Partially, this depends on the company and on the industry, but mostly, on knowledge of a person who is interested in services. True professionals of online marketing realize enormous possibility to increase business in just about any field by creating web presence which compliments and expands their brand reach to users online. Customers that have more traditional brick and mortar businesses rarely possess such in-depth understanding and, therefore, look for services provided at a discount or low cost. They try to find somebody who will offer services at lowest cost with “acceptable” quality, not with highest value to their business. The problem on this approach is that acceptable quality is a relevant term. There are options for any budget, and it can be hard to know the difference. Don’t settle for anything less then 1% of your revenue, best options are 5-12% for website budget.

Our recommendation is that before anyody even starts vendor selection process, its critical to educate yourself about process that it takes to create a typical website and what options exist on the market today. Decide what tier of professional design companies you want to work with. Go for value above all. Professional portfolio, references and open ended design process without fixed number of reviews is important.

Contact LightMix to receive a custom proposal for your site redesign.

This questions is based on type of a provider and quality of work. While freelance designers can offer design services for $20/hr, top design agencies do not work for less then several hundred dollars per hour. Depending on the type of your organization, you need to select first of all, an appropriate level of a provider to work with. Medium and large design organizations will never be interested in bidding on small scale projects with limited budget as they can not modify their pricing and approach to compete with small firms. Small firms also can’t typically adjust website design rates low enough to compete with freelance or off-shore providers.

Website design rates – setting the right expectations

Most important is to have a right expectation of design rate and total cost when contacting a design company. If you shop around for cheapest rate for web design services you will likely find it, but will sacrifice quality. At the same time, highest priced providers are not always providing the best services. In today’s market, many companies operate on different levels, leading to different overheads and expenses associated with running a company. Despite these differences, a right expectation should be such that a billing rate for a professional designer working for a firm should never be less then $75/hr. At the same time highest rates for typical design services should be under $150/hr in most cases. What is important to note is that many times proposals are done based on overall value of a project and not hourly rates. This means that a design company takes on risk to have higher or lower rate, but in its turn providing a customer with a fixed cost rather then hourly estimate.

What is the benefit of fixed cost vs hourly rate for web design services

Many organizations are choosing value-based proposals as they allow to focus on the total budget as opposed to try to maneuver the rate of a provider. From the provider’s prospective, website design rate still is included in the fixed cost estimate, just not obvious to the end client so they are encouraged to make work faster and better, which is a goal of every project.

Are you considering fixed cost value proposal or hourly based website design rates estimate?
Click here to receive a proposal from LightMix

In general, data visualization has different meaning in different fields. In engineering and science, it can be used to represent complex data and arrays of data relationships and identify patterns that are not clear in any other form. In business environment, data visualization can be used to represent business process, work flow and interrelationships between parties. In all, it is a critical component in analysis of the information, which helps make right conclusions that can’t be done without visualizing it.

Data Visualization  -  Business data and work flow and software
From visual perspective, data visualization requires design and layout to be consistent with overall application yet stand out to provide informative and clear view of key data points. Design of the data delivery visuals should not distract users from the key information and should be sufficient enough to generate effective response to the information. Choosing the right style of data visualization elements or creating new ones becomes critical aspect in application’s user experience. In business applications, dashboards and performance charts are often primary examples where data has to be visualized and presented in graphical format. Oftentimes, common mistakes are made in selecting absolutely ineffective tools and methods to display information. For example using any of the below graphically heavy elements is ineffective in terms of data visualization because emphasis is no longer on the data but on style and also gear and circular device approach is not clearly presenting true value which is more clearly shown using simple bar chart graph.

Resources:
Great example sof complex data visualization:
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/50-great-examples-of-data-visualization/

CLick here to receive a free estimate for your visualization project

Usable, functional and accessible design approach allows web users to interact with your web site or application at a different level. Lets consider scenarios where user A attempts to proceed through a typical path through a website from home page to confirmation screen. Our typical path will consist of the following screens:

a. Home page
b. Product listing or search result screen
c. Product detail screen
d. Shopping cart view
e. Checkout screen with login
f. New users – register screen
g. New users – register confirmation screen
h. New users -payment screen
i. Conformation screen
j. Thank you page

Following sequence is what is typically used when creating web interface design for ecommerce applications. What is important to note is that the process described above is a more or less standardized. Typical visitors have accumulated between 5 to 10 years of experience in online shopping many have certain level of expectations that web interface design will not deviate too much from the path they know. Move any of the steps around and the results will significantly vary.

What can be done to improve or at least not to lower results of your website or application?

a. Always establish if the application or your type of website is a common or unique. Do users have expectations when using your website based on similar sites?
b. Determine typical paths of movement of users through the site.
c. Draw a diagram of movement of users through your competition sites and try to identify weak points where users can leave the site
d. Draw your diagram in 2 versions -Version A and Version B. Make version A be consistent with standard or most logical scenario and Version B as an alternative path
e. Make necessary coding changes to ensure you can test A / B options
f. Explain your users from the first page to expect how many steps they need to go through to reach final result
g. Ensure that last screens in your process have fewer and fewer distracting information to reduce % of users that do not go all the way
h. Include google analytics code and set applicable goals to be able to collect statistics.

After running your campaign and website for certain period of time web interface design may need to be altered and it is better to be prepared for that from the start. Typical A/ B testing approach should be followed and will reveal more or less effective solution.

Click hereto receive a quote for your custom web interface design for your web site or web application

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Why is it critical to understand that website design sample work or what is called speculative work is bad

Read an article by AIGI

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/news-090527

This essentially confirm that designing anything before designers are contracted to design it is not going to turn out well.

LightMix amongst many other professional organizations highly recommends against usage of practice of requesting of what is commonly called “speculative design work”. This means requesting design samples prior to the real start of the project.

Most professional organizations employ professional designers, which do not like to waste their professional time without compensation. Having said that, its important to note that it is not just about money. The entire premise of the logic that some types of work like competition, volunteer, pro-bono work means that the effort that design team puts into a project is assumed to have high degree of risk or done entirely at designers expense. In the professional design field, where clients expect real results and designers are to provide real services, this type of work carries significant risk to everyone as correctly stated by the AIGA article above. Indeed, if the client is expecting that website design samples for example are to be submitted before selection of a vendor, only low quality and unprofessional design work will be received. And as a result only vendors that fall into this category will be chosen leading to poor quality and bad outcome of any project.

What we strongly suggest is that the customers never attempt to save or start a project without commitment to a specific design team that has trust and authority over the project. This assumption is critical as only this puts on real requirements on the creative team to provide top quality output and produce best work without an sacrifice in quality. Being website design samples, print samples or logo samples, all clients should never expect that any of them will be done at no cost. Evaluate strength of designer portfolio, experience and references to make final judgement on the vendor, but never make it based on hastily provided samples of something that can not be done to the professional level.

Click here to request a proposal for professional design services by LightMix

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Does your organization struggle in determining where to go to get pricing and an estimate for website design project? The information below will help to understand types of providers.

There are 5 levels of pricing for website design services. Typically services offered by 5 tiers of providers which include:

Tier 1

Top advertising and design agencies
Typical cost for such services ranges from several hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars. Clients have a great deal of money, have well established marketing plans, large teams and can afford going through many steps to come up with only the best the industry can offer. Examples – top auto sites, sports brands like Nike, Adidas and so on

Tier 2

Highly acclaimed design and marketing agencies
This category includes firms that have top client portfolio, but do not exclusively serve only most wealthy brand names. Budgets for projects are still likely to be in the $50-$300k range. Creative firms offer wide range of design and marketing capabilities and have unique skill set capable of managing complex brand relationships that top clients require.

Tier 3

Medium size marketing and design firms

Marketing, PR and highly specialized design firms that do top quality work for small, medium business and government clients will be in this category. Companies that hire firms in this category can expect budgets $25k-100k for creative assignments

Tier 4

Small size creative design companies and boutique-size marketing firms

Small creative companies (staffed under 30 people) will have many winning propositions to those trying to consider them versus Tier 3 providers. Yet they may not have such extensive network of providers or highly specific expertise, small creative firms will in fact offer better value due to significantly lower fees for creative and marketing services compared to larer organizations. Pricing the same scope of work as larger organizations, small size creative firms will offer still comparable range of experience, good portfolio and solid client list leaving final decision be based on preference of small to large company approach. Smaller design firms also have much more hands-on approach to all tasks and can accommodate changing business requirements much faster then larger size companies. Website design pricing or typical engagements will vary from $5k to $50k

Tier 5

Freelancers and off-shore providers

Last category is an industry by itself. The past 10 years were critical in establishing network of providers across the world offering lowest cost creative services with real price wars at sites like elance bringing the costs down to ridiculous figures. Unfortunately, same is a primary problem of these companies as they are unable to compete for higher quality clientele and are stuck with low cost projects and most frequently provide low to very mediocre quality services. To some extent, latest trends in blogs and social media help end clients minimize some of the deployment costs and even low cost providers can offer fully functional products. Despite this, credibility and established client list play critical role in development of such firms and their abilities to survive for more then 2-3 years. Pricing for website design services will vary from $50 to $2000 for typical projects.

Are you interested in obtaining an estimate from a small size design firm with very extensive expertise? Click here to learn more..

1. Hire only professional company to execute creative design services for your organization.
2. �Find industry-specific marketing firm for marketing only, do not go with design services from marketing firms.
3. Avoid low cost service providers. Creative design means iterative design approach. Low cost providers are not designed to offer such flexibility.
4. Creative portfolio is a must and it should show wealth of relevant design work.
5. Testimonials list is a must. Any creative design company will provide list of recommendations.
6. Proposal completeness is important. Consider how well company organizes their formal proposal when deciding on creative design services provider.
7. Speak with actual creative director. Accessibility of creative talent is a key.
8. Prepare enough material to be able to work form. Often, organizations do not have adequate resources prepared before beginning of the project.
9. Trust yourself, but don’t try to micro-manage creative design if you are not qualified�.

Marketing company and design team may push your project different directions. You must maintain an independent perspective from your client standpoint at all times. Creative design services is a subjective matter. Many times aesthetics can confuse clients. The reason why you may or may not like some design aspects are not as important as the fact whether or not it works.

The reason is simple, templates are too generic and have less value then custom made design specific to your company goals and subject matter. Template web sites are designed to be sold to you and not to your customers, and many business owners get into the trap thinking that if the template looks good to you it will look good to your clients. This is not true. Designer of a temaplate had very little to do with your company. They never talked to you, never asked you a single question. The only creteria by which you select good or bad template is based only on your assessment of what is good or bad. If you have great expertise in the design field, you may be qualified to make such assumption, most do not. The time needed to customize a template of your choice to your liking and entering appropriate changes will be also close to what it will take to create custom design. The benefits could not be more obvious. Template site with bells and whistles in wrong places and no emphasis on things that you really ned to offer or custom designed site with consistent branding and clear message supported by relevant design.

Other then obvious problem above the following main problems are frequent in template websites.

Over designed templates
Template websites are over designed with al possible features, whistles, sounds, icons, gadgets etc to make them ook finished polished and sellable to you. A god web site doesn’t have to rely on this, rather is based on good design that supports the content and branding.

Usage of images
Many template buyers don’t realize that the images used in the templates may not in fact be all legal and technically it will be a responsibility of the new owner. A potential copyright issue may cost business a lot of money. Incorrectly used image can bring law suite or cost later a lot of money.

Inconsistent Branding
Many templates have placeholder for your logo. A design that can be used with any logo is too generic to support and work together with your logo to create positive result that’s good for your branding. Design process starts with logo design and to web site design, not other way around as it is the case with all templates.

Excessive use of flash
One of the main selling points and totally useless elements is overuse of flash technology in many templates. Many times customers will be wowed by all the sound effects, visual effects a regular navigational bar makes! Your website should not looklike Vegas slot machines. Subtlety is your friend, not 25 effects used to sell YOU the template and how helping your customer make decision to buy or ot to buy your services. Stay as far as possible from templates that are using flash for navigation, body or other functional elements. The designers that make them think of selling to you more then anything

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Its critically important to select a qualified and experienced�group among all �website design consultants you research. Pay special attention to years in business, client list, samples of work, relevance to your industry and past references. When selecting website design companies, you need to realize that you are creating long-term relationship with another organization to which you will trust your online presence. It’s important that website design companies of your choice are willing to provide ongoing services, are interested in your ongoing business and will consult you along the way on best practices of the design and development of a website.�

What makes website design consultants different from each other?

Many website design companies are focused on short term objectives rather then long term client goals. Many are focused on fitting many clients into their standardized process and are not very flexible to different project requirements. Many companies will attempt to up-sell or offer services that are not really necessary. �Work with web design �companies that provide enough flexibility, have common long term objectives and can adjust to your requirements.

Co-branding and how to co-brand your company products or services

Much of the .com and post .com period can be characterized by wide use of co-branding. The definition of the term itself is:

“Co-branding is when two companies form an alliance to work together, creating marketing synergy.” per Wikipedia. 

More profoundly, online co-branding means offering your products or services under somebody elses brand to a joint benefit. 

History of co-branding

The actual practice of branding products and services by other party is not new and was around for as long as we can all remember. Off-line retail examples of co-branding are

– intel co-brands with pc manufacturers and now mac
– starbucks co-brands with various chains such as safeway
– verizon co-brands with bjs club and on and on

Today, online presence is critical component of marketing campaigns and no true co-brand can exist in digital economy without clear co-branding online.  

Typical methods of co-branding

By online technique

– Whitelabel / Private Label
– Graylabel
– No label

By type of relationship

1. Internal co-branding 

Internal co-branding means that company users variety of their own products and services to expand sub brands by using them in conjunction with primary brand. 

2. External co-branding

Exnternal co-branding means a synthesis of products and services by different organizations(2 or more) that together create final product or service.

3. Mixed co-branding

Mixed co-branding is when any combination of internal and external ventures and partnerships is used to achieve the final product or service or a complete package of services or products. Often mixed co-branding is used as a method for internationalizing brands byt linking parent brand to a more locally known smaller brands or brands in parallel industries. Example is Coca-Cola and Axe in Argentina

Most common examples and strategies in online cobranding

Most common methods of co-branding online is offering your services, data, products under different company’s identity, while preserving your own brand in less dominant format. The later is done for your own benefit and is commonly the primary reason for the entire product or service offering. Frequent business development methodology for technology and IT forms lies, in fact, in development suite of products that can later be cobranded while preserving the identity and link back to the initial provider. This frequent technique services as a viral marketing pyramid if the service or product reaches certain level pf popularity. It gradually increases public awareness of the primary brand leading to deeper market recognition, affiliate and sponsorship opportunities and solidifying initial service or product provider’s overall business.

Contact LightMix for consultation on how to create effective visual design that communicates the nature of your co-branding