Website Planning – What color is your business?

Pick a Color.

Not just any color!

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Color is a major component in communication.
Think about the tenor the color of a room can set for an important conversation. When you first get to a website, the colors will welcome you, push you away, comfort you, ease you in, excite you, … you get the idea.

Look around at the sites that interest you, or are in your realm. You’ll see that the sites that ‘work’ – pull you in, lead you to the information you’re seeking, and give you a sense of the business and the image they’re projecting. If you were looking for a caterer, and you went to 5 websites, what do you base your choice on? The next step is to call, talk to them, and taste. So, you go to 5 different websites, and the one that gives you the impression of great food and a nice smooth operation will draw you in to see and find out more. Easy. Simple. Crucial.

O. K. Focus! Here are some very small squares. Each is a home page. Try to look at them separately, and notice what impression you get from each, and the only difference is the color.

Can you imagine each of these ’sites’ having a very different purpose?

Thinking about color is one of the first steps in your website planning process. You are, quite leterally, setting the tone.

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These posts are meant to be a guide to knowing your website, knowing more about your website and what it can do for your business, and anything else that would be helpful for a business owner (or whomever) to know. I would love your comments and questions!

Website Planning – Wireframe it!

Sitemap Layout – a wireframe

This is an example of a wireframe.

It’s a working model of your site. You can move the boxes around as you make decisions about what goes where and why. As you move the pieces around your site starts to form a clear vision in your mind. You are developing a map for navigation and organization, but more than that, you’re creating the flow of your site.

A great place to start!

Website Planning

One Big Picture, Many Details

–– Sorting it out, putting it together, prioritizing

First…

the big picture. That’s always first, isn’t it? It’s easy, and difficult. Difficult to conceptualize and put into words and imagery for the web. But, this should be easy.
You know your business, don’t you? How do you want to be known? When you put a sign over your door, or a window display, or the interior environment, or your attire when you go to a meeting – You know what to do.
The web is the same, only more so. More, in that you have a shorter amount of time to make an impression. There are a lot of other sites out there offering the same, or similar information. Be yourself, your true self – and a little better. A bolder, shinier version of yourself.- Your Web Self!

Try this:

In one word, what do you do for people?

that’s your starting place.

Welcome your visitors in the door!

Happy Snowman!

See my snowman animation!

It doesn’t always matter

What are you doing? twitter asks.
Follow me! (actually, follow me)

What’s your updated status?  LinkedIn wants to know.

Be meaningful.

Be Relevaant.

Be Important.

Or just be.

What matters? to you?

Queen Anne’s Lace, daisies or roses.
Each name of each flower puts a different image in your head, doesn’t it?

Is each snowflake the same or different? Or somewhere in between?

New Site

I made a new picture!

That’s how it feels when i finish a project that’s, well. artful.

So, in time for Christmas shopping (you know, the holiday season) I made a site for a company that never had one before! Nothing!

It’s a family business, 2 stores, in business for 30 years, and they wanted a website and they wanted it up for Thanksgiving. (This was almost October already) AND they wanted a full-blown shopping cart.

I got my team together, and here’s the result:

You like?

See the site : http://www.beautywaycosmetics.com

Web Surfing Waves

Web surfing has become such a common term. Maybe less so now, because people are more intentional in their web use.
Back to the surfing story, it seems that surfing implies a ride, a graceful balance that takes skill and practice, not to mention intense focus. This is so not what is intended by the term ‘web surfing’ the way it is commonly used.  It’s more generally considered a random exploration, a sort of ‘poking around ‘ in the attics, back rooms, and parlors that just come up when we start pushing buttons.

So what?

It’s not called the web for no reason. Picture a spider web, a large interwoven configuration of strands that all lead to one place, and then somehow, to each other. The spiders make them to catch bees and other insects who fly in, and ‘get caught’ in the sinuous web woven for just that purpose.

We weave our webs with just the reverse intentions. We certainly want to attract and bring people into our piece of the web – our site – but we want them to be there for their own reasons, not ours. Really. We may want visitors to come to our sites to do business, buy our stuff, take our advice, etc. But they won’t be interested in forming a professional relationship at all unless they have their own reasons, interests and motivations at heart.

Create a sticky web -  that just attracts the beautiful butterflies you want to surround yourself with!

So, it all comes down to this:

This is the web and all the rules are different. (new rules)

Yet,

People are people and we react the way we always have.

So, before you start weaving your web thinking you’re going to ensnare your prey, stop, re-think and remember, you are building relationships, the way you always have.

The web is cool. It’s mysterious, and all of that, and customer/client relationships are the core of  your business.
The web is just a new medium. And the medium is the message – or is it?

then I’ll be 4!

1 – 2 – 3 – 4, the Order of Things

A few years ago, my neighbor, who was about to turn 4 years old, said to me,

“You know how I know that I’ll be 4?”

Tell me.

“1 – 2 – 3 – then 4!”

A Revelation.

And a nice little insight. We are all always trying to make sense of things – put things in the ‘right’ order. When life is out of order, we get confused, overwhelmed, even betrayed. It’s not that everything must be ‘orderly’ for all of us. There is some personal style involved.

But, in general, we all want to have a clear feeling of where we are, where we’re going and how to get there. In some ways, it’s a foundation for this whole maze we’re all running around in.

Grace and Clarity.

To move with grace, live in grace, and see the road ahead clearly.

Right!

Well, that the goal, mostly.
It makes us feel secure and happy when we have a clear direction, and quite cranky when we are confused and overwhelmed. Unless you’re a committed curmudgeon, cranky is not considered a good day.

So, let’s get orderly, make ourselves and those around us happy, secure, open to new thought and action. Down the yellow brick road with a skip in our step, even!

:: Sense and Navigation ::

Website Design.

So, you have something to say, or sell, or try out on your friends.

If it’s any kind of business, you must have a website. That’s a given.
First, define the purpose for your site, and who you want to be visiting.
Then create the path.

The overall design of the homepage is the first order of business because this is where you are introducing yourself. If it doesn’t let people know where they are, and where they can get to from there, you will lose them before you’ve begun. (and they’ll be cranky!)

Then, put yourself in their place, and create a clear path for them. Put them at ease with the clarity you create, and take them where they want to go.

And, everywhere they are, they know, they really can get there from here!

That’s the order of things.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10

Just Linking,..

I’ve been finding a lot of very interesting sites lately, insight, information, tutorials, some video, that I thought I’d share:

Social Media

this one is has lots of useful resources:
My Corporate Media – Using Linked In for business

These are free downloadable videos from Hubspot, a company that specializes in ‘inbound marketing’
Inbound Marketing Video classes

also from Hubspot, a website grader. Enter your url, they’ll grade it and tell you what to do to improve it. (in the context of SEO)
websitegrader.com

Social Media Marketing Brief

Six Pixels of Separation – great book – writer Mitch Joel’s blog:
twistimage.com/blog

David Meerman Scott – blog on social media marketing
webinknow.com

Grow your business network

Personal Branding
blog

free e-book on social marketing

seo book and video

have fun!  Comments, and sharing welcome!

 

Clarity – – CLARITY!

The first and last word about what your website should be, and how it should look is – CLEAR.
Everything else is details.

An Overview of the Details:

• When a viewer comes to your site, and isn’t engaged, they will leave in a matter of SECONDS.
  First impressions matter on the web more than anywhere before, so the initial impact needs to be strong, clear and appropriate.
• Have a purpose for your website!
  If that sounds ridiculous, go look at some sites, and see if you know their intention right away.
  Surprisingly, not  as often as you’d think.
• Be Consistent.
  Once you’ve set a tone, stick with it.
  You’ve introduced yourself. Let the conversation follow. Confusing people gets in the way. (kind of!)
• Be Yourself. (Your Voice)
  Speak to your audience the way you would speak to a client/customer in person.
• This is Your Site.
  You own it. (literally)
  Your web designer should be designated as the contact person, but you own the domain and pay the host and should have that information. (that might seem to fall into the category of obvious, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hired to re-do or update a site, and my client never had access to the information that makes it possible for the site to go online.)

Rules of Engagement

• Choose 1 main focus for your site.  (Focus!)
  Choose carefully. You’re making a lasting impression (hopefully).
  This can be a process of sorting through priorities, since you may wonder (incredulously) how to narrow it down to one, and if that’s really so necessary.
  It’s a starting point, and a focal point. If you sell shits and pants and socks, etc. your main focus is clothing.
  In another sense your main focus may be style, quality, customer service, location, etc.
  It’s about the engagement of the visitor with your business.

• You are starting a conversation. (building a relationship.)
  Imagine trying to start a conversation where you just blurted everything about yourself all at once, in no particular order.
  What response would you expect? It could vary (though not by much) in person, but on the web, it means you’ve just turned someone away. We’ve all seen these sites. You had a purpose when you went there, but the onslaught on visuals, or the lack of focus leaves you confused and repelled. This is the web. If one site doesn’t have what you’re looking for, or isn’t communicating to you that they do, you look elsewhere – fast.

• Who are you?
  • How would you describe your business in a nutshell?
    Your goals, the way your see your business, how you want to be seen,… – and by WHOM?
  • This is the essence of the thinking that comes before planning your site.

• Color, Design and Your Message (Putting it Together)
  • You’ve crystalized your message, now the fun part!
    Fun? Yes, though it can feel intimidating if you look at the blank ‘canvas’ for too long.
  • Color – Start with One.   More on color
    This is both a helpful way to decide what the central color for your website should be, and a good way to start working out a color scheme in general.
  • Design
    Grace and Harmony.
    A Shock to the Senses.
    Whichever is true.
  Don’t always open the bottle that says, “Open me first”. Or just go through any rabbit hole. Follow the path that makes the most sense.
  In the real world.

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