Top 10 Website Development Mistakes

I had the opportunity over the past year to gather the thoughts of our creative team to help identify some of the often-seen pitfalls that we work diligently to avoid. We hope that in sharing this Top 10 list, we not only increase awareness of what works  and what doesn't  but also give you a glimpse into the strategy we use to build strong sites that deliver strong results.

Before we begin, we want to preface with: Don't go "old school." Never use under construction pages, blatantly garish animated gifs, scrolling text, "splash pages," flaming logos, auto-popup windows, or auto-play audio/video without user interaction. We're still amazed that many of these practices have survived the ‘90s, and believe they're best left in the past.

That being said, here's our list of Top 10 Website Development Mistakes.

Read Full Entry

No Comments

Six Things to Add to Your Higher Education Website

Higher education websites are some of the largest and most complicated websites out there. They have to provide a lot of information to a variety of audiences, including current and prospective students, parents and alumni. When it comes to making your website work well for your college or university, keeping the content current is only half the battle. Your website not only needs to work, it needs to work well for all of your audiences.

Here are some modifications and additions our team recommends adding to your higher education website.

Read Full Entry

No Comments

Truthfulness on the Internet

The Do’s and Don’ts of Managing Customer Comments

Many companies are now using social media, open review forms and other public-facing forums to collect feedback from their customers. This can be a good thing and it impacts consumer opinions. I have often referred to others' comments when making a purchase.

Good customer feedback always has a positive effect, as long as it's believable. I have to believe the testimonials or comments are from real customers or I'll just discount them. That's true for most users, and most people are savvy enough to tell the difference between actual customer comments and made-up testimonials.

Negative feedback can sometimes be a deterrent and can cause a loss of business, but it doesn't have to be that way. For one, there is always someone with a negative comment. Everyone knows that and most people will take such comments with a grain of salt. Additionally, a few negative comments can add to your credibility. Users know you're not managing every comment and it can make the positive comments look more believable.

Read Full Entry

No Comments

Mobile Websites

A mobile website is, well, just what it sounds like: It's a website that is meant to run well on mobile devices. And by mobile devices we don't necessarily mean just the smartphones for which mobile apps are developed. These include a whole range of "less smart" phones that provide access to the web but don't run apps at all.

The types of devices that can support mobile web access vary significantly, with a wide range of screen sizes, varying resolutions and even limited colors. In fact, some phones are still monochrome! This means that a web developer must design a site that will display correctly in a very limiting environment.

Read Full Entry

1 Comment

How Do You Watch?

Many moons ago, when planning television schedules the most sought-out inventory always included the programs that we called "appointment television," which referred to the programming that TV viewers would schedule their time around to ensure they'd be able to watch. This is where phrases like "Must See TV" came about for NBC's Thursday night line-up. However, appointment TV is now a thing of the past: viewers no longer need to schedule time to watch their favorite shows. Between online video sites like Hulu and Fancast, as well as programming "on demand" through cable providers, viewers can watch their favorite shows at their convenience.

Read Full Entry

No Comments