Seven Reasons to Redesign your Website

Do you have a website online? When is the last time you updated the design? Does it reflect your current exhibit? How well does it complement your other marketing materials?

Website need to be refreshed just like other marketing mediums. Here are seven points to consider about your current website:

Your Website Doesn’t Get Results
Business websites serve a very specific purpose. This purpose varies, but is generally focused on making more money either through actual transactions, more leads or brand recognition. Your site needs to be designed with its purpose in mind.

Your Website is Difficult to Use
Many sites are built beautifully. There are few that are actually very easy to use though. Think simplicity…think design…so your visitor’s don’t have to think. Make it so easy that it is second nature.

Your Site has Errors
Web design has evolved. Standards exist now to verify that your site meets a certain criteria. The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) has several tools (http://validator.w3.org/) to check the validation of your site. Fewer errors mean more people will be able to view your site. Your site will also be easier for search engines to scan.

Your Site Loads Slow
People are impatient…more so than ever. Think about the last time you visited a slow loading site. How fast did you hit back and find another alternative. The quick click syndrome worsens everyday. You only have a 7-9 seconds to load the page and get your message across.

Your Design is Outdated
Designers are constantly reinventing techniques to improve visual appeal. How old is your current design? Does your site accurately reflect your brand? Does build credibility with your customers? Small changes can have huge returns.

Your Design Firm is Lacking
How professional is your current designer? How responsive? Can the firm meet all of your needs in house? There is a difference in quality. Many designers can build sites, but few value business relationships and put in the extra effort to get results.

Your Pages are Not Search Engine Friendly
You have a beautiful site that was well constructed and illustrates all the benefits your potential client can experience. BUT, no one can find it. There are currently 92 million domains. Attention to detail and following a set of best practices will help your site get the rankings it needs.

Summary
Web pages do expire. Consider how your site is meeting your current organizational goals. Are you getting results? If not, consider a redesign to get the most from the medium. New and innovative techniques come out everyday. Partner with an expert firm to get the most from your site.

Boost Website Traffic with a Corporate Blog

What is a Corporate Blog?
A blog is short for weblog. It is a dynamic page that allows easy frequent updates. Mainstream use of the blog typically includes opinions, social networking and personal exploration. A corporate blog is most often used for breaking news, tips and tricks, executive briefs and observations. A corporate blog can be more advanced with categorization, custom templates and contact forms. Careful attention should be paid to ensure your blog matches your site’s branding. With a little customization, a blog can look exactly like your other pages.

Wikipedia Blog Definition

Why Would I Want a Blog?
Blogs offer many potential benefits to a business depending on your goals and usage of the medium. The benefits include the following.

Search Engine Friendly Content
Google and other search engines reward sites that are updated often and that have lots of content. The architecture of blogs make it very easy for search engines to scan especially because of descriptive links and robust titles.

Establish Credibility with Visitors
Focused corporate blogs allow companies an opportunity to post highly relevant materials about their particular industry. Over time, the blog will become a information resource than lends credibility to the company and/or its employees.

Interact with Visitors
Most blogging software includes the ability for visitors to comment on posts. This interactively brings life to the discussion and fosters an informal conversation with potential customers. Ultimately, this enhances the relationship.

Linked in with Blogging community
Blogging tools allow connectivity to a community. For example, visitors to blogger.com can see blogs that were recently updates and search all the blogging websites. Go ahead...search for the latest buzzword or even your companies product. You will be surprised what you will find.

Get Inbound Links
Once your site becomes established and is recogized for hosting great content, inbound links will follow. For example, there is a branding website that is highly regarded as an industry leading source of ideas has a huge following and gains more links with each post. This is a highly effective method of gaining traffic and climbing search engine rankings.

How do I get one?
Many free blogging software packages are availabe. A few popular types Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad and Movable Type. The setup ranges anywhere from 5 minutes to a full day depending on the level of customization and configuration. The basic steps are create an account, name the blog, choose a template and customize. It is advisable to host your blog on your web server or have a real domain point to the blog for marketing purposes. Obviously, a name like mytestname.com is easier to remember than http://mytestname.blogspot.com.

Summary
Blogs offer companies a low cost method of marketing on the internet. The benefits of offering relevant content are tremendous. The latest statistics indicate 80,000 new blogs are created everyday. That is about one per second. The easiest way to experience blogging is to try it. It will only take you about 5 minutes to setup a basic account. Opportunity awaits...get blogging.

Liisa Puolakka, of Nokia, on Experience Design

This is a great article about Experience Design and how Nokia is exploring it to push forward.

“...I think the main thing is that rather than just designing an object you take a more holistic approach. That means the design language and how it relates to other products; how does it feel to use, both rationally and emotionally...”

Keep Reading

Resort Experience Design - Interactive Vacations

This is an interesting idea. I've always wanted to be in a video game.

Eggvertising - too intrusive?

Apparently CBS is planning on laser-etching logos of their upcoming shows onto eggs. This very well may be a bit too intrusive... Or brilliant.

What thinks thee?