Resound Design Blog

Goodbye websites, hello web strategy

(Resound Design) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

It's no surprise that the web and the way we use it is always changing.

How the web has changed

The web isn't new any more, it's been around a while, and it's boomed. Your website is now just one website out of hundreds of millions. How can you stand out from the crowd? A website alone may not be enough.

It's social. The web is no longer a one way street of users looking at your information. Social networks and social bookmarking sites (like Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Digg, LinkedIn, and so many more) are changing the way the web works.

This presents us with a fantastic opportunity to converse, build relationships, and listen to web users, as well as an opportunity to reach people where they're at.

What that means

A website alone just won't cut it anymore. We need to start thinking about the bigger picture, and how it all fits together.

Consider your presence on the web, not just your website, but your presence across the whole of the web. Think about it, and sketch it out.

How does it look for you? How could it look? Are there opportunities you're missing. Everyone's strategy doodle will be different, and should be different.

It's amazing how your much of your web presence actually goes on outside your website. A website should not stand alone, it should support the strategy as a whole, acting as a hub. In the ever changing world of the web and social media, your website should be the constant core that ties it all together.

How the web might change

It's anyone's guess as to how the web could change in years to come, but there are a few things to keep an eye on - the mobile web, location-based services, development of the social web, and touch screen computing. Try your best to keep a finger on the pulse of the web.

Watch how your web strategy unfolds - what works for you? What doesn't? Don't be afraid to drop something that's not working, and be sure to focus on the bits that do. Keep your web strategy fresh.

Exemplary business card designs

(Resound Design) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

We thought we'd share a few exciting business card designs to give you an insight into our likes and dislikes, inspire you, and show some love for other designers out there.

As mentioned none of these designs are by us, full credit is given with each. Thanks to each of the designers for letting us use them and for the great design!

Daniel V. J. Sweeney by Total Brand

We love the way these business cards show off the photographer's work.

Get Nished by Jason Cornish

The simple colours, and simple, strong message make for a great business card.

Mogibo by Ivan Turcin

I love the clever format used here - it folds into a little guy - need I say more!

Chuck Tingley by Royal Graphics

These cards look great and communicate the brand and service through the design.

Eden Design by Dumitru Iovu

Finally, these cards communicate the brand and the service through text in an informative explanatory tone.

Could you take the principles that make these cards great and make your business card more effective?

5 tips for getting more traffic to your website

(Resound Design) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Is it enough to just have a good website if no one's visiting it?

Here are 5 basic tips for increasing traffic to your website, making sure you make the most of the time and money you've already put into making it good.

1) Optimise for search engines

There are some simple steps (as well as more advanced undertakings) you can follow to optimise your website to attract search engine traffic. This is known as Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.

As a general rule most website traffic comes from search engines (like Google, Yahoo or Bing), as opposed to links from other sites, or visitors who type the address in.

Act with caution here though, it's easy to go over the top and end up looking spammy.

2) Advertise it

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) is a form of advertising your website or service online using a service such as Google Adwords.

Although results here are not as long lasting as SEO, PPC can be good for a quick boost, or a specific campaign.

3) Publish good, creative content

Perhaps the most important tip here - if you have good content people will see it, find it useful, enjoy it and with some luck they'll share it and come back again.

Google favours good content - getting this right gives you a leg up on the search engines.

4) Get social & get sharing

If you're not part of, then you will have at least heard of social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Delicious, Digg, the list goes on.

These can be a great way of publicising your site for free, and building relationships with your target audience.

Social networking lets you connect with real people, lets you tell the world what you're up to, allows you and others to share your creative content, is a great way to get feedback and even generates inbound links which are great for SEO.

5) Make the most of every opportunity

Make sure you take advantage of every opportunity on and offline to plug your website.

You can include your web address, as a hyperlink where possible, on...

Your email signature
Letterhead
Business cards
Signage
Press releases
Merchandise
The list goes on...

Your website should be a keystone of your brand - feature it on everything!

In conclusion...

Remember that there are no quick fixes - it's unlikely you'll see a massive increase in traffic over night, let alone quality traffic.
Not all these options will suit you or the way you do business - pick the ones that will work best for you.
Make sure you have a way of measuring traffic to your website.

I hope you've found this brief overview useful - we should be covering some of these topics in more depth in future months, plus how to convert visits into paying customers.