The Dilemma
Does your website feel like it's getting stale, but you don't have the time for a complete redesign? We've put together a short list of five fairly easy changes that are guaranteed to give your site some long overdue "freshness". 

1. The Homepage
In comparison to the rest of the changes I'll suggest, redesigning your homepage may take the most effort, but it's well worth it. Because this is typically either the first or second page your visitors see, it will be the most noticeable change you can make. 

Even though I'm a firm believer in design consistency across an entire site, the homepage is a perfectly acceptable exception to this rule. By giving your homepage a slightly different look and feel (than the rest of your site), your visitors will immediately know when they are at the homepage. But don't make it too radically different, or they'll think they've linked out of your site completely.

2. Colors
Try experimenting with a different color scheme. This doesn't have to be a major revision...you can stay with the same primary colors and just try some subtle shade changes. Using an HTML editor like FrontPage or Dreamweaver will simplify this task, but regardless of how you go about doing it, it's something your visitors will notice.

If you do decide to change colors, be sure to use one of the 216 Browser Save Colors. It's a sure way of guaranteeing that your visitors will see the actual color you select.

3. Fonts
Just like colors, changing fonts will require the same kind of effort. An excellent font, designed specifically for computer screens, is Verdana. Version 2.10 has been available in Internet Explorer since 1997 and is currently gaining lots of popularity.  For more info on Verdana, visit the Microsoft Website. By the way, Verdana is the font used in this newsletter.

4. Polls
Interactivity with your visitors is a key ingredient to improving their experience on your site. Add a poll to your homepage, make it something that's relevant to your site's theme, and you'll be surprised to see how many visitors participate.

5. What's New
Add a "What's New" section to your website. It's an easy way of letting your repeat visitors know what you've been up to. A format I favor is a change log in descending sequence by date. In addition to being a source of information for your visitors, it's also a nifty way of keeping a record of all the improvements and changes you've made to your site. Watch your list grow as you make improvements. By the way, be sure to put a link to the "What's New" section on your homepage.