Content Hoarders, Organize Your Site to Boost Conversion

So your Web page is loaded with content. Everywhere you look, you see big chunks of black text. Your eyes race around the page looking frantically for a visual point of interest. Nothing draws you in. Your head starts to spin. After seconds of finding nothing to latch onto, your eyes flutter into the back of your head, and you fall over.

Lying on the floor, you ask yourself, “How the hell did I get in this mess? I’ve been providing great content for years, but what’s the use if no one can find it?” You look around your overcrowded office and see a sea of books, magazines, and other junk. You suddenly to come to terms with it—you are a content hoarder, a packrat of prose, you might say.

In your home this may not matter (unless, of course, you ever want a girlfriend/boyfriend or insist on owning a Chihuahua). But on the Web, this is what we call a cluster. And it’s something you most definitely want to avoid. I know declutterization (yes, I made up that word) is difficult. But don’t worry. We can get you through this. Follow these two steps on how to clean up your content mess and display it with pride. It’s time to let the decluttering begin!

Make it scanable.

When I say scanable, I’m talking about having visual points of entry and making it where someone can quickly find information. You can achieve this with a nice visual hierarchy. To create this hierarchy, you can use big headlines, color, and images. READ MORE

Storytelling Through Editorial Design: The Ultimate Communication Weapon

Last night I was sitting at the local bar listening to one of my friends ramble. His story seemed to be never-ending, but for some reason he had my full attention. At the time I couldn’t completely understand why. His story was about some nonsense that happened during his workweek. Then as I was walking home I got a sudden jolt (one of those “aha!” moments).

Our imaginations and curiosities leave us wanting to hear the other people’s stories. With a good story, you can keep people hooked on what you have to say. It works at a bar with friends, and it works with graphic design when you’re communicating with customers.

People can relate to and better understand various messages, events, or lessons through stories. Sure, you can tell a story through words, but visual stories can be just as effective—sometimes even more so. READ MORE

TBM Creates Dynamic, Interactive Ad Campaign

Talk Back Media recently designed and programmed an online interactive advertising campaign for Columbia, Maryland-based ceTe Software.

Market:

Technology/Software

Company:

Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, ceTe Software is a technology company specializing in software that creates and manipulates PDFs.

Objectives:

Transitioning from traditional print advertising to an online campaign, ceTe wanted to promote its flagship product, DynamicPDF Core Suite. The challenge was to clearly express that the product contains three different software programs and to increase requests for product trials.

Solution:

In order to accomplish the objectives, we created a campaign with Flash ads that smoothly transition between the different software programs. Combining animation with user interaction, the ads provide visual interest and prompt readers to take action. We chose ceTe DynamicPDF’s bold brand colors for the color palette to maintain brand consistency. The font was inspired by interstate highway signs. Its legible, corporate appearance is essential in making the smaller ads effective. A large call-to-action button on each ad helps increase conversion rates.