Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Category: Strategy & Design

  • Streamline Web Design, Content, and Development with PDDs.

    Streamline Web Design, Content, and Development with PDDs.

    What are PDDs and what is their purpose in web design?

    PDD stands for Page Description Diagram. It’s used to outline the content and elements on web pages and can improve the overall web design process. The elements are organized into low, medium, and high priority. 

    Showing wireframes too early on can trigger premature discussions around layout and design, no matter how bare-bones the wireframes appear. PDDs offer a solution. They come before wireframes to keep the focus on  taxonomies, functionality, and prioritization. After all, web design should support desired content – not the other way around.

    Outlining PDDs can also make the wireframing process much faster since everything is already outlined for the UX designer. 

    In special cases, it is even possible to skip the wireframes and hand PDDs straight to the designer. The drawback is that skipping the wireframes may inadvertently skip the UX designer’s interpretation of layout, flow, and interactions with the user in mind. 

    What does a PDD look like?

    PDD’s can be created in several different ways, from a simple Google Doc list to a Sketch or Figma file with basic graphic elements. Atlantic BT prefers to use Trello, a kanban style list application, because it is easy to move elements around and collaborate with our clients.

    No matter the tool, each list will represent a single page or type of page. Individual cards or bullet points within the list represent a component on the page. 

    Trello allows for tagging cards, which we use to identify the type of content of each card (call to action, metadata, search field, etc). Furthermore, the tagging can be used to indicate priority.

    PDDs facilitate web design collaboration.

    Collaborating with clients.

    The ability to easily collaborate with clients is one of the benefits that make PDDs so attractive. Involving stakeholders in the web design process creates a shared sense of ownership and helps develop the list of components in more detail. 

    With Trello, clients can add comments and examples in real time to elicit discussions. Clients are empowered to include feedback from key players in their organization without having to schedule separate Zoom meetings. 

    Collaborating with web developers.

    Making PDD’s available to developers early on is crucial, especially on website redesigns. Developers want to get a head start on migrating the content from the old website. 

    If it’s difficult for developers to translate a PDD to backend fields, it is important to agree on terminology to identify key elements. 

    For example, we collaborated with our development team to create a spreadsheet that contained what they needed for migration, most of which were copied straight from the PDDs. 

    Avoid common PDD pitfalls.

    Don’t be vague with prioritization.

    It may be helpful to develop definitions of high, medium and low prioritizations to stay focused on essential features. An example of these definitions are:

    1. High – These elements are essential to the user’s understanding and functionality of the page. 
    2. Medium – These elements are useful to most user’s understanding and functionality of the page. 
    3. Low –  These elements are nice to have but they do not contribute to the user’s understanding or functionality of the page.

    During a website redesign, make sure that there is discussion around which elements stakeholders want to keep and remove from the original website. This will make handing off to development a lot easier.

    Don’t focus on visual web design.

    It may be tempting to add graphics to the PDDs to show stakeholders what pages might look like from a low-fidelity perspective. However, adding these visuals runs the risk of people getting stuck on the look and feel of the graphics, overshadowing the content. 

    Don’t let the nitty gritty details prevent progress.

    Don’t spend too much time laboring over the details of the PDDs and going back and forth with stakeholders. Once there is enough information to start wireframes, move on. Lest you get stuck in an endless cycle of minutia. 

    Should you always include PDDs in a web design?

    PDDs are a great way to prioritize and collaborate on the essential elements of main pages without getting bogged down by design details. 

    PDDs may also save time by skipping wireframes, avoiding some of the wireframe pitfalls. Inevitably, you’ll also lose the benefits that go with wireframes, so this is typically not recommended. 

    The great thing about PDDs is that you can spend as little time as possible or go into a lot of detail. They can fit comfortably into any system!

    Need help streamlining the web design process?

    Atlantic BT is well-versed in the strategy, UX, and technical aspects of a web design and development. If you need help planning your next web project, reach out for a free consultation.

  • Break free of CMS constraints.

    Break free of CMS constraints.

    Your content management system is meant to empower you, not limit you. A CMS should facilitate content creation for those who don’t code. It can include permissions, workflows, and elements of page design. 

    Unfortunately, many businesses start to feel restricted by their CMS as they grow. Atlantic BT has seen cases where companies spend weeks creating key pages, lose money from downtime, experience security breaches, or lose organic traffic as the website grows slow or outdated.

    These issues are preventable and should not be the norm. By selecting the best-fit CMS for your requirements and following key principles, you can have all the flexibility needed to help your business grow. 

    Here’s how to ensure your CMS is flexible and capable of supporting your business needs.

    Choose the most beneficial CMS to start.

    Some popular CMSs include WordPress, Drupal, and Umbraco. In certain use cases, companies are also starting to go headless. A Headless CMS requires more technical knowledge, but gives unlimited flexibility. You can publish content in one place, and have an API query the content anywhere (like a website or mobile app).

    The process of selecting the best CMS includes a careful examination of business requirements. For example, if your business includes a custom developed feature like a unique checkout process or customer portal, an Umbraco CMS could facilitate the integration with your website. On the other hand, a large website without proprietary software integrations may benefit from a WordPress CMS.  

    Atlantic BT helps you identify and prioritize needs, performing a comparative analysis of a subset that most closely matches your criteria. This method is similar to a personalized magic quadrant analysis. 

    Incorporate modular design.

    A modular design means using repeatable elements, or components, to build pages.

    This method empowers both non-technical users and developers. Developers have a library of components available to quickly create new page templates. Users can rearrange, include, or exclude these components within a template to design and publish new pages.

    Now and then, there may be a request to design and develop a new component. But this is much faster than designing a new page template altogether.

    Modular design can also facilitate the balancing act of flexibility and brand constraints. When employees can select various pre-designed elements to build a page, they have freedom to choose some elements. They do not have the freedom to customize design to the point that they are overwhelmed by options or straying from brand standards. 

    Ultimately, the process of creating pages is simplified for those who cannot code, and the process of creating new templates is faster for developers.

    Make smarter choices about flexibility.

    A website cannot be completely flexible for all content, design, features, and scenarios. That’s because with more user flexibility comes more complexity in writing and managing code. 

    Too often, people choose to build for flexibility due to fear of commitment. They don’t want to make a design or data decision, so they choose to build in a way that they don’t have to. The result: unnecessary complexities that are not worth the investment to build.

    You can avoid this fallacy by correctly determining which elements of a website need to be flexible. Maybe a blog layout can be simple, but a landing page for PPC campaigns needs the ability to test many different forms and layouts.

    Atlantic BT incorporates this step in the requirements gathering phase of a new project. Many people find that relying on an unbiased external team is beneficial to this process. 

    Continue to customize and update.

    Set yourself up for success! Even if you have your bases covered, you should constantly invest in enhancing your CMS. 

    Foster a culture of continuous improvement in your company and continue to test your website’s limits. As your business changes, you may choose to add new features like a storefront, custom dashboard, or online course library. If you lack the skill set or resources to continue to customize, you can always find a partner who can supplement your team.

    Additionally, keeping your CMS up-to-date will ensure you won’t accrue technical debt. Keep your site secure and performant by completing framework updates, updating underlying software packages, and updating server hardware. 

    Atlantic BT has seen websites last far beyond the typical 3-5 year mark due to ongoing maintenance. When you think about it, the best websites never stop the development and improvement process.

    Are you feeling limited by your CMS?

    If you’re feeling stuck, the solution might be to migrate to a new CMS or add custom elements to your current framework. Either way, we can help you get there. Reach out for a free consultation with one of our experts.

  • Five questions to ask a potential SEO firm.

    Five questions to ask a potential SEO firm.

    It’s easy for SEO firms to lie to businesses who have little SEO experience in-house. In fact, when you look behind the curtain, many SEO agencies have spammy practices or are a one man shop pretending to be larger.

    That’s why it’s important to ask the right questions when vetting an SEO agency. Better still, learn how to evaluate their answers.

    1. Ask if page 1 rankings are guaranteed.

    If an SEO firm promises rankings or immediate results right from the beginning, it’s a major red flag. For one, it is dishonest to promise something that is beyond their control. Basically, claiming that your site will rank #1 or show up on the first page for a specific keyword is not accurate.

    The reason is that nobody but the major search engines (Google , Yahoo and MSN) control how websites rank in their organic search results. No SEO firm can guarantee results because they have no control over the search engines algorithms.

    It is true that a reputable SEO firm understands what factors go into ranking websites and can help increase search engine visibility, but no quality firm will ever promise rankings. Look for month-to-month contracts, references from existing customers, or portfolio of results.

    2. Ask what is involved in a successful SEO strategy.

    SEO Process

    A legitimate SEO firm is able to explain what goes into a successful SEO strategy in plain English; not some overly technical industry jargon. Every strategy should mention important on-page and off-page optimization, tracking results through website analytics, content development, link building, and continuous tweaking/testing to increase rankings and conversion rates.

    3. Ask when you can expect to see results.

    Setting proper expectations on both ends is key. Any firm that says you will be fully optimized in 2 weeks is lying. A successful SEO campaign is ongoing and always improving.

    The first thing the SEO firm should ask you is what are you goals? Without understanding what you are trying to accomplish, there is no way anyone can give proper expectations. Once your goals are established, the following can be determined: realistic expectations based on the current condition of your website, an understanding of your competition, and how much time/money/resources you can devote towards SEO efforts.

    A quality SEO firm will not necessary be able to say that you will see results in exactly 2 months; however, they should be able to give you a range as to when you will start to see a noticeable increase in traffic and conversions.

    4. Ask how SEO efforts are measured.

    In order to track whether your SEO efforts are successful or not, you need to monitor your website analytics, ranking reporting, and any other type of marketing measurements your company has readily available.

    This is also a question for both teams. You’ll want to let an agency know how you measure success so you can align goals. Then, find out how an agency will track and report on how their efforts contribute to goals.

    5. Ask how often you’ll collaborate on progress and strategy.

    meeting1_full

    Since SEO consists of an initial SEO setup and then ongoing monthly maintenance, it is important that the SEO firm outlines when and how often you will meet to discuss your SEO strategy.

    As the search engine’s algorithms change, your SEO firm will need to get creative, try new strategies, and make adjustments as required. In an effort to have both marketing and SEO strategies running in line, meeting regularly is recommended. It is not uncommon to meet on  a monthly or quarterly basis to talk about your website analytics, conversion goals, and recommendations to improve your SEO.  It is also important to see what the firm has been doing to improve traffic, conversions, etc.

    A good SEO firm knows that they will require the assistance of their client to get them where they need to be. It is a true partnership between client and SEO firm. Because content development is such a big part of SEO, the company should devote some resources for writing articles, blogs, and press releases. Ask the firm how you can help to increase results faster.

    Need help with digital strategy?

    If you need help finding a vendor for ongoing SEO, we’re happy to help you out. Atlantic BT is also happy to perform SEO audits, offer guidance throughout your SEO strategy, and develop a website that supports SEO. Contact us to see how we can help you out.

  • An executive’s guide to choosing the right site search.

    An executive’s guide to choosing the right site search.

    Why is site search important?

    Did you know that website visitors using site search are 216% more likely to convert than other users? Your website’s internal site search fosters conversions by helping users find the information they need in a hurry. 

    But site search doesn’t have to be “hands off”; you can gain even more benefits by going a step further. For example, you can build lists of visitors who search certain terms in Google Analytics. Now you have an engaged segment for remarketing ads that are more likely to convert. 

    Or, simply gather information on search queries and use the data to optimize content. Popular search terms can provide direction for SEO, content priority, and user-friendly navigation labeling.

    What key features can site search provide?

    At a minimum, your site search should include features that a user would expect, like fast results, filtering options, breadcrumbs, synonyms, and typing ahead.

    On the admin side, your site search should include reporting on key terms and usage, a Google Analytics integration to help you compare queries to behavior, and the general ability to integrate with your tools.

    Some top tier search tools go above and beyond, including features like AI auto ranking, proximity matching, and personalization.

    Which software should I choose?

    At Atlantic BT, our teams have experience implementing Swiftype, Algolia, and ElasticSearch. All of these options offer standard features, fast results, and plenty of integration options.

    We would recommend using Algolia or Elastic Enterprise Search in almost all situations. Take a look at a few scenarios where you would use each.

    Algolia

    In most situations, Algolia is the best option. That’s because it includes well-defined API documentation, framework integrations, and a developer-friendly platform that make for simple implementation. It is also the platform that offers the best pricing for low volume performance while offering the most advanced features for high volume websites.

    Some of Algolia’s unique optional features include A/B testing, merchandising, AI auto adjusting of result sets, and search result personalization. Because it directly integrates with Magento 2 and Shopify, Algolia is usually the best solution for eCommerce stores.

    On the other hand, if traffic is high volume (like exceeding 1 million searches per month), there are a large amount of pages indexed, or there’s no need for special features; Algolia is probably not the best option.

    Overall, Elastic Enterprise Search is the best option for sites that have very high volume search traffic (or a very high number of indexed items), but do not have a need for some of the more advanced features that Algolia offers. Because it’s self-hosted, it’s a popular choice for applications with strict security requirements because data does not have to be sent to a SaaS solution.

    While Enterprise Search has no limit on queries and documents, server size will have to increase to keep performance optimal. At high traffic volume (1 million hits and above), Elastic Enterprise Search will still go up in cost. However, it increases at a significantly slower pace than Algolia.

    Elastic Enterprise Search also offers a maintenance-free crawler, Elastic Site Search. It keeps content current while intuitive customization features and robust analytics provide full control over search relevance. 

    If you’d like to enhance your search quickly utilizing a web crawler, Elastic Site Search a great option for you.

    Atlantic BT has experience implementing site search in all sorts of industries. We can make a recommendation based on your business requirements, set up site search with your website, and integrate site search with other software. Reach out for a free consultation to get started.

  • What issues does a content audit expose?

    What issues does a content audit expose?

    When restructuring a complex website, an important first step is to inventory existing content and analyze findings in an audit. 

    The purpose of a content audit is to see which pages exist, decide which ones are valuable, and expose any hidden issues with the website. 

    Content audits tend to expose issues with site structure, technical SEO, orphaned pages, or content value. Take a look at how it works!

    Unveil any strange categories, taxonomies, or hierarchical issues.

    With an outdated or limiting CMS, many companies get in the habit of creating pages without housing them in a logical place. Websites can grow larger over time, creating a mess of page categories, tagging systems, and menus.

    By closely examining pages, a content audit breaks down this mess to guide decisions about the restructure. And good news for you – with a combination of an updated CMS and clear site structure, it will be easy for you to create new pages moving forward. 

    Diagnose technical SEO issues.

    A content audit can also help you diagnose any missed opportunities with SEO. And we’re not talking about expensive monthly backlinking campaigns. There are many ways to optimize your website for search engines by simply building SEO-optimized page templates.

    The content inventory step will show all meta and H1 tags in plain view, allowing marketers to quickly find patterns in how they were generated. Are these page elements exceeding character limits? Missing keywords? Missing altogether? Your new website should have auto-generated meta tags that fall within guidelines. From there, follow best practices to manually optimize key pages.

    At Atlantic BT, we will even take content audits a step further, cross-referencing additional tools to find slow pages and opportunities to incorporate schema markup. 

    Find orphaned pages.

    During a content audit, we trace navigation to all pages and get familiar with paths users can take. If we see a page listed and cannot find a way to navigate there, it’s likely an orphaned page.

    Orphaned pages, or pages that are impossible to get to by clicking through a website, are harmful for both SEO and user experience. According to Search Engine Journal:

    Orphan pages aren’t great for either users or crawlers.

    Users can’t reach those pages through your site’s natural structure so if there’s important or useful information on those pages, it’s wasted.

    This can create a frustrating user experience.

    With no internal links, no authority is passed to the pages, and search engines have no semantic or structural context in which to evaluate the page.

    Without any way of knowing where the page fits into your site as a whole, it can be more difficult to determine which queries the page is relevant for.

    If an orphaned page seems unimportant, you should likely delete it. If there is some value, we’ll find a way to fit it into a new site structure and ensure there is a navigation path.

    Find groups of low-value content.

    Do you have multiple versions of similar pages? A random tagging system for blog posts? Our team can determine the importance of content by referencing analytics data or understanding your business goals.

    However, we consider a content audit a collaborative effort. We’ll rely on you to ultimately decide if a page is valuable for your business.

    What step comes after the content audit?

    An outdated website structure feels like a mess. Even after a content inventory reveals the existing site structure, it can be daunting to take steps toward simplification. 

    Based on our findings in the content audit, Atlantic BT can make recommendations for a new website structure. Does it make sense to categorize by industry, services, or personas? We can help you visualize the options and design a site that is simple for visitors to navigate. Give us a call to learn more.

  • Does your website need to be more functional or usable?

    Does your website need to be more functional or usable?

    The simpler the website design, the easier it is to use. The more functionality a website has, the more useful it can be. With website design and development, the focus needs to be on maintaining a balance between usability and functionality to maximize user satisfaction.

    People need to have access to features that help them complete tasks, but they also have to be able to easily find these features. Plus, they need to be able to comprehend how to use them.

    What makes a website usable?

    A usable website has a simple experience. It’s easy for people to find necessary information, complete tasks, and learn how to use features.

    What makes a website functional?

    A functional website has many operational features. Maybe users can add items to a favorites list, get a price quote from a calculator, make online purchases, or filter through content with search.

    Achieving a usability and functionality balance pays off in website design and development.

    If you can find a way to hit the sweet spot of balancing functionality with usability, you’ll reap the rewards. Crafting a this sort of experience with website design and development means:

    • Increased customer satisfaction
    • More online conversions
    • Boosted brand loyalty and positive word of mouth
    • Reducing frustration that leads to poor word of mouth or people calling support

    Why do people clash over functionality and usability?

    Usability and functionality can be considered a tradeoff in website design and development. It’s not easy to design a website to perform complex tasks while being simple enough for its intended users to handle. 

    You’ll have to face tough questions like: Are some features taking away from others? Are they cluttering the website? Can people find the feature they need? Can the average visitor use the feature easily?

    Usually, designers will push back on stakeholders during this step. While a stakeholder wants to add as much functionality as possible to pages, a web designer needs to remind them that if everything is urgent, nothing is urgent. It’s a team effort to optimally prioritize elements of a page.

    Testing is an essential step in website design and development.

    Good UX is not about adding more features/options. It’s about improving interactions based on how a user wants and needs to engage with the system.

    But how do you know what the user wants to start with? Most businesses incorporate a discovery step before development. At Atlantic BT, this phase includes UX workshops where we map tasks a user would perform on the site, interview or survey for more information, gather additional website requirements, and determine Information Architecture.

    However, after Discovery, the best way to ensure a website is satisfactory is to test a prototype. You need to test what a user will actually do in a scenario (not just what they say they’ll do). For large projects, Atlantic BT tests prototypes of a research-based design to monitor usability before a launch.

    Research, design, and testing can feel overwhelming.

    Handling large website design and development projects in-house can feel overwhelming. Atlantic BT can help. Our streamlined process includes the careful research, requirements gathering, and testing needed for successful launches. Reach out for a free consultation.