Tag Archives: Responsive

When is it Time for a New Website?

Your website is your greatest asset for attaining new business. Especially in this day in age where people walk around with the internet in their pockets, constantly thinking of what businesses they can use for their needs and necessities, having a fully-functioning website puts the ball easily in your court. But not any website will do. Having a website that is outdated, or poorly designed, or isn’t responsive, works against your more now then it ever did. If this is the case for your, it’s time for a new website.

But my website is just fine! I don’t need a new one. Yes, you do.

If you’re on the fence, ask yourself these questions:

Is my website servicing my current needs?

Businesses continue to grow over time and that means you could easily be outgrowing your current website. Does it have features you need to showcase your brand new call-to-action? Does it showcase your up-to-date portfolio? Technology also grows and evolves in addition to your business, and it happens that things that were “super awesome” and “flashy” back in 2011 are just not ideal in 2016.

A new website just might be the thing you need to grow and evolve with the future.

Is there functionality I’m looking to have that my current website does not provide?

It’s 2016, if you’re website isn’t optimized for mobile aka Responsive Web Design, then you’re doing it wrong. In the last year, mobile searches have already surpassed desktop search, so if you’re website isn’t mobile-ready, you are missing out on a huge market of potential customers on the prowl for you business.

Not sure if you’re site is responsive? Use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to find out.

Are you selling products physical or digital? Why not sell them online with your own easy-to-manage online store? It’s easier than ever to incorporate a an e-commerce store like Woocommerce into your website. Take orders, make customize your product, manage stock — there’s an array of flexibility without the hassle of an actual store.

Have my marketing efforts changed?

As your company ages, so can your branding and marketing efforts. If you’ve changed either of these things, it’s also probably time you redesign your website too. As said previously, your website is one of (if not the most) important business assets. If your current brand isn’t lining up with your website, your audience isn’t going to connect. It’s time to update.

Why can’t I make changes and updates to my website?

There’s no excuse to not be using a content management system (CMS) to manage your website. Systems like WordPress have come a long way in making it so much easier for you to be in control of what goes in and out of your website. Long gone are the days of having to edit lines of code to make a simple text edit, or upload some new photos.

Circling back to outdated and poorly designed sites, it’s time to redevelop your site to a fully-functioning and easy to use CMS that will allow you to keep up with the times and keep your website looking fresh.

If any or all of these apply to you, it’s time for a new website.

Ready to take the leap? We can help. Contact us today!

In Defense of Web Design

UX Magazine recently posted an article titled Why Web Design is Dead, which caused quite a bit of an uproar amongst the web designer community. The article in question is a little misleading as it thrives on a headline that boldly states web design is going the way of the dodo, but then tells the reader that UX (user experience) design is what needs more attention. It’s fine to praise UX design but there simply is no reason to throw web design under the bus in the process. Web design (UI, user interface) is one thing and UX is another. They’re separate, but equally important.

“Commoditization by Templates”

“Why hire a web designer if you can achieve a fairly acceptable design for a fraction of the cost using a template?”

Sure, using templates is most likely an affordable and easier solution to get your website up and running for the world to get a gist of what your company has to offer, but there could easily be a downfall in that. First off, tons of people have that same thought and are approaching the creation of their company website with grabbing some template on WordPress and calling it a day. You’ve quickly fallen into the boat of losing your identity and no longer being unique amongst your competitors. Besides that, your templates are coming with too many extra plugins and features, including ones you just don’t need. The problem with this is even the best companies have a hard time keeping their plugins up to date, which easily leads to sites being hacked. (This is something we can’t stress enough.) Using a template is settling for something that is close enough to what you want but doesn’t perfectly fit to your needs. Having a web designer actually do their job for you fulfills everything you need, allowing you the ability to attain exactly what you need.

“Web Design Patterns are Mature”

This maturity is good for users: they will find consistency in their daily use of the web.

This point we can agree with. The consistency that web patterns have in keeping up with other web/tech innovations is enough. You can easily argue t-shirts and shoes are mature but that doesn’t mean we don’t still use them. We just choose ones that we think look great or have rad designs. Same goes for websites. It’s a designers job to make these mature web patterns look visually appealing and enticing for a company’s potential client or audience.

“Automation and Artificial Intelligence are Already Doing the Job”

When something can be successfully automated, it means that its practices and standards are established enough as not to need much human input.

Similar to the point of templates, anything mass-produced or automated doesn’t allow yourself the chance to be unique against your company’s competitors. When it comes to business, you always want to set yourself apart from the norm.

“Facebook Pages as the New Small-Business Homepage”

Today, this function has been completely overridden by Facebook pages. They are so efficient in making a business visible that they are rendering basic web pages useless.

There is no way a Facebook page can replace a functional website. Just like any social media outlet, Facebook pages in addition to an actual website are fine. You can easily reach out and communicate with your audience, but the essence of what your company represents is easily lost. There’s no visual stimulation or uniqueness that comes in presenting yourself through your website. Also, just looking for simple information on Facebook can be a hassle in itself.

More importantly, don’t forget, when it comes to Facebook, businesses have to pay for their existing audiences to actually see them: Read More at Forbes

“Mobile is Killing the Web”

How often do you visit a web site from your mobile device by directly typing the address? Only when you don’t have the app, right?

Not every company fits the bill to have an app for a smartphone but that doesn’t necessarily mean that their website is obsolete on mobile web solely on that fact. I may not always directly type a web address to get to the website I’m looking for but I google a ton of things that lead me to said websites. This point is simply not strong enough to make in slow down of web design. If the site isn’t responsive, then that’s a whole new story.

Responsive websites allow for users to view the same website across all computing platforms, desktop, tablet, and mobile phones: Read More About Responsive Design

In the end, no matter the importance of UX design, web design is clearly not dead and there will always be a need for it. Web designers will continue to find innovative ways to make sites to do what they’re intended to do: sell a company’s services. If you’re in need of web design services, feel free to contact us today.

Building a Community: Takoma Park

We recently launched the Old Takoma Business Association new community website. They were looking to upgrade the site for the city of Takoma Park (Maryland, Washington DC). From upcoming events, to a list of local businesses and available resources, the website is a central hub for all and any needed information pertaining to the community of Takoma Park. We implemented a custom, easy-to-use calendar that allows site users the convenience of submitting upcoming and recurring events, helping to keep the site fresh and up-to-date with content and happenings. In addition, we created an easy navigation for the site, dividing it into five main areas: Explore, Events, Business, and Live, accompanied by tertiary menus under each to add the ease of finding what areas apply to each site visitor.

For community websites, it’s sole purpose is to relay necessary information whether it’s needed or wanted. Now Takoma Park does just that with a clean and easy-to-use web presence that’s easily accessible on any device (desktop, tablet, and mobile).

Site Features

+ Responsive Web Design
+ Custom Event Calendar
+ Custom Event Submissions for Users
+ Custom Featured Event Page
+ Tertiary Dropdown Menus
+ News/Blog Feed

Marveling Redesign with Superpowered E-Commerce

Calling back to our Third Eye Comics Photo Shoot last June, we worked with local comic store, Third Eye Comics on a revamp of their website. The two main focuses were to implement both an easy-to-use online store as well as an active news feed that displays their latest highlights on a weekly basis. With that in mind, we designed and developed a simple and clean site that allows new customers and the Third Eye Faithful to stay up-to-date with all their recent comic releases.

From comics, to toys, to games, and everything in between the new Third Eye Comics makes shopping for comic-lovers and staying in the loop easy for anyone with any device.

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