I stumbled across a website/idea so sublimely perfect I want to share it with the world: nerdboyfriend.
Click here and you’ll land on the website for Cates Family Farm. It’s not the fanciest website in the world. Some of the design elements are a bit dated – the repeating background image and the heavy outlines around the navigation box are pretty 1996, I think.
What interested me and my fellow students in the UWSBDC Web Strategy class is that the site doesn’t really get much fancier than that. It contains no Web 2.0 pet tricks. You can’t develop a user profile, upload an avatar and insert your opinions right into the middle of the Cates Family Dinner.
It just 1) shows what they sell (grass-fed beef) and 2) states their value proposition (it’s excellent and they deliver to your door) in a way that is appropriate for their business.
As a designer, I want to get in there and make it a more handsome site. For example, I’d get rid of the 16pt Times New Roman and replace it with a nice sans serif in gray.
Of course, that would lead to more changes, which would lead to more changes and before you know it – overdesign and huge bill. And the site would not work any better for their business than the one they have.
They’re farmers, not designers. Their site is working for them and it’s perfect for them.
Thanks, Sandra Bradley, Web Strategy guru, for this insight!
tags:intelligent design
I spent the day working on websites, trying to fix little technical glitches that keep every site from displaying perfectly in all browsers.
I won’t go into the problems, how I struggled with them and how I fixed them. I did fix them, well enough for now.
That’s tough for me. I’m OCD enough that I want everything perfect. When I fix a problem, I want it to be lovely and elegant, like higher math. And I want it to be fixed for all eternity. And I want people to throw flowers at me and weep at the loveliness of my fix.
But that’s not the way it works. I have to let go when things are fairly good.
So after my struggle, I took the dogs through the park in the dark, and threw a glow-in-the-dark ball for Jimi. I threw it far enough that at times that I couldn’t see Jimi or the ball.
In a couple of seconds he would race back from the darkness, white face first with the glowy green ball in his mouth. Each time was a little thrilling, because it would be completely dark and silent and, where is my dog? And then, there he would be.
Which was very good.
tags:intelligent design
Here’s what I took away from my first Web Strategy class at the UWSBDC last Wednesday: use your website to go beyond other marketing materials. Here’s how:
Collect information from prospective leads with a fill-in “Get more info” form. How do you get people to fill out the form? Raffle off an iPod. I would fill out your form for a chance to win an iPod because they have video cameras now. I’m usually not into filling out forms. But an iPod! Just saying.
Create a personal connection with your visitors. Blogging achieves this, don’t you think? You can comment; I’ll email you back. We’re practically BFFs already.
But seriously, the internet gives you the opportunity to be a real person to your customers. You post about the ups and downs, you provide information on your area of expertise. And your customers come to know what a great person you are without the pressure of the sales floor.
Save you and your support staff time with an FAQ page. Do people call you to ask the same questions every day? Implement a Frequently Asked Questions page and cut your daily calls by a few.
Post gratuitous kitten photos. What is it with the internet and cats? I find myself compelled to post this photo a couple times a year. I would never do that in a brochure.
tags:intelligent design
I’m a website designer. I talk to lots of small business owners about it.
Most of them have no interest in Ashton Kutcher’s insights, but they Google and email and know their customers do, too.
When it comes to the considerable task of putting together a website that really works for them, however – one that increases business and decreases stress – many are bit lost. Either they’ve had a rocky start and are not entirely happy with their current site, or they just can’t face the notion of even getting started.
It is a big deal. I shouldn’t say that, because I don’t want to scare away clients. But the more I design and develop websites for people, the more I realize that design is about 32.7% of the battle. The rest is content, and that’s up to my client, the business owner.
I want to help my clients, intelligently, pull together their web content in an efficient fashion.
University of Wisconsin Small Business Development Center is helping me help clients. For the next few weeks, I’m participating in its Web Strategy & Marketing Series at Grainger Hall in Madison. As the class progresses, I’ll pass along some of what I learn.
Watch this space for more posts tagged Intelligent Design!
tags:intelligent design
