most sought out services which can also be found in the easy to navigate menu at the top.
See the new LIB-X website live HERE.
Online Presence
Due to the specialty of work, Tom’s old site was highly content rich and technical. We updated his site for ease of navigation as well an improved user experience. After freshening up the site with a new clean design, improving easy of navigation and adding video we also addressed changes to improve search optimization. After all what good is an attractive website if it can’t be found.
Balancing Content with Images
Being in the industry for so many years, Tom had an extensive bio. Again, great content but way too much for one page. Under the About LIB-X drop down on the menu we put a little bio blurb next to his picture and then broke the rest down to three categories; Career, Academia and Recognition. This way if any of his clients wanted to read more about him they can, but all of the information doesn't way down a main page.
BEFORE
AFTER
We're not huge fans of using stock photography but depending on what type of website we are building we sometimes have to. There are some really great stock images and at the same time some real eye sores. For the services pages we were able to use an image from our headshot portrait session and chose eye catching stock photos for the rest, being careful that they still went well with the color scheme of the website.
The old website listed in great detail what consulting services LIB-X specialized in all on one page. Guess what we did? Yes! We broke them up. Because we added the two new high demand services we created a drop down with the three different options to choose from under Services from the menu which are Consulting, Expert Witness and Education. On the desktop version we added a slide show revealing the three main areas of consulting and condensed the blurb of each way down. Too much text can be intimidating and these days people skim more than they read (guilty). We did keep all of the great content associated with them but gave the option to the client searching if they wanted to Learn More or not. If they did, it would lead them to the consulting page with all of the details paired with relevant but appealing stock images.
BEFORE
AFTER
We elevated it all! Even the News and Contact pages.
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
An FAQ page is always a good addition so we added one. Not only does it read well in search engines, it also helps potentials clients easily gain access to frequently sought after information.
More About Dr. Tom Barerra
Dr. Tom Barrera started LIB-X Consulting after an epic 33 years of combined private industry, government, and academic experience with Lithium-Ion Batteries. The core of his expertise is Aerospace Batteries. Tom came to us in search of a contemporary headshot and a new elevated website. He had his current site up for a little over a year and was ready for a new look. Something simplified, easy to navigate and a lot more creative!
After spending some time with him, reviewing the website content and site analytics, we were able to check off all of the key components that were needed to build a successful new website for his brand. Two huge factors that would influence the new design were narrowing down the services he provided that were in the highest demand and also discovering that most of his clients were viewing his site on mobile devices. His current site contained A LOT of text which was very well written, informative and great for SEO, but on a mobile device clients would find themselves scrolling and scrolling and scrolling... After being in business for over a year now, Tom was able to identify what most of his clients were contacting him for. these services were not clearly presented on his current site. With gathering all of this information we were ready to design a new website.
The portrait session was a lot of fun! Tom has a great smile and is very professional but at the same time extremely personable and kind. We were able to give him a range of images to use both professionally and socially. In fact, one of the headshots we took is now featured on NASA's website. Notice also took some detail images that could take the place of stock photography on the new website.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
As a new small business owner of an sole-proprietorship engineering consulting company, I rely on cost effective tools and processes to reach potential new clients. While it’s well known that most people now use the internet like a “phone book” to search for information on businesses, it’s not obvious as to what type of website is best to meet one’s personal needs. Nonetheless, it made good business sense to design and maintain a website that communicated the right message by way of branding and marketing.
Initially, I chose a basic website design which had the general framework for establishing my planned approach to attract new business. The three basic questions that were addressed were:
- What does the business do ?
- Who am I ?
- How can I be contacted ?
While this “beta-version” website was a good start, it lacked a number of key features needed to ensure I was communicating the right branding message and connecting with the right customer base. I also learned that most of my potential clients were using their smartphones more than their desktop computers to access my website. This underscored the importance of having a website which was designed to be easily viewed by users of smartphones and desktops alike.
So with so many options available for website designers, I chose Blossom Blue Studios, a branding team with a unique combination of marketing experience coupled with photography and website design expertise to create the right branding message for my customers. Choosing the right team also included having access to multiple industry resources for website images and the latest in technology to bring new life to the website content in a seamless and understandable manner.
-Dr. Tom Barrera
Blossom Blue Photography has specialized in fine art lifestyle portraits and business portraits for over a decade, but did you know we also offer coaching and branding services? We have worked with so many professionals and entrepreneurs that are looking for guidance on how to develop and or elevate their brand and so we've decided to blog about some of those transformations.
Our coaching and branding services are specifically tailored to suit each individual client's needs from beginners to experts. Often clients are looking for a new website. They need help with developing their brand, discovering their target audience and successfully showcasing their products and services. Another giant beast we tackle is social media and establishing an online presence.
ARE YOU READY TO ELEVATE YOUR BRAND?
If you are in the Los Angeles, Long Beach and or Orange County area
and are looking to update your headshots and elevate your brand
please give call or send us a message we can't wait to help.