Some like to take on the world, while others might just want to focus on more concentrated market. When considering your first step, take into account your type of business, your budget, and your expectations.

Local SEO campaigns make use of geo-keywords that are specific to your business, area and audience while keywords on a national basis will cast a wider net.

For example, let’s pretend you are a doctor based in Philadelphia. It is going to be obvious that your client base will be in the surrounding area. Such national keywords as ‘doctor’ or ‘doctor pa’ will be irrelevant to your business, but ‘Philadelphia doctor’ or ‘medical doctor philadelphia’ would be a far more suitable geo-keyword. National keywords come into play more when you are a business offering products or services with a cross country or even global reach.

So, which is better? It’s safe to say that a local campaign would take less time for expected results that national. Without a doubt there will be much more competition on keywords in a national campaign and your budget will be a contributing factor. Keywords that are competitive are expensive and will take longer to optimize from an organic SEO level.

Conclusion

If you are new to SEO, it might be beneficial to start with a local campaign and work your way towards a bigger market. A small, yet highly targeted audience will produce satisfactory results for your SEO campaign. Speak with a time4design consultant today to review your goals and create the strategy that ultimately will help you succeed!

Last week we attended the winners party and had a great night celebrating with other winners locally in the Bucks County area. It was wonderful to see so much talent, and for us to be recognized as a top growing web design & development company. The food was superb and of course the drinks were well received!

Here are just some photos from the event. Many more photos can be found on our facebook profile.

Time4design first spoke of responsive web design in January 2012 and there was no doubt in our minds that with so many new devices it was imperative that our website catered to all of them. It was also important to us that the result was engaging, dynamic, and easy to use. We are proud of our branding and believe the new look of the Time4design website conveys the personality of the company. What a journey it has been to where we are today! Now an established business based in the heart of bucks county, we send our thanks many to our valued clients.

See below for a visual journey with time4design over the years.

It was important for Optellios to integrate a sophisticated look with their branding to efficiently communicate their products and services. Our design style took advantage of white space with solid colors that compliments their product line.

So far feedback has been very well received! One of our favorite features is their new interactive map designed for all media devices and presentations.

Optellios website was officially launched in time for their trade show at the ‘The International Security Conference & Expo West’ in Las Vegas, one of the comprehensive business trade shows of the United States. We welcome you to take a look and explore this exciting new website www.optellios.com

time4design wants to thank our clients and those of you who voted! We look forward to the event to be held on May 2nd 2013 and will of course be updating you with photos very soon!

The law firm of Clemons Richter & Reiss, PC serves as legal counsel, advisor, and advocate to a broad spectrum of clients.

It was important that their website act as an ‘extension’ to their brand, yet still project a professional, contemporary look. By exploring color theories and various layouts related to the company logo, their website communicates personality, style and local surroundings.

clemonslaw.com offers a vast amount of information to their clients and they will be developing a video series to strengthen their legal advice.

Time4design continues to work closely with the team at Clemons Richter & Reiss, PC, providing consultancy and support for the foreseeable future. Take a look at their new website, www.clemonslaw.com

First Impressions – engaging design?

First impressions communicates the style of company you will be working with. Design & branding should be tasteful, communicating effectively all services that they offer. If you see anything that might resemble the year 1998 (lots of flashing images with poor taste in color), this might not be the right company for you. Further investigation should be a good portfolio of work. Take note of all the design styles you see, and do not take exception to an industry that may not appear available.

How about the size of the company?

At this stage you should already have a good idea if you like the company or not. However, you may also ask yourself whether the size or type of company impacts a different level of service. Large, small or even virtual, this should be no baring on your expectations. Design and development are based on the standards of the company and the talented team they offer.

Who is selling web services to you?

There is a huge different between a sales person and actually speaking with the person who will be part of the design/build process. time4design personally believes that the designer or developer conduct main interviews in order for a client to understand exactly the process involved. It also helps with any preliminary technical questions that a sales person may not have an answer to immediately or perhaps sugar coat an answer that is not exactly correct. Most importantly you should be able to predict if this would be a relationship that works. Personality helps make a great team, compatibility will make an easier process and experience for everyone.

Where are the costs?

All professional web design firms typically do not publish specific prices (unlike hosting and domain registration), however, it is possible to call and receive a general quote. Similar to buying a new car with such additions as GPS, seat warmers, or Bluetooth, there are many factors that change the overall cost in web design. Only speaking with the firm directly will allow you to have a better idea. If you already have a specific budget in mind, explore this with your web design company and see what can be offered.

Reliability

It’s good to know that once the project has been started, that reliability should be a main concern. Goals and project agendas should be created early. Likewise, once a project has ended, that the relationship continues with a maintenance plan. You want to make sure your contacts are easy to reach and are able to meet with you when required.

It might be worthwhile searching for written testimonials from previous clients. In some cases, it may be worthwhile to request references just as you would if interviewing your own employee.

Responsive Design for web, mobile and tablets

Throughout the year time4design has made our clients aware of how responsive web design (or RWD) will ultimately impact business. Without a doubt, new desktops and mobile devices will be introduced on the market 2013-2014, and certainly will vary in screen size and increased resolutions. The ability for a website to respond to the device in use makes it incredibly convenient from all perspectives, ensuring a great user experience. Such an efficient solution means that multiples websites do not have to be designed for each mobile/desktop. If you are curious to determine if a website uses this solution, adjust the size of your browser. If it adjusts automatically, RWD has been part of the website’s coding.

However, is this something that should be considered for every industry? At the moment, responsive design is viewed as a premium service and may not be necessary for overloaded websites with vast amounts of information and graphics. In other words, it is not a service that can be just integrated, but more or less effects those that are considering website redesigns and usability improvements. It may not affect those who do not require a mobile solution, however that percentage is becoming lower each year. A large majority of users, especially those ‘on the move’ will use tablets and mobile technology. Research alone has determined that 22% of adults own a tablet, a majority using iPad.

Simplicity and style in design for 2013

During 2011, time4design discussed the advantages of simplistic design. We firmly believe that stylish design should enhance the service or product regardless of what industry it is. Now for those who may not be fine tuned with their creative side, consider these methods to better communicate your brand. These are just some new design styles expected for 2013 and beyond.

• Larger buttons
  Touch devices are on the increase, expect larger buttons as part of a design.
• Creative Typography
  Creative typography will add a creative flare and engage your user.
• Infinity Scrolling
  The idea of loading content on your page without ever having to click on another page. For Example, Facebook, Tumblr, Mashable.com etc.
• Slideshows using parallax or vertical scrolling techniques
  The ability to create 3D landscapes that give the illusion of depth.
• HTML 5 and CSS3
  As older browsers become obsolete, HTML5 and CSS3 should take on a stronger role in addition to scripting languages such as jQuery.

SEO & the Social aspect

It’s a difficult task to predict what might happen with SEO during 2013. As Google changes their algorithms to combat black hat or poor SEO tactics, an SEO strategy should always be firmly in place. Social media websites have strengthened so it sends a clear signal that this should be part of a stronger campaign for business. Does this mean, however, that you should have every social media network that exists? No not necessarily. It’s important to consider what will ultimately work best for your business and use the social medium to help strengthen the message or brand. An unattended or un-updated social networking platform is counter intuitive to your branding/marketing plan.

Conclusion

It is without a doubt 2013 will be another great year of change. As with all technology, there will of course be some unexpected surprises. Time4design look forward to lead ‘your business’ ahead of the modern curve.

Architectures typically will include:

• Global navigation
  Primary links that will appear on each page (home, services, contact)
• Local navigation
  Links that map appear on subpages in the form of a second menu or regular text links.
• Utility links
  Typically considered as links found in the header or footer, sitemap, terms, privacy policy, feedback etc.

Improving User Experience

Recently we introduced User Experience and its importance in website redesign.

“Great web design keeps the user focused, but for how long if navigation elements are poorly designed or content is hard to locate. A frustrated consumer is going to do no one any good!”
Creative Web Design – A Better User Experience

Architectures help define a good user experience illustrating the ability for the user on any platform to access what they are looking for. Typically it is recommended that information should be found with no more than 3 clicks. Homepage designs are much more straightforward, featuring product or company highlights. All other pages should be logically created, content tailored with the client in mind with the addition of all relevant links.

Advanced website studies may include conducting appropriate usability research to collect feedback from a specified target audience. In addition, ‘visual blueprints’ or ‘wireframes’ may be created to demonstrate how users will interact with the website. Wireframes help pinpoint early design ideas and communicate the location of important content and links.