The areas where you may not understand how or what to ask for, but where you do have an opinion can best be handled through examples. When you don’t have an opinion, chat with the website developer to share what you’d like to accomplish and see what he or she comes up with for your approval. It’s also worth noting that dictating exactly what you want on your website is not overstepping bounds, it is helpful to designers and developers who want to execute your vision. It’s helpful to point out examples of what you like. After all, think of how many renditions you would receive if you asked one hundred designers to draw a tall man, thin man with brown hair and blue eyes… you’ll get close to one hundred different results. Specificity is good; examples are even better.

Your online presence is broken down into three main components, 1) image 2) functionality, and 3) optimization. The component that “faces” your customer base through the screen, is of course, your image.

Artists’ work varies, from Vincent Van Gogh’s Scream to Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans, all of it vastly different; all of it considered valuable art in its own right. Each web designer will also have a signature style, which is why it’s important to view a company’s work as a whole, but ask to use the specific designer whose examples you gravitate toward.

By all means, bring in samples, examples, or a wish list. We’ve seen everything from a piece of fabric or photo to inspire the visual components of a website, to examples of other websites that aren’t remotely connected to the company’s industry, but really excite the business in terms of look and style.

You’re given a blank canvas—when designing the face of your business, consider what the experts tell you in terms of color play and design characteristics, but be true to your vision and your instinct when deciding upon what your image will become. Poise yourself to convey your thoughts and then, because you’ve already done your homework on them, sit back and let the company turn your ideas into magic.

• 	1.  Contact a referral from someone you know and trust
  	2.  Snag a designer whose work you’ve seen on another site
  	3.  Scour the Internet with key search words
  	4. Respond to an advertisement or solicitation

There’s no one “right” way to find a reputable website design firm or social media marketing agency. Once you’ve completed your initial worksheet (see our last blog post for a three-step worksheet) that outlines what you need to accomplish, we suggest that you interview a minimum of two website design agencies to see who can add value and zing! to your ideas.

Consider these questions when selecting companies or freelance web designers to interview:

Is personal interaction important for you during the development phases of your website?

You’ll be able to slash millions of choices from your search if your preference is to work with a local design company or freelance developer. Additionally, laying eyes on the development team does bring many people a certain peace of mind about their project. If the design team lives and works in the same geographic circles, there seems to be a stronger sense of accountability and access. There’s also a chance to develop a trust factor because it removes anonymity from the equation.

If you’ve scoured the web, you’ll also find that you can farm the work out overseas, generally at lower rates. If you choose this option, try to go with a freelancer or company who has done good work for someone you know, speaks and writes fluently in your desired language, and will deliver your product and passwords prior to your submitting a final substantial payment, as many U.S. business-centered laws will not protect you internationally if someone under-delivers or walks away with your money.

What is the condition or state of other websites this firm is responsible for developing and providing upkeep?

Of course a disproportionate number of people request references and then never actually follow up with a phone call or email. Why not? One of the best representations of a company is its past and present work. Check out a company’s portfolio and ask them whom you can contact directly to ask a few questions.

How quickly and thoroughly does the company respond to your requests for information during this hiring phase?

You can tell a lot about a company by how it handles potential customers. If they are too busy to answer your questions and help you feel comfortable and confident about your hiring decisions, what would cause you to believe their levels of availability and concern would increase once you’ve hired them? Companies tell you a lot without even trying. We would encourage you to pay attention to this vetting process and follow your instincts.

Next up, we take a look at how you can manage your website design process without hindering the company’s progress for you.

If you wound up here, chances are you have a lot of questions about how to hire the right person or team to design and execute your web presence. A simple Google search will turn up approximately 383 million results for “web designer,” ranging from a one-man-show to large website design firms.

Even as you fine-tune your search words to “Atlanta website design agency” to bring up localized results, you may find yourself inundated with choices and even more confused the deeper you wade into each company’s offerings.

We suggest that you start by taking charge of the process and outlining your objectives so you can vet the companies that surface on the top of your list (look for more about defining that list in our next blog). We’ve designed a worksheet for you to use to help you identify what’s important to your end goals.

Take this week to visit competitors’ websites, identify your own business objectives, and write down some descriptors about how you want your website to look and feel. Next week we’ll discuss how to commence your search to find the perfect company to create your company’s digital persona. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to your YDO team with any questions!

Of course the first you may hear about a serious complaint is through an online customer review board or service-rating site, and then your reaction is understandable: Yikes! There’s no telling how much damage that’s going to do to your business, and you can hardly take an eraser to the Internet. Why didn’t this person address it with you or one of your managers personally? Here are some suggestions to counter negative online reviews.

Fix It

The first and obvious suggestion is if you are hearing a common complaint, stop defending it and fix it. Perception is people’s reality so regardless of the excuse, if you are receiving multiple complaints about the same thing, it’s going to hurt your reputation. Listen to the repetition. Sure, you’ll get a few people who are snarky and just have to spout off their opinions to the world because they think they have something clever to say. But if you keep hearing the same complaints about being overpriced, delivering poor quality goods or services, or having a complacent or rude person on staff, make those online review boards your best friend. Start by a) heeding the repetitive feedback b) correcting the problem c) publishing a response to the review that acknowledges the feedback, letting the world know you care and have addressed the problem.

Apologize

Many reviews have an online user ID they must associate with their comments. Reach out to your complainers and ask them how you can make it right. That doesn’t mean you need to give them something free, but rather, listen to them, take note, thank them for their feedback, and tell them you are interested in fixing the problem. Ask them to give you another try, and tell them to ask for you or a manager by name during their next service or buying experience.

Monkey Pile on Top of the Bad Ratings

Few companies will admit to doing so, but some will have their trusted friends and employees hit the ratings charts and brag up their company. You can usually spot those reviews when you see many reviews in a short window of time and the reviews don’t have any suggestions or even a slight comment of negativity. Even glowing reviewers tend to leave a short comment about a needed area of improvement.

Instead of falsely inflating the buzz about your company, run an in-house campaign so that when customers mention they’ve reviewed you online, they receive, for instance, a free spot remover kit with an in-home carpet cleaning.

You can turn Internet rating sites into your friend. They can be very useful if you open your mind to what is being said about your company. Are you ready to give it a try? Start by Googling common terms associated with your company plus the word “review” and see what others are saying about you.

• When will you opt to purchase the more expensive of two similar items?
• When do you drive out of your way for a particular service?
• What prompts you to spread the word about an experience you’ve had with a company?

The answers to all three questions are similar. Something sets the company apart as extraordinary.

We’d like to share Scott and Linda’s story. They wanted to freshen up the look of their kitchen without incurring a lot of expense. We think their story will aptly demonstrate how a buyer approaches Internet purchasing:

After seeing a segment about countertop refinishing on a morning show, Linda researched countertop refinishing kits on the Internet. Of course she came up with many search results, but like most people, stuck to the first two pages of the 159,000 links that appeared.

Linda quickly discovered that there were an abundance of companies that offered these kits. Now she had to educate herself about color selection, durability, application techniques, and price-point expectations.

She was led to YouTube where she watched several videos about product application. She read through people’s feedback and opinions, viewed samples, and selected the look she liked and the application method Scott would prefer (considering this would move to the top of his honey-do list!).

Now that Linda knew what she wanted, she refined her search to select the company from which to purchase the materials. The one that continually caught her eye during her search to purchase was also a website she’d frequented during her research phase. The company was very professional, clear and concise in its demonstration videos, had pages of customer-submitted before and after pictures, and listed scores of glowing reviews from their customers.

The spokesperson on the website even showed customers how they could create their own color and pattern variations if they did not like the standard ones available in the kits. This was a feature both Scott and Linda loved because they wanted to achieve a look that was a cross between what two kits offered.

None of these benefits closed the deal, however, until Linda came across negative reviews on the website. Customers who had complaints about the company’s product or service ultimately led Scott and Linda to decide to purchase from this company. Understanding why is where businesses like yours can overcome a marketing flaw that so many people make—removing negative feedback in an effort to save face.

This company left customers’ negative comments in their feedback section and then tacked on all of their correspondence regarding the matter. What this demonstrated to Scott and Linda was integrity and ownership. It proved that the company didn’t scrub their site (remove any negative remarks) in the name of making themselves look better. They addressed everything from product complaints when they switched suppliers, to shipping snafus when they were overwhelmed with orders after appearing on the morning show. Any potential customer could clearly see that if they encountered a problem, the company would take care of them promptly and to their satisfaction.

To Scott and Linda, this peace of mind was worth the extra 30% they wound up paying by ordering the kit from this company versus a less expensive competitor with kits that looked the same. The alternate company appeared to have the same type of product line, but had a minimal online presence that indicated that it would back its products if their customers encountered a problem. This example illustrates that what a company doesn’t say can be detrimental to their sales.

The lesson you can apply to your business marketing is this: Embrace opportunities to show your potential customers how they will benefit from doing business with you. Prove that customers should go the extra mile or pay a premium price for your product or service. Set yourself apart as extraordinary. Work your site and publically own and correct your mistakes, proving that while your company may not be infallible, it will make things right with the customer every time. This has turned out to be marketing genius for the companies who do it right. Will yours be one of those companies?

If you want to take your website to the next level, integrate your social media platforms, or set up a customer feedback or photo submission page, please contact one of our web design consultants to learn more.

We’ve highlighted five important components of a usable website:

Quality Content

Eye-catching design may attract visitors but content is what keeps them at the site. Providing excellent content sustains search engine rankings as well. Although SEO is important, the main audience is still human visitors. The most important content should be placed at the upper portion of the page so it’s visible as soon as the page loads.

Supply descriptive titles. Most people just quickly scan a page to find what they are looking for, and if they don’t find what they need, they are likely to leave. Using descriptive titles give users an impression that they are on the right track. Also, add ALT and TITLE attributes to all images.

Add a Touch of Creativity

A web page that is all text can be boring. Incorporate rich media: photos, videos or audio clips. These things often explain something even better than plain words can. It is also believed to be able to retain the attention of an average user longer than a website without rich media.

Clear and Simple Navigation System

The navigation system or site menu should be in the same place on every page and have the same format. Visitors may land on your site through an article or page, but they presumably want to view the homepage too. Adding a home page link in the main navigation system and linking the site logo to home page is recommended.

Underlined text is indicative of a hyperlink and visitors are most likely going to click on them but if you wish not to use this visual style, it is acceptable to use a different font, or text color that indicates a hyperlink. Also, use appropriate text inside links. Visitors should be able to anticipate a link’s destination by reading the text in the link or on the navigation button.

Add a Site Map to show the entire collection of links. Visitors would sometimes like to browse through a list of links within a website. This will surely help people find what they are looking for and positively impact your SEO efforts.

More often than not, users need a Search box to quickly locate information within the site content. The search box must be prominent configured to search your entire site. This element is essential for sites with a rich product database or huge volume of articles or information.

Contact

Include your business phone number and postal address on the contact page. Listing a phone number is probably the best way to provide assistance if people can’t find the information they need anywhere else on the website although some may prefer to contact you by email or a form. Any site usually needs at least one form to allow for user feedback. Keep feedback forms short and indicate which information is required to successfully submit the form. If you are capable of supporting forums or live chat, that would be nice. Users feel more comfortable with a site that allows several contact methods.

Think like an Average Website User

What about errors? Usability testing is critical to assess how well the entire site functions. All components must work together to guide visitors through the site and help them get what they need.

As for the websites we’re building, YDO works tirelessly with our clients to identify any potential issues before their online visitors find them or immediately upon discovery of the issue, if any. We know that if a site operates well, users stay longer and read more content.

Good usability is critical to any site’s success. This is one of many things that Your Design Online treats with utmost importance: building websites that satisfy our clients and their targeted visitors.

What we suggest you do when trying to compare apples to apples is sit down with a reputable website design and search engine optimization (SEO) firm to hash out all of the features and benefits you need on your website. The best way to do this is to make a list of all of the things you’d like your website to accomplish. This can vary greatly depending upon your business objectives, and your website consultant may have a few additional suggestions for you to consider to help you meet your goals.

It’s important to understand that much like your cell phone, you can expect to pay a monthly or yearly maintenance fee for your website depending upon the features you select. Fees can range from a small charge for simply hosting your website to custom service fees for running the site’s logistics or building and interacting with your social communities.

Some website design firms fulfill the role of webmaster and additionally generate blogs, tweets, Facebook status updates, audio clips, and video content to keep your site interesting, interactive, relevant, and high-ranking on the search engines.

They do this by collecting data and preferences from you and then using their expertise to feed the information into the website in various formats that are designed to generate traffic and response. Working long term with your designer in this way is essentially like outsourcing your web P.R. Of course, your designer can also teach you or someone in your company how to maintain online activities on your website in-house.

It’s also important to discuss with the team building your site how the site will be found on search engines. Some web companies (like ours) will also have good ideas for ranking high in Google for the keywords that your target audience will be searching for. Web design companies often offer a one-time optimization service, as well as ongoing services to keep your site ahead of its competition.

We’d encourage you to be leery of anyone who offers you a flat rate to design your website without speaking with you in detail about your project. It usually results in unpleasant surprises and it’s often how we see people lose their money and become disenchanted with the whole website building experience. Remember, to gain an accurate understanding of the costs and maintenance fees you can expect when building your company’s website, it’s important to request a detailed proposal based on the your specific objectives.

If you’d like to receive a quote on your website construction or maintenance, please contact YDO for an insightful interview on your business’s needs. We can offer you a detailed proposal with no hidden costs.

Don’t Come up Empty-Handed

Say, “So long!” to the old days of no news is good news. Today, no news is a message to people that your company is irrelevant or non-existent. Think about how you use the Internet. You likely look up hotels and restaurants where you plan to vacation, and compare airline prices and rental deals to get you there. You may even search for local stores and service providers by typing “lawn service, Atlanta” or “dentist, Tucson” into your search bar. Once you come up with a few choices, you’ll likely research their reputation and ratings. You hardly have to stroke a key to do that anymore, because so many rating services are tacked onto search results these days that it’s there before you ask for it! If there’s NO buzz about your business, try to generate some. This leads us to our next point:

Invite People to Connect

Invite people to share their positive experiences about you on social media. You can do this by asking them to “Like” you on Facebook or suggesting they share their experience on your industry’s review sites. If they aren’t inclined to do this out of the kindness of their hearts, reward customers through a contest, a freebie, or a coupon—Facebook is the perfect place to run promos like these and generate buzz. Bonus? You’ll have a strong list of your customer base to send future promotions and news.

Use It or Lose It

There is no sense in a monitoring program if you don’t utilize the findings. Once you learn about your company on the Internet, work your findings. Use positive press to generate more press, and quash negative press by killing them with kindness, apologies, explanations, a “thank you” for the feedback, and a promise to do better—and then do so.

Monitor Your Competition

Learn not only what’s being said about your brand, but about the industry as a whole, so that you can proactively respond to positive or negative press. If there’s been a new development in your industry, take the opportunity to weigh in on what’s happening and how it will or won’t affect your business. If your competitor did something to garner negative press, consider staying on the high road by not adding to the negativity, but do combat any transfer of credibility issues if they exist.

Accept this New Groove

Social media is here to stay, much to the chagrin of traditionalists who miss their now defunct local newspaper and resist technological addiction unlike many of their younger counterparts. Instead of detesting media’s rapid evolution, embrace its possibilities. A good Internet solution provider can help you customize and focus your goals so you’ll soon be a leader in your market. Talk to your media expert or website designer about how to integrate and use a monitoring program to cultivate social media topics and stay in touch with your consumer base.

Understand Your Goals

Do you want to catch the buzz about latest trends so your company can follow suit? Are you interested in learning about breakthroughs in your industry? What about just listening to what’s being said about your company so you can proactively respond to the buzz? Deciding what you want to achieve through your monitoring program before implementing one is the key to its success.

Define What You Want to Monitor

Now that you’ve identified your goals, hone in on the exact subject matter you want to monitor. Once you start receiving updates, you’ll be able to judge the information and refine your information flow by adjusting your key words.

Be Prepared to Take the Good with the Bad

Monitoring programs will likely turn up criticisms about your company or your industry at large. Criticism is an opportunity for improvement. Now more than ever, customers don’t just have a bad experience and talk about it to a few colleagues around the water cooler; they talk about it to the world. Additionally, people are more likely to go on a rant when they get fired up about poor service or a faulty product than they are to take the time to brag about a great company. So what can you do when you are the recipient of these criticisms? Use it as an opportunity to correct the issue, and then release good press to that effect. If, for instance, someone blogs about poor service in your restaurant, take the time to publicly respond using positive communication. You can apologize for his or her bad experience and invite the customer in for another try. Be sure to use it as an opportunity to connect with phrases like, “Please ask for me when you arrive.” This demonstrates that you are listening and want to make things right with your customers, and that mediocre or bad service is NOT okay with you. Now the onus is on the person who put out the criticism and not on the restaurant, and you earn people’s trust that you will always try to do right by them.

Stay tuned for our next blog where we’ll share tips with you on how to use your monitoring program.

Typography in Web Design has been one of the many things to consider as it can make or break how visitors perceive your website. Picking the very basic fonts may be boring but using uber stylistic fonts can be disastrous as well.

Try a little experiment if you will. Surf some random websites for a few minutes and try to observe the type of fonts on every website that you land on. We can tell for sure that most text-based websites would use basic fonts. It is not advisable to gamble on funky modern fonts if you wish to make your site a breeze to read for all users. Not that you cannot ditch the old school trend. Basic is safe for the most part but adding a bit of style is doable too.

Here’s a list of Web Safe Fonts that you can check out if you really wish to try something else on your website. Sorry to disappoint but Arial and Times New Roman are still on that list because we can’t help it – they’re just too friendly. Anyway, these fonts are easy on the eyes so it would be nice to use them on your sites.

Now, if you want to explore a bigger and more exciting fonts list, have a look at Google web fonts. Very nice, I know. Keep in mind, however, that these Google fonts are sitting on a web server so they are made available via browser requests, unlike Arial and Times New Roman which are readily available on your computer. These Google fonts works on most modern browsers, although it may take a couple more seconds to load compared to the basic fonts.

These options made available to everyone. The best advice we can give you is to choose whichever you feel is best for your website and its users.