September 2012 - Hopping Mad Design

Finding a Quality Creative Digital Design Studio

Grow your business online with a digital partner

Your Creative Digital Design Studio should be able to help you bring your brand or product to life online. From social media marketing to online advertising, website design, SEO, content marketing, remarketing & Adwords management your Creative Digital Design Studio will be able to use graphic design and digital media strategies to positively build your online presence and grow your audience. If you are not working with a digital agency then your business in missing out on massive online opportunities. There are so many juicy new digital platforms you can use to grow your business and at Hopping Mad Designs we know the right ones to help boost sales and get more of those great new sales leads.

We are the sales lead generation experts

Below, we’ve highlighted some of the key services your Creative Digital Design Studio should be able to provide:

Creative Digital Graphic Design
Like most forms of visual art, digital platforms offer a world of opportunities to both capture and reshape your brand. The flexibility and vast possibilities provided by digital design, means there are many ways to achieve this—knowing what works is ultimately what separates the highly skilled from the rest.

Sadly, knowing how to dress does not necessarily mean you know how to design which is why getting to know your designers and determining whether you can create an inspired partnership is so important.

We believe creative digital design adheres to the fundamentals of good business—if there’s talent, strategy and a willingness to work collaboratively, then you’ve probably got yourself the start of a beautiful (business) friendship.

Creative Digital Website Design
Your website has rapidly become the key platform for digital interaction. It’s your brand’s online presence and remains both the place where users are invited to visit and where they’ll make their first impression of your business. Many companies have potential customers visit their websites daily, but unless they are impressed, these customers will now and forever be merely potential. This is why your digital agency must know about conversion rate optimisation.

Does your website convert online browsers into buyers?

That is the ability to design websites that are able to convert browsers into buyers. The need to be able to create intelligent landing pages designed to get them to click, call and buy. THIS IS A MUST!

Website designers, like digital design studios, are rapidly growing in numbers. To sort the wheat from the chaff, you have to look beyond their often-impressive portfolio. We recommend asking to see the brief behind the work to be able to truly assess whether the website was written in a way to accommodate both the practical and the pretty aspects of the site.

Websites, like many facets of creative digital design, can be subject to trends. While aesthetics change, the appropriateness of a design to your brief likely will not, and it’s important to work with a designer who has survived the fickle waves of web design popularity to ensure your final product is tried and true.

The time it takes to build a well performing website may also be a factor to consider. When it comes to websites, quick is often a fast way to raise suspicions as to the originality of the work.

A website, designed and built to brief, will typically take a minimum of six weeks for a basic website, and many months for a website that is more complex. Taking the time to test, refine the design, and ensure the brief is met in full, are all key qualities of a quality digital agency. If your website designer promises you a site in a week, it might be better to resist the temptation of a tight timeline in favour of a website that will stand the test of time.

Is your website ranking on Google?

Ranking high on the search engines, such as Google is a key part of any digital strategy. Gone are the days of cold calls, as SEO brings the searchers to your site, where hopefully you can entice a conversion from prospect to customer. SEO is also a multifaceted strategy, and whenever you’re looking to add content or online elements to a digital campaign, how these elements will ultimately serve your SEO should be well considered. Make sure that the agency you decide to use has a thorough understanding of SEO and for gods sake NEVER choose an agency based on price or false SEO guarantees. These are scams and must be avoided.

Digital Advertising Strategy
Adwords, banners, placement, frequency, campaign length and content, are all services your Creative Digital Design Agency can provide. Unlike traditional agencies, which tend to favour a mix of mediums, Creative Digital Design Agencies are focused on all things digital—and it’s their clients who stand to gain the most benefit.

Traditional forms of advertising can be expensive, but a professional digital design agency can show how the addition of an online advertising strategy can enhance your ROI for your traditional campaigns. Unlike press, radio and television, the online arena is one with few creative limitations. It’s a space where people are more willing to experiment and engage through interaction.

Digital Copywriting/Online Content
Like digital design, digital copywriting is both technically and stylistically different from its print-based cousins. The online audience requires shorter, punchier and more easily digestible content, and the content itself should ideally be written in a way so as to maximise your online marketing (i.e. SEO).

Specialist writers with specific digital copywriting training and experience are needed to achieve both flawless and engaging copy, written to truly maximise your online presence. Sadly, we live in an era where the skill of a writer seems less appreciated, yet the opportunity that quality writing offers your business is now surprisingly greater.

In a world where spelling errors abound, grammar and punctuation are all but forgotten, and the considered articulation of meaning is often an afterthought, your brand can immediately present as a mark above its peers through quality writing— especially online. Be different, be brilliant, and ask your Creative Digital Design Agency for the qualifications of their copywriter and content editor (which they really should have).

Articulating your Brand Online
You may have a well-defined visual identity, but keeping that identity fresh and relevant to an ever-changing online audience requires a certain degree of strategic planning. Every brand has points in its evolution, and how this is achieved can be through engaging a fresh team to assist with your strategic and creative output.

If you’ve never considered using a Creative Digital Design Studio, we recommend that you spend a moment online to see what your competitors are doing. Take a moment to think about the brands and products you enjoy engaging with online, and ask yourself, why?

With so many brands trying to stand out in this transient and attention-poor era, using a traditional agency for your digital design needs could spell disaster. A Creative Digital Design Studio can demystify the online world and enable your business to benefit from it.

What to look for in a Creative Digital Design Studio?

> How long have they been in business for? are they a start up with little experience or do they really know their stuff?

> What brands or businesses have they worked on in the past?

> Do they understand SEO and how to rank a website? This is really an important point and something you need to keep an eye out for.

> What can they do for your business in the social media space.

> Can they manage your Adwords campaign and can they also look after your Google Remarketing?

> Do they have a good team of web copy writers?

At Hopping Mad Designs, we offer a range of professional digital design and creative services. From strategy to execution, our team of leading creative professionals can help your company generate sales leads from our proven digital strategies. Give us a try and see the difference we can make to your bottom line.

Ready to get those juicy new sales leads?

Call us on 02 9360 8514 or click here now.

Tips for a great web designer-client relationship

Truthful

One very important factor that you must note is the ability to be able to communicate truthfully with a client or designer. If you are open and honest from the very beginning of the web project then the final outcome will always be a lot better, with very few road bumps along the way. Over promising and under delivering from the web designers perspective is a very common mistake. More often than not, in the rush to get the job on board and to keep a client happy a designer will commit to more design time than was quoted and this can lead to unrealistic expectations from the client. Being honest from the beginning about design, navigation and site size will save everyone time, money and ensure that the project remains on target. At Hopping Mad, to avoid any such situations we do mitigate any web derailment by fully scoping out the project by providing a comprehensive set of wire frames before any design work is carried out. This is based on the initial brief given by the client. Of course in some cases, the client will try to push for a bit more but we are able to ensure that expectations are maintained by setting everything out in writing from the outset. This does include site architecture and graphic/web design ideas.

Being truthful through out the whole design process means that all parties will be happy upon project completion. There is absolutely nothing worse than hearing that the client is unhappy with the end result even thought there have been rounds and rounds of design amends. Being clear with your thoughts and honest in your opinions all the time during this process will mean that the final web solution is what was expected.

This collaborative process also works in the other direction as well too. For example, at Hopping Mad Designs we are simple not order takers or ‘ yes people’. We are not afraid to speak out and tell it is, like the way it should be and what our thoughts and opinions are. This is what we are paid for and as web designers our clients do expect our honest and forthright opinion on all web matters. If we are truthful and open about our design ideas, site navigation and content then the final result will be better all round. The client has to remember that we are the experts and sometimes its vital that we express our opinions.
Saying this, honesty and communication is a two way process and at HMD we always conduct ourselves in a very professional manner. Honesty can sometimes be brutal, but we look upon this as communicating it in a friendly and very constructive manner. This way we can ensure that the web project will be finished on time, on budget and with every one smiling at the end of the project.

Professional Attitude

This pearl of wisdom might appear to be plain as day but still does need to be looked at. At all stages of the web project or any graphic design project the communication between client/designer needs to be handled in a highly professional and very courteous manner. Leave the egos and attitude at the door as all parties are here to work together. If the designer is very opinionated and stubborn this may lead to complications, conversely if the client is over bearing and dominant this may affect the communication process. The best way forward with any web design project is to start off on the right footing so that each party is on the same page. Friendliness and service with a smile is what its all about and this is something that we do value highly at Hopping Mad Designs. All our web team are easy going, professional experts that are able to contribute their design advice and input without the attitude. This means that the project will be off to a good start from the get go. If we are relaxed, then you will also be. Tempers are never raised here and the whole office vibe is one of web collaboration and forward momentum.
Some clients need to understand that most designers are university trained experts when it comes to building and developing web sites. They will have had years of design experience based on previous assignments and therefore any arguments that they put forward should be listened to carefully and their advice should be taken with a certain amount of respect, which they deserve.

Transparent Fee Structure

Being upfront about your fees and on going costs associated with a web site build and development in my opinion is critical to the success of the relationship. There are far too many web companies who will quote low to get the business and then slug you, the client, with additional fees. What can happen, and this is a huge issue in the web industry, is that designers will quote a low, basic, one off fee for a website. What they never tell you is:
– The cost to make any design amends. The surest way to get someone off side is to keep hitting them up with a cost each time they need to make a design change. At Hopping mad Designs we detail the amount of design iterations allowed in our quote and will let you know when your limit has been reached. Obviously, we do not have the meter running like a taxi and are flexible in the amount of design amends allowed. Our design approach ensures that the relationship that starts out smoothly and friendly, ends in the same way.
– The yearly cost for hosting. This is an ongoing fee as all websites need to to be hosted somewhere. But, what they don’t tell you is that it has to be hosted with them and that the CMS platform that the site is built around needs a certain type of hosting which only they can provide. It is these snippets of information that need to be clearly stated at the commencement of the project to avoid any fallouts.
– Note that some companies will offer varied payment structures. Its good to know what these are in advance prior to any work being done. A good idea to keep the relationship on an even keel is to get an initial deposit and then get paid in stages. Say one further payment after initial designs are presented and then one final payment prior to site deployment. Having a fee structure like this ensures that all design and development milestones are met and that payment has been made based on these achievements. If the designer is not delivering then you should not have to pay, and conversely if the website has been completed to your satisfaction then it is your duty and obligation to pay for this service.

Ideas, Ideas and even More Ideas

Communication is the most important component in any relationship. Whether it be personal or profession the key to the success of a working partnership is the ability to relate ideas to each other. This also applies to the design world where ideas presented at the beginning of the project are vital to the success of the site. Working within a design environment we see graphic and visual ideas each and every day. No matter how simple, complex or silly they may seem its is a great idea to get all these out in the open. As a client, you may like to show us sites that you like/don’t like or bring a collage or mood board to the table at our first meeting to give us an idea of the design direction you would like to move in. As designers, it is our job to take all this on board in a very open minded approach. This open working relationship, and the discussion of ideas means that the project will have gotten off on the best possible footing. Holding things back, being afraid to articulate thoughts is what can lead to relationship breakdowns. At Hoping Mad, our professional, friendly approach to customer service means that we are able to get all the information from you needed to start the design process. No matter how insignificant or small you think an idea may be, we just might be able to take it and use it at a later stage. The more ideas you can come up with the better it is for our web team.

Set Realistic Expectations.

Be honest and realistic about the web process and what the website can achieve. This can often lead to big issues and client/designer relationship breakdowns if mishandled. Never say one thing in order to please the client as you may feel pressured to do so and then do another. The best way to keep things happy is to document all amends or changes and email them to the client for confirmation. There are so many areas involved in web design and internet marketing that you have to be realistic c about what the website will be able to do for their business. Saying comments like this will bring in heaps more business is simple not true and can lead to problems later on when this does not happen. One important and vital point is to never discuss or promise SEO rankings unless you have the backing of a expert. Over promising web rankings once site is completed is a sure way to mess a fine relationship up.

Speak in a Common Language.

OK, so you are a web experts. You know all the lingo, slang and cool new buzz words that are sure to impress. But, the layman business owner has never heard of these before and speaking to him as though he understands what you are saying will only aggravate things. For these business people the web process can often be intimidating and uncomfortable. its the job of the web designer to ‘dumb it down’ and speak in a language that is easy to understand and makes the whole process a lot simpler. Its always a good buzz, dazzling the client with your knowledge and jargon, but what may seem like fun at the outset will just annoy them when an issue needs to be resolved. This is why at HMD all designers are in-house and have a knack of getting on the same wave length as our clients. Just imaging if your work was all out sourced and you had to work with a designer who did not understand the Australian work ethic/culture and was also speaking to you in ‘geek speak’. This would only lead to a relationship breakdown and fast. This is why its best to have local people working on your site who can understand what you want and can clearly explain things if needed.