Step 3: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series – Research

By  |  May 1st, 2013  |  Web Design Process Series  |  No Comments »

Step 3: RESEARCH PROCESS

Coming Soon….

 

Next Steps:

Step 4: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - What is a Sitemap?

Step 4a: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - How Zoom Creates a Sitemap

Step 5: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Wire Framing

Step 6: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Design Approach

Step 7: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Copy Writing

Step 8: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series ‎- Breaking Points

Step 9: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Development 

Step 10: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - CMS 

Step 11: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - SEO

Step 12: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Testing

Step 13: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Analytics

Step 14: The Zoom Creates Website Design Series - Launch


Step 5: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series – How Zoom Creates a Wireframe

By  |  March 6th, 2013  |  Web Design Process Series  |  1 Comment »

Zoom Creates Website Design Process with J.R. Johnson

STEP 5: How Zoom Creates a Wireframe

In the last segment about sitemap creation for J.R. Johnson, Inc., we described how we planned out, divided, and arranged the contents of J.R. Johnson’s website into pages. The next step in organizing all this information is called wireframing. Wireframing outlines the arrangement of content on a page to provide a clean, simple, and functional user experience.

What is a website wireframe?

A wireframe is much like a newspaper layout. It is used to determine how much space titles, texts blocks, and pictures will take up and how they are arranged. As the name suggests, a wireframe is a mockup of the finished website using only borderlines and descriptions of each section. Similar to a newspaper layout, different page templates are used depending on the purpose of the page.

For example, think of the home page of a website as the cover page of the newspaper. Most of the space is taken up by pictures, headlines, and introductory text to each of the top stories, and references on how to find other news within the paper.

There are also cover pages for each section; for example, living, sports, and business. These pages would are like level one pages of a sitemap. For the J.R. Johnson website these pages would be service category pages like construction defect repair, fire damage restoration, storm damage restoration. These pages will be similar to the cover page but with more text and content specific to that section.

Finally, there are the internal pages. These pages are very text heavy. This is where most of the specific information for their category is found.

What function does it serve in creating a finished product of a website?

Wireframing plays a major role in creating the user experience (UX) of a web page. In general, people have basic expectations of what they will find on a web page and how they will interact with it. In creating a wireframe, designers consider:

  • where to place standard website components like logos, navigation bars, search boxes, and contact information so that a user can easily find them,
  • text, image, and video priority to direct users to the most important and personally relevant information and do it in a visually appealing way,
  •  what links are placed where on the page in order to allow the user to easily navigate to the information that they are seeking.

 

If considering the interplay of all of these factors is not enough, the designer will also have to consider the tastes of the client. The sitemap serves as both a blueprint for UX and proof for the client.

How is a wireframe made?

Wireframing is the interface and alignment of every department within Zoom Creates. Most of the time our marketing goals, creative aspirations, and the restrictions of internet code all align to create a glorious website workflow. Sometimes wireframe creation is an interdepartmental cage fight with the website client as a referee.

Our primary focus is our client’s business goal. In this case, the goals are to position J.R. Johnson at the forefront of the market by presenting them as the most up-to-date, trusted, and knowledgeable of their industry and then to provide them with as many leads as possible. This meant creating a website that is intuitive, transparent and packed with high quality, highly user-relevant information.

With the business and website goals in mind, the wireframe was designed to navigate people to the service and information that is most relevant to them. As Corrina pointed out, “If someone’s house was on fire, they’re not going to care about construction defect repair.” The content will then be organized on the page to easily answer their most urgent questions and finally the user will be directed to a contact form or to call J.R. Johnson, Inc. to answer any additional questions they may have or to request an estimate.

One aspect that affects the wireframe creation is the textual information on each page. In the next segment of the Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series, we will detail the process of informative copywriting for SEO and show how it affects J.R. Johnson, Inc.’s business and website goals.

To follow this series, “Like” us on Facebook or subscribe to a feed below.

See the rest of Zoom Creates’ Web Design Process Series for J.R. Johnson

 

NEXT STEPS:

Step 6: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Design Approach

Step 7: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Copy Writing

Step 8: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series ‎- Breaking Points

Step 9: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Development 

Step 10: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - CMS 

Step 11: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - SEO

Step 12: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Testing

Step 13: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Analytics

Step 14: The Zoom Creates Website Design Series - Launch


Should Your Business be on Pinterest—an Infographic

By  |  February 27th, 2013  |  Marketizing  |  5 Comments »

With Pinterest’s heavy traffic and ever-growing popularity, many brands have been making the leap and joining the site every day. For many, it has been a mecca for pushing traffic to their business, giving them a platform to develop a great community and offering a new way to connect with their audience and spread their brand. In seeing this potential, our clients have been asking, is jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon right for my business?

Make a Strategy

As with any social media site, it is important to educate yourself on the platform, learning what is involved in being a truly active member and how much time it would take to maintain your profile. Not all businesses are right for Pinterest. You need figure out if your offerings and capabilities are compatible for the site and then build a solid strategy before you make the leap. Joining any social media site takes time, effort and, in the case of Pinterest, awesome imagery and great content. So, is your business ready to make the commitment?

Check out our infographic to find out if your business is right for Pinterest. Then read below to learn the 4 incredibly important questions you should ask yourself to find out if your business is ready to join up.

Should Your Business be on Pinterest? Infographic by Zoom Creates blog nineteenfortyone.com

Below are 4 incredibly important questions to ask yourself to find out if your business is ready to join Pinterest:

1. Can you stay active on Pinterest?

Before joining in, it’s important to figure out if you have enough time and effort to stay involved and get the most out of Pinterest. Being active on Pinterest means, pinning, repinning, commenting, or liking images on a regular basis that are relevant to your brand. Daily activity is best, adding roughly 1-30 pins across a variety of your boards. These pins should be from your own content, other original sources on the internet and users on the site. All this activity takes time—a lot of it. Pinterest can become a time-suck for your business if you do not have a strategy in place for how you are going to use it and how much time in a day you will spend being involved on the site.

Worried you may not have the time to stay active? A great way to get pins on your board regularly is to invite guest pinners to collaborate on your boards. Just make sure they share the vision and values of the company and will pin content relevant to your business. People love to follow users that are active pinners—If you join the site and remain inactive, you’ll go nowhere. You will need to make sure you can allot enough time and effort into staying involved on the site to reap the greatest benefits for your business.

2. Do you have visually engaging imagery, or can you create it?

Pinterest is an exceptionally visual space. People go there to get inspired, collect and organize the things they find across the internet—and being able to contribute visually interesting content is vital. if your business is already producing great imagery, you have a jump start on what you need to be involved on Pinterest. If you don’t already have great images, it’s time to create them. You may consider hiring a professional photographer or graphic designer to help enhance the imagery on your site or blog if you’re not able to produce it yourself. The question is, does your business have the time, money and energy to create content? If yes, then Pinterest may be right for you.

Does your Business have visually engaging imagery? Zoom Creates Blog | Should your Business be on Pinterest

Eye catching images and content are one of the most vital parts of successfully marketing your business on Pinterest.

3. Is your target audience using Pinterest?

Before you jump on to Pinterest you need to ask yourself, who is my target audience? If it’s female, you’re at an advantage. About 80% of Pinterest users are female, so having a product or service that appeals to that demographic is important to your success with the site. You must consider if your product or service is something that will visually appeal to women or if it’s something a woman may purchase, find helpful or want to share. This is not to say that a male-oriented product may not do well, you may just have to change your approach and get creative with how you showcase your brand across the site. The key to being successful on Pinterest is figuring out how your business can fit into the lifestyle of the highly female user base. If you can, Pinterest may be for you.

4. Do you have more to share than just what you do?

Pinterest is all about content you share, not only the product or service you provide. Sharing your own products and services on Pinterest is great, but your page shouldn’t be limited to your own work. Users get turned off when a brand becomes too salesy. They want to see items that are useful or interesting to them, not just a product list. Pinterest is all about telling a story with your brand, using imagery and content to build a lifestyle around your business. It gives you a way to reveal more about your brand personality rather than just your product line.

Use Pinterest to clarify who you are by posting inspiring images, news, tips, infographics, customer photos, or products from other companies. Pins can be used to highlight aspects of your business that may not come to mind when people first think about your brand. For example, if you own a hotel, Pinterest would not only be a great opportunity to show off your property, but you could create boards of local attractions, best scenic areas, local deals, dining spots, or even tips on how to pack your suitcase. Sharing more than just what you do will give users more reasons to connect and follow your business.

Petplan Pet Insurance shares more than what they do

Petplan Pet Insurance is a good example of a business that is sharing information beyond what they do. You wouldn’t necessarily think insurance would be an ideal candidate for a Pinterest page, but with all the boards dedicated to different aspects of our furry friends, they have succeeded in using Pinterest to tell a story about their company.

Should your business join Pinterest?

If you can answer yes to all these questions, you should definitely consider getting on board with Pinterest. This means you’ve got the drive, resources, and creativity to make Pinterest a successful marketing tool for your business. If your answer is no to the majority of these questions, your offerings may not be completely compatible with Pinterest. It’s going to take a lot more energy for your business to be successful on the site. You must then determine if the benefits are worth your time or if pursuing alternative social media or marketing options would be more of an advantage to your business.

For more pinteresting tips on Pinterest, check out my related post:
How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers: 20 Pinteresting Tips
How to Create Pinterest Images that People Love to Pin: 7 Pinteresting Tips

And as always, don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest, and of course, Zoom Creates.


The Analytics of Love

By  |  February 14th, 2013  |  Etc.  |  No Comments »

What Statistics and Analysis Tell us About Love

This Valentines Day, I want to tell you about my love for people…watching. You can call me a creep but you’d probably have to call yourself a creep then too. I love the little differences between how people should behave and the way people actually do. I live everyday to enjoy these little morsels of idiosyncratic human behavior. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the moment you catch a guy at the gym just staring at a girl’s butt as they walk by or when you go to a concert and  see your boss dressed as a centaur.

Internet analytics give you better insight into human behavior than any kind of observation or report of everyday life. If you want to know yourself, skip a psychologist and keep your browsing history and take a look at it over the last month. You are your browsing history. View your history since 1990 and you will get a better “timeline” of your life than Facebook could ever hope to portray.

We cruise the Internet, like we cruise around our own homes, not wearing pants and eating scrambled eggs over the sink. Ok, that was my morning. We all tend to wear a scruffy old pair of sweatpants more often than we probably would on a first date. You could call it self-awareness, you could call it shame, but the fact is, we act differently when we are not around anyone else. Our use of the Internet shows our own intents and purposes in this very same way.

It’s Valentines Day today and people are looking for love. Well at least they’re searching for it. What better day is there to share with you what analytics has told us of the enigmatic human behavior of love. Ok, and lust too.

They’re searching for it. See, Google says so:

The Blue line is the number of searchers for “love.” The Red line is the number of searches for “valentines.”                                     This is called a correlation.

Analytics is all about quantifying data and finding meaningful relationships within the data. It is much like your everyday use of intuition but we base our decisions on large collections of data. Internet usage, and it may surprise you, is made into metrics and quantified. Quantified metrics, now things are really getting sexy.

One common metric we use is time. Just like you use time to measure things in your relationship, we use it to:

Aggregate interest of webpages and activities. Like when you:
Check the duration of a phone call with your significant other.

Measure rate of change of something. Like when you:
Note how many times  you have to ask your significant other to do something for you, per time, over time.

Measure trends between variables. Like when you:
Notice how much your significant other will do your dishes for you proportional to the amount of time you do “X.” No pun intended.

Here is an example of how we use time to measure a relationship of time. To clarify, we segment each age (a measurement of time) by each whole year and by the ages of women. Then we measure what ages these men are pursuing.  That’s why there are distinct pixels in this graph. Each pixel box represents the proportionality of occurrences the whole population of a man of that age Y is sending a message to a women who is age X. As you would expect, it is very uncommon for a 22 year old man to send a message to a 45 year old woman, not proportionally uncommon for 45 year old men to message 22 year old women.



To be fair, I will show the data for both relationships of the sexes.

Another metric we often use is location. We use location to target specific audiences and to see what audiences are searching for and consuming our content. I was happy to fumble across this article from the Huffington Post during my research. As it turns out Portland, OR is having the most promiscuous sex over any other location. Portland seems to have a lot of notable distinctions. For some reason, they are all the wierd ones.

What Cities are Having the Most Promiscuous Sex

The breakdown looks like this:
1. Portland
2. Seattle
3. Pittsburgh
4. Miami
5. San Francisco
6. Dallas
7. San Bernardino, Calif.
8. Denver
9. San Diego
10. Houston

We measure this data in the same way that we made the heat map of message target rate (above). We use location coordinates rather than age coordinates to show the expression of a variable. In this case the variable is frequency of bathing.

The question is: How often do you bathe or shower?

 
Red means less bathing. Green means more. Yellow is right around average. You get it.

I don’t know what this says about love, but again it sure gives us Oregonian another dubious distinction.

 

Another way we measure human behavior is by quantifying content. If you have ever had a girlfriend, you know that they count “I love you,” and their margin of error is probably less than one. Google does this too in several ways. It measures quantity of content searched for and consumed for trends (above example of “love” and “valentines”) and it measures quantity of content created to show relationships.

Here is an example of how we can quantify specific terms and visually show how they relate to a second variable, in this case, message reply rate. Creepy or not, Ok Cupid has “read” all the text of a lot of messages and found that these terms have a special value.

Here we see how mentioning specific interest and characteristics relate to the reply rate to a first message. Consider that the overall average reply rate is 27%. This would suggest that people might:

a) Have significantly higher interest in these things

b) Place a high value in commonality of these interests or characteristics

c) Recognize that the portion of people that value these things is relatively low so the value of having them in common is relatively high

Finally, because I love flow charts.

We can use page analytics to show sequences. Most often we measure navigation, but in this case, this is a sequence of conditions that would determine whether you are a match for OK Cupid’s creator Chris Coyne.

In conclusion, I love that everyday Zoom Creates pays me to geek out about human behavior. It’s not always as exciting as love and lust, but it is always about relationships. I hope that you have enjoyed this and maybe that math, statistics and analytics became a little more interesting and relevant. If you are one of my friends… and you made it all the way through, hopefully now you can understand why I am so weird…besides living in Portland.

Thank you OkCupid for all the great analytics.

Follow us for more great stuff about design, website development, and analytics.


Step 4a: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series – How Zoom Creates a Sitemap

By  |  February 12th, 2013  |  Web Design Process Series  |  1 Comment »

Zoom Creates Website Design Process with J.R. Johnson

Step 4a: How Zoom Creates a Sitemap

 

Step 4a in a series that illustrates the Zoom Creates process in Designing, Developing and ultimately Launching a website for our client, J.R. Johnson Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Part Three we described what a sitemap is and what role it plays in planning the finished website. As explained in Part 3, the sitemap serves to organize all the information on a website in a way that makes site navigation easy and intuitive. Creating the sitemap is like creating a blueprint for the website. Designing the sitemap is often considered the most important step in creating a website because, as Corrina, Zoom’s Art Director points out, “Creating a sitemap forces you to conceive of the design and content in terms of the end product.”

To organize the sitemap for J.R. Johnson, we had to segment and arrange their business in a way that fits into a hierarchical sitemap layout. In most cases, we will take into account the established industry standard of organization that site visitors already know. With this standard organization in mind, we tailor it to the business. If there is no standard or the standard can be improved upon, we will start with that standard and rearrange it until it becomes most effective.

How to arrange a sitemap

Site pages colored by relevance.

 

We began with the sitemap of J.R. Johnson Inc.’s previous website as a template. Unfortunately, one reason that J.R. Johnson Inc. needed a new website was that the organization of their previous website was unclear and overly complicated. In our office, we often hear Zachary, our Director of Digital Marketing, say, “This is a maze, it needs to be a hallway.”

 

 

 

To provide site visitors with a hallway to what they are looking for, we consulted with Alisa Gaylord, J.R. Johnson Inc.’s Director of Business Development and Client Services, and we re-categorized and prioritized pages from the previous website by visitor relevance.

How to arrange a sitemap.

Most relevant pages are most easily accessible.

 

 

 

 

We then brought those pages to the forefront of the website and made them easily accessible from the homepage and one click away from any page of the site. (Side Image)

 

 

 

The final version of the sitemap highlights the most important reasons to visit J.R. Johnson Inc.’s website: information on the services they offer, and how to contact the company for these services. The challenge of the next step in creating a website is to organize and prioritize information in the same way but this time for the visual layout of each page. This visual mock-up of each page is called wireframing. In the next post, we will describe how wireframing begins to plan out the site structure, page organization and overall user experience.

 

To follow this series, “Like” us on Facebook or subscribe to a feed below.

See the rest of  Zoom Creates’ Web Design Process Series for J.R. Johnson

 

NEXT STEPS:

Step 2: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - The Discovery Meeting 

Step 3: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Research

Step 4: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - What is a Sitemap?

Step 4a: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - How Zoom Creates a Sitemap

Step 5: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Wire Framing

Step 6: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Design Approach

Step 7: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Copy Writing

Step 8: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series ‎- Breaking Points

Step 9: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Development 

Step 10: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - CMS 

Step 11: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - SEO

Step 12: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Testing

Step 13: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Analytics

Step 14: The Zoom Creates Website Design Series - Launch


3 indications your hotel’s SEO is destroying your bookings

By  |  February 9th, 2013  |  Marketizing  |  2 Comments »

Does your hotel website really need SEO help? Check for yourself before paying someone you’ve only talked to once over the phone.

Hotel SEO slimeball

“…and they didn’t even ask me what SEO meant!”

You’ve probably been told your hotel’s website needs Search Engine Optimization (SEO) but how would you know if this is true? Simple, how good your hotel SEO stands right now can be determined by following these three Google searches. Then you can feel confident on telling the person on the phone “We’re doing just fine, thank you!” 

1. Search for your hotel’s name.

Your hotel should be number one on the page. If you are not in the first position, this could mean your website is not optimized enough for your brand.

Search for hotel by name

The listings in the yellow boxes don’t count, those are paid ads. They may be yours, but probably not.

 

2. Search for hotels in your area.

For example, use the search term “hotels in Hillsboro Oregon.” Your hotel should show up within two pages. If it doesn’t, this may mean that search engines don’t believe your website is relevant enough for a search of hotels.

Search the area for your hotel

A hotel’s location is more important to the business than those medium size towels.

 

3. Search for your hotel’s address.

Your hotel should be the only listing displayed. If the results display other business names, this indicates that search engines do not know the correct address of your hotel.

Hotel Address Search on Google

At the least… you have to make sure your hotel’s address is correct.

 

Finding your true self

If you had trouble finding your own hotel with this search, your customers are not finding you either. These indicators reflect the need for local hotel SEO, a part of today’s standard marketing for hotels.ZoomKeeper Online Reputation Management Report

Our clients use our tool called ZoomKeeper. This reputation management tool shows how a company’s information is shared across the internet. ZoomKeeper monitors logistical information such as address and phone numbers as well as reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp and CitySearch. As a busy hotelier, you need one tool to help you respond to any negative reviews and give you the ability to share positive reviews on your favorite social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. And you need to know if your next client can find you with just a few clicks.

ZoomKeeper is free to try. Follow this link to receive a free ZoomKeeper Manifest report that will outline the following:

  • Number of different business names, URLs, physical addresses and phone numbers your hotel may have
  • How visible your hotel is on the internet
  • How many listings have accurate, incorrect and missing information
  • Display of actual errors found in listings
  • Aggregated review ratings with sources

Need to know more? Email me anytime. I’ll answer your SEO FAQs ASAP.

You can also get your FREE Manifest report here too.

Thanks to Keith at The Orenco Hotel for letting his hotel be exposed to the world.


Step 4: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series – What is a Sitemap?

By  |  February 8th, 2013  |  Web Design Process Series  |  1 Comment »

Zoom Creates Website Design Process with J.R. JohnsonPart 4 in a series that illustrates the Zoom Creates process in Designing, Developing and ultimately Launching a website for our client, J.R. Johnson Inc.

What is a sitemap?

The sitemap is, essentially, the blueprint of a website. Like a blueprint, a sitemap often doesn’t look like much; it’s just a two-dimensional depiction of what will become a multidimensional website. But like a blueprint, the sitemap’s beauty is that it defines the sites’ design and intended usage which will influence every decision that is made in the whole creation process.

How is a sitemap is laid out?

A simple way to think about the organization of a sitemap is in terms of parent and child pages. A sitemap lays out your website in the same way a descendant tree lays out the generations of your family. When you are at your family reunion, your grandfather and grandmother are the oldest generation. Grandpa or Grandma Jones is the home page. They have five children who are your mother and your four aunts and uncles. This generation is the child pages of the home page. Similarly, you and your cousins are the child pages of your parents generation. Depending on the size of the website this organization can go on for several more generations.

Descendant Tree Compared to Web Sitemap

What does a sitemap do for the website creation process?

From the User Experience standpoint the sitemap acts to lay out the easiest navigation from site entry to user goal. When you arrive at site’s homepage you are on a freeway. From there you would choose your highway then surface streets then ultimately the street that leads to the specific address of your destination. The sitemap is designed to make your navigation as intuitive as possible and minimize the amount of wrong turns or complete U-turns you make.

To make navigation as easy as possible, it is very important for the design and marketing teams to categorize and prioritize all the information that the client wants to provide on their website into a very understandable and intuitive hierarchy of pages. Many businesses will divide pages into product or service types, then into model types or services grades, then ultimately into specific products and services. Other types of businesses, hotels for example, want their websites to serve as a business card or billboard that displays the features and location of their business. Every business is unique in its goals, its structures and what it offers. The design and marketing teams take all this into account and carefully tailor the sitemap organization to each business.

With the organization clearly laid out, the design and marketing teams will then know what information will be displayed on each page and how each page will be laid out visually.

From the Development standpoint a sitemap helps developers visualize the location of each page on a website. It determines out how the URL structure should work and how each page relates to every other page. It helps developers make intelligent decisions when they set up a site so that they can write reusable code and set up the optional page attributes correctly. Coding with a well thought out sitemap in mind will make a better site structure, make the site easier to maintain and will save time in the long run.

Just as a home builder relies on a blueprints to build a functional, well-designed home that doesn’t have a toilet in the kitchen, a developer relies on a sitemaps to build a website that doesn’t have links that go to 404 pages.

To follow this series, “Like” us on Facebook or subscribe to a feed below.

See the rest of  Zoom Create’s Web Design Process Series for J.R. Johnson’

NEXT STEPS:

Step 4a: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - How Zoom Creates a Sitemap

Step 5: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Wire Framing

Step 6: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Design Approach

Step 7: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Copy Writing

Step 8: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series ‎- Breaking Points

Step 9: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Development 

Step 10: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - CMS 

Step 11: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - SEO

Step 12: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Testing

Step 13: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Analytics

Step 14: The Zoom Creates Website Design Series - Launch


Step 2: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process – The Discovery Meeting

By  |  February 6th, 2013  |  Web Design Process Series  |  No Comments »

Step 2 in a series that illustrates the Zoom Creates process in Designing, Developing and ultimately Launching a website for our client, J.R. Johnson Inc.

Creating Tailored Websites

The value in a custom website, comes from how accurately it represents the customer and how well it fits their needs. As website builders, we are the custom tailors of your online presence. If you were to have a stylist dress you, it’s important that they have an accurate understanding of your size, your style, what you do, and a number of other details about you in order for them to dress you as you would want the world to see you. Just as a tailor pulls out his measuring tape and sizes up his clients, we have an initial meeting with our clients to understand every facet of their business from every angle. We call this our discovery meeting.

The Discovery Meeting

Last Friday we held our discovery meeting for J.R. Johnson. We invited J.R. Johnson’s Director of Business Development and Client Services, Alisa Gaylord into our office to meet with nearly the whole Zoom Creates team. The goal of the meeting is to size up and envision what the J.R. Johnson web presence will look like. To do this we explore everything about their industry, their business, their brand and their goals.

We began the meeting by asking Alisa to give us an understanding of the construction repair and restoration industry, J.R. Johnson’s business, their services, their current clientele and the clientele they want to gain. We learned a lot. Who would have known that after a fire, not only is there reconstruction but also water remediation to prevent mold?

The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Meeting

The Zoom Creates team gathers with J.R. Johnson during the Discovery Meeting to learn about the company and to understand their goals for the website.

From there, members of each team asked more specific questions as they apply to their role in the creation of the website. Our team wants to understand what their site goals are, who their target audience is, the personality of the brand, their overall vision, how it has changed and what they learned over time. For example, the design team asked what other websites Alisa found attractive and effective. Development asked about functionality; did they want a website visitor to find their portfolio on every page or only exclusive spots on website. Marketing was interested in the competition; who they are, are they local or national and how they advertised on the internet.

After the Meeting

After the meeting we felt as if we were ready to repair a faulty building or cleanup after a storm. Instead, each team gathered to share insights and clarify our roles in our creating J.R. Johnson’s new website. Over the weekend we would let all this information settle before it was time for our team’s post discovery meeting.

The Next Steps

Today the Zoom team met for our post discovery meeting, this time without the client. We began to define and prioritize our plans and how each team relates to each step. The next step, in some ways, is the most exiting. The sitemap is the very first conception of what will become J.R. Johnson’s website.

 

NEXT STEPS:

Step 3: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Research

Step 4: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - What is a Sitemap?

Step 4a: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - How Zoom Creates a Sitemap

Step 5: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Wire Framing

Step 6: The Zoom Creates Website Design Process Series - Design Approach

 


How to Create Pinterest Images
that People Love to Pin:
7 Pinteresting Tips

By  |  February 6th, 2013  |  Design Love, Marketizing  |  No Comments »

How to Create Pinterest Images that People Love to Pin: 7 Pinteresting Tips

As a lot of people do, I love having my blog posts pinned or repinned on Pinterest. Not only does it make me feel great that someone is loving my work, but it also helps to promote our brand and business across a whole new platform. As a blog writer and a Pinterest lover, I’ve learned that the key to getting my work pinned is making sure my images are optimized for Pinterest. An optimized image can draw a user in, entice them to pin my content and, if I’m super lucky, even read my post. Now, what’s the trick to creating the most pin-worthy, optimized images?

Below are 7 tips I’ve learned to create images that Pinterest users will definitely love to pin:

1. Choose Visually Appealing Imagery

The number one thing you can do is use images, videos or infographics that are visually interesting, beautiful, or aesthetically appealing. Pinterest is a place to come to get inspired, so a great looking image will be valuable to a user and will encourage pinning. The most pin-worthy pins use professional-looking photography and smart design. When creating imagery, make sure to use your own original content and/or purchase stock imagery to avoid any copyright issues. Beautiful and original content will always draw users in, enticing them to pin or repin your work.

2. Build Images at an Optimal Size for Pinterest

It is important to build your images based around Pinterest’s image size restrictions. Pinterest scales images to two different sizes:

  1. The thumbnail pins in the Pinterest feed are displayed at 192px wide with a variable height proportionate to the original image. If the pin is smaller than 192px wide, it will remain its original size and will display on Pinterest with gray bars on either side to fill the additional space. Pins can be no smaller than 81 x 81px.
  2. A larger, zoomed-in version of the image is also used on the pin detail page and has a width of 600px, again with variable height. If the image is smaller than 600px, the photo will be stretched to fill the space, which could cause for some unfortunate looking images.

How to Create Pinterest Images that People Love to Pin | How Images are Displayed on Pinterest

To get optimum looking pins, it is best to use a width of 600px and avoid having tiny, stretched or pixelated images. You can create images at any length you would like. Some people choose to use long images to give their pin more presence on the page. However, if your image is too long, people might not want to take the time to scroll all the way back up to repin your content.

3. Use Text on Your Images to Describe Your Content

Using text on images to describe your content makes your images extremely pin-friendly. Your text serves as a reminder to Pinners—when someone sees your pin, they will immediately know what your pin is about. They won’t have to rely on the description. This way, users will always understand what you pin is, even if your text description is changed or deleted.

How to Create Pinterest Images that People will love to Pin | Use Text on Your Images to Describe what You are Pinning

Use text on your images to describe what your content is about

4. Make Text Easy to Read

When creating text based images or adding text over a photo, you should make sure the text will be large enough to be legible in Pinterest’s thumbnail format. The text can get quite tiny, so testing the appearance of your images is key.

How to Create Pinterest Images that People Love to Pin | Previewing Your Pin before you Post

If your type is legible on the “Create Pin” window, it will look good across the Pinterest image feed.

There are two things you can try depending on your skill level. First, before you save your graphic, temporarily scale it so the width is 192px. If you can still read it, you’re all set to save your image. Second, If you have already created your image, try pinning the image from your preview area before you publish it to your blog or site. If it looks good in the description box, it will look good on the site. If things are hard to read, try enlarging the font or increasing the font weight.

Brand Your Pins

West Elm uses branding to show they are holding the “Pin it to win it” contest

5. Brand Your Images

When something is your own work, it is a good idea to brand your content by adding a logo or url to your Image. This lets users know where the work came from and serves as a way to get more exposure of your brand. People also might be fans of a specific brand, so seeing a logo can engage a user even further. Users will know instantly who created the image and where they can find it online. A great example of this is West Elm’s Sweepstakes Pin. They use their logo at the top of the pin, so users know exactly who is running the contest.

6. Link Your Pin to Something Great

Whether it’s informative, instructive, fun, entertaining or helpful, your pin should always link to something great. Many Pinterest users pin images to learn more, see related items, or just to reference linked content. When someone clicks on an image they generally want to see more great material or learn more about what has been pinned. People get discouraged by a pin that doesn’t have a back-link or takes them to somewhere unrelated to the image. If the URL is missing, you can add it under the edit menu for the pin. Also consider adding the URL in the description area. By providing a link to the pin’s original source, your pin is automatically more valued and more pin-worthy.

7. Create Thoughtful File Names for Your Content

Create Thoughtful File Names for Your Content

Create a thoughtful file name for your image. This will appear as your description when someone pins your content.

Label the images you publish on your site with information about what is contained in your pin. When someone goes to pin your image, this information will appear in the description of your pin. It is a good habit to spend the time to include your business, blog name, web URL and/or blog title within the image name. Descriptions shouldn’t be too long, aim for 200-300 character length to entice users to pin. This description will appear as keywords below your image and make your pins easily searchable.

Put the Tips in Action

It’s time to start making the most out of your imagery. If you follow these tricks of the trade, Pinterest users won’t be able to stop themselves from pinning your content! Have more tips for optimizing your images for Pinterest? I’d love to hear them.

And as always, don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest, and of course, Zoom Creates.

Follow Me on Pinterest

For more pinteresting tips on Pinterest, check out my related post:
How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers: 20 Pinteresting Tips


How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers: 20 Pinteresting Tips

By  |  January 30th, 2013  |  Design Love, Etc.  |  14 Comments »

How to get more Pinterest followers: 20 Pinteresting Tips

People and businesses are using Pinterest everyday to organize and share images and inspiration they find across the web. Many are joining Pinterest in the hopes of getting their brand noticed, using the social site as a tool to promote their products, services, or blog. The only hitch is, in order to share your vision and have people engage with your brand, you need to have followers.

How to Increase Your Followers on Pinterest | 20 Pinteresting Tips

Having followers means that you get to funnel your posts directly to a community that wants to get to know you, giving you an opportunity to engage with your audience and increase the exposure of your brand. Sure, this all sounds great, but how exactly do you get followers anyway?

Below are 20 Pinteresting tips on how to get more Pinterest followers:

1. Only Pin What Interests You

How to Increase Your Pintererst Followers | Only Pin What Interests You

Only pin content that interests you or represents your brand

Pinterest should be used as a resource. Only pin what interests you or what is representative of you or your brand. If you are a company or blog, pin what your followers might find interesting, but only if they resonate with your brand.

2. Keep Your Pinterest Boards Fresh

Pinterest users love fresh content and topics. Repinning items from other users is great, but often, users have already seen these images multiple times. Pinning original content from sources outside of Pinterest like Tumblr, Stumbleupon, FFFFOUND, Amazon, Houzz and other social networking sites gives reason for users to follow your boards—they get the first peek at the freshest content before it’s spread across all of Pinterest.

3. Pin Quality Images

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Pin Quality Images

Avoid pinning low quality images

When you’re choosing content to pin to your boards, make sure they are high-quality images or videos. Pinterest is truly a visual space and it’s vital to use eye-catching imagery to attract more followers. If you notice that an image you are about to pin is of low-quality or doesn’t adequately represent the page’s content, you may want to create your own pin imagery and load it to Pinterest manually. Pinning visually-interesting material gives you a better chance of having your content repinned. This increases the number of links back to your profile and ups your chances of getting users to engage and follow you on Pinterest.

4. Don’t go Overboard with Pinning…or Under.

People tend to get annoyed when you flood them with too much of the same type of content. Make sure to break up the genre of content you post, as well as the amount of pins during one sitting. If you post too little, users might not see the value in following your profile, while pinning too much, will definitely lead to some frustrated followers—you want to gain followers, not lose them. Each day, make it your goal to pin between 1-30 images between a variety of your boards. Make sure to also allocate a few 10-20 minute slots throughout the day to add images, like, or comment on other’s pins.

5. Curate a Variety of Boards

Offer Pinterest users an assortment of boards. Users generally only follow one or a few individual boards instead of an entire profile, so it’s beneficial to create a larger variety of boards, giving you the highest opportunity to grab a user’s attention. Create boards for every subject that is relevant to you,  your business or your blog and refrain from creating additional boards that don’t resonate with you or your brand. If you feel limited on topics that apply to you, but want to increase the number of your boards, consider breaking boards down into smaller niche boards. Allrecipes does this quite well, by breaking recipes down into categories like “Drink Recipes,” Easy Recipes” and “Mini Food.”

6. Keep Boards Organized

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Keep Boards Organized

Name and organize your boards so users can find what they are looking for

Organized boards are key to gathering followers. Start by creating a strategy of generating and naming your boards. Get creative with your board names, choose something that is unique or catchy, but make sure it’s obvious what your board is about. Refrain from extra long board names or they might get cut short in your browser. You can choose as many subjects as you want and spread them across multiple boards. Remember that you will be managing your boards, so I wouldn’t recommend going overboard with the number of boards—it could become tedious and overwhelming every time to need to pin, it also considerably effects the load time of your profile.

Once you’ve created boards, make sure pins are placed in the appropriately named board, you don’t want cute puppies ending up on your “kitchen” board. You can also set your best pin, or most visually interesting as your board cover. Lastly, arrange your boards in an order that best represents you or your brand. Tell a story with the relationship of your boards, putting subjects you are most passionate about near the top of your list. Organizing your boards keeps them user-friendly and easily searchable for your audience.

7. Comment and Like Pins

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Comment and Like Pins

Comment on pins to grab the attention and engage with other users

Start interacting with your Pinterest community by using the comment and like features. If a image grabs your attention, using these tools gives you a way to engage and form a bond with other users. Simply, people enjoy receiving positive feedback and attention for their pins. If you leave a positive impression on a user through your comment, you have a better chance of gaining them as a follower. In addition, offering feedback on their posts can give you exposure and let users get to know you or your brand.

8. Follow Other People

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Follow Other People

Choose to follow other users on Pinterest with similar interests and they will often follow you back

Following users is another great way to start getting followers. Once you follow someone, there is a good chance that they will take notice and follow you back. It is a good idea to follow people or companies that you are interested in or those who have pins with related subject matter to your own. Providing similar content will appeal to users and give them an incentive to follow one or more of your boards.

9. Make Boards and Pins Easily Searchable.

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Make Boards and Pins Easily Searchable

Make your pins and boards easily searchable with descriptive keywords

Pinterest’s search feature provides a great platform for people to discover fresh new pins and even new users to follow. A search is done through the use of specific keywords and phrases. To show up in the search results, a pin must contain these keywords within its description. If you’re not writing descriptions, you are missing an opportunity to be found and followed. Image captions can be up to 500 characters in length and should contain detailed descriptions of the content of the images. Make sure descriptions are thoughtful. Avoid stuffing captions with only keywords and unhelpful comments such as, “This makes me happy” that don’t provide information about what is contained in your pin.

10. Use Hashtags

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Use Hashtags

Use hashtags when pinning to make your work easily searchable

On Pinterest, hashtags may be used within a pin description. By placing the # symbol in front of a word such as #chalkboards, you will make that word clickable. When the word is then clicked, Pinterest takes you to the search results for that pin. Make sure to only use hashtags on terms that people would want to search for. Hashtags let you be found more easily, giving you more exposure and a better chance of getting followed.

11. Tag Users

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Tag Users

Similarly to hashtags, you can also mention a user within your description or comment. This can be done by placing a @ symbol in front of the users name. You need to be following at least one of the user’s boards in order to tag them. Once you type @, potential matches for their name will load and you will be able to choose a name from a drop down list. Once you tag a person, the pin will feature their name and also link to their profile page. By tagging a user you can grab their attention, encourage a conversation, and hopefully attract a new follower.

12. Fill Out Your Pinterest Profile

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Fill Out Your Pinterest Profile

Completely fill out your Pinterest profile

An important part of generating followers is making sure you have your Profile all set up. First, start by selecting a username that is the same as your real name or business. You want make sure you brand is consistent so that people know how to find you. Next, in the “About” section you can describe yourself and your business. This description can be brief, but will give users a good idea of what you or your company is all about. Lastly, Include a link to your personal or company website and add an image for your avatar. if this is for personal use, make sure to add a headshot as the avatar rather than an icon. People will be more likely to follow a real person.

13. Invite Your Friends to Join Pinterest

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Invite Your Friends to Join Pinterest

Invite your friends to join Pinterest through email, Facebook, Gmail or Yahoo!

This might seem obvious, but a great first step is to invite your own friends to join Pinterest and start following you. Pinterest lets you easily invite friends through email, Facebook, Gmail and Yahoo. If someone already knows you, there is a good chance they’ll start following you.

14. Connect with Other Social Media Websites

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Connect with Other Social Media Websites

Connect with existing social media websites to easily pin between your existing networks

In the Pinterest settings, you can choose to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts with your Pinterest profile. When you do this, every time you make an update to your Pinterest page, you will also be able to easily pin to Facebook and Twitter. Please note, this does not currently work with Facebook Business accounts, only personal profiles. Once you link your accounts, any contacts on your other social networks will be able to easily find you and follow you. Similarly, you will also be able to find and follow friends from these sites and then invite them to view your Pinterest account. Linking profiles and inviting contacts will help increase traffic to your pages and give more opportunity to gain followers.

15. Collaborate

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Collaborate

Allow other Pinterest users to contribute to your boards

On Pinterest you are able to allow other users to pin to one or more of your boards by adding them as contributors. Getting additional help from these fellow taste-makers is a way to keep boards constantly fresh. If you don’t have the time to maintain your Pinterest board on your own, you can let your contributor’s pin and interact with your audience. Employees or coworkers may serve as a great source of contributors for a business. Etsy has boards specifically built to feature guest pinners, who curate their own boards on Etsy’s profile. If you choose to use contributors, it is very important you choose contributors that lend a similar viewpoint and have complementary boards to your own. This helps keep your brand stay consistent. Once someone has become a contributor, your board will appear on their profile. Having your boards across multiple collaborators profiles will increase your exposure across Pinterest.

16. Give Users What They Like

How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers | Give Users What They Like

View the Pinterest Source page for your website or blog and learn what people are pinning from you site

By visiting:
pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com
you will see what users have pinned specifically from your website or blog. For example, See what’s getting pinned off the populare design blog Design*Sponge. From this you can learn what items have been popular (or unpopular by seeing what hasn’t been pinned) and then begin catering future content to your audience. For example, If you do have a blog and everyone has been pinning your tutorials, offering up additional new tutorials would be a great way to gain interest from your audience. From the source page you can also comment and thank users for pinning your work, viewing your site or commenting on one of your pins. This gives you an additional way to engage and interact with your audience and a way to snag new followers.

17. Pin Your Own Content, but don’t go Overboard

Pinterest is a source of inspiration and also a way to build your brand. Feel free to pin your own content, but don’t make it the only thing you pin. Your boards should not be treated like ad space and filled with only your material. Boards should be built to tell to tell a story and promote the lifestyle of your brand. In the end, make sure you create boards that go beyond just showcasing your products. Rule of thumb: for each piece you pin of your own, pin 5-10 images outside of your site. A great example of a brand doing this is West Elm, which makes use of their boards by displaying their products intermixed with pins from outside their site. They also use boards that strictly feature their products, presenting a good mix of both brand and inspiration.

18. Use the “Follow Me” and “Pin it” Buttons

How to Increase Your Followers on Pinterst | Use the "Follow Me" and "Pin it" Buttons

Use Pinterest’s “Follow me” buttons on your website or blog to drive traffic to your profile

If you have a blog or website, one of the best things to do is incorporate Pinterest’s “Follow Me” and “Pin it” buttons. These buttons that are available on the site’s Goodies page and are free to use. The “Follow Me” button, when added to your site, acts like an image that links directly to your Pinterest profile. It lets your audience know you are on Pinterest and gives them an easy way to quickly connect with you. The “Pin it” button also makes it simple for your visitors to pin your web content. This buttons serve as a visual reminder to your audience that you are involved on Pinterest and gives you a better chance at increasing your traffic to your profile.

19. Leverage Your Blog

If you already have an audience on your blog, you can work on driving them to your Pinterest profile and ultimately following you. Consider creating boards that coordinate with your blog posts. For example, if you’re writing about “20 Pinteresting Tips” on your blog, maybe you build a board with Pins of additional tips you found around the web. You can also choose to post your own blog content to drive pinners to you blog.

20. Stay Active on Pinterest

Consistent use of Pinterest is one of the most vital things you can do to increase your followers. Take time each day to pin, repin, comment or like images. As you spend time doing these activities, the more growth you will have in your profile, meaning more content for users to eat up. Pinterest users love fresh content, so by continually posting new updates, it provides incentive for them follow your pinboards.

Start Getting More Followers

By using these trips of the trade, you’ll start increasing your own Pinterest following in no time. Your Pintersest community will grow, expanding your online presence and ultimately maximizing your marketing efforts. A high following will present you as thought-leader, trend-setter, or just plain popular. People will want to see why others have chosen to follow you, what you have to offer, and if they like what they see, probably even start following you themselves.

Pinterest guru? Have more ideas on how to gain followers? Share it!

Oh and don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest and of course Zoom Creates.

Follow Me on Pinterest

For more pinteresting tips on Pinterest, check out my related post:
How to Create Pinterest Images that People Love to Pin: 7 Pinteresting Tips

 


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