Join us on Wed, February 22, 2012 @ 12:00 PM EST for the live Webinar event

We’ll be performing live reviews of real audience-submitted websites to help attendees decide between a full-scale redesign or smaller improvements for their business websites. Register and submit your site for review.

If there’s one thing we’re sure about as web designers, it’s that the Web changes quickly. The average life of a website is about 3 years, a shrinking number as users become more and more savvy at mining data from the web.

We even wrote a more in-depth explanation of why change is relentless with websites in a previous post.

Three years may seem like a very short shelf life for a website, especially in the eyes of small businesses with tight budgets. Even if a full-scale site redesign is not within your budget, it’s still important to make improvements to your web presence in any way possible.

Whether it’s refreshing your site’s visual design, switching to a more user-friendly page structure, or updating your site’s codebase for better SEO… Ongoing site improvements are the key to businesses staying ‘afloat’ in a growing sea of competition.

So if you're experiencing "growing pains" with your business website, join us Wed, February 22 and submit your website for review!

The live critiques will focus on the following:

• Gauging ROI of a full-scale redesign vs. smaller improvements
• Determining critical areas for increasing conversion
• Identifying opportunities for increasing search engine visibility
• Judging if the design is out of date

Register Now

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!

Saw 725,000+ Page Visits across Client Sites

Thanks to Google Analytics, we can easily track visitor activity and demographics!

Launched 18 Websites/Microsites

Here's some of our work:

Catholic Youth Ministry

An information portal with Event Registration and Online Training Programs. CYM can build their own training slides and quizzes for online training.

BroadPoint Federal

A microsite based on the CMS's multi-site feature, which allows staff to manage content for both sites with great ease.

The Center Foundation

User-friendly design and Information Architecture (IA) created an overall better user experience for visitors.

Vertical Solutions

A complete lead generation website.

Meeting Ground

Worked with cost-conscious client to build a strong 8-page website that feels like a lot more.

Serviam Girls Academy

It's a pleasure to grow with a client! Serviam clearly had changed gears and were happy to work with BOT for a complete revamp of their website.

Nazdravi LLC

Demonstrates the power of short and sweet.

Misc. Work for Clients

Website improvements don't stop with design! We do it all for clients. In 2011 we were busy with a lot of various web work including:

• eNewsletters / Email Templates
• Logo Updates and Refreshes
• Landing Pages
• Google Adword Campaigns
• 3rd Party Online Donation Systems
• Shopping Carts and e-Commerce Systems
• Case Studies / Copywriting for Clients

Welcomed 17 New Clients

We look forward to working with a whopping 17 new BOT clients! Here’s a breakdown of the type of clients we'll be working with:

• 4 Non Profit Organizations
• 5 Business to Consumer (B2C)
• 8 Business to Business (B2B)

Branched into Mobile Design

If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you may have noticed a bunch of posts about mobile web design throughout the year. That's because the number of people using mobile devices to view websites is skyrocketing! Browsing a website on a much smaller scale can prove to be difficult, especially considering that most mobile users want to perform just a few tasks, like finding contact information or hours of operation.

Mobile Site for Mt. Cuba Center

We developed a 'stripped down' version of Mt. Cuba Center's website that helps mobile visitors accomplish basic tasks with great ease. In addition to quickly finding visitor and contact information, users can search for plant information in the Native Plant Finder and view the center’s Event Calendar.

How many of your visitors are browsing your website from a mobile device?

Your site's analytics will tell you! If you want to learn more about what’s involved in mobile web design, get in touch with us!

Launched Chunkify!

A fun and easy way to learn 'writing for the web' best practices!

Over the summer, we launched Chunkify! – an interactive web page that gives users the power to transform long, hard-to-read copy into scannable, user-friendly web page copy with the click of their mouse.

Presented 7 Seminars / Talks / Webinars

Traveling everywhere from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., BOT gave some great talks on the issues we know best:

• Writing for the Web
• Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses
• Everyday Usability or Think Like a Consumer: How "usability" helps you meet your consumers' expectations
• Email Marketing: Is it still working for you?
• Web Designer Litmus Test
• What makes a good website?
• Choosing a Content Management System

Pro-bono Client:
Special Olympics Delaware (SODE)

SODE has been our pro-bono client since 2009. Each year we continue to make improvements to their website, and in 2011 we implemented a number of new features, including powerful Event Registration with payment processing.

Read our 'Best of 2011' Blog Posts

Catch up (or re-read) some of our best blog articles from 2011!

• Keep visitors coming to your site with fresh content
• Business + Facebook: Be social!
• Change is relentless… Is your website out of date?
• 3 Things your SEO Consultant Should Be Doing (or fire them!)
• Chunkify! Watch a web page transform itself with each click
• 5 Landing Page Mistakes that Hurt Conversion
• Making a Facebook Page: 5 Basic Steps

Phew! What a year.

It's only the 3rd of January, but it looks like 2012 is shaping up to be another busy, exciting year for Bright Orange Thread!

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.

A Top Ten Mistake

You may be surprised to learn that links that force a new browser window are considered one of the Top 10 Web Design Mistakes. 

Clutter is bad

The reason being that it crowds users' screens with windows they didn't intentionally create, like their screen is being hijacked by the website. But perhaps the bigger reason why links that open in a new browser window are considered a web design 'faux pas' is because it takes away something very near and dear to users' hearts: the "Back" button!

The Back button is sacred

The Back button is beloved and used a lot by site visitors. The Back button creates a path between recently visited pages, allowing users to jump back and forth at will. When browsers force new windows on users, the Back button becomes useless. For diehard Back button users, this is bound to cause a ton of frustration, and it may prevent them from returning to your site.

What we advise our clients

Because we love usability and follow best practices for our websites, we make it a point to let our clients know how important it is to not "break" the Back button by forcing links to open in new windows.

New Tab vs. New Window

Interesting to note… Today, web browsers like Chrome and Firefox will open page links in a new tab instead of a new window. But other browsers like Internet Explorer and Safari will still open new windows on users' screens.

5 Basic Steps to Making a Facebook Business Page

According to the most recent reports, Facebook now has over 750 million users, many of which are businesses and organizations. Knowing this staggering statistic, your company may be considering a Facebook Page.

Or maybe you're looking to do more with your current Page. Too many businesses dive into Facebook without a real plan and without knowing how to effectively use the social networking site.

To help you get the most out of Facebook, we've outlined 5 Basic Steps in Making a Business Facebook Page.

1. Develop a Content Marketing Strategy

Yes, there is a step before creating the actual Facebook Page!

If you've read our previous post, Business + Facebook: Be Social!, you should know that a business shouldn't dive into Facebook without being prepared for the conversation. Because that's exactly what social media is–a conversation!

You must first develop a strong line of communication with your audience via email marketing or blog writing before jumping into social media.

Once you find success with these outlets and have a firm grasp on which content your audience finds compelling, then you have something to talk about in the 'conversation.'

Don't be a Posting Pest!

Regular Facebook users are not usually in a consumer mindset when they log on, so be careful not to treat them as such. Avoid being a 'pest' by following these guidelines:

• Post a few times a week so fans aren't bombarded with your content.
• Avoid syncing your Twitter account with your Page if you tweet frequently.
• Share other people’s content. By posting information that fans find helpful and interesting, will make your self-promotional posts move impactful.

2. Create the Page & Establish Admins

You can create your Facebook Page through a personal account, but for larger companies or organizations, creating a business account is a good idea. This way—should the Facebook Page responsibility change hands—it's not tied to someone's personal account.

How is a Facebook business account different from a personal one?

From a business account, you can manage Pages and Ad campaigns, but you cannot view profiles or become "friends" with other users.

Note that Facebook does not allow you to have both a personal account and a business account. Having multiple accounts can result in the removal of both, so make sure the information for the business account is not attached to an individual’s personal account.

Securing a Custom (Vanity) URL

Having a custom URL attached to your Facebook Page is important for advertising purposes alone. Our custom URL is Facebook.com/brightorangethread, which is, fortunately for us, pretty unique. But the same doesn't apply to everyone else, so we suggest that you reserve your custom URL as soon as possible, even if you don't plan on actively using the Page for a while.

However, Facebook requires that your Page have at least 25 fans before you can choose a custom URL. In a pinch, you can always find 25 fans among your members, co-workers, family or friends. If the URL is already in use, consider using a phrase relevant to your services.

Adding Admins to the Page

Facebook has a relatively new feature that allows the account holder to add other Admins so they can manage the Page. This way, you don’t have to give your personal account information to others who may need to update the Page.

3. Create a Brand Identity

Once you have all of the account information set up, you can then focus on developing your brand identity.

Designing a Facebook Profile Picture

One option is to simply upload the company logo. But your logo means very little to new visitors who know nothing about your company or organization.

Our profile picture explains what we do for new visitors.

Rather than using our signature Bright Orange Thread label, we custom-designed a profile picture that extends down the page and says more about who we are and what we do.

Custom Tabs

A lot of small businesses or organizations don't take advantage of all the apps and tools that Facebook offers for Page customization. Some don't need much more beyond events, photos, and wall posts. But for those businesses looking to get the most out of a Facebook Page, custom tabs are a good place to start.

We created an e-newsletter sign-up tab using a Facebook app.

The sky's the limit with custom tabs, thanks to the Static FBML app provided by Facebook. We've seen some pretty ambitious custom tabs offering videos, promotions, blog and news feeds. All great stuff to engage visitors, but make sure you are sharing content or offers that drive visitors back to your actual website!

Landing Tabs

You can also make your custom tab the default page that new visitors will see when they come to your Business Page for the first time.

Mashable’s default tab encourages new visitors to “Like” their page right away.

4. Drive Traffic to Your Facebook Page

Building a Page and generating content are just the first few steps. To keep traffic up on your Page, you need to constantly form new strategies for getting people there.

Try these simple strategies for driving traffic to your Facebook Page:

• Add Facebook button to your website's home page.
• Include a link/button in your newsletter, blog posts, etc.
• Promote through other social media/networking sites. Include a link in your contact information or description.
• Suggest people visit the Page to perform an action. Tell people they can watch a video, read about a new promotion, or give feedback on news or events by visiting your Facebook Page.

5. Track Activity

Monitoring Facebook takes time and effort, so tracking its success and impact is a must.

There are Analytics solutions outside of Facebook that can provide very detailed and comprehensive reports. But for small businesses and organizations, Facebook offers a few simple (and free) ways to track activity.

Weekly Reports

Each week, the Page Admin will receive an email report on the amount of activity generated compared to the previous week.

Facebook reports are brief, but they quickly tell you how fans responded to content for that week.

Facebook Insights

When logged in, the Page Admin also has access to Page Insights, which shows graphs of users and their interactions over longer periods of time. You can view reports from specific dates and export them as Excel (XLS) or Comma-Separated (CSV) formats.

Are your "Facebook Basics" covered?

Whether you're thinking of creating a Facebook Page or you already have one, these basic steps should help you evaluate your plan for using Facebook and give you an idea of where you stand.

If you need some help in designing or enhancing your Facebook Page, give us a shout and we'll be happy to provide some low-cost solutions.

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…

1. Poor headline

Great landing page copy is half-headline and half-everything-else!

The headline needs to be the strongest message on a landing page, so plan on spending 50% of your time or more writing it.

Your headline is responsible for helping visitors connect the dots between the place they came from, like an email, a Google search, or an online Ad, and where they landed (your page). They must be constantly encouraged to keep reading.

Make sure the ‘call-to-action’ is present and clear in the headline, as well as the benefit that touches on your visitor’s ‘painpoints.’ And to ensure that visitors don’t skip over this benefit, front-load your headline by placing valuable keywords in the first few words!

2. Including other content that competes for visitors’ attention

Can you easily spot the call-to-action on this page?

The most effective landing pages focus on a single offering.

The last thing you want to do is compete with yourself. And that’s exactly what you’re doing when you put multiple offerings on the same landing page.

The user’s train of thought is sacred.

If you give visitors too many choices, they won’t be sure of what they’re supposed to look at or click on.

Every little extra thing you add will chip away at their focus.

An effective landing page focuses on one product or service at a time, or sometimes a very small amount of similar products. Landing pages with a single focus will always outperform. (Even if there is only one ‘call-to-action’ button or link, make sure it’s ‘large and in charge’ for maximum visibility.)

3. Using same design as your main website

Instead, create a ‘watered down’ landing page design to increase conversion.

What’s wrong with this practice? Same reasoning as Mistake #2, your main site has navigation links and other elements that could distract visitors from the task at hand.

Perhaps a visitor notices the ‘About Us’ link at the top and leaves the page to find more information. This could set off a domino effect, jumping from page to page until there’s no easy way to get back to the landing page (or they completely forget and don’t care to return).

Take a page from our book!

Our landing pages include our site’s navigation, but we place it low in the footer so it’s not competing with the ‘call-to-action.’

Only ask for the most critical information!

4. Form process is too long

Nothing turns away a visitor faster than 15 required form fields.

If the ‘call-to-action’ for your landing page is filling out a lead capture form, make it short and easy for users. This is no time to be greedy! Only ask for the most critical personal information, like an email address and name.

Remember: The benefit you are offering must outweigh the perceived cost (effort, risk of providing personal contact information to a strange company).

5. Lack of testing

There’s no excuse for not testing! The whole process should only take 1 minute of your time (any longer and your visitors will leave).

If you don’t go through the lead capture process yourself, how will you know if everything is working properly? In fact, there are a number of things that could go wrong:

• Form submission didn’t go through
• User never received a confirmation email
• The white paper didn’t download

Test your lead capture process so users don't have to tell you something doesn't work!

Leverage Analytics for Better Testing

A/B Testing is a good idea if you’re looking to improve a landing page but you’re not quite sure what needs improvement. That’s where reviewing your site’s analytics can help you.

For example, maybe you’ve noticed that a ton of traffic is landing on your page, but the average time spent on page is 8 seconds. This stat may indicate that something isn’t working for visitors right off the bat–maybe the headline isn’t strong enough or maybe they see the form and don’t want to bother.

You can test these things by creating a second landing page with the same content and offering, but change a single variable like the headline or the length of your lead capture form. Then compare the analytics of the 2 pages, as well as any differences in conversion rates.

You’re now a landing page expert!

Well, not quite. As you can see, effective LPO addresses a ton of different aspects, including design, information architecture, copywriting, your overall marketing strategy, as well as aspects we didn’t cover like SEO and keyword research.

That’s a lot to nail down, so don’t hesitate to get a second opinion on the effectiveness of your landing pages. If you don’t know where to begin, drop us a line at info@brightorangethread.com and we’ll get you started!

Chunkify! A practice in writing short, reader-friendly web pages.

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.

Long, hard-to-read web copy

The "chunkified" web copy

What's Chunkify! all about?

Chunkify! is about exposing the truth behind user reading behavior on the web: Users don't read web pages, they scan them.

Chunkify! explains writing for the web best practices with each click.

To make our point, we wrote copy for a fake company web page that closely resembles many real websites. Then we rewrote the page to be more user-friendly and easily scanned by visitors.

And along the way we explain the 'best practice' behind each change.

Why we created Chunkify!

We created Chunkify! to help people visualize the positive impact chunkifying has on a web page's appearance, and ultimately, the likelihood of users reading (well, scanning) web copy.

Our clients are more than familiar with the concept of writing for the web, as web writing best practices are often included in our blog posts and discussions. We even offer training sessions and webinars about writing for the web. It was then, during those sessions, we realized how much we needed to get the word out.

That word is "chunkify" and we’re hoping it will come to symbolize reader-friendly web writing practices:

• Short, concise paragraphs
• Descriptive subheadings
• Bulleted lists

…just to name a few.

So many more writing for the web tips are covered in Chunkify!, so check it out and watch the web page transform before your eyes.

TheCenterFoundation.org

Our non-profit client list is growing!

We recently launched a website for The Center Foundation, a non-profit that offers mentoring, education, and support for women and teen parents in the Delaware County and Philadelphia area.

It's a classic tale — the previous website was no longer meeting their needs and expectations for the web.

Now, their website sports:

• a fresh design
• online forms
• and user-friendly information architecture.

The Center Foundation's previous website

On the previous site, users had to scroll down very long pages to find content. With new page structure and new copy, we were able to create shorter pages and more scannable content, which makes browsing the site much easier!

As always, we followed non-profit website best practices, like placing a prominent ‘donate’ button at the top of each page to help increase support from visitors.

Visit The Center Foundation!

All SEO consultants and firms claim to be able to drive more traffic to your website with different solutions and strategies. But not every consultant has a comprehensive approach to SEO. In fact, a lot of consultants tend to put all their effort and focus into a single facet of SEO when there are several that work together.

Good SEO is about doing a lot of little things right.

And these little things can be divided into 3 facets. Through our own SEO work and research, we've identified the 3 basic areas of SEO that make up an effective traffic-driving plan.

A comprehensive and optimum approach to SEO includes:

1. Search-engine-friendly Coding
2. Keyword Expansion Research & Keyword Placement
3. Backlinking

If your SEO consultant doesn't address all 3, you should seriously consider firing them!

1. Search-engine-friendly Coding

A good SEO consultant will implement search-engine-friendly coding on your website to produce natural or "organic" SEO results.

To determine if a website is a relevant high-ranking result, search engine bots "spider" web pages, reading the code to make sense of the content contained there. If your code is too long, disorganized, or not web standards compliant, then search engines can pass over your site.

For better SEO results:

• Structure your code and content with semantic HTML. If you're unfamiliar with the term, read our explanation of semantic HTML.
• Use clean, short code. Doing so improves the clarity of your page to search engines. This includes placing JavaScript code in external files.
• Validate your code. Always make sure your code is web standards compliant for the best quality and least amount of bugs.

2. Keyword Expansion Research & Keyword Placement

Keyword Research

To be the least bit good at what they do, SEO consultants need to perform keyword research to identify key phrases that:

• are used in a lot of searches to drive the most amount of traffic.
• are low in competition (to keep costs low).
• have strong potential for your target audience.

Part of keyword research is identifying search trends and which keywords to avoid. Words that are too common or popular may yield little results for your SEO.

Keyword Placement

Once an SEO consultant has identified the best keywords, they should have a plan for effectively placing the keywords throughout your site's copy. This is where search-engine-friendly coding comes back into play.

The keywords need to be contained within the proper semantic HTML tags—the tags that denote importance to search engines. And the headline (h1 tag) is one of the first places a search engine will look.

Beware Keyword Stuffing

Search engines are programmed to find if there is an unnatural use of keywords in a web page's copy. If a search engine suspects an overuse of certain keywords, then your site will drop in ranking or be removed from its index.

3. Backlinking

A good SEO consultant will work with you to develop a strategic backlinking plan that stretches over a long period of time (at least 6 months for best results).

Backlinking involves increasing the number of links to your site on quality websites. The more inbound links you have on other websites, the more popular your site looks to search engines.

How to Create Backlinks

To create inbound links, you can reference your site or a specific page of your site via comments on blogs, forums, and networking sites. You can even pay to have your site promoted on other websites, but it must appear on the most credible sites to get noticed.

Beware Black-hat Backlinking

Generating too many backlinks in a short amount of time (like overnight) is not good, ethical SEO; search engines are programmed to avoid sites that do this. Backlinking should be a natural process that happens over time (6 months – 1 year).

SEO takes time and a decent amount of planning on a consultant's side.

For a consultant to implement one of these strategies without the others shows how out of touch they are with the scope and capabilities of SEO. All 3 basics must be covered if you want the best SEO results.

If your SEO consultant is unwilling to spend equal time on search-engine-friendly coding, keyword research and placement, and backlinking, find a new consultant who will.

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...

About Jakob Nielsen

Deemed "the king of usability" by Internet Magazine and web developers alike, Dr. Jakob Nielsen is an expert on how people use websites. Luckily for us, Nielsen publishes his research findings on Alertbox, an online column he updates bi-weekly.

Here are 3 Alertbox articles that can help you put your website's design and information architecture in perspective:

1. Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design

Don't let your site's success fall victim to unscannable text or a superficial search.

In this article, Nielsen reveals some of the most infamous Internet mishaps that can lead to frustrated users and lower conversion rates. Avoid these web offenses and your users will be much more satisfied with you and your site!

Read Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design

2. Closeness of Actions and Objects in GUI Design

Think copying everything you see on popular sites ensures quality user experience? Think again.

One of the oldest principles of human-computer interaction is that objects presented near each other onscreen are related.

For example, if a "Buy Now!" button is too far away from a shopping cart icon, users will overlook that action. Nielsen's article explains how even top-selling sites such as iTunes violate this principle and thus threaten user experience.

Read Closeness of Actions and Objects in GUI Design

3. Mega Drop-Down Navigation Menus Work Well

The point of IA and navigation is to display the site's content in the clearest manner.

Until now, drop-down menus have been notorious for violating this principle by frequently preventing users from seeing all options at once.

Finally, new research confirms a solution to this usability problem! By implementing mega drop-down menus, users can view their navigation choices on a larger area in a categorized manner, thus contextualizing their options more efficiently.

Read Mega Drop-Down Navigation Menus Work Well

This post is the third installment of our What We Read series, which offers clients the opportunity to gain some insight into our philosophy as web designers.

If you missed our previous What We Read posts, check out What We Read #1: Writing for the Web Tips and What We Read #2: 7 Articles to Close the Gap Between Client & Designer.

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?"

Web Experiences Are Rapidly Changing

Three years may not seem like a long time, but in terms of technology and the web, a lot has changed in 3 years… smart phones are becoming common, content management systems (CMS) are browser based, lightboxes are used for image galleries, mega-dropdown menus are now user friendly, and search functions are cheaper to implement.

As you, the user, became familiar with these new approaches, your experience with your own website changed. The biggest expectation you have is that technology is making websites easier. And when you encounter a website that isn't easy to use, you become frustrated.

Website Growing Pains

We've recently met with a few clients who are experiencing these growing pains with their websites. They are realizing that they need to implement better technologies to interact with their site and do their jobs.

They now need features like slide shows to showcase their great images, online credit card processing for invoicing and collecting donations, or a more dynamic, flexible CMS.

Managing an 'outdated' site is one of the most frustrating tasks.

It wasn't too long ago that we were using CMSs and editors that, by today’s standards and technology, aren't the most user-friendly or efficient. (We felt compelled to create our own CMS, called OrangeFresh.)

At the time, they made our lives so much easier! But as our web experiences changed, we expected better, faster, easier ways to update our websites. What was great 3 years ago feels slow today.

Now there are a bunch of great open-source content management systems that we use, customize, and implement for our clients. With the amount of flexibility they provide, our clients' jobs of managing and updating the site are now very easy.

Updates are a part of site life!

We know your frustration. But the web is more and more becoming the place where users turn to find information. The Yellow Pages are fading!

Today, if your website is 3 years old, it's likely that you are experiencing "issues" and are in need of updates. Updating your website is just part of ensuring that your business or organization stays afloat in the sea of digital information.

Ever wonder what's going on in your web designer's head? Here's your chance to find out.

Successful websites rely on the expertise of both designer and client. This post is the second of our What We Read series, which offers clients the option to gain some insight into our philosophy.

As devoted readers of Smashing Magazine, we've compiled a list of our favorite Smashing articles for your reading pleasure. As we see it, the more a client understands, the smoother the development process can be.

1. There's No Such Thing As a Bad Client

Writer Ken Reynolds' "glass-half-full" take on the client/designer relationship explains how even the toughest relationships can be resolved with clear communication and experience.

Though many designers may argue that there IS such a thing as a bad client, Reynolds provides insight into the frustrations of many designers, so clients can better anticipate a designer’s expectations before the development process begins.

Read There's No Such Thing As a Bad Client

2. 10 Principles of Effective Web Design

Understanding a few basic principles about websites and how they are received will help you make more sophisticated design decisions right off the bat. This knowledge will save you time and energy further down the road.

Read 10 Principles of Effective Web Design

3. Non Profit Website Design: Examples and Best Practices

Creating a site for a non-profit organization? A basic understanding of website dos and don'ts may not be enough to generate the kind of leads you want. Smashing Magazine details site standards tailored specifically to non-profits. Read up on how to get more visitors to donate their time and money to your organization’s cause, and see those clicks convert to contributions.

Read Non Profit Website Design: Examples and Best Practices

4. Start Out Organized: Website Content Planning the Right Way

A proper website relies on all parties working in harmony and a basic understanding of what users want. To achieve these goals, you must start off on the right foot when planning the site content.

Often called Information Architecture (IA), this process can be completed using several strategies. Wemmer's article conveniently lists the pros and cons of each IA option, so you can better decide which strategy is right for you when creating compelling content.

Read Start Out Organized: Website Content Planning the Right Way

5. Principles of Minimalist Web Design

When envisioning how you want your site to look, keep Smashing Magazine's list of minimalist design principles in mind. Adopting the "less is more" approach will make things easier on yourself and the designer. Remember, you won't convert prospects into leads with confusing navigation or inept design.

Read Principles of Minimalist Web Design

6. 10 SEO Tips to Remember When Building Your Site

Having compelling content and sensible design is virtually useless if search engines can't find it. Though semantic HTML can be difficult to understand and interpret, Mark Cronin's "10 SEO Tips to Remember..." definitely isn't. By familiarizing yourself with these simple tricks for boosting site traffic, you'll better understand the process well before your site goes live.

Read Principles of Minimalist Web Design

7. Corporate Blog Design: Trends and Examples

Considering a blog for your business? Snell takes you through the different purposes a corporate blog can serve, as well as the issues a company may face by incorporating one. Loaded with examples of successful blogging trends, Snell's article is a must-read for any potential blogger.

Read Corporate Blog Design: Trends and Examples

Familiarize yourself with this advice and more from Smashing Magazine. For more recommended readings, feel free to contact us!

To say that Facebook is a hot trend right now is an understatement. It seems like every business has a page, but does every business need one? Obviously, there is value in keeping with the times, but for some businesses, this is the only immediate benefit they'll get out of a Facebook page.

On Wednesday, February 16, we will present our third live Webinar: Writing for the Web—The Research & Techniques Behind Copy that Sells.

Join us for the Webinar that examines how users read on the web and how you can effectively structure and deliver your website's content.

• Better understand User Behavior on the web.
• Identify problem areas in Messaging & Structure.
• Transform current copy into User-Focused Copy.

Presented by Hendrik-Jan Francke of Bright Orange Thread.

You're Invited!

Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Time: 12:00 PM EST

Register Here

cdowcym.org

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.

Before working with Bright Orange Thread, CYM's staff was using as many as 4 different platforms and editing programs to update 3 websites, 2 calendars, and a resource library.

To make these resources readily available in a central location, CYM needed a flexible Content Management System (CMS) with effortless e-Newsletter integration.

Website Features

• Flexible CMS
• Self-building e-Newsletter
• Event Calendar
• Event Registration
• Forums

Check out Catholic Youth Ministry today!
 

How do you establish a positive user experience through copy?

Great user experiences don't happen by accident. Present your readers with organized, scannable copy that will capture attention quickly and convey messages clearly. Doing so will help increase positive user experience on your site, and that can translate into more sales and leads.

This post is the first installment of our new What We Read series, which offers clients the option to gain some insight into our philosophy. We've chosen a few articles from Jakob Nielsen's online column, Alertbox, on writing for the web.

Want advice on writing effective copy? Take Nielsen's.

Deemed "the king of usability" by Internet Magazine and web developers alike, Dr. Jakob Nielsen is an expert on how people use websites. Luckily for us, Nielsen publishes his research findings on Alertbox, an online column he updates bi-weekly. Here's a few articles to get started with:

How Little Do Users Read?

Studies show that users read only about 20% of a site's content. What does this mean? We need to trim and "chunkify" copy as much as possible while still answering people's questions. Good usability can increase the business value of your website.

Read How Little Do Users Read?

World’s Best Headlines: BBC News

The best headlines are concise and meaningful on their own. Since they often appear out of context in search results, headlines should convey the gist of a story, allowing readers to know whether or not they’ll like the full article in advance. This predictability saves your readers time and patience and improves their experience on your site.

Read World’s Best Headlines: BBC News

Blah-Blah Text: Keep, Cut, or Kill?

Cut things down to size: Most web readers don’t read introductory "blah blah" text on sites. Nielsen recommends stripping away all "marketese" from your copy so the answers to these questions can be found as quickly as possible:

• "WHAT is this page about?"
• "WHY should I care?"

Read Read Blah-Blah Text: Keep, Cut, or Kill?

Writing Style for Print vs. Web

Web writing and print writing require different approaches for entertaining and educating readers. With print, readers willingly follow the author's narrative. The opposite is true for web content.

When reading online, users piece together content from multiple sites and create their own experiences. People read websites with a specific goal in mind, and they will leave if it isn't met. Read up on Nielsen's tips to ensure maximum readability for your site content.

Read Writing Style for Print vs. Web

Check back for our future installments of What We Read!

Visitors can tell when a website is stale. As soon as they see stale blog posts, events, or old dates, they're ready to hit the back button. The bottom line? Stale content reflects poorly on your business and drives visitors off your site.

But you can keep visitors coming by consistently posting fresh content. When you do add fresh content to your site, make sure you remove the old stuff too. Let me explain why with a personal experience...

It's the first week of January, which means it's time to reflect on the year's achievements! In 2010, the Bright Orange Thread team...

• Launched 16 sites
• Wrote 28 blog posts
• Won an award
• Created a Facebook page
• Presented a series of Webinars

And that's not all!

BOT Clients: 700,000 page visits in 2010

We did the math (with some help from Google Analytics) and calculated 700,000+ page visits across our clients' websites. Amazing!

Launched 16 Websites/Microsites

Take a look at some of our work this year:

• Fulcrum Capital
  A sophisticated site design with readable copy and strong messaging. Semantic HTML and strategically placed targeted keywords greatly improved their search rankings.
• PartnersFirst
  Site refresh with usability in mind: consistent and clear global navigation, chunkified copy for readability, and reorganized content to better serve their two main audiences.
• SSi Consulting
  Site redesign that supports their content marketing strategy with a special channel for featuring white papers and a toggle for lead capture.
• PBL@UD
  Dramatic update with a more advanced framework to hold content, stronger copy, and improved site structure so visitors can easily access problem-based learning information and resources.
• Kauffman Gas
  A new online bill payment service makes it easy for their customers to pay online. And it helps our client get paid faster!
• Maternity & Women's Health
  This single-page website perfectly showcases Dr. Vergara's medical practice. Spreading content across 3 pages would have led to an empty-looking site, so we presented it all on one thorough, complete page.
• Special Olympics Delaware (SODE)
  Never before have we placed so many features into one site! And it's our pro-bono client! The site was redesigned, complete with Volunteer Certification, Events Calendar, Program Locator function, and a highly-customized CMS that allows program directors to contribute content without relying on SODE members.

Wrote 28 Blog Posts

We wrote some good blog posts about best practices for web design (and some posts about what we were up to). In case you missed them, here are what we consider to be our most useful postings:

• Is your website as helpful as your best employee?
• Boost search engine rankings by defining what your page is about
• 3 ways to tell if your website is search engine friendly
• Every website needs an Email Marketing Campaign
• Google Expanded Listings vs. Home Page
• Follow Web Standards as a Best Practice for Building Websites
• Tirade on Web Portfolios
• 7 Bad Assumptions to Avoid About Your Website

Writing for the Web Training

Earlier in the year we introduced a new service that focuses on copywriting techniques for the web. We saw positive reactions and results from the Writing for the Web Training sessions we did with two of our clients, and we are eager to do more!

In fact, we have quite a few web-writing-themed projects planned for 2011. So if you're interested in a content makeover, look out for those upcoming projects or contact us today to learn more about our Writing for the Web Training.

Non-web-design-work:

• Logo Update/Refresh
• Pocket Folders
• Proposal Templates
• White Paper Templates
• PowerPoint Templates
• Email Newsletter Design
• Print Newsletter Design

Worked with University of Delaware Writing Intern, Julia

During the summer, we had the pleasure of working with Julia, a Professional Writing student from the University of Delaware. Julia helped boost our Twitter account with 100+ Tweets and contributed a good amount of articles to our blog.

Named Special Olympics Delaware's "2010 Outstanding Small Business"

For our pro-bono work and support for SODE, we were chosen as the Outstanding Small Business of 2010. What a night we had at their annual "Night of Heroes" ceremony!

Launched Facebook Page

This Fall, we finally took full advantage of Facebook and created a professional business page, synced with our tweets and blog. Facebook is now one of our top referrals to our main website! Follow us.

Launched Webinar Series

Just this December we launched a series of Webinars, starting with the Web Designer Litmus Test. Our next Webinar, Choosing the Right Content Management System (CMS) for Your Website, will take place on Wednesday, January 19.

Read our 2008 Year in Review post.

What's new in 2011 for Bright Orange Thread? On Wednesday, January 19, we will present the second Webinar in our series: Choosing the Right Content Management System for Your Website.

A Content Management System (CMS) is a "must-have" tool for every website. And there are hundreds of systems available, all ranging in features, pricing, and quality. So how do you know which CMS is right for your business or organization?

Using live demonstrations and real client success stories, we will help attendees gain a clearer view of their content management needs and the available solutions in the most widely used systems.

You're Invited!

Join us for this live Webinar, presented by Hendrik-Jan Francke of Bright Orange Thread. Seats are limited so reserve yours today!

Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Time: 12:00 PM EST

Register Here

www.ob-and-gyn.com

This single-page website perfectly showcases Dr. Vergara's medical practice. Spreading the limited content across 3 pages would have led to an empty-looking site, so we presented it all on one thorough, complete page.

Visit Maternity & Women's Health.

It's been a while since our last post, but that's because we've been busy preparing a series of free, live Webinars! The first Webinar is less than 2 weeks away, and we're pretty excited about the topic: Web Designer Litmus Test – 5 Simple Questions to Ask When Considering a Web Design Firm.

We're sticking with what we know and do best in this Webinar. Whether you're considering a new website project or are in the midst of one, this Webinar will help you determine if your time and money are in the right hands.

We came up with a "litmus test" that anyone can use in their search. Remember those litmus test sticks from science class? Well, there's no real science to this test. Just 5 simple questions. And if you can come up with 5 "Yes" answers to our questions, then your search is going in the right direction.

You're Invited!

Join us for this live online Webinar, presented by Hendrik-Jan Francke of Bright Orange Thread. Seats are limited so reserve yours today!

Date: Wednesday, December 1
Time: 12:00 PM EST

Register Here

www.mcciq.com

We recently finished a site for Marketing Connections, a professional telemarketing firm based in Manchester, New Hampshire.

After developing the site design and structure, we worked with the firm to strengthen their overall messaging to match the site's new branding.

To increase site traffic and sales, we created lead-capturing Landing Pages to accompany their Google AdWords campaign.

Check out Marketing Connections' site for yourself!

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...

Bad Assumption #1: Industry jargon and acronyms prove expertise.

A lot of businesses push the job of writing their site's copy to the sales team or other members who fluently speak their industry's language. But visitors often don't understand the lingo or the meaning behind an acronym like "CIO" (it's Chief Information Officer, by the way). In fact, you should always assume they won't understand something.

Instead of trying to prove your expertise, focus on the information your visitors will really find valuable—like how they will benefit from using your product or service—and do it in language they will understand. (We call this writing from the "client-in" approach!)

Bad Assumption #2: Users care about the company structure.

Your website is a reflection of your company or organization, but it should not mirror your company's internal structure. Users don't care which divisions or departments make up your company's internal structure. And they certainly don't want to see it reflected in your site's global navigation.

Structure your site by what seems logical to your visitors. Ask yourself: What are they coming to the site to do? To find out? Answers to these questions will affect the rest of the design process (and ultimately your ability to communicate with your users).

Bad Assumption #3: Drop-down menus help users navigate faster.

Assumption #3: Mega drop-down example.

Drop-down menus do not contribute to the usability of a lead-generating website. They do the opposite in most cases because drop-downs are designed for power users, and not for users who are coming to the site for the first or second time.

Because the menus disappear once the mouse is moved, users have difficulty remembering their choices—they just can't create a mental map of the site. And for lead-generation sites, most users are new visitors trying to find specific information.

Try a mega drop-down menu instead! A mega drop-down is much larger, which means more space for the user's mouse to stay on. And the links are broken up into categories with clear headings so users can make more sense of them.

Bad Assumption #4: Cool effects impress users.

What do we mean by "cool?" We mean those fun plugins or effects you see on other sites that immediately make you wonder, "Can our website do that too?" You know… those interactive features that you think will add value and visual appeal to your site for users. Of course, there are plenty of neat features out there that help shape a positive user experience on a site. But there are also plenty of annoying, unnecessary features that will drive your users crazy.

Some Trends to Consider:

Assumption #4: This carousel slideshow spins too fast!
You can't get a sense of your options!

The Carousel Slideshow

The carousel is cool because it allows users to browse content like photos or links without having to scroll or click. But a wide variety of carousels exist, differing in design, toggling, speed, (and usability).

Flash Overload

People are drawn to Flash because, well, it's flashy. But do you really want to visitors to turn away because of an unnecessary loading wait time? Not to mention, Flash is bad for SEO! (Search engines can't read images or video.)

Unstoppable Audio or Video

When you're a first-time visitor looking for information on a website, the last thing you want is an overwhelming audio or video clip that can't be stopped. We've even seen virtual people walk on to our screens offering a promotion we know nothing about. Talk about a distraction!

Bad Assumption #5: Splash pages are useful for messaging or navigation.

You've probably seen a splash page that has a large graphic and an "Enter" or "Next" link to the rest of a website. Some splash pages are broken up into sections that take different types of users to different parts of a website.

Simply put, a splash page is unnecessary and a poor way to lay out navigation on a lead-generation website. A splash page robs the user of their ability to browse by forcing them to watch a canned message with only one choice: "Next."

Bad Assumption #6: A "Welcome!" statement is needed on the home page.

Because we're human, saying "Hello!" or "Welcome!" seems like a very natural way to start a conversation with visitors. But the "Welcome" statement is similar to the splash page in that it causes users to stop just a little in their search. Users skip over these kinds of statements and look for messages with real value, like how they can perform a task or locate a specific page.

Bad Assumption #7: The website looks the same across all size monitors and browsers.

Many people make this assumption because they are unfamiliar with different screen resolutions. Browser discrepancies are even more scattered with people using a range of versions of Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc. It's simply impossible to achieve the exact same look across each one.

Your visitors are using all kinds of devices and browsers, so designing a site around your personal computer is not good practice. Currently, most users have a screen size of 1024×768 or higher. We design for that resolution to produce the most consistent results.

Curious to see what your visitors are using?

Google Analytics gives you a great breakdown of the different kinds of monitors and browsers your visitors are using to view your site. But remember, your best bet is to design around that average 1024×768 screen size!

There you have it. Seven of the most common assumptions we've seen people make about their websites. We hope you've already avoided most of these for your own site or have grown wiser from reading. (It's never too late to make improvements!)

Award ceremony this Wednesday, October 6

Special Olympics Delaware's "Night of Heroes" celebrates the significant contributions of people and organizations both from the past year and over a longer period of time. An overwhelming amount of positive feedback for their recently launched website led SODE to select Bright Orange Thread as their 2010 "Outstanding Small Business."

The event is open to the public so friends of Bright Orange Thread are welcome to attend and share in our excitement! Tickets are $20.

Where: Clayton Hall, University of Delaware
When: Wednesday, October 6 @ 6:00PM

For more information, visit SODE's event page.

www.ssiconsulting.com

For SSi Consulting, a provider of business management software and consulting services, lead-generation is about delivering high-value content to visitors through their website.

We installed a content management system that supports SSi's content marketing strategy, including a special channel for featuring white papers. Visitors can browse the white paper library, view summaries, and download papers directly from the site.

And for improved lead-capture, a convenient drop-down "Contact Us" form allows visitors to fill out their information right on the page they were reading.

Try these features and more on the new SSi Consulting site from Bright Orange Thread.

http://www.udel.edu/inst/

PBL@UD, a problem-based learning group at the University of Delaware, had a website overflowing with content. As an international leader in problem-based learning, PBL@UD needed a more advanced framework to hold their content, as well as stronger copywriting.

For this project, we focused a great deal on improving PBL@UD's Information Architecture (IA) and copy. With the new site structure, visitors can easily find answers about problem-based learning and take advantage of PBL@UD's resources—a big help for educators looking for workshops or sample problems for the classroom.

Using existing copy and our outside perspective, we created new copy that clearly highlights PBL@UD's core message.

The site for PBL@UD is our 5th website project affiliated with the University of Delaware. As always, we met the challenge of creating a unique look for the group that works with the university's brand.

To learn more about problem-based learning, check out PBL@UD's site.

KauffmanGas.com

This established propane provider received a fresher-looking website with new customer-focused features, including an online payment and account management system.

www.sode.org

The day is finally here to launch Special Olympic Delaware's new website! As our pro-bono client, SODE receives the redesigned site in addition to 3 years of support and sponsorship.

What's New?

• A drastic change in design, as SODE desired to combine the branding of the larger national organization with their own updated, unique look.
• Mega drop-down menu navigation that clearly organizes the site for users.
• Built-in features, including an application that facilitates volunteer education.
• A highly-customized CMS that allows members to easily manage content like news and events.

And much more! As user-focused web designers, we truly appreciate how involved the SODE members were in helping us create a positive user experience on their site.

Check out SODE's new site today!

Read about SODE's experience working with Bright Orange Thread.

Why did we choose SODE?

The non-profit's year-round sports training and athletic competitions for children and adults with intellectual disabilities are just a few reasons why we are honored to work with SODE. Their programs alone have brought joy into the lives of more than 20,000 individuals in the Delaware region.

We thank SODE for their dedication and work in the community!

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.

Google is designed to fetch results that seem most likely to meet the searcher's needs. Under some results, Google displays expanded listings—specific links from the website that might interest a user. The expanded links often direct users to the information they want, allowing them to bypass a site's home page.

But while Google's listings provide an express lane for users looking for specific answers, they lack the individuality home pages use to persuade and educate potential clients.

The Home Page is where the heart is.

By offering a condensed list of site links, Google is exchanging individuality for readability. But you don't have to choose one over the other for your site. The best home pages will:

• Help visitors understand your business and pull them deeper into your site.
• Showcase other products that users didn't know they were looking for.
• Create a hierarchy of information so key sales messages get noticed first.
• Offer timely, relevant content that builds customer relationships.

The Curious Case of BroadPoint Technologies

An example of how Google Analytics may reveal surprising statistics is that of BroadPoint Technologies. When the company's name is searched on Google, 3 expanded links come up, ranked from most to least popular: Careers, Client Services, and Consulting Services.

BroadPoints specialty—Consulting—is ranked only 3rd among its highest Analytics traffic. Why? More people are concerned with getting hired by BroadPoint than hiring the company for consulting services.

Using this information, BroadPoint can re-focus its efforts on improving SEO results for consulting, which will increase sales and leads further down the road.

The Verdict?

When designed correctly, a home page can be just as user-friendly as Google's listings. While usability may seem like an added commodity, Google Analytics prove that it’s now a requirement for sites to stay afloat. Take BroadPoint's case as a lesson and don’t let your site's statistics surprise you!

Is your site up to standards? Research shows that following current web standards can impact the success of your site. Since Bright Orange Thread designs with these web guidelines in mind, we figured we’d tell you a little bit more about them.

Key recommendations for building a site include:

• Structuring page content with Semantic HTML or XHTML
• Formatting page design with CSS
• Following common semantic, accessibility, and validation practices

Why standardize your site? Following current web standards helps:

• Ensure that your site loads properly across compliant browsers
• Create simplified, well-structured and properly-formatted code for search engines to digest

What it boils down to is this: sites created with web standards in mind cost less to design and maintain, reach more users, load faster, and last longer.

Julia, our newest writing intern from the University of Delaware, reflects on her first month working at Bright Orange Thread!

Humble Beginnings

If asked a year ago what SEO, SEM, ROI, or even BOT stood for, I probably would have stared blankly. I can happily say such is not the case anymore. As my first month interning at Bright Orange Thread draws to a close, I can’t help but compare where I am now with where I was only one month ago.

A Fresh New Face at BOT

After only minutes into my first day at BOT, I recognized the high quality of work issued daily, and that I’d be expected to emulate this work ethos. Gone were the lazy summer days in which products such as “Orange Fresh” sounded like something I’d sip poolside!

Though I have been a proud BOT teammate for only a month, I’ve already had the opportunity to showcase my writing on the company’s sites as well as sit in on client consultations! Doing so has helped me convert the hypothetical marketing and usability strategies I’ve learned in classes into actual assignments tailored for the task or client at hand.

Looking back on my time here, generating one-hundred catchy tweets for the company’s Twitter account seemed a daunting first-assignment, but I was and am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to dive right in and make the most of my time here at BOT.

A Bright Orange Future

As a newly-declared Interactive Media Minor at the University of Delaware, my courses have given me a basic mastery of web-writing and content development. Though I learned how to write and manage my time, my internship with BOT allows me to use these skills on a daily basis.

It’s difficult to really fathom all of the bits of valuable information I pick up on a daily basis, but I can tell I’ve already come a long way. For that, I am incredibly appreciative. Here’s to another great month!

Did you know that most web users only read the first 3 words of a paragraph before deciding to continue reading?

Neither did our clients who took part in our new web training session, Writing for the Web. In fact, they were surprised by a lot of the information and research we presented about the way users are consuming their content.

The Training Session

We provide customized training in which members of your company or organization learn valuable web writing techniques and apply them to specific examples from your website.

Includes:

• Developing a greater understanding of user behavior on your website.
• Identifying problem areas in messaging and structure.
• Examining your site's existing copy and generating more user-focused marketing messages.

Memorable, Forward-Thinking Discussions

By the end of the sessions we could really see the pieces falling into place for people. And from their responses, we imagine there must be a lot of other businesses out there in need of a content makeover.

If you'd like to learn more about the training, please drop us a line!

With frequent email campaigns, you can keep your business top-of-mind with subscribers and drive them to your website or company blog, ultimately increasing the chances of a sale.

Focus on the right customers

Most email campaigns are permission based, which means your subscribers have asked to be on your mailing list. By marketing to these subscribers, you can be sure your business is focusing its money and efforts on the right group of people—the people who will most likely use your services.

These subscribers are often previous customers too. And every good businessperson knows it’s less expensive to sell to existing customers than it is to sell to new customers, which is exactly why your business should develop an Email Marketing plan.

Promote what's important to your customers

With a substantial mailing list built, you are ready to spread the word about your services, products, news, or events. Maybe a subscriber was unaware that your business did event planning and catering. Or maybe they were unaware of your organization's annual fundraiser. With a simple email, you can change that.

For businesses that have frequent sales, deals, or coupons, you can put them directly in the hands of your subscribers so they’ll be more likely to use them.

(And it's easy to send the emails, especially if you sync your campaign with your Content Management System (CMS).)

Get subscribers clicking with Best Practices

As experts in email marketing, we know all the best practices that help subscribers start clicking.

Here's just a few best practices you can use to get the most from email marketing:

• Write attractive and descriptive subject lines
• Include links for easy forwarding
• Add personalized information like the recipient’s name

You should always give subscribers the option to unsubscribe to your emails too. It helps keep the customer happy with you and it may prevent them from reporting your email as spam.

Check out more best practices of email marketing.

Bright Orange Thread will be "on display" at the Delaware Valley Multi-Chamber Mixer & Showcase this Thursday, June 17th at Harrah's in Chester.

We're now a member of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce (DCCC)—one of five chambers participating in this year's networking event. Last year's showcase saw over 250 attendees with just two chambers of commerce. Needless to say, we're very excited to attend the showcase and spread the word about Bright Orange Thread.

Event Information

For more information, please visit the event page on the DCCC's website.

PMA's Fresh Summit 2010

PMA's Foodservice 2010

There's still a little bit of spring left, right? (First official day of summer is June 21st.) We recently completed two new micro-sites for the Produce Marketing Association (PMA), which highlight two of PMA's biggest events of the year: Fresh Summit and Foodservice.

PMA needed the sites to feature important information, as well as generate excitement, for attendees and exhibitors. Visitors can now countdown the days in style, as each site has its own unique look. Take a look for yourself!

If you’re having your website re-designed, chances are that you and your web designer/developer will run into some issues with how the site displays across different web browsers. With so many different browsers out there and so many different computers with different versions of operating systems, developing a website that looks exactly the same on all browsers is a daunting task and requires a good bit of testing.

“It looks weird on my computer!”

As designers and developers, we rely on our test machines to verify our code base renders consistently. Still, at times our clients see a difference on their computer that did not show on our test configurations. When this happens, we typically ask the client to send us a screen grab from their computer. Screen grabs are a great tool to get a visual idea of those differences, but they’re only half the battle.

The other half is knowing exactly which browser on which operating system is displaying the website inconsistently. We go through a lot of trouble trying to find the browser name, browser version number, flash version number, Javascript… Well, you get the point—it’s a lot of questions and something no client enjoys doing. Fortunately, there is an easy way to find out all of that information without a series of back and forth emails.

An Answer to (One of) Our Troubleshooting Prayers

The folks over at SupportDetails.com have developed a nice little web tool to combat this communication problem. Their tool sniffs out the versions of the browser, operating system, flash version, monitor size, etc. and sends the information via email. All our client needs to do is go to the site and fill out their name, email, and submit, voila, the information is sent to us. And just like that, we’ve asked the client only one question (and a simple one at that) instead of five.

Asking a client to fill out a simple form is so much easier than asking them to look up information they might not even know how to find. Thanks to Support Details, we get all the information we need and no longer have to worry about taking up our client’s time or wasting extra energy on this problem. (And with the endless number of troubleshooting problems out there, any help is welcomed.)

www.partnersfirst.com

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.

We acted as consultants to the firm and made quite a lot of changes to the site’s Information Architecture (IA)—the overall structure of information—including:

• Creating a consistent and clear global navigation system
• Reorganizing pages to address the two user types: credit card holders and affinity partners
• “Chunkifying” pages to promote key marketing messages at the top of the page and enhance scanning for users
• Adding a quick log in form to the home page

At Bright Orange Thread, we rarely get the chance to boast about our services in terms of IA. But that’s exactly what PartnersFirst needed to better communicate with their users. We’re really pleased with the new changes and hope visitors have a more positive experience using the website now. Check out PartnersFirst new site for yourself.

We just couldn’t wait to mention the new redesign we’re working on for Special Olympics Delaware (SODE) right now. The new site is part of our three-year commitment to provide pro-bono services to SODE. We’ve enjoyed working closely with the whole organization, and it’s a great way for us to give back to the community.

Look for the new site this summer!

In our previous blog post, 3 ways to tell if your website is search engine friendly, we briefly mentioned that we used semantic HTML to help search engines find important content on a page. We thought it would be a good idea to explain what we meant by that a little more.

When it comes to completely ethical white-hat search engine optimization, using semantic HTML is one of the most important tactics to driving more traffic to your site. By making the content clear and digestible to the search engines, semantic HTML alone can improve search rankings in an incredible way.

First, let's take a look at the tech speak…

If you're not all that familiar with the technology behind web design and search engine optimization, that’s okay—the behind-the-scenes technical stuff is rather complicated after all. But the concept isn’t too difficult to grasp. So what does "semantic HTML" even mean in the first place? Well, the word "semantic" can loosely be defined as "having meaning." The term "HTML
is just an acronym for the computer coding language of HyperText Markup Language.

Semantic HTML in Plain English

Semantic HTML is web code with hints and tips built in to help the search engines do their jobs better, while improving the human reader’s experience at the same time.

When we—us humans—look at a web page, we can find the headline very quickly. Years of experience with reading newspapers, magazines, and websites have taught us a few conventions about headlines—they tend to be in large type, at the top of the page. We search out these headlines because we know they tell us what the page is all about.

However, when a search engine spiders the page, it looks at the code for the web page (a search engine can’t look at the visual rendering of the web page—it doesn’t have eyes or a visual cortex). A web page is made up of various code, including heading tags (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6). Each tag holds a special meaning for the content within the tag.

For example, the h1 tag points search engines to the most important message on the page (the page’s headline). It tells the search engine, "This is the most important sentence. Look for keywords here." The h2 tag points search engines to the second most important information, and so on. Search engines like Google then compare the keywords in the headline to keywords entered by users. The search engine looks for the most relevant web pages to return as results.

Google claims it uses pigeons to pick relevant web page results, but we know that’s just not true. Semantic HTML is a big part of it! Thus, a more descriptive and specific headline that contains important keywords will help increase your ranking and help you drive more traffic to your site.

Now, let’s look at an example…

If your pest extermination company offered a specific service for removing odorous ants, then you would want to make sure that specific service page reflected that. Simply stating, "We stop invasions to your home!," is okay, but it doesn’t really define what the page is about. Home invasions could refer to anything. Do you stop invasions of termites, hornets, burglars, or odorous ants? A better headline would be "Protect your home from odorous ants with our powerful removal system." Now the headline (and h1 tag) contains the keywords "odorous ants," "home," and "removal," and the service page is more accurately defined.

Climb to the top of search engine results!

If watching your website climb to the top of search engine rankings sounds like a pretty good idea, it’s time to have Bright Orange Thread optimize your site with semantic HTML.

Even the best websites don't reach their full potential if nobody sees them.

One of Bright Orange Thread's unique strengths is our ability to increase traffic to our clients' websites via search engine optimization (SEO). We understand how search engines organize and rank their results and we can tailor your website with links, meta-tags, and other content that will rank your site higher than your competitor's. SEO is a low-cost "organic" way to increase traffic to your site.

How can you tell if your website is search engine friendly? We've outlined a few ways to tell.

1. Is important content high on the page?

On your browser, if you view a page without style (View > Page Source), you can see how a search engine views pages on a website. To search engines, the most important information is the information at the top of all this code. So a search engine will base its results on the keywords it finds there.

We not only organize your content so the high-value headline is highest on the page, but we also use semantic HTML tags to help search engines find it (this part is a bit complicated so we'll define semantic HTML in another post).

2. Are there pages that focus on one product or service?

Another search-engine-friendly strategy is placing only one product or service per page. Listing all your products or services on one page makes it harder for search engines to identify the most important keywords.

For each product or service, create a separate page that contains only the specific keywords. So when users type in these keywords, your page is more likely to be returned as a relevant result by a search engine.

3. Does the site use images to display text?

Sometimes designers use images to display text so they achieve a certain look they can't get with normal web-safe fonts. When they do this, they lose an important opportunity to increase SEO.

Search engines can't read images.

Search engines can't read images like they read actual type, so they won't return your site as a high-ranked result when users search for specific keywords. It's understandable that some designers want to use fancy type to draw the human eye, but by doing so they neglect drawing the attention of search engines.

As designers and SEO experts, we use other design tricks that attract visitors without compromising SEO.

Mouse tracker that visualizes your mouse movements.

Using a neat little app, I tracked all my mouse movements for a day or work!

Somewhere in the blogosphere, someone wrote about iographica, an app that tracks mousemovents. They claim iographica "turns mouse movements into a modern art". I think it proves I use my mouse a lot! My former students might see this and wonder after all my 'lectures' about reducing "mouse miles" by memorizing keyboard short cuts.

This covers all my work on March 9th, from 7:34 am to 2:50pm. During that time:

• I reviewed designs by Ed, our designer extraordinaire
• communicated with clients via email and BaseCamp
• teleconferenced about case studies with Theresa, our fabulous writing intern from the University of Delaware
• made updates to a variety of websites
• checked about 100 blog headlines
• had lunch, I think the biggest black circle is where I paused my mouse for lunch

Note that I have two monitors with pixel dimensions of 3600 by 1200.

www.fulcruminv.com

The Bright Orange Thread team has been busy these last few weeks with site updates and new projects, but we’re taking some time now to catch you up to speed on recent developments.

Over the weekend, we launched a new site for Fulcrum Capital, a Distressed and Special Investments firm based in Austin, TX. We spent a lot of time polishing the site’s final look, searching for backgrounds that would make the site really pop. Eventually, we found a stunning image of the Supreme Court columns in D.C., which was taken—interestingly enough—by a British photographer. The client has a keen eye for style, so it was satisfying to nail a sophisticated, clean look for the site.

We’ll check back in soon. Be on the look out for two new sites to launch in the near future!

GreaterPhiladelphiaGardens.org featured on KYW Newsradio's Garden Reports last week.

We were pleased to hear GreaterPhiladelphiaGardens.org featured on KYW Newsradio's Garden Reports last week. The website was mentioned as part of Phran Novelli's garden tips for its abundance of helpful links and information on the area's gardens and arboreta. We're not surprised since the site is a great resource for all garden news and events happening in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Listen, or even better, visit Greater Philadelphia Gardens today.

You expect your employees to be friendly, professional, articulate, and helpful to customers—and your website should be the same.

When users come to a website and discover difficult navigation and overwhelming text, it’s like getting a clueless rep on the customer service line. Users will be turned off immediately and be less likely to use your services. For these reasons and more, it’s crucial that you have a user-centered website that follows the best practices of (cue the booming voice) usability.

Usability?

When we say usability, we’re talking about the ease with which users are able to use a website. For example:

Clear Navigation
Users won’t guess their way through a website. Simple, clear, and consistent navigation tells users exactly where they are, where they can go, and what they can find on your site. The main navigation should be easily identifiable and contain a reasonable number of links. Seven links or less is a good rule of thumb, but use your judgment—does the navigation seem disorganized or jam-packed?

Scannable Text
A big part of creating user-friendly content is scannable text. Text needs to be scannable so users can easily find the one thing they’re looking for (and they often are looking for just one thing). Imagine a user comes to your website to find a specific step in a set of instructions, and they’re met with long unlabeled blocks of text that describe each step. Users could spend a great deal of time reading through the text to find the one section or they could take a few seconds to find a website with easier reading. Users value short paragraphs with a decent number of headings and subheadings. These headings help users jump quickly between content and skip the stuff they don’t need.

Important Messages Above the Fold
Just as newspaper editors ensure the day’s most important news is above the fold, we make sure users see your most important information first. We don’t trust users to scroll down the page to see what could possibly be there. Users only scroll down if they are sure they’ll find something good. By organizing content strategically, you help users find what they want and deliver your message to them.

Great design isn’t always easy to use.

You can make design decisions that add to the visual appeal of your website, but the wrong ones can negatively impact your site’s usability (and its ability to generate sales). For example, designers often use drop-down menus to hide menu lists in an effort to remove visual clutter. Usability research shows that drop-down menus, though solving the clutter problem, introduce another (worse) problem. Because the menus disappear once the mouse is moved, users have difficulty remembering their choices—they just can’t create a mental map of the site. They’ll end up lost and—you got it—leave.

That’s why, at Bright Orange Thread, our devotion to creating lead-generating websites goes beyond visual appeal. We continually study best practices and seek out the latest research in usability to make sure your website stays on top. We build sites that not only wow users, but also help them do whatever it is they want to do (so they’ll always come back).

Test usability in a wireframe.

A large step in our design process is creating a functional wireframe prototype that clients can click through to test the usability of their website. They get to experience what their users will experience, before design and programming. Representative users can also test the prototype and changes can be easily made. The wireframe lacks any real aesthetic design, but it allows us to plan out structure and functionality based on actual testing. Only with a wireframe can we fully optimize a website’s design and capabilities.

Visit our website today to learn more.

Hands down, a web portfolio is the best way to display your art/design/photography, if you do it right. There are a lot of ways you can showcase your work, but let’s be honest—users just want to quickly move through your portfolio. When this becomes a longer process, users get bogged down in the experience.

First, the science…

Here’s some science to chew on… New research suggests that users can formulate an opinion about the visual appeal of an image in less than a tenth of a second. Less than a tenth of a second! Furthermore, users feel like they have more control on a website when they perform an action (like clicking a button) and the response takes a second or less. After a second, their feeling of control decreases.

What does this information mean for your portfolio? First, it demonstrates how quickly users can form an impression (even if it deals with the visual impression of images). It also shows how little time you have to keep users happy when they click through your work.

The Clicking Game

One of the most frequent problems I see with web portfolios is that they make me play, what I call, the “Clicking Game.” With each new image, the next button changes its location on the screen, forcing me to chase it with my mouse. This Clicking Game is a nuisance! Considering how fast I can view images (remember the science above), it’s a lot of little mouse movements and clicks in a very short period of time. This task that should take no more than a second becomes a nightmarish game of mousing around. (You might think I’m overreacting, but I look at a lot of portfolios.)

Fix it with fixed position

I wish designers, illustrators, photographers—anyone and everyone—would borrow a technique from our own portfolio website. Our site uses buttons in a fixed position so users can place their mouse in one spot and keep it there until they’ve finished clicking. Our images vary in size but they don’t affect the movement of the “next” button.

You’ll notice the “next” button leads you beyond our samples to our contact information. That decision is more a personal choice, but I think it encourages clients to initiate business with us.

Bright Orange Thread is pleased to announce that they will begin a three-year commitment to provide pro bono services for Special Olympics Delaware's (SODE) website. This includes the launch of a new re-designed site and three years of support and sponsorship.

You asked for it. Here’s the story behind Bright Orange Thread. This is definitely easier to explain verbally, but I’ll give it a try.

While I was at the University of Delaware, I taught a junior graphic design class. We had a critique scheduled one day, but the work they brought to class was really poor (must have been big party that weekend or something). I didn’t want to waste our time so I scrapped the critique and told them to have better work ready for the next class.

There I was with two hours of class time, no critique, and no lecture. I told them about my sleepless night trying to decide on a new name for my company, then called FranBach Creative. I presented some names to them, but the students deemed my ideas to be really poor (I guess we were all having a bad day). I decided to give the students one hour to come up with a better name for my business, promising to use it as long as it was better.

They did and I kept my promise. Their reasons were that:

• I was known for wearing a very bright orange shirt on the first day of class
• thread can be woven into a web (and the web is where my business was shifting to)
• the color orange is linked to my Dutch heritage

Since then, it’s been easy to design the company’s cards, brochures, website, blog—the list goes on. So thank you, class of 2005!

www.broadpoint.net

BOT has completed a new website for BroadPoint Technologies, a technology consulting firm that services over 400 clients. BroadPoint’s previous site focused solely on the company’s software products and didn’t reflect its consulting expertise and business solutions.

To make the shift, we went the extra mile utilizing our wide range of services, including an internet marketing consultation, an SEO consultation, copy-writing, and usability expertise. With the new website, we helped BroadPoint change its image as a software seller to a technology consultant that specializes in high-growth solutions for clients.

We are pleased to welcome the wonderful and talented Elizabeth Miney to the Bright Orange Thread team. As Director of Business Development, she will assist us in generating leads and sales.

Elizabeth’s business to business sales acumen is extensive and she has worked in sales and marketing in San Francisco, Dallas and Seattle. A recent relocation to Chester County has allowed many local non profit organizations to benefit from Elizabeth’s tireless volunteer work.

Her strong skills in communication and consultative selling are invaluable to Bright Orange Thread, as we begin a new focus in marketing. We know she will be a great asset to us, as well as our clients.

BOT welcomes their Fall 2009 writing intern, Theresa Monaco, from the University of Delaware. Theresa is currently a senior pursuing Professional Writing. With a growing interest in web content development, Theresa is a terrific addition to BOT. She is excited to assist us in writing and editing for upcoming projects.

After 5 years with local home theater retailer TheaterXtreme, Ed joins design studio Bright Orange Thread as Assistant Creative Director. In a return to his creative roots, Ed has designed six websites in his first six months. His designs were all approved by clients in the first round.

www.salemcc.edu/glass

Bright Orange Thread has just completed a redesigned website for Salem Community College’s Samuel H. Jones Glass Education Center. The new site features beautiful images of glass art and promotes the school’s unique degree programs. Individuals interested in glass art are invited to participate in conferences and the Glass Education Center’s workshops.

dynamicssoftwaresolutions.com

Bright Orange Thread has just created a new website for a Technology Business Solutions group from RSM McGladrey, a leading accounting, tax, and business consulting firm. The group’s need for a website was simple—to generate business leads. BOT built a clean and professional website that highlights the group’s solutions and consulting services for clients. New clients are drawn to the site with the help of SEO and SEM.

www.standardde.com

Bright Orange Thread has just launched a new site for Standard Distributing, Delaware’s largest wholesale beer distributor. BOT integrated a user-friendly design with creative visuals that show the size and long-standing history of the company. The new design reinforces Standard Distributing’s identity as a top beer distributor and creatively displays their wide range of brands for customers and outside suppliers.

www.pma.com/foodservice

Bright Orange Thread has just completed a new microsite for the Produce Marketing Association’s (PMA) 2009 Foodservice Conference & Exposition. BOT employed a smart, easy-to-use design that displays striking photos and event information for attendees and exhibitors. The new site helps foodservice professionals explore the expo’s topics and easily register for the event.

The web never stops growing, and neither do we. This year, Bright Orange Thread encountered a significant amount of new business opportunities compared to years prior. In 2008, we:

• Launched 18 websites
• Created 4 logos and
• Designed 4 brochures

We sent out a few emails in the first half of the year so here is a brief look at what we were up to this fall:

• We promoted the key features of PMA's comprehensive I Know Produce service in a microsite with an interactive Flash application.

• Tyler Arboretum’s new BOT-developed website marries logical hierarchy, readable content, and database-driven events functions with a pleasant arboreal design.

• We provided Stanford University's online-only Journal of Law, Science, and Policy with a searchable article database powered by BOT's proprietary OrangeFresh Content Management System.

• We invited people to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge via fun design, graphics, and photography.

• We enticed visitors to register for PMA's Leadership Symposium with a polished, professional design that emphasizes leadership and features prominent, glowing quotes from past attendees.

• We designed for Lead Graffiti -- a site that quickly guides three distinctly different types of customers to information relevant to them.

• We highlighted the diversity of the students, the spirit of communal learning, and the unique learning experiences available at the CACC Montessori School.

• We organized PMA's International Council expansive market profile document into an informative, readable microsite with visuals that represents India's unique culture.

Many of these opportunities were provided by you, friends of Bright Orange Thread. We'd like to thank you for all of the referrals you have provided, and look forward to many more.

We've just completed a website for Stanford University's Journal of Law, Science, and Policy!

www.pma.com/ic/india2008/

Bright Orange Thread has completed work on a Trip to India Microsite for the Produce Marketing Association’s International Council!

Bright Orange Thread has completed work on a Trip to India Microsite for the Produce Marketing Association’s International Council! BOT organized the Council’s expansive market profile document into web-friendly pages, and highlighted the exotic locale with bright, vivid imagery to represent India’s unique culture.

In March 2008, the PMA IC took a research trip to India to gain insight into the development of agricultural business in the region. This website details information that the Council learned during a research trip, and is a must read for anyone looking to enter the agricultural market in India.

www.pma.com/leadership/2009/

BOT is pleased to present the microsite for the Produce Marketing Association’s Leadership Symposium! The Leadership Symposium is an annual conference for business leaders across the spectrum of the agricultural industry. BOT employed a polished, professional design that emphasizes leadership and entices the visitor to register with glowing quotes from past attendees.

BOT is please to present the completed I Know Produce microsite for the Produce Marketing Association! “I Know Produce” is a comprehensive database that allows users to look up key facts for thousands of types of produce. To promote I Know Produce, BOT created a fun, colorful marketing site with a vibrant images of produce. The site highlights the key features of the service on the home page in an interactive Flash application, and elsewhere by using web-friendly headings, lists, and short paragraphs.

BOT recently launched the new micro-site for Special Olympics Delaware’s annual Polar Bear Plunge! The Plunge is one of the most unique, successful, and highly attended fund-raisers in Delaware. BOT developed a site for the Plunge that was not just informative but emphasized the uniqueness of the event via fun design, graphics, and photography. The site also invites more people to participate by placing the most relevant and pertinent information right in front of them, and by encouraging participants to send in their own plunge stories and have them posted on-line.

www.stanford.edu/group/sjlsp

BOT has completed the website for Stanford University’s Journal of Law, Science, and Policy! Stanford’s Journal of LS&P is part of a growing trend: online-only, paperless resources. All of its contents will be available in a searchable database powered by BOT’s proprietary OrangeFresh Content Management System. BOT’s original logo defines the interdisciplinary focus of the Journal, which will provide articles authored by legal scholars and scientists on a host of policy issues.

Updating your website regular is crucial to keeping it fresh and relevant. Many content management systems (CMS) have been developed to solve this problem, but they are often clunky and confusing, feature-limited, or expensive. That’s why we developed OrangeFresh, BOT’s exclusive and proprietary CMS. OrangeFresh allows us to offer our customers a content management solution that is easy to use and free of expensive licensing costs.

OrangeFresh can manage news, events calendars, electronic orders, and more. And, it reduces the need for tedious compilation by automatically generating e-newsletters, and archiving out of date information.

www.tylerarboretum.org

BOT recently finished work on the complete redesign of the website for Tyler Arboretum, one of the oldest arboreta in the northeastern United States. We couldn’t be more proud of finished product. The new site provides Tyler Arboretum with the database driven events calendar, structures the content for readability, and creates a logical hierarchy and global navigation. The arboreal design echoes the organization’s beautiful landscapes (you can view their old site for comparison).

Business Challenge

The Center for Public Horticulture, part of the University of Delaware, is dedicated to supporting education and research for professionals, students, and decision-makers in public horticulture nationwide. The Center has a great deal of information to deliver to various audiences, and needed a website that would be user-friendly and authoritative.

The client challenged BOT to build a website that would:

• Facilitate information-sharing with all constituents
• Inform audiences in a timely fasion about important news and programs
• Reflect the Center’s role as national public horticulture resource

BOT Solution

BOT’s experience in information management helped us organize the Center’s voluminous resources into a logical and efficient website structure. Using insights gained from consultation with the client, BOT created a website that:

• Functions as an online clearinghouse of information about education, research, resources, and careers
• Engages visitor interest via periodic email updates
• Stays current by automatically updating pages with new content
• Integrates strategic design to promote the Center’s mission and image

Impact

BOT’s website design and functionality has helped the Center for Public Horticulture establish itself as a leading authority in its field.

Business Challenge

The CACC Montessori School relied on its website to communicate the benefits of its unique educational experience and promote enrollment. But the site was difficult to navigate, and frustrated visitors often exited prematurely and resorted to calling in for information, or worse, opted for the competition.

The client asked Bright Orange Thread for help creating a site that would:

• Make pertinent information easily accessible to interested parents
• Increase tour requests
• Increase the site’s visibility to search engines

Bright Orange Thread Solution

After developing a clear understanding of the school’s goals, BOT went to work. In four months, we:

• Re-organized navigation and content so critical information was centralized and easy to find
• Created a new design that encourages prospects to request tours and reflects the school’s image
• Simplified the updating process so existing staff could make changes, thereby saving the client time and money

Impact

BOT’s organizational and design approach transformed the CCAC Montessori School website into a more productive marketing tool, as evidenced by a 400% increase in qualified traffic.

Business Challenge

Selbyville Public Library, in rural southern Delaware, houses a broad collection of materials and hosts a variety of events designed to appeal to kids, teens and adults. The Board of Directors wanted a website that would promote the library’s agenda, and keep the community informed.

The client asked BOT to redesign its website in order to:

• Facilitate communication between the library and its audiences
• Automate library processes
• Update the community about upcoming events
• Build excitement and demand for new arrivals

Bright Orange Thresd Solution

After consulting with the library’s Board, BOT mapped an approach that greatly improved the website’s functionality. The website solution:

• Added a robust search feature enabling visitors to browse the entire Delaware Library catalog
• Allowed visitors to register online for library events or sign up for the library newsletter
• Utilized BOT’s OrangeFresh technology to automate calendar updates and send emails
• Linked visitors to the statewide network to reserve and renew books online, thus giving Selbyville librarians more time to serve members

Impact

Since the new website launched, library membership and event attendance are on the rise.

Business Challenge

Rockford Capital Group, a private equity firm, wanted a website that would convey its unique networking strengths and establish its credentials in the highly competitive Mid-Atlantic market. The firm’s two disparate audiences – investors and entrepreneurs – have very different priorities and communication needs.

The client asked Bright Orange Thread for a web solution that would:

• Deliver information in a logical, accessible way
• Showcase the firm’s successful ventures
• Position Rockford as a major player in the region
• Attract interest from investors and entrepreneurs alike

Bright Orange Thread Solution

In-depth interviews with management and competitive research gave BOT a grounding in Rockford’s business environment and audience priorities. Armed with that understanding, BOT created a site with:

• Simple structure and navigation, so investors and business owners could quickly find relevant information
• Intelligent design that allows busy executives to easily grasp key messages
• Content highlighting Rockford’s business heritage and investment portfolio
• A new company logo whose icon leverages the equity in Rockford’s name, and conveys stability and success.

Impact

BOT’s strategic website helped establish Rockford Capital Partners’ image and communicate the company’s competitive advantages to key audiences.

Business Challenge

The Parent Information Center of Delaware (PIC) provides information,education and support to parents of disabled and special needs children. Both parents and employees need to tap into the agency’s extensive online network to find relevant resources. But what is the best way to categorize and display such vast amounts of information?

The client asked Bright Orange Thread for a website that would

• Facilitate the collection and sharing of information
• Make agency resources accessible to people in need
• Reduce the need for costly printed newsletters.

Bright Orange Thread Solution

After interviewing PIC executives and conducting a thorough analysis of the agency’s resources, BOT:

• Created an Online Resource Center that organized resources into broad categories, allowing visitors to find relevant links quickly and easily
• Categorized more than 700 resources into a database to feed the resource center
• Redesigned the website to create a more user-friendly environment for both parents and agency employees
• Allowed PIC to reduce printed newsletter mailings

Impact

Thanks to BOT’s easy-to-use online resource center, PIC employees could process a greater number of referral calls and information requests. By improving efficiency and saving money on newsletters, PIC could better serve its constituents and fulfill its overall mision.

www.leadgraffiti.com

BOT recently launched the new website for Lead Graffiti, A letterpress studio/shop with three distinctly different types of customers:

• people and organizations interested in creative letterpress solutions
• store managers interested in selling Lead Graffiti’s line of notecards
• people interested in taking letterpress printing workshops

Lead Graffiti needed a website that quickly directed users to information relevant to them. BOT designed a home page with 3 “pockets” that quickly guided users to their area interest.

Business Challenge

Megill Homes, a luxury home builder in Pennsylvania, wanted to stand out in a crowded and competitive market. The company needed a website as enjoyable to visit as walking through a model home, but would also function as an effective business tool.

Owner Wayne Megill asked Bright Orange Thread to create a website that would:

• Introduce visitors to the luxury communities of Megill Homes
• Highlight the quality of the homes
• Generate leads from interested buyers

Bright Orange Thread Solution

Management interviews and competitive research led BOT to conclude that site visitors were primarily interested in visuals of model homes and communities. First Megill needed to capture attention, then make follow-up contact painless.

To that end, BOT:

• Restructured content and navigation to provide easy access to model home and community information
• Enhanced visual appeal with image galleries showcasing new homes
• Enlivened the home page (and realtor interest) with “featured home” content
• Improved search engine visibility by updating copy with high-value keywords
• Encouraged visitor conversion with stronger calls to action and more visible contact information

Impact

BOT’s changes to the website increased traffic conversion for Megill Homes by 20x.

www.stokesgroup.com

Business Challenge

The Stokes Group, a Philadelphia real estate agency, needed a makeover. Its website didn’t highlight new construction expertise (in a market bustling with new condo developments) nor did it convey the firm’s energy and personality.Important search functionality critical to a successful real estate site was also missing.

The client asked Bright Orange Thread for a web solution that would:

• Clearly communicate the firm’s core competencies
• Serve as the company’s primary lead generation vehicle
• Provide a platform for marketing activity
• Foster an image as a mover-and-shaker in the market

Bright Orange Thread Solution

After consulting with the owner and his team, BOT developed a multi-pronged website strategy that combined strong functionality with compelling content and design. Our approach included:

• New navigation and design to drive home the Stokes Group’s credentials in new construction
• Researching and recommending a search option that allows visitors to find desirable properties quickly and to save favorite listings
• Optimizing search engine visibility with new copy that capitalizes on high-ranking keywords and phrases
• Enriching the user experience with interesting neighborhood profiles, better photography, and a blog.

Impact

With the launch of its new and improved website, The Stokes Group instantly upgraded its image and staked its claim to the Philadelphia condo market. The firm is one of Philly’s fastest-growing real estate companies, ranking #10 out of 3,900 independently-owned Coldwell Banker companies worldwide.

www.caccmont.org

BOT has completed a new website for CACC Montessori School! BOT’s design highlights the diversity of the students in the school and the spirit of communal learning by displaying photographs of the children from classes.

The school provides unique learning experiences for developing minds aged 18 months to 6 years old. The home page quickly distinguishes the CACC Montessori school from traditional preschools and kindergartens.

Business Challenge

Intellitec Solutions, a Microsoft reseller serving the Mid-Atlantic region, relies heavily on its website to generate sales leads. Unfortunately, the site’s navigation and content were not working hard enough to attract search engines and raise the company’s visibility to prospects.

The client turned to Bright Orange Thread for a website that would:

• Achieve higher search engine results
• Increase site traffic
• Improve conversion rates

Bright Orange Thread Solution

After analyzing Intellitec’s site and competition, BOT implemented a more aggressive search engine optimization program, including:

• New structure and navigation
• Inclusion of high-ranking keywords in heading tags and content, placing keywords high on the page to maximize SEO impact
• Listing key markets next to the company logo to define and emphasize the service region

Impact

Thanks to BOT’s changes, Intellitec Solutions’ increased organic, qualified web traffic by 400%, thus supporting lead generation and conversion goals.

Business Challenge

For Special Olympics Delaware, a non-profit dedicated to promoting athletic events for individuals with intellectual disabilities, its website is the primary engine for attracting participants and supporters alike. But the site’s confusing navigation and structure was turning off potential donors, volunteers, parents and athletes. Worse, exasperated web visitors would instead call in, straining the organization’s limited staff and budget.

The client challenged Bright Orange Thread to create a site that would:

• Make information more accessible and keep it current
• Increase online registration for upcoming events
• Reduce costs

Bright Orange Thread Solution

After examining the current site and consulting with the client, BOT developed a new site, in just four months, that:

• Centralized information for athletes and supporters
• Incorporated an events calendar that emails participants regularly about upcoming events and other news
• Provided easy online registration for events
• Facilitated updating, eliminating the need to hire staff with technical skills

Impact

Thanks to BOT, Special Olympics Delaware’s met its goals for event registration and attendance. The site’s improved structure, up-to-date events calendar, and email marketing feature allowed Special Olympics Delaware to reduce incoming phone queries and traditional newsletter mailings, thus saving significant money and manpower.