Cobweb-site Woes? How To Create A Relevant Online Presence

Now-a-days, it’s a widely accepted fact that every business or organization, large or small, should have a website regardless of their engagements. At the very least, customers, prospective employees, vendors, and perhaps even investors need to be able to quickly and easily learn about your business, philosophy, and offerings. It's just part of the cost of doing business.

However, it's NOT enough to just be present. You've gotta be unique AND on-targeted.

“In a crowded market, having a website that simply serves as a brochure is no longer competitive.” — 2016 Small Business Marketing Trends Report

Some sobering stats:

• 94% of a website user’s first impressions are design-related.*
• 75% of users admit to assessing a company’s trustworthiness based on their website. Almost half of these visitors say website design is the #1 criterion for discerning the credibility of a company.*
• 59% of consumers globally would rather engage with content that’s meaningful AND beautifully designed.*
• 85% of B2B consumers search the web before making purchasing decisions.*

Successful websites consist of the following:

Aesthetics

• Professionally designed visual appeal
• Branded content and prospective
• Targeted approaches that resonate with prospects and convey expertise
• Promotes positive user engagement, interactivity, and experience
• Design balance of color, text, and images
• Professional videos

Organization

• A user-friendly, navigational funnel
• A studied hierarchy of information both within the site and on individual pages
• A thoughtful and easy-to-use search function for prospects
• Easy-to-use and find contact forms and information

Content

• Regularly updated information. Creates and uses an editorial content schedule.
• Invests in an easy-to-use CMS (content management system)
• Provides resourceful and helpful content that answers client questions efficiently and effectively
• Uses a blog to demonstrate expertise and to increase visibility
• Includes company’s business ethics, standards, and goals
• Includes a powerful "Call to action"

Availability

• Makes the site responsive (mobile ready and optimized)
• Integrates social media
• Makes the site ADA compliant. (For the visual- and hearing-impaired)
• Makes the site W3C compliant ( World Wide Web Consortium ), the standard bearer for websites with correct and clean markup.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

• SEO Compliant and optimized: Allowing future clients to find them.
• Tests regularly to ensure pages are operating at their maximum level of functionality

In the end, if you don't fight for something special...you'll never look like the champion you really are.

Call us today for a complete website evaluation and plan. Contact: info@hornsbybrandesign.com

* Sources:

https://www.leadpages.net/small-business-marketing

http://www.ironpaper.com/webintel/articles/web-design-statistics-2017/

https://www.clarityqst.com/three-hallmarks-of-effective-web-design/

Memphis MPO on the Move with New Logo and Website

Hornsby Brand Design is proud to announce the launch of their latest logo and web design and development project for the Memphis Urban Area MPO (memphismpo.org) on June 3, 2013.

The Memphis MPO is a doorway to this region’s growth and future. So, the logo was designed by taking the “M” in Memphis and creating a doorway with an infinite path to the future. Additionally, it also does a triple play by being a building block as well as a gauge for community growth.

The website takes these same ideas and conveys them throughout through the look and feel, and the functionality of the site. Developed within the Drupal content management system, in a responsive design framework, the Memphis MPO was looking for a complete website solution (design, development, training, support, maintenance, and hosting) along with a new logo, and rebranding.





Overall, the finished product needed to be educational and informative regarding transportation issues facing the Memphis MPO, user-friendly, and attractive. The website incorporates a calendar of activities, interactive indexing of transportation projects, a photo gallery, language translation, and surveying capabilities. It also implements SEO-optimization to maximize its reach and is, of course, mobile phone and tablet friendly.

Key Features 

• Responsive design 
• An extensive menu with multiple connection points
• Beautiful brand photography throughout
• Slide shows 
• Engaging, intuitive design and navigation
• Polling capabilities 
• Search features
• Client portals 
• Contact forms 
• A media center 
• Live social media streaming and integration 
• Calculable Performance “Gauges”
• V-cards 
• A localized environmental widget
• Calendar with Google Calendar and iCal integration

In addition to a cutting-edge responsive website the Memphis-MPO also wanted a very easy-to-use administrator CMS system where updating is made easy.

CMS Features 

• A password-protected CMS area dedicated to the administrator with easy-to-use navigation. 
• The ability to register new users, control access, and create updates with ease. 
• A complete set of comprehensive tools for in-depth editing, adding, and deleting of videos, photos, additional pages, navigational control, tracking, and more. 
• A help section (users manual) design to answer any question 24/7.
• Easy form creation with CAPTCHA integration.