This article goes into the the key steps that will help you with planning a website.
As a veteran designer, developer and project manager for more websites than I can count, I’ve identified a common problem with many Web projects: failure to plan. The same issues come up repeatedly in my work, so I’ve written this guide in order to help clients, other designers, businesses and organizations plan and realize successful websites.
This guide is written in relatively non-technical language and provides a broad overview of the process of developing a website, from the initial needs assessment through the launch, maintenance and follow-up. It is appropriate for:
Small and medium-sized businesses;
Organizations;
Institutions;
Web designers, developers, and design and development firms.
If you’re building a four-page website for your family reunion or a 5000-page website for a Fortune 500 company, then this guide might not be for you; it will either be too detailed or way too short, respectively.
Why Plan?
Planning is essential for most businesses and organizations. In practice, many people fail to plan their websites. Sometimes the ever-busy, dynamic nature of running a business is to blame; there are so many operational demands that proper time is not allotted to projects. But this often happens because people fail to recognize that planning for the Web is just as important as planning for anything else in a business.
The (Lengthy) Deck Example
Consider the example of building a deck. If you want a deck for your house, you probably won’t call several carpenters and ask, “How much is a deck?” If you do, you’ll get the smart answer: “It depends.” In order to provide you with an estimate, a carpenter needs some details about the project:
What kind of wood? Cedar? Treated? Synthetic?
Where exactly will the deck go? Are there any obstacles to work around?
What height will it be, and how many levels will it have?
Do you want benches, railings, built-in planters?
Do you have clearance to bring special equipment into your yard?
Then there is the host of other things for the carpenter to consider: scheduling, building permits, inspection, maintenance, etc. That’s why a smart carpenter will answer your simple question with “it depends.”
It makes sense to meet with more than one contractor to address the questions above and more. When you choose a carpenter, they should provide a detailed plan that you both sign. Throughout the building process, the carpenter should check in with you periodically and discuss potential challenges and snags.
We were surprised and excited when Powderbark Stud approached us about creating their website. A business specialising in horse breeding is about as far away from our usual clientele as you can get!
Regardless, business websites share many things in common: the need to communicate and engage with prospective customers in terms of the business focus and what it offers.
We designed and delivered the website using WordPress, and provided the business owners with training in WordPress to allow them to create and manage site content themselves. Business websites are no longer static “online brochures” – they need to actively engage with their customers with new and relevant content – and WordPress was a perfect platform to achieve this.
Thematically, the site presented a design that is organic and natural, from the illustrated logo we designed for Powderbark Stud, to the use of greens and earth colours, and wood grain motifs on the site. Powderbark loved the design and the ease at which they could post new blog entries and update site content and galleries with WordPress.
Like to keep up with logo design trends? Well good thing for Logo Lounge who have compiled annual trends for the past nine years.
Last year was brighter. This year is lighter.
Your humble servants at LogoLounge.com were called out by some after last year’s Trends Report on allegedly favoring brightly hued logos. In truth, though, like with all Trends Reports, we were objectively reporting what we saw. The color dial was certainly pegged.
For the 2011 report, our ninth, color is still prevalent, but tinted down. Where black has been used as the strong neutral, now brown or gray is in place. Blues and greens are softer, and pinks are starting to appear.
Other degrees of lightness: Shapes are airier, lifting off the page. Designs are rising out of their 2D resting places and suggesting that they would really like to go places. In some logos, line weights are slimmer. There’s plenty of transparency, too, as if light is now able to flow right through.
It feels like what people believe a logo to be is also becoming more transcendent. A logo is no longer a single piece of flat art. It can be a favicon, an icon, or an entire set of marks that work together to support the team. Its boundaries have become less strict as well. There was a time when most logos could be enclosed in a simple hand-drawn square, circle or similar geometric shape, but now many logos drag outside those outlines. They just don’t want to fit the old mold.
We also saw plenty of:
Items related to wine—bottles, corks, glasses, corkscrews.
Sticking with the light theme, lots of sunrises—or are they sunsets?
For some curious reason, mortar and pestles, owls, and zebras (not in the same designs).
Single-, double- or triple-line ribbons—almost like Chartpak tape of the 1970s—that run through letters and designs.
What stood out most of all were trees (which incidentally is the most searched-for word on the LogoLounge site). There was also a hyper-resurgence of leaves, but leaves being used in really creative way: floating on water to represent stepping stones, celtic knots built out of leaves, a sculling team rowing a leaf-boat, the veins of which represent oars. Trees and leaves are not just used to represent sustainability/nature anymore, but the designs in which they are used do get the added perk of being basking in a pleasing ecological light.
The 2011 Trend Report
Every year, it’s worth noting that this is a report on trends, not a recipe book of styles. It is also not a finite list: There are other valid trends out there that are not mentioned here.
The report should serve you as an ongoing view of where logo design is headed. The word “trends” in itself can have a very negative cast, but in truth, trends aren’t bad. They reveal our growth. It’s our take on them that allows us to move even further forward.
Facebook has changed the way we do business on the Internet.
Many businesses are making their presence felt online – especially on Facebook which has recently topped more than 500 million users. Facebook lets you interact with your target audience – reaching out to them with your brand, products and services. From small businesses to enterprise-level organisations, Facebook has become the go-to social media site to engage with your market.
It began when we started our own Intertec Facebook Page – and it wasn’t long before our social media savvy customers started asking us to help them make their Facebook pages look smarter and more professional with our design services.
If your business is on Facebook and you’ve been thinking about how you can make your brand more prominent on your Facebook business page, then get in touch. Our Facebook Business Page Designs start at $300 ex GST for a business profile image and Welcome tab.
An informative article from the Smashing Magazine stable about taking credit card payments online.
If you’re looking to integrate a credit card payment solution onto your website, the following steps are a guide to applying for, enabling and taking payments online.
At first glance, the prospect of integrating a payment solution on a website can seem unwieldy, what with the vast array of payment options and technical acronyms. This article breaks down the entire process into bite-sized pieces, helping you understand the process much better.
Apply For An IMA
When taking any kind of credit card payments connected to a bank account, you must apply for a merchant account with a bank. If the payments will be taken online, you’ll specifically need an Internet Merchant Account (IMA). In addition to banks, in many locations there are dedicated merchant account providers you can use.
Even if you currently take “card-not-present” payments (such as for mail orders) or use in-store payment terminals (such as chip-and-pin), you still have to speak with your bank about taking payments via your website (ask your bank for an additional IMA ID).
As a broad overview, your bank acts as the “acquirer,” which confirms available funds, authorizes transactions and exchanges funds with the issuing bank of the credit card (e.g. Visa, MasterCard), i.e. the card holder’s bank. The funds are then transferred to your account (the merchant), minus the applicable fees. The issuing bank’s charges are called interchange fees, and your bank’s fees are the acquirer’s fees. As the merchant, you should be informed of any fees prior to signing the merchant services agreement with your bank and payment service provider (more about this further down).
MASTER-VISA-CIRRUS in Taking Credit Card Payments Online: What’s Involved?
Your acquiring bank will expect your website to operate within a strict set of rules in order for them to comply with their own security procedures and government legislation (more on that later, too). Some credit card providers have developed the technology to allow card holders to authenticate themselves online. MasterCard’s is called MasterCard SecureCode, and Visa’s is called Verified by Visa.
It’s worth noting that it is possible to process Internet payments manually, using your regular point of sale system. This isn’t recommended, though, partly due to security reasons, and partly because it can quickly become too much work to manually process payments taken through your website (do you really want to have to key in a thousand individual cards if you suddenly have a huge uptick in sales?). Also, some merchant agreements may specifically prohibit this type of payment processing. Even if you do decide to process payments manually, you’ll still need an Internet Merchant Account, because it’s where the transaction is initiated that counts, not where it’s eventually processed.
Select A PSP
In addition to an IMA, you will need to use the services of a payment service provider (PSP). Commonly, PSPs handle the pages on a website where customers submit their payment details. PSPs provide a “virtual” cashier, or point-of-sale terminal, that collects card details, screens for fraud and securely passes the details to your acquiring bank for processing. PSPs are sometimes referred to as payment gateways.
The PSPs offer various packages and rates to suit the requirements of different merchants. The main difference between packages comes down to whether you want to host the secure payment pages on the PSP’s servers or on your own server. Some PSPs also provide tailored solutions.
It’s worth noting that some PSPs also provide IMAs, and some acquiring banks provide PSP services.
Payment-Processing Companies
As is often the case, there are alternatives to the approach outlined above, especially if you want to avoid the challenge of technically implementing one of these solutions. One alternative is to use the services of a payment-processing company. This option eliminates the need to apply for an IMA and PSP separately. The application process of a payment processing service is usually a lot less stringent than that for an IMA, which results in a faster set-up, especially if you have little or no trading history.
The disadvantage is that your customers will be sent to the processing company’s website in order to make their payment. Also, settlement periods can take much longer (up to 60 days), and your overall cost may be slightly higher than if you had gone with an IMA and PSP.
Not all payment-processing companies operate like this, though. Some companies, including PayPal and Google Checkout, remit payment immediately in most cases, directly into your account. In other words, as soon as the payment is made by your customer, the money is deposited into your merchant account.
Focus Minerals, one of Australia’s prominent producers of gold, approached us to redesign and redevelop their website for a cleaner, more corporate look and feel, and to enable them to manage the site’s content themselves via a content management system (CMS).
We recommended WordPress – a powerful and very flexible industry standard content management system – and worked the design to present a very clean, polished interface that foregrounded Focus Minerals’ key business activities, projects and resources for investors. Part of the challenge of creating this website was the creation of repositories of publications, reports, media releases and multimedia resources (video and audio) which could be managed and populated by Focus Minerals staff. Harnessing WordPress’s versatile blogging engine, we developed libraries of reports, publications, documents and media that could be easily accessed and searched.
Intertec created a new site for Focus Minerals – one which was a great deal more user-friendly, well-structured and which actively engaged with the company’s stakeholders and customer base. Deploying the site in WordPress also meant that the company could manage the general day-to-day maintenance of the website without having to engage web developers – a great cost-saving for them!
Jorgensen Albums, a company dedicated to the creation of quality, high-end photographic albums for professional photographers, approached us with a brief to update and extend their website.
Their previous site, while visually appealing, was beginning to date in both design and content. In addition to a visual and structural redesign, Jorgensen asked us to implement an eStore with the site, to allow their professional clientele to log in and purchase their products.
Intertec rose to the challenge – by using WordPress, our recommended content management system (CMS), we were able to build Jorgensen Albums a website that was flexible, scalable and which could include a range of useful functions, including an eCart. Visually, the new site looks fresh, contemporary, clean and polished – like the prestigious albums that Jorgensen produces. Structurally, it makes for easy location of information, and the new menu items makes navigating the site much easier. Keen participants in social networking, Jorgensen Albums had requested that a blog to accompany the site – in which WordPress excels.
The new Jorgensen Albums site was launched to much praise and positive feedback from the company’s clients and prospects.
At Intertec, we’ve been busy developing eCart websites for our small to medium enteprise customers using a new breed of shopping cart software called Ecwid. Short for “E-Commerce Widgets”, Ecwid offers a free and flexible e-commerce suit perfect for selling products online.
The beauty of Ecwid is that it is lightweight, flexible and super-powerful. It can be easily installed on any website by inserting three lines of HTML code, and is a great system for businesses looking for an eCart that is quick to install and deploy, and which provides a comprehensive range of eCart features.
Ecwid seamlessly integrates with the business’ existing website, so our customers don’t need to modify their existing sites to accommodate an eCart. Ecwid uses a freemium model where businesses can sell physical or digital goods with no fee, or opt to pay $17 a month for a white-labeled widget or app with API access and the option to distribute discount coupons. Businesses that want to sell across the web but only manage a single catalog will benefit from Ecwid.
Another Ecwid feature is that it allows businesses to set up a single store that can be embedded on Facebook pages, allowing businesses to leverage on social networking sites to help boost exposure and sales.
Ecwid allows business owners to enable their existing website with eCart functionality very easily and without blowing the budget.
Check out our Showcase soon for examples of eCart sites we have developed using Ecwid. In the mean time checkout Ecwid.com for more info.
We all know that Internet changes at lightning speed (could be faster) and that means, techniques and technologies we used 3 years ago are obsolete! You should be on your feet and keep up with these changes constantly. Luckily, there are some clear warning signs that tell you that your site needs an update. Here are the “red flags” that will let you know.
1 – Your Site Looks Like a Coding Freak
How does this happen? You hired a designer to create the site, and then when you needed an overhaul, you hired another to fix it. And then another to fix it. Now, you’ve got ten years of bad code piled on top of bad code and your site’s design is a mess. A better idea is to make a fresh start.
2 – A Fancy Flash Intro Dazzles Your Visitors
Flash was so cool about ten years ago. Now, it’s “so ten years ago.” I guarantee you that nobody’s impressed anymore when you’ve got a flash intro welcoming them to your site. People have no time for this clutter; your visitors want to access the information that they are looking for as fast as possible.
In fact, a flash intro may even keep them from viewing your site. On an older browser, it takes forever for the intro to load. While they’re waiting, they’re going to be clicking the “back” button or heading somewhere else.
3 – You’re Not Being Social
We now live in the world of Web 2.0, and it’s all about communicating and networking. Your site isn’t a billboard or print advertisement; it should be an active part of a community. This means that you need to get out in the social networking sites and create some community.
The more you let your users get involved in your site, the more they’ll stick around. You can install Facebook widgets, “Tweet This” buttons, and even user profile functions for your customers. You should at least have a comments section and be running a fan page on Facebook. These social networking sites are some of the most popular places on the web, so you should be there mixing it up!
4 – The Site Is Covered With Tables
Several years ago, tables were the main design used for websites. Nowadays, it’s totally a thing of the past. Tables are hard to read, and they’re just about impossible for search engines to find. In fact, they’re technically made with invalid HTML code. So, they’ve got to go!
5 – You Still Need To Go Mobile
The entire internet is now going mobile and if you’re site’s not set up for it, you’ll lose customers left and right. If your site isn’t mobile-compatible, it will take forever to load on their mobile devices and it will look like garbage.
Techie experts predict that mobile is the thing of the future, and the number of sales of smartphones is supporting this prediction. Get a mobile version of your site going so you don’t get left behind.
6 – You’re Hiring A Programmer For Every Little Change
These days, more and more companies are using a CMS, or content management system. This is an interface that allows anyone in your staff to make changes when needed. Things happen quickly in the world of the internet, so you’ve got to be able to make these necessary changes without having to hire a web designer again.
7 – No Inspiring Towards Action
Your site needs to have a simple, clear and effective call to action to get them moving. It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to get them to sign up for a newsletter, donate to a non-profit organization or hit the “Buy Now” button.
Everything needs a strong call to action to get them moving. For example, don’t make them sign up for a membership to buy your product; let them buy as a guest and you’ll remove one more barrier from them taking action.
As website designers and developers, Intertec knows the value of good web copy – your website text that sells your products and services to customers. The right copy can make your web site content engaging and interactive. The wrong copy can send potential customers and visitors clicking away. What makes good copy? Here are our top five tips:
Be brief, and to the point. Keep sentences short; paragraphs shorter.
Be conversational – avoid sleep-inducing clichés such as “cutting-edge”, “innovative solutions” and “world-class product”: these phrases don’t describe anything concrete about what you do.
Give evidence – don’t just say how good you are, show proof. Link to client testimonials or samples of your work.
Get interactive – give a reason for customers to contact you.
Use visuals – graphical content shouldn’t just be there for illustrative or decorative reasons. People skim read web content – use graphics to draw attention to the point you’re making.
There is a fine art to producing good web copy. Have a look at this article “Copy is Dead” for more tips and approaches to making sure your web copy works for you!
It may be hyperbole, but copy as we know it is nearly useless. Why is that? First we must define what copy is: copy is marketing text designed to persuade users to take action. Today, copy is less successful at persuading users and moving them forward than it has been in the past. Marketing and branding is changing, especially on the web.
Now value and brevity are more important than ever before as Internet users become more impatient, more cynical, and even more demanding. How do we combat such cynicism and increasing skepticism? The answer is clear text with interactive proof.
A different landscape
Nowadays I see hundreds of designers and marketing professionals treating websites like they are billboards, television commercials, or magazine ads. Copy as a marketing tool was developed for these more traditional methods where persuasion is everything. We cannot treat the web like it’s just another presentation medium.
The web has a powerful new ingredient: interactivity. The interactive element completely changes the game. Now customers can quickly evaluate and move on. We no longer have the luxury of pure brand exposure and time for product ideal-isms to simmer in their heads. Traditional methods of writing copy are losing effectiveness because the way they persuade is fundamentally about ideas and not about backing it up.
Credibility is harder to come by
The web as a medium levels businesses and products on to the same playing field. Before the Internet was born, having advertising in traditional spaces was enough because there was a financial barrier. The Internet breaks down such pricing barriers and allows smaller products and companies to speak with users on the same terms as potentially multi-billion dollar companies.
This means that you can no longer just speak with credibility — you must show it, support and feature it. Even as Internet scams become more rampant, users have gained access to tools that make it extremely easy to check into the validity of an offer.
Customers are experienced
Consumers are bombarded with a stream of advertising, marketing and sales pitches. In past media customers learned to expect advertising in certain places, but now they are subject to persuasive speech and image during most of their time on the web. In short, our users have become experienced and savvy when it comes to marketing. How can they not be? If familiarity breeds contempt then most users must hate marketing.
Copy usage on the web has become a multi-layered fight. First, we must break through the skepticism, fight the cynicism and address the reality. Great sounding text, slick promises and professionalism don’t get you very far anymore. Consumers are demanding more of marketing and in less time.
The road ahead
Okay, so I lied. Copy isn’t dead; it’s just outdated. The question now is what designers and marketing professionals need to do about it. The answer: adapt and build a better approach, and that approach is known as interactive copy.
Be Direct
Copy is no longer about just persuading the user. You have precious little time to capture attention and interest, so don’t mince words. When you communicate clearly and directly, users will respond.
Setting up the needs was a valuable tool in the past, but users no longer have the patience for it. Get straight to the point.
Be Brief
I could tell you that the new user doesn’t have a large attention span and that quick copy is a time limit issue, but that’s really not the case. You have limited time because users have gotten good at seeing through poorly crafted offers. Brevity does one powerful thing: it communicates confidence.
When was the last time an expert in their field had to convince people that he is good at what he does? Probably not too recently. Achievement breeds confidence. People are aware of this and recognize when it’s absent. If your copy is long winded, it can come off as desperate and feel like you are trying too hard to prove something. Be confident and be brief.
Prove it
Gone are the days when you could just convince a customer that your product or service was good. Users will ignore copy if it isn’t backed up by testimonials, portfolio, case studies, free trials, or more. “Take my word for it” is basically useless now. Users today are terrified of bad decisions and the Internet doesn’t have the best record for providing ethical companies that deliver on their promises.
You may look good and sound good but users are more skeptical than ever. You must offer tangible proof, and keep the user engaged and moving forward in the process.
Be Interactive
The web is an interactive medium. You have a powerful opportunity to not only provide the user with a path to your product or service but the ability to engage them. Never before have you been able to offer a promise and immediately engage the user to show them why it’s true.
Interactive Copy is all about momentum. If you can build it up by generating a valid question and moving the user to the next step, don’t leave them hanging with no direct way to get to the answers. Not only should copy be an active step in the process but it should act like it. Make your links and buttons react to user input and activity. Just like a confident and charismatic salesman can work wonders so can copy and calls to action that provide feedback.
Generate Momentum
With Interactive Copy, one of the new tools we can leverage is momentum. Building up urgency and process movement is critical to effective sales. The way to build up effective momentum is crafting scarcity into your calls to action. The user is not watching a TV show, driving or reading a magazine. They are on your website looking at your product or service. If you don’t call them to engage in the process then you are inviting them to procrastinate and think it over.
Scarcity breeds value and urgency. If they feel the offer is temporary, they’ll act sooner. This builds more momentum. Always move the user forward with urgency, calls to action, and justifiable intent.
Interactive copy is here to stay
While there are whole other articles (and even books) written about good copy-writing and marketing tactics, we are dealing with a new breed of user and a new approach with a brand new tool-set for persuasion. Engage your users, provide them with ways to interact with your copy, and the result will be momentum toward sales and, eventually, success.