"If you build it they will come" - the motto may have worked for Kevin Costner's "Field of Dreams", but it's not as easy for web design. If you remember the movie, Costner's character builds a top notch baseball field in the middle of a midwest corn field which attracts baseball greats from the past. Word spreads, and the popularity saves the day.
Launching a new website into the middle of the cyber cornfield may place your business on the world wide playing field, but you can't draw the crowds if you don't play the game. Search engines are like umpires, regulating what is fair play and collecting stats on your site's performance. The relevance of your content and the number of hits your site generates, will determine whether the fans (or customers) find you ranked as front page news or benched somewhere on page 50 of search results. Just like other products, providing online information or services requires a marketing strategy to target awareness, loyalty, and generate new referrals. Optimizing your site prepares you to play the game, so when you launch it, they will come.
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.” - Charles Mingus
Deep in the Think Tank of Emagination Design Headquarters, we are drinking high octane coffee and eating Timbits, discussing the logistics of our latest assignment. Our mission... to build a website that will deliver specific but diverse information with visual ease and simplicity. We need to put together a navigational blueprint that will anticipate the intuitive actions of the viewer and provide easy access to relevant information. Planning the correct navigation for the operation is paramount. (We must carefully avoid navigational booby traps and decoys.) If only it was as easy as navigating this box of timbits. You just open the box and get what you want. You know, those white ones that cover your fingers with dusty sugary bits and drip berry filling down your chin. But then there's those brown chocolate ones with the coconut sprinkles on them. They're so popular with the kids maybe they should be the easiest to find. Everyone knows what a regular glazed donut tastes like, does it really even need to be in here? While we chew on it, (it's a necessary part of the process) we do agree that it's worth taking the time to consider the tastes and preferences of everyone who may be viewing the site.
I were an orange I’d be well balanced because my life would be segmented, making room for work and pleasure, friends and family, learning new things, and creative ventures. I’d be able to roll with things when times got tough, and it wouldn’t take much motivation to get me moving again. I’d be playful, squirting people just for fun, and making people have stupid orange smiles and look like primates. I’d be thick skinned, which would keep my creative juices fresh, and I’d have whatever that stuff is called on the inside of the rind that would keep me humble and regular. People would tell their friends that I’m good for them. I’d be the epitome of sunshine, with a successful modeling career ... art students everywhere wanting to paint me because I look so great in a fruit bowl . On second thought, I’m not really a morning person, so although I love orange, I think I’ll decline.
So what's with the orange? A strong branding strategy should include ways to communicate the values of your company in all the small details of your day-to-day business. At Emagination Design you may have noticed we have an affinity to the colour orange. Orange is a colour associated with wamth, creativity, mental stimulation and expanding enthusiasm. Orange is also associated with friendliness, fairness and the ability to reach set goals.
Spring Irony - It’s hard not to appreciate the irony of spring. This morning I nearly tripped over a bump in the asphalt parking lot, which had buckled up, crumbling like my soft granola bar breakfast under the persistence of some soft new shoots. The imagery of tenaciousness conquering the status quo reminded me of why I love my work. Many of my clients over the years have been starting new ventures, determined to make a difference (and a living) at what they enjoy most. It makes me grateful for the people who’ve helped me to do the same, and to find new ways to grow. Thanks for stopping by, we hope that you’ll stop back again to join us in our occasional musings of design and marketing, and all things emaginative.