The latest news and information from within the walls of AB Strategic. We'll publish details of our latest projects and share development solutions that will help the larger community. Feel free to leave a comment, we encourage it.
Competition on the Web is ten times stiffer than the brick-and-mortar world, and a site needs a savvy blend of design, content, and credibility in order to stand out. Four elements make up the foundation of a good online business: the buying path, product placement, pricing, and company information.
You’ve heard it a thousand times: good design is essential to an online business. Web marketing isn’t a personal project; it’s a public performance. You’re not designing for yourself; you’re addressing an entire potential market. Outlined are design errors that should be avoided in your Internet marketing campaign.
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You’re designing your business website. If you’re like most designers, your first instinct is probably to draw up a catalog of layouts, color schemes, icons, and stock photos. But chances are you’re missing one important factor: white space. Good design requires you to treat white space as a vital part of the project. Just as you carefully plan out what to put on the page, you should also choose wisely what to leave out.
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Artists have called web design the most erratic of creative pursuits, and for the most part, they’re right. While music trends last at least a couple of years, and art movements at least a few decades, web design can change its course in a matter of months. So if you’re still sporting last year’s designs, chances are you’ve already slipped from cutting edge to the age of dinosaurs.
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Market research shows that colors account for around 80% of the information retained on a website. But we don’t need studies to know that—just take a look at the pristine whites of Apple.com or the organic greens of Starbucks. Colors are never just colors for a business—they’re as closely tied to your identity as your trade name.
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They say your favorite colors say a lot about you. Whether it’s true or not, it certainly holds true for your online business. In a market where people judge websites in the blink of an eye, your choice of colors can either give you a unique advantage or drag you down the ranks.
User-friendly design has been a hallmark of business long before we built our first computers. From pencils to particle accelerators, we’ve always moved towards changes that make it easy for people to use technology. On the Internet, user-friendly design is so heavily discussed that it’s almost a cliché—but that’s just a testament to its importance.
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Back when the Web was in its infancy, typography was the least of our concerns. There was pretty much only one font in circulation, and on-screen images were still a thing of the future. But we’ve come a long way since then—even a non-techie can vouch for that. Simply put, typography can make or break your business.
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When people started throwing around the term “Web 2.0,” designers were quick to respond with a new set of rules. The blocky HTML and unwieldy frames have been replaced by a sleeker style, one that panders to the public’s increasing need for speed. One can easily recognize a Web 2.0 site: simple yet snazzy, feature-packed but able to load in seconds.
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Magazines and TV shows pay a premium for creative layout and artistic direction. That’s because they work on one basic principle: perception is everything. And in this fickle marketplace called the Internet, it’s even more important. With an “empowered” audience that can turn its back anytime, a company’s website can make or break its business.
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