What Your Font Says About You: The Serif vs. Sans Serif Debate
According to a Six Revisions article published last fall, 60% of websites use sans-serif typefaces for headlines, the most popular being Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana.
Three Keys to Better Web Site Development Client Service
You might think that after seventeen years of designing web sites so much of the process would be boilerplate. You’d be wrong. While our internal processes are rock solid and and instill confidence, every client relationship and thus every job is just enough different to keep us on our toes. That said, there are some universal principals for building successful long-term client relationships in the web business.
Avoiding the 5 Pitfalls of Web Site Development
Having been in the web design and development game for over 15 years, I’ve seen clients and prospects fall into a set of familiar traps when it comes to the process of creating a web site. Here are five tips for avoiding the pitfalls lurking in any web development project.
Web Navigation Can Be a Pain in B2B
To understand how to think about website navigation for B2B companies, it’s useful to understand B2B audiences. B2B companies are often run by technical people with products and services targeted to other technical people. In our experience creating B2B websites and brands, the common tendency from a website perspective is to push products and services, because one’s features or benefits outshine those of competitors. B2B websites often tend to be challenging to navigate and full of industry insider terminology. It’s not unusual to find no value proposition at all.
What Factor Determines Website Navigation Most?
I was talking to a European client this morning, He was asking me for examples of websites with navigation typical of an American company. While the client was perhaps looking for cultural distinctions, I thought that website navigation was an interesting topic and one that we are asked about often. The subject warrants a series of posts, so for the sake of brevity, this post will present the macro view. For this discussion, I will address the B2B space.
Can You Resist Me”?”
What does the recession have in common with the average B2B website? In both cases, customers are conspicuously absent.
Do Relationships = Money in B2B Marketing?
I attended one day of “Build Business,” the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) 2010 national conference. SMPS is the national marketing organization for the A/E/C industry (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) an area in which RainCastle has strong experience through our work for Shawmut Design and Construction among others. Much of the conference was about how successful companies are surviving the recession. Each speaker had their own methodology, tools, techniques and philosophies for achieving this, which was interesting yet several days later did not stick with me.
Commodity vs. Intelligent Websites
We received an RFP for a B2B website the other day. It was worded in a way as to constrain response to clearly specified tasks. When the firm called and asked us what made us different from the half dozen other firms that received the RFP, I said, “possibly nothing.” I wasn’t being flippant, just acknowledging that most anybody can create a basic website, the cost is dropping and the tools are improving.
5 Points for Determining the Price for a New B2B Website
In — what we’re all hoping are — these post-recession days, we’re happy to be seeing a lot of activity from companies wanting to remake their long dormant websites. When I get to the point in the conversation in which I ask about the investment they wish to make, the answer is often gray. The subtext is that they will let the market dictate price. Following are 5 points I recommend companies gain some certainty around, prior to speaking with potential web design and development partners. Being clear on these points will help avoid ambiguity and aid in identifying the best firm for the job, which may or may not be the low price option.
An Introvert Does Social Media
It’s an ongoing source of amusement and occasional irritation between my wife and me that I’m a classic introvert and she, a hard-core extrovert. On Saturday, after a particularly tough week marked by the death of a relative, we both needed to decompress. I took my camera and went to a wildlife sanctuary to watch the sun set over the wetlands. She drove into the city to be around a lot of humans, drink her double tall, half caf, nonfat Latte and watch the sun set over Newbury Street. We work because of a mutual respect for different styles and because we know we’re often better together than we are apart.
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