I'm constantly asked what my process is for web site design. There's actually a lot of thought that should go into a new web site design, before the "design" actually happens. This usually involves a lot of listening to the client, and often a bit of research on our own.

Brand Definition

Before starting the design, it is important that everyone on the redesign team understands your brand. Because brands evolve over time, this is also a great opportunity for self rediscovery. Brand is perception. And every outward message and image shapes perception, from your tagline to the person who answers the phone. Once you discover what your brand is the next step is to mold it into what you want it to be.

Target Audiences

An open discussion with your team of managers, marketers, and salespeople will tell us not only who you target, but by what percentages. We are interested in who your target audiences are now, but also who you would like them to be moving forward.

Content

What is a customer looking for when they come to you? Do they know what they’re looking for? Prioritize your content on the site, specifically on the home page. Different coding techniques allow you to present information in a variety of ways. Let the content define the presentation. Create a site map to clearly organize the site’s architecture and content.

Wireframes

The design process begins with a home page content map, most likely in a wireframe form. It will determine the relative importance of each element on the home page, but won’t necessarily determine the look and feel of that page. A visual hierarchy of all elements, including the navigation, will ensure ease of use. Additional wireframe templates should be created as-needed.

Design

Once the wireframes have been approved, the layout and design can commence. The designs should answer all of your requirements in a usable and visually interesting way. Every color, font, image, the layout, and each message should be used to engage your audiences so that they follow the appropriate "calls to action."

Additionally, the goal is to have your site reach out and guide a user to the content within the site, and not just be a presentation of options and information. The site’s navigation has to be intuitive and actionable, so that users can easily access the information they need.

The design won't answer your needs if you don't take the time to figure out the questions up front. On a recent call with a client, she told me they didn't know how to determine what should be on the home page. I asked her, "What do your customers ask for over the phone? Give them that on your website."

Metropolis teamed up with Brunello Creative to design and develop a clean new website that presents the latest news and events of the local SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) chapter. Co-branded icons for Facebook, Twitter, and EventBrite along with a custom twitter background were also created to tie the organization's social media tools together visually.

SEMPO Boston is growing rapidly and is dedicated to being the industry's source of SEO/SEM knowledge and community in the Massachusetts area. Their first event, Online Travel Industry Innovations & Search Marketing, was held at WorkBar in January. A panel of four experts talked about their search marketing goals and techniques.

On February 4th, Google will talk about The Future of Search in front of another sold-out audience. Read more about our co-branded design for SEMPO Boston.

InMedia is an innovative group of entrepreneurs that came to Metropolis in need of print marketing materials to sell their services. Their unique products embody an interactive city guide that appears on hotel television screen menus. The product can be used by both hotel visitors and by other companies that want to market their services on InMedia's customizable platform. Metropolis was able to help co-brand these products and created a set of marketing materials inluding a pocket folder design, brochure design, and business card design that reflected the look and feel the client was envisioning. Learn more about this project here.

Metropolis worked closely with Spotlight Communications to deliver a cutting edge website redesign of the US Pavement Services, Inc. website. One of the biggest challenges here was to showcase the many different services that US Pavement offers without overcrowding the website design with information. The solution we came up with was to organize this content using some of the newest interactive web technologies that have the ability show and hide information. This enables the user to easily navigate to the information they want with fewer clicks. Learn more about this project here.

Metropolis teamed up with our friends at ThoughtLabs to help MITX (Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange) co-brand their social media tools. Using the newest technologies, a custom-designed application was implemented into their Facebook to gain fans as well as to share information about the MITX organization and it's upcoming events. Metropolis also created an interactive Twitter background that allows visitors to connect to MITX's other social media channels and website. Learn more about this project here.

Springboards Consulting, LLC came to Metropolis in need of a website design that channels their prospective clients to the appropriate information quickly and easily. Springboards offers a variety of different language services to both companies and individuals and it was imperative that the redesign accommodate this. In the end, we came out with a fresh website design that looks sharp and, more importantly, works well to satisfy the needs of their visitors. Springboards was very pleased. Learn more about this project here.

This should be the big year where we all take a turn for the better. The ideas below are all scalable. Each one could take as little as a day, or could be a long-term project. Take a moment to review your company's marketing and brand strategy for 2010. With a little effort, you could make a big impact.

Re-assess Your Brand

Is your brand still on target? Does it resonate with prospects and your community like it did when you first created your logo, website design and sales materials? Send an informal survey to colleagues, friends, family, customers, etc. Get feedback. User experience is key to good graphic design and web design. PS. A recent analysis by Fred Reichheld, a Bain & Co. consultant and author of Loyalty Rules , found that even a 5% increase in customer retention rates results in a 25% to 95% increase in profits (depending on the business). It definitely pays off to keep customers happy enough to return.

SEO

You've heard it for years. Search Engine Optimization is the most tried and true way for constituents to find you online. It is well-known to some and downright mysterious to others. It starts with a keyword discovery process. You then apply those keywords to your website both in the copy and in code.

Metropolis Creative has successfully improved our SEO over the past year. Keywords were optimized on website, images and blog. Targeted search phrases were used in our outbound messaging (blog, twitter, and facebook) to link back to our site. With the help of good keyword search and discover programs like Wordstream and Google Analytics, Metropolis was found at the top of most searches for our target niche.PS Meta keywords, paid links and keyword stuffing are the practices that worked in 90's and early 2000's. Search engine algorithms are changing and if you stick to the outdated strategies, then one day your site may no longer rank in the previous postition and greatly decrease your rankings. Will this be the year for Bing?

Landing Pages

Getting traffic to your site isn't very helpful unless you can convert those visitors into customers. Traffic is driven to your site via channels. It could be a google search term, or it could be an email that you send out. It could be a keyword linked from a blog post that was picked up by another website, or mentioned in a social media post. The point is, you control the link to your web site, so link them to a page that makes sense. Minimize distractions here. Make a simple and obvious point, and give them the tool to contact you or make that purchase. The simpler, the better. A testimonial doesn't hurt. And BTW — plug some keywords on this page too (for Google).

Test, Test, Test!

There's no excuse not to use different versions of landing pages, email campaigns, and banner ads (among other things.) Its as easy as trying two or more versions and looking at the results. Learn from your successes and start over — every time. You don't have to create two entirely different pieces, just tweak the headlines, reverse the order of the content, change the subject line. You have a golden opportunity to learn what works best every time to send a message out. Use it.

Get Social

Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé…In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen. What are you using for social media? Use it for communicating, relationship building, reach, and even SEO. Build relationships with people who share interests with you. Then those people will tell others. It's relatively easy to maintain existing relationships with occasional messages, useful resource links, and reciprocal comments. The culture of social media fosters information sharing. If you post something useful or interesting, it will be shared and re-shared. If you include keywords in your post that link back to your website, it will help your SEO standings.

Some things don't change - they just get better. With a little work, you can take a huge step forward in improving your brand, visibility, and conversions. Post a comment or question and I'd be happy to get back to you, or help you get started.