Web Design + Development

"People think design is veneer. 'Make it look good.' That's not what design is. Design is what works!" Steve Jobs

According to our research, for most of your clients, customers or members, your Web site is the first tangible impression they have of your organization. Your Web site is the first place people look after they’ve heard your name. When buyers arrive at your site, they expect to see your organization’s personality, understand your mission and get a glimpse of their experience with you. Ideally, marketing—and Web sites!—preview what it’s like to work with you.  Based on this short list, does your site measure up? Greenfield/Belser has designed and developed almost 200 Web sites since 1994 when Web sites first began to be commercially viable. Our award list is long. We believe the opinion of peers is important but, our goal is not to win awards but to develop sites that work, sites that stand above the crowd and get noticed.

If you’re looking for the correct order of business to develop a compelling Web site, start here:

1. Research.

Understand your customer, your client, your member. What are they looking for? There’s a difference between marketing and sales: sales focuses on what you have to offer; marketing focuses on what the buyer needs. Just because you have skills doesn’t mean someone wants them. Just because you have a mission doesn’t mean someone is going to sign on. Get the answers you need to speak to your buyer.

2. Strategy. Research drives strategy. 

To launch a site with a purpose, you’ll want consultants who can walk a straight line from research all the way through to design/build.

3. Design. Strategy drives design.

We wish it were easy to explain the kind of minds that blend research, strategy and design into one seamless solution. Integrative talent doesn’t show up on an IQ test. You know what’s special about your mind, your talent, your skills that never make it to a resume. Here’s what we do: we can shoot an arrow from research to your live Web site and see it travel through the air.

4. Build. Design needs execution.

The life of great “creative” has three stages—a great idea, a great design to realize the idea and great execution. Did you know that coding is an art as well as a skill? Quality coding that creates great Web sites is not something you just pick up at Polytech. Coding wants a high standard, too. We’re proud of how we build sites, how we code Flash, how we deliver your Web site.

5. Celebration.

Nothing excites a crowd, a company, a group like hitting the target dead center. Our clients constantly tell us we’ve “nailed” them. We haven’t succeeded unless we’ve excited. Marketing will never work unless minds are lit up. You’ve got flint. We’ve got steel.

Why do sites fail?

So many become so wrapped up in the technology solution that their site’s communication goals fall by the wayside. Sites fail to differentiate one from the other. The result: a paralyzing sameness in both style and function because:

1. Sites have no apparent purpose.

Sites launched for a purpose do indeed have a Web presence but little else.  What do you want your reader to do? Web sites launched with a purpose can convince buyers to buy your products, persuade them to use your services, inspire them to raise your flag, contribute to your causes or join your mission.

2. Home pages are out of control, without focus.

You wouldn’t let an employee bring their favorite lamp or chair into your lobby and yet we find organizations allow interlopers on their home page, diverting attention from the main message.

3. Sites are illustrated with meaningless images.

Valuable space is wasted with meaningless icons of office buildings, skylines and bridges and other trite visuals. The belief that this constitutes communication is misplaced.

4. Sites fail to focus on buyers.

Most sites focus on what they have to sell—hours, widgets, a mission, a cause, but is neither what buyers want nor need.

5. Sites fail to create a dialogue.

The first step to creating a dialogue with your visitor is to tell stories that establish the organization as an active participant in the business conversation. Share success stories. Our research proves clients won’t dig for them.

6. Sites fail to position the organization as important, confident and a leader.