What Does a Website Mean to Us?

We’re a multidisciplinary design studio, which means we do lots of things. But most of our time is spent on web design and development.

So when our clients tell us they want a website, we know they really want so much more.

They want a catalyst to drive their sales.

They want their product to look attractive, modern, easily attainable, and like something their consumer can’t live without. They want the product information readily available, and in many cases, they want their consumers to be able to purchase online. They want an e-commerce system that is simple and manageable on the back end, and maybe more importantly, they want to know someone will pick up the phone if they call us with questions. They want more, and who doesn’t?

They want to speak to everyone.

They know a website has the potential to expand their business unlike any other. It’s why they’re choosing speak to their customers through it. They want a medium that will reach out to everyone without excluding anyone while focusing on their target market. They want to appeal to potential clients without ignoring existing ones. They don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to connect with potentially thousands of people. We get it. (more…)

Behind the Scenes at a McDonald’s Photo Shoot

This is genius for a couple reasons.

via http://kottke.org

Don’t Talk to Strangers. How to Get to Know Your Audience.

As a studio, your clients probably don’t all belong to one industry. They’re not all healthcare professionals, and they’re not all roofers. They’re not even all technologically savvy. You know what this means, right? It means you can’t talk to them the same way, and you can’t talk to them like strangers.

It’s what makes you love your job so much – you never see the same thing two days in a row. Mixing it up is what keeps the spark alive between you and your creative psyche.

But it’s also what keeps you running at full speed most of the time. As a studio, we have to put ourselves in the shoes of audiences of all different types, and speak to them individually. The healthcare worker is completely different than the agricultural farmer. They don’t think the same way, they don’t make purchases based on the same bits of information, and they don’t respond the same way to integrated marketing communication methods. That’s why there’s no rulebook for how to communicate with the rest of the world. If there were, it would be bajillions of volumes long, because it would be stuffed full of unique case studies. It ain’t easy.

Tapping into your audience can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. Here are some things we’ve learned along the way to help us really get to know who we’re designing, and writing for.

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The Real Meaning of Lorem Ipsum.

“The theory is that, since it’s unintelligible, nobody will attempt to read it, but instead focus on other aspects of the design. If you put readable text in the design, people might think the text is important to the design, that the text represents the sort of content you expect to see, or that the text somehow itself needs to be copyedited and updated and critiqued.”

Read the whole article here. (Thanks Coding Horror.)

Three Reasons You Should Use Adwords.

One. You’ll get better acquainted with your audience.

You can get valuable intel from Adwords, such as the terms people are searching for related to your business. Using this information to get inside your customers’ heads a little bit allows you to market directly to them, giving them exactly what they want.

Two. You’ll get better acquainted with yourself.

Part of any successful endeavor is doing what works, and eliminating what doesn’t. Analyzing your best performing ads will help you determine what’s causing your audience to convert… and that might be the most valuable information of all… (more…)