In my last post, I asked: Which Comes First: Web Site Design Or Content? In this post I wanted to use a case study to show some examples of how we’ve developed better web sites by working on content and design together.

Relax America came to Visible Logic looking for a web site that would be the consumer-focused online presence for their new service. Relax America is a professional services network that gives members one place to find all the professional services you need in your life. Their proprietary system matches the most appropriate business professional or self-service option to you based on your specific requirements. Much in the same way Google refines your search based on what it knows about you, Relax America grows in usefulness the more times you find services using it’s client matching system.

As you can see, it’s hard to quickly and elegantly describe Relax America using only words. If you haven’t yet, check out the site before you keep reading.

Think about when a prospect first goes to your web site. Are they researching you and your competitors? Do they know you and therefore type in your domain’s URL, or did they find you through a search such as google?

Make sure that your web site offers something for everyone along the sales cycle.

Web site design for those ready to buy (short sales cycle)

Some businesses have short sales cycles. Online retailers are usually in this category. We go online to shop when we’re ready to buy. A large purchase may take a few visits to gather information, but for small purchases we are often ready as soon as we jump on the computer. It is a matter of finding the right site and then completing the sale.

Designing a brand identity is the chance to emphasize key elements that should be repeated, and add in elements that could not be part of the logo design.

I’ve done a number of presentations about social media and branding, and one question I usually get is how do you find time to keep up with social media. It can be a struggle to figure out how to have meaningful interactions on social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter without it sucking up all your time. Making time and space for social media As a designer, I also see another potential “suck” of social media. The fact that small businesses need to throw a large number of social media icons and contact info into everything from their web site to their print ads or other marketing materials. Yesterday, I was listening to the radio and heard an ad for a local garden shop. Out of the 30 seconds, a full one third of the time was getting out all their contact information. It started with their physical address and phone number, then went on to the URL of  Continue Reading »

Recently, we completed a branding upgrade for our client ClaimVantage. ClaimVantage is a software company that has developed a claims processing solution that runs on the cloud-based force.com platform. The company has offices in both Portland, Maine and Dublin, Ireland. We’ve been working with ClaimVantage for more than a year and the branding process was part evolution, part revolution. When we first started working together we helped them with a “clean up” of their web site. But at that time they didn’t have the budget for a complete rebuilding of their brand identity. So the web design upgrade was modest. Then in early 2011 they scored a grant from Enterprise Ireland, giving them them the funding to help redesign their logo and web site completely. Research Like with all of our branding projects, we started with research into their competitors and target audience. Although our clients always know a lot about this, we prefer to do our own research to  Continue Reading »