Tag-Archive for » web design «

Website Success: Web Traffic Grows 300%
May 26, 2011 by Hollie Nishikawa

“TREW’s smart, engineering-minded approach to redesigning our website and developing a comprehensive marketing plan has delivered outstanding results. Website traffic has increased three-fold in the first several months and the number of leads we are passing to sales has continued to increase.” – Dr. Fred Bloennigen, President, Bustec, Inc.

Founded in 1997, Bustec is a leading supplier of high-performance data acquisition and test products in power generation, aerospace and defense, and medical device industries. Test and design engineers at companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Siemens, and NASA rely on Bustec’s products and solutions for their proven accuracy, throughput, and density.

One of the first projects Bustec selected TREW Marketing to lead was a comprehensive redesign of their website. The goals were to create a clean, professional, modern design with improved navigation; update company and product content; create an easy-to-use CMS (content management system), making it easier to regularly update the site; and deliver a positive, effective brand experience.

Deliverables

  • Web goals and strategy, including content navigation, product categorization, user experience, and a home page promotion management system
  • Detailed web redesign plan including design, navigation, content management, and analytics
  • Development of a flash-based tutorial that quickly and visually communicates the unique nature of Bustec’s product interchangeability between platforms

Results

  • 300% increase in website traffic in first 6 months of launch
  • Streamlined product pages with easy-to-use tab navigation for product overview, documentation, accessories, specifications, and related products
  • Efficiency gains with custom Product Quickfind feature, allowing web visitors to quickly locate products by measurement type
  • Flash-based video describing product interchangeability, giving the visitor a short (~1min), immediate understanding of product benefits
  • Cleanly designed, compelling home page with industry-focused case study promotions, Product Quickfind, custom product promotions, and clear navigational paths
  • Search functionality and optimization for external search rankings

Website before and after images

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Category: Best Practices, Web Design and Development
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Maximize your Online Impact with a Winning Web Design (Part 1 of 2)
October 12, 2010 by dgoluboff

A company’s website plays a critical role in communicating with clients and prospects. There is arguably no more important marketing investment you can make than your website since it serves so many roles:

  • a storefront
  • a first impression to prospects
  • prime real estate for establishing your brand and value-add to visitors
  • an organized warehouse of all your content – text, video, images, and other links

A key aspect of your website is the design. A well-designed, easy-to-read website – or lack thereof – can determine whether you attract, build preference, and close new business. And yet, like other areas of marketing, the most effectively designed website first requires reflection and planning: on business goals, site objectives, competitive landscape, and individual preferences. This last point is key: the website design that one person “feels” best represents their business will undoubtedly differ from what another person thinks. Thus, it’s important to leverage best practices to ensure the best web design is delivered in the end.

By following these steps, your site will more accurately reflect your company’s value to prospects while meeting critical business goals.

1) Do your homework

Before you even think about redesigning your site, establish the role your site plays in your business. Does it mainly serve as an e-commerce portal? Or is it primarily a channel to establish your brand and your reputation in the marketplace? Establishing your site’s role within your business, what it is not achieving today, and the goals it needs to fill in the future, is the cornerstone for any web design or refresh project.

Take a look at a couple of strongly designed sites with very different goals:

UPS : The UPS site, a recent recipient of the Best B2B Website award from the Web Marketing Association, serves a transactional role for the company and is designed accordingly. Customers can easily track packages or perform a host of other transactions from the main page quickly and easily. A clear idea of the site’s goals drove the design and content layout for UPS’s site.

G2 Technology: G2 is a job placement firm, and their site is focused on establishing G2’s expertise and reputation in its space. The color choices, images and vocabulary immediately communicate a feeling about the brand. The site’s strategic placement of case studies, featured jobs and featured candidates drives web visitors to the content that G2 wants them to see first.

At first glance, these two sites may not have much in common. After all, their websites play a very different role within the business. However, they both offer compelling, clickable content on the home page that is directly tied to business goals. In addition, visitors immediately have an idea of what the companies offer and how to get it.

Once you define the goals of to your website, show your plan to your colleagues, see what others think, and tweak based on this feedback.

2) Narrow your focus – avoid the “kitchen sink”

Now that you have clarified the role your website plays for your business, prioritize which content should be most prominent on your home page. Determining this will drive page design and layout later in the process.

To perform this exercise, ask questions like:

  • “Based on our site goals, what content should be front and center for visitors to encounter on the main page of our site? What about our other prominent pages?”
  • “How should we organize our site so that the content we present instills trust and credibility with visitors?”
  • “How do we organize our site so that the path to information is clear?”
  • “What content do our competitors lead with/provide and what do we like/not like about this?”

By answering these questions, you will also narrow your focus to know what NOT to place on the home page. A common mistake is the “kitchen sink” phenomenon: trying to get too much content onto the home page, resulting in a cluttered experience that requires users to work too hard to get to the right information. In addition, as illustrated in the below graph, about 80% of a visitor’s viewing time is spent on content “above the fold” – that is, the content they can see without scrolling down the page.

Learn more about scrolling research from renown usability expert Jakob Nielsen.

3) Less Text, More substance

It’s worth noting that when you do have a lot of information to get across, such as at a specific product or service page that a user has purposefully navigated to, your web designer can help you turn your text into more readable content, using things like:

  • graphical tabs
  • bullets
  • attractive sidebars
  • graphs and tables

This approach makes your site easier to read, and visitors will find the information they want faster. The below examples are from sites that adhere to the practice of “less text, more substance”:

Microsoft’s product comparison table

4) Differentiate!

Your website must be engaging enough for your audience to want to know more. Think about the one or two things you’d love to tell a prospect about your company if you could meet with them face to face. Whatever the answer, you can turn that into something worth communicating on your main page and other key landing pages.

A common example of this is the use of a feature graphic, which allows you to promote key differentiators that can enhance your company’s reputation and establish credibility. Feature graphics are dynamic content pieces that are highly visual, but also offer a peek into your business. They may include an impactful quote from a key customer, a bragging point about your work in a specific industry, or simply promote a new case study you’ve completed and want the world to read. Compared to large areas of static text, a feature graphic can add depth and dimension to a fact, and is a more effective and efficient way to compel a visitor to learn more about your company, while instantaneously providing them with a “feeling” about your brand.

Below are some examples of sites with effective feature graphics:

www.moog.com

www.alfamationglobal.com

The first four steps to maximizing your online impact – doing your homework, narrowing your focus, using less text and differentiation – are half of the equation that will help you through the web design process. Our next installment will focus on specific implementation techniques to ensure your great looking new website will be easy to view anywhere and everywhere that visitors find it!

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Category: Best Practices, Uncategorized, Web Design and Development
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New TREW Marketing Website Showcases Work with Engineers and Scientists
July 02, 2010 by Wendy Covey

TREW Marketing is proud to launch our new website, which showcases our work promoting the innovations of our world’s engineering and scientific leaders.

Applying TREW best practices in web strategy, design, and navigation, the new site achieves the following:

This work was largely accomplished by Steve Goodwin, TREW Marketing’s Senior Creative Designer, who designed and developed the site.  Steve listened to our ideas and brought creative solutions to the table.

Another contributor was Arpita Somani, TREW Marketing Intern and Texas A&M Graduate Student studying marketing.  Arpita worked with TREW Marketing founders to create case studies and project profiles, and found innovative ways to convey the information both online and offline.

We invite you to visit trewmarketing.com today and check out the new site.

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Category: TREW Marketing News
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TREW Client Wineman Technology Launches New Website
March 16, 2010 by Wendy Covey

Dynamometers and servo-hydraulic test systems are no mystery to Wineman Technology, whose engineers are experts in test system design and development. When it came time to build a website, however, they knew that outside help was required and called upon TREW Marketing. more…

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Category: TREW Marketing News
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