Web Design News & Blog

image: 

Maybe someone out there can tell us if we're missing something here.

Or tell us if you think this is one of the dumbest websites you've seen.

image: 

And believe it or not, it's from Sears, no less! Who'd have thought they'd do something as cool as this? To see the entire ad, click here.

We're showing this as part of our ongoing effort to talk about the importance of having memorable marketing, because if your marketing is like 95.5% of all marketing, it's pretty boring... except maybe to you and your spouse/partner/mother/whatever.

image: 

This is pretty cool. Talk about targeting a distinct audience with a micro site, here's is an awesome example of that.

Scion is appealing to the creative community, specifically those who want to start their own business in the arts, music, writing... anything creative.

image: 

For a larger version of this billboard, click here.

When we say "oldie" we're talking in the last few years. We're sure some folks remember this billboard, designed by Pete Scantland's Orange Barrel Media, right here in Columbus. It's a great example of creating something that's memorable, so even when it's not around anymore, it lives on in infamy!

image: 

We're big fans of not texting while driving, and we love this spot done by the Quebec Automobile Insurance Corporation. It shows what the history of texting might have been, and why it's not a good idea.

image: 

We stumbled upon this Fiat Palio spot again recently, and while its been around for a while, it's so entertaining we thought we'd share it once more.

We think it's worth 45 seconds of your time, just as a reminder that good marketing is memorable. And as a reminder: if your marketing isn't memorable, you're wasting your company's cash and your prospect's time.

image: 

Designing websites is all about making the information easy to access and easy to read.

We recently read this article about the right column width for text, and while it is important, we think having the right headline and visual are even more important. Because no one is even going to read your blog, ad or website if they don't find the subject of interest.

image: 

OK, the subject matter may be a bit bizarre, but the results: to help German people who have slipped into the neo-Nazi culture, extract themselves from that lifestyle, were impressive.

This video details an insanely creative guerilla marketing and social media effort that resulted in world wide media coverage. And because of that, was voted the #1 social media hit in Germany last year.

image: 

As a Columbus web design company, we also help our clients with their advertising and other marketing materials. See our advertising work on our sister site, here.

image: 

This is a logo we recently designed, and want to share because we think it works so well with their tagline: "Changing the way you think about investing."

While a logo often takes shape based on the company's name, sometimes it comes together based on their positioning statement. And there's a big difference between the two: sometimes the name of the company doesn't explain what they do, but on their positioning statement does.

(Would you know what Pepsi is the first time you heard it without seeing the product?)

image: 

There's this website called Neuromarketing, whose focus is "Where brain science and marketing meet." Marketing has come a long way...

image: 

True, we are a Columbus website design firm, however, we do a lot of advertising design as well. And this is a recent ad we did for Westport Homes. You can see the ad in its entirety here.

image: 

Another example of very cool work coming out of other countries. The über cool thing about it is when the billboard is viewed from the side, the knife is actually a 3D element. And we imagine, you just can't help but touch the edge sticking out to see how sharp it is.

This billboard for a home and garden store in Beijing, China shows a knife cutting food, in this case, carrots. In other billboards, the knife is cutting fish and other vegetables.

image: 

Whenever we work with folks, they always ask how they can show up on the first page of a Google search. There are lots of factors that come into play to get there, but the one we tell them most of the time is to blog your butt off! (Figuratively speaking of course!)

There are other key pieces to your website that have to happen, but blogging is an easy, and easily controllable way to keep Google indexing your site. You also have your link backs, your Meta Descriptions, on-page SEO, Page Titles, yada, yada, yada...

image: 

Every once in a while we run across something we find cool, but has nothing to do with web design or marketing, and this is one of those things.

We see optical illusions quite a bit, but when one confuses us, we think it's good. We're guessing that's the same reason anyone might share one of these. If it's an obvious illusion and you don't like it, you don't share it. So that's it. Nothing insightful.

image: 

That's right: we don't WANT to find new clients... because we want them to find us! Because when prospects find you, you can imagine how much easier it makes your sales efforts.

As a Columbus website design company, we can get as giddy as a little school girl when someone calls or emails us from our website. We love that. And the way that happens is to show up high on a Google search for the phrase your prospects use to find you. In our case, it's: Columbus website design.

image: 

The more you know...

Here's a good public service announcement: If you are using Internet Explorer 7, (IE7) you are hopelessly behind the times! Everyone in the web world knows it, as does every Columbus website design firm.

And finally, someone is taking stand! A retailer in Australia adds a 7% fee on buyers who use Internet Explorer 7, and as IE7 gets more and more outdated, the tax goes up just a little more each month.

image: 

This is why we love the fine folks at Westport Homes: they are willing to go out on a limb for their ads. To see this Westport ad, click here.

So we give a shout out to Jack Mautino and Kelly Garland from Westport Homes Ohio for understanding that in order to get someone's attention in an ad it has to have an image and headline that grabs someone's attention in the 2-3 seconds you have. 

image: 

In addition to designing the ShortNorth.org site, we've recently redesigned the Wood Companies website, at TheShortNorth.com.

image: 

Even a Columbus website design firm has to do some advertising once in a while. Check out the ad here.

We recently ran this ad in Builder Update magazine, which featured a QR code that can be scanned by a smart phone user. The QR code takes the viewer to a video of why they should work with Sevell+Sevell, Inc.

image: 

We're originally from NYC, but now, as owners of a Columbus website design firm, we took a long weekend recently and went back to NYC. We love being back there and always noticed how much cooler billboards are there.

There's noticeably better billboards being done there, but we don't think it's because the billboards are being created by agencies in NYC. Those of us who follow this stuff know that for years, many of the superstar design agencies haven't been located throughout the country in places other than NYC.

image: 

It's been a good year for us at the 2012 Building Industry Association's MAME (Marketing & Merchandising Excellence) Awards.

Sure we're happy, but even more importantly, the clients we've done the work for are happy. And when they're happy, we're happy. So we thank them, and all our clients, for letting us do good work for them, because having happy clients is the true reward. (And we are not bullsh-ting!)

For the record, we came away with awards in the following categories:

image: 

Geico Insurance always has the best commercials, but this one, called "Ew, Seriously? So Gross" caught our attention. Check it out and you'll see why.

The reason we love it, is because it appeals to one's sense of humor, and just as importantly, to ones' sense of embarrassment, one of the most powerful emotions. Making an emotional connection with your audience creates a bind, and reason to do something.

image: 

We're a Columbus website design / marketing firm, who works with non-profits to reinforce the idea that non-profit organizations have to be marketers, just like every other entity who is asking people to part with their hard-earned money.

Smart non-profits understand they're competing with everyone, and everything,  who are looking to get their audiences' limited attention and finances.

image: 

Here's a question you might want to ask yourself: Do you know how many people search for your services every month? Well, once you find out, and you find you're not taking advantage of that, you won't be happy.

Because we live this stuff everyday, we know that, every month, 4,400 people search on the phrase "columbus website design." We think that's a ton of people. Granted, we don't get ALL 4,400 folks finding this website, but we are found enough to get emails every week from prospects.

image: 

Traditionally, companies and organizations use the power of Google to be found online. As a Columbus website design firm, that's what we do for our clients.

But in a variation on that, Romania went about changing how the world sees them online. They had an online image problem and, using the power of Google, went about changing how the online community perceives them.

See the "Romanians Are Denigrated on the Internet" campaign here.

image: 

So of course, we wish WE thought of it... but of course, no one in our Columbus web design firm has cute little kids like the kids in this web design firm's video.

To see the video from the web design firm, called m .et .al ( pronounced "metal"), click this link.

So while we're sharing this video card from another web design firm with you, the bigger point is: the video is going viral, and we're a puny piece of the process.

image: 

Maybe the U.S. isn't the technologically-advanced country we thought it was, because Starbucks launched these cool interactive windows in a Vancouver and Toronto instead of their hometown of Seattle.

But if they wanted to make sure it was ready for prime time before launching it, why launch it in major North American cities? Whatever, take a look at how Starbuck's interactive window works here.

image: 

The U.S. debt crisis. European monetary system faltering. The Arab Spring.

Despite these significant financial and social issues in the world today, it is good to see that someone is stepping up and addressing one of the most critical issues in the world of communications: how to show you're being sarcastic in your electronic communications, without the hassle of adding a "jk" or ;) at the end of their tweets. (Thereby saving a valuable character or two!).

image: 

There are many ways to get your website to rank high in a Google or bing search. One of the best is to have what's called "link backs" to your website.

Here's how it works: if lots of websites have links connecting back to your site, then Google surmises your site must have really good content since so many other sites are giving it a "shout out" by referring folks to it.

image: 

For a mere $185,000 US, you can get your one-of-a-kind domain name!

The powers that determine what domains name can and can't be (not long ago, they approved the .xxx extensions), now allow your domain name to able to end with any word in any language. Of course, it's a major change in how companies, at least the ones who can afford it, can stand out and have unique, memorable domain names.

image: 

For marketers, QR codes can turn any magazine or newspaper ad into a point-of-sale location. If your audience is looking at a print ad in, say, a doctor's office, a QR code allows them to make a purchase from wherever they are. This opens up a whole new world for both publishers and marketers.

At this time, that's something you can't do with radio, or, at least as easily, with television.

image: 

Marketing to folks' emotional side isn't anything new. There's been neuroscience proof around for years that marketing gets better results when you focus on emotions and less on rationality. So why aren't more companies doing this?

image: 

Finding Columbus web designer who can come up with a beautiful design is only one of three things you should be looking for.

What are the other two?

1. A ridiculously easy-to-use content management system (cms), because if you can't easily, and intuitively, update the new website yourself it will always be a hassle. And be sure to "test-drive" any cms you're looking at: don't take the designer's word for it, and

image: 

A brief look at what you should expect in a great content management system.

What to look for in a great content management system

Alright, so this is a question we have to address almost every single day. And of course, we have to show or even prove that our content management system is the best, or it's at least at the top of the heap. With all salesmanship aside, we decided to take a step back and rethink from the user's side. What would we want in a CMS? How much functionality should be included in the CMS, at what point is too much functionality?

image: 

As a Columbus web design firm, we're always looking for ways to get your web site to work harder for you. One way is with a rotating story preview (RSP). 

An RSP is an informational slide show, that pushes the most important information out to your prospects in the first few seconds of their visit to your site. It helps you direct their visit, but it's more than just having images fading in and out. 

image: 

Geographic Landing Pages?

You're probably asking yourself, what the heck are geographical landing pages? Not to worry, it's nothing scary, we promise.

Actually, it's pretty simple and it can significantly increase your rankings within a Google or bing search.