Tuesday, January 3, 2012 Chunkify!, Content Marketing, Copy writing, Design, Email Marketing, Landing Pages, User Experience, Team, Webinars

2011 Year in Review for BOT

We look back at 2011...

We look back at 2011...

Each new year, we take some time to reflect on the previous year's achievements and activity at Bright Orange Thread.

In 2011, the Bright Orange Thread team…

  • Saw 725,000+ Page Visits across Client Sites
  • Launched 18 Websites/Microsites
  • Welcomed 17 New Clients
  • Branched into Mobile Design
  • Launched Chunkify!
  • Presented 7 Seminars / Talks / Webinars

And more!

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Design, User Experience

Don’t break the Back button!

Why forcing links to open in a new window is a mistake

We often hear requests from clients to make their website links open in a new browser window because they "don't want visitors leaving the site." We understand. Yet forcing new browser windows may be the reason why visitors leave.

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011 Landing Pages, User Experience

5 Landing Page Mistakes that Hurt Conversion

Landing pages are about one thing: Conversion.

Their purpose is to convert visitors who have ‘landed’ on the page to do something… download a white paper, register for a webinar or event, purchase a product, as well as hand over some personal information in the process.

It’s a tall order, which is why many businesses seek out Landing Page Optimization (LPO) to maximize their landing page conversion rates.

Through our own LPO work with clients, we’ve noticed a few areas where landing pages usually fall short. So you can avoid them, we’ve compiled a list of 5 common landing page mistakes that will hurt your conversion rates

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Thursday, June 16, 2011 Chunkify!, Copy writing, User Experience, Team

Chunkify! Watch a web page transform itself with each click

With the first click, you–the user–can transform bad web copy into "chunkified" copy, while learning web writing best practices along the way!

All of our efforts to inform clients, friends, and fellow designers on the issues of writing for the web have led to this… the launching of Chunkify!, an interactive experience that gives you the power to transform long, hard-to-read web page copy into scannable, user-friendly web page copy.

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Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Design, User Experience

What We Read #3: How Design affects your site’s ability to land a sale

Converting clicks to customers for client websites is always on our minds.

For years, we've read research on improving your site's ROI, and we've learned that the key is making your site's design and structure easy to use for visitors.

What We Read: Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox

That's why we read usability expert Jakob Nielsen's online column, Alertbox — a great resource for the latest web usability research and studies. We've learned a lot from Nielsen over the years so we want to share some of his most valuable findings with you!

We've chosen 3 articles from Nielsen's Alertbox on basic web design principles and how not following them will cost you sales on your site...

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011 User Experience

Change is relentless… Is your website out of date?

How becoming a more savvy web user can make your website seem outdated

As a lover of all things Apple, I know the frustration of investing in a product just to see something better come along a year or two later (sometimes months!). So believe me when I tell you that I feel your pain if you've recently—I use "recently" loosely—redesigned your website and you’re already finding yourself in need of updates. You might be thinking, "We just redesigned our website 3 years ago! How can it be outdated already?"

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 Design, User Experience, Success Stories

Site Launch: Catholic Youth Ministry

The Office for Catholic Youth Ministry (CYM), a Catholic Diocese of Wilmington organization dedicated to effective ministry in parishes and schools, receives a website that serves as a comprehensive resource center for its members and participants.

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010 User Experience

7 Bad Assumptions to Avoid About Your Website

When it comes to planning a website, we've seen too many people make choices with good intentions but bad outcomes. Here's 7 bad assumptions you don't want to make about your own website...

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010 User Experience

Google Expanded Listings vs. Home Page

BroadPoint's expanded listings.

BroadPoint's expanded listings.

Are Google's expanded search links more efficient in navigating users to the information they want than the home pages they conceal? Jason Fried seems to think so. Whether you agree or not, Fried's article from 37signals begs the question: Should we implement a renewed focus on site usability? Perhaps—since the longevity of your website may depend on it.

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Wednesday, May 12, 2010 User Experience

Site Launch: Refresh for PartnersFirst’s website

Affinity credit card issuer, PartnersFirst, didn’t need a complete redesign of their website, but they did have a few problem areas concerning the site’s User Experience.

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