Do People Read Long, Scrolling Web Pages?

Mobility has rendered the long scrolling web page the design standard for modern websites. But does it work? By work I mean does it provide a good user experience for your visitors and do people actually scroll down to that 3rd, 4th, 5th panel and beyond? Even as someone that is creating scrolling sites, I’ve had a gut feeling that few visitors venture “beneath the fold,” just as few Google visitors venture past page one of Search results. So I did a little research to either support my instincts or cause me to reflect on my dinosaur delusions. Read more

May 19, 2015/by Garrett Dandreo

Six Easy Ways to Update Your Corporate Website Design

Cruise around most neighborhoods this time of year and you’ll see people outside pruning, fertilizing, watering and planting. Like a garden, your website is a living, growing thing. Many people believe that maintaining a website is a lot of work, so we’ve brainstormed six quick ways to revitalize your website design that will improve your marketing and visitor engagement.

May 12, 2015/by Garrett Dandreo

Use Ambient Video on Your Website to Enhance Your Brand

Much like last year when websites with Parallax scrolling took off, we’re seeing a growing number of sites using video on their websites, in new ways, to enhance their brands. But rather than, and in some cases in addition to “talking heads,” we’re seeing “ambient video.”

Ambient video is background video whose purpose is to establish a visual brand identity. While words and still images do the heavy lifting in terms of creating messages, the addition of web video can provide an emotional resonance that can help an otherwise purely rational brand become a more emotionally satisfying user experience.

April 14, 2015/by Garrett Dandreo

Do I Need a Brand or a Visual Identity?

Sometimes when people come to us for “branding,” I quickly ascertain that what they really mean is an updated “visual identity.”

“So, you’re looking for help integrating your vision, competitive positioning, audience messaging, market perception and corporate culture,” I might ask. Just as often they respond, “I just need an update to our logo, collateral templates, PowerPoint, web design, etc.” For many, the visual manifestations of a brand are “The Brand.”

February 16, 2015/by Garrett Dandreo

An Effective Web Design Strategy Starts with Your Brand

We’ve talked about Market Strategy, Brand Strategy and Content Strategy, so why do we need a Web Design Strategy? Because, of all of these strategies, only your Website Design Strategy is externally facing. Let’s put Website Desgn Strategy into context to clarify how these strategies work in tandem.

Strategy_ffunnel2 Using a funnel metaphor, your Market Strategy is your highest level strategic decision, in which you define the markets for your products and/or services and determine whether your market approach is industry specific, solutions or applications-focused or some combination.

Once this is determined, your Brand Strategy encompasses the way you describe what you do, for what audiences with a compettive value statement, which sets you apart from your competition. You socialize this brand internally, and externally at every customer and employee touchpoint.

The power of a relevant Content Strategy — based on sound Market and Brand Strategies — is to create a program to disseminate and exchange your valuable content across all media and over time, which leads us to your Website Design Strategy.

September 29, 2014/by Garrett Dandreo

How To Make a Responsive Website & Why Your Site Needs This Facelift

In my last post, I discussed the pros and cons of Responsive website design and concluded that, while not perfect, the pros outweigh the cons. Now that you may be ready to take the plunge, let’s talk about what makes a Responsive design successful and why your site may need a face lift. Read more

June 16, 2014/by Garrett Dandreo

5 Reasons Why Most Websites Look the Same Today

Just last year we won a terrific job by showing the client 10 competitor sites, which all looked almost exactly like theirs. The need for differentiation was alive and well.

March 25, 2014/by Garrett Dandreo

5 Steps for Saving $ on a Website Design Project

web pricing small blog With the growth of responsive design, inbound marketing, personalization and web analytics, websites have become more complex, time-intensive and often expensive. While most clients require these services, often budgets do not keep up with technology, so agencies like RainCastle need to work smart to provide our clients the best and most current services at a reasonable cost.

February 24, 2014/by Garrett Dandreo

The Power of Video and Images in Content Marketing

videoicon While marketers have come to recognize the power of content marketing and the need for it to be strategic, web visitors and social media users have begun to wonder what to do with so much content. So how can marketers get the attention of people who are becoming saturated with so much relevant content?

October 15, 2013/by Garrett Dandreo

Creating Websites People Love

We create websites people love. Of course I can’t say that officially — although it’s true — as HubSpot has already created a great campaign around “love.”

June 10, 2013/by Garrett Dandreo

Do People Read Long, Scrolling Web Pages?

Six Easy Ways to Update Your Corporate Website Design

Use Ambient Video on Your Website to Enhance Your Brand

Do I Need a Brand or a Visual Identity?

An Effective Web Design Strategy Starts with Your Brand

How To Make a Responsive Website & Why Your Site Needs This Facelift

5 Reasons Why Most Websites Look the Same Today

5 Steps for Saving $ on a Website Design Project

The Power of Video and Images in Content Marketing

Creating Websites People Love

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