Our Services

Creating a Web presence is more than just plopping some pictures next to a late-at-night-scribed blog entry.
The Web is pervasive.
It’s dynamic.
It’s powerful.

Did You Know?

• 97 million Americans (67 percent American adults) log on to the Internet each day
• Americans spend an average of 11.4 hours online each week
• The number-one reason people go online is for a weather forecast
• 72 percent of Americans check their e-mail while on vacation
• 26 million Americans log on each day for news or information on government-related issues
• Hispanic households are the majority when it comes to having broadband Internet access (52 percent)
• Senior Citizens are the fastest-growing online community

The Method Behind Our Madness

Our goal is to have a Web site that is lean, clean, accessible and search engine friendly but above all USABLE.

The Words 

The words are the meat of your site. That is what people are actually coming to your URL for, to read about your product, event, service, information or experience. But words on the Web are unique. They reside somewhere between the verbose print world and the short-attention-spanned TV land.

How do you walk that fine line? There are a variety of styles and methods that apply to writing for the Web, and all have one common denominator—the user. Your users need to find what they’re looking for and find it quickly. The less time they spend looking, the happier they are, and the more time they have to read your pretty, fluffy adjectives. Here are some tips for friendly Web copy:

Go boldly. Draw your reader’s attention to key areas of information with a short bold sentence. Just make sure it offers them a clue on the topic. (See what I just did? I played off the word bold to be both clever and useful. Go ahead, you try.)

Subheads are your friends. Break up long sections of copy with key subheads. This will allow your users to scan pages quickly or reference them easily later after printing. Bullets are also a nice touch.

Keep the scroll to a minimum. Remember, if your user gets too far from the top of your page, they might not come back. And that means they’re probably moving on to the next Web site.

Market with editorial. Your home page is prime real estate, and there’s no reason that your home page copy can’t change. Have a big announcement? Make a story out of it MSN.com-style and post it front and center. Have a service line you need to push? Brainstorm a story to go around. (For a good example, click here to read about the city of Glendale’s Water Conservation Department and xeriscape garden messaged in a clever Arbor Day story.)

Links—the perk to working with the Web. Got more to say? Put it on a link. Remember that scrolling rule, and if you’re looking to totally change topics, why not change pages while you’re at it. Watch, we’ll try it right now: Click here to see how we practice what we preach by looking at our portfolio.

The Design

Let’s talk color, pictures and the whole 9 yards.

• Color. Your color palette says a lot about your brand. Bright, cool, fun, serious—these impressions can all be enhanced through the use of color. But you want to make sure that the color you think people are seeing is the same one that is actually loading on their desktops. Stick with the Web compliant colors, and you can’t go wrong.
• Photos. The loading of images should not dip into a users experience. True, high-speed is becoming more and more prevalent. But a good portion of the Web browsing world is still on dial-up. You don’t want to frustrate them. Trust us!
• 15-minute rule. It's simple: If you can't envision your end-design within 15 minutes of starting your Web design, take a break. That's right. Walk away. Get a Diet Coke, or a latte. Believe us, you'll have a whole new perspective when you come back. And your site will be better for it.