Web Design

If you’re doing business here in the 21st Century, you need a strong concept for the internet  branding of your product, your service or yourself.

“You’re just not in business if you’re not on the web.”

Clients tell me this almost every day. Some people have discovered they can throw something together themselves with an online template or their 10-year old computer wiz. They stake their claim in cyberspace, wait for the orders, and then wonder why it isn’t helping their business.

Just like your business card is the face of your business person to person, your website is the face of your business on the internet. So, effective internet branding is as essential to your success as a brilliant business card is to networking.

Now Offering WordPress enabled sites!

This website is an example of the new platform I am now using for web design. There are several important advantages:

  1. It is very easy for clients to edit their own content once the template shell is created. I have a variety of excellent formats from which to choose, and we will tailor it with your specific color scheme and graphics.
  2. There are numerous “widgets” available to easily do such things as photo galleries, shopping carts, mailing list sign-ups with MailChimp, online calendars, and much more. It has never been easier to maximize the functionality of your site!
  3. You can easily integrate a blog into your overall website. Blogs are an excellent way to keep your site fresh and improve your search standings. WordPress has an excellent reputation as an easy to use, well-connected blog platform.

You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover…
(But People Do, Anyway)

One of my favorite quotes is by Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “Who you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying.” When was the last time you went to someone’s website and the minute you got there you couldn’t click out of there fast enough? Perhaps you were instantly confused by an assault to your senses. Too many words, too many pictures, too many things flashing all at once, no branding, nothing useful, no organization. Your eye has no idea where to land. Many people do not believe that “less is more”. They believe “more is more”. This does not assist clear and effective communication, however.

When visitors come to your site, I want them to think to themselves, “Oh, good. I’ve found the right place.” The internet branding you’ve created lets them know who you are and how you will solve their problem. I do this by making sure the following things are in place:

  1. Consistent internet branding with your identity and vision. Your website should have the same “look and feel” (colors, typefaces, logo, etc.) as all your other marketing materials. You don’t want to hand them a business card with your website address and then have them go to a site that looks completely different. It erodes trust. You want to enhance trust.
  2. Immediately address the “felt need” of the majority of your visitors, and show them how you can help them.
  3. Have clear, easy to understand (even for the technically challenged), navigation. People need to find what they want fast, or they will get frustrated and move on.
  4. Have a site that is not only helpful but also beautiful. Research shows that vivid images are remembered 99% of the time. You need the words to appease the search engines and web crawlers (and the people who actually read). You need graphics that capture who you are and the key benefits you offer so that you will be remembered later.

When you work with Luminosity Studio to design your website, we sit down together and go through a worksheet to determine what your site needs. We figure out what pages you need, the navigation structure, and what you want to communicate about your business the minute someone lands on your site. We work interactively to design your home page right then, so there is no back and forth.

Over the next several weeks or months (depending on the number of items your site requires), we start building out the pages and getting you ready to launch. When we are done, your website will be a pivotal part of your overall marketing strategy. Your internet branding will increase your visibility and your credibility.

Check out some samples at the Web Gallery.