Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Category: Strategy & Design

  • How to Write Original Web Content

    In a previous post, Why Original Web Content Matters to Your Business, I explained why creating original web content is important. In short, original content plays a significant role in conversion optimization and the organic search performance of your site.

    In this post, I’ll focus on how to create original content. Writing original web content can be challenging. However, it is not impossible and becomes easier with practice and a plan. Here are some key things to keep in mind to help you get started:

    Identify topics where you have expertise. If people are paying for your product or service, you know something of value to others. You don’t have to be the world’s top expert on the subject, you just need to have information of interest to your audience. Provide a valuable perspective by combining your knowledge with your unique insight.

    Know your audience. Make sure you know what you are writing, for whom, and why. An excellent way to really know your target audience and how to address them is through developing Personas; it takes a little time, but the insights gained are invaluable – so much so that we perform Persona Workshops as a first step for all our clients.

    Plan ahead. List topics you can write about, do some keyword research, develop a schedule around product releases, calendar events, etc. Build in a draft, review, and publish cycle; this is called an editorial calendar and is very helpful to maintain regular content production.

    Start writing. Starting can be the hardest part, but the most important. Write a draft, then rework it as you see fit; it is much easier to work with once it is out of your head and on paper (or screen).

    Structure for online consumption. Writing for the web is very different from writing a short story or novel; web content must match the way users scan websites:

    • Start with your key point (don’t bury the lead)
    • Write in small, digestible chunks (provide individual answers)
    • Use headlines and headings (make it easy to scan)
    • Write in active voice (be approachable, not remote)
    • Write in plain language (be accessible to all readers)

    Edit. Edit for grammar, spelling, accuracy, references, flow, voice, and web consumption, etc. Have someone else review it if you can. Finally, remember the adage “less is more” – edit down; omit needless words.

    Creating Original Web Content: An Example

    Some websites obviously require lots of textual content, such as traditional marketing sites (sometimes called “brochure” sites), while others don’t because they focus on providing very specific functionality. There are certainly variations based on purpose, but all sites need some amount of content and often more than you might think.

    For example, Atlantic BT is working with a client to design a website interface for a large, complex data set; the primary purpose of the site is to provide access to reports based on this data to a few well-defined groups of users like researchers and policy-makers. This could initially seem to be a straightforward delivery of a specific application to users who will know how to find it and what to do with it, thus requiring little explanatory content.

    However, the Persona Workshop portion of our Discovery process identified that almost every user type had a critical need for explanatory content of some type, ranging from descriptions of the reports and data structures, to how-to’s for accessing the data, FAQs, and more.

    As a result of the Persona workshop, it was clear the site would have to include a significant focus on creating the textual content needed to support fully successful user engagement with the reports and data sets. Although the primary objective for site visitors would be the data and reports, those would not necessarily be of value without the supporting content to explain what they were and how to access and use them.

    Additionally, the content will provide a valuable secondary function –  it will greatly enhance the search engine rankings for the website. Search engines can not access, nor could they digest, the raw data or reports that are the primary content of the site; the textual content will have to tell the search engines what the site is all about and can provide to the visitor.

    In these two posts we have demonstrated the need, the value, and the method for generating quality, original content for your website. If you follow the steps above, you will certainly see improved traffic to your site and enhanced user interaction once they arrive. Happy writing!

  • Ten Critical Elements of a Successful Retail eCommerce Site

    It’s no secret that eCommerce is both extremely successful and extremely competitive. How does a site gain market share, loyal customers and revenue? It may seem mystical — lots of smart people have created good sites and not been successful.

    The example I will use to illustrate the 10 critical elements is www.extremeterrain.com. I happen to also be an off-road enthusiast and this site caught my attention by how well it is put together. Our company didn’t build the site and we aren’t affiliated with it at all. It is impressive work, however.

    This post doesn’t deal with anything related to marketing or actual fulfillment or customer service. Let’s assume that you won’t be successful if nobody comes to your site or you deliver really lousy service. Agree?

    As you read through this list you notice a consistent theme. Trust. People very rarely do business with anyone they don’t trust. Most of the keys to successful eCommerce are related to establishing trust with the consumer. Trust in the company and trust in the product.

    1. Precise, Targeted, Unique Emails on a Regular Schedule

    Successful e-commerce sites use e-mail. A lot. So what’s different? Lots of people use spammy communications to try and drum up business for everything from drugs to Groupon specials.

    Successful e-commerce mailing appears in your inbox as something very interesting and targeted specifically for you. Looking at the email below you will notice how many times they use the information they gathered about me to precisely target the email. “2009 Wrangler” is used in the subject, the header, and the sub-heading above the targeted product listing. Exciting Wrangler imaging is, of course, also used as the primary e-mail image.

    Picture12. Big, Detailed, Consistent Pictures

    One of the things that makes customers hesitate to buy, even if they think they want the product, is a lack of confidence about the quality or whether it’s really exactly what they want. Having big, detailed, consistent pictures closes the gap from an in-store experience significantly and increases the buyer’s confidence that it’s what they are looking for. Where all the other sites simply have decent picture of the product. Extreme Terrain goes way above. They actually install the products on a Jeep and show how they look. In addition they allow their customers to post photos of their rigs with the products installed. It’s a home run. Who doesn’t want this parked in the garage?

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    3. Clear Descriptions

    Just like having big pictures, clear descriptions help buyer to understand what they are really getting. This lessens their concern they are going to get something they don’t want. It doesn’t matter whether they can ship it back or not, most people don’t want to hassle with the process.

    ExtremeTerrain provides 4 different tabs with detailed information about the product so the customer knows exactly what to expect.

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    4. Targeted Focus

    Ok, let’s face the facts. This post isn’t about creating Amazon.com. Unless you have a spare billion and think you’re smarter than they are, you should probably choose a niche and stick to it. Once you choose that niche make sure it’s big enough that you can focus precisely on it without expanding in order to grow your revenue. Once you lose focus, you’re out in the tall grass without a GPS.

    Extreme Terrain isn’t just about 4×4 parts in general. It is specifically about Jeep Wranglers. They probably have a mission statement somewhere about being the most complete and most trusted online resource for Jeep Wranglers anywhere.  Small enough to get their arms around, but big enough to do one heck of a lot of business.

    5. Real Reviews

    Consumers can spot a fake review a thousand miles away. Fake reviews detract from trust and detract from conversions. Data actually shows that bad reviews boost sales. Read about it here (http://hbr.org/2012/03/bad-reviews-can-boost-sales-heres-why).

    The point is that reviews increase confidence and increase trust and that increases sales. Seeing a pattern here?

    Look how well Extreme Terrain does at displaying reviews. They are also in the main part of the page, near the add to cart and pricing. There are stars all over the page. Of course in order to display reviews you also have to be good at capturing reviews and enticing customers to leave them.

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    6. Clean Design, Organized Navigation

    Don’t make your customers work to find what they are looking for. Good user experience is a must. You can get away with a few mistakes but once a user feels like it’s a struggle to get around then they associate the difficulty of the shopping experience with frustration and other negative thoughts and as you can probably imagine this doesn’t lead to happy customers.

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    7. Good Search

    What makes a good search? First it should be prominent and easy to find. Second, the search should be contextual so search terms are suggested as you type. Third, the search catalog should contain all of the site’s pages; products, blogs, and static/informational. Finally, when the search results contain products the site should display images, descriptions, price, and reviews. It isn’t essential but having the ability to refine and sort the results further by price, category, manufacturer, rating, etc. is a nice feature.

    Search has less to do with trust than some of the other items and more to do with common sense. If your customers can’t find what they are looking for then they can’t buy it. Duh. In addition, many merchants fail to capture internal search data so they can see what customers are looking for and perhaps not finding. It helps guide product selection, trends, and even promotions. Google Analytics makes it really easy to wire up so there’s no excuse.

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    8. Subject Matter Experts / Accessible Customer Service

    Going back to trust again. Trust in the product and trust in the company. The more you can help customers to feel confident in what they are purchasing the more they will purchase. Sometimes the mere appearance of accessibility to customer service and focused expertise is enough.

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    9. Affordable Shipping / Simple Return Policy

    People don’t like to pay for shipping because it feels like “tax.” To some extent they don’t mind paying for expedited shipping to get it faster because that’s a choice. I’m no saying shipping should be free, but whenever you can offer free shipping options that’s a huge bonus. Many sites have a minimum order value where shipping becomes free. This has a huge effect on improving the average order size.

    The return policy goes back to trust again. The buyer’s threshold for confidence must be much higher if “all sales are final.” Conversely if you offer a simple, easy return policy customers will consider slightly more risk. Additionally more trust is created if you appear willing and eager to help customers if they are less than satisfied with their purchases. Mostly common sense.

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    10. Mobile Experience

    This simply comes down to data. Lots and lots of customers do their shopping and browsing from mobile devices and tablets. These numbers continue to grow, although slower than they have in the past. It is near suicidal to provide a poor mobile experience to your customers.

    Conclusion

    As you can see, a lot goes into a solid, high-performing eCommerce website. And while it can look overwhelming, the end result is an eCommerce engine that will drive your business in ways you might never have imagined before. Ready to go further with eCommerce? Learn more about how we can help with your eCommerce needs and contact us to talk with an eCommerce expert ready to help you take your business to the next level!

  • UX: How Colleges Can Measure What Actually Matters

    It’s no secret that metrics and analytics are crucial to determine and measure the success of a site or web application. However, many organizations often track metrics that reveal little about their target objective—and higher education is no exception to the plague of inefficient UX metric tracking. In this blog, I want to explore the why and how behind effective user metrics in higher education.

    Why You Should Measure Higher Ed Pages

    First, the why. Essentially all universities want to know everything they can about prospective and current students in order to deliver an experience that aligns with university culture and values. This in mind, universities operate much like businesses by competing for customers (in this case, students). Tracking the right metrics to measure these users’ experiences and acting on those findings can aid any business (including universities) in engaging their ideal audience.

    Student studying too many books
    Without measuring the right data, your users and their motivations will be a mystery to you.

    So what are the right metrics? Among the different aspects of student interactions that universities and colleges would like to measure, one of the most important is the effectiveness of the institute’s site. This brings up a two-part question: What is the goal of this site, and how do we know when the site achieves this goal by reaching desired effectiveness levels?

    One of the main purposes of a university site is to provide information to prospective students (about institutional culture, values, campus life, etc.) and make sure that information is actually being viewed and processed by the target audience. Measure these factors, and you’ll know in detail how effective the website is.

    There are a number of metrics (as part of a greater measurement strategy) that can reveal details of how effective the website is at providing information to prospective students. The first step needed before deciding on specific metrics is identifying what information these students want/need. This is usually identified through discovery research and stakeholder interviews. Assuming these needs have already been identified, the next step is to create content that meets the students’ informational needs and then test how well this content works.

    How to Measure Effectiveness of Higher Ed Pages

    Now for the how: Testing and measuring your content. What we truly want to measure is if the students are reaching these content pages on the website and if those pages are efficiently delivering that information (content quality). In this case, no single metric will answer both. The first part (Are students reaching the page?) can be answered by tracking page views. The second part can be trickier since there are multiple metrics that can indicate efficiency but can also suggest contradictory conclusions.

    Measuring a sandwich
    Don’t waste time measuring the wrong things. Look at exit rate alongside time on page to determine how users access and consume your content.

    One of these metrics can be the exit rate of a page. A page’s exit rate tracks the percentage of visitors that ended their session on that page. In this particular case, a high exit rate can indicate both efficiency and inefficiency. We can assume one of two things about a user who exited a page: they either found what they were looking for and then left the site, or they couldn’t find what they were looking for and left the site. Quite the paradox.

    Because it’s hard to know which of these two assumptions actually caused the exit, we can take a better guess by looking at secondary metrics. One of these can be time on page. If there is a predictable average time on a page, we can assume that content was easily digestible. For example, if we predict that a piece of content takes about two minutes to consume, we expect that the average time on page will be around two minutes.

    However this does not account for users who may have walked away from their computer while the page was open, racking up time and skewing the average. Depending on the platform you are using for metrics, you may be able to remove outliers and not have them influence your average time on page. Although averages can be robust and not heavily influenced by outliers, their robustness is dependent on the size of population (number of pageviews in this case, as an increase in population size will lead to an increase in robustness). Be wary of low visitor numbers coupled with an unexpected average.

    By combining these two metrics, you can get a better picture of what’s going on in a user’s mind. Too much time spent on the page before exiting (“too much” will dependent on the length and depth of the content) can indicate your content is complex and difficult to understand. If this is the case, it would make sense to review your content and determine if it should be simplified or broken up into multiple pages. Too little time spent on the page can indicate a user did not end up at the content they were looking for and left the site. If this is the case, you might have a bigger problem as this can indicate a navigational issue that would not be as easy to fix as editing content.

    Measure Online Applications in Higher Ed

    Another objective that universities should track (if they don’t already) is anything to do with online applications. This is broad, so let’s zero-in on the more important ones. For higher ed institutions, applications are a direct path to tuition revenue and as such, this path (navigation) should be optimized to convert as many users as possible.

    Students sorting through stacks of books
    Tracking how students apply to your university can keep your user data from becoming an overwhelming mess.

    To begin assessing the performance of an application’s online presence, start by looking at conversion rates. This will be the percentage of users that fill out the application out of the total that opened it (filled out/total opens). An unexpectedly low conversion rate can reflect poor application design. It is important to track how users are reaching your application as it can provide opportunities for path optimization. For example, if your application only lives on your homepage but you find a significant number of users travel back to the homepage from a campus culture page to find the application, it will make sense to include a link to your application on that campus page.

    Another metric to track when looking at your application efficiency is click-through rate. This will let you know the percentage of users that clicked to the application from pages that contain the option. This will give you an understanding of which pages are more suitable to house the application.

    Measurement for Illumination, Not Support

    “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts… for support rather than illumination.”

    –Andrew Lang, Scottish poet

    Digital measurement of student engagement can shed light on all kinds of opportunities to improve higher ed sites and web applications. However, any recommendations of change to a website (or another digital asset owned by a university) should not be solely based on metrics. Numbers will only give you one side of the equation (no pun intended) and the other side is more subjective understanding which requires an element of expertise in the industries and understanding of higher ed users.

    So as you apply an appropriate measurement strategy, always keep your university’s business objectives in mind. It is also important to cross-reference metrics whenever possible to avoid relying too heavily on one figure. Ultimately, you want to rely on digital measurement to inform your site strategy, then verify your new ideas through testing rather than rushing a big change.

    To read firsthand how to combine UX research and content strategy best practices for a higher ed client, take a look at our case study for Campbell University.

  • Why Original Web Content Matters to Your Business

    When your customers seek out solutions for the problems they face, the Internet is the first place they look.

    [pull_quote]“They come for information that answers their question or helps them complete their task. They want that information to be easy to find, easy to understand, up-to-date, and credible.” -Ginny Redish[/pull_quote]

    You need to make sure your solution is easy to find, easy to understand, up-to-date, and credible. The best way to do this is by writing original web content that grabs your audience’s attention.

    To create content that stands out, it’s helpful to understand how your customers use online information. Thankfully, the explosion of data made available by the Internet has allowed us to analyze how web users consume online content and what drives their behavior.

    How Consumers Use Online Information

    Google has studied consumer shopping behavior extensively. Many shoppers now search for online product descriptions as well as professional and individual consumer reviews before making a purchase decision. Google calls this consumer decision-making process the “Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).”

    According to a shopping behavior study by Google and Shopper Sciences, the Zero Moment of Truth has become more important in recent years:

    • 88% of U.S. consumers now engage in ZMOT research before making a final purchase decision.
    • Consumers consult an average of 10.4 sources before buying and this rate continues to rise.

    As consumers research their purchases online, the question then becomes: “Who is controlling what they see about your product or service?” If you don’t take action to provide the information they’re looking for, someone else will—essentially controlling the conversation with your potential customer.

    The First Step to Leading the Online Conversation

    How do you attract visitors and ensure they see your content instead of someone else’s?

    In User Experience (UX) workshops with our clients, it becomes clear that website visitors often prefer search to find what they want, rather than browsing or navigating a website. This makes sense. Given the sheer volume of websites, menu items, and possible ways to browse, navigating content can be overwhelming.

    Therefore, if you want to lead the online conversation about your products and services, the first step is to make sure search engines rate your page highly.  The art and science of doing this is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

    How SEO Relates to Your Content

    According to recent research, Organic Search is responsible for 64% of your web traffic. The term Organic Search refers to Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) that appear based on their relevance to search terms the user entered. This is not the same as paid advertisements. As search engine algorithms become more sophisticated, they’re getting better at understanding what users are looking for. As a result, they can provide the most relevant possible results.

    “Google is now putting a high emphasis on sites that are considered to have a high level of expertise, authoritativeness or trustworthiness.” This makes it essential that all your online content conveys expert, research-backed opinions in order to win consumers’ trust.

    It’s also vital that you produce original, authoritative content that demonstrates thought leadership in your field. Don’t simply forward or re-post content other people have written. Instead, flip the 1% rule in your favor and become a content generator that others link to and follow.

    By understanding what your audience is searching for and how search engines find it, you have insight to create original and trustworthy content that will catch the eye of your customers. If you’re looking for more guidance as you build a content strategy that works for you, we’re happy to help.

  • I’ll Trade You a Thousand Words: Choosing the Perfect Content Image

    After redesigning its homepage with Atlantic BT, Martin Marietta achieved a 50% increase in new users and reduced its site bounce rate by 30%. In addition, our specially-designed features better prepared Martin Marietta to close big deals with potential customers.

    However, you don’t care about any of that, because you’re wondering about the featured image of Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, kissing a fish.

    The image you choose for your content writing matters. Pick something irrelevant (like Paul Ryan kissing a fish) or generic (like “moms shopping”), and you could lose your audience before they read your first sentence. To nail your users’ attention and motivate them to read your content, your accompanying images need to be relevant, arresting, and (ideally) unique.

    Choosing a Relevant Image

    This point might seem like low-hanging fruit. After all, how hard is it to find an image that matches the title of your content? This is when it’s important to remember that relevant does not equal generic. Otherwise you’ll end up using the same “business people at a meeting using tablets” image as every other B2B blog on the internet.

    So how do you choose a relevant image that isn’t generic? One tactic is to simply use Google Image search to verify that your image isn’t already in use on several sites—this will protect you from going with an overused image. However, this practice won’t help you choose an image that visually echoes the big idea of your post.

    Better answer? Go deeper with your definition of “relevant.” If your content is focused on boosting the speed at which a business operates, focus on the word “speed” rather than “business.” This more abstract thinking guided our choice of image in a blog comparing the speed of different Content Delivery Networks; rather than using a run-of-the-mill graph of the different networks, we depicted several space ships racing around a planet to symbolize the different CDNs. This image was relevant to the blog without being generic, making it more likely to catch a reader’s eye.

    Choosing an Arresting Image

    When I was an undergrad assistant in the Duke University archives, I spent hours sorting through all manner of historical documents. Mostly these were family records of university faculty, the memos of NC politicians, and various items which weren’t of much interest to a college student. One day I was sorting through a stack of records from the American Socialist Party in the 1930s. I flipped through letters written by party leaders, news articles about rallies, and suddenly I saw a man bleeding out from a gunshot wound. This photograph chilled my blood. I flipped it over to learn more about it, and handwritten scrawl told me the story of a protester who was shot at a rally for being a suspected communist. In the midst of a dry day of skimming and sorting, my attention had been arrested by a single powerful image.

    The term “arresting” isn’t often found in content marketing guides (which is one reason I chose it). An arresting image is one that grabs the reader’s attention by stopping them in their tracks; it breaks up the monotony of browsing a web page or brochure of printed documents with a picture that seizes the viewer by the curiosity and refuses to let go. Done right, anyone who sees this image will respond with “Wait, what is this?” and immediately open the article to find out.

    As you choose arresting images, it’s important than your provocative visual grabs attention for the right reasons. After all, violent or pornographic imagery is certainly arresting, but it isn’t going to attract relevant traffic to your content. Instead of simply equating “arresting” with “shocking,” it’s better to think of your arresting image as an exciting opening to a story you’re getting ready to tell. Take our recent post about a major security update needed for Magento-based eCommerce stores. The image here depicts a businessman so focused on money that he’s blind to the enormous rock threatening to crush him and his newfound earnings. The inherent drama of this image tells an arresting story—something really bad is threatening this person, and we need to find out what it is if we also don’t want to get hurt. 

    Creating a Unique Image

    After the last two points, the requirements for an effective image might seem daunting—how are you going to find an image that is relevant to your content, not generic, AND arresting enough to grab a reader’s attention? There are two answers, and both are going to require some effort.

    First, don’t look for your unique image on the same stock photo sites as your competitors. While these sites are a solid way to find images relevant to a business context, you’re practically guaranteed to pick an image that’s already being used elsewhere. To find a more unique image, steer clear of realistic stock photography and browse more abstract image sites. One of our favorite sources at Atlantic BT is Pop Ink by CSA; these images bring a unique energy to our blog by combining a distinct and fun art style that also can be searched by subject matter or theme.

    The second way to choose a truly unique image for your content is to design the image yourself. If you have a designer or digital artist on staff, give this person some thematic ideas of what your content is about, then set them loose to create a specialized image to fit. That was how we approached the blog image for our annual Pumpkin Chunkin event at Atlantic BT. We planned this year’s theme, The Pumpkin Aeronautics Initiative, with one of our on-staff designers and asked her to create an image that combined tongue-in-cheek scientific inquiry with pumpkins hitting the pavement. The result was a truly unique image that helped drive record attendance to this year’s pumpkin-launching party.

    Worth a Thousand Words (and Extra Effort)

    If you believe the old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” then you believe that an image can speak more powerfully to the minds and hearts of your audience than a hefty dose of the right words. This means it’s worth the extra time and energy to find the perfect visual accompaniment to your written content.

    Ultimately, you want the image you choose to be a powerful visual representation of the content story you’re telling—not just a photograph that looks nice. By pairing your content with relevant, arresting, and unique imagery, you do more than stand out from the internet crowd. You offer your reader an invitation into a meaningful digital story well-worth their undivided attention.

    Now you just need a riveting content story to match. Why not start with an engaging opening?

  • How To Iron Out Wrinkles In Your Web Development Plan

    The majority of all large-scale web development projects don’t finish on schedule. You may be nodding your head knowingly or gasping in fear. Regardless, many studies and surveys show this unfortunate truth. Budgeting goals also fare poorly. A very high percentage of projects go over budget. These factors make the the already daunting task of completing a complex project, more harrowing.
     
    Scheduling and budgeting issues occur for a variety of reasons. Large-scale web development projects tend to become bigger as they’re built. They also become more complex than planned as the design process evolves. New ideas pop up, inspired by the project as it takes shape. However, we can’t lay these issues right at the feet of clients and executives who always want more. Our experiences have taught us otherwise. The biggest impediment to a finished, successful institutional website is poor planning.
     
    How does this happen? Everyone knows that planning is essential to a large task. The problem is its implementation. Some web development teams don’t ask enough questions. As a result, they don’t understand the projects they’re working on in a detailed and intensive way. There are too many generalities in play. Even worse, they fail to piece together a tangible path forward. There are no flowcharts, timelines, or milestones established. These crucial elements that lead to productivity and efficiency are nonexistent. What they need is a strong and clear web development plan.
     
    There is one aspect of the planning process that we have found to be incredibly important. You may not have ever considered it. But, it can help you to iron out major wrinkles in the web development process and begin your project with a web development plan you can count on. 

    Sequential vs. Parallel Planning

    Many web development clients and inexperienced design and programming teams share one commonality. They think of building a website as a series of actions to do,one at a time. The process of web development becomes one long ‘to-do’ list. This is technically true, in a very strict sense. But it doesn’t maximize time or effort. There are two kinds of tasks that must be identified in order to craft a web development plan that works. 

    Sequential Planning

    Some tasks are sequential. You must complete them in a specific order. One task is dependent on the completion of the previous one, and so on. It’s a basic domino effect. Jumping ahead would make the process more difficult or lead to avoidable mistakes.
     
    You wouldn’t want to begin filling in the content on your website until you’ve chosen fonts and colors. Installing plug-ins or developing custom apps would be useless without a basic layout. You can’t know what you need until it’s clear what you have. Trying to do things out of order would only lead to duplicated work and unnecessary delays. This is a waste of resources and is a direct cause of scheduling conflicts. With sequential tasks, one step at a time keeps the team steady on the path.

    Parallel Planning

    Completing tasks in sequential order seems obvious. That mind set, as we said, can actually be a hindrance when it comes to planning complex projects. That’s because there are many steps in the web development process that can be parallel. These are tasks that are not dependent on the completion of other work before tackling them. They’re integral pieces to the puzzle, but are stand-alone activities.
     
    You can outline content in word processing documents while design work is progressing. These two jobs can happen concurrently. Or you can gather images while programmers work on new pieces of software. As one team collects viable search engine phrase targets, another can test software. These kinds of tasks are important to find as you look to optimize your team’s time.

    Bringing it All Together

    An experienced web development team will know that differentiating tasks is important. They will take the time to set up a comprehensive plan that incorporates every action. Sequential and parallel tasks will work in tandem to create an efficient schedule. The proper order of tasks is clear. Even better, your team will have found all parallel tasks and included them in the plan. Identifying those tasks and planning for them accordingly gives the entire project a strong head start. It might take a few days, or even longer, to organize an ideal strategy. But, that forethought can save entire weeks of time down the road. That will be especially true when dozens of people are working on various parts of the new site at once. The last thing a client or creative team wants is the launch of new website held up. Especially because a few small details are missing or testing isn’t complete.
     
    You need a plan for the development of your website, and it has to be more than a simple checklist. Don’t work with any design firm that doesn’t understand the importance of having a detailed schedule and strategy in place. Particularly a strategy that has order and emphasizes the vitality of parallel actions. A good web development plan utilizes all the components of the complex project to give the creative team an advantage. 

    We Are Your Institutional Web Design Experts

    At Atlantic BT, we have decades of experience working with large organizations in every sector. We’ve been building partnerships here in our Raleigh, NC home and beyond. Implementing a web development plan that works for our clients is only the first step in helping them achieve their goals. Whether you’re trying to create a never-before-seen new website or revamp the pages and apps you already have, we can help.
     
    Contact our team today to schedule a meeting to discuss your needs. We can work together to craft a strategy that’s right for you and your vision.