It shouldn't be boring. a before and after of paymentevolution's website.

In my first few weeks of my job at PaymentEvolution, a Mississauga based company that provides payroll software to Canadian businesses, I felt lost in the jargon. Every employee is trained on the software regardless of their department, though I felt individually lost in the world of past service pension adjustments and statements of remuneration.

Soon after my training, I quickly realized that my opportunities were wide and plentiful. It was so exciting to suggest changes and improvements to the marketing team and following through to implement them. In my largest undergoing thus far, I suggested that the company should look into creating a new website or perform some serious changes.

My boss said, "good idea, how soon can you have it done?"

There are inherent issues when marketing something like payroll software. In a large sense, there is a lack of visuals in the field. I have had to stretch for ways to change what is an otherwise grey and concrete area to one that is polished and marketable.

This site has taken me two months of full time work to build. While I knew very little about HTML and CSS before this project, I am very proud of the time invested and the results that have come. It is a massive upgrade over the previous site, from visuals to functionality, SEO viability, speed, and everything in-between. The website is available in five (outsourced translation) languages from Mandarin to Hindi. The following is an overview of the main page, explaining some philosophies and design choices behind the site.

The new site can be found here.

Find the previous site here.

Here we see the original website's homepage. Most issues that I took with the website as a whole are present within this first screen. The theme is dark and uninviting. The image feels uninspired and baseless. There is a serious lack of information to what PaymentEvolution is as a company, let alone the individual aspects like payroll software, benefits and HR mean. The start for free button is nice in theory yet it doesn't provide any information, like what types of programs are available as trials.

Comparatively, the new site. Immediately, the theme is presented as fresh, modern and clean. The featured image carries personality, and feels much easier to connect to than the previous sites. A bold statement catches the eye and leads to a clear CTA.

Back to the previous site, this is what scrolling past the initial image provided. There is a ton of information at one glance here, and it's hard to distinguish what is important.

Beginning a scroll through the main landing page, I connect directly with our intended audiences. If you are one of these professionals, this product is for you.

Afterwords, I used buttons to separate the different aspects of the company. User's can choose what they want to see. This is also significant for SEO improvements, as I learned. The process of segmenting the different branches is one that I used consistently throughout the new site.

The old site then took the reader through a long scroll explaining different aspects of PaymentEvolution. This is not a great way to present information on a website, as readers often get discouraged when they feel they have to scroll too far (think of any infamous recipe site). Instead, buttons to manage information and section information into what the reader chooses they want to see is a better method. Throughout most pages on the new site, there are buttons and labels to hide or provide information at the request of the reader.

While avoiding presenting the different aspects within PaymentEvolution to the reader through management of information, the payroll software can instead be highlighted on the main page.

The main page scrolls on the new site for some time, but provides users with lots of essential information in an easy to digest manner. Without having to individually explain each aspect of the business, I was able to highlight the payroll software--the biggest part of PaymentEvolution--and provide a clear CTA.

There are reviews to establish credibility, blurbs to improve SEO and provide more information about the company, and large images to help guide the reader's eyes. The site is consistently functional throughout all pages, and is designed with desires gathered from frequent clients.

In the end, I am very happy that the website is done, and even happier that it turned out well. Though, I don't think I will suggesting a new website anytime soon. The process was long and tedious. Initially I was searching for help on every step, but now I am much more comfortable, sometimes working on the site for a full hour before realizing that I haven't googled anything. My experience and knowledge gained from MMJC definitely helped me in this project. Design philosophy, marketing knowledge, and even some SEO and HTML skills that I picked up in the school year all contributed to making this project a success.