Challenge Assumptions

June 13, 2012

Are your processes in place because of tradition? Or perhaps because it worked in the past? No one is telling you to re-invent the wheel. But take a look at your marketing strategy, online and digital presence, your photos (which can make or break the profesionalism of your materials and website) as well as your business marketing ideas. Just because you've always done it the same way, all day, everday, doesn't mean you can improve and clean up what you currently have. One of the things clients feel is FRIGHTENED of change. I have had numerous clients tell me that we're proposing change way too fast or they are intimidated by change. What's to say the new strategy will work? What if...the new strategy, materials, and photos make things WORSE? There's no guarantee, but one thing we can say, is review and challenging assumptions is a good thing, even if you end up making no changes. But have a serious 'storming session' where you reflect on what your business is currently doing!

Quick Tidbit for ANY business.

April 12, 2012

Be small. Look BIG. Your website, marketing materials, photos, and advertising do not have to operate on big budgets, but nowadays, the digital marketplace makes business equal in face-size. You can be any size business you'd like to be...Look BIG, think BIG. But you can still be small. Don't be afraid!

My case in point? The Bronze Finch recently created a website for a small tax and cpa firm in Utah. The owner was impressed when we made his website make his business look big. A client of theirs said 'wow, thought you guys were a big company' and was pleasantly suprised that it was a private cpa with affordable prices.

Is it time for a new website?

February 23, 2012

1. if your website is over 2 years old the odds are it needs a refresh at a minimum and it may be less expensive to build a new website depending on the platform it was designed on.  

2. If your website is done completely or largely in Flash and your homepage and key pages have all Flash you probably need a new website.  In a nutshell a Flash website is invisible to Google, Bing, and other search engines and will not rank well.

3. If the information architecture and website design practices are out of date it absolutely affects your search rankings and it is often easier to do a new design than to fix an poor one.

4.  Let’s face it, it looks dated.  This is much like deciding to remodel a house, there is no absolute need for it, it’s just time for a new look or an update.

What Your Website Says about YOU

January 21, 2012
Your website opens doors to contacts you'd never imagine you'd meet.

Now more than ever, millions of people have access to your online presence, and whether you like it or not, they'll immediately judge you upon your site design.

What does your website design say about the person or business you are?

All too often the impression you think you're giving is very different to the one you actually are.
Think of just three words or traits you want to exude when people see your website design (words such as 'organized', 'friendly', 'accomplished' etc.). With those traits in mind, now take a good look at your website homepage. Is it an adequate reflection?

Getting a website right does take work and commitment. If you want it to succeed you must spend time to get it right and present the right impression to your potential customers.

Your priorities are clearly visible to every potential customer that visits your site and can therefore reveal a great deal about you like:

• your business priorities • how your organization is structured and run • whether you focus on your customers • if you are easy to deal with • your attitudes • whether you pay attention to detail • if you are trustworthy

stop outspending. start outsmarting.

Are you sending out a 'message' to your potential customers or practically posting a great big sign that says something far less desirable.

Weak text copy - text that lacks direction and order. If you decide to buy our products, fine. If you dont buy our products, fine.

No/wrong website focus - website either not focused on the customers needs or focused on the wrong things. The potential customer doesnt receive a positive and clear message about who you are, how you do business, etc.

Poor layout - poorly organised webpage/website. No clear sense of order. Lack of clear prioritizing and decision making, probably a reflection of the organisation.

Not easy to use - difficult to use website and website functions. Often these technical functions have the most sophisticated software known to man to do a particular function like buying a train ticket. Unfortunately they didnt consider how real people actually want to use the website or website functions.

Too much animation/other - extra stuff that doesn't serve any real purpose apart from distraction. We absolutely love flashing things and lots of bling...the more the better. More an experiment than a business. Big sign would read: "Our web designer is better than yours, but we really don't pay attention to user friendliness. Vegas anyone?

Difficult to contact anyone - the online equivalent to an electric fence. Typically employed by big corporations. Theyve gone to great lengths to make sure its very, very difficult to actually email anyone within the organisation. Big sign would read: "We are far too big and rich to speak to 'the little people' who actually buy and use our products. Go away!"

Did you recognise any of these from your virtual travels on the Internet? Does your site have any of them? If so, it will have a harmful affect and direct influence on your image and reputation. Make your site the best it can be.

Does Web Design Count?

December 20, 2011
We DO judge a book by its cover. And yet...many businesses stop caring about what their site LOOKS like. They get 'stuck' with a designer that is able to use the program code but has no idea how to design. OR, they get scared that the new design will not be worth the money they spent.

Within milliseconds, (which is litteraly the blink of an eye) judgment has been made about YOUR business simply through its visual standard. (yes, its appeal).

This is both scientific and well...preference.
"...the strong impact of the visual appeal of the site seemed to draw attention away from usability problems. This suggests that aesthetics, or visual appeal, factors may be detected first and that these could influence how users judge subsequent experience.... Hence, even if a website is highly usable and provides very useful information presented in a logical arrangement, this may fail to impress a user whose first impression of the site was negative." - (Lindgaard 2006)

How your website is arranged, where the links are, and the color scheme matter JUST as much as how well it scrolls, whether or not it contains enough information, and how fast it works.

Sometimes, LESS IS MORE.
Fogg, B.J., Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility
Persuasive Technology Lab. Stanford University, 2002 (revised November 2003). In two surveys of over 2600 people Fogg found that a "clean, professional look" was cited by 46.1% of participants when evaluating sites for web credibility. Information Design/Structure was cited 28.5% of the time, while Information Focus was cited 25.1% of the time. While the factors varied for different types of sites, disguised advertising and popup ads, stale content, broken or uncredible links, difficult navigation, typographic errors, popup ads, and slow or unavailable sites were found to harm credibility the most.

The things you need to ask yourself?

Do you have a web designer or someone who KNOWS the web? While we would all like to save our dollars and use interns and students, the truth is, if you would like to increase your business, use a pro. There is a REASON they charge more. Designers are trained to understand how the human brain interacts with a design. GREAT DESIGNERS understand and can help you research your target market and design with AIM. Then, LISTEN to your designer. If they make a face when you mention music, that means it's not a good idea.