Apogee INVENT

You may have heard the saying "the devil is in the details".  This is never truer than when talking about web design.  Once you've considered the 5 most important parts of a homepage design, you need to look a little deeper.  A great web design can be ruined by forgetting to pay attention to important details. So whether you are a designer, or are having a web page designed, here are some of the details that are often overlooked that can turn a beautiful design into a disaster.

5 web design details that are overlooked:

Shadows.  You've picked great images and the perfect readable font.  But something isn't quite right.  One common design mistake is to use shadows from different angles.  All the shadows should be in the same direction. Pretend there is an invisible sun - where should all the shadows fall?  A discrepancy in shadow might not be easy to pinpoint, but it can make the whole design look off.

Square vs Rounded. Many web designs use 'boxes' to separate out the different sections of the page. Or they include buttons. But something that is often not considered is the corners. Using consistent rounded or squared corners is important to the cohesiveness of a design.  Checking to be sure the corners are consistent is important to ensure a beautiful design.

Depth. Sometimes a web design will have a mixture of 2D and 3D elements. Or perhaps it has a background that looks like a realistic scene in the distance, but a foreground that could never exist in that situation. Designing a website is all about user experience, and you don’t want a use to be viewing your website with skeptical eyes – it can influence how they view your business.

Alignment. Header not quite centered? The boxes of the webpage are a little uneven? Good enough, some designers might say.  But even the slightest off-centered header, or misaligned sections, can make the page look skewed. And even if the user can’t put their finger on what is wrong, it can give them a bad first impression, and make them feel uncomfortable with your overall design. The end result? They will have a negative feeling towards your business and will be less likely to perform whatever action your web page was built to inspire.

Cohesiveness.  This could be the wrong colors in the color scheme, or too many colors.  It could be fonts that are too different to be paired on the same page. The images might not follow the theme.  These issues can be easy to overlook, but can make a big difference in the overall feeling the user is left with.

Whether you are a web designer or just a website owner, it is important to pay attention to the details of your website. Don’t lose a customer because of sloppy design or an overlooked error.

Know of other web design details that are often overlooked?  Please share them in the comments below!

 by Lindsey Winsemius.  Lindsey is the Vice President of Communications for ApogeeINVENT, and is the social media voice and blogger for the company. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on Google+

Make sure your business is ready to market online this Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and you should not only be thinking of what to get for your mom, you should also be considering how to market your business this year.

Consumers are expected to spend an average of $168.94 on mom, up 11 percent from last year’s $152.52. Total spending is expected to reach $20.7 billion.   That will make Mother’s Day the second biggest gifting holiday after Christmas. Nearly three in 10 (28.5%) Americans will buy their gifts online, up from 25.6 percent last year and the highest in the survey’s 10-year history. 

Mother's Day Spending in a glance:

Here are a few ways you can make Mother’s Day the perfect day for your business (and hopefully you will for your mother, too).

Optimize your marketing for Mother’s Day:

Know what people are looking to buy. According to the NRF survey, consumers will spoil mom with special meals, clothing, electronics, flowers and more. Electronics will see record purchases this year, spending up to $2.3 billion.  Flowers and dining out are two of the more popular ways to celebrate, with $2.3 billion spend on flowers, and 3.5 billion spent going out to dinner or brunch.  $4.2 billion will be spent to treat mom to some bling (jewelry), more than one third of gift givers choosing this option. Use this knowledge to create special marketing for these popular items.

Create special deals around traditional Mother’s Day gifts. For example, if you sell phone accessories, create specials around the more feminine accessories, with a campaign like “Save 20% on these great gift ideas for Mom!” Highlight these specials deals on the homepage of your ecommerce website so visitors see it as soon as they reach your page.

Consider a landing page for best-selling Mother’s Day products. A landing page is a direct sale page that generally highlights a single product purchase. It is optimized to make sales, and is the best way to use a a PPC campaign because it allows you to select very specific key terms. Not sure how to use PPC Advertising? Read this introductory guide to learn more.

Use Email Marketing tailored for Mother’s Day. If you have a special deal, or even if you don’t, create an email marketing campaign with Mother’s Day as the theme. You could include a list of gift ideas for Mother’s Day, highlighting your most popular products. Just make sure your consumers are thinking of your business when it comes time for them to buy a Mother’s Day gift.

Use Social Media with Mother’s Day in mind. Put your deals on Facebook, Tweet about them using a hashtag like #mothersdaygiftidea, or put your products on Pinterest with a Mother’s Day label. This will ensure that people using Pinterest who search for Mother’s Day will see your products.

Use content marketing to bring in more people looking for mother’s day gifts. Consider what people will be searching for, such as ‘mother’s day gift ideas’, ‘gifts for mom’, etc. Then create a blog titled Top Mother’s Day Gift Ideas, or DIY Mother’s Day Gifts, or something else relative to your business.

Now that you know what to do, get selling! But don't forget about your mom!  What are you getting the special women in your life this year? Share in the comments below.

 Lindsey Winsemius is the Vice President of Communications for ApogeeINVENT, and is the social media voice and blogger for the company. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on Google+

Ad:Tech San Francisco : What to Bring

As I packed for Ad:Tech San Francisco, I went through my mental checklist of the most important things to bring to a conference. Here are what I consider the most important things:

My Phone.  This is a central hub for my work on the road, with mobile being an easy way to access the web.   I can check my email and stay in touch with my coworkers. I can take photos and post updates to my business social media sites - networking on social media at events can help other attendees better remember me, and also be a great way to use social media to garner more excitement.  It may also result in making a connection with other attendees that are fans or connections that I might not have met otherwise.

Business Cards. Handing out business cards is a little like emailing to a lead list – the most you send out, the better chance you have of getting a response. Having a simple, professionally designed card is a great way to send people home with a reminder of you and your business.

Marketing Materials.  I like simple product cards that can be tucked into a folder or bag and give an overview of what ApogeeINVENT’s main products are all about. Like handing out business cards, handing out these product summaries is a great way to remind those you meet of what your business does and are more likely to garner a response. I like to include a special promotion on these cards.  This will help in two ways. 1) I can see who uses the promotion code, and be able to better track the response to my networking efforts. 2) It is an encouragement to use my businesses' awesome services.

The right clothes. We like to talk a lot here about how first impressions (of a website) are crucial to web success.  In the same way, people are going to form a first impression when meeting you at a conference based on how you are dressed.  Dress for success (and a good first impression!).

What are some of the things you always bring to a conference or event? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!