Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool
Google provides some of the most comprehensive organic search engine optimization tools available. Do yourself a favor and check them out. When choosing which keywords to target with your next initiative or blog article, do a little research into the words and phrasing people search for and incorporate them into your language. Find keywords and phrases that many people are searching for but don’t have much competition from other sites. You’ll start to see a huge difference in no time.

Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a tool for quickly brainstorming a large, diverse list of keywords to include in your research. These are the words and phrases that you will put into Google’s keyword research tool to find the most effective keywords. Ubersuggest uses Google Suggest to generate a list of keyword phrase suggestions by adding a letter or digit after your search term. You can then click any of those terms to generate the same list for that term. Very simple, but great for digging up long tail keywords.

Google Trends
Surprise! Google shows up twice in a list of free organic search engine optimization tools! Trends is a great tool for getting the ‘big picture’ when it comes to particular search topics and terms. Type your keyword into the blank and you’ll get an overview of how many searches for that term per month, regional interest for the term and a list of other related terms searched by those users. It will also give you a good idea of how notable news headlines affected searches for that term, which can give a great view of social context.

Feed the Bot
Feedthebot.com is a great free SEO resource that has a good deal of information, as well as a handy SEO toolbox. While much of the info and tools will be too techy for many, there are several useful tools for SEO practitioners of all levels. The most notable is probably the Spider Simulator, which will quickly show you what a search engine crawler sees when they crawl your page for data. This can be invaluable in determining why your SEO initiatives aren’t working and figuring out how to improve them.

Moz Free Search Tools
Moz, previously SEOMoz, offers a comprehensive and distinctly un-free set of tools for SEO and other aspects of your digital strategy. Luckily, they also offer a couple of free organic search engine optimization tools as well. The most useful of them is probably Open Site Explorer, which shows the most authoritative backlinks to any site, allowing you to compare with competitors’ sites. There’s also getlisted.org, which will help make sure you’re included in all local search engine listings. Do yourself a favor and spend a little time on their blog while you’re at it. They offer tons of great advice for improving your SEO initiatives and integrating the pieces of your digital strategy.

While not an exhaustive list by any means, these few free search engine optimization tools should help you take your SEO to the next level. While saving you time, effort and money in the process. What tools are you using to streamline or improve your SEO tactics?

What Are Content Marketing Strategies?
Content marketing strategies are plans for developing engaging, entertaining or educational content that is both discoverable and sharable. This usually comes in the form of (but is not limited to) blogs, white papers, videos or infographics. The content must be useful to the ideal end user so they will look for it, come back once it’s discovered and eventually share it with their networks. The most effective content marketing strategies are supported with an editorial calendar to publish content frequently, using consistent themes of related and relevant material.

Why Invest in a Content Strategy?
I understand my definition can be a lot to take in. And if you made it through the definition, you are more than likely asking, “Why does this matter to me?” The answer is: to get discovered. The fact is, all business owners want their businesses to be discovered by people that are ideal for purchasing the products or services offered. A content marketing strategy is a highly effective tool that guides those ideal customers to a website.

There are many other options out there to strengthen online marketing such as black hat SEO, SEM and social media marketing. Two major perks from content marketing strategies over all other tactics are the lack of an ad spend and you won’t be punished later. SEM and social media marketing can both be costly if they are not properly optimized and black hat SEO tactics could get your site blacklisted from popular search engines.

Still not convinced? What if I told you that the average American consumer used 10.4 sources of information to make a purchase decision in 2012, a number that nearly doubled from 5.4 sources in 2011 (the research behind this statistic is from Google’s eBook, Zero Moment of Truth, which I encourage anyone considering online marketing to read). With a content marketing strategy, you can provide at least one of the information sources from the total 10.4 average. With success, your customer will find the information they are looking for while discovering your brand at the same time.

Content Marketing Strategies: Quick Tips
So now you’re sold on content marketing and you know that it is a must have in your online marketing plan. What’s next? The best content strategies begin with meticulous research. Psychographic research will help steer the themes used to connect with your audience and keyword research will teach you the words that your customers use when searching for particular topics or themes.

Psychographic Research
Just because I like craft beer, doesn’t mean I can write about it and be discovered by my ideal target audience. Instead, I must write about something they are looking for. Using tools like Topsy or Klout can be useful in this discovery. The basic idea is to determine what topics are trending on social networks or what prominent individuals in your target audience are currently talking about. Another useful tactic is using the query ‘inurl:blog’ to discover what topics other blogs are currently writing about. For more information on developing your content read Jason Brewer’s blog Content Strategy: Or 5 Ways to be Likable.

Keyword Research
So you now know what your target audience is looking for. The next step is to research keywords they use to find it. For your content marketing to be discovered, you must use the words your target audience uses while searching. The basis for picking keywords should be words with the highest volume of searches and lowest competition. Free tools such as Übersuggest and Google keyword tool can be used to speed up this step. Übersuggest is helpful for brainstorming a wide variety of words related to what you think your audience is using and the Google keyword tool can be used to evaluate the strength from each keyword or phrase. When selecting keywords to use, be sure to pick a variety of related keywords so you don’t get punished by Google for keyword stuffing. Also, long tail keywords (specific, 3-5 word searches) are helpful for more immediate success.

Keyword Usage
As I mentioned above, you want to avoid keyword stuffing. As such, you shouldn’t over populate your pages with keywords when implementing your content strategy. A general agreed upon keyword density in the SEO industry is 2-4%. Because I always learned best from example, I specifically structured this post as an example. For ideal usage guidance, reread this blog post, but this time, watch for usage of the keywords ‘content marketing strategies’ and ‘online marketing,’ as well as related long tail phrases.

Do you have any other tips you use with your content marketing plans? Leave suggestions in comments below!

Through our own online marketing efforts and experience launching websites for clients, we learned that a website cannot be looked at as a short term project with an end point, but instead should be considered an evolving asset that needs to be nurtured and optimized over time. A website launch is just the beginning. It is the birth of something, not the end.

So, we moved to the next natural step; digital strategy. With 10 years developing Brolik into a digital agency, we saw the same need in our clients- this need to create traffic and deliver conversions and enhance the site beyond the initial launch. That’s how digital strategy became a service at Brolik.

We made a commitment to developing a digital strategy for Brolik first. We created a schedule for our team and started writing about technology, design, and business, focusing on content that would educate and help our peers and our prospects.

Our Facebook fan base grew from a few hundred to a few thousand, and it’s still growing on a daily basis. From April 2012 to April 2013, we had a 187% increase in total website traffic on Brolik.com. We were seeing quality leads come in through our link building, SEO and paid search campaigns. These turned into some of our most exciting new clients.

Based on our own successes, we began offering full digital strategy services to clients and helped them in the same ways we helped ourselves. Here’s a Q & A from Susan Naftulin of Rehab Financial Group, talking about how we helped increase leads and loans.

Just like us, many companies believe they can reach more customers online but simply don’t know how. We started digital strategy to provide structure to take on the digital world, helping clients create a plan and measure results, based on metrics that really matter.

That led us to creating a custom dashboard application for each of our clients. There are many analytics tools out there, but we wanted to limit our reporting in a highly customized way, showing only the imperative data for each client. So, we launch custom dashboards for each of our clients to track our progress.

What started as a frustrating problem for our business has led to one of our most promising services, and our clients are seeing the benefits. Next time you sit down with your team to discuss an issue or tackle an annoyance, remember that the right solution could change the course of your company.

It feels good to have a process in place, and feels even better to see the results while we improve and learn every day.

In case you want to learn more, this four step guide will help you in starting developing your own digital strategy:

A four step guide to starting a digital strategy (series published by iMedia Connection):

Digital Strategy Step 1: Create A Plan – iMedia Connection

Digital Strategy Step 2: Content and Execution – iMedia Connection

Digital Strategy Step 3: Analysis – iMedia Connection

Digital Strategy Step 4: Optimization – iMedia Connection

The redesign of Google+ reinforces the point I made before about the transition to a more visual web. There’s been a clear shift in style, and there’s a new standard in web design. Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+ are starting to look quite similar. This shift is for good reason though. The large areas of imagery create a higher level of interest, while the grid layout keeps everything neatly organized. Let’s delve into some of Google+’s new features.

Features of the Redesign
Google+ has joined the club and added cover photos on profile pages, which seems like a requirement for all social media networks now. It is nice to be able to add a level of personality and design to your profile. Posts on the new Google+ are now called “cards” and appear with a photo, caption/update, and sharing options. Posts are automatically tagged with related hashtags so users can “flip the card” and explore similar content. The cover photos are pretty large, and the images on the “cards” also appear at a decent size.

Google+ posts now appear as “cards” with large imagery and automatically added hashtags.

To further emphasize the importance of imagery on this network, Google+ added a photo feature called Auto Awesome with a lot of different capabilities. Auto Awesome will automatically combine similar, sequential photos into an animated GIF. If you upload a few group shots, Auto Awesome will pick everyone’s best smile and stitch them together into one quality shot. It also creates panoramas and photobooth-style film strips for similar photo series. The feature has other capabilities as well, like auto photo enhancements to color and contrast, auto backup, and a highlight feature that suggests which photos should be discarded.

Auto Enhance adjusts the brightness, saturation, and contrast of your photos for a nicer end result.

A More Modern Google+ for the Modern Web
An adaptive site is key to easy accessibility and keeping a modern web presence. In terms of responsive design, Google+ has hit the mark. The site snaps to the size of your browser, showing an appropriate number of columns for your screen. However, if you’re not a fan of the three-column grid layout, Google+ allows users to view one stream. The grid layout they’ve enlisted lends itself well to the various display sizes. On the mobile end, Google+ has even created larger tap targets for ease of use. It appears that the redesign was well thought out for every instance of its use, and has a sense of cohesion across all devices.

The grid layout automatically adjusts to 1, 2, or 3 columns, depending on how you’re viewing the site.

This image-heavy, strong grid style is definitely popular on social networks, but it’s also been showing up elsewhere. News sources and blogs, like Mashable, Fast Company, and The Next Web (in addition to others), follow the same trend. With so many on board, it’s clear that this style is going to be around for awhile. The use of big, bold imagery creates visual interest, and the emphasis on imagery over text makes it easier to scan the page. Google+ isn’t the first website to make the shift to a more visual approach, and judging by the increasing number of sites on board, it won’t be the last either.

Today, giving clients the ability to quickly and easily update their website content is expected, and having a CMS is almost always a requirement for any web project. Whether from lack of time, knowledge, or dedication, many developers turn to a pre-built CMS in these situations, and often times that CMS is WordPress.

Early on, I tried to like WordPress, but I struggled to find any reasons. Even to this day, I’m reading blogs trying to understand exactly why a developer would willingly choose WordPress as their main CMS for anything but a blog.

One such article I came across over at aspireid.com gives 10 benefits to using WordPress to power a company’s website. I read the article, I thought about the points, and I came to the conclusion that they’ve just spent so long using WordPress that they’ve entered the realm of “fan-boy.” So let’s go over each of their points and explain why they aren’t sufficient reasons to use WordPress for a corporate website.

“Ease of use”
If you’ve ever tried to edit WordPress in the back end, you will know it’s not always a fun venture. The folder structure is a mess, and it has random empty files that have no explanation for their existence. The database was designed to be versatile, yes, but it’s a complete mess, with almost everything placed in one table, with so many random connections that it takes hours to figure out.

On the front end, restricting menu options and understanding where things should be is confusing out of the box. Furthermore, the fact that customizing menu options to fit a client’s needs isn’t always straightforward to begin with.

“Manage your site from any computer”
Well yes, that’s what a CMS does. Even if you didn’t have a CMS, you could still do this if you really wanted to. You don’t tell someone to buy a Ford because it has wheels and Chevy doesn’t.

“No html editing or FTP software required”
This is mostly false: what if the client needs something custom done that they can’t find a plug-in for? Why do I say mostly false? Because WordPress is built in PHP, so you can often get away with not using html if you do need to make changes.

No FTP? This is also false: if the company is large, chances are their IT department will have security on the server preventing WordPress’s ability to install plug-ins without FTPing. Though this is not always the case, I have experienced this problem a number of times.

Once you have the site made, though, you don’t need to know html to edit content, because again, it’s a CMS and that’s what they do.

“Search engines love WordPress”
Yes, they do. But it’s not because the code is “clean” or “simple.” It’s because the people who made WordPress understood SEO and did everything they could to optimize the code that’s executed on the browser (something any good web development agency would also do).

“You have control of your site”
I’ll say it again: that is the point of a CMS. Developers build and use CMSs for clients so that they can update content on their own. ANY of the various CMSs out there offer this same feature. It’s not something exclusive to WordPress. (Chevys, Hondas, and Toyotas all have wheels too!)

“The design of your site is 100% customizable”
The design is only this customizable if you have a developer. WordPress has different themes to choose from, but they aren’t custom. If you’re trying to say that WordPress is this super amazing product that doesn’t require a developer or any programming knowledge, then you don’t get to tell them that WordPress is 100% customizable.

“A blog is built in and ready to go”
Who knew that a micro-blogging CMS had a blog built in?

“Extend the function of your website with plugins”
Plugins are one of the best worst things about WordPress (huh?). Plugins tend to be user-created and maintained, meaning that if the developer decides to stop working on it and WordPress updates and breaks the plugin, that’s too bad. Better hope someone picks up development on that plugin you were relying on. Worse than that, though, is that many security flaws with WordPress are exploited through the plug-in system.

“Your site grows as your business grows”
This is true, but I can’t really say it’s a good thing. Oftentimes, development agencies will help a company to narrow the focus of their website to what is going to drive the most traffic and revenue using analytical and past experience.

These people have been doing this a lot longer than the average person that would be updating content for a company website. How often does a CEO or higher-up mention a “must-have” feature that is actually useless or simply causes more confusion?

Development and SEO agencies are there to help narrow down and focus a message, which is much harder to do when the client has free reign to create limitless pages.

“Have multiple users”
Because, no other car offers all four tires when you buy it.

At Brolik when a blog is required, we integrate WordPress into the site for blogging; that’s what it was for. WordPress can be a helpful tool when it’s used correctly.

Picking out WordPress as a CMS for a company website is like buying a pre-built house with a nice shed in the back because you like the shed, then tearing down the house’s walls and building new ones with the pieces of the shed. WordPress is the shed, and it has a purpose, but it is not the house.

What alternatives to WordPress are there?

For small developers working on small projects who don’t possess the knowledge to create their own CMS framework, WordPress may very well be the solution.

There are, however, other solutions out there such as Joomla! and Drupal. Drupal is very similar to WordPress and Joomla! Since the three are only marginally different, these two offer some of the same problems that WordPress does. The one thing they have going for them is that they were built more as a website CMS, and less as a micro-blogging platform.

Perhaps the best currently available option for an open-source CMS would be concrete5. Another PHP based application, concrete5 offers more freedom to develop then WordPress, Joomla!, or Drupal. Having logged less than 10 hours working with concrete5 though, I can’t sufficiently recommend this as the solution to the problem.

As it stands, WordPress is not, and should not be, the solution to a larger company website. The security implications alone should be enough to deter any company from building their website on WordPress. Developers and companies alike should look for something a little more custom for the websites, especially a full corporate site.

Companies looking for a high quality CMS that responds to all their devices should turn to a CMS for developers, by developers, that is going to fit their specific needs. With so much business turning to the web, isn’t it time to start looking for that custom tailored website, rather than a sloppy rebuilt one?

Disclaimer: It’s going to get pretty nerdy. If you’re new to responsive design, you might want to start with Responsive Design in the Real World (Part 1) or Responsive Design in the Real World (Part 2: for Designers and Coders).

1. Content that responds to the size of your screen (BostonGlobe.com)

Boston Globe has one of the most remarkable responsive websites. Launched in 2011, it set the bar very high for all responsive sites to follow. While there are many aspects of the site that are done exceptionally well, I’d like to focus on a small detail that is done in a simple and efficient manner.

The weather is displayed in the top left of the menu at all times, and the amount of information you see is dependent on the width of your screen. At the max-width of 1232px you see the temperature in a large (39px) serif font, with the weather description and an illustration to represent the description. The weather <div> is float:left, and the illustration of the weather is cropped with the combination of overflow:hidden and bottom:-50px. All pretty standard stuff that most users wouldn’t bat an eyelash at.

As you resize your screen and get to a width of 809px, the Boston Globe logo gets a little too close to the weather illustration, and the site begins to respond. The illustration shrinks (max-width:120px). The large serif temperature font becomes a small sans-serif font (11px) in line with the weather description. Also, the weather <nav> gets a position:absolute and slides to the top of the header.

As you continue to scale down your browser to a width of 619px, the logo slides to the left, the weather illustration gets bigger (max-width:45.833% of container) and it moves to the top of the header (position:absolute; top:1em;).

Shrinking your screen even smaller to 479px centers the logo and reduces the weather to just a slightly larger illustration (width:75% of container) and the temperature. The weather description disappears with a negative left value.

This example of responsive design is nicely straightforward and efficient. It is all accomplished with media queries, some simple css, and high attention to detail.

2. Smart Menus (FutureOfWebDesign.com)

The Future of Web Design website is built on a solid responsive grid. With thorough and precise code, the website lives up to its name. The menu at tablet and mobile sizes is what really impresses me. As you scale your browser down, the menu disappears and is replaced with a small menu icon in the top left. The menu then slides in and out from the left side of the screen.

The menu options are in <li>s within a <ul class=’nav nav-list’>. The <ul> is positioned absolute to remain at the top of the page. The <li>s are all display:inline-block and they float:left to make a simple inline menu that has a flexible system for the responsive changes going forward at smaller sizes.

At a width of 767px the menu collapses so it can hide and show from the left side of the screen. This is done with a value of left:-80% that is equal to the width:80% of the menu container. The menus <li>s also stack with the display:block attribute and the <a> tags within get some color changes and a background-image of an arrow.

When the menu icon is clicked, they use the new CSS3 transition technique transform: translate(80%,0). The 80% is the x-value that’s equal to the left:-80% of the menu container. The body also gets the attribute overflow-x:hidden so that the main content area can slide over without adding a horizontal scrollbar.

This transition actually occurs because of a little bit of jQuery that adds the class .js-menu-open to the <html> tag when the menu icon is clicked.

Overall, it’s a rather simple and nifty solution to a seemingly complex piece of functionality. While I do really enjoy the effect, the usability nerd in me has a slight issue with hiding the main navigation from the tablet or mobile user. Regardless, the website in general is a great responsive design example.

3. Images and videos that respond properly (ChengCrowns.com)

Responsive design is all about serving up the right content for the right screen size. Too often, I see videos and images that don’t resize properly to tablet or mobile screen sizes. At Brolik, we recently completed a responsive ecommerce website for the company Cheng Crowns where we implemented a few solutions to fix these problems.

We developed a jQuery plugin called Responsive Img that swaps out an image’s src attribute based on its container’s width. In layman’s terms, the site shows an appropriately sized image based on the size of the browser. With the use of a PHP file, Responsive Img creates new images at different sizes the first time they’re needed and puts them on your server. Therefore, you can add Responsive Img to any site, without creating new images at different sizes.

On Cheng Crowns, at the full width of 1400px, the banners have a lot of horizontal space to work with and the text is sized appropriately. But as you shrink the screen, the description text in the banner becomes too small to read. When the banner image gets to a width of 767px, we serve up a smaller banner image with Responsive Img and one line of jQuery:

Overall, it’s a simple solution to a common problem that most web designers encounter when designing responsive websites. This way, a mobile or tablet user will see images sized specifically for their size screen. This allows you to serve up the right content to the right users with minimal effort and setup.

We also used a simple solution for making videos responsive on Cheng Crowns. I’m always disappointed when I’m on my phone and videos don’t scale down properly. So here’s our solution, and it’s as simple as these three lines of jQuery:

Basically, on window ready, load, or resize, this function grabs the width of the video container <div>. It then multiplies that by 0.5625 to get the correct aspect ratio for the height and resizes the video appropriately. It’s worth noting that when the video is played it expands to full screen. Very simple and totally seamless.

Conclusion

Responsive design will continue to grow as the web continues to diversify. Users will continue to access the web from devices other than desktop computers, and web designers and developers need to plan accordingly. It’s important to note with the responsive design examples above that with simple solutions and smart planning, you can create a responsive experience to suit all screen sizes and resolutions of today and tomorrow.

But what about the 30 second commercial?
Before you challenge my theory, let me continue. Videos or commercials that sell a brand are fine, but only if you are simultaneously educating and entertaining your audience. On the web, it’s even more important to be direct and human with video content. Here’s an example of how McDonald’s cut out all the glitz to connect with a fan. All they did was present real information in a natural and simple way. Customers can smell a “corporate video” from miles away, and they’ll turn and head in the other direction if that’s what you give them. Corporate video production can be cool, and interesting, but only if the formula of the traditional talking head interview cut into the dry b-roll cinematography is shattered and reassembled.

Video is a great way to promote your business or sell your product
Here are some tips to keep in mind when you do. Video is the most engaging medium to tell a story and get people’s attention, especially with the growth of the mobile and tablet markets. With the advancement of mobile and camera technology, video is more accessible and built for easy consumption, but it comes with responsibility. Anyone can shoot video with their iPhone and upload it to Facebook in a matter of seconds. People are facing a barrage of forgettable videos everywhere they go on the web, so you have to stand out from the crowd.

Entertain and Educate, Don’t Sell
What I’m suggesting is that you use video to deliver your message but do it in a way that sells you indirectly. Forget that you are selling and let a different purpose drive you. Ask yourself, “What can I tell my customers that will help them?” or “What can I teach them?”

The answers to these questions can lead to powerful, successful content that finds an audience organically. The interaction with your content and brand will be natural. In turn, viewer perspectives on your company will improve and lead to both loyalty and sales in the long term. Some people call this branded content, which is completely different from sponsored content. You can’t just slap your logo on a video and get the results I’m talking about. Take part in the process of forming the vision and developing the content so it comes together as a true and honest product, made for your audience. Read more about the difference between branded and sponsored content.

Testimonials are Biased
Without thinking consciously about what they are watching, viewers know that a biased video testimonial on your website is exactly that; produced by you to prove you are good. For every positive testimonial, there’s one that is so-so or negative, but users are only seeing the positive side. Anyone can brag about themselves, but is it attractive? No, it’s usually rejected (even if subconsciously). If you are teaching people something with your video content, it’s acceptable if the underlying purpose is to sell your brand. You are helping or entertaining your audience first, and there’s value and respect that comes with that.

Before you invest in your next corporate video, sales video, or video testimonial, stop and rethink. Come up with something that shows your skill and experience without selling. People will watch and you’ll feel good about your investment.

“Make my logo bigger.”

“It needs more pop.”

“Why isn’t the X, Y or Z updatable?”

For designers and project managers who are juggling a design’s hierarchy and making sure the project stays on track, these comments are immensely frustrating. That doesn’t mean complaining is justified, however. As designers, instead of grumbling, it would be smarter to start educating. We all benefit from a more design-educated population.

To that end, I address you, the Client.

“Make my logo bigger”
Believe me, I understand. You want your brand front and center– memorable and unmistakable. Remember, though, that there are other ways to make things stand out beyond sheer size. If a designer put thought into your logo and your branding goals, then they likely drew attention to your logo by surrounding it with a comfortable amount of whitespace and positioning it well on the page. This is more than enough to be noticed, and then your logo can stay out of the way.

An oversized logo is a lot like one of those car dealership commercials that screams at you.

If you look at the websites of huge companies, like Apple and Nike, they’ll likely have very tiny logos. This is because human brains understand a logo when we see it on a website. In fact, that’s the point of having a logo. Once a user recognizes the mark, they know it’s you, and they truly don’t need to have it in their face while they’re trying to achieve whatever they came to your site for. Don’t underestimate your users. They’ll know you and more importantly, your brand. Especially if you provide them a quality product or service.

There’s also a sort of “side note” here, which is that subtlety equals cool. It certainly goes a long way in branding. Subtlety shows confidence and can make you look established.

“It needs more pop”
This is a little different from the logo comment. This one is related to expectations.

If your agency has been away working on something, separate of you, and then they come back to show you the work, then no matter what they show you, it won’t be what you’d initially expected.

I mean that literally. There’s no way you could have pictured every detail exactly as they give it to you. This isn’t a bad thing, but you have to take a minute to see through those expectations to what’s really there. Often times, it helps to absorb a presentation initially and then to reset your brain by going about your normal business. Once that initial clash between expectation and reality wears off, you can go back and more accurately assess the work.

That’s where the “pop” comment comes in. It stems from commenting too quickly. The expectation is to be incredibly wowed by such a fantastic, amazing product that you’re so excited for… and then you see a well-designed, professional website that’s probably awesome, if you just take a breath before you react.

I learned this one first hand recently. I designed an engagement ring for my fiancee and went through a revision round process similar to the one we use at Brolik. Each time I saw the next 3D rendering of my ring design, my first reaction was anxiety. I just wasn’t sure… would this work? Is this right? But I was picturing… I think it needs…

But when I stepped away and came back with a clear head, my first (and more natural) reaction each time was very positive. In the end, the ring came out beautifully and just like I’d imagined it. All the worrying was for nothing.

“Why isn’t the X, Y or Z updatable?”
This is also known as, “Why can’t I rearrange those entries on my own?” and “Can I upload video into that box?”

These questions are 100% reasonable and fair from a client’s perspective. That doesn’t make them less frustrating for designers and developers. (Although, frankly, that’s the designer’s or developer’s problem, not the client’s.)

The fact is that most clients aren’t educated enough on what really goes into creating a website. Most don’t know code, or even how code works.

I think building a home is a great analogy for building a website. Homes have structures and frameworks, hidden wiring and plumbing, a visual layer, someone needs to design them, someone needs to build them, someone maintains them…

The point is that there are different considerations and concerns that go into building websites (like standards, accessibility and man hours of code) that people don’t understand. Yet, people do seem to get these concepts relating to home building and construction.

So for instance, you don’t hire some guy off the street to rewire your bathroom, because he doesn’t know the safety concerns and proper installation techniques. Same reason you hire a professional digital agency for your website.

But beyond knowing a professional is needed in the first place, everyone also understands that home building and home maintenance require effort, hours and workers. People understand that opening up a wall with a saw, running wiring and then patching that wall back up is time intensive. Therefore, they’re willing to pay.

But when you ask to make a section of your website updatable, you may not realize that it’s very similar to opening up a wall with a saw, running some wiring (following all standards and safety specs) and then patching that hole back up. It’s time intensive.

It’s not the biggest deal, but if you don’t know, now you know. It’s not only about what should be updatable on a website. It’s also about time and budget and realistic expectations of what you as a client are likely to actually update. Remember, it’s inefficient to spend time and money making something updatable if it will never get updated (but that’s a whole other article).

Moving on…
The point behind all of this is that if the same comments always come up for all designers and all clients, then it’s time for designers to learn why clients are asking for things and for clients to learn why designers do what they do.

Most of the time, when we explain these types of things to clients, they don’t quite trust us. (And that’s crazy, considering how much they sometimes pay us.) In the end, it’s usually a compromise. We make that logo a little bigger, but not 150% bigger as they’d asked for. We add a few details to try to make the design “pop,” and you know what? A few of them we really like. We cave on that one section that really should be updatable, and we throw in another section because we think it’d be a cool feature.

It’s all about empathy. It’s about remembering that we’re all on the same team. Especially when we’re working on a project together. As long as designers keep business goals in mind, and as long as clients stay objective and business-minded in their judgements, we can all achieve greater things, and more importantly, we’ll all sleep better at night.

Recently, I’ve been reading a project manager’s playbook – The Art of Client Service by Robert Solomon. Over this three-part series, I’ll be distilling his most basic concepts down, especially those I have already been applying to my own account management style.

As a project manager, I’ve come to understand how important establishing roles and expectations really is. Before jumping full-steam into your next web project, ensure the groundwork comes first and solidify a project management plan. At the start of every successful web project there are a few key elements you’ll want to focus on: setting expectations and goals, agreeing to a plan, and creating a timeline and strategy. Without these pieces, projects can easily go awry. So, take time to start the project off on the right foot and move forward strategically.

Expectations and Goals

Define What the Goals Are
I’ve learned it’s important to ask what the goals of the project are and have them easily accessible to everyone throughout the entire project. Doing this sets the tone for future conversations and guides work. It sounds like an easy thing to do, and it is, but many times it gets overlooked. In the past I’ve neglected this step myself, but defining goals for the project forces both the client and the agency to be on the same page. If the client can’t verbalize the goals, no matter how good the product is, it will fall short. By doing this you’re validating the project and ensuring there are real expectations to hit. At Brolik, we like to present the client with these initial goals often because it’s not uncommon to see goals change, especially if they weren’t agreed on initially.

Set Expectations
Based on what these defined goals are, manage the expectations accordingly. Be clear with the client so they know what to expect. This includes letting them know what approach your agency will take, what they can expect delivered at each stage of the process, and what those stages are. My experience has taught me that this helps everyone stay on the same page and avoids confusion or surprise when clients see the work. Keep in mind that there are clients who have unrealistic expectations for both the project and the budget. It’s completely fine, I’d even say encouraged, to indicate that expectations exceed the budget, and the scope needs to be adjusted. This avoids a situation where the agency feels lost and works to no apparent end with a minimal budget.

Manage Expectations
You’ve established what can be expected so when the work is actually presented, make sure to listen. Take time to ask questions about how clients feel and what their thoughts on the work are. At this point I like to try and draw information out by asking specific questions, then gauge client’s comfort levels. In an effort to preserve the relationship (which we’ll discuss in part two) clients may not want to be completely forthcoming, but they need to be. Let’s be clear, this isn’t so I can abuse that information later; it’s to ensure that everyone is moving together in the right direction.

Planning and Discovery

Here’s an all-too-familiar situation in our world; A client comes in and they’re pumped, they love our work and want to get started quickly. We jump in and have a kickoff (we use the term ‘Discovery’) meeting. From there we present our findings and plans for the work, and the client (who is busy with their own endeavors) says “Yup, that looks great. Go!” A couple things just happened. One, there’s a good chance everybody involved is still in the “honeymoon stage” and didn’t really dig deep enough. This likely means that, two, the creative team will present work that doesn’t exactly hit the mark. This frustrates the client. You’re certainly not honeymooning anymore and everyone wonders what went wrong. Chances are not enough time was spent planning and managing these steps. Be definitive here, perhaps even make them sign off on material before moving on to ensure important details and milestones aren’t overlooked.

Be Multilingual
Our clients look to us provide them with good counsel. To do this, project managers need to invest the time to learn the ins and outs of their client’s business, or ‘speak their language’. This is all in an effort to be able to recommend the best combination of services to achieve the best results. Without investing time to understand the client’s perspective this is difficult, maybe even impossible to do.

Live the Brand
Ever have a client say, “That’s exactly how we would have said it”? Congrats, because this means you took the time to understand their business and you started approaching the project like they would. It’s also evidence that you have built enough trust with them to suggest new ideas because you have a firm understanding of their brand. This doesn’t happen often, but it’s always a great sign when it does. In my experience, sometimes it just takes a bit of an outside perspective to bring fresh ideas to the table.

Strategy and Schedule

Setting up a project timeline can be tricky, and I always find myself perfecting the skill. These days, everyone wants everything yesterday, and each project feels like it’s rushed. With that mentality, it’s easy to cut corners. Don’t. The project management timeline is in place for a reason. It’s a waste to exert all the effort putting a strategy and timeline together and not stick to it. Do your best to make clients understand and agree that timelines are in place for a reason. Keep in mind that promising expedited timelines is a dangerous way to start a project and do what you can to manage them. Brolik’s mentality has always been that it’s better to promise a timetable that’s feasible, rather than an aggressive one that sells a job but is difficult, maybe even impossible to deliver on.

Be an absolute resource on the project. This goes not only for the client but also for your team. Your agency is counting on you to know all the answers when it comes to the client, and well, you should… it is your job. On the flip side, the client is counting on you to relay their vision and needs (whether verbalized or implied) to your agency. Think of it like being a quarterback in football or a catcher in baseball. You see all the players on the field and have everything in front of you to make the right call, just put yourself in position to do it. Hopefully you can use these suggestions and add them to your own playbook.

Stay tuned for part 2 of 3; Managing the Relationship – Attitude, Communication and Trouble 

For RFG, starting the project would take more than a financial commitment. Susan knew that in making the jump into digital strategy, she would have to take blog writing seriously and spend more hours a week on writing. They were hours that she didn’t really have.

Now, almost a year after Susan and her company hired us and made the commitment to digital strategy, I decided to sit down with her and shed some light on the challenges and progress they’ve experienced in 2012-2013.

What is your business model, in a nutshell?

Susan: RFG is a specialty mortgage finance company making first lien loans to investors purchasing 1-4 unit residential property in need of rehab. RFG fully underwrites the borrower and the collateral property, and if the loan meets RFG’s underwriting criteria, will lend the borrower up to 65% of the after repaired value for the purchase and rehab of the property. All of RFG’s loans are either six month or twelve month term loans.

What were your goals when you hired Brolik?

Susan: RFG’s goals were to improve business by increasing RFG’s online presence, maximizing its advertising dollars and driving relevant traffic to RFG’s website, which would ultimately result in increased closed loan volume.

Did you expect immediate success, or did you have your doubts when you started?

Susan: I expected success to be gradual, but did not doubt that it would ultimately be successful. It took a few months for the two companies to understand each other’s operations, but over time and a lot of communication, we zeroed in on what we needed from each other.

Do you feel the investment has brought more business or brand awareness to the company?

Susan: Since working with Brolik, RFG has consistently received more views on its website, received more customer calls, and most importantly has continually built its loan volume when measured quarterly.

Do you have any tips for other small businesses who are considering investing in digital strategy?

Susan: You need to be comfortable with the people you are making the investment with. Brolik came highly recommended, but so did other similar companies. After interviewing several of them, I identified Brolik as a group of people I could work with. Once you make the commitment  to move forward, you need to trust the people you have hired. Make sure they understand your product, and make sure you understand what they are asking you to pay for, but trust them on the implementation.

How has the company changed in the last year?

Susan: RFG has begun the transition from a small, start up company, to a viable mortgage lender with a growing, positive, and regional reputation. We have moved offices to allow for room to grow, and have been successful in expanding our investor base and banking relationships.

What has been the single most effective initiative?

Susan: I believe that the single most effective initiative has been through the refined and pointed use of Google Adwords.

Are you considering investing more in any specific areas in the future to improve brand awareness or lead generation?

Susan: We have been speaking with Brolik regarding expanding our avenues of exposure, such as a concerted effort to increase inbound links and growing RFG’s use of social media.

What does the next year look like for Rehab Financial Group?

Susan: We are excited about the prospects for RFG. We have begun to actively loan in additional states and expect to grow our presence in the nine states we currently lend in. We enjoyed an excellent 2012, returning a significant dividend to our investors, and anticipate this level of success in the years to come.