Inner Circle Media

On Saturday night (March 14th), Catherine Hayes and I were featured on WJR’s Internet Advisor, a Detroit radio show that’s been on the air for 11 years on News/Talk 760 AM. For those wondering - no, we did not get to meet Mitch Albom, but we had a great time talking with Gary Baker (local leader, technology expert and entrepreneur), Foster Braun (with that name and that voice, he was destined to be a radio star), and Ed Rudel (computer support guru).

During the show, Catherine and I covered the basics of website development - from content to design to search engine optimization. We were interviewed during the first hour of the show. Listen to the podcast here. We’re looking forward to doing more shows in the future.

It was really fun to visit the gorgeous, historic Fisher Building and watch the sun set over Detroit. I’d encourage all of you to visit downtown Detroit again. We had an awesome dinner at Mosaic in Greektown, and the city was bustling with event goers (at all the local theaters and event venues), and party goers (the St Patty’s Day crowd was in full force).

In 2009 BIG fonts are still all the rage!

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Since it’s January 2009, it seems the trendy thing to do is to talk about web design trends for the coming year (and you know how I like to be oh-so trendy). Smashing Magazine put out a good list of the top 10 trends for 2009 (they’ll expand the list in the coming months and present some color trends too). The list of trends provides good fodder for web designers in need of inspiration; however, I found that most of the “trends” have been around for the past few years and became increasingly popular in 2008. So technically, these aren’t new or upcoming  trends; they are the current style.

Just for fun, here are design trends from the past two years:

2008 Design Trends
Best of CSS Design 2007

You’ll notice that many of the old “trends” continue to hang around. I’d argue that’s because they aren’t trends, they’re standards in typography and layout that have been around for eons – in newspapers, books, propaganda posters, and even the art world.  This year’s trends - including letterpress, huge typography, font replacement, the “magazine look,” and introduction blocks - are all standards from the world of print design. PNG transparency is the web’s take on the use of background images and collage. By comparison, rich user interfaces, modal boxes, media blocks, and carousels (slideshows) are the trends that are truly WEB trends because they rely on technology and interactivity, and can’t be achieved in print.

I appreciated a few of the smart comments on the Smashing Magazine article. One said, “I always like hearing about trends.. gives me guidance on what NOT to do too often.” I know what he means. As a designer, it’s often easier to follow the pack and create designs that look like everyone else’s stuff, but your work will be stronger if you worry less about the current fashion and more about what the user wants/needs to most effectively interact with the site you’re designing.

Also noted in one of the comments – “There are no such things as web design trends, only good, appropriate design.” Clearly trends in print media, TV, video, and most importantly user experience are influencing and guiding us on our path as web designers. I think in coming years we’ll continue to learn that ease of use can be beautiful.   On that note, keep an eye on the ways mobile devices affect design styles in the coming years. Here are some inclinations - Mobile Web Design Trends For 2009 (again from Smashing Magazine).

And in case you’re desperate for one more list of trends for the year - here’s an informative list of the 20 Internet Marketing Trends for 2009 from Start Up Nation. Good stuff!

On occasion we have a client who asks, “If one website is good for my business, then doesn’t it stand to reason that 2, 3, 4 or more sites would be even better?” The answer is “MAYBE - It all depends on your audience.”If you serve just one audience, then one website is probably all you need.

If you serve multiple audiences, you should first determine - are their information needs different enough to warrant separate websites? If yes, then perhaps you should have multiple websites geared specifically at each audience.

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For the sake of example, here’s a story…

Imagine you sell goats. For the past 20 years your target audience has been people who buy your goats for milk production. You’ve had a website for the past 6 years that promotes your goats’ abilities to make prolific amounts of tasty, nutritious milk.

Then you get a phone call one day. Someone visited your website and wants to know if your goats are good grazers. You say, “Why sure, our goats are good grazers. They eat just about anything, but they prefer to eat the finest clover hay which makes their milk taste ever-so-sweet.”

And the caller says, “Oh no, I don’t want your goats for milk production. I started a new company called Rent-A-Goat Services. We’re looking for friendly goats to use as an efficient, holistic, environmentally healthy approach to weed control. It sounds like your goats wouldn’t be good for this since they’ve been spoiled on the finest clover hay. I’ll call someone else. Toodle-loo.”

Initially, you are surprised, but because you are such a brilliant entrepreneur, you recognize a new market for your goats. Immediately you call your favorite web design company and get started on a new website that promotes your goats as the world’s most voracious weed eaters. Six months later you’ve sold more goats than the previous five years combined. You decide to establish a company called, “Hungry Goat Staffing Services.” A year later you are the preferred goat provider to Rent-A-Goat Services all over the country. Two years later you decide to sell your goat staffing company and move to Tuscany to learn Italian, drink good Chianti, and perfect your Mostaccioli recipe.

You get the picture? If you decide you need more than one website, keep these things in mind:

1. Multiple sites can be good for your search engine ranking - because you can cross link between sites and because you’ll have multiple search engine listings.

2. Managing multiple sites can be time-consuming. Don’t spread yourself to thin. If you can’t handle the maintenance of several sites, then just stick with one.

3. Don’t cannibalize from your other sites. If you set up two or three sites that market the same product, they may compete for visitors and may not help you increase market share.

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By the way, Rent-A-Goat is the real deal. We don’t make this stuff up!

There really are Rent-A-Goat services sprouting up around the country. Here’s a link to one in San Francisco City Crazing.

For small lawns and those hard to reach places…

… consider baby pigmy goats. They’re cute, bouncy, always hungry, and many people will think they’re just strange looking cats - which means you can keep them in your backyard in Ann Arbor. Perhaps they’ll become friends with your flock of urban chickens.

Does your website look a bit rusty? Is it time for a fresh new site design? Often prospective clients come to us with websites that were built at the turn of the century (the 21st century that is), and they want to get a head start on planning for their new and improved site. If you are revved up to revamp your old, stagnant website, you can get a jump on the process by considering the following questions before you even meet with a web development company:

GOALS:

• What are the high level business goals for your company or organization?
• What are the goals for the new web site?
• How are those goals different from your previous website?
• How will you measure success of the new web site?

AUDIENCE & MESSAGE:

• Who is the primary audience? Secondary targets?
• What will visitors do on the site? Consider age, education level, gender, tech savvinesss, and any other visitor attributes that might help you understand how they’ll use your site.
• Please sum up your customer’s/audience’s needs and concerns in a sentence.
• What are your key marketing and communications messages?
• What does your audience think you do/are? What do you want them to think?

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN:

• Will the new site’s architecture differ from that of the current site?
• Have you established hierarchy and labeling for navigation for new site? (Global navigation/main buttons, local navigation/subsections, etc.)
• Has style guide been approved by your company? (i.e., colors, fonts, etc.)
• What is the desired site attitude/look and feel?
• What sites inspire you? What do you find appealing about these sites?
• Who are your competitors (or comparable organizations)?  What do you like/dislike about their sites?

CONTENT:

• Is content already prepared for the site, including illustrations, photography, and other graphic or audiovisual content?
• Who will write the content for your site? Who will be the main editor?
• Do you have a plan for creating, gathering, tracking, and managing site content assets prior to site development?
• How will the site be maintained?
• Will you use a Content Management System (CMS?
• Do you have a specific CMS in mind?

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION:

• Search Terms: Please list the most common terms that users might type into Google to look for a company/organization/service like yours:
• Outgoing Links: Please list sites that your site links to.
• Incoming Links: Please list websites that already link to your site.

FUNCTIONALITY, IMPLEMENTATION, INTEGRATION, AND LAUNCH:

• What functionalities will the site incorporate?  Here are some possible items you might want to consider: keyword-based site search, advanced search (specific parameters – i.e. search by last name, title, city, etc.), Flash / animated areas of site, blog, discussion forum, wiki, RSS feeds, online forms, online surveys or polls, eCommerce/shopping cart, online donations, event calendar, event registration, photo gallery, video clips, audio clips/podcasts, web cams, advertising/sponsorship, member/user management, password protected content
• Do you have/use a database for contacts, membership, products, etc.? Do you want your site to tie to your database?
• Do you have any requirements for how the site is built? i.e. you would prefer the use of open source technologies.
• Are there any 3rd party applications which will integrate with the site?
• Did you buy your domain name(s) yet?
• Do you have a hosting company in mind?
• Who will test the website? (It’s best to test the beta site with at least 7-10 actual site visitors)

If you complete this long list of questions, you’ll be well on your way to a well-planned website. But hey - you’re not off the hook yet. This is just the start. You should expect (or even demand) that your chosen web company bombard you with further questions.

This may sound crazy coming from a business owner trying to grow her company, but we send away business every day. When prospective clients call, we ask a bunch of probing questions, and when it makes sense, we direct them to a trusted group of web freelancers. But, why would a company EVER send business away? Because a good fit is vital to a good outcome!How do you know who’s right for your next web project? Here’s some quick guidance on how to choose between a freelancer and a web development shop:

Reasons to Choose a Freelancer:

• You want a basic informational site.
• Your budget is limited (i.e. under $3-5 K).
• You’ve already designed your site; now you need someone to code it.
• Conversely, you need someone to design your site, and you’ll have one of your in-house techies code the site.
• You already have a decent website; you just need someone to help you make changes or additions.

Reasons to Choose a Web Development Firm:

• Your new website will be complex - perhaps it’s database-driven, with a login area, an online store, and a content management system.
• You want to work with a team with a wide breadth of expertise - marketing, search engine optimization, design, programming, animation, video for the web - you want your web team to have it all.
• You want to hang out in a funky, orange office (+ spend time with Norm the dog).

If you’re still not sure who would build you the best website, you might consider talking to both freelancers and web shops. Here are some considerations when interviewing one-woman shops vs. larger companies:

Considerations when choosing a freelancer:

• What’s in the freelancer’s portfolio? Do you like their work?
• Does s/he ask the right questions, listen intently, and understand your goals?
• Do you have a good fit with the freelancer? (This is important since it’s a one-on-one relationship.)
• How quickly can the freelancer complete the work?
• Does the freelancer build websites part-time? Do they have a day job?

Considerations when choosing a web firm:

Almost 2 years ago, I wrote a blog post about this very topic. It tells you what questions to ask when choosing a web development firm. Here’s the link - Choosing a Web Firm: 20 Questions For Prospective Web Developers. The next time you come talk to us about a web project, make sure to ask these questions, and give me a dose of my own medicine!

When I talk with new web designers, they frequently ask – How do you keep up with the latest web design styles, industry trends, and the newest possibilities for user interface design? Of course, I tell them that it’s super easy because the “Web Design Fairy” visits me on a weekly basis and imparts her wisdom with the touch of her wand.

Seriously, if you want your designs to forever be cutting-edge, contemporary, and hip, it takes a lot of research (i.e. books, websites, blogs, etc.), a hyper critical eye, and an inner drive to continuously push yourself. It is NOT easy. It requires vigilance. Moreover, if you want to improve your designs, you have to be able to look at your own work with an unbiased eye and say, “Golly I bet I could do better” – which sounds easier than it actually is.

Here are my thoughts and recommendations for all you creative types who are worried about doing outdated web designs and are seeking continuous improvement:

1. First of all, you’re taking a great first step by being concerned about improving your designs. Many designers get into a groove and rarely stray from it. At some point in their careers, they do a design they like and then all future designs look like that treasured first design. They choose their favorite color palette, fonts, graphical elements, etc. and they stick with them. My recommendation is this – as you design, keep your mind and your eye loose. Try new things. Try to emulate other designs you like. Remember – nothing about your design is precious or unchangeable. Also, work the entire layout equally. Don’t get hung up on the perfect color for the search button. Make your best choice and move on. You can always make changes later.

2. Refer often to websites and blogs about good design. Here are a few sites that I check on weekly. They provide compiled lists of the latest and greatest new sites.

• http://www.designmeltdown.com
• http://bestwebgallery.com/
• www.stylegala.com
• http://www.webdesignerwall.com/trends/best-of-css-design-2007
• http://www.web100.com/index.html
• http://www.coolhomepages.com/
• http://www.designinteract.com

3. Save the sites you like in your “Bookmarks”and refer to them often. My list of fav’s is gigantic and very helpful, especially when a client says, “I want my site’s design to be really awesome and organic (or some similar combination of abstract words).” Then I show the client sites from my fav list that might fit his/her vision, and the client tells me “yes, that’s what I mean,” or “no, I that’s not what I was thinking at all. I really just want you to use earth tones and photos of leaves…”

4. No matter what trend is occurring, remember to always rely on underlying design conventions to guide users toward the intended action you’d like them to take. Use the page layout and a strong message to provide order and meaning. Don’t make users search for information or think too hard about what to do next. Don’t crowd the page – keep your design simple and make it easy for users to quickly accomplish tasks. No matter how funky your color scheme and design elements, it’s easiest for users to comprehend content that is arranged on an underlying grid (with columns and rows). Use various sized fonts (headlines, subheads, body type, navigation) to delineate the space and guide visitors. And finally, as the architect Louis Sullivan preached, remember that FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION. In other words, “Don’t decorate. Communicate.”

As promised, here’s a follow up to last month’s experiment with Google Hot Trends. In my previous post, I explained how Hot Trends let’s you see what terms people are currently searching for on the web - which can be helpful to your search engine optimization efforts because if you know what people are looking for online, you can tailor your website content and blog posts to their interests.

On June 9th, folks were searching for all sorts of terms; I chose to focus on two terms - “tree with purple flowers” and “Spanish port.” I wrote about these terms in my blog post and then tracked our web statistics to see if those terms drew increased traffic to our site and blog. Indeed, we saw increased traffic. Out of the top 10 search phrases, 3 of them were related to “tree with purple flowers” and “Spanish port.” That’s all fine and dandy, but my experiment begs a few questions:

1. Will your site get more traffic if you talk about the terms listed in Hot Trends? Yes it probably will, but…

2. Is it the TARGETED traffic you want from people who actually care about your products, services, or organization? No, not if you’re a web and multimedia company talking about purple flowers, which have nothing to do our customers’needs or pains.

3. OK, so how can I use Hot Trends to write relevant site content and blog entries and hopefully get better search engine ranking? Here’s how:

On Friday, June 29, 2007, several of the top 100 keyphrases in Hot Trends were related to Facebook (the online social networking hub). That day Facebook suffered a lot of extended downtime, and people were searching the web to figure out what was going on and why they couldn’t access one of their favorite sites. I could use this search trend to my advantage by writing about a related topic as follows:

1. I could write about building an online community (using Facebook, Myspace, and a bazillion other examples). I could talk about how to plan, create, and market that community, and point out the importance of making sure that community is secure, not filled with spam, and scalable.

2. OR I could write an edgier post about how Facebook (and others like it) seem more like popularity contests than real “communities” where people connect deeply, care about each other, fight for a common cause, and strive to improve the world around them.

Either way, these posts (both of which I may write in the near future) would benefit our company and our search engine ranking because they would speak to the needs of my company’s target audience (organizations who want to build and/or improve their own online communities) AND they would also help position me as an expert in my field AND they would be relevant to the terms people are searching on Google. Sounds like a win-win-win to me

So, you want to get higher search engine ranking? Here’s a tool to help.

Google is offering a great tool to help you determine what new content to write about on your website and blog. The tool is called Hot Trends, and it allows you to see a snapshot of what’s on the public’s collective mind by viewing the fastest-rising searches for different points of time. In other words, Hot Trends lets you see what terms are being searched right now!

Hot Trends Today:

At present (June 9, 2007), it appears that many people are searching for “trees with purple flowers” (#5 search term out of the 100 most popular terms) and “Spanish port” (#14 search term).

1. Tree with Purple Flowers: Since I’m here in Michigan, I don’t currently have the joy of seeing the Jacaranda tree blooming in California, but I’m guessing that it’s a top search term because it’s currently in bloom on the west coast and dropping purple petals all over the lawns of California. This tree sounds amazing - it survives in extremely hot climates and needs only 6.5 inches of water per year.

2. Spanish Port: Spanish Port could be a top search term for a few reasons. Here’s one possibility - Today there are two American treasure-hunting ships in Gibraltar carrying a disputed undersea trove of gold and silver valued at $500m. Reports say that Spain may seize these ships if they enter Spanish waters. Here’s an even better possibility - People are finally realizing that Port Wine (originally from Portugal) is dang good stuff. I’m particularly fond of the tawny variety, especially when it’s accompanied by some decadent tiramisu.

OK, it’s true - neither of these terms has much to do with the overall purpose of this blog. We’re not tree/flower experts, and while we may enjoy a good desert wine, we’re not food/wine critics. However, the point of this post is to show you that you should use online trends as well as your own website’s statistics to determine what to write about on your website and/or blog. When you write about the topics that people care about, your site is RELEVANT and it bumps up in the search engine rankings.

I’ll do a follow up blog entry to let you know how much this post boosts our site traffic and search engine placement. In the meantime, please feel free to send me some purple flowers and a nice, old tawny port.

The following are seven tips for writing compelling website content. For a more comprehensive “how to” guide, watch for our new workbook about developing better web content.

1. Know your audience- their needs. worries, stresses, goals, ideas, etc.- and write content that addresses your audience members’ concerns in a way that is relevant, helpful, non-preachy, and logical.

2. Stop sounding like your competitors! If you want people to choose your products or services, show them that you are different from and better than your competition. Make sure that the features and benefits you list on your website address your potential customers’ needs and speak in their own common language. Offer your customers something that they can’t get anywhere else.

3. Avoid common content mistakes- such as rambling text that requires scrolling, techie talk or industry jargon, or a lack of a clear focuses message.

4. Make sure the first 25 words on each page include keywords. Use keywords and keyphrases (the common words and phrases that people type into search engines when looking for a product or service like yours) throughout your website content with the most specific terms in the first 25 words. Avoid keyword spamming (over-stuffing keywords into your content to try to increase your search engine rank).

5. Allow easy visual scanning. Make sure your content is easy for visitors to quickly scan by using clear headings, short sentences and paragraphs, bulleted lists, obvious calls to action, inverted pyramids, and error-free content.

6. Keep it current! Make sure you update your website content as often as possible to ensure that your users will continue to visit your website. Fresh content also invites search engine spiders to re-index your website and increase your chances of higher rankings.

7. Invite your visitors to participate. Use a “call to action” to inspire users to call you, purchase products, contribute to your blog, and sign up for your mailing list. If you want your visitors to act in a certain way (such as purchasing your service), then make sure your text effectively guides them toward the appropriate action.

In this Google-centric world, people are obsessed with their ranking, their traffic, or, at a more basic level, just want more site visitors. We advise people to watch their site stats monthly, even weekly, to tie into their marketing campaigns, press releases, etc., but for some clients, that’s too time consuming or confusing. (Current clients: want to learn more about your stats? Email me!)

There are several techniques you can employ at no or low cost to get more people to come to your site:

>Write a blog. A blog, you say? Like this very one I am reading, you ask? Why yes, find a topic you are passionate about, or that your company specializes in, a service that you can provide for clients and customers, and write about it. To read some basics on blogging, read Alaine’s entry from Feb. 13. Write about how national news ties into something your company is doing. Write about your favorite services locally. Brag about your kids, business awards, or post photos of your cute dog. Get some fresh content up there so returning customers, or potential clients, see who you are, what you do, and how you do it better. Wouldn’t you rather work with a company with some personality and expertise than a faceless generic company?

>Optimize your site. That’s just a fancy way of saying, make sure your keywords, metatags and site are set up to make the most of those creepy crawly web spiders that the search engines biggies use. Do you know the keywords that people would use to search for you? Do you have compelling title tags on each of your pages? We can help make sense of the SEO gobbleygook, just ask!

>Send out an email newsletter/update to current and prospective clients.
Many local companies and organizations do this very well. Menlo, the Ann Arbor Area Chamber, and Brogan Partners are just a few of the many I receive, and I am almost always clicking on a tidbit or story to read more, which leads me right to the business’ or organizations’ website. Give readers an incentive to read more, register for an event, purchase something, or just contact you with simple links and lots of entry spots in the enewsletter.

>Never leave your office without business cards. Maybe I’m just nosy, but every new business card I acquire, through a networking event at the IT Zone or the Chamber, or a friend-of-a-friend, I immediately go back to my office and look at their web site (assuming they put the URL on their business card, of course.) Now I know that’s what we do here at ICM, but I want to see what their company is all about and you’d be surprised at what I find and the many, many websites in need of an overhaul. But that’s a topic for another day…

>Wait, I don’t even have a website—do I need one? That’s where we come in. Call us, let’s grab some coffee, and talk about if we can work together.