Many sites with great potential end up living up to their expectations.   They utilize the technologies provided them to the utmost using every possible widget, social network, free/paid SEO optimization tricks, and, in some cases, a full on marketing team.  The content they provide is compelling and engaging, and I want to return to the site, because I know each time I’ll learn something new about the brand.

Some used their site to as more of a “Billboard” for their brand, but gave little else in the way of news and information.  A few of these sites fell short when it came to the content on their site; information was disjointed, there was no clear focus, no direction, and what resulted was a bit of a mess.   These sites typically give you a tidbit or two on the brand, ask for little in the way of a call to action and send you on your merry way.

A few of these sites fell short when it came to the content on their site; information was disjointed, there was no clear focus, no direction, and what resulted was a bit of a mess.  There was structure and layout, the opportunity to have a compelling site that urged me to return, but somewhere along the way the content got stale, or the core message was diluted.

There is obviously a spectrum of sites, from great to befuddling.  More times than not a site is defined by content.  What are you trying to say about your brand and how do you convey that message?   What makes a site “sticky” (makes you want to return)?  What makes you want add to the “bounce rate” (get outta there fast!).   Succinctly put, what does your content say about your brand?

The most important function of a site, is less about layout and more about content.  Finding content is extremely important, but you can find someone to assist with where the content pulls into the page.  Once the user has figured out where they’re supposed to look for content; what are you saying?  when did you say it?  how am I supposed to take this information and act upon it?

What: Make sure your messaging is clear and concise.  It needs to keep a consistent tone and theme.  If you’re a sophisticated business, don’t have a top news item that is jovial in nature.  If you’re a comedy tour, don’t be all button down business.  Know your tone, convey your brand, and keep with the theme.

When: The most compelling reason for a user to add to your “bounce rate” is to see the most recently updated item dated July 2009.  Regardless of how well you’ve conveyed your message you’ve already told the user your site is not important to you.  People rarely go back to sites that they know won’t change.  There’s a reason Facebook is the most trafficked site on the internet: constantly updated and changing content.

How: Now that a user has visited your site and taken in your content, what are they supposed to do with it?  Have you given me an easy way to share the content on your site (via Digg, RSS, etc), Have you asked me to make a purchase or sign up for a mailing list?  Always be thinking of the end user, and how to direct them to action.

Keeping these things in mind when updating the content on your site can lead to a great deal of success.  The combination of quality layout and great content will result in a higher probability of a repeat visitor.  Repeat site visitors are more likely to become fans or customers, and those lead to revenue.

At Strategic Blend, we advise and guide clients to optimize their content, build a clean platform to display the content, and discover ways to monetize the fan/customer after they’ve been attained.  We strive for complete optimization of every site, letting the message (content) of the brand speak for itself.  While we are adept in making the site beautiful in appearance, it is our fervent belief that quality content will build a loyal fan/customer base.

If you’d like help on optimizing your content, let us know!

The Billboard Site

There’s the Billboard site, it’s informational, doesn’t really ask you to do anything, but tries to convey information in a concise and direct manner.  Sometimes it will walk you through the ins and outs of a product service.  It doesn’t pressure you to act immediately, but hopes to leave an impression, like driving by a billboard on the highway.  Their hope is the imagery and information stay with you long enough to a) visit their establishment, b) tell someone else about their business, or c) make you aware of their business so that you think of them next time you’re in need of their products/services.  Think of it as a multi-page ad in a magazine.  These sites should always gather an email address of those that are interested in the product, and give the brand an opportunity to reconnect with interested visitors.

The Sales Site

Most Billboard sites think they are Sales sites, but they fail at one crucial juncture.  To transform the user visit into a transaction.  The sales site drives you to action, it describes the product, but asks you to buy, or sign up, or act at every turn.  These sites, if poorly designed can seem overbearing and pushy at times.  A well designed sales site can be a great revenue stream (and sometimes the ONLY revenue stream) for an organization.  Well crafted messaging and product description are critical, where to place sales pitches are important as well, but most important is turning a casual visitor into a customer.

The Content Site

This site is heavy on, you guessed it, content.   The main purpose of this page is to inform consistently with new and relative content each post.  Much like this blog that you’re reading right now.  We rarely ask you to act and purchase anything, we occasionally call out our services, but the inherent reason you’re here is to read our ramblings, get some ideas, and potentially put them into practice.

The Issue with these Three Site Types:

Most sites want to do ALL of this stuff.  They want to thoroughly inform you of their product, hopefully get you to spread the good word about what it is they do.  Not only do they want you informed, but they’d LOVE for you to make a purchase of some sort.  They want action, follow through, and they want to know who you are so they can reach out to you and keep you coming back for more.  Moreover than just selling you on something, they want to PROVE to you have a great deal of knowledge in their craft.  They want to tell you how to use their products/services and build a rapport through consistent updates of content.

When you try to put all of this stuff on one site, it can become distracting and confusing.  I could call out hundreds of sites that have been constructed asking you to “check out my band” and also “buy this album” and also “check out our blog” and also “look at our tour dates”, etc.   These are all great aspirations, but what is MOST important to you.  What do you want featured?   Is it most important for people to know about you and what you’re doing?  If that’s the case then the blog/journal is your vehicle for your brand.

The primary focus of your site can be a vehicle to promote other aspects of your business (i.e. you can promote your product/service at the end of your blog, read a little further and you’ll see this in action).

Similarly you can use the promotion or sale of a product/service to reach out to your customer base and let them know about your content.  Every site should incorporate a method of capturing email addresses, building a list to reach back out to loyal customers.  When you begin producing enough content to garner followers, it may be a good time to reach out to this customer base via email and let them know there is a new way to keep up with your business.

As you can see, setting up this type of site is not impossible, but the concern becomes content layout.  9 times out of 10 this type of site becomes a disaster area.  There is no streamlined layout to tell the user, “hey, check this out first.”  It’s no surprise that most sites want to have it all.  To do that effectively you’ll need a great plan, a better sitemap, and seamless execution.

If you’re interested in our assistance in building a Billboard, Sales, or Content site, please let us know. (ah-ha, there’s a call to action)

Moreover, if you’re looking to “have it all,” we’ve mastered the art of focusing on one element of your business and connecting those pieces to the other (equally important) pieces.  Focusing on what your most viable hook might be, and then continuing the product/service experience with the other elements of your site.   If you’re in this boat…please let us know, we’d love to make your web presence a viable revenue stream, and create a great experience for your site visitors.

If you are new to web design, maybe you are thinking: “Why do I have to limit to that small set of fonts? I have a large collection of nice fonts in my computer.” As seasoned web designers already know, browsers can use only the fonts installed in the same computer, so it means that every visitor of your web page needs to have all the fonts you want to use installed in his/her computer. Different people will have different fonts installed, thus the need for a standard set of fonts.

The list
First, a few introductory notes:

• The names in grey are the generic family of each font.
• In some cases the Mac equivalent is the same font, since Mac OS X also includes some of the fonts shipped with Windows.
• The notes at the bottom contains specific information about some of the fonts.

1 Georgia and Trebuchet MS are bundled with Windows 2000/XP and they are also included in the IE font pack (and bundled with other MS applications), so they are quite common in Windows 98 systems.

2 Symbolic fonts are only displayed in Internet Explorer, in other browsers a font substitute is used instead (although the Symbol font does work in Opera and the Webdings works in Safari).

3 Book Antiqua is almost exactly the same font that Palatino Linotype, Palatino Linotype is included in Windows 2000/XP while Book Antiqua was bundled with Windows 98.

4 These fonts are not TrueType fonts but bitmap fonts, so they won’t look well when using some font sizes (they are designed for 8, 10, 12, 14, 18 and 24 point sizes at 96 DPI).

5 These fonts work in Safari but only when using the normal font style, and not with bold or italic styles. Comic Sans MS works in bold but not in italic. Other Mac browsers seems to emulate properly the styles not provided by the font (thanks to Christian Fecteau for the tip).

6 These fonts are present in Mac OS X only if Classic is installed.