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Five Keys to Successful Web Site Redesign
Chris Bell, Posted: February 5, 2010
So you think it might be time to update your web site. Maybe it’s looking a little outdated and has become stagnant, you want to increase traffic and attract new business, or you want to take advantage of new technology that would allow “you” to edit and update content. Whatever the reason, your web site is crucial to the success of your business. It’s your flag-ship marketing and communication tool. So here are five key steps to get you headed in the right direction.
- Know your goals
- Talk to your customers & employees
- Create a “seed list”
- Inventory assets
- Keep moving forward
Know Your Goals
Why are you embarking on a web site redesign? What do you hope to accomplish? While these questions may sound obvious, many companies fail to establish effective goals for their web site redesign. “Increase Sales” is not as useful a goal as “Increase sales leads by 20% by increasing the visibility and traffic to our web site.” Other examples might include: sell your products/services right on the website, reduce administrative tasks, re-brand your company, pre-qualify prospects, recruit employees – the things a website can do for your company are virtually limitless, but you need to have clear goals. To start, figure out what you want the benefits of your website to be. Forget about the bells and whistles required to make it happen; that’s your web developers job. Sit down with all the internal stake holders and develop a list of what you want your website to do for your business. Detailed goals keep the project team focused on achieving success.
Produce Effective Videos that Work!
Nathan Sego, Posted: December 1, 2009
Some time ago, some people predicted the death of the graphic arts industry when Desktop Publishing software became affordable and widespread. Anybody with a computer could produce their own graphics, newsletters, logos, etc. It soon became clear, however, that it took something more than cool software to produce effective graphics, and the graphic arts industry is still alive and well today.
The same can be said about the video production business. Digital video cameras and non-linear computer based editing systems are now within financial reach of most consumers. So why spend more money to have a video produced when you can do it yourself? If you’ve tried producing your own video project, you no-doubt already know the answer.
What is the Big Deal With Adobe Flex?
Nathan Sego, Posted: October 12, 2009
If, like most of us, you can remember going off to make a cup of tea while you waited for your favorite web page to load. It’s hard to believe where we’ve got to. But more unbelievable still are the next generation of website applications that are starting to come out in response to the increasing take-up of broadband.
Adobe (better known for their PDF format) have launched Flex, which promises to revolutionize the way websites are built. This is a bit of a techy article, so buckle up!
What is Adobe Flex?
Flex is a highly productive, free open source framework for building and maintaining expressive web applications that deploy consistently on all major browsers, desktops, and operating systems.
Flex allows us developers to build and create intuitive, interactive, visual applications for the web and desktop. Exciting applications in Flex give the end user a more satisfying experience while browsing the site and also the owner of the site hopefully more profit.
Applications built with Flex run using Adobe Flash Player and can also be built to run on the desktop using Adobe AIR. This allows Flex applications to run consistently in all the major browsers and operating systems. With 98% of internet connected computers having Flash Player 9 installed, this creates a massive audience for these applications to be run.
What are RIAs?
Rich Internet applications (RIAs) are applications built for the web that have the features and functionality of traditional desktop applications. Users can sometimes get overwhelmed and confused when websites do not perform in the same way as the desktop applications they are so used to. RIAs allow users to use sites in this way, a more intuitive way that they are already used to.
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