novadesign.net

Out of site, out of mind?

Nova Design — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:18:32 +0000

Are you losing customers before they see what you’re all about? We all know that first impressions are important and it’s particularly true on the Web.

Canadian psychologists discovered that brains take just a 20th of a second to make a decision about a website:

“Unless the first impression is favourable, visitors will be out of your site before they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors” - Dr. Lindgaard, lead researcher (taken from the book Brain Rules).

First impressions have lasting results. - psychologists call it the “halo effect”. If people think a website looks good, this positive mental effect spreads to other areas, e.g. site content, and in turn reflects on the quality of the business itself.

You can probably see evidence of this in your own web browsing behaviour. How many times have you dismissed a website in a matter of seconds, simply because you didn’t like the look of it?

If a website doesn’t look “right” and grab our attention, people simply move on to the next one. So getting it right matters.

What a SWOT!

Nova Design — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:00:20 +0000

Here’s an oldie but still a goodie: the SWOT analysis.

Strengths - e.g. a unique product/service, special features, fast delivery, specialist knowledge
Weaknesses - e.g. not an established brand, lack of experience, limited distribution network
Opportunities - e.g. competitor gone bust or had poor reviews, niche market, new technology
Threats - e.g. emergence of new competitor, new regulations, substitute products available

Been around for years but still a useful way to assess your business and a handy peg to hang your marketing on.

5 Quick Web Marketing Tips

Nova Design — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 11:15:39 +0000

Define your target audience - No successful business markets to “everybody”. Work out who your typical customer is and tailor your campaigns to their needs and interests
Don’t forget existing customers - The old 80/20 rule is still relevant: 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. Too many campaigns targeting new customers could alienate your current client base
Get organised - If you’re launching a new product, plan your marketing well in advance
Slow and steady wins the race - Don’t blow the budget on one big magazine ad, marketing is an ongoing process, not a one-off splurge
Get feedback - Test your marketing ideas out and get some honest feedback, i.e. don’t ask your Gran if she likes your leaflet, test it out on some “tame” customers. It’s best not to offer incentives for this, as it can influence their responses

5 ways your website can help you beat the squeeze

Nova Design — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:26:29 +0000

Now, more than ever, you need a website that delivers results. Advertising budgets are tight and a website costs money to maintain. But what’s the point, if your website doesn’t win you new customers or keep your current customers happy? A poorly designed website can put off potential customers and lose you business - something nobody can afford right now.

A website that’s out of date, difficult to use or just plain ugly could seriously affect the credibility of your business. There’s a lot of choice out there and if visitors can’t find what they want on your website (and fast), they’ll simply go elsewhere.

A website is the ideal way to make a limited advertising budget work hard for you. Now might be the perfect time to rethink your website:

A website’s success can be tracked. A tool like Google Analytics shows which pages are being viewed, how long visitors spend on each page, how they found your website etc. You can’t do this easily with an advert in the Yellow Pages
It’s easy to keep up to date. Nothing puts people off faster than a page that says “last updated 2005” - who wants to read information that’s nearly 4 years out of date?
It reaches a wide audience. Online advertising has the potential to reach a large and varied audience. You can also save money on print adverts - place a small advert in a publication that directs customers to your website for further information
It’s interactive. Your customers can search your site, post reviews, download your catalogue and email your page to their friends
Sell online. If your products can be mailed to customers, one obvious way to save money is to move your business online. Sure, there’s an initial cost in setting up an ecommerce website but it’s much cheaper than renting a shop in a high street location

If your business hasn’t got a website, you’re not even in the game - potential customers will simply find your competitors instead. Ouch.

We’re featured on iStockPhoto.com!

Nova Design — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:32:49 +0000

Our first ever design submission to iStockPhoto has been added to the Designer Spotlight - cool eh!

If you’re on our mailing list, you might recognise this design as we recently used it for our latest newsletter.

Pop over to iStockPhoto and review our design for yourself.

Some dos & don’ts of web design

Nova Design — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:06:27 +0000

On our travels around the Web, we see the same common (and easily fixed) mistakes time and time again. Over the next few weeks we’re going to keep adding to the list, so keep checking back. Have you seen any of these, or maybe you’ve come across something that really bugs you about websites - if so, tell us about it.

We might even get around to putting the full list into a PDF for download, if enough people are interested.

Don’t underline anything that isn’t a link - users expect all underlined text to either take them to another web page or download a document. Underlined text that doesn’t do anything drives people crazy!
Do make sure email addresses are clickable - if your email address is on display, it should open a blank email when clicked. Don’t expect people to copy & paste your address into their email program. Try to make life as easy as possible for your users!
Don’t use poor quality images - clipart that came free on the cover of a magazine does NOT make a good impression on a business website. That’s all we’re going to say on the subject!
Don’t use moving text - bouncing, flashing, scrolling and any other form of movement is a big no-no. Seriously, this is the equivalent of tying your text to a couple of fighting cats and expecting people to read it.
Do test your website in all the top browsers - if you use Google Analytics, you can track the percentage of users that are viewing your site through different browsers. You might be surprised what people are using, so, as we always say - TEST, TEST, TEST!