Missouri Website Builders

Google’s latest venture, Google TV, comes from the idea of “connected TV” – televisions  that let people browse the Web for videos, news stories, video conferencing and music.

Wondering how in the world to develop an App for Google TV?

Google has released an initial web development guide to aid those interested in porting their Web or mobile applications to Google TV, the newly announced platform built on top of Google Chrome technology.

• Make it Simple: Identify the vital parts of your app before starting work, stick with one visible mode of navigation or one information hierarchy, make the primary action reachable in one click, avoid the temptation to use abstract icons, limit vertical scrolling, and preselect the user’s next action when you can.
• Get Navigation Right: Google TV users will often navigate with a directional pad, so the navigation model involves up, down, left, right and enter buttons and action. Make your app navigable with one hand.
• Design for TV screens, not Computer Screens: TVs have wider screens, so you should make UI elements slightly larger. Also, avoid highly saturated and very bright colors, and design for 1280×720 and 1920×1080 resolutions, including at least a 10% margin. Use pure white (#FFFFFF) sparingly.
• Pick the Right Fonts: Avoid lightweight fonts or those with very narrow or broad strokes. Use simply constructed sans serif fonts and apply anti aliasing to increase readability. Google TV currently supports only the Droid Sans and Droid Serif font families. If you want to use font embedding techniques to create a more customized appearance, you can, but this relies on Flash design, which will be slower.
• Make Onscreen Text Readable:
  • Limit each paragraph to no more than 90 words.
  • Break text into small chunks that can be read at a glance.
  • Keep line length at about five to seven words per line. Never go shorter than three or longer than 12.
  • Remember that light text on a dark background is slightly easier to read on TV (compared to dark text on a light background).
  • Target body text to be around 21pt on 720p and 28pt on 1080p.
  • Don’t use any text smaller than 18pt on 720p and 24pt on 1080p.
  • Add more leading (larger line spacing) for onscreen text than print text.
• Don’t Use Disruptive Sounds: By default, volume should be low. Make it simple to mute the app. Don’t make interactions dependent on audio cues.
• Use Flash Wisely: Google TV can play 720p and 1080p Flash videos. Use h.264 encoding, not h.263 or vp6. Avoid Flash banner or sidebar ads that include video. Only use one instance of the media player at a time. Be conscious of system memory.
• Be Conscious of Performance: Perceived performance is more important than actual performance for TV apps. Make sure the app never executes so much code that the runtime can’t frequently update the screen and gather user input. You may need to divide a task into parts to accomplish this.
• Use Bitmaps: Use bitmaps to optimize rendering.
• Watch Out for Tweening: Minimize the use of motion tweens to help content run faster. (Source - Read Write Web)

With Google TV, “television is no longer confined to showing just video” explains Salahuddin Choudhary, Google TV product manager, in a blog post. “It can be a photo slideshow viewer, a gaming console, a music player and much more.”

“A successful website in today’s society is defined as a site receiving as much traffic from social media as from search engines.” Does this shocking announcement from the Search Engine Strategies December 2009 Conference surprise you? Well, it shouldn’t.  After all Mr. and Ms. Average Web User, the explosion of social media is your fault! 

You are one of the 400 million people on Facebook who spend spend 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.  You are one of the 105 million plus people out there tweeting away.You are among the 2 billion visitors to YouTube daily. As a matter of fact … you spend almost as much time on social media as watching television!  You are even using social media while watching television!  Entertainment multitasking, is that “multi-taining?”

We are in the age of user-generated content.  Companies are quickly realizing they cannot avoid online consumers interacting with their brands online, yet this exchange is only minimally occurring through their company website.  Let’s face it; no one goes to your international B2B website to hang out with friends and share product opinions.  Your website visitors are not your pals.  With social media, however, they can be your “fans.”   If you want that to happen, go where your customers already choose to meet and develop ways to involve yourself appropriately.  Listen first; then engage them in conversation.  Remember that if you don’t listen to these voices and consider them your fans, you run the risk of making them foes.

So, if social media is here to stay (do you doubt that it is?), and if Facebook and Twitter can be relatively inexpensive, what does this mean for your firm’s very prestigious, costly and carefully managed website? Corporate websites represent legally required information, a powerbase for your brand andmarketing approach that social media sites usually cannot equal.  So, while the website is still the fundamental aspect of online branding, many businesses have greatly benefited by investing time (yes, it takes time) into using social media networks to go directly to where their consumers “meet by choice” each point of interaction having a unique “face” to the public.   Successful online marketers tend to think “one brand – many faces.” 

In conclusion, social media is important, very important, but without the anchor of your corporate website, your brand would be floating adrift on each new conversation current.  Social media continues to expand rapidly to new audiences by new applications.  The growth is driving online interactions everywhere at once.   But your brand, represented by your website, shouldn’t be going everywhere at once.  Remember that every photo you put up on Facebook, every message mashed into 140 characters on Twitter and every storytelling video posted on YouTube needs to be purposeful and must still reflect your company’s image and message.  Who knows?  The next link that drives the next big business deal to your website might just arise from a response to “What are you up to?”

Celebrating 20 years of success, Unidev (Unified Development, Inc.) was not the company that it is today. Headquartered outside of St. Louis, in Chesterfield, the diversified IT company used to be headquartered in a moderate-sized office. Today, Unidev offers a complete suite of web applications, IT services, and is strategically partnered with the world’s most recognized names in technology. Despite, Unidev’s inexorable success, the corporation maintains its commitment for developing web applications, tested for reliability and cost-efficacy. In this edition of Missouri Web site Builders, we’re reviewing the achievements of the Web applications company.

• Unidev’s success is attributable to a customer-centric approach to resolving client IT glitches.

• As a Microsoft Certified Partner (MCP), Unidev has the expertise to develop the most groundbreaking and cost effective solutions for customers, who use the Microsoft technology.

• Thanks to it designation as an IBM business partner, Unidev has the expertise and is authorized to apply a wide spectrum of software applications (in example: Java, Linux Websphere and DB2).

• Unidev’s satellite company, The Net Impact is a web design search engine optimization company, providing all the services related to maintaining a prominent Internet presence. (Web design, social networking, SEO and more)

• In October 2008, Unidev developed a powerful web application, called Auctori. The content management system automates search engine optimization. With Auctori, companies can save money managing their news blog internally.

• Based on each company’s requirements (budget, time frame and strategy), Unidev tailor fits an exacting technology solution for small to large corporations. By customizing a technology solution around each organization’s technology, budget, strategy and time requirements, the customized services enable the web applications company to service all sized companies throughout North America.

Congratulations Unidev. To read more the Missouri-based web applications achievements, click on any of the following links:

• Unidev Blog
• Twitter
• YouTube

Over 2009, one Missouri Web design company developed, reconstructed and redesigned leading Missourian corporations Web sites. From attorney’s offices, ecommerce sites, an online real estate school, The Net Impact played a role in helping companies extend their brand’s reach and online presence.

For the year in review, Missouri Website Builders selected several sites, which have been critically acclaimed for their design features. In the last installment of 2009, we’re recapping a few the Web sites that we received rave reviews:

GO Homebuyer.com 

After we conducted a complete site analysis  for GoHomeBuyer.com: the web design specifications called for the following:

• Internet marketing to increase the site’s search engine visibility
• A redesign to assure traffic flow and ease site navigation
• Architected a new Web site and landing page structure for the online

 Golden Portal 

Golden Portal, A Virtual Mall of Savings

Fabric Wall

The renowned acoustical design firm, Golterman and Sabo requested the design of Fabric Wall. As you can see the Web site features a new sophisticated design. The process  entailed the following: 

• Developed a new  layout and site design
• Customized the site’s functionality
• Added a dealer login
• Optimized a new photo gallery to showcase products 

The Roho Group

A company specializing in medical products designed for the physically challenged wanted to create an online community. Our Web design company did the following:

• Designed a social media blogging site
• Created a clean navigation to cultivate brand loyalty 

Although, the aforementioned Web sites are a few examples of the Net Impact’s impact on businesses in Missouri, our web design is just one facet of the wire frame. 

Review our Web design case studies

CSS is the acronym for cascading style sheet, a simple web design layout.

What is CSS and is it a feasible web design idea?

CSS or cascading style sheets are not a new web design format.  If you are looking for a web designer to create your company web site, you’ve probably noticed that some sites feature CSS.  For any-sized Website, this web design idea assures simple functionality and a visually appealing layout.  There are four functions that CSS web design offers:

• Captivating. CSS or cascading style sheets illustrate aesthetic, clean web design, captivating and engaging the target market’s attention.

• Continuity. Overtime, as new pages are populated, CSS enables the ability to develop continuity across each page of your Website.

• Expediency. CSS eases productivity.  As simple as Microsoft, the turn around time of revising, updating and publishing web pages designed with CSS new content is an expedient process.

• Flexibility. CSS web design accommodates tomorrow’s style and layout necessities.  CSS eases the future design requirements, separating the page’s presentation from the content.

Learn more about CSS web design.

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In real life, the old diner is nostalgic. Seventies rock music is classic. Retrospective furniture designed from the 1930s is dubbed “art deco.” However, on the Internet, there’s nothing endearing about an outmoded Web site. Outdated site design detracts from the marketing objective: sales and consumer retention. Most Internet users are familiar with “time warp web design.” It possesses obsolete features that indicate circa 1997. Which site would you be more apt to explore:

A)    A professionally designed site with a clean layout
B)    The site designed over six years ago

Obviously, option “A” would be more appealing. First impressions matter. If you’re like most visually stimulated consumers, an outdated Web site suggests that a company has not evolved with the times, or that the company is no longer in business. It defeats the purpose of having a Web site. There are six basic signs of outmoded web design:

•    Animated clip art
•    A busy or cluttered layout
•    Lacks navigation structure
•    Contrasting color scheme
•    Broken table-based design
•    Expired copyrights

While these are just a few of the indications of an outmoded Web site, one Missouri Web site company can renovate your site’s image. Click here for a free Web design quote.

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Is Your Website Outdated?

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The game, baseball is verisimilar to search engine marketing (SEM). Both necessitate a strategy. Each at bat is comparable to a pay-per-click campaign: The outcome of the “hit” (click) really matters. In this installment pertaining to the link between search engine marketing and baseball, we’re reviewing the importance of stats, statistics, or analytics.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), it’s all about the numbers. Players are never judged according to how well they wear the team’s colors. Most Cardinal fans know what HRs, ERAs, RBI’s as well as other baseball statistics are. Baseball stats delineate a player’s strengths and weaknesses. These numbers help managers like Mr. LaRusso strategize the line up.

On the Internet, site traffic is measured by a visitor’s actions:
Which pages did they visit?
How long did they stay?
What actions did they take?

In other words, the company Web site features more than a brand identity encapsulated in visually appealing web design. Invaluable information lies beyond the web pages of any site. Although the vast majority of proprietors understand the importance of number crunching, Web site analytics are often overlooked.

Site statistics demonstrate how effective or ineffective the SEM strategy is. Below are several areas to assess the performance of your site’s search engine marketing campaign:
•    Number of visitors
•    Time of visit
•    Span of visit
•    The referral site
•    Search engine referred
•    Visited page(s)
•    Key words
•    Most popular web pages

Do you know what your site’s statistics convey about the efficacy of your search engine marketing strategy? Contact Missouri Web site Builders for a complimentary site analysis. (No obligation required).

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Quite often, small business owners scoff at the idea of advertising online via display ad. With the concerns of click fraud, and the prominent listings of popular brands, many equate the display ad with the print ad : passé.

On the contrary, the display ad is an integral, results-driven marketing tool. As the refinement of search engine marketing (SEM) ensues, advertising online is becoming more about marketing, creating brand awareness, and cultivating consumer loyalty. Consequently, utilizing all the components of search engine marketing (SEM) is more vital then ever. The online ad is a fundamental component of promoting the continuity of your brand, online.

Next week, we’ll review how the online display ad compares to the print ad.

Learn more about selecting a Missouri Web site company to promote your company’s brand.

Along with building a website, promoting it is essential. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a website has a great purpose, but nobody knows its there, does it matter? The point is, if you don’t promote your website through search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, or any other type of marketing, your website really is just another web address, like it was just a name and number in the yellow pages. An internet marketing firm can help you decide what type of marketing is best for your business.

Would you like to expand your market and begin attracting customers via the internet? Building a website can help! In the yellow pages, you’re just another name and number, but a professional-looking website can help you stand out from your competition. You can attract customers from a wider area when your business information is only a click away.

A quality website will provide your customers with information on you and your products and services at any time of the day or night. With low overhead, an online presence will pay for itself after bringing in even a few sales. The world is changing quickly – don’t be left behind.

Contact MyImpact Today!