Archive for July, 2009

Interesting question. Our standard answer is “it depends.” Simply because there’s no such thing as a standard Web site. For example, building a Web site is a lot like building a house (of course we had to use a real estate metaphor).  Are you talking basic necessities, four walls and roof?  Or a McMansion to be showcased on the next episode of cribs?  Two-bedroom, one-bath starter?  Or mud rooms and master suites?

Web sites are a complex blend of strategy, content, aesthetic and technology.  And everyone’s needs and desires differ. So to assist in the process we have developed a few basic scenarios, or floorplans, as we like to call them. All of which come with an open source Content Management System, or CMS, that is yours rather than ours.  Nothing proprietary here.
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After 13 years of involvement with all aspects of marketing and web development, it seems the three-legged stool of Web development is getting a lot less wobbly and consumer habits, client needs and agency services seem to be far more in sync.  Until the last 12-18 months, it always seemed that getting all three of these constituents aligned was difficult because everyone had competing agendas. Agencies wanted portfolio work, consumer habits were still segmented by demographics, and clients were confused.  Enter social media.

Not that social media has fundamentally changed everything but it is a pink elephant in the room that got all three parties staring at the same thing. And if you look at what it has done, it has created two expectations from consumers that have forced the hands of clients and their agencies: transparency and real-time content.

So with the tighter budgets that most marketing managers are facing today, it seems that every call we get leads to a discussion on improving the user functionality, management capability, and ROI of their online efforts.

Here are 5 things that we are doing that clients seem to be responding great to these days. Read the rest of this entry »