Being a web designer isn’t easy. Noupe.com’s article, “Some Reasons You Might Not Want To Become A Web Designer” highlights on 9 reasons you may not want to be a web designer.
For designers: It’s a great laugh that takes us back to the days when we were first starting.
For everyone else: It puts into perspective some of the difficulties we face on a day to day basis.
Check it out for a fun and easy to read article.
In the age of digital communication we are faced with the challenge of connecting on personal and emotional levels over impersonal media. Business emails are tightly integrated into 2010′s successful business.
Doing some research turned up a few websites that were helpful but geared at the medium to large corporation. EmailReplies.com has a great list of helpful tips for the larger company but I want to focus on the small business needs.
Email is part of today's business relationships - like a handshake
Email is quick and easy. Because of this it is great for providing customer support or quick follow up messages. At Halogen we use email to generate and nurture leads. These leads come from our website, craigslist, and in person meetings. Send the message now and let your recipient get back on their own time.
When we first started ‘cold calling’ craigslist ads (through email) we had no success. Not even a reply back. Our emails were well crafted and made us the biggest corporation we could be. Mistake. After changing a few small things we have generated 6 leads on craigslist in the past 7 days. 1 of those leads looks like a promising sale.
The key is to be personal. Business is about relationships. The best way to start a business relationship is by taking baby steps that create a personal relationship. Cut out all the corporate BS and represent your business as it actually is. You are your company’s ambassador that your leads will form a relationship with. Stop acting like a corporation and Start being a person who is excited about their company.
A great email is nothing without a call to action. When the prospect has all the information they need to make an emotional and mental decision you have to lead them to the next step. This could be setting up a meeting, responding to your email, or purchasing a product.
Make sure the call to action is easy to complete. You are in the business of making a great experiance for your customer. If it takes them 5 steps to checkout on your website perhaps you can cut out a step and consolidate another.
If you ask them to call you, make sure you’re available.
The lesson: Creating calls to action that are reliable and simple to do will yield high conversion rates – which means real world dollars for your business.
Good luck with your emails and let me know your results.
Designing a website is more than fancy artwork… it’s about thinking how the user will navigate the site and what the user should see first. If you were in the process of building a new office building would you worry about what color you should paint the walls before they are built? NO, you would be thinking about the location and floor plan.
You would be asking yourself these questions: Is the best location for me, my staff and clients? Does office layout make sense? How am I going to use this space? Do I want a revolving door? Is this really where I want the bathroom? Is this enough room for me to have meetings with my staff and clients? This is the design process. These questions create functional design.
Think of your website as your virtual office building, this is where your potential clients are going to meet you first. You wouldn’t schedule your first meeting with a new client, in a crowded bar, or a loud concert, or a laser light show would you? Then why would you have flashy graphics, music and cluttered navigation on your website?
It’s important to think about the message and how you are portraying it. What works for Budweiser or a rockstar doesn’t mean it will work for you. Your design should start with a thought process not a sketch, answer these questions first: Who buys my product or service? What is the age group? Who am I trying to reach? Is my message relevant to my audience?
Then think about the navigation, where the message should be placed and what you want your client to see first. When you first greet a potential client, do you start with a handshake or a high five? A high five may be cool but that doesn’t mean you are going to get any respect from your potential client. This is the reason why it’s important to represent yourself online like you would in person.
Your website should be easy to understand and the message should be clear just as if you were sitting down with that potential client for the first time. Your website needs to be easy to enter and easy to navigate just like your office. The decorations should compliment your product and/or services not misrepresent it.
Having a virtual existence is not a want but a necessity these days. The internet has become what the phonebook was (and much more) in the 80s. The advantages are numerous and the possibilities of expanding your business and professional networking infinite. One of the foremost benefits is that you can sell your products and services online 24/7, which is visible to the 1.8 billion people connected to the internet (According to Internet World Stats). It is an inexpensive way of advertising and showcasing what you have to offer to your potential target audience.
Since the number of users on the internet are increasing rapidly the best way you can sell your products is through Internet. Online is an easy way to shop – the best way to reach the potential clients locally, nation-wide and also world –wide is through the internet which makes it easier for you reaching a global audience. Customers and the general public almost expect that a company has a web site. A few benefits for having a website would be:
A website can play an integral part of your promotional and marketing strategy. It also makes a powerful statement about your business, showing that you have planned for the future by securing your on-line presence today.
One of our favorite tools for your website are videos. They offer a way to connect with someone on a very personal level. At Halogen Designs we believe that communication on the internet is not personal enough. Check out the video we made for Robert Alden. Even though we have not written the text on his website currently in development, when you watch the video you know exactly what he is about. You can see from his mannerisms, composure, and voice tone that he is fair, intelligent, and most importantly a good person.
The possibilities are unlimited all you need to do it think out of the box to make the most of what you have today – use your imagination!
The internet is here to stay so why not act now and make use of this powerful marketing tool. Websites are quicker, easier and more cost-effective to update than print based media; therefore, you can have anything and everything which you want to share with your potential and existing clientèle starting from pictures, details and prices of your products to the very latest company information and much more. If you are ready to take your website to the next level with a company that builds their success on the success of your company, send us a message now. Can you afford to wait?
You may remember reading our recent post, Why Projects Fail, where we defined some of the key issues that cause projects to fail such as lack of user input, inadequate or vague requirements, and poor communication. We then introduced the idea of project management, or making sure the project is progressing at regular and pre-defined increments.
The first time we were handling two website projects at once we knew we needed project management software. Before our current situation we were using a sad sad system some of you may be familiar with: Emails, primitive to-do lists, my Blackberry, Alex’s iPhone, and post it notes. A system like this takes too much effort to sustain.
Do you guys remember the 2003 movie Bruce Almighty? The Internet Movie DataBase summarizes the movie as, “A guy who complains about God too often is given almighty powers to teach him how difficult it is to run the world.” There is a scene in the movie that illustrates how ineffective and primitive older management tools are compared to the computer. In the scene bruce is becoming overwhelmed by hearing everyones prayers at once. He tried out filing cabinets which filled up his whole house. Then he tried ‘prayer post-its’ which you can see in the photo really backfired. He moved his prayer filing system onto the computer, which does have its own problems but makes management much easier.
As you can see Bruce's plan for prayer post-its backfired
Ok so it’s no secret we love 37Signals products, but Basecamp holds a special place in our heart. It was the product that introduced us to the 37signals way. We now use their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software Highrise and their group chat product Campfire.
So why do we love Basecamp? It is simple, easy to use, and affordable. Projects are managed in a very smart way: Milestones, Messages, To-Do (ta-da lists), and files. First we set the Milestones. These are the target dates we set for each piece of the project such as design due in 30 days, development due in 60 days, and creative copy due 75 days. Next are messages. Messages can stand-alone or can relate to milestones. That way a message that was about the types of images and colors that should appear on the website will be listed underneath the ‘Design’ milestone. To-do lists work exactly like a normal to-do list should. You can assign individual to-do list tasks to employees and clients, relate the list to a milestone, and set due dates.
Recently we started giving our clients access to their Basecamp projects. My favorite comment so far was from a client who considers himself technically inept. He said that Basecamp was really easy to use and gives him an ‘eagle eye view’ of his project. I love the word choice. The eagle flys high and has the typical ‘birds-eye view’ often used in analogies; however, the eagle can see the land, or the details, from high altitudes. Our client was effectively saying that he could monitor the project from a distance, but still have access to the details when he needed them. For him it was the design phase. He was very active in selecting colors, adding comments, and responding to requests during the design phase. During the development stage he could sit back and watch the site progress.
We love Basecamp because it gives our clients quantifiable progress reports and shows them when upcoming tasks will be completed. It gives them additional value and insight into their project that outdated tools cannot provide. If you think Basecamp might be right for your company you should try it out. I have included the Halogen Designs affiliate banner below. If you feel like our post assisted in your decision to use Basecamp please sign up with the affiliate banner. Otherwise leave us some feedback and try out Basecamp affiliate free.
