November, 2012

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November 2012—We launched a new website for Wilmington, DE-based CMC this month. CMC, which stands for Collections Marketing Center, came to us with an older site that was difficult to easily update by the marketing department.  We fixed this by building the new site on a modern content management system, and also designed the site for ease of use. Most importantly, we created a new homepage that quickly, at a glance, conveys exactly what the company does — and what kinds of companies it serves as clients.

One important feature that we added is a “Resources” center directly accessible off of the top navigation. This serves as a centralized library of all content that visitors can download for more information, such as data sheets, case studies and white papers.

CMC decided that some of this material, such as data sheets, should be easily downloaded without forcing users to fill out a form. For more “exclusive” content, such as white papers, we created online forms that users must fill out first. The information provided in the forms serves as sales leads and represent valued prospects who have taken an interest in the company’s services for managing collections and risk.

Web Content: Why Less Is More

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One of the mistakes that many companies make when redesigning their websites is trying to say too much on their product pages. It’s understandable how this happens. Company insiders work in a bubble where much of their day is spent talking about product features – what they have now, how competitors stack up, and where they need to be when the next release or big customer comes along. From this vantage point, it’s easy to assume that outsiders want this detail as well.

Problem is, it’s mostly not true. Some readers may stay longer and drill deeper for information. But most prospects want the big picture. They want to quickly learn what business you’re in, what services you offer and whether you may have something to solve their business problem.

Trying to cram in too much content can be counter productive. Eyes glaze over and it becomes tempting to surf to another site.

Based on our experience, companies are better served when they follow a philosophy of “HTML light” for most pages. Liberal use of subheads to break up content blocks, short paragraphs and shorter, more conversational sentence structures generally work best on the web where attention spans are short.

That said there are some ways to organize your site better so that your pages can easily be scanned, but more details are still available for those that want them. One technique we use is to break up longer product pages into tabbed information buckets. Readers scan the top paragraph or two for the main messaging and drill into the tabs below for detail. The tabs keep the pages “clean” and easier to navigate. And they are less intimidating to the average reader. Here’s an example of a tabbed product page we built for client Covaris, Inc.

Another technique is to shift more of the “speeds and feeds” and other feature/benefit-type information to PDF downloads, such as datasheets, product brochures and white papers. The added benefit of this approach: When users want more info, they must fill out a request form. Leads, anyone?

Until next time….

July, 2012

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July 2012—Just goes to show not all of our clients are biotech, high tech or financial services. In a bit of a departure for Radar, we just launched the new site for Blessid the Movie, an indie film  from local writer and producer Bob Heske. And guess what? We had a lot of fun designing the site and adding all the features you might expect from a cult classic in the making–including a built-in blog, live social media widgets and a way for fans to participate with donations. The site doesn’t give away too much by way of the plot, but it will certainly pique your interst as the days count down to filming this fall in our fair city, Boston.

By the way, Bob’s best known for writing comic-book style horror but this flick is a bit of an interesting departure. Check out the site and see the impressive array of actors and crew talent he’s already lined up.

June, 2012

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June 2012—Long-time Radar client Covaris Inc.’s website went live this month. Covaris is a biotech equipment and supplies company with a unique set of products that utiilize ultrasound to mix compounds in a completely non-invasive way. This leads to greater sample quality and ultimately scientific results. The company has been growing very fast for the last few years and we kept the old site growing right along side it, making many changes over time. But the core design really needed a reset and we got the chance to do that earlier this year, creating an all-new look and moving the site to a modern content management system in the process.

The new site is clean, easy to navigate and chock full of product content. To prevent readers from being overwhelmed, we implemented a new design using tabs on the inside product pages. The tabs let visitors drill deeper when they want the detail, but still keep the landing pages for each product clean and light. Best of all, Covaris is able to update and maintain this content itself using the content management systems’ friendly web-based interface.

May, 2012

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May 2012—It has been a long labor of love, but the Friends of the Public Garden went live this month. If you’ve been to Boston and visited the Commons, essentially Boston’s “Central Park,” then you probably walked through the Public Garden. The Friends is the non-for-profit group that oversees maintenance and upkeep of not only the Public Garden, but the Commons and the adjacent Mall area as well. (Think Swan Boats and “Make Way for Ducklings.”)

The Friends basically rescued these beautiful parks back in the 1970s when they were threatened by poor maintenance, overuse and crime. Now the three of them shine like jewels in the city. So you can see why we wanted to do a good job for them when developing their all-new site.

The redesign showcases each of the park’s beauty with photographs taken across all four seasons. Slideshows, videos and lots of informational downloads are provided to help visitors find their way around and to not miss the most important trees, flowers and statues. A small e-commerce section is also included for those wanting to purchase souvenirs.

April, 2012

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April 2012—Genesis HR Solutions, a provider of outsourced HR services for small to midsize companies, came onboard as a client in November of last year. Our first assignment was to design a new identity and logo for the company, which until this month was known as “Genesis Consolidated Solutions.” We designed a series of potential logos for the newly-named company, Genesis HR Solutions, and a final design was chosen in January of this year. At that point we began work on a complete website redesign project, using of course the new logo and color scheme as a start. This month that new site went live.

The redesign showcases the new logo of course, but the spotlight falls mainly on the company’s highly satisfied customer base. The “Customer Stories” section is particularly effective as it uses video to let customers speak in their own words about their businesses and how they use Genesis for HR services. The site is built on a modern, open source content management system which enables Genesis to post new content, including blogs and news stories, without any outside assistance.

March, 2012

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March 2012—Just in time for a major tradeshow, we completed a major redesign for longtime client FieldView Solutions. The new site, the third redesign since we’ve been working for the Delaware-based company, features a clean, modern look with close brand alignment with the company’s national advertising campaign. Icons used in the national campaign to depict various FieldView features appear in the top header section of inside pages.

Included in the redesign is a 15-second Flash banner to acquaint prospects with the features and benefits of the company’s data center software. For users without Flash, such as iPad owners, the Flash is replaced with a static image of the data center.

Helping to Achieve a More Sustainable Client

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Radar Media has always been about providing outsourced marketing services to busy executives who don’t have the time or wherewithal to create top quality sales and marketing materials on their own. That said, we’ve learned from our years of experience that our most effective clients are those that choose not to outsource their entire marketing effort — but work with us on providing quality tools that enable them to update their marketing materials on their own.

Think of it as Radar helping to create a more sustainable client.

When Radar was starting out 11 years ago, “marketing sustainability” was harder to achieve than it is now. A company’s website was obviously a high priority then, but the technology available at the time didn’t make it easy for you to update a site on your own.

Today it’s a different story. With nearly all Radar websites today powered by a content management system (CMS), clients have the tools to publish their own content without outside help. With greater control over their messaging, many customers today more frequently update their sites with press releases, news stories and blogs. This keeps their sites fresher and their marketing message current. Social media updates are easier to update, too, which in turn drives more traffic back to the website.

Other tools are available for our most sustainable clients. For example, affordable desktop publishing tools, like Microsoft Publisher and even PowerPoint, are far more capable and easy to use than they once were. That’s a good thing, because the need to frequently update data sheets, create more case studies and white papers is greater today than ever. For many of our clients we design custom marketing templates that allow them to generate frequent updates on their own. Creating a PDF for their website posting becomes fast, easy and affordable.

Finally Radar Media itself enters the new year in a highly sustainable way. We now generate nearly 60 percent of the power we use for lights, computers and other appliances with renewable solar electricity from panels installed on our building’s roof. And if you host your website through us, you’ll be pleased to know that much of the energy that runs your server comes from sustainable wind power down in Texas.

All for now…’til next time.

January, 2012

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January 2012—We started the year off right with the launch of the new RedTail Solutionssite. A long-time Radar client, RedTail had worked with Radar on earlier redesign efforts for the company, but none of them involving the use of an entirely new web platform as was the case here.

The new site is built atop a feature-rich content management system that enables RedTail’s marketing department to do many of the content updates they were previously unable to do themselves. In addition, RedTail now has a new company blog built right into the site and no longer needs to rely on the old blogging platform that had little brand resemblance to the new site. Finally, Radar tightly integrated into the site a powerful new web marketing engine called Pardot. Together with RedTail’s use of salesforce.com, Pardot enables RedTail to closely track leads, web page activities and advertising campaigns.