Whether you’re fleshing out stage-one ideas or enjoying the fruits of your entrepreneurial labors, you’re likely aware of how difficult creating a startup can be. The myriad of ups and downs, consistent pressure to perform, and often minute and seemingly unremarkable victories can be depressing. Still, despite the early and often repeated failures, there’s nothing quite like seeing a dream fully realized. And more than that, seeing other people enjoy it too.
More than a passion project, starting your own business takes a sort of relentless drive and blind faith – a blind faith that I, as a Clevelander, am all too familiar with.
After all, what is it besides blind faith that keeps a person rooting for a team that’s been relatively unsuccessful for 18 years?
Clevelanders understand what it means to be up against long odds and thrive despite them. They’re a city of people willing to believe even when it seems illogical to do so, which may be why it’s become a place for other people to come and believe, too.
That entrepreneurial spirit is prime in a city where hope is second only to the King.
So for those of you still knee-deep in the trenches, I’ve compiled a list of helpful startup tools to aid you in the most Cleveland way I know how – a sports analogy.
Crafting a winning season
Image courtesy of Erik Drost. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Looking at the odds for a startup isn’t that different than calculating the odds for a winning Browns season – they’re both bad. In the first year, 9 out of 10 startups are likely to fail. The upside is that most startups that survive their first two years stand a better chance of continued survival with every preceding year from that point on.
So how do you make sure your business is the 1 out of 10?
Let’s start by taking a look at some of the mistakes commonly cited as to why the Cleveland Browns are so bad. Though they’re unlikely to clarify why we haven’t won an opening game in 13 years, it’s always nice to know what you’re up against.
Drafting the wrong players (quarterbacks, so many quarterbacks.)
Not paying attention to what’s going on (drafts? anyone?)
Poor leadership and communication (regardless of your opinion on where to lay the blame, there’s a problem)
Making no progress
Not that different from the reasons most startups fail.
Hiring the wrong employees (non-versatile or adaptable)
Not paying attention to what’s going on (startups are small and require everyone to be looking out for potential issues and opportunities)
Poor leadership and communication (communicating expectations to your staff and having them speak to you, in turn, is incredibly important)
Making no progress
Fortunately, many of these pitfalls are avoidable. Though we may not solve the Browns conundrum in my lifetime, there is a myriad of business startup tips, tools, and applications for those entrepreneurs hoping to avoid being another failed statistic.
Drafting the right players
The first step to entrepreneurial success is to be careful when hiring. While searching for the ideal candidate take a lesson from the Browns’ standard recruitment practices – don’t overthink. Though you want to make sure you’re hiring the right person for your team, being too specific can lead to second-guessing, and in turn you may end up overlooking what’s right in front of your face.
(And what’s right in front of your face may move on to bigger and better things like the Eagles.)
Utilize sites like Indeed.com, ZipRecruiter, and Linkedin where you can be very specific in your requirements and reach the most people.
Paying attention to what’s going on – i.e. your fanbase
Image courtesy of Erik Drost. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
The next step to a successful venture is understanding your market and whether or not the product or service you’re offering is actually needed. For example, anyone looking to make a buck off a Browns fan is likely not going to come to them in full Steelers gear – or carrying any glass bottles. You need to understand the thought process behind your customer’s purchasing habits – what they like and dislike.
To do this, try utilizing a few marketing tools and programs like –
Google Analytics will give you a clear insight as to who your customers are; including gender, age, and search habits. It will also give you an insight to which pages people are spending the most time on and which pages they’re not.
Buzzsumo will show you not only what your customers are interested in, but what content works best for them.
Moz Open Site Explorer allows you to check the ranking of your domain, your competitor’s domain, and how both your targeted keywords and content are tracking.
Ahrefscan help you find out what topics and keywords are trending for your business. It will also let you look into who is linking back to your site.
Spaces’ free logo maker can be helpful for new business without a huge budget to hire a logo designer.
Then, once you understand your market, apps like Mailchimp, Hootsuite, and FollowerWonk will help you reach out and stay on top of it.
Keeping your team on track with proper leadership
Image courtesy of Erik Drost. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Now that you know your base, it’s important to make sure your team is on the same page. Setting up clear guidelines about expectations and goals and giving those that work for you the tools they need to openly communicate and collaborate will go a long way. Rather than texting your employees from your office, or say, sending nasty remarks to less-than-happy customers from afar, try speaking with people directly.
I recommend –
Slack is a useful office messenger system that will allow your team to set up specific channels for projects and send files with ease.
Cashboard is ideal for tracking hours and managing tasks.
Wrike is another great program for monitoring the time you put into each project. You can assign team members to share in on project hours as well.
These apps will help keep productivity high and that communication going into the end of the season.
Measuring progress – or making it in the first place
Image courtesy of Erik Drost. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Lastly, moving beyond your market, team, and leadership skills, it’s vital to keep track of your progress. Because no matter how great your product is or how committed the people that work for you are, if you aren’t getting anywhere then it doesn’t matter.
So how do you measure your success? Most would say it comes through income. While I can’t speak to the profitability of the current Browns roster (that Amazon re-sell is rough), as an employee of one of the Top Small Business eCommerce Companies, I can say that tracking your own as a small business is simple.
WHMCS is a great client database that can be used as a record keeper as well as billing, invoicing and more.
Intuit allows you to easily maintain all of your accounting through QuickBooks. It will help you keep track of taxes, payroll, invoicing, and more.
Financial apps like Mint or Qapital will also help you maintain a set a budget and put money away for the future.
Making it to the playoffs
In the end, any fledgling business is susceptible to forces outside their control. But having a clear vision and learning to adapt in the face of unexpected hiccups will make the road easier. And remember, as with the Browns, any victory should be celebrated.
Have more startup tips and tools? Let us know!
The 2016 Fashion/Tech Hackathon: Inspiration, Collaboration, Innovation!
January 29th, 2016 marked the date for the third annual Fashion/Tech Hackathon at Kent State University. Students had 36 hours to compete in Northeast Ohio’s premier student technology innovation contest. This year, 216digital, Inc. sponsored the event and mentored students in design and programming.
Fashion/Tech Hacker rocks our 216digital t-shirt!
The 2016 Fashion/Tech Hackathon was held at Kent State University’s Rockwell Hall, the site of the university’s world-famous Fashion Museum. Students from a number of schools, including Kent State, competed in an immersive hands-on design and engineering experience. Attendees worked together using specialized skills, such as fashion design and software engineering, to create beautiful, functional wearable products and fashion-related technology—all within the space of a single weekend.
Every year, event curators as well as event sponsors donate their time and resources to make the Hackathon a success. Hackers are given free range of the Fashion School’s equipment, TechStyleLAB equipment, and a tremendous amount of free hardware and textiles. This freedom makes the Hackathon a hotbed of creative output and innovative design thinking.
An array of equipment and hardware was available to hackers in the TechStyleLAB.
Top prize categories:
This year, event curators Hacksu, TechStyleLAB, Launchnet, Major League Hacking, as well as a number of event sponsors, offered prizes to hackathon winners.
– Creation of a new technology
– Advancement of an existing technology
– Use of Technology in Creating New Fashion Products
– Tech Advancement of the Retail Experience.
Sponsor prize categories:
– Best Project with a Female Team Member
– Best Potential BGV Participant
– Most Commercial Potential
– Best Fashion Tech Forward Design
– Best Project on .tech Domains
– Best Use of Textiles
– Best Use of AWS
– Most Flashy
– Hack That Builds Most Relationships.
We talked to many students, teachers, and sponsors at the Hackathon. The consensus was clear: everyone was blown away by the innovative ideas which the 2016 Hackathon participants came up with. There was definitely something special in the air! The competition fostered a real “no loser” attitude. We saw total strangers collaborate like best friends on incredibly innovative projects. We went to mentor students, but we came back inspired.
Amazing Hackathon Projects: A Quick Tour
People Posing for a PictureStuart McKaige, Jasmine Kornel, and Anna Routson developed “Notification Scarf,” a scarf that lights up LEDs when you receive a phone notification. View their devpost submission here.Robert Goldshear, Ben Roytenberg, Reshef Elisha, and Elizabeth Tarleton created “BitBeats,” a glove that literally brings music to your fingertips. Alex Bisnett, one of our web developers, has a tendency to finger-drum on his desk. We’re getting him this for his birthday. Read more about their project on devpost.Here, I’m standing in front of “Mirror Catalog,” a project developed by Chris Paxton, Matt Gates, and Istvan Gates. Mirror Catalog projects virtual clothing on the user to emulate a dressing room experience. It contains an entire digital catalog of clothing to “try on.” Read more about there submission here.Elizabeth Tarleton models “Elizabeth,” a dress that responds to a user’s needs. Too cold outside? The dress detects that and lengthens itself for you. At 216digital, we could really use this around the office, where temperatures are known to fluctuate faster than Ohio weather. Want to know more? Read more in their devpost submission.Max Blachman, Derrik Best, Teresa Jones, and Charles Halbeck mimicked the self-lacing shoe from the popular movie Back to the Future. Their shoe, “Exos,” offers a new take on self-lacing – a design made to assist people with disabilities. The no-touch shoe is controlled entirely by your gestures. Read more about their shoe here.Olivia Burca in the midst of creating an “Al-Timer” wallet prototype.Al-Timer smart purse prototype compared to finished final product. L-R: Crissa Candler, Monica Magliari, Olivia Burca, and Alfred Shaker, team members of project “Al-Timer” (winner of the prize for Best Advancement of an Existing Technology) pose in front of the Fashion/Tech Hackathon logo. View there award-winning project submission here.
View all Fashion/Tech Hackathon project submissions here.
The Bottom Line
The 2016 Kent State University Fashion/Tech Hackathon was an incredible hotbed of innovation. We saw truly innovative projects that are forwarding the the marriage of digital technology and everyday physical equipment. While many of these ideas are probably years away from being marketed, we felt privileged to see them emerge from the minds of these talented students. At 216digital, we keep a pulse on the evolution of all things design- and tech-related, and we found this weekend truly inspiring.
In the early days, like everything else, design was a male-dominated profession. Today, women designers are changing the face of design with incredible innovation. At 216digital, we’re design connoisseurs. We thrive on innovative design thinking. We keep a pulse on the design industry, and we take note when someone creates something amazing. In this blog post, we wanted to talk about our favorite women designers and their work.
You’ll see an incredible amount of innovation in these designers’ portfolios. In the disciplines of graphic design, illustration, typography, and more, these 26 designers are pushing the boundaries of convention and creating new visual expressions.
We’ve organized our favorite designers into several specialty areas. But let’s be clear—these designers aren’t ranked in any kind of order. They’re all great, and no two are alike.
Jiani Lu practices groundbreaking graphic design in Taipei, Taiwan. Her work integrates all aspects of visual communication—imagery, graphic elements, and typography—with a new kind of flair that we haven’t seen before.
Shown: To My Future Self. Used by permission of Jiani Lu.
Jiani is a Canadian designer working in multiple disciplines. She has won awards from AIGA, Graphis, Adobe, and others.
Fanny Öhlund is forging a career in cutting-edge design. Her work features beautiful graphics and typography integrated into a unique whole. She has done work in print design, album cover design, branding, and more.
Fanny’s sense of pattern, contrast, and color is truly beautiful. For this writer, her work is often more than the sum of its parts. For more of Fanny’s work, see her website or Behance page.
Teresa Sdralevich has forged a remarkable career in illustration, poster design, and cover design. Her work utilizes large blocks of color and bold typography. She often engages social, political, and cultural issues, and her approach draws the most out of a simple collection of elements.
Book cover: Vota Larry, by Janet Tashjian. Used by permission of Teresa Sdralevich.
Teresa was born in Milan in 1969. She currently lives and works in Brussels, where she practices silkscreen printing in a collaborative space shared with other artists.
Fanette Mellier has built a remarkable career in graphic design, typography, and print design. Her work uses simple geometric shapes arranged in strategic placement. Her strong eye for color transforms her minimal geometry into vibrant, cohesive works.
Fanette completed her education at the Graduate School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg. She learned from masters such as Pierre Di Sciullo and Pierre Bernard. With this background, she has contributed significantly to the world of typography and intellectual communication.
Anna Kuts is a graphic designer, photographer, and calligrapher from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Her work marries a strong emphasis on texture with a nuanced approach to color. She is passionate about logo design in particular. She often combines unique textures with clear vector elements, and the results are beautiful.
We see a little Soviet Constructivist influence in this poster, but the overall effect is unmistakably contemporary. The piece contains excellent contrast, and the overall look is quite balanced.
Mercedes Bazan specializes in UI, UX, and editorial design. She lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her work features strong graphic elements, complex alignments, and refreshing color palettes. Her editorial designs in the magazine field are fresh, contemporary, and surprising.
Shown: Nikola Tesla Pressbook. Used by permission of Mercedes Bazan.
Cristina Pagnoncelli’s work utilizes great typography, balanced composition, and a clear sense of cohesiveness. Cristina shows an ability to weave seemingly unrelated elements into a total composition. Her use of type and lettering is particularly inspiring. Facebook asked her to create 10 letterings inspired by American cities. Now Facebook users can use these letterings on their photos.
Shown: Orlando lettering. Used by permission of Cristina Pagnoncelli.
With her sister, Raquel Pagnoncelli, she runs Des Figure, a communication studio. Cristina’s work shows an intuitive understanding of diverse graphic disciplines. She is one to watch.
Sue Doeksen is a graphic designer based in Amsterdam. She often focuses on bold color, eye-popping texture, and a fun approach to high-concept design. Her work is thoroughly contemporary, yet it knows its roots in great European design.
Shown: Landmark Pins. Used by permission of Sue Doeksen.
Sue describes herself as a “visual adventurer.” This approach shows in all her work. Sue’s designs are not static works; they seem to transform themselves as you look at them—even those that aren’t animated. Sue has collaborated multiple times with fellow Dutch designer Marta Veludo (see below).
9. Marta Veludo
Marta Veludo is an Amsterdam-based graphic designer, artist, and visual thinker. She works in a wide variety of design fields, including art direction, graphic design, brand communication, and set design. Her work regularly features playful colors and visual relationships.
Shown: D & R Wedding Invitation. Used by permission of Marta Veludo.
Marta’s work is truly unmistakable. She marries a quirky eye to a strong sense of formalism. The result is a dynamic visual language that is contemporary, yet knows its history. She has collaborated multiple times with fellow Dutch designer Sue Doeksen (see above).
Along with Enikő Deri (see below), Nora Demeczky runs De-Form, a design agency based in Budapest. Her work features a strong graphic impact and carefully-constructed balance across a cohesive whole. She achieves a great balance between form and content.
Enikő Deri runs De Form, a Hungarian design agency, along with Nora Demeczky (see above). Her work often features dramatic use of geometry in strict black-and-white. Her shapes and organization are incredibly fresh, and the overall effect she creates is mesmerizing.
Shown: Albert. Used by permission of De Form.
II. Branding Design
12. Kelsy Stromski
Photograph by Kyle Caldwell.
Kelsy Stromski founded Refinery 43 to design cohesive visual identities for her clients. She has designed unique branding for interior design studios, personal brands, nonprofits, food products, and more. Her design expertise is highly fluid and adaptable.
Shown: Bouchard Family Farms Ployes pancake mix packaging. Used by permission of Kelsy Stromski.
Kelsy’s work is firmly grounded in a thorough knowledge of her clients. She combines this knowledge with a deep understanding of the intended audience for the brand. The result is highly-targeted branding.
Ipek Eris is a freelance designer working in the fields of branding, logo design, and corporate identity. She has lived in Kenya, France, Germany, and England. This experience has given her an eclectic visual sense, and it shows in her work.
Shown: Rumeli70 Pharmacy branding package. Used by permission of Ipek Eris.
Ipek’s work shows a keen awareness of her client’s needs, married to a great visual sense. She establishes unity between separate elements by repeating motifs with variation.
We didn’t have to look far to find this designer. Sarah Yeager works for us! And while you may chuckle at the fact that we included our own designer in this list, wait till you see her work. It’s why we hired her.
Shown: MatVacay app design.Shown: Textbookly.com website.Shown: Sarah’s award-winning design of EmpoweRING, a piece of jewelry that lets the wearer send a distress signal to emergency contacts if he or she is in danger.Shown: #BrainCandies branding for WedoWE.
Sarah received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design from Kent State University. Aside from her design education, Sarah’s wide range of interests also informs her design process. She has worked in entrepreneurship, videography, photography, and painting. She finds these experiences invaluable as she designs websites, logos, and creatives for our clients.
Shown: John French with Hasselblad, paper collage on panel, 18×12.5 inches. Used by permission of Lola Dupré.
Lola Dupré has created an incredible illustration style. Working exclusively with paper and scissors, she makes surreal, distorted images, often using the human body as her subject. In enlarging some parts of her source image, she criticizes cultural assumptions about gender and beauty. Her work is beautiful, disturbing, and unmistakable.
Nina Geometrieva is a rising star in photography, graphic design, and branding. She brings a strong sense of geometry to her design as well as her photojournalism. For this writer, her most incredible work is the stunning photoshoot of Tokyo which she produced with Damjan Cvetkov-Dimitrov—including the capsule hotel photos which you’ve probably seen somewhere on the internet already.
Shown: Tōkyō desu. Used by permission of Nina Geometrieva.
Nina and Damjan documented their Tokyo trip in this Medium post. Check it out for more incredible animated GIFs.
Nadzeya Makeyeva is an illustrator and designer based in Minsk, Belarus. Her work features ingenious use of texture and line, and each piece seems to create and inhabit its own world. Check out her Psilocybin Rabbit:
Shown: Psilocybin Rabbit. Used by permission of Nadzeya Makeyeva.
Nadzeya attended College of Arts #26 in Minsk. She has worked as a concept artist, illustrator, designer, and UI/UX designer, at multiple firms and as a freelancer. Her work shows a remarkable fluidity and ability to adapt to different purposes, styles, and materials.
Vicki Turner is a British designer and illustrator with a strong eye for color, shape, and line. Her work features incredible geometric representations of common shapes. Vicki has developed her own consistent style, almost an iconographic language which is easily understood by anyone.
Shown: Misty Morning Commute, shortlisted for the AOI & TFL Prize for Illustration. Used by permission of Vicki Turner.
Vicki has worked with non-profits, startups, and everything in between. She brings a problem-solving mindset to the client relationship, and she offers insight on product and branding. She is also the founder of Feist Forest, a boutique builder of fine wooden tables for creatives.
Erin Zingré started her illustration career in style, at age 4, with a preschool drawing of the Headless Horseman, a Guillotine, and Death Himself. As she puts it, this drawing still captures the essence of her work: “kinda cute, kinda creepy, and altogether not-quite-right.” It’s a beautiful kind of not-quite-right.
Shown: Coloring Book for Grownups. Used by permission of Erin Zingré.
Erin is a multidisciplinary designer now working out of Seattle. She is not taking freelance work at this time, due to her work designing at Amazon. With this talent, it’s no surprise she’s been snatched up.
Anna Grosh is a Siberian designer working in San Francisco, CA. She specializes in illustration, typography and lettering, and design. Her illustration shows a nuanced touch and a powerful expression of emotion.
Shown Circus D’Hiver Bouglion poster. Used by permission of Anna Grosh.
Anna also excels at highly ornamented work and calligraphy. In the digital age, it’s refreshing to see a human touch and detailed hand work. Anna is one to watch.
V. Typography, Calligraphy, and Typeface Design
21. Marian Bantjes
Marian Bantjes has forged a remarkable career. Her work spans graphic design, typography, calligraphy, and lettering, and it has won her international acclaim. In the following piece, which she created for AGI’s annual special project, she used dirt and sand from around the world to create a Coexistence poster. Note the obsessive attention to detail—and the transience: she didn’t glue the sand down, and she wiped the poster away after photographing it.
Marian worked as a book typesetter from 1984-1994. From 1994-2003, she ran Digitopolis, a graphic design studio which she cofounded. From 2003 to the present, she has pursued freelance work in design, art, and lettering.
Laura Pol is a designer, photographer, and videographer based in Venice, CA. As a designer, she has created a wide variety of logos, both type-based and graphic, in which she integrates clean typography with an overall aesthetic. She has also created several fonts, which are available for free (donation suggested) on her website.
Shown: Tyde Font sample. Used by permission of Laura Pol.
Typography and typeface design aren’t Laura’s only pursuits. She has also collaborated on editorial designs, art direction, branding, and more.
Lisa Pan (Pan, Yi) is a graphic designer based in Taipei, Taiwan. She has developed an incredible illustration style, and she also excels at creating beautiful typography. She often combines lettering with illustrative work. Her pieces are truly jaw-dropping.
Shown: Typoholic Zoology Collection. Used by permission of Lisa Pan.
Lisa shows an incredible ability to adapt her illustration style and her typographic sense to any project. Her work also shows a great balance between complex and simple textures.
Louise Mertens received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in graphic design at Sint-Lucas Antwerpen. While in school, she interned at Mirror Mirror. After an internship at Sagmeister and Walsh, she launched Louise Mertens Studio in 2014. She now specializes in art and art direction, with a strong emphasis on collage. In the work below, she achieves a dynamic unity from several competing elements.
Shown: Jiyu 4. Used by permission of Louise Mertens.
Louise’s use of color and her carefully-combined textures are unmistakable. As she says on her website, she is “inspired by the female body, the mysterious, and the incomprehensible.” She has developed a truly unique style.
Marta Gawin practices design in Katowice, Poland. She specializes in editorial, poster, exhibition, and visual identity design. Her work features strong contrast between graphic elements, plus incredible typography.
Shown: JazzArt Festival 2015. Used by permission of Marta Gawin.
Marta earned her MA in Graphic Design from the Academy of Fine Arts, Katowice, in 2011. She works as a freelancer now, and she is regularly hired by both commercial organizations and cultural institutions. Her work is high-concept, with a heavy emphasis on unique content.
Candy Chang takes her background in urban planning, her expressive sense, and her training in design and combines them to create beautiful public art installations. Among many incredible works, she created the Before I Die phenomenon—a black wall stenciled with the phrase, “Before I die _____”.
Shown: Before I Die. Used by permission of Candy Chang.
This is a participatory public artwork which invites passersby to share their deepest longings in public. The original Before I Die wall in New Orleans gained international attention, and now there are over 1,000 Before I Die walls in 70 countries around the globe.
Design is changing faster than ever. New trends are always emerging, and in our opinion, things just keep getting better and better. These 26 women are pushing design to new places we’ve never seen before. This is truly a golden age of design, whether in web, branding, typography, illustration, or photography.
From 216digital, a hearty THANK YOU to these designers for their willingness to share their work. Keep at it!
We’ll continue to cover digital marketing and ecommerce with actionable, applied content. But we’re going to expand our coverage beyond this. We’ll be launching a regular feature on our blog–Digital Movers. In this space, we’ll highlight individuals and teams who are doing great things in digital marketing.
Where other sections of our blog focus on websites, design, and content marketing, this section will focus on the people who get things done–what makes them successful, what they struggle with, and their advice for success.
Stay tuned. This feature will launch in early 2016.
We’re launching something special on the 216digital blog.
At 216digital, we’re passionate about great design. We’re always building something new for our clients, and visually, we can’t get enough of current design trends.
We’re launching a new feature on our blog soon–Design Trendsetters. We’ll feature our favorite examples of cutting-edge design from around the web. This is a labor of love for us–we just love great design!
Stay tuned. Design Trendsetters will launch in early 2016.
A Snapshot into the World of Digital Marketing, Right Now.
June 8th, 2015
We compiled three of this week’s biggest highlights from the Digital Marketing World. Prepping you to impress and swoon the most well read Digital Marketing experts.
It may seem like selecting a company to design your website is the easy part of making your successful online business a reality. After all, there are tons of different firms out there; it’s just a matter of finding one that meshes well with your business and your personality. That’s important, but choosing a design team to take on your company’s projects is actually much more complicated than simply selecting the company that fits your fancy. You should look at more than just a Google search when making your decision in order to make your project as successful as possible.
Ask around. Chances are you have some connections who have worked with designers they prefer. You may have to do a little research, but inevitably someone you know has used a design firm that they would like to recommend at some point or another. There also are probably some firms they would advise you to avoid. These personal references should be taken into account during your search.
Once you have your list of potential design companies, you should make sure to take a look at each of their portfolios. There, you can begin to assess the quality of their work and prepare to ask pointed questions about why they made certain design choices. From these meetings and “interviews,” you’ll get a better sense for whether or not you’ll work well with a particular candidate. Building off that point, make sure that your designer isn’t a pushover. A designer who is confident in their work and wants the best for your company and the project won’t be afraid to question your direction or methods. In the end, even though you might feel that your ideas are being challenged, your project will probably be more successful if the designer weighs in on big decisions, and you’ll be thankful for their counsel.
Once you do find and begin working with a designer, make sure you allow them to do their job. This means relinquishing a little bit of control over your company’s project so that your web design experts can be most effective. With that said, your involvement remains critical, and getting the designer acquainted with the company and giving him or her clear expectations for your project will assist them in making the best possible choices.
Here at 216digital, we employ experience web, graphic, and print designers who are passionate about producing exceptional work. We’ve put together countless websites, attacking each online project with the intensity it deserves. We work with you to understand your company and seek to include you in each step of our pursuit of its goals. Local to Cleveland, hard work runs in our veins, and we know you won’t be disappointed if you choose to partner with us for your next project.
A great sign-up form makes it easy for your site visitors to offer their information to you. With a new avenue of communication between you and customers, it can be easier to keep their engagement and interest in your product. But a sign-up form is only as effective as its conversion rate. When you take steps to maximize the conversion rate, you increase the number of sign-ups and that means more customers and a bigger bottom-line. There are 5 main things to think about when you’re designing your contact forms to drive conversion:
Your Forms Should Pop
Before visitors to your site fill out your form they need to notice it. It’s very common in modern web design to have a site look smooth and homogeneous, but if your design is too uniform you run the risk of your visitor easily missing your sign-up form. What you need to do is catch their eye through visual cues. One easy way to do this is to add a border or encapsulate your form somehow with a contrasting color and make it visually separate from the rest of the page it’s on. You can also add a directional cue like an arrow that points to your form. Simply, making your form shout its presence can nearly double your conversion. If a dramatically contrasting color is a little too-much for your design, there are plenty of other ways to subtly set your form apart. Experiment with different ways of implementing your form. A/B test your designs to see what works best for you.
Focus Your Forms
When your sign-up forms let your visitors tell you exactly what they’re looking for, your conversion rate increases. It’s as simple as that. You can easily sour a relationship with a potential customer by providing them with newsletters and resources that have no importance to them. They might even start to view your marketing as spam, and at that point it can be very difficult to salvage the lead. Give them information that they’ll pay attention to and stay engaged with. For example: If you run a business that sells aftermarket car-parts for a few different makes and models, let your customer choose their specific car and then send them targeted newsletters with information about new items and articles for that specific model.
Make it Effortless
This is probably the most important item on this list. When is the last time you went to a website, clicked a link to a form and then saw a full page of empty fields? Did you have second thoughts? Or, have you ever finished one of those forms with 20 empty boxes, clicked Submit and then been taken back to the top because you did something wrong? Yeah, it’s happened to all of us, and I bet at least a few of you bailed on the form at that point. No matter the value of what you’re offering in exchange for their information, if it becomes too difficult, your visitor will look for any opportunity to leave the page.
First, reduce the quantity of form fields that you’re asking for. The magic number here is between 3 and 5 fields. Ask for the absolute basics like name, email, etc. Remember, as long as you have some contact info you can always ask for more info later. Don’t think that marking not required fields in a longer form is okay. A visitor still sees the large form and is immediately turned off. The one place where it does work is with an optional comment field in a shorter form. It gives the visitor the opportunity to improve the quality of the leads generated by the form while still keeping it easy to fill out.
The other way you make the sign-up process easier is by being less restrictive. When the format of a field becomes so specific that it isn’t that easy to get it right on the first try, the customer can become frustrated through repeated failed attempts. If you really need a specific format, consider using ghost text to suggest that. Otherwise, don’t make your customer’s work harder just to make your work easier on the backend. While we’re at it, don’t use Captcha’s for simple sign-up forms. They’re effective in stopping spam because only a human can figure out what they say, but making your customer work to answer a visual riddle is a big turn off.
Project Value and Trust
Tell people what they’re getting in return when they give you their information. Would you be willing to submit your email address if you didn’t know what was going to be showing up in your mailbox or how often it would be there? Add some quick facts about your newsletter in bullet points in the header of the form. Also, tell them how often you’ll be sending them out. Another aspect of this is social value: People like following the crowd, and if you can provide some social proof like the number of subscribers, you’ll see a higher conversion rate. People will have their fears about sharing personal information alleviated by knowing that other people trust you as well. Finally, have a link to your privacy policy at the bottom of the form; it’s just another demonstration of trust.
Make it Look Good
This one is a given. First, make sure that the fields and button align correctly. Nothing looks more amateur than misaligned fields. Place labels above the fields and display any errors inline and not at the top of the form. Also make sure your submit button fits the alignment of the form, too, and make sure that it stands out. If you’ve done everything you can to shrink your form but it still ends up too long, think about breaking it up into multiple steps and give the visitor a narrative they can follow. It’s an easy way to keep visitors engaged, just don’t overdo it or you run the risk of tiring them out.
In conclusion, these are the biggest ways to improve the conversion rates of your sign-up and contact forms. Not everything here will be perfect for every site. Experiment with different configurations of your form and A/B test the versions. That way, you can measure the difference and home in on the best possible combination that makes your business grow!
You can have the most interesting, ground-breaking product ever, but if your website lacks an effective design, your sales aren’t going to reach their full potential. Having an enticing e-Commerce storefront is more than simply having a product up for sale—customers believe their time is precious so merchants must quickly deliver a convincing sales pitch as well as provide customers an intuitive and effortless checkout process. But, how exactly do you do that? Here, we’ve listed the top 5 dos and don’ts for your e-Commerce web design.
DO have multiple views of your product: Your customers will want to know exactly what your product looks like from every angle. Choosing images of your product that offer something new and different from each viewpoint will give your buyer an idea of what they are purchasing, and they will feel more confident in their decision to complete their order. If you are selling clothes, show them being worn by a model in order to give customers an idea of what the product looks like on a “real person” versus a mannequin.
DON’T leave your customers with questions: Having quality product descriptions will help you sell your product tenfold. By providing overviews of your products that are honest without being negative, the option to see customer reviews, and the option of asking a staff member, you build trust in your site and the customer feels at ease.
DO have a bold call to action: Your call to action is perhaps the most important part of your e-Commerce design. If your site doesn’t give customers a way to buy your product that is visible and enticing, your e-Commerce design isn’t doing its job. By creating a bold “Add to cart” or “Buy now” button, you’ll make it easier for your customers to find their way into your site’s checkout process. Remember, your visitors will look for the first reason to click away from your website. Don’t give them a reason to do so simply because they grow frustrated trying to complete their purchase.
DON’T waste your customer’s time: Clicking in and out of pages can become tedious and cumbersome for consumers. If you want to retain more customers, implementing a “quick-view” feature that allows them to see a product’s complete details without having to navigate away from their current category or search results page is a great way to improve a customer’s experience. This will hold the customer’s attention longer and keep them from exiting your site.
DO talk to your customers: Having conversations with customers can yield feedback which proves more valuable than some of the most robust analytics tools available. Opening up direct dialogues with your customer base unearths difficulties or frustrations they encounter that they may otherwise not express as well as helps to build your rapport. Giving customers the option to subscribe to a newsletter, review a product, or contact you with questions will help strengthen relationships with them and promote repeat business.
DON’T create a complicated checkout process: The biggest eCommerce conversion killers are abandoned shopping carts, which happen for a number of reasons. If you want your customers to stay with you all the way through the checkout process, make it easy. Only include what you need in your shopping cart and make sure you are prepared for a streamlined multi-channel sales experience. Use a POS card reader that connects to your online store for offline sales for optimized transactions across all channels.
Here at 216digital, we build websites and help online businesses grow. These are just a few of the tricks we have up our sleeves, and we want nothing more than to see your online business reach its full
There are so many different pieces that must all work together in order to launch a successful eCommerce website. Without careful planning, even an experienced developer can run into trouble. Here are 7 of the most common pitfalls and tips on how planning can help you avoid them:
1. Choose the right platform. It’s tempting to pick the platform that “everyone uses” but everyone isn’t you. Take the time to evaluate the different platforms on the market and find the one that best suits your actual needs. Some platforms have large third-party support that can add to any functionality you need. Use one of the many online comparison tools to determine which software is most powerful, customizable, or easiest for you to learn. Also, keep in mind that it all comes down to the customer experience. If your site doesn’t make their shopping effortless, they’ll probably be less inclined to spend their money with you. Don’t go overboard with shipping and checkout options, keep as few choices as possible within reason. Otherwise, you run the risk of overwhelming them and turning them off from doing business with your company.
2. Lock down your data.Even if you have the most robust and secure eCommerce platform, using it without a dedicated SSL or a digital certificate is like not locking the door to your house. Many smaller web stores don’t think to implement them or use a shared SSL certificate, usually because of cost concerns. Not having an authoritative declaration of security can impact the trust the customer is willing to place in your business. In today’s online economy, third-party digital certificates can be had quickly and well within budget and go a long way in assuring the customer that their data and money is safe.
3. Make it easy to find. Customers will look for the first opportunity to click off your site if they can’t figure out how to navigate it quickly. Make your menus intuitive and minimize the number of clicks your customers need to make to find what they are looking for. Make sure you also include search bar functionality in case your customer isn’t sure in which category the product they need is listed.
4. Make it look nice. Even the best eCommerce sites lack the ability for the customer to physically examine the product they are shopping for. To make up for this, you need excellent imagery that shows multiple angles and any different options that are available. Also make sure that any imagery looks good on a mobile browser or smartphone, which brings us to…
5. Optimize for the road. Every year, a larger and larger percentage of online shopping is being done from smartphones and tablets with mobile browsers. If a shopper has a bad experience using a poorly designed mobile site, they won’t recommend it to other potential customers and are also much more likely to immediately visit a competitor’s site. Keep in mind, though, that optimizing for mobile platforms doesn’t mean making your design look “just ok” on a phone, you need a plan and design that works perfectly within the mobile browser.
6. Content is king. Using stock descriptions from the manufacturer of the products you sell makes it difficult to differentiate yourself from other eCommerce sites that sell the same things. Unique content helps with your SEO ranking as well. Like the use of good imagery, a compelling and comprehensive product description gives your customer another layer of experience and allows them to easily become familiar with the product and much more likely to buy.
7. Tell them who you are. It may seem obvious, but make sure you include contact information so that your customers can reach you if they have any questions or problems with their shopping experience. It can be as simple as a phone number at the top of the site or a robust page with a contact form. If you use email or a voicemail service, make sure someone checks it regularly. It can help you salvage a sale and create a customer for life that you might otherwise lose if they feel like they were left high and dry. And keep your branding consistent. If you don’t have money to invest in a branding package yet, use Hatchful to create one for free, in a matter of minutes, from your phone.
At 216digital, we can help you completely avoid these problems or find a solution for you if you’ve already encountered bumps in the road. Our on-site developers and creative designers have over 15 years of experience in building eCommerce sites and creating custom integrations from the ground up. We use best practices gained from years of experience to craft industry-leading websites with unparalleled usability that convert browsers to buyers for our clients.
Image courtesy of Erik Drost. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Looking at the odds for a startup isn’t that different than calculating the odds for a winning Browns season – they’re both bad. In the first year, 9 out of 10 startups are likely to fail. The upside is that most startups that survive their first two years stand a better chance of continued survival with every preceding year from that point on.
So how do you make sure your business is the 1 out of 10?
Let’s start by taking a look at some of the mistakes commonly cited as to why the Cleveland Browns are so bad. Though they’re unlikely to clarify why we haven’t won an opening game in 13 years, it’s always nice to know what you’re up against.
Image courtesy of Erik Drost. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
The next step to a successful venture is understanding your market and whether or not the product or service you’re offering is actually needed. For example, anyone looking to make a buck off a Browns fan is likely not going to come to them in full Steelers gear – or carrying any glass bottles. You need to understand the thought process behind your customer’s purchasing habits – what they like and dislike.
To do this, try utilizing a few marketing tools and programs like –
Image courtesy of Erik Drost. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Now that you know your base, it’s important to make sure your team is on the same page. Setting up clear guidelines about expectations and goals and giving those that work for you the tools they need to openly communicate and collaborate will go a long way. Rather than texting your employees from your office, or say, sending nasty remarks to less-than-happy customers from afar, try speaking with people directly.
I recommend –
Image courtesy of Erik Drost. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Lastly, moving beyond your market, team, and leadership skills, it’s vital to keep track of your progress. Because no matter how great your product is or how committed the people that work for you are, if you aren’t getting anywhere then it doesn’t matter.
So how do you measure your success? Most would say it comes through income. While I can’t speak to the profitability of the current Browns roster (that Amazon re-sell is rough), as an employee of one of the Top Small Business eCommerce Companies, I can say that tracking your own as a small business is simple.
