The F7 Blog
Figureseven, Inc. has been helping businesses maximize their offline and online marketing efforts for over a decade. This blog provides insight, tips and advice from our experts to help you achieve your marketing goals.
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Figureseven, Inc.
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What Makes a Web Page Design Effective
By Greg Czarnowski, Principal, Figureseven, Inc.
July 29, 2010 in Web Site Design, Branding, Marketing
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- Use color carefully – try to create your pages utilizing a specific design palette so that colors complement each other. Also remember that overuse of different colors on a page confuses and distracts – make sure that when you’re using a different color to highlight images or text that you do not overuse it and nullify its distinguishing effect.
- Organize text into “bite-sized” chunks whenever possible. In this way, content is easier to digest (pun intended) and understand. I always think of how easy it is to read a Spenser novel by Robert Parker – the chapters are short and it is always easy to follow the storyline because of this feature. Treat your product and service descriptions in the same way. Use bullets to break up long sections of text that otherwise might bore or overwhelm the reader.
- Use white space – it effectively sets off both images and content and will draw a person’s eye to a section for that reason. People feel crowded and rushed in their lives – use white space to visually create the perception of openness and calm – it will get your information processed more often.
- Use a big enough font size to insure that your content is readable. Smaller type sizes might get you more information “above the fold,” but they will also frustrate those individuals who have vision problems.
- Avoid centering your content on the page. Most everything that people are used to reading is not centered. Put people in a comfort zone by having your content justified.
Preparing for Project Meetings – Part II
By Aimee Belair, Creative Director, Figureseven, Inc.
April 2, 2010 in Web Site Design, Information Architecture
Here are the rest of my recommendations for proper project meeting preparation.
6. Distill ALL of the expectations, requirements and preferences of ALL of your decision makers into one assessment that the entire group will stand by.
The main point person should compile a document of who likes/doesn't like what about their web site experiences and why. Have them also describe what their current clients like/don't like and why. More times than we can count, we've had projects nearing completion get derailed because the CEO (silent until this time) said he hated the color blue or mentioned a top customer hated Flash navigation.
Preparing for Project Meetings – Part I
By Aimee Belair, Creative Director, Figureseven, Inc.
March 18, 2010 in Web Site Design, Information Architecture
Ah, Spring; the time when new projects that are in low (or no) gear are starting to revive themselves.
As we head into new project Kick-Off Meetings, I present an economical blog post to maximize your time and money: Prior to sitting down with your web development company, have written answers to these requests ready. They don't have to be essays, but all of the project's decision makers at your company must contribute a few sentences. Some may seem foolish and obvious, but you'd be surprised how even some established businesses can't articulate a detailed answer to them.
Oops, Facebook did it again!
By Jeremy Daly, President, Figureseven, Inc.
February 16, 2010 in Web Site Design, Information Architecture, Social Media, Usability
It’s been a few weeks since Facebook launched another major change to their home page, and once again, it wasn’t without some public outcry. Almost a year ago when Facebook changed their site a self-sponsored poll found that over 94% of users disliked it. They eventually caved to user pressure and rolled back some of the changes. I guess people didn’t like the 1997-esque rounded corners on the profile pictures. Similarly, last October, Facebook released another set of design changes that altered the news feed! This even spurred a group called “PLEASE GIVE US OUR OLD NEWS FEED BACK!” that attracted well over half a million supporters.
I’ll admit that I too was frustrated by Facebook’s apparent disconnect with their users, but these previous modifications seemed to simply modify layouts and re-brand some of their features. It was easy for us to dislike those changes because it forced us to relearn something we were already very familiar with. This last update, however, went beyond mere visual and wording changes and actually appears to completely breakdown the site’s usability. Here are a few things that you may not have noticed, but from a usability standpoint, they are key factors in determining successful user experience.
New Olympic Logo Showcases Potential Pitfalls of Placement
By Aimee Belair, Creative Director, Figureseven, Inc.
December 11, 2009 in Web Site Design, Information Architecture, Usability, Branding
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Sometimes Simple Is Better – Avoiding Feature Creep
By Melissa DeLorenzo, VP of Marketing, Figureseven, Inc.
November 9, 2009 in Web Site Design, Information Architecture
Dilbert: "Your requirements call for 4000 features! You realize that no Human would be able to operate a product with this level of complexity?" Scott Adams
Remember how simple coffeemakers used to be? You poured the water into the back, put the coffee grounds in a simple plastic receptacle lined with a simple paper liner, poured in the coffee grounds, closed the receptacle and flipped the on switch. Voilà! Coffee. Those instructions comprised the entire user’s manual. Now take a look at coffeemakers today – there are buttons for setting automatic timers, settings for grinding coffee beans to various levels of fineness or coarseness, buttons for auto-off functionality, buttons for pre-warm settings, self-cleaning, brew strength control. (You may need to take a course to learn how to operate it.) Now I am not saying these features don’t serve a purpose some of the time for some of the people, but what is important is figuring out which bells and whistles are the ones you need. The same goes for your website – what do your clients and potential customers really require?
You Can Teach an Old Blog New Tricks
By Jeremy Daly, President, Figureseven, Inc.
November 3, 2009 in Search Engine Optimization, Web Site Design, Web Marketing, Social Media, Branding, Marketing, Email Marketing
I came to a stark realization the other day while watching my two daughters (1 and 3) play together. My oldest was rambling on about something (probably trying to explain nuclear physics) to my 1 year old. I overheard a series of statements ending in “okay?” or “see, Jules?”, no doubt trying to confirm that her messages were properly being conveyed and received. As I listened more closely, I realized that my 3 year old’s imagination was just running wild and was filling my youngest’s head with complete and utter nonsense.
Having an older brother myself, it got me thinking about when I finally realized that everything that an older sibling tells you is not as reliable as you may think. While their intentions may be good and their message sincere, little things like “facts” and the “truth” may get lost along the way. It’s kind of like a really bad game of telephone, but because you trust the source, unlearning the information may be a bit more of a challenge.
Don't Let Your Web Site be the Bluetooth Guy
By Jeremy Daly, President, Figureseven, Inc.
October 1, 2009 in Web Site Design, Usability
We’ve all seen him. There have been countless blog entries, tweets and Facebook post about him. Larry David even made fun of him on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ Yup, he’s the Bluetooth Guy! He’s the guy waiting in line at the sandwich shop who looks like he suffers from dissociative identity disorder. The guy that seems to be carrying on a full conversation with himself until you notice that he may have already been assimilated by the Borg. You might, at first, even think that he’s important since he has a 24/7 communication device seemingly wired into his skull. Then you can’t help but overhear his dissatisfaction of his fantasy football draft picks. There’s simply no getting around it. The Bluetooth guy is distracting, annoying and even with his flashy display of technology, is off-putting.
But wait a minute! I love my Bluetooth earpiece! As a matter of fact, I use it all the time in my car when I’m on my way to meetings or driving back and forth from the office. It’s hands-free! It’s a great technology. It makes my life easier and my driving safer! So how come such an amazing technology like Bluetooth can be so annoying to most of us? The answer is simple: too many people overuse it and, more importantly, they use it in the wrong place!
Another Quick Observation From the Back Cubicle
By Greg Czarnowski, Principal, Figureseven, Inc.
September 30, 2009 in Web Site Design, Branding, Marketing
You have to look no further (or in this case, listen) to understand the influence (and importance) of interactive marketing than by listening to a sponsorship spot on WBUR. With limited time to get their benevolent promotional message across, the emphasis of the sponsor is now on directing listeners to their web site. In the past, precious time (and word count) was used providing the phone number (and remember, phone numbers appear in writing a lot more easily than they are spoken over the air) as the means of generating business from loyal listeners. Now, they are simply directed to the company's web site. No fuss - no wasted syllables. You should think about adding a similar thrust to the marketing of your company. Whatever you send ahead or leave behind, make sure that it has your corporate url on it - otherwise you are missing out on a natural promotional opportunity.
What's your Call to Action?
By Scott Devlin, Director of Business Development, Figureseven, Inc.
September 28, 2009 in Web Site Design, Web Marketing, Information Architecture, Usability, Marketing
Many companies focus only on content and design when developing their website. I agree that those are very important parts of a successful web strategy, but just as important is your site having a Call to Action. A Call to Action is the action you want your visitors to take when they visit your site. Below are a couple of tips to think about to make your Call to Action more effective.
- Make it Easy to Find: Locate it on your Home Page. It doesn’t matter the type of website you have, if you do not have a Call to Action on your homepage you will miss out on potential business. Many ecommerce websites like Amazon.com will allow you to start buying right on the home page.
- Give an Incentive: The most important thing is that your Call to Action is directed towards your target market. If you can give useful information that helps build brand awareness, that may be the greatest incentive you can give. It needs to be something that makes them want to find out more about you.
- Cleary Define the Action: Having a button that reads “Get a Quote” or "Click Here for a Free SEO Analysis" will be more effective than just a button that says "Contact Us."
- Make them Buy the Cow: If you want to give away proprietary information such as whitepapers or webinars, don't just let them download them for free. Protecting intellectual property with a simple gateway form that requires registration with an email address will help to build up your contact list.
Ultimately, you can use your website to increase business. Following these simple web guidelines will help increase your likelihood for success.
What Does a Chef Cook Himself for Dinner?
By Greg Czarnowski, Principal, Figureseven, Inc.
September 19, 2009 in Web Site Design, Branding, Marketing
I've been sitting here the past week watching as everyone at Figureseven worked tirelessly to relaunch our corporate web site. There were so many details to take care of from perfecting the coding to placing our magnets to tweaking the content. When you're in this business, you need to make sure that your own web site casts you in the best possible light. We'll be fine-tuning it over the weeks ahead, adding links, subtracting images, and adjusting design elements to help us to create the best possible product. But what's there now is terrific – congratulations to every member of our team for a job well done.
Yikes! Your web site doesn't matter?
By Scott Devlin, Director of Business Development, Figureseven, Inc.
September 15, 2009 in Web Site Design, Web Site Management, Branding, Marketing
Can you imagine not having your television? How about your computer? Your cell phone? Your stereo? Food? Water? Air? Some of these things we need to live and some we could live without. I was recently speaking with a Director of Sales and Marketing, and in the course of that conversation she was telling me that business was still slow and that hopefully things would be picking up. I asked about what they were doing to drive business in this economy. She said that they had their sales people selling really aggressively and with some complementary advertising, they believed they would find success. It sounded pretty good.
The following day, I was thinking about our conversation and decided to check out her company’s website. For lack of a better term, it was “awful!” I called her up and asked her about it. She knew it was terrible and did not care. Huh? I couldn’t understand her apathy. I told her that her company’s website was more than likely the primary vehicle that potential clients used to gather information to learn more about her company. It was, at that moment, that she said the unthinkable, “We only have a website because we have to.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We are in the middle of a recession and a Director of Sales and Marketing for a sizeable company was telling me that the look of and the content on her web site did not matter to her. This wasn’t her saying they had no budget to do something about it – rather, she was saying it didn’t matter. I asked her how her sales people felt about the website. She stated they were not happy with it, but, that it was just an excuse for them as to why they weren’t selling. I knew there was little I could tell her to change her mind that day and I believe that she will realize sooner than later something will need to be done.
Are you excited about your website?
By Melissa DeLorenzo, VP of Marketing, Figureseven, Inc.
July 9, 2009 in Search Engine Optimization, Web Site Design, Web Site Management, Information Architecture, Usability
If you’re not, can you expect your potential customers to be? Consumers use the web – this is a given. This is where they get their information. From news to what’s going on with their favorite sports teams to where they buy their goods – people find what they want on the Internet. The quality of your site is crucial to the success of your business. Here are five essential elements of good web design that are the most important to viewers.
Visual Appeal
Your site needs to be clean and attractive. A website is a visual medium and, simply put, needs to look good. Don’t let your graphics outshine or clutter your message – keep it clear but eye-catching, making sure your marketing message is at the core of your design.
Why Distorted Text is Costing You Money!
By Jeremy Daly, President, Figureseven, Inc.
May 15, 2009 in Technical Information, Web Site Design, Usability
I’d venture a guess that a majority of Internet users have never heard the term CAPTCHA, but I’m pretty certain they’ve all seen it! CAPTCHA, or Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, is that box of distorted text that makes you retype the letters before you can submit a form, post a comment to a blog, etc. While CAPTCHA can add much needed security to certain applications, it can also cause usability nightmares that not only frustrate users, but can turn them away for good!
Welcome to the new F7 Blog!
By Jeremy Daly, President, Figureseven, Inc.
April 24, 2009 in Technical Information, Search Engine Optimization, Web Site Design, Web Marketing, Web Hosting, Web Site Management, Information Architecture
Since 1999, Figureseven, Inc. has been developing scalable, secure and reliable web solutions for businesses and organizations throughout the United States. Since we’ve been working with the web for so long, we thought we’d share some of our insights and experiences to help you maximize the value of your web marketing strategies and achieve your online marketing goals.
Over the course of the last ten years, Figureseven, Inc. has developed small sites for local companies like Butler Furniture and Halstead Insurance. We’ve worked with larger organizations like the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce and Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center to develop content managed, application driven web sites. We’ve worked on sites and built applications for the University of Massachusetts, Fitchburg State and Babson Colleges. We’ve even had the opportunity to develop web-based applications for multi-national organizations like CVS/pharmacy, NBC and Fox Broadcasting.
